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(http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/619/rszmemory.jpg)
Memory
by
Houston Rogers
© 2010
Story based on the video game Tremulous. All characters in this story belong to me. None of them may be copied or used for your own purposes for any reason without asking me first. Hope you like it! :)
Edit: Big thanks to Spork for the cover art. Looks awesome! ;)
Cold.
So cold.
And something was pressing against her cheek. Something hard and colder than the air around her. She opened her eyes, only to meet more darkness. Groaning, she lifted her head and pushed herself off the metal floor. Why was it so quiet? And why were the lights out?
As if to contradict this, the emergency lights came on, giving the floor a weak white and red hue. She blinked a few times, trying to remember what happened. Nothing came to her. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, looking this way and that. Where was her jumpsuit? Then she remembered: she'd been in bed... so her jumpsuit was in her personal closet. She slowly stood and walked over to the wall and pushed a button, activating the hidden door. Reaching inside, she pulled out her worker jumpsuit and stepped into it, zipping up the front to her neck. She pulled her hair free and let it flow down her neck to her shoulders, not bothering to search for a scrunchie to hold it.
Ok, now that she was properly dressed... what was next? Search the ship, that would probably be the best course of action. She realized that her memories were slowly coming back. Not even 10 minutes ago she had been on the floor, completely clueless as to who she was and where she was at. But now she was recalling what had happened before the darkness overtook her. She was on a ship, a space ship, heading for... where? She didn't remember that yet. She kicked the wall in frustration, only succeeding in hurting her foot. The wall felt nothing. A sudden pattering noise startled her, almost as if a heavy bug was crawling across the floor... she shivered. She hated bugs, almost as much as this recent memory loss.
Maybe she should start with something simpler, like her name. Who was she? She was thinking 'L'. Lilly? Linda?
“Lisa,” she said out loud, a small smile forming on her face. Yes, that was it. Lisa Gogh, aboard the passenger ship Explorer, heading for the Xeres System, to a planet named Palanthia, Colony 9260. She remembered that much, at least. There was a good sized residential district there, a new place where she thought she could start a new life. No, wait... she wanted to start a new life after her mission, that was it. Mission? What mission? Dammit, she couldn't remember.
Lisa sighed and walked out of the room, staying in the glow cast by the emergency lights. Her feet were bare and the hallway floor was just as cold as her room. She added a pair of shoes to her mental to-get list and kept walking, moving slowly. She had remembered her name and the name of the ship thus far, but she still had no idea what had happened. Her thoughts were leaning towards either engine failure or, god help her... maybe they had crashed?
She let out a small scream as something fell in one of the rooms she had just passed. Jumping backwards, Lisa peered around the edge of the doorway to see a man standing by a bunk, rubbing his head. He looked up at her and let out a sigh of relief. “Damn, I was wondering if this was a nightmare or something because I swear I've been alone in here forever, but now you've showed up. Glad to see you're ok, Lisa.”
Lisa nodded and smiled warmly, but inside she was reeling in surprise and terror. She had no idea who this man was, even if he apparently knew her. That was bad. It meant her memory was far worse than she thought, especially if she couldn't put a name to his face. Maybe she could get by just fine till she found out his identity. “What happened?” she finally asked. Maybe there was a workaround for this forgetfulness.
“I think we crashed after the engines failed or something. I remember the whole ship going dark and quiet, and then bam, the planet's gravity kicked in and pulled us down. Sort of like a giant apple falling from the galaxy's biggest tree,” the man replied, chuckling slightly. Well, I was right on both accounts, Lisa thought to herself.
The man stood and walked towards her, so she moved back to let him into the hall. He wore a jumpsuit similar to hers, both orange in color and she saw that the symbol over her left breast also matched his. Underneath it in letters was printed SEC. She assumed this meant security. Great, and I had to go and forget everything. I won't be much help now.
“Come on. We need to make our way to the main rooms. There's supplies there and everyone knows how to get there, so anyone who survived ought to be at that location. I don't think the crash was strong enough to actually kill anyone thanks to the fact that we had just entered orbit, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few broken arms or legs.”
“So we're on Palanthia?” Lisa asked.
“Yeah, although where on it is anyone's guess. With luck we'll be near the colony, but if not, I guess we'll have a nice walk ahead of us.”
The two of them lapsed into silence. Lisa thought that maybe he wasn't the sort to talk much, but she honestly wished she could remember more clearly. They worked together; the identical uniforms said that much, and it was obviously something security related... but what? God, if only she knew his na-
“Lisa!” someone said from up in front of them. She took her eyes off the floor and looked up to see a woman standing at the end of the hall. She was making a motion for them to hurry and get to her, but Lisa had no idea why. She heard that pattering noise again and the woman yelled a second time, now telling them to move it. The duo broke out into a run and ran past her as the patter-sound grew louder and (dare she say it) faster, as if something were behind them. The woman slammed the door shut and locked it, blowing her hair out of her eyes.
“Damn, woman, you almost... nevermind,” she said, looking at Lisa, who was completely lost. “Who is this?”
“New guy,” the man replied, smiling. “Troy Mantley, video security.” He extended his hand in greeting and the woman shook it.
“Ann Deere, co-pilot. Nice to meet you, but I wish it were under better circumstances,” she said, looking at Lisa. “I think you're the last ones we needed.”
“What?” Lisa asked, confused.
“We were waiting for the last of the stragglers to get here to the main hold so the last group could leave the ship. We crashed, you know, and there's thirty-nine of us on board. Well, thirty-six are living. One of them died in the actual crash and the other two... well, I'd rather not say. Anyways, we've been leaving in groups of six and heading for the colony that's north-east of here, about three or four miles away. If we leave now, we just might make it before nightfall.”
Troy stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at the door. “Surely someone saw the ship come down and called for help? Maybe we're better off staying here till rescue forces arrive, or even better, soldiers from the local military base.”
Anne shook her head. “No, too dangerous. We need to move, now.”
Troy shrugged. “Whatever you say. You said teams of six, so if we're in that category, where's the other three?”
Anne led them through the northern doors into the hallway leading to the cockpit. “Here, with our supplies.”
Lisa looked and saw two more women and another man, all looking to be in their thirties or forties. The man and one of women wore light gray jumpsuits; the other woman, dark blue. They all had similar symbols on them, so Lisa thought it must be some sort of corporate logo. She was too far away to read the letters underneath, but that was okay. She didn't really need to know their professions. And she was somewhat disgusted that neither Troy's name nor Ann's had brought on some sort of memory-affecting epiphany. “So are we leaving now?” she asked, noticing the backpacks on the floor.
Ann nodded and picked one up. “One for each of us. Just enough supplies inside to get us to the colony. Food rations, some bottles of water. I think one of the packs even has a first aid kit. Not that we'll need that, or so I hope. Now, for the last time, let's get going!”
Troy shrugged and grabbed a couple packs, handing one to Lisa. His facial expression and body language clearly showed that he wasn't pleased with a woman taking charge, but what the hell, he had to. Lisa smiled slightly and patted him on the shoulder. “We'll be there before you know it.”
Troy snorted. “Each step will be a mile under her thumb, I can already tell.”
Lisa merely shook her head and followed the others out.
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They walked for a few hours through an overgrown forest, trees and bushes spreading out for what seemed like miles. Lisa found that she liked the smell of the forest; it was fresh, clean, and somehow wild. She felt free out here, in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Her mind felt open, and memories seemed to finally be creeping back slowly. On the small ship they were cramped and there was hardly any 'personal space', and you couldn't go five feet without bumping shoulders with someone. But here, being one with nature... it was something totally different.
It was getting close to dark when Troy walked a bit closer to her, his head held low. She asked him if he was alright.
“I feel like we're being watched. Not constantly... but that weird feeling keeps creeping up every so often. It's starting to bug the hell out of me. Being out here near dark when an army could be thirty feet away and you'd never see them doesn't help much either.”
Lisa looked around her, but to no avail. He was right; the shadows and brush hid everything from sight except for the ever closer lights of the colony. “I haven't felt-”
“Shhh!” Ann said suddenly from up ahead, causing the whole group to stop. Lisa immediately froze in place, not moving a muscle. Troy put his hand on her shoulder and gripped it like a vice, whispering 'oh fuck' under his breath repeatedly. She was about to ask Ann what the trouble was when the men moved out from the forest, surrounding their little group. They were all dressed in armor and wielding guns, so the idea of them being a rescue team immediately left her head. These were clearly military men.
“Don't move,” one of them said, moving forward. Lisa fixed her flashlight on his face, revealing blue eyes and salt and pepper hair that was kept short. He growled and moved towards her while the other men grabbed her shipmates. Someone pulled Troy away, who was smart enough to not fight back. The older man reached her and raised his hand, a pistol in it. “I said don't move! Men, get these Karith scum back to the base!”
The last thing she saw before he hit her in the head was his name-tag. It read 'J. McNabb'. I'll have to remember that for later, she thought... then everything went black.
- - - - - -
Author's Note: It's been just over a year (two days over, actually) since I posted the first chapter to my (surprisingly) very popular novella titled The Harder They Fall. I never expected it to get such a positive response and I'm glad that you all enjoyed reading it because I had a blast writing it. Your continuous positive feedback and support lifted my spirits and encouraged me to see the story right down to the explosive end.
However, a lot of time has passed and I have wondered, as I'm sure have many of you, just what happened to Mac Turner and John McNabb. This short story came to me a few days ago, almost as if by magic (with it being a year since I thought up the first story), so I decided to write what you see here. This story was actually started a month or two ago as something else entirely, but I stopped writing in it because I didn't really have anything to put in it. Well, now I do.
I can't say if I'll be continuing this or not because I may save it for future novel material, but I hope you enjoy what I've written thus far. I think I can safely say that, no matter which road I travel with this chapter in the Tremulous Universe, it won't be left to die and be forgotten. It'll certainly be finished in one form or another.
I thank you for looking and I wish you all the best, faithful readers.
-Death
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Very nicely done! I greatly enjoyed that :)
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Glad you liked it :)
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Awesome, I loved it. Especially how it ties into the other story a bit. :D
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I love you.
Seriously.
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Awesome.
Do want moar.
/callvote poll Skulleh Rulez!
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F1! F1! F1!!!
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nice that was really great but you needed to include some aliens in it maybe reveal that aliens where the reason the ship crashed?
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nice that was really great but you needed to include some aliens in it maybe reveal that aliens where the reason the ship crashed?
Why does it need aliens? Did it even say that aliens made the ship crash?
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Story based on the video game Tremulous.
Tremulous is a humans vs aliens game.
Think about that one CoH...
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And Skulleh can get to aliens whenever, if he even feels like it.
If you want aliens and a crashed ship, write your own dang story, or stop complaining.
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Story based on the video game Tremulous.
Tremulous is a humans vs aliens game.
Think about that one CoH...
"BASED" on.
ALIENS WERE SRSLY ACSHUALLY CRASHED SHIP LOL
Isn't the way he put it so much better.... more mysteriously epic? Adds for much better reading imo.
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im not complaining im just simply saying that later in the story line they discover it was aliens that caused the ship to crash or something along those lines. and since its based on tremulous it should include some of the alien classes numbnuts.
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WHERE ARE THE GODDAM PHOTON CANNONS. Those would really show the aliens whats up.
