《Micro Evolution》Chapter 02
Advertisement
But on a serious note. SHIT! Though I shouldn't be surprised, If there was one person stubborn enough to punch through space, it was Sandy. I tried sorting out my feelings. I mean, sure I was excited for my friend, it was great that he had accomplished something so amazing...but it was also kinda a distant excitement. Five minutes ago I didn't even know he had been working on it and now it was done? That’s sorta like someone telling you they made a sandwich and had eaten it already, which reminds me: I’m hungry.
“Congrats man! your dad would be proud.” I said. It was the best I could do.
“I know, Thanks!” His cheery mood quickly turned sour as he wrapped his knuckles on his table and sucked at his lower lip. “...but that’s not all. I wasn’t the first to discover it.”
“What?” I said, maybe a tad loud.
“When you do something like tear a hole in space-time you leave a mark. A scar. That’s how I got mine to work. I found an old scar and picked at it.”
“I appreciate you dumbing down the science, I really do, but what does that mean?” I asked, enunciating the last word.
“I think it means the Government is already there. In this other world they...we...found.”
“Doing what?” My voice rose in indignation, popping and cracking as my old burnt vocal cords protested at the range. It was followed by an itchy sensation as the nanobots in me swarmed over them trying to repair any damage.
“I would presume they are gathering resources as they first planned eighteen years ago. I sent a surveillance bug through when I found out how to stabilize the tear and I messaged you once I reviewed the information. Do you want to see it?”
I pushed my annoyance of the governing powers aside. They hadn’t done shit to help the people. Hadn’t in years, and If I'm being honest I can't remember the last time there was an election. Come to think of it, it could have just degraded into a band of rich bastards that only looked out for their own interests. I shouldn’t have been surprised that they chose to keep something like this a secret.
“Let's see what you got,” I said, hopping off the bed and making my way around the curvature of Sandy’s desk to stand beside him.
He slapped his cube again and started pulling the resulting cascade of screens together. I watched in amusement as he struggled through it. The result, once he had finished huffing and puffing and the frames for each individual screen blurred together before disappearing, was an 85” holographic screen.
Advertisement
Pulling up the file, he tapped it and stepped back so we stood shoulder to shoulder.
A thick forest appeared on the screen and I gasped. It was beautiful, all those colors. The vibrant greens of the leaves and mottled browns of their trunks. Sunlight, so bright and clear, seemed to reflect and bounce off every surface. The sky was a deep light blue so beautiful I almost cried as it destroyed the archived images I used to have stored in my brain of old Earth’s sky. Sue me! I know I said I didn’t care about that shit, but you try seeing something that beautiful and not give a damn.
“Beautiful isn’t it.” Sandy murmured quietly beside me.
The video must have been taken from one of the flying surveillance drones that Sandy liked to tinker with because the forest on the screen dipped alarmingly as if it fell out of the sky. The screen shook and stabilized and a sea of green grass filled it, stretching off into the distance to meet the beginning of the forest.
“Sorry about that. There's a gravitational fluctuation around the gate. Nothing major but it takes a second for the drone to adjust. The good news is readings suggest the gravity and atmosphere of this planet are almost identical to Earth's.” Sandy commented. I rolled my eyes, more than happy to watch without the director's commentary.
The image once more changed as the bot flew up and banked towards the tree line. Flashes of color and life whipped past the screen as it dodged between tree trunks as thick as buildings and traveled further into the strange world.
I stayed glued to the screen as something I hadn’t expected appeared in the distance before rapidly expanding as the drone flew closer. A bridge, made of thick white rope. It hung between the upper branches of the massive trees. I could make out something that may have been a platform surrounding the trunk when the screen suddenly went dead.
“What the fu-!” I stepped forward to smack the cube when the screen wavered with lines of static. Which was stupid because...well holoscreen, duh.
“Just watch,” Sandy said so I did.
Black swirled in from the sides of the screen like ink from an old Earth pen. In seconds all that remained was an 85” pure black square that I couldn’t even see-through. White text appeared on the screen, the words forming in fits and starts as if the writer was unsure of what he was trying to say.
Attempting evaluation of foreign contaminant….
ERROR **$%##
Evaluation halted.
Attempting Integration with foreign contaminant…
ERROR **$%##!
Integration halted.
The screen once more turned black as the message faded away only to be replaced by more.
Advertisement
Foreign contaminant classified: non-lethal surveillance device.
Foreign contaminant evaluated as default.
Evaluation: INVASIVE.
----
Subversion of foreign contaminant….
Subversion successful.
Processing data logs...
Success
PRIVATE MESSAGE
Primary world, designation: Aeris, greets foreign contaminant owner Sanderson O’mally. Loss of central life core threatens fragmentation of primary world, designation: Aeris, as well as connecting branches. Primary world, Designation: Aeris, requests aid.
“Okay, what the hell is that?” I asked as casually as possible. My finger only shook a little as I pointed at the screen.
“Contact,” Sanderson said. “It talked to us.”
“And when you say it you’re meaning...?”
“The planet,” Sanderson replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The planet talked to us. I don’t know how yet, but I know it did! And it requested aid-”
I had a horrible sinking feeling and prayed it was the nanobots moving about in my stomach and not the sixth sense of dread.
“-that’s where you come in!” Sandy finished happily.
“Goddamit!” I swore explosively. I knew it wasn’t the stupid nanobots. I just knew it!
“What?” Sanderson asked, blinking his bloodshot eyes at me. “You once told me that if I ever needed your help all I had to do was ask. Well, this is me asking.”
