Laboratory Rejects

[Guest Levy]

Levy stopped dead in his tracks. Though it was raining and the water would had removed Sahetow's scent, Levy could easily distinguish the sound of the rain from the leaves on the ground being crunched by someone's presence.

Levy pulled his tail out of his jeans and let it dangle. He also removed his hood to reveal his ears.

"I know you are there, but there is no reason to fear." He didn't know exactly what he was talking to but it was big so he figured it to be a human around the same age as he, maybe a bit younger.

"I am just passing through, you don't have you talk if you don't want to. But, if you are lost speak up and I can help you."

[Ruto]

"Fear you?" Sahetow jumped out of the tree. "As if. I've met a bear that does not even scare me. And anyway, I can find my own way. So go along. Go away."

 

When Sahetow woke up, she was all alone inside a small room. She was no longer strapped to the table, but there were still no means of escape. Hunger knawed at her stomach, yet there was nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. She may very well die here. But there was no time to think about that. She had to find a way out.

[Guest Levy]

Levy backed up a bit, the shock of seeing her almost made him regurgitate in his mouth. She was disfigured, discolored, and, now that the rain was letting up a bit, she stunk.

"W-what are you?" Levy asked her, some how he couldn't think of anything else but self-defense. She was brute strength, that was obvious, but would she attack something that posed no threat, someone who was merely curious.

Thoughts racing through Levy's mind, but the main question in his mind kept racing in circles. He was barely able to keep it in his mind without saying it, "What should I do if she attacked?"

[Ruto]

"I can see the fear in your eyes. It is proper. It is better for me, for no one will bother me." Sahetow seemed to be chuckling. "I am a cat, that is all you need to know." As she finished her statement, a thought entered her head. Have I seen him before somewhere? Sahetow tossed this out of her head, and looked at Levy with piercing eyes. "Now go home, before something happens to you..."

[Guest Levy]

Levy lightened up a bit. Sahetow was clearly cynical but wouldn't attack on bloody impulse.

"I wish I could, people wouldn't exactly behave kindly to me. Though I bet children will. Anyway, what's your name?"

Levy wanted to start simple, he could feel great sadness and disparity in Sahetow, but didn't show pity towards her.

[Ruto]

"Sahetow," she mumbled. She started to walk back to her cave and try to get away from this fox-like thing. Right now, she just wanted to go to sleep and escape the world, but even her dreams wouldn't give her that pleasure.

[Guest Levy]

"My name is Levy, are you sure you don't need any help?" he said, it was more concern now. Hunters have stands around this area of the woods, he could hear the tension on the trees as they struggle to support the permanently placed supports. There were no hunters in the area now but they will come here eventually. If they saw Sahetow they would shoot, repetitively, mercilessly.

[antiaircraft]

SC1's curiousity towards organic structures had led him to this destination. It was merely a small patch of forest now, but once it had covered almost half of an entire continent. And there was more to it - according to legend, there was some sort of stronghold in it, a fortress where a family of dragons resided and from which they launched horrific attacks that obliterated entire cities. Of, course, legends were rarely true, but they often had at least a partial base in fact.

 

As he walked into the forest, he saw what appeared to be a fox-human hybrid standing in the rain. He frowned. The hybrid matched the profile of one of the genetic experiments back at the lab. Still, it was unlikely it - or he, SC1 realised as he accessed the file - would display an immediate hostile reaction. SC1 began to cautiously approach the creature.

[The Original Luna]

Nkiruka went back to the stronghold- and requested an audience with the Last Dragon, Cobalt

"Sire, The humans are blocking off the forest lands. They have taken the forest beings to change into frightening beings. Please, take action, before it is too late." she implored.

The dragon, a middle-aged being with shining deep blue scales, replied, neither harshly or softly, but took her to the top of the sanctuary.

"Nkiruka, extend your eyes to the south. What do you see?"

"The Forest in decline. Men have chopped it down to stumps."

"Now to the East, West and North, what else do you see?" asked Cobalt.

"To the North is the Mountain, Orinoco-Flow- where the waters of the Great river to the West flows out to the sea. The Humans have not yet tainted the Western shores. But to the East?"

"To the East there is a plain, like a desert, that once, when I was only a hatchling was filled with the beautiful flowers that could heal any malady. It was once the humans found the Sickening Black dung under the land did they dig it up and ruin the land. Now the flower is now No-where to be found." Cobalt said, with a droop of his magnificent crown of skin on his head. "That flower would have cured my daugher. Alas, she is gone."

Nkiruka comforted him, "But the humans have done this... atrocity."

Then Cobalt let out a magnificent roar, that was heard from all the isle, All the people and beings heard it, The people thought it was an eruption, the beasts and beings heard it as a Call to arms.

"We will return this deed.. For my daughter." then he added, "Nkiruka, bring all you can into the Stronghold. Those too weak or infirm to walk, take the other Centaur and Deer for them to ride. Luwa, will aid you."

(Luwa's a Stag-man, sorta like a Centaur except with Deer instead of Horse)

[Guest Levy]

Levy sniffed the air and smelled SC1, Levy remembered reading the experiment profiles. Apparently, SC1 was genetically engineered to store far more information that the regular mind. The theory of his creation was if the body wasn't taken from the womb, the brain would have more time to develop. The scientists created a working artificial womb and SC1 would stay in the for the most of his life. As a result, his brain developed far more than they expected when he was removed. The last experiment on him was last night during the thunderstorm that weakened the security system.

He is all memory, he has no reaction time. He needs to get out of here. This is no place for him.

Levy put Sahetow out of his mind and focussed on SC1, "It isn't very smart for you to be out here SC1."

Levy walked toward him.

[Ruto]

Sahetow noticed SC1 approaching Levy, and she immediately became hostile. Not knowing that he was only a computer, she mistook him for a human. Sahetow stood her ground and hissed. What is he doing here? Humans have no place in this forest. He'll be dead if he doesn't leave.

[Guest Levy]

"Calm down Sahetow, I'm more human than this guy." Levy said, "He's a cybernetic organism, a cyborg. An escaped experiment from the Zzyzx Laboratory, just like me."

 

((The lab needed a name and Zzyzx was the first good name that came to mind. Its pronounced [Zai-zix]. Levy was actually given more freedom in the lab than most because the scientists thought of him more than an experiment. He is too human for them to consciously keep him locked up all the time, so he knows more about the lab and experiments than Sahetow.))

[Ruto]

((Sahetow's only a kitty. What did you expect? :P))

 

Sahetow's ears perked up at the lab's name. "Did you say Zzyzx? ...I came from there also." I thought I recognized that fox. But what's he doing here? She trotted to the human cyborg. "So you're basically a computer? And have no intention of harming anyone?" She still didn't believe Levy. It would take a lot of evidence to convince her.

 

Although Sahetow tried many times to dig out, the floor did not seem to give way. It was impossible for her to stratch through metal. She looked at the door, surround by a barrier made of electrical energy that could quite possibly kill her if she touched it. This is not good. How will I get out?

 

At that moment, three of the humans came rushing out of the halls and into the room next to hers. Sahetow looked through the barrier, though she couldn't hear what the humans were saying. They seemed to be worried about something.

[Guest Levy]

"I guess you can consider him a failed experiment," Levy said walking towards SC1.

Levy lifted a fist and thrusted it toward SC1's face, stopping a mere few millimeter's from connecting a punch.

SC1 didn't move an inch.

"The thunderstorm was during an experiment to increase his reaction time but the lightning strike reset the Zzyzx mainframe, all security went below operating level