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im not complaining im just simply saying that later in the story line they discover it was aliens that caused the ship to crash or something along those lines. and since its based on tremulous it should include some of the alien classes numbnuts.
again, write your own dang story if you want that, this is skulleh's latest masterpiece in the making, not yours.
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The tremulous base is aliens vs humans, there for, if the story is based off of tremulous it is aliens vs humans. . . humans! undefined aliens! undefined.
If you remove aliens it no longer has any thing in common with tremulous, remove humans, and it no longer has any thing to do with tremulous. Define humans, and/or aliens, and it is still tremulous based.
WHERE ARE THE GODDAM PHOTON CANNONS. Those would really show the aliens whats up.
:laugh:
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The tremulous base is aliens vs humans, there for, if the story is based off of tremulous it is aliens vs humans. . . humans! undefined aliens! undefined.
If you remove aliens it no longer has any thing in common with tremulous, remove humans, and it no longer has any thing to do with tremulous. Define humans, and/or aliens, and it is still tremulous based.
...what? Who said anything about him removing aliens? Besides, at the end it ties into his other story, which definitely has "defined" aliens in it.
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Hurry up with next chapter already jerk
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Hurry up with next chapter already jerk
Junkie :p hey you should trade him Chapters for Dev Diaries.
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Hurry up with next chapter already jerk
Junkie :p hey you should trade him Chapters for Dev Diaries.
QFT!
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Chapter 2:
“Well here I go again,
from the start and to the end...
I wish I could remember what I've done.”
-Heaven & Hell
She awoke again, her head pounding once more. She rubbed the tender spot where the man had hit her, wincing slightly. Hopefully she could get some meds for that, but she doubted these people would be nice enough to offer any. For all she knew they'd killed her crew-mates, leaving her to live... for what reason? No ideas came to her, but from the way the older man had spoken, they had something against... Karith, was it? She remembered the logos on their jumpsuits. Maybe that was who she worked for. Maybe they were bad people... but just because some armed men who she thought might be military disliked Karith didn't mean they were bad... after all, the armed men could be the bad guys. Maybe they were holding her ransom!
Lisa raised her head from the desk and opened her eyes, immediately silencing her wayward thoughts. No sense in getting all paranoid before she understood the situation. Assess the immediate danger; panic later. Yes, that was a good plan to start with.
She looked around the room slowly, squinting at the bright lights. It appeared to be something of an interrogation room; build to give the imprisoned a sense of being trapped and to rob them of all hope of escaping. The walls were a slight off-white; the floor was a light gray. Fluorescent tubes hung from the ceiling in pairs, leaving no room for shadows. It was dull and boring... but she thought that was the intention.
Her attention was drawn to the door as it opened; the man from earlier stepped inside, his blue eyes still glowing with energy. He held a folder in one hand, but there didn't appear to be much in it. In the other hand was a cup of coffee; that he sat in front of her, along with two small white pills. She stared at them as if they were some sort of alien life-form, almost shocked that he had brought anything for her.
“They're not poison,” he said, taking a seat across from her as two guards took position at the door. He sat the folder on the table, which was also a dull white, and folded his hands over it. She kept looking at the pills. “They're for your head.”
Lisa looked up at him and back at the pills, finally picking them up and putting them into her mouth. She took a sip of the coffee and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth. She quickly swished the pills around in her mouth (she'd never been able to swallow them directly) and washed them down with another sip of coffee. Sitting the cup back on the table, she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.
“So, uh, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us your name?” he asked.
He didn't seem like a bad guy, so she went ahead and told him what it was. “Lisa Gogh,” she said, eying his shirt. The aforementioned name-tag was gone; luckily she still remembered what it had said. “And you're John,” she said with a hesitant smile.
He tried his best to keep his face straight but when she looked away, she saw him peek down at his shirt to see if he'd forgotten to remove the tag. She looked him in the eyes as he returned his gaze to her face. “Alright,” he said. “Age?”
“28, sir,” she replied, noticing that the guards were looking at her. They both appeared to be sort of young, maybe in their early-mid 20's... but they also appeared to have the mindset of a teenager. Respectable men were so hard to find these days it seemed, even in the damn military. She could almost see them undressing her mentally and it made her horribly uncomfortable. “Everything you need to know is no doubt in that manila folder in front of you,” she said, sounding a bit harsh.
John blinked and sat back, crossing his arms. “Yes,” he said after a short pause. “You're right, your name, age, weight, height, date of birth, etc, are all in this folder. I wanted to see if you would lie.” He paused again and looked at the folder. “You didn't... which is good. Want to know what would be even better? Telling me what isn't in this folder. Such as your life after school, any jobs you may have had, or spouses and kids, if any. All of that is 'conveniently' missing. Suspicious, isn't it?”
Lisa frowned and leaned forward as if to compensate for him moving back. She rested her arms on the table after pushing the coffee cup away and looked down at the floor between her feet. This was not good at all. Apparently her files had no record of her... and neither did her brain.
“I'm sorry... but I can't tell you. I don't know.”
John ran a hand over his face and sighed. Dammit, this was going to be harder than he'd thought. So much for being generous and hoping she'd spill the beans in gratitude.
“Alright, Lisa. I'm going to cut to the chase here. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Easy way: I tell you all about how you're in a good hands here and that even if you are the enemy, we won't kill you. Why would we do that? We're not barbarians. All I want to know is what you've done between leaving home at 19 till now. Easy as pie! In return, you'll have a nice place to stay, even though you'll be under lock and key till we decide what to do with you. Three full meals a day, some time to get out and mingle with the other base prisoners (what few there are) including your shipmates. Or we can do it the hard way: I skip the sales pitch and the goodies and drop your ass right into the tor-”
“I don't know,” she said again, making John stop mid-sentence.
“What the hell do you mean, 'you don't know'?”
She raised her head and looked at him, a vacant look in her eyes, as if she were in deep thought. “The ship... it crashed. Troy said so. I was knocked unconscious when we hit, I remember that much, but when I first woke up, I had no idea where I was... it was dark, cold, and so creepy. At first I thought I'd died and went to hell, that maybe hell wasn't fire and brimstone after all. Being alone for an eternity in the dark seems far worse... and the bugs I heard-”
It was John's turn to interrupt. “Bugs?”
“Yeah, the noises I heard sounded like large bugs crawling- wait, where are you going?”
John had stood and started for the door. He looked at the two guards for a moment, then told them to move her to Cell 41b, where she'd have more room. He didn't think she was much of a threat now, apparently.
He have a problem with bugs or something? she wondered.
Lisa didn't have time to ask him again where he was going, being whisked out of the room like lightning. Rubbing her eyes as she walked, she begin to wish that, at the very least, these guards weren't the ones taking her. She remembered how they had looked at her.
It wasn't long before they reached her cell; she was ushered inside quickly and quietly, the door sliding shut and locking behind her with a quiet buzz. Electronic lock, great. You couldn't pick your way into one of those.
Or out, if that's where she needed to go.
Feeling slightly tired, she walked over to the bunk built onto the wall and laid down, not bothering to take her jumpsuit off or pull the sheets over her. The pillow was barely soft, probably more from disuse than bad material. She made a fist and punched it a few times. There, much better.
Lisa had almost drifted off to sleep when her cell door hissed open, the soft footsteps of one trying to be quiet reaching her ears regardless. She heard the person breathing somewhat heavily, so she assumed it was a man. Opening her eyes the tiniest bit, she saw that it was a man. In fact, it was one of the guards from the interrogation room earlier. Wonderful. She'd probably be better off feigning sleep; maybe he wouldn't bother her then.
No such luck.
The guard stopped next to her bed and she heard his armor creak slightly, as if he were bending down or kneeling. She kept her eyes closed, her breathing slow and regular. She felt his hand on her stomach and almost tensed up, but surely that would give her away, so she did her best to act calm and... well, asleep. Easier said than done, she was discovering.
He moved his hand upwards slowly, still breathing heavily. Lisa wanted to open her eyes and see what he was doing, but she dare not. Doing everything in her willpower to remain still as his hand reached her breasts, first touching one then the other. She heard him chuckle slightly. “Nice tits,” he muttered, squeezing lightly. She uttered a low growl, wanting to hit him in the head so badly, but he only chuckled again and removed his hand. Maybe he'd mistaken it for a moan?
She felt him touch her again on the stomach, but this time he went in the other direction, but he was also starting to lean over her, for she could smell his breath, a scent that almost made her gag. What the hell had he eaten?
Sensing he was going in for a kiss along with his female anatomy safari, she finally opened her eyes and glared up at him, causing him to freeze.
“Oh shi-” he started to say.
“Bastard!” she shouted, lifting and bending her leg towards her, he knee connecting with the side of his head. He grunted and fell backwards, giving her the perfect opening. She stood and kicked him square in the balls, an act which gave her much satisfaction. He yelled and clasped his hands between his legs, pushing away from her. Resisting the urge to do more damage, she turned and went to the door to signal the other guard, but what he said next made her stop and turn around.
“You cunt,” he growled, standing. Apparently she hadn't hit him hard enough the first time... or he was well armored. He started for her and she sidestepped to the right, towards the corner. Shit, that was a bad move. Never ever let the enemy corner you, she remembered. Well, too late.
His facial expression went from rage to a sort of sadistic happiness. He was grinning, by the gods! He thought this was some sort of game!
“Wanna play, sweet sugar? Daddy will play with you... but if I catch you I'm gonna punish you,” he said, darting towards her. She used this sudden movement to her advantage, grabbing his outstretched arm and sidestepping to the right once again, sending him right into the wall. Groaning, he turned around, his smile gone. “Okay slut, we're gonna skip the game and go right to the punishing.”
With those words he removed a small knife from his vest, sending a large dose of fear through her. She had nothing to defend herself with; only her hands and feet. He could kill her easily and have his way with her.
No, no... I have to stay smart... stay on top of this, she thought to herself. Breathing in deeply, she braced herself for any coming pain and motioned for him to try it. Snarling, he rushed for her again, swinging the blade as he came. She pulled back but almost not enough; the blade cut through the outermost layer of her jumpsuit. Not wasting time, she moved forward herself and grabbed his wrist with one hand, positioning the other on his elbow. His eyes widened as he saw what she was going to do, but it was too late. Using all of her strength, she pulled back on his wrist and pushed forward at the elbow till she heard the crack. He wailed loudly as the knife dropped from his fingers. Not done, she grabbed the back of his head and brought it down on her knee, breaking his nose also.
He fell to the floor and lay there, shaking and rocking back and forth. Just as Lisa stepped away from him, the door slid open and John ran in, his eyes wide. Panic began to set in as she realized what she had just done to the guard, who was a soldier nonetheless. She scrambled for some words to offer, some way to describe what he'd done to her and why she had retaliated, but there was no time. John grabbed her arm and pulled her outside and down the hall to what looked like an office. He looked at her and asked if she was okay.
“W-what?” she asked in reply, unsure of what was going on. She wasn't being transferred to some horrible part of the base?
“I asked if you were alright. I saw the whole thing on the security cameras, don't worry. You're not in trouble. Him, on the other hand...”
Lisa swallowed and nodded. “I'm alright. He almost got me with that knife of his though.”
John noticed the cut in the fabric and shook his head. “You moved fast, but almost not fast enough. We're going to have to work on that.”
