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A World Apart Prologue
Posted By: Dark Spartan<gkahn40@yahoo.com>
Date: 5 July 2003, 3:59 AM
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A World Apart (Prologue)
Earth
August 28 2513
0508 hrs UNSC Military Time
New York City
The night was clear and the sun still hadn't risen over the horizon. The ground glistened with dew and the streetlights emitted their eirie luminance. Early morning traffic creeped through the streets. Horns blaring, shouting, cursing, mugging...it was humanity.
At Wendenburg Memorial hospital an ambulance screamed to a halt, sirens wailing madly. White uniformed personnel rushed a badly injured pregnant woman into the emergency room. In... out... left... right, they wheeled the gurney through the halls filled with other mangled or disfigured bodies. Groans of pain and hysterical shrieks filled the air.
The doctors assigned to the patient hurried after and ushered them into a room all the while bombarding the paramedics with questions. "What happened? What's her condition? Is she stable?" "Jesus Christ! Um... uh...she's another from the attack. We found her under some rubble. She's been babbling something like she was on her way over here to have her baby. Uh... her right leg's completely snapped at the femur and um... her broken ribs seem to have punctured her left lung, uh... she's got bruises all over her stomach and we're afraid the baby may be gone. Her head seems ok but she must've passed out from the pain. She's also probably bleeding like crazy inside somewhere... Ack! That's all we know."
" OK, OK, OK! Good lord this is a fucked up world!" the doctor frantically said. " Get the damn IV's in here! Hurry up! Shit! Gimme' the scalpel we gotta get the baby out now! Look at her, she's turning blue, she's not breathing!" It was true; the woman's face was steadily turning a deep shade of purple. Her chest failed to rise and fall in the normal rhythm that was breathing. The newly inserted heart monitor showed a flat line. Its monotonous beep droned on and on.
" Damnit!" the doctor yelled. " Ok she's gone. We have to save the baby NOW!" The skilled surgeon went to work. Emergency C-sections were a tricky business. One problem was that there wasn't anytime to set up all the helpful instruments, but the main problem was that since you were in such a hurry that you might cut to deep.
The doctor took a deep breath. Time seemed to slow down to a trickle. He looked at the huge knife in his hand. Without thinking the knife cut the woman open. Blood flowed freely all over the operating table. He was unfazed; he had done it a thousand thousand times already. Suddenly time jumped into fast forward as if someone was watching a home movie. His hands flashed through the woman. Crimson flooded the floor. It was like this woman was the stem of the Red Sea.
Finally! He saw the legs. He grabbed and pulled, but not so hard as to break the baby in two. Wait... the baby was caught. Shit! he thought The umbilical chord is around his neck! More blood spewed as he tried to find the head. Aha! There it is! Fuck this is bad! The baby was definitely alive. He was clawing the air and kicking madly. Careful... careful... yes! The chord snapped away and the baby let in his first gasp of fresh air from the world.
* * *
August 12 2512
0508 hrs UNSC Military Time
Locoat could hardly believe his eyes. How was it that he, a low level, had been assigned to the most important military facility in the empire? How was it that he, the lowliest of the Elites was standing guard not more than five paces from the military's top specimen, the lone survivor of years of genetic experimentation? Amazing, simply amazing. The hatching was due any time now and he was supposed to immediately report when the signs began.
He stared at the cryo tube. Its occupant gently floated in the green tinted nutrient liquid. Everything the growing baby needed was contained in the juice. Proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, and whatever else to keep the experiment in top physical condition. All that was yet to see was what this creature could be capable of.
Locoat looked at the monitors showing various readouts of the experiment's condition. Everything seemed normal. The steady beeps of computers echoed in the chamber. The steady breathing of the experiment's respirator was clearly heard. Looking around the approximately thirty by forty foot room he became bored. And why shouldn't he be? He'd been on guard duty for almost eight hours. His shift should be over any minute.
Glancing at the monitors again he noticed something peculiar. The experiment's brainwave activity was a little above normal. The numbers said the activity was at forty-five Kilipecs. Strange, Locoat thought. It's been at forty KP's for my whole shift. On second thought even stranger since at full maturity a normal elite's brain activity was only forty-three KP's.
Suddenly the monitor instantaneously showed fifty KP's. What? How can this happen? It jumped again to fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three. Oh shit not now. He looked at the tube. The left hand twitched. Oh no. Why was Locoat suddenly looking in fear? Because that thing's brain activity was higher than that of a full grown elite, because that thing had been kept in the tube longer than it would have taken it to be born, because that thing would have been six years old had it been allowed to be born, because that thing was supposed to be a radical killing machine even at birth, because who knew what the hell that thing would do once it could think for itself? And I'm here with it ... alone.
The hand twitched again. Its eyes fluttered. The readout now said fifty-six KP's. Locoat grabbed the communicator on the wall. " Dr. Malindron, come in. Dr. Malindron!" Malindron's ice cold voice crackled over the radio, " What is it soldier?" " Sir," Locoat's voice gave away his nervousness as the beeps of the computers went wild, " Experiment zero-nine-nine's brain activity is now at fifty-six KP's and rising fast! I think he's waking up!" " Ok, just hold on soldier, we'll be there as fast as we can!"
I sure hope that's real quick, Locoat thought to himself. A minute passed. Oh shit, where are they? He turned to look at the creature. Locoat froze in horror; staring back at him was a pair of red eyes with black pupils. They're glowing... time seemed to freeze as Locoat stared back. He couldn't budge; each limb seemed to have cement blocks attached to it. The weight of fear... oh gods give me strength. The eyes never moved, never blinked, only pierced his soul with their ghostly stare.
Locoat glanced at the monitor. Oh my god... the monitor showed an unearthly seventy-five kp's. He looked back. Those eyes hadn't moved at all. Oh god where are they? Another minute passed. It seemed like eternity.
Finally, he heard footsteps running down the corridor leading to the room. The eyes moved to the door. The creature must have heard the noise as well. But how, he's in the tube? No sooner had Locoat thought this that the creature began stripping itself of IV attachments and the monitor detectors. Oh shit! Locoat sprinted to the door leaving the monstrosity ferociously tearing at itself to get off the chords.
Locoat opened the door to see Dr. Malindron whizzing down the hall on his levitating wheelchair. He was of the Jackilian race and he was so old it was impossible to believe. His entourage consisted of four black ops Elites, the best of the best. He may even have had a stealth man following as extra precaution.
As they approached him Locoat turned to check on the creature. But it was nowhere to be found. Nutrient liquid flooded the floor from a huge hole in the broken plexiglass. Ssssssssssssrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiippppppppppppppppp!
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Locoat screamed as he was sliced in half at the waist by a sinister claw.
Malindron saw Locoat paint the floor purple as his halves exploded blood. A black blur shot past his cart. He turned to find the elite to his left squirting blood from a crater in his chest. The elite behind him let out a guttural yell as he fell to the floor clutching the streaming stumps that used to be his legs. Suddenly a transparent thud hit Malindron's hovercraft. As the cloak dematerialized he smiled evilly. The blank eyes of the elite stared up at him while his body was pointing in the complete opposite direction. He turned back and noticed two giant holes in the wall with sticky blue blood dripping down the sides. He assumed that the remaining Elites of his were inside those holes having been horribly mangled.
The hall was dead silent save the steady hum of Malindron's small craft. He scanned the area. No sign of experiment zero-nine-nine anywhere. He barely heard the soft landing of the creature behind him. He turned around to find his vision full of a bright green light. " Perfection."
The last thing Malindron saw was a flash of green.
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