“What happened to your stutter?!” I said, pointing at him. If I had hoped to distract him it didn’t work. He knew he was right. I had said that and he knew I never go back on my word. It’s a whole thing with me; I’ll happily lie, cheat, steal, bamboozle, trick, swindle and/or otherwise mislead an idiot but I’ll never go back on my word once given. It doesn’t mean I had to be happy about it.
“Dammit, fine! You’re right. I owe you my life. I owe you more than that, actually...but Sandy, it's a freaking talking planet, what aid does it need? English lessons? And you just want to send me off to help? Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“Fine!” You may think I folded like a cheap suit awfully quick and you would be right. More often than not if Sanderson says jump I say how high. You would have to understand our history for it to make sense and I would love to tell you more about it...but later okay? I’m about to travel to a new world.
Clapping his hands like a little child Sandy grabbed my shoulder and started to half push half pull me away from his desk and towards the far wall.
“I need you to go to this planet, Primary world: Aeris, now! Gather data, touch everything, taste it, eat it, remember it! Also, find out what this central life core it mentioned is and what it meant by connecting branches. Oh, this is so exciting!” He stopped next to a raised platform I had never noticed before. “And remember, the Government may have already sent people through, and knowing them they didn’t make friends.”
“How do I get back?”
“W-W-Well,” Sandy suddenly looked nervous, or was that guilt? “Y-You see...I haven’t f-f-figured out how to keep the gate open. It’s a-a-a one-way trip.”
“What!”
“B-but t-the government will need to keep their gate open. T-to transfer resources and such, I would imagine. St-stop them and you can come home using theirs!”
“Uhhh…Why are you backing away?” I asked as he left me standing on the platform and moved away. There was a little oblong box that came up to his waist and he pressed his palm above it before twisting his whole hand, like he was turning a doorknob. “Sandy, what’s happening? Sandy!”
“You can’t take anything with you. My gate only allows one item through, I haven't figured out how to get it to read more than that. So there’s no reason to wait!” He shouted at me “Remember, the video showed signs of life!” He twisted his hand back the other way and suddenly I couldn't move. My body, so ridiculously powerful it could squat a ton if I was willing to burn through my energy levels, refused to budge.
Sandy gave me a sympathetic look and twisted his hand again. Glowing blue veins ran down the sides of the box from where Sanderson's hand contacted it before spilling across the floor in straight lines that crept closer and closer to me. A roaring noise filled my head and I adjusted my hearing so I wouldn’t go deaf, but that didn't help, which meant the noise was in my head.
“The video showed signs of life,” Sanderson continued to shout at me. His voice barely audible over the noise in my head. “Help them if you can! Don't let our people hurt them like they’ve done us. I'll stay and work on things from this side. Help them and help the planet. For me. Please! Don't let them use my father's research to further their own evil agenda!”
“I can't believe you just said evil agenda you assh-" I started to roar but then everything went black and the last thing I felt was my body falling...but up.
Da faq?
Advertisement
Seven
Amongst the whole continent of Eteros, one name throughout the legend of the old has been etched deeply into their minds even if it was from a long time ago. Seven with her destructive power and overall prowess in battle, with her tendencies of destroying everything she walks into thus. She was subdued by the heroes that gained strength by the help of the divine relics created by the gods. Thus 1000 years later a young boy who goes the name of Charles will stumble upon the most feared harbinger of destruction, “The Glorious Lady Seven”. Note: It’s my first time posting here and also this is my first novel so I would be happy for your reviews. Im mostly posting these on scribblehub, so you can see more if you go there.
8 244Mana Tank Magus
Jonathan Orville has had a thoroughly enviable life, completely devoid of pain or suffering. Though his life is tragically cut short due to a sharp rock, he would never regret his perfectly positive life where nothing bad ever happened to him, ever.Even though he doesn't regret it at all, he still finds himself summoned to the netherworld for a new adventure as livestock for a needlessly attractive demoness who is totally probably in love with him.This is a story about using the power of positive thinking to overcome adversity. Demonic forest fires, consumption of souls, rivers of blood and rampant carnage; none of these can get in the way of a dedicated effort to think positively.Newest chapters at: https://manatankmagus.wordpress.com/This location is likely to stay a bit behind. I am very lazy. :DDISCLAIMER: My primary purpose here is Comedy rather than badass skills and righteous adventures (although there's some of that too). The main character can be a little bumbling at times and has a much higher opinion of himself than justified. If you really dislike that kind of thing, this is probably not for you.
8 175Bland ploose~
+18 гол дүрүүд: Kim Namjoon
8 118Interstellar World Struggle TV
Ever wondered how an apokalypse could happen in other countries beside the US ?Arn Tschiller, a student of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, makes a tourist cruising drive at the north sea. Suddenly, a big explosion illuminates the horizon, and the ship braces for its impact of the airstruggle. As the effects go by, everybody on the ship gets a note :Welcome to Interstellar World Struggle TV....Author's note :Hello everybody, this is my first attempt to contribute to this site. As written above, I wanted to submit a fiction of an apokalypse in another country then the US. Don't misundertand me, I love this sort of stories, like Once a hero and Apocalyse now (2) , which are clearly also 2 of my role models.But nor the whole world circulates around the US, as also Insania online can show.So i would be delighted about comments, reviews and suggestions to this fiction.Thank you in AdvanceDARTHKECKS
8 104Mister Tadeus
[DISCONTINUED] When a new microbe is discovered, Tadeus Floyd was tasked with studying it for its potential benefits to science and public good. However, he soon discovers it is much more than a simple microorganism...
8 66Wiedźmiński chat,czyli Rakowe rozmowy [ZAKOŃCZONE]
To jest chat. Wiedźmiński chat. Chyba nie muszę wam dalej o nim opowiadać.
8 60