She was confused again. Work on what?
John pointed to the first of two doors leading away from the office. “Down there is a private guest room. I reserve it for any important visitors we get here, but I haven't had any in what feels like ages. Go in there, take a shower, get a good night's rest. You're going to need it. One question: is that ship you came in on locked down?”
She said yes, because the systems immediately locked everything down within an hour of a major crash. She still didn't understand, but apparently John wasn't offering any answers... at least not tonight. He walked towards the door, then hesitated. “Oh, I hope you're not fond of that jumpsuit. If all goes well, you won't be wearing it tomorrow, or ever again.”
“Why?” she asked again, completely confused by now.
“It can wait till morning, ok? Good night,” he said, leaving the room.
Frowning, Lisa walked into the guest room and shut the door, the automated lights coming on as soon as she was submerged in darkness. How convenient, she thought, stripping off her jumpsuit and underclothes as she went. The guest room, or rooms for that matter, consisted of two open spaces: one held a bed and a dresser, along with some small tables and lamps. The other had a sink, toilet, and shower. It was the last of these that she headed for.
When she was done, she put her underclothes back on and crawled into the bed, loving the comfort of it instantly. It had the basic necessities, but it was clearly made for well-to-do people. She thought maybe not having anyone in here for so long was the reason for it being so bare.
Giving the voice command for the lights to dim, she shifted onto her stomach and curled up with the pillow, ready to fall asleep. Before she did, however, she felt something underneath the pillow. Something... plastic? Frowning, she pulled it out and turned the lamp next to the bed on. It was a picture.
In it were three people: a young girl about the age of three, Lisa guessed; a woman who was holding the girl, her reddish hair almost glowing in the mid-afternoon sun (it was too bright to be any other time of day); and finally, a man in casual attire who was standing next to the woman, one of her hands in his own. He had brown hair and a slight beard, what they called 'shadow'. But that wasn't what attracted her attention... no, it was his eyes. Piercing blue, almost as if he could see her from the picture itself. It gave her chills so she put the picture back under the pillow, but not before checking the back. It was blank.
She wondered if it was a picture of John when he was younger, maybe with his wife and kid, but the picture was somewhat new and besides this was the guest room anyways. The people in the pic must have stayed here and someone had lost the picture, not noticing it was gone when they left. How it had been left perfectly under the pillow she had no idea, but that wasn't important right now. She'd take it to John tomorrow and ask him who they were. Surely he knew.
With that thought, Lisa drifted off into a slightly troubled sleep.
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Author's Note:
Although I had not originally intended on writing a second chapter, things started coming to me and I just had to write them down. This took longer than I would have liked, but I had an accident a few days ago (fell down a flight of stairs) that left my arms and hands rather sore, along with my shoulders, back and ribs (I had to wear a brace on my right hand). Naturally this impaired my ability to type anything out, so the first half of this story remained in limbo till just a few hours ago. My fingers and such are doing fine now, but my ribs and shoulders are still sore. Nevertheless, I put the pain behind me and finished the rest of this chapter tonight and it's ready for all of you to read. I'm planning on continuing this eventually (hopefully) as well. I'm thinking 3-4 chapters total maybe. I sure hope that sounds good to you because it's downright appealing to me. Alas, the work of a writer is never done, and I usually end up being dragged from a small story into something much bigger (see: THTF).
Ok, enough talking. I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter! Injuries aside, I had a blast writing it, just like I always do.
Good night, faithful readers.
-Death
(PS: R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio. He was the singer for Heaven and Hell, the band that owns the lyrics just before the chapter starts. He passed away on May 16th of this year and in his honor I decided to look up some of his work. The song in question that the lyrics belong to is Bible Black, from H&H's only album: The Devil You Know. Check it out on YT, folks!)
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Omg moar chapters? You're the best DeathSkull ever!!! :-*
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AMNESIA PLOTS WIN AT LIFE
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Woooo!
Although the random rape thing was a bit o.0
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Awsome story man. Very awsome. I can't wait for the next chapter.
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Woooo!
Although the random rape thing was a bit o.0
I must agree. The story is amazing but you didn't need a lewd scene to make it good.
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Can haz new chapter beardskull?
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Chapter 3:
“Whoever starts out towards the unknown...
they must consent to venture alone.”
-Andre Gide
Part 1:
Lisa rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light coming in through the narrow windows at the top of the wall. She groaned and covered her eyes with her arm, almost drifting off to sleep again before a series of rapt knocks sounded in her eyes. Growling under her breath, she stood and shuffled down the hall to answer the door. It was McNabb.
“Morning,” he said, taking one look at her and then winking. “Not a morning person?”
“Not today,” she said, turning around and heading back into the main rooms. He followed her inside and laid a small box on her dresser. “What's that?” she asked, slightly curious.
“First things first. I want to know if you're interested in helping us out.”
Lisa cocked her head to one side and looked at him curiously. Work with the military? She supposed that wasn't a far cry from a security job, but the thing was... she didn't remember her security job. “What can I do for you people anyways?” she asked, crossing her arms.
McNabb took the same posture without realizing it and shrugged. “I saw what you did to Hossman. You've clearly had training of some sort, whether you remember it or not. That can be valuable to us.”
Lisa considered the situation. “How much time do I have?”
“To think things out? As long as you want, but the sooner it is, the better.”
She chuckled. “In other words, hurry the hell up.”
McNabb only smiled in response. Lisa looked at the package again, a small box about one foot wide and two feet long. It was covered in brown wrapping paper, suggesting that it had either been shipped there recently or it had simply never been opened. She ran her fingers over it slowly, taking in the texture, hearing her nails scratch the surface. She didn't really have anywhere else to go... whatever home she may have had elsewhere was now lost to her. Maybe it was time to start anew. Hell of a lot easier when you couldn't remember the important parts of your life.
“Alright, John. Count me in,” she said, picking up the package. It wasn't very heavy at all, and when she shook it there was hardly any noise, suggesting something soft within.
“Excellent. After you're ready, come to the mess hall. Breakfast starts in...” he trailed off as he checked his watch. “30 minutes.”
“I'll be there. Do I follow the signs?”
McNabb laughed. “Just follow your nose, kiddo. I'll see you there.” With that, he turned and left, shutting the door behind him.
“Geezer,” she said, shaking her head. Lisa sat the package on the bed and slit the paper wrapping with her thumbnail, peeling it off with her other hand. A nondescript brown box lay underneath, just as boring as what it came in. She pulled the top half off and looked down at the green, neatly pressed military shirt. Underneath that was a pair of green camo pants, covered in what seemed like a million pockets. Looks like the same shade of someone's lawn, she thought as she pulled the clothes on. They smelled new and fit her nicely, but she thought the shirt was a bit too tight. It'd probably been made with a man in mind.
The box was now empty except for some white socks, leaving her to wonder where her footwear was. Frowning, she walked into the hall and noticed the boots at the end by the door. McNabb had sat them down for her to see them on the way out. “Would have been nice if he'd mentioned them before he left,” she said aloud.
Once dressed, it was a quick run to the sink to brush her teeth and pull her hair into a ponytail. As she went past her bed on the way out, she remembered to grab the picture and show McNabb later. Satisfied with her looks in the mirror, she went out the door.
- - - - - - - -
“Lisa!” a voice said, calling out over the noise of the mess hall. Looking around, Lisa spotted Troy against the far wall with Anne, who was motioning with her hand rapidly to get the hell over there. Smiling, Lisa worked through the crowd and around the tables to her shipmates.
“They let you out on an unsuspecting base? That's pretty dangerous,” Troy said, a grin on his face. “Nice outfit, though. They made us keep our jumpsuits.”
Anne snorted. “I'd have thought they'd have more hospitality here. I've been in this thing for two days!”
“Oh, so that was the horrible smell that assaulted my nose when I walked in,” Lisa said, her smile turning into a grin. “I thought the rumors about base food were true, but I guess I was wrong!”
Anne made as if to slap her while Troy cracked up laughing. “No, seriously, I wanna know why you got a uniform,” he said, pulling Lisa into the line behind him.
“Wait till after we eat. I'm starving!”
The group grabbed trays, got their food (Lisa thought it smelled just fine), and took a seat at one of the nearby tables. They all dug in, especially Lisa. She thought she'd never tasted eggs better than these. Troy and Anne resorted to watching her scarf down her food.
“Hurry up,” Anne said. “I wanna know what happened regarding that uniform.”
“McNabb wants me to-” she started, but she was quickly interrupted by a man approaching the table. He was tall and had dark skin with short, curly hair that matched, dressed in a uniform that suggested a higher rank than Private.
“Miss Gogh?”
“Yes?” Lisa replied, unsure of the meaning of this.
“I just wanted to apologize for what happened last night. He was under my command and he knows better than to do what he did. His actions are a disgrace to us all. You can be sure his punishment came swiftly and heavy.”
Lisa nodded, honestly touched by the generosity of the commanders here. “I'm just glad I was able to defend myself at the time.” With skills I didn't even know I had, she thought to herself. A sudden, strong sense of confusion and despair overcame her. Who was she, really, and where had she been?
“What's your name?” Troy asked.
“DJ,” the dark man replied, smiling. “Normally you'd call me Sargent Jackson, but I'll let you folks go under the circumstances. DJ will do just fine. We'll be working together later on, Miss Gogh, which brings me to my other reason for being here: I wanted to welcome you to the team.”
Anne and Troy spun their heads in her direction simultaneously like clockwork, surprised looks on both their faces. “You're working with them?” Troy asked.
“Explains the outfit,” Anne said rather quietly. She returned her attention to her plate, pushing the food around slowly.
“What happened last night?!” Troy asked, deciding that his previous question wasn't important.
“I'll take my leave now,” DJ said, nodding respectfully at the trio and walking away. Troy, being seated across the table from Lisa and a space or two over, slid down the bench till he was in front of her. “You don't have to tell us if you don't want to,” he said. His tone suggested that he was just dying to know, however.
Anne didn't seem hungry anymore, and for that matter Lisa wasn't either. Thinking about the night before made her stomach upset, but it wasn't what he'd done that upset her. Rather, it was what she had done.
“A man attacked me last night... a soldier, to be specific. One of my cell guards. Well, it wasn't so much an attack as it was a feeling up, if you get my drift. I suppose if I'd been drugged to where I couldn't do anything in response, it would have went into... full fledged rape, I guess. He didn't drug me, though,” she said, looking down at the table. “I was nearly asleep when he came in... he messed around for a minute or two, nothing heavy... and then it got scary.”
Troy swallowed, his throat so dry it was audible. Reaching out, he placed a hand on her arm and squeezed lightly. “It's ok,” he said, offering a small smile. “Everything ended up all right, didn't it?”
Lisa looked up from the table and directly into his eyes, a cold smile forming on her face. “Not for him, it didn't,” she said, and then she looked back down at the table, her smile fading. Troy removed his hand all the same. He suddenly had the chills.
“That's the scary part,” she continued. “Deep down, I think every woman or girl fears rape, just as I can imagine that deep down, every man loves having complete control in the bedroom. It's a subconscious thing, really. But I wasn't afraid, and that's the part that scares me. When I was laying there, it was like I was waiting for the perfect moment to strike... like a predator and its prey. And I actually took him on with my bare hands, using skills I didn't even know I had. It just happened fluidly, like I'd been doing it for years.”
Troy looked over at Anne, the both of them raising their eyebrows. Anne glanced over at Lisa and started to put her hand on her shoulder as a motion of comfort, then pulled back. “How much do you remember of your life before we crashed?” she asked.
“Only a vague outline,” Lisa replied. “It's like looking at a picture and you have a blind spot right in front of you, so you can only see the edges. So for me... I only have hints as to what I've done. I have a edge to my memories, but the main part, the important part... it's gone.”
“What about the working with them part?” Troy re-asked.
“She has skills that we think will be of great use to us,” McNabb said, walking up to the table from out of nowhere, it seemed.
“So you want to use her?”
“Son, that'd mean us putting a gun to her head and making her do what we wanted. Rest assured, I asked her what she wanted and she made a choice. Don't hold that against me. We don't need any more trouble right now. We meaning the military, of course”
Troy seemed to dislike the outcome all the same. “Shouldn't you be helping her with her problems? She's lost a portion of her life, just in case you didn't notice. I'd have her someplace safe and getting therapy for her.”
McNabb nodded. “I agree completely, Troy. The military is probably the best therapy anyone could ever get, and she'll be pretty darn safe right here in the heart of this base. Thinking of signing up now?”
Anne snorted. “She's safe, all right. We were told about last night.”
McNabb visibly bristled at the mention of that incident. “Those were the actions of a man, not a soldier. Keep that in mind before you judge us.”
Silence descended on the group as they all shared glances at one another. Troy seemed almost angry; Anne was almost wary: McNabb stood unmoving at the head of the table, his appearance stern. Only Lisa seemed composed and calm, at least on the outside. In her mind however, thoughts were bouncing all over the place and one thing ran into another, everything seeming to be one jumbled mess. She was beginning to wish that whatever she'd been doing before getting on that ship, she'd stuck with it.
“If that's all for now, I'd like the three of you to come with me to the ship,” McNabb said finally, and the ice broke just like that.
“All of us?” Troy asked, a frown forming on his face.
“Your records said you're part of the security team on the ship. To be specific, you're over video and audio. That means cameras and whatnot. Anne is co-pilot, it's a no-brainer for her, and Lisa was on it too. Who knows, maybe being back on the ship will help her remember something.”
“Well, let's go!” Anne said as she stood. “Lead the way!”
McNabb nodded and motioned for them to follow him. “We'll take a few minutes to get suited up and we're outta here.”
- - - - - - -
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^^^Make sure you read Part1!^^^
Part 2:
- - - - - - - - -
“I hate forests,” Troy said as he nearly tripped over the third bundle of roots they'd come across in the last half hour. “It seems like I do worse walking around here when I can actually see where the hell I'm going!”
Lisa smiled and patted him on the back. “You're doing all right for a nerd,” she said, prompting him to playfully slap at her. Giggling, she jumped away and nearly bumped into another soldier, her Kevlar armor adding some extra weight to her body that she wasn't used to. “Sorry!”
The soldier smiled and nodded in return and Lisa jogged up ahead by McNabb, out of Troy's reach. “Where are the other three people?” she asked. “The ones we got off with.”
Troy shifted the weight of his pack from one shoulder to the other and ran up beside McNabb as well. “Yeah, I wanna know what you did with them.”
The commander smirked and looked over at Troy. “Relax. We didn't hurt them either. They're with the other group.”
Anne, who was walking ahead of them by about 10 feet with a pack of her own, almost halted.
“Other group?” Lisa asked. “You didn't mention them in the armory when we suited up.”
McNabb looked straight ahead. “Information is on a need to know basis. It's not imperative that you know about everything pertaining the mission right from the start. Besides, we need something to talk about on the way there.”
Troy grunted in frustration as well as exhaustion. “I can see where this is going.”
“If you don't like it son, you can just turn around and head back.”
“I thought you needed me to examine the video and audio on the ship?”
McNabb laughed. “Thanks for reminding me. You're not going anywhere.”
Troy stopped in his tracks and glared at the commander. “Are you playing with me? Huh?”
“Well, I don't know. Am I?”
Lisa ran a hand over her face, surprised to feel how much she was sweating, even in the shade. “Break it up, guys, and break out the rags and bottled water. I'm dying over here!”
Anne did a 180 and came back to them, sliding her pack from her shoulders. “That's the best thing I've heard for the past 40 minutes,” she said, unzipping the pack and pulling out the plastic bottles. She tossed one to each of them, then rummaged some more for some hand towels. “A pistol in here too? You guys really come loaded.” It was the first time she'd really spoken since they'd left the base.
“Have to,” McNabb said, spinning the cap off his bottle and taking a sip as they all took a seat on two logs sitting parallel to one another. The few unnamed soldiers stood off to the side, apparently not interested in engaging in conversation with with them.
“My throat goes dry just looking at the water,” Lisa said with a smile.
“Mine too,” Troy added. “I'm glad we didn't forget anything. One more reason to hate a forest: getting stuck out here without something important. Reminds me of camping trips when I was a kid. I wasn't much of an outdoors man back then either, so no one left the managing of the gear up to me. I was bound to forget something.”
“I hope you're not like that on a job,” Anne said.
“No, I grew out of it,” Troy replied. “Not to say I haven't slipped up a few times...”
“Well, as long as you don't screw up today we're all good,” McNabb said.
Troy nodded. “I think you might do more than make verbal jabs at me if I did. Say, don't you have any experience with security systems, being a base commander and all?”
“Some, but it's mostly left to the technicians at the base.”
“Any of them very good?” Troy asked, curious.
“Good? Son, this is the military! You're either nearly goddamn perfect at your job or you don't get in,” McNabb replied, a serious look on his face.
“Sorry... I guess 'good' isn't the word I'm looking for,” Troy said, sounding almost apologetic. He hung his head and quietly sipped his water.
“Maybe experienced is what he means,” Lisa offered, putting her own water by her side. She slid to the ground and raised her knees in front of her, wrapping her arms around them.
“Oh,” McNabb said. After a moment of silence: “Sorry kid.”
Troy nodded. “Me too, about the harsh remarks and all.”
McNabb smiled. “Not too many have taken to my wisecracks over the years, so I wouldn't expect you to do it. There were a couple of people that were born to trade jabs with me, though! But back to your question: not really. Nothing much has happened out this way since the shit went down with Karith a few years ago.”
Lisa cocked her head to one side, curious. “You keep mentioning that name.”
“Karith? You don't reme- oh, right, you don't... well, I'll tell you later. It's a hell of a long story and we need to keep moving.”
Slightly disappointed, Lisa stood with the others and made sure the knife she'd been given at the base was still on her. It was. Satisfied, she helped Troy get his pack back on and they fell into step behind Anne again, who had resumed taking the 10-foot lead and being silent.
“How much farther?” Troy asked, dreading the walk ahead of him. McNabb only chuckled and kept going.
“I hate when he does that,” Troy said, groaning.
- - - - - - - - -
“Damn, it looks like someone got the biggest hammer in the galaxy and went to town on it,” Anne said, shadowing her eyes with her hand. The others pulled up around her while the soldiers went straight for the ship to take care of business. Lisa also shadowed her eyes from the sun to get a better look. They'd left the forest behind some 100 feet back and headed west a couple dozen yards (thus leaving them in the middle of a rather large clearing) to see the full extent of the wreckage.
“Well, as I was going to say before Mister Bitchy here opened his mouth: the turbulence and momentum from the ship starting its descent at such a great height pretty much tore a ton of the outer hull off and seriously damaged the engine area when it landed,” McNabb said, motioning towards the messy end of the ship. “It's not a frigate, for the love of God. We're talking about a ship that has a maximum passenger hold of about 40 people, maybe 45 tops, and then there's the cargo it's hauling, too. It's a weak thing.”
“Thanks for giving us a detailed description of our own ship,” Troy snapped, clearly not in a good mood after all that traveling.
“That's more like it,” McNabb said with a grin.
“What about that other group you mentioned?” Lisa asked.
“They're over there about half a mile,” McNabb replied as he pointed further west. “Investigating some escape pods that launched from the ship as it fell. We saw the whole damn light show from the base, which lead to us finding you along the path yesterday. Just our luck you happened to be heading right for the colony.”
Troy shook his head. “That's impossible.”
“What is?” Lisa asked.
“Someone using an escape pod to get away from the ship as we went down. The computer network was still running perfectly fine when we all woke up, right Anne?”
“Thanks to the generators, of course. They store energy as the ship is running so that in the event the ship can't get off the ground because of a kink in the power links or the engines die completely in mid-flight, there will still be enough power on the ship to activate emergency lights and safety measures, as well as keep the computers fine and dandy,” Anne said. “What's your point?”
“It gave us a body count of all the people on board and everyone was accounted for just as we were leaving, including the dead ones. No one had left the ship until we did.”
McNabb suddenly moved into action. Pointing to the two closest soldiers, he said: “You and you, head to the other group site right now. Weapons at the ready, and keep in radio contact with us. They've got theirs set to the wrong frequency or something or I'd contact them myself. Move it!”
“Yes sir!” they shouted in unison, trotting for the line of trees. McNabb turned to Anne, every hint of humor gone from his face. It was all business right now.
“Ship number, what is it?” he nearly shouted, calling another soldier with a laptop over to him. The soldier flipped open the lid and poised his fingers over the keys. “Good, we're close enough to one of our broadcast towers to pick up the network,” McNabb said. “Thank God for small favors. What's the number?!”
Anne shook her head and backed away slowly, extremely unnerved by his sudden anger. “I'm not sure I can-”
“The fucking ship ID number! NOW!”
“FGI75-9UK12Y4!” she shouted back, nearly bursting into tears. Lisa went over and put an arm around Anne's shoulder. Funny that she'd be comforting someone else now, with her memory like it was.
“Thank you.”
The soldier entered the code rapidly, and it wasn't 30 seconds before the return beep sounded. “I knew it,” McNabb said, running a hand through his hair.
“Knew what?” Troy asked, being sure to stay at least five feet away from the commander.
“It's a passenger ship/cargo freighter, sure, but it belongs to Karith. The ID is registered to them, anyways. Hot damn, the rumors are true. They're still at work even after the bulk of the company went under. Life's a bitch and then you die.”
“What'd they do that was so bad?!” Lisa asked, her confusion and frustration piling back all at once. She hated not knowing what was going on.
McNabb turned to the ship, where the other soldiers had finally cracked the door open. “You're about to find out,” he said as he started for the hunk of wasted metal. “Let's go.”
Troy and Lisa shared a scared look with Anne, then followed him.
I have a bad feeling about this, Lisa said to herself as they climbed back through the doorway they'd exited from the day before, a landmark in her memory that seemed a thousand miles away.
She had no idea how bad it was... and that it was only going to get worse.
- - - - - - - - -
Author's Note:
At long last I got this baby posted. Hope you all enjoy it, and be assured that #4 will get here much quicker. ;)
-Death
PS: Went through and fixed a couple spelling errors and changed a couple words to make it flow better. It's about 1 in the morning here now... not the best time to finish up a story, eh? Also thanks to Creature for noticing a spacing error. I'm doing all my writing before dusk from now on. :P
-
I love you death :-*
You put an extra space between Kevlar and armor 8)
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Finally!
