Evolve

[agkokogrubby]

"What is a dretch?"

Number Three sat, legs crossed, in an elegant red chair, one that resembles a king's throne. She began to inspect her nails.

"Well, it's a spider, basically."

The nervous scientist's eyes darted around the amazing bright, gold chamber.

"Basically?" Number Three's eyes turned away from her nails to her poor victim. The red pupils scrutinized the enfeebled man in the white lab coat.

"Number Three, let's try to remember that the man has only had a week to prepare." The scientist let out a breath of air and relaxed a bit at Number Four's intervention.

"Do not interrupt Number Three when she is thinking, Number Four." The being known as Number Five stood and stared down upon the one sitting at his side. Number Four did not meet his inferior's eyes, but instead looked around the room at his colleagues.

"What are we trying to learn here?" Number Four asked. "Are we debating over the digestive systems of a dretch, or the electric currents in a marauder? We should be focusing on the current problems of our people!"

"You know that we do not care about the people," said Number Five casually.

"I know, and I also know that you only care about your Number Three lover," shot back Number Four. Number Five jumped up, and the two engaged in an argument of words. Number Three began to laugh, and the scientist only wondered, what the hell?

"Shut up." A hideous monotone voice was emitted from the raspy throat of Number Two.  The fighting immediately stopped, and the laughter from Number Three ceased as well.

"Oh Number Two, you know we were only having fun," teased Number Three, still smiling. Number Two did not answer. Number Three then motioned for the scientist to continue. The man cleared his throat and went on from where he left off.

"Yes, well, as I said, a dretch is basically a spider. They are about a foot in length from the head to the abdomen. They can climb on walls, much like a spider, and have lethal bites, known to cause death."

"So what you are telling me is," Number Three began, "is that the dretch infestation on the colony C-128 is going to kill everyone?"

The scientist seemed to shrink somewhat, and he said in a quite voice, "yes."

Number Three uncrossed her legs, stood up, and walked out of the room. Number Four inquired to where she was going, but the elusive woman did not answer. Her two bodyguards, Number Six and Seven, walked behind her and followed her out. The scientist remained in the center of the chamber, awaiting his fate. With Number Three gone, the gold chamber was deathly silent. Only the rasping breathing of Number Two was heard.

"Well," said Number Four, "this has been a blast, but I must leave. Cheerio." With that he began to walk out, following Number Three's footsteps, but someone stopped him from doing so.

"I leave it to you."

Number Four sighed audibly. "What, to take care of the dretch infestation?" he asked. There was silence, of which he took to be a yes. "Ugh. Fine, fine, I'll do it." With that Number Four started his walking again.

"Number Four." Interrupted the voice again. Number Four turned and said, "what?"

"Don't die," replied Number One. Number Four waved the voice away and left.



Two weeks later, the mutilated body of Number Four was sent to the Chamber of Peace. His head was separated from his body; eyes still open, mouth still gaping wide. The skin was completely cut off his arms and legs, and his heart was missing from the hole in his chest where it should have been. Number Three, being the first one to bear her eyes upon the sight, began to chuckle, which escalated into a bellowing laugh. Number Five, not knowing what was so amusing, looked at Number Four and promptly began throwing up. Number Two made no move to look at the disgusting scene, and Number One already knew what had happened.

"This dretch infestation is worse than we had thought," said Number Three, settling down.

"They are evolving," said Number One. "They are becoming smarter. Smarter to the point that they can kill Number Four."

"Ah, Number Four was just being careless," said Number Three. She immediately realized that she had said the wrong thing when Number Two looked up at her.

"Number Four is never careless," was the only thing he said.

"We are no longer dealing with small spiders," said Number One. I propose we have a new problem on our hands."

Next Chapter: Experiment
http://tremulous.net/forum/index.php?topic=12211.0

Apologize for the boring beginning. This is needed for the main plot.

[Demolution]

Epic prologue.

[agkokogrubby]

Second

"Captain!"

There was a single word in his head, and that was Captain. Who was he? Why were soldiers yelling captain amidst sounds of shrieking and gunfire?

Oh yes, that's right.

His name was Theodore C. Stark, his rank was Captain, and he was fighting for the souls on Human Colony C-128. Why was he fighting? He had long forgotten; it had been well over seven years since he first received the order that he was being relocated upon C-128 from his cozy headquarters on C-127. "They", whoever "they" were, gave him an army of twelve hundred men and told him to clear C-128 of "dretches." Deadly, spider-like aliens that had infested the granaries and warehouses of C-128, breeding in the dark and multiplying at astonishing speeds. At first, killing the spiders was easy. But that was before the army discovered basilisks and marauders.

Long, pale aliens resembling half-snakes, half-spiders appeared from out of nowhere and began to decimate Stark's army. The fearful aliens also brought with them marauders, another species of aliens that seemed to stick to walls and jump off of them at will. These new types were more than a match for the human army, and, five years later since the first appearance, Stark's army was reduced to a mere six hundred. "They" kept sending in new recruits, but the young men had little experience and were killed on their first day of battle.

That day, the army received a large shipment of new laser weapons, able to pierce through even the toughest metal. These new weapons proved extremely useful against the aliens, and Stark thought they finally had a chance. But he was wrong, as the aliens quickly adapted to the new weaponry and began to move even faster, killing even faster.