Still awesome though, worth the wait.
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Agreed! Very nicely done!
-
Chapter 4:
“You searched for answers that refused to ever be found ...”
-Delain
It was dark in here, and the air smelled stale and tasted dry. Or maybe that was her throat again. Unscrewing the cap on her water bottle, Lisa took another sip and swished it around in her mouth a bit before swallowing it. Much better.
Troy slid his pack off and leaned it against the wall, nearly collapsing. His face was red and his shirt was soaked with sweat, clinging to his body like some strange alien life-form. His water bottle appeared to be empty so Lisa handed him the rest of hers, assuring him it was fine and that she didn't want any more.
“Well, I think your generators died,” McNabb said as he looked around. “No lights on, no nothing.”
Troy shook his head. “I doubt it. Chances are the computer probably shut the lights off to conserve power and then went to sleep. Right, Anne?”
“Pretty much,” she replied. “I can go start it again from the cockpit, but I need a flashlight.”
McNabb tossed her one. “Let us know when you get things running.”
“Oh, you'll know,” she said, flicking the flashlight on and moving down the hall. She hooked a right at the corner and vanished.
“Is it just me or did she make that line sound creepy?” Troy asked, looking around cautiously, as if he expected some hidden defense system to come online at any second and kill them. There was nothing but silence, however. It unnerved all of them.
Lisa lowered herself to her knees and folded her hands on her lap, almost in a praying position. The other, still-yet-unnamed soldiers had stayed outside to stand watch, looking out for any natural predators and the occasional person or group of people from the colony on a hike. “There's a sense of familiarity here,” Lisa said, looking at the floor. “When I'm here on the ship, I feel like... I'm almost in touch with whatever it is I don't know.”
“Probably because you woke up here,” McNabb said from his position by the wall. “It's a starting point for you, so you're probably hoping that whatever secrets your mind is holding, the key to unlock them is somewhere on this ship. Or maybe someone who was here on the ship that died knew who you were. It's a Karith vessel, we established that much-”
“But you don't think the people aboard had hostile intent?” Troy asked, interjecting.
“So far I don't, but there's clearly reason to be worried and suspicious,” McNabb said. “Someone ejected an escape pod for one reason or another, and I intend to find out what was so important that it had to be removed from the ship. Either the person who did it was trying to save something, or maybe it was a message... or that pod contains something that we're not supposed to see.”
Lisa raised her head. “I wonder if it has anything to do with me,” she asked aloud, more to herself than to the other two. She had a dazed look in her eyes, as if she were somewhere far away mentally. Concerned, Troy moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. Her eyes didn't move; she hadn't registered his touch at all.
“Don't go jumping at shadows,” Troy said. “Okay? We'll figure this all out together, as a team. Right now we need to solve the problems that are at hand.”
Lisa nodded slowly, eyes still never wavering. “Of course,” she said, finally looking at him. “Remember the mission. Stick with the plan, soldier,” she added, smiling.
Troy's eyes widened as she spoke these last words, which had also garnered a sharp look from McNabb. It wasn't the words she said, exactly, but how she said them: almost in a commanding tone. None of the two men had time to inquire further: just then the power came back on, flooding the ship with white, fluorescent light. A smooth, female voice came in over the comms. “Welcome to the Explorer,” it said. “We hope you enjoy your trip!”
“I want a goddamn refund,” Lisa said, standing abruptly and moving for the main hold. Troy only stared at her as she walked away, confused and almost afraid. Heart beating a bit faster than normal, he also rose to his feet and started after her, but McNabb reached out and grasped his forearm, stopping him.
“I would be wary if I were you,” he warned, his face stern, his lips pressed into a tight line. “It's clear to any halfwit that watches you fumble around her that she's got your heart, hook, line, and sinker. We don't know what she's hiding, so be on your best guard around her for a while. I don't know if you knew her before...”
Troy dropped his eyes to the floor hastily, suddenly unable to hold McNabb's gaze. His face displayed a range of emotions, but the most prevalent were what looked like fear and worry, perhaps a bit of longing mixed in. “I guess I didn't know half as much as I thought I did,” he said, walking off before McNabb had a chance to process what he said, let alone respond. There's clearly more than meets the eye here, McNabb thought to himself. This isn't over, not by a long shot.
John followed in Troy's footsteps down the hall to the main room of the ship. The first thing he noticed upon entering was that it was starting to smell: the stench of death had hardly left, and decay was setting in slowly. It wasn't unbearable yet, thank god, but he had no intention of sticking around for the afterlife party. “I think we ought to make this as fast as possible,” he said to the others, and they all nodded in agreement. All except for Lisa, who stood back against the wall, away from the others. Her arms were crossed and her gaze steady, her face aimed towards the rear of the ship, as if staring the place down would help her remember anything. John touched her on the shoulder and she responded almost instantly, turning his way and smiling. Old Lisa was back, for now.
“Was woolgathering,” she said, sounding slightly apologetic. Now there was a term McNabb hadn't heard in a while.
“It's fine,” he replied, offering a smile of his own now that his heart was slightly less troubled, at least for the moment. “Listen up, folks. Here are your assigned roles: Lisa, you'll be sticking with me as I explore the barracks and storage areas. Troy, I want you to get into the system and see what visual and audio evidence you can find in the 6 hours or so before the ship crashed, but first I want you to get me and Lisa through any locked doors we come across-”
“Not possible,” Anne interjected. “The ship goes into total lockdown in the event of a major emergency.”
“I'd say this qualifies as major,” Troy said.
“I'll have to override the locks myself from the cockpit, and we can stay in audio touch through the intercom system with this,” Anne continued, reaching into her pocket and removing a small earpiece with a mic attached and tossing it to McNabb. He put it on and made sure it was activated.
“Sounds good,” he said, giving a thumbs up. “Let's get to work, people.”
While Anne made her way to the co-pilots seat, Troy inquired about the audio files. “I can fast forward through the vid records myself and watch for anything suspicious, but 6 hours of audio? That's going to be a bitch. Unless...”
“Unless what?” Lisa asked, finally joining in.
“Well, I can have the computer scan through it in record time, but I'd need some keywords for the system to listen for. For example, if I want it to look for pie, it'll save any logs related to pie whatsoever, for that time frame. Give me some words and I'm good to go.”
McNabb sighed. “Well, Karith is an obvious one. This is a Karith ship, but it's a public passenger and cargo transport ship, so the only people who'd be likely to even mention Karith would be people affiliated with them.”
Troy nodded and tapped on the keyboard while McNabb narrowed his eyes at something across the room. He started walking over there, hand on the butt of his blaster. Lisa followed behind him, slightly curious. What did he see?
“Ok, got it. Computer, how about a lifeform reading to start us off?” Troy asked, clearly enthused by the fact that everything was in working order, more or less.
“There are five beings currently residing on the Explorer,” the computer replied in its smooth, womanly voice.
“Say what?!” Troy exclaimed, his eyes wide. “Me, Lisa, Anne... McNabb... that's only four! The other soldiers stayed outside to guard the ship. What the hell...?” He swiveled in his chair and ran a hand over his face. “There's someone still alive on here... there has to be!”
“Or something,” McNabb said, crouching down by the door that Lisa and Troy had met Anne at when they first escaped the crashed ship. He picked something up off the floor and stood, his back still towards Lisa. She was confused and suddenly afraid.
“What is it?” she asked, trying to peek around his shoulder. He had something in his hand.
“You might want to add a new word to that audio search,” McNabb said, turning around at last. “Aliens.”
Troy tapped on his keyboard while McNabb stepped forward into the light. Held tightly between his index finger and his thumb was the remains of what looked like the amputated limb of some large insect. Lisa shuddered as she remembered the pattering sound from the time she had woken up. Did this belong to one of those... things?
“Did you say.. alien?” Lisa asked, almost bewildered. “I don't think this is the time for jokes.”
McNabb smiled. “I'm not joking. The creature this leg belongs to is extremely insectile, about the size of a basketball, and has a sort of dirty orange colored exoskeleton. Very dangerous, and that's no understatement. So are its brethren.”
Lisa swallowed, unable to take her eyes away from the leg. “Brethren?”
“Oh yeah, there's lots of them. Bigger ones, too.”
“Sounds like you're speaking from experience,” Troy said as he walked over, taking a closer look at the leg.
“I wish I wasn't,” McNabb replied, his face going slightly pale. “Those are times... well, I'd be better off forgetting them.”
“Do you have a name for it?” Lisa asked, finally looking McNabb in the eyes. What he said next gave her chills.
“I have no idea what the hell they call themselves, if they even use those chatters and roars to communicate anything beyond taunts and victory cries. As for ourselves: we called them dretches.”
I know that word, Lisa thought to herself, a feeling of euphoria washing over her as she realized she had finally remembered something that was, well, worth remembering. She didn't know how she did, or when she had learned it... but the word called out to her from some distant island in the vast wasteland that was her mind. It was a step forward at last. She suddenly found herself genuinely smiling for the first time since she'd woken up, and the feeling of true happiness... yes, she remembered that too.
Troy, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to what was happening to her. He was transfixed by the strangeness... the alienness of what McNabb had found. “You said there were more?” he asked, tearing himself away from the limb and returning to his seat.
“Bigger ones, yes,” McNabb replied, setting the dretch leg on a nearby table. “This goes back to the base with us,” he said, giving Troy a stern look. “Bag it up while we wai-”
Without warning, the locks slid back with a thud and the doors hissed open, revealing the dimly lit hallways of the barrack halls and the way to the storage area beyond.
“You're a real peach,” McNabb said aloud, smirking.
“And right on time, as usual,” Anne said over the intercom. “Better get your asses moving. We haven't got all day.”
vvv Part II below! vvv
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^^^ Part I Above! ^^^
“Sure thing,” McNabb said, turning the safety on his blaster off and moving through the doorway. “Come on, Lisa. Let's see where the dark, grey road leads us.”
Lisa reluctantly followed, being sure to stay behind McNabb and out of his way. She didn't want to interfere with whatever he'd be doing. As for finding out where the road led... well, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know. “Searching for answers that refuse to ever be found,” Lisa said quietly under her breath, but McNabb was apparently gifted with supernatural hearing, as he heard every word.
“Oh, we'll find the answers,” he said, smiling lightly as if to assure her that everything would be a-okay.
On that subject, Lisa certainly hoped so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They trekked onward some 40 feet or so, moving carefully around the debris in the very dim light provided by the emergency lights. Apparently the connection to the overhead fluorescent tubes had been cut in the crash, unlike the rest of the ship. Lisa found herself thankful that it was as dark as it was; it meant she didn't have to see what lay in the shadows. Bugs and dust and dead bodies... the very thought made her shiver. She rubbed her arms through her jumpsuit and stayed close to McNabb, who apparently knew exactly where he wanted to go. “Storage?” she asked.
“The escape pods are located back there as well. I want to see who launched it and locate a hint as to what it was they sent off, if there's any hints to be found,” McNabb replied as he ducked through a doorway. “Something big and important was hidden on this ship, and I intend to find out exactly what.”
“Involving the aliens?” she asked, feeling strange for even having to use that word. Aliens... that was something that humanity had long made up stories about, but had never seen... but hadn't McNabb seen them? “And what about what you mentioned earlier... you used the word dretches?”
“I'll tell you about that later,” McNabb said as they reached the door to the storage area. “Anne, this door is stuck. Fix it for me?”
“Kick it. It always had a habit of sticking.”
McNabb gave it the boot and it slid open with a hiss. “Flashlights on,” he said, pulling his out and switching it on. Lisa searched her belt for hers, but no luck. Food packet, check. Knife, check. Flashlight, no check. Frustrated, she told McNabb she didn't have one, but they were in luck as he'd brought an extra. She took it and switched it on, cautiously aiming it around the room as they entered it.
“What are we looking for, specifically?” she asked, peering at the crates around them, wooden and metal alike.
“That,” he said, pointing towards the row of escape pods along the left wall. Each pod had a circular 'iris' style door that opened when the emergency systems activated, ready to be launched. All of the doors here were shut, however. All except for one: that pod was missing entirely and now lay on the surface of the planet, in the woods not far from here.
“Look over there,” McNabb said, aiming his light at a body against the wall; that of a man about age 40, with short brown hair that was receding. He wore a white jumpsuit, similar to the other ship crew, and it too had a company logo. “Ten dollars says he's the one who send the pod off. Probably worked back here, stacking boxes.”
Lisa nodded and turned her light to the right, then screamed. McNabb jumped slightly and looked at where she was pointing the beam. It was the remains of a crate, now broken into pieces. That wasn't what made her scream, however; it was the large green leg poking out from under the debris. Moving slowly and carefully, McNabb walked over and kicked a piece of wood aside, revealing a fat green creature about the size of a 5 gallon barrel of water. Seeing that it didn't move, he decided to kneel beside it.
“What is it?” Lisa asked, moving a bit closer but still not wanting to get with touching distance.
“Granger. They're the builders.”
Lisa didn't inquire more about that just yet, since there would be time for questions later. “Is it alive? Is that the thing the computer picked up?”
McNabb shook his head and rose from his position on the floor. “Dead as a damn doornail. Whatever the system was talking about, it's somewhere else on this ship. Let's go back to the main hold. I've found all I need to.”
The two of them exited through the door they came in, moving quickly down the hall. They were about halfway down it when Lisa stopped in front of an open doorway, peering through it with a strange look on her face.
“What is it?” McNabb asked, standing next to her. “Was this your room?”
She nodded slowly, as if in a trance. Maybe she was on one of those memory hunting binges again, but McNabb hoped not. She got weird when she was like that.
“Mind if I take a peek inside?”
She nodded again and backed up a couple feet, giving him room to move past her. While he was busy exploring the darkened sleeping quarters, Lisa stayed out in the hall. A sudden mention of her name brought her out of her trance and into reality.
“Lisa!”
She blinked and looked down the hall, only to see Anne standing there. “What are you doing?” Lisa asked, frowning. “Aren't you supposed to be in the cockpit?”
Anne walked towards her and reached out, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the room door. “You've already seen what's back there, haven't you?”
“If you mean all the boxes and the dead guy and the... the granger, yeah,” Lisa replied, pulling her arm away from Anne's grasp. “Why the hell are you asking me- wait, do you know something?”
Anne looked around them and leaned closer, placing her lips next to Lisa's ear. “Yeah, I know something. I know a lot of things, including the story behind those aliens... I might even know about you.”
This last statement made her heart go faster. Was it possible? This woman was clearly more than just a co-pilot, unless she was bluffing. Lisa didn't think she was bluffing, though... or maybe she just really, really hoped Anne was telling the truth. “I assume you're not going to just hand this information over,” Lisa said, the idea that her identity was possibly so close yet so far away threatening to dampen her mood slightly. But I could be me again as soon as tomorrow, she thought. A trickle of fear dripped into her heart at the thought of finding out the truth. What if it was something I was better off forgetting?
“Actually, I will,” Anne replied, backing away and smiling. “As soon as we get back to the base and somewhere private, I'll open up about- what the hell?”
Lisa saw Anne's eyes go wide a split second before the low growl reached her ears, sounding almost like a purr. Neither of them had time to move. Some pink, long-legged thing leapt off the wall and onto Anne's face, some thing that was all teeth and eyes and thrashing limbs. Anne began to scream as she backed into the wall, raising her hands to pull the voracious alien off her, but it was to no avail. The thing wrapped its tail around her throat to both silence her and get a tighter grip as it tore at her face with its teeth, blood flowing like a river to the floor. In a matter of seconds the co-pilot stopped convulsing in pain and went still, dropping to the floor. As for the pink thing itself, it jumped off her face gracefully and gripped the wall, looking right at Lisa.
McNabb came running out just in time to see Anne drop like a sack of potatoes, halting in his tracks when he spotted the alien. “Basilisk!” he exclaimed, reaching for the blaster that he'd reholstered as they left the storage room. Lisa, however, was far faster. Moving with a speed previously unknown to her, she unsheathed her knife and threw it, impaling the basilisk on seven inches of steel. The thing squealed and dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. Gritting her teeth, Lisa stepped on its head, crushing it to death.
“Guess that other lifeform found us,” McNabb said, moving past her to kneel next to Anne. He placed two fingers on her throat, then looked away. “She's dead,” he said, removing his jacket and laying it over her head and torso. “Help me carry her to the main room.”
Lisa grabbed the feet while McNabb lifted the body from the shoulders, and together they carried the woman out of the hallway and to a table next to the one the dretch leg laid on. Shocked, Troy got up and ran over to them. “What the hell happened?!”
“Alien got her, but Lisa killed it. We don't have to worry about that fifth being on the ship. Number just dropped to three,” McNabb said. Troy reached for the jacket covering Anne's face, but the older man stopped him. “It's not pretty,” he said, his face grim. “How goes your job?”
Troy sighed and stepped back, putting his hands into his pockets. “Nothing on the vid at all. There's no cameras in storage and very few in the barracks area. Most of them are out here, in the pilot area, the eating area and the engine rooms. Apparently the computer picked up a couple things on the audio, so I had those files transferred to a flash drive. We can listen back at the base.”
“That's what I wanted to hear. Stick that leg in your pack and lets find a stretcher for Anne. We're taking her back with us.”
“Yes sir,” Troy said as he got to work. “Meet you outside.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun was high in the sky by the time they finished, so Lisa guessed it was about 1 in the afternoon. She was sitting by the stretcher that Anne's body was laying on. They had wrapped her in some white sheets they'd found in a locker, some small red spots growing where... where her face had been. Lisa was depressed. Anne might have been lying, but something told her that the co-pilot had been the key she'd been seeking. And now she was dead, and her memories still yet laid beyond some locked door in her mind.
“Fucking aliens,” she said, her dead down. John and Troy stood nearby, conversing with the soldiers.
“Once we're at base you'll take her to the freezer room, so we can keep her body cold,” McNabb explained to the two soldiers, messing with his data-pad. “Troy, I want you-”
“Hey! Look over there!” Troy interrupted, pointing over McNabb's shoulder towards the treeline. The commander turned and Lisa looked up. It was the second group from the base, the one that had investigated the escape pod. Four soldiers and the two other people from the ship; two of the soldiers carried a large metal container by its handles between them.
“What the hell?! I've been trying to raise you on the radio for the last God knows how long!” McNabb shouted over the distance.
“We got the wrong frequency!” one of the soldiers shouted back. “But I think we found the right thing at the pod!” he added, pointing to the aforementioned container.
“Was it locked?” McNabb asked as they drew closer.
“The pod? Probably, but the crash rendered that feature completely useless. The damn thing it hit a rock on the way down, busted the door to hell. Took a little prying, but that bitch revealed her secrets to us. This box, on the the other hand...”
“Figured as much,” McNabb said. “We're heading back to base right now. Lisa, ready to go?”
Lisa stood and nodded. “I guess,” she replied.
“Alright then,” McNabb said as the soldiers in their group lifted the stretcher. “Let's get home, folks.”
"Amen to that!" Troy exclaimed.
Lisa thought it was music to her ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note:
Sorry about the rather long delay on this chapter. I've been really busy and whatnot and haven't found time to write, but I set this evening aside to finally get a move on and do Chapter 4. The story as we know it is starting to wrap up, but rest assured that we haven't seen the last of Lisa, McNabb, or even the protagonist of The Harder They Fall, Mac Turner. They'll all be back at some future date, I'm sure.
Thank you all for reading, as always, and I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 5 is coming soon! I'm serious this time!
-Death
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BIG <3
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that was pretty intensely epic
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Dude this story is addicting. But I must point out:
Alien got her, but Lisa killed it. We don't have to worry about that fifth being on the ship. Number just dropped to three,” McNabb said. Troy reached for the jacket covering Anne's face, but the older man stopped him. “It's not pretty,” he said, his face grim. “How goes your job?”
do you mean fifth, or filth?
-
Dude this story is addicting. But I must point out:
Alien got her, but Lisa killed it. We don't have to worry about that fifth being on the ship. Number just dropped to three,” McNabb said. Troy reached for the jacket covering Anne's face, but the older man stopped him. “It's not pretty,” he said, his face grim. “How goes your job?”
do you mean fifth, or filth?
Definitely 'fifth'. There's only four of them on the ship currently, and they were wondering what mysterious being #5 was (the one the computer mentioned). The basilisk was killed and Anne was also killed, thus:
"We don't have to worry about that fifth being on the ship. Number just dropped to three,” McNabb said.
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Ah. K.
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Dude this story is addicting. But I must point out:
Alien got her, but Lisa killed it. We don't have to worry about that fifth being on the ship. Number just dropped to three,” McNabb said. Troy reached for the jacket covering Anne's face, but the older man stopped him. “It's not pretty,” he said, his face grim. “How goes your job?”
do you mean fifth, or filth?
???
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Skulleh, you never cease to amaze, as well as make me want to write more
Can't wait for chapter 5!
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I think I see some Robert Ludlum influences. Am I right?
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I think I see some Robert Ludlum influences. Am I right?
Well, the fact that I had to look the guy up would say no. :P
I've heard of the movies, though. I remember the advertisements on T.V.
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I mention, because Lisa reminds me of Bourne. They both have memory loss, and both appear to have some serious skills that are tied to a sinister past. You really gotta watch one or two of those movies (or read the book if have time). You'll see just how alike your character seems.
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Bourne trilogy ftw.
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Chapter 5:
“Oh, it makes me wonder
What if I slip, will they catch me
Or watch me fall?
I am walking on a wire.”
- Third Day
Crack.
Lisa visibly winced as she stepped on a fallen branch. Cursing her clumsiness, she knelt next to a tree and placed a hand on the lower branches, pushing them out of the way. She narrowed her eyes as she peered through the bushes ahead, trying to see what was happening at the base. Some sort of commotion had started to take place in their absence, and from the way the small group of men and women out in front of the base were dressed, she guessed they were officials and law enforcement from the colony down the hill.
“Great,” McNabb muttered as he moved up next to her. “Just what we needed... more problems.”
“I guess this doesn't bode well for us?” Troy asked, squinting to see better. “Ten dollars says they're here for us and the ship.”
“That's a bet you'd win,” McNabb replied, holding up his right hand in a fist. Behind them, the group of soldiers halted and sat both the stretcher and the metal box down. “Troy, look here,” McNabb said.
Troy turned his head and frowned. “Wha-”
Wham!