Stark was lying on the ground, bleeding from a gash in his stomach made by the now-dead basilisk. As he grew more and more unconscious, he saw soldiers crowding around him to protect him, and falling as the aliens disposed of them. The alien onslaught soon came to an end, and the hideous things retreated into the wrecked areas of what was formerly some of C-128's cities. The stink of blood, feces and urine filled his nose and he struggled to get up.

A fellow soldier rushed over, took his hand and pulled him to his feet and skillfully bandaged his wound. Stark breathed words of thanks and surveyed the scene before him. Bodies of humans and aliens alike were stockpiled upon one another as if put like that by a greater power.

"Sir, I think you need to take a look at this." Another soldier ran to Stark, holding the body of a dretch. Stark pulled away instinctively, thinking that the alien was still alive, but he relaxed a bit when the soldier laid it down and began to cut open its abdomen. What Stark saw interested him.

Instead of having major organs like normal living things, this dretch had instead a pulsing, pink blob. It almost looked like a brain.

"What is it?" asked Stark.

"We don't know, sir," said the soldier, "but my radar is picking up large amounts of gamma radiation emitting from it. I think they're signals being sent out to somewhere."

This was a new find. Nothing like this has ever occurred. Stark ordered the bag-and-tag of the specimen and for it to be sent to headquarters immediately. Test results would come in a week, maybe two. In that time, Stark would prepare his soldiers for another skirmish with their enemy.

Tired and battle-weary, the captain took his fallen cap and put it on his head, regaining a figure of authority. He barked orders, and the incredibly lucky few that had made it through the battle followed their leader back to base, hearts heavy knowing what would lay in store for them tomorrow.

[Demolution]

I am enjoying this and am eagerly anticipating more.

[Minimum]

Top notch. Demolution is completely correct.

[agkokogrubby]

Third

'They are evolving."

"How can they? Even bullets cannot pierce through their shells!"

"We don't know. But they are evolving."

*

Inside the People's Chamber, where the government figures ruled the country of Brahnchius, all was well. But outside, poverty reigned. Homelessness dotted the streets, fires licked away at broken-down convenience stores, and drunkards and addicts alike ran around endlessly with no purpose. The government did not care about its people. For them, everything was focused on wealth and power.

Number Three was admiring her perfect nails when a messenger came with dreadful news. A project launched by the government, called A-117, had failed miserably. Its purpose was to closely examine the skeleton and structure of the aliens, especially the basilisks. If this was accomplished according to plan, then the government could figure out ways to harness the alien's willpower and use them to destroy their enemies. All was according to plan at the laboratory until the cameras suddenly stopped with static interference and refused to work any further. More investigation revealed that everyone inside the lab had been ripped apart by some unknown being; most likely the basilisk they were studying because the body of it disappeared.

Slightly annoyed, Number Three played with her emotions by swiftly slicing off the messenger's head with a hidden knife.

"That was unnecessary, Number Three." Number Five appeared in the doorway of the chamber, clutching onto research notes.

"The project failed," replied Number Three. She elegantly walked over to Number Five and took the research notes from his arms. "Are these what I asked for?"

"Yes. The final observations made by the scientists in the lab before they...passed away," said Number Five. Number Three's eyes darted back and forth as she read the papers, and her eyebrows arched.

"These are very interesting," she said. Lowering them so she could look at Number Five, she continued, "did you yourself witness these events?"

"Yes," Number Five said again.

"Then you shall tell me all about them." With that Number Three began to retreat to the Library, motioning for Number Five to follow.

*

"So you see, what we are dealing with here is actually on a much larger scale."

A small, beady-eyed scientist pointed his laser pointer at numerous charts pinned onto a board. His audience, high ranking military officials, looked on.

"The age of dretches has passed," said the scientist. "They are appearing less and less on the battlefields."

"Are you going to tell us what our intelligence has already reported?" said one general. Murmurs of agreement scattered around the room. "These things we know," he went on. "Tell us something we don't."

"Yes. Sorry, sir," said the scientist, He cleared his throat and continued.

"Footage from a soldier's helmet camera shows very, very peculiar things. Take a look." The audience sat through a small clip of a battle with the aliens. There were scenes of basilisks and marauders ripping people to pieces. The scientist stopped the video suddenly.

"Observe what happens here," he said. When he resumed the video, it showed a soldier standing, cursing and shooting aliens.

"What are we looking at?" another general asked. "This is normal."

"Hang on," said the scientist. All of a sudden, he shouted, "there!" The arms of the soldier in the video were suddenly ripped from his body and thrown a large distance, with nothing around him. He screamed, and his head was torn off. No alien or even human for that matter was seen around him. It was like the invisible hand of God just decided to rip apart the poor man.

Shouting began around the room. Various general and important figures stood up, arguing and asking questions.

"What just happened?"

"How did he die like that?"

"What killed him??"

After the uproar died down, the scientist gave his final words.

"Currently, we have no idea. But we think it's a new type of alien, one that can move at astonishing speeds. Gentlemen, if this is the case.....then I'm afraid there's no hope."

[Winnie the Pooh]

Goons! So cool!

[Prophet]

Very nice story.  Keep em coming. 

[Demolution]

Go for novel! Go for novel!

[agkokogrubby]

The part titled "Evolve" ends here. A new part will be started called "Experiment," and a third and final called "Eradicate," which will continue on the series. Afterthat I might think of starting a new story with new plot? Depends on how many people are iterested...

[Minimum]

I am interested =X

[agkokogrubby]

......on with the stories!