“Fuck!” he yelled as McNabb punched him in the nose. Losing his balance, he fell backwards into the dirt and dead leaves. “Fucker! Trying to break my no-”
The older man reached out and placed a hand over Troy's mouth. “Be quiet. Do you think those men out there would believe that all of you came without a fight?” he asked, motioning to the officials in front of the base as he spoke.”That's what I thought.”
“Sir?” asked one of the soldiers behind them. “What about the crate and the body?”
McNabb looked at him for a moment, then to his right, through the trees. “Well, if you go that way, you can get around to the back of the base relatively undisturbed and hopefully unseen, and take the other two passengers with you. Two of my men, stay here. The others: just let the guard out back know I said it's okay to go in that way and he'll open up. Take the crate to the science team, but tell them to wait till I arrive to open the damn thing. I know they'll be freaking out when they lay their eyes on it, but maintain the rules: not till I arrive, understand? Can you do that?”
“Sir, yes sir,” replied the soldier. “And the body, sir?” he asked again.
Sighing, McNabb looked out at the officials. “Where else? Take her to the morgue.”
Nodding, the group of soldiers, along with the passengers, moved through the trees as quickly and quietly as they could. McNabb couldn't help but wince at every twig snap.
“Come on,” he said to Troy and Lisa.
- - - - - - - -
Agent Carstairs looked up as Commander McNabb approached with the man and woman in tow. Brushing his suit off, he stepped forward and extended a hand. “Hello sir. I'm Special Agent Jeff Carstairs, of the Palanthia Colony Security Force, or PCSF if you need an abbreviation. The men and women with me here are members of the task force.”
“Sorry if I don't stop to shake your hand,” McNabb said, moving past with the prisoners. “Kinda busy here.”
“Certainly, sir,” Carstairs said, following him into the base. The automated doors slid open with a hiss as they approached, and the rush of cool air felt like a blessing to him. It was so damn hot out this time of year. Wiping his brow with a cloth napkin, he considered asking where the water fountain was, but McNabb was moving full speed ahead and showed no signs of stopping.
“They're from the ship, aren't they?” Carstairs inquired.
“Maybe. What's it to you?”
“I'd like an audience with them. A personal one, if you don't mind. Get some names, run a few history checks, find out what's going on with them. I represent the security force for the entire colony, and I want to do my job when it comes to keeping the people safe.”
McNabb slid open a cell door and pushed Troy inside rather harshly, sending Lisa in after him and slamming the door shut with a clang. “With all due respect, Agent Carstairs, I do mind. These are my prisoners, and as I told someone earlier, they're safer in here than they are any place out there.”
“They're safer? What? I meant the people in the colony. Who do you need to keep them safe from?” Carstairs asked, gesturing to Lisa and Troy.
“From people like you,” McNabb replied, putting an arm around the agent's shoulders and leading him to the front of the base. “People with prying eyes and big noses and fingers that just won't stay still. I'll take care of this business myself, without your help, understood? And if I should ever need you, I'll give you a call.”
As they reached the doors, McNabb pushed the agent outside and slammed a button on a nearby panel.
“Here's my car-” Carstairs started to say, but the doors slid shut and locked. Gritting his teeth, the agent brushed his suit off with his hands and turned to his subordinates. “Bastard,” he muttered. “Let's go back to town.”
- - - - - - - -
Flustered, McNabb headed back to the cell and let the wrongly 'imprisoned' ship crew out. “I really don't like that guy,” McNabb said.
“History?” Troy asked, lightly touching his nose and wincing.
“Yeah, sort of. We go back a couple years.”
“Well, at least you have one,” Lisa muttered, running her fingers through her hair.
“Hey, you shouldn't complain too much,” Troy said. “I mean, you could have a nearly broken nose, like me!”
“Speaking of noses, how's yours?” McNabb asked.
“You hit it. It hurts.”
“Enough said,” McNabb replied. “Now that the pretentious prick from the colony down below is gone, I guess we ought to bust our asses and get over to the science center. I want to know what's in that metal crate.”
Sniffling, Lisa regathered her hair into a ponytail and exhaled slowly. “Alright, let's go. Will you make it, Troy?” she asked him, a sly smile on her face.
Half-scowling, Troy straightened up and looked down at her with a stern expression. “Why, darling, I'll have you know that we video technicians are no weak, sickly bunch. Contrary to popular belief, we are in fact brave enough to stare death in the face for five whole seconds before screaming and running for the nearest bunker!”
Giggling, Lisa punched him on the shoulder. “I bet if I hit your nose again you'd be out for the count.”
“You might be right,” Troy replied as they fell into step behind the commander. “But that's not something I'd want to try. Why, I quite relish these painful moments with you and the boss.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” McNabb said from up ahead.
“Bullshit. You know he likes it. Right, McNabb?”
“Come around here and I'll show you.”
Troy sighed. “Higher positioned people are so unappreciative these days...”
- - - - - - -
Snap.
McNabb jumped a little bit as one of the scientists pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. He never was fond of the people in the white lab coats. Too smart for him. When he was a kid and the men in the white coats were called doctors, they tried to stick you with sharp needles and tell you that it wasn't going to hurt a bit. He realized that being a scientist or a doctor meant that you probably had to lie a lot, to a lot of people. And on the heels of that thought: after so much time, would you be able to discern truth from fiction?
“I assume you've got this process all figured out, right?” he asked.
The scientist with the gloved hands raised his eyebrows. “Come again?”
“You've written all the necessary reports and whatnot?”
“Of course, Commander McNabb. Would you like to talk about that or should we just go ahead and open it?”
McNabb mumbled something under his breath and nodded. “Sure, let's go. Where's the old man, by the way?”
“He's involved in another project at the moment. Ready team?” the scientist asked. Everyone nodded, and the young man stepped forward, unsnapping the clamps around the edge of the crate, wincing as some white stuff billowed out and faded in the air.
“What's that?” Lisa asked McNabb. She and Troy had been standing behind him, acting as if the crate contained a nuclear weapon or something.
“Looks like the inside of the crate is kept cold, so when he opened it the air rushed out, along with some ice particles. Interesting... a portable refrigeration unit. Maybe whatever they have inside would spoil if left out in the heat...” McNabb replied.
Clank! went the lid on the tabletop as it was flipped back.
Excited, the group closed in around the table in a tight circle. “Dry ice,” the scientist said, reaching inside with one hand. He grabbed whatever was inside and pulled it out, the ice “chattering” as it fell off the item that was withdrawn. The thing in question was a plastic, cylindrical container, about a foot tall and five inches in diameter. As the scientist sat it on the table, McNabb (and those with him) clearly saw that the container had something inside of it.
“It moved when he pulled it out,” Troy said, peeking cautiously around McNabb's shoulder.
“Not completely frozen, then,” McNabb said. “Looks like creep.”
“Creep?” Lisa asked. The liquid within the container appeared to be thick in substance, as if it were molasses. It's appearance wasn't far off either; the color was either dark brown or purple. She couldn't tell which it was from here. All she knew was that it was almost certainly dangerous.
“Remember the green creature back at the ship?” McNabb asked Lisa.
“The granger?”
“Yes. Those are the alien builders. They get this creep from somewhere, we haven't found out where just yet. Anyways, they ingest the creep and begin to digest it, turning into a sort of substance that can be used to build structures and whatnot. When they're ready, they'll spit it out and they'll help the structure start to form, which it then begins to grow on its own without their help. It's a pretty interesting process.” McNabb looked at the scientist. “I presume you're going to store that for later study?”
“Sure thing. We'll let the boss have a look when he gets back,” the young man replied, placing the container back in the crate.
“Excellent. We're done here then,” McNabb replied. Motioning for Troy and Lisa to follow him, he exited the room and headed down the hall.
Troy was amazed and somewhat bewildered by his creep explanation. “So, uh, how do you know that?”
“We captured a few of them during the Karith incident for study. The science team here, along with its leader, performed tests and experiments and all sorts of crazy shit that I preferred to keep my nose out of. I have no problem keeping in the know, but dissections and cages are for the birds. Those white-coated lab nuts can keep those.”
Lisa smiled. “I don't blame you. Science never was a captivating subject for me.”
“Same here,” Troy said, raising his hand and looking at his watch. “Damn, almost eight o'clock already. I might see if they have any leftovers in the mess hall, and then I'm going to bed. Commander here has me wore out.”
McNabb snorted. “You are definitely not soldier material.”
“Thank God. Night guys... well, guy and girl,” Troy replied, winking. The two waved farewell and he walked off towards the cafeteria. Lisa was thinking about heading to bed herself when McNabb spoke up.
“Mind if you come make a pit stop in my office?”
She turned to him and raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Sure, I don't mind. As long as we don't take all night.”
McNabb grinned. “Don't worry, I don't have that in mind. Just wanted to talk about something.”
She started to ask him what he meant, but then she got it. Her face went red. Luckily he had already turned away and was heading down the hall. She followed him meekly, her gaze on the floor. Sheesh, it's only a joke anyways. He's old enough to be your dad, for God's sake!
“Besides, I'm old enough to be your dad,” he said, echoing her thoughts. “So you're safe with me. Want coffee when we get there?”
“Yeah, sure. What'd you want to talk about?”
He opened the door to his office and flicked the light on. “Well now, no rush,” he said. “Coffee first, then business.” He moved across the room and rummaged through the cabinets. “Now where did I put the can of Folgers...”
Part 2 Below!
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Part 1 Above!
Lisa took a seat in one of the nearby chairs, folding one leg under her other one and leaning on the arm of the chair itself. “Pretty big, comfy chairs for such a small base,” she remarked.
“Don't let size deter your thoughts. We've got some of the best stuff this side of the galaxy out here in this little base. Black or cream and sugar?”
“The latter,” Lisa replied. “So, what'd you wanna talk about?”
“Damn, you're persistent and impatient,” McNabb replied, bringing over the cups of coffee. Lisa took hers and sipped it, immediately feeling warm inside.
“Mmmm,” was all she said.
McNabb chuckled. “I make pretty good coffee if I do say so myself. Alright, let's move on to business. You already know we wanted you working with us on this particular mission, and you accepted. But I'm thinking about upping the offer.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, knowing full well what he meant.
Sighing, McNabb folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward. “Well, no skipping around the bush. Your situation is a dire one. You've lost most of your memories involving your adult life. I have a feeling that this was no freak accident. I think this was downright intentional. You possess skills that have no clear origin. On one hand, I want to keep you here till we find out what happened to you and how you came to acquire such skills. On the other hand, I would also like your assistance while we go about that.”
Lisa sipped some more of her coffee and motioned for him to go on.
“This isn't something that could happen overnight. It's gonna take a while. During that time, I figure it'd be good for both us at the base, as well as yourself, to be involved in activities best suited to your nature.”
She had already made up her mind, but she wanted to inquire further. “How would you help me with my memories?”
“Well, the science team leader has been known to crank out some very interesting technology. He's a genius in his own right. I have no doubt that as a powerful man of science, he could help you overcome whatever is blocking those memories. Hopefully sooner than later,” McNabb finished, smiling.
Lisa looked at the floor for a moment, quickly digesting what she'd been told. Didn't really seem like an option, to her. Where else was she going to go? What else was she going to do?
“I accept,” she said, looking the Commander in the eye.
McNabb leaned back at last, his smile now a grin. “Excellent. I'm glad to have you on board. A few papers from now, you'll be an official member of our little group. That's all I wanted to cover, really.”
Lisa nodded. “I better be getting to bed myself, then.” She stood and sat the coffee cup on his desk. “Thank you. You know, for what you've done and what you're doing.”
“Hey, ain't no skin off of my nose. I'm always glad to help a friend. Granted, we haven't known each other for long... but let's just say I have good feelings about a few select people in my life. You're one of them,” McNabb said, winking.
Lisa smiled. “Well, glad to hear that. Good night,” she said, heading for the door. She was almost out into the hall when she remembered something.
“I almost forgot to show you this,” she said, heading back towards his desk. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the picture and handed it over.
“What's th-” he started to ask, but then he saw who was in the picture. He grew still for a moment, then looked up at her, his face expressionless. “Where did you get this?”
“It was under my pillow,” Lisa replied, unable to determine if he was angry or shocked or something else entirely. “Do you... do you know them?”
McNabb looked back at the picture. By all rights he shouldn't tell her about this, but she had skills that they needed. Of course, if he told her what had been going on in the past few years... well, she already knew about the aliens. How could much more hurt her or scare her off? “Yeah, I know them,” he said finally. “The man is Mac Turner. That's his wife Jess and daughter Emily with him. He... he was a soldier here, at this base. There's a couple people who were here then. They'd remember him. Can't forget a man like that.”
Lisa took a seat, again. “Did he... did he die?”
McNabb shrugged. “He left here about 5 years ago, just after the Karith incident. He was a major player in that event, more than you could know. Just a young fellow, mid 20's at the most. He and I got along great, and I almost considered him to be a son.”
“He was one of those few you got along with? The ones you mentioned to Troy?”
Nodding, McNabb continued. “He and Jess got married, and she had the baby, They showed up once or twice a year to visit, and they stayed in that back room. The last time was about two years ago; that picture was taken then just outside the base. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the colony in the bottom right. Anyways, that last time, he and I had a talk and he said that he was probably going to have to stay low for a while. Word was that Karith was royally pissed off and wanted his ass dead for what he helped do to them. So we said our goodbyes, for then, anyways, and he pretty much vanished. I haven't seen any of them since.”
Lisa cocked her head to one side, a quizzical look on her face. “You keep mentioning the Karith incident. What happened?”
“You realize...” McNabb started to say, then hesitated. “Well, you realize if I tell you this, you can't repeat it to anyone? Not even your closest friends. We've been ordered to keep all info and property regarding that event in lockdown, and that includes whatever we may say. Like I said, a few of us here at the base were here then, but no one dares to speak of it to anyone else. Mum's the word, darling. Total silence. Can I trust you?”
Lisa closed her eyes, then nodded. She didn't remember ever being a dishonest and otherwise untrustworthy person; that was good enough for her. Whatever those hidden memories contained, though... well, that was a bridge that could be crossed later.
“I might have to show you a few things as well, but first, the story.” McNabb leaned back and composed himself. “Actually, I think we could use some more coffee. We're gonna need it.”
He got up and walked over to the pot. “The day I met Turner was a rainy one and a loud one. The ship that brought him in set off the damn earsplitting alarm...”
- - - - - - - - - - -
“...and that brings it to a close. Mac and Jess left to raise their little girl, and then the things I told you about earlier happened and I haven't seen them since. I wish I knew where they were, though. Those are the kind of people you don't meet more than once in a lifetime.”
Lisa broke out of her trance. She'd been completely captivated. “So everyone here at the base helped fight the alien scourge?”
“Well, some of them have moved on, but yes, quite a few,” McNabb replied. He knew by her facial expression what question was next.
“But how is that possible?” Lisa asked. “There's not nearly enough soldiers here to pull off such a thing. Also, to have them all so well trained? I doubt it.”
McNabb made a grimace and sighed. “Well, this is where the showing part comes in, I guess. Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
McNabb said nothing and walked over to the wall. He slid a picture to the left, revealing an electronic keypad built into the wall. He pushed a few keys and part of the wall slid back, revealing a tunnel. “Come on.”
She had no choice but to follow, and her curiosity had gotten a hold of her. After a couple feet, McNabb began to speak again.
“I've been talking with a few commanders at other bases stationed around this area, and they've reported Karith activity as well. They weren't wiped out completely, it seems, just made to be very low key. Nothing like the corporate giant we fought back in the day, five years ago. No one knows what they're up to, as the whole alien incident was kept low key and pretty much only mentioned in top secret government files. I have an idea, though.”
“So they created and bred these aliens?”
McNabb shook his head. “No, they didn't create them. We don't know where they got them from. Nothing in their records about that, and the ones that represented the company in the trials didn't disclose any info about that either. During our galactic expansion, we've never seen any, so any ideas on our end would be complete guesswork.”
“I see. Where are we going?” Lisa asked again.
“This is a back passage to the important science labs. It's where the files and such on the Karith incident are kept, as well as the place the experiments were performed. Those files aren't allowed to be in the base's public database, if you were wondering why they're in the science lab.”
“No, I think I got the idea that they're super top secret,” Lisa replied, smiling.
“Good,” McNabb said, opening a door ahead of them. They emerged into a bright room full of white light. Desks and tables covered most of the floor, with a row of file cabinets against the far wall. Across the room from those were plexiglass cages with holes cut in them. “The aliens were kept there. None of them were small enough to squeeze out through the holes, but we could drop stuff in there. Food and the like. They were awfully fond of rats. And over there, through that door,” he continued, pointing, “is the refrigeration units.”
“Where today's find has been locked away,” a new voice said. Lisa and McNabb turned around. There, behind them, was a man in a wheelchair. He had white hair and a beard to match, and he was still dressed in his lab outfit. “You don't come down this way much, John. These young students and their newfangled ideas rattle me up sometimes. Wish you'd come around more often so we could talk about the good old days.”
McNabb laughed and stepped forward, patting the older man on the shoulder. “Well, I'll do that. Lisa, I'd like you to meet the head of the science team, Dr. McGregor.”
Lisa smiled and shook his hand. “It's nice to meet you. The Commander here says you're a genius. Everyone could use one of those around, right?”
The two men laughed. “Yes, I'm something of a science wizard, if I say so myself,” McGregor replied.
“Also, considering what you know, Lisa, I think you can drop the commander thing and just call me John,” McNabb said.
“Well, ok... John,” Lisa said, then looked at McGregor. “What put you in that chair, if I may ask?”
“Nasty incident with a dragoon,” he replied. “The thing broke one of our plexiglass containers and took a nice bite out of my left leg. We had to put the thing down, of course. It was too voracious and deadly to try and capture it in such a closed in area.”
“Oh,” Lisa said, looking at the floor. She tried to imagine being without one of her legs and winced. It would be a horrible life, for her. To be constrained to a chair... that was no fun.
“I've got something to discuss with you,” McNabb said, looking at the lead scientist. “I've been talking with the others in our command circle, and they've reported Karith activity as well. They unanimously agreed that we should send out a spec ops team to investigate. I'm sure you understand who they mean when they said they wanted the best of the best.”
McGregor frowned, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose it's time for that again. I was itching for some action anyways. Shall I go ahead and wake them?”
McNabb nodded. “The sooner the better.”
Nodding, McGregor wheeled over to a desk and began typing at a computer. Slowly the lights began to dim.
“You know, John... you're pretty crafty when it comes to avoiding my questions,” Lisa said, smirking.
“Oh, is that so?” McNabb replied, smirking right back at her.
“Yeah, it is. You never explained how you took down Karith with just this base full of soldiers and scientists. You also said Mac had a very large role in taking them down. How does one man and a military base take on a huge corporation?”
The room was now almost completely dark, but behind Lisa, blue and white lights began to glow.
McNabb crossed his arms. “Well, in some ways Mac was one man... and in others, he wasn't one man at all.”
“What?!” Lisa asked, bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
“I,” McNabb replied, motioning behind her with his head, “am talking about them.”
Lisa turned around, her eyes widening. Panels on the wall had opened, revealing tanks full of light and what looked like some clear, liquid chemical. Above each tank was a distinctive number. But it wasn't the numbering system or the tanks themselves that made her suddenly gasp, but what was floating in them.
“Meet the Turner clones,” McGregor said, wheeling up next to them.
“Oh my God,” Lisa said, walking forward. She touched the glass carefully, almost as if it would break. “They look just like him.” She looked up at the number over the tank. It read: #13.
“They also adopted his combat traits, which is what we really wanted. A lot of them fought beside him too. The best soldiers in the galaxy, right here,” McNabb said. “We're going to hand pick a few of them to form the spec ops team and investigate these reports. That one there is a bit tougher than the others, so he'll be team leader. Always had a knack for wanting to get the job done. Remember when he disassembled the cloning machine, McGregor?”
The scientist chuckled. “Won't ever forget it.”
Lisa stepped back and took a place next to the others, thinking:
This is something amazing here. Three days ago, I was completely lost and had no place in life. Now I'm heading for a new and brighter future, all in no time. I'm not even sure if I'll want to remember who I was pretty soon. Maybe that's what they should be... forgotten memories. I'll... I'll just make new ones.
“Are they waking up?” she asked.
McNabb nodded. “In a second or so.”
“This is amazing,” Lisa said, repeating her earlier thought.
McNabb nodded. “Yes... yes, it is.”
Yes, that's what I'll do. Make new memories. And the person that I was... well, she can stay dead. Time for me to make a new life... time to become someone new and better.
Inside the tank, #13's fingers began to move.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The End
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Author's Note:
It's been a while since I posted in this story. Well, two things sort of happened at once: I got too busy with real life, and I hit my annual writer's block. Every year around this time, I can't write worth a darn and it really sucks when I have something big going on. Well, a few days ago I decided I was going to push that block out of the way and sit down to finish this story, for my fans and (most of all) for myself. Doing that was beneficial in a very important way: I actually really feel like writing stuff again.
Now you're probably wondering why the story ended like it did. I'd like to tell you that I have complete control over my stories, but that's not really the truth. My job is to tell a story as it is shown to me, and like it or not, this is how it ends. Honestly, I don't think it's all that bad myself.
We haven't seen the end of Lisa or her mysterious amnesia. There's more to be told there, as well as McNabb's tale and eventually Turner's as well. Even Troy has a significant part.
If you're wondering where this fits into the 'The Harder They Fall' universe, consider it a sort of filler between the aforementioned THTF and the eventual sequel. Everyone in this story will be back when I get around to writing that.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I missed the characters from THTF and I missed that universe. I think the fact that the developers don't have an actual story for Trem makes it so much easier to write for. There's literally unlimited tales to be told.
Thanks to the devs for an awesome game, thanks to the players for helping support it, and thanks to each and every fan and reader for taking the time to look at this and leave your comments. We writers couldn't live without ya!
Until next time!
-Death
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that was great. :)
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You have been an inspiration. Thank you.
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Excellent writing, as usual ;)
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Clap Clap Clap
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I love you!!!! But get someone else to proofread it next time ;)
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Due to the sheer awesomeness of this story, I put it into a .pdf so I could read it on my iPod.
Linkage (http://spork.unvanquished.net/miscellaneous/Memory.pdf) for those who would also like it in a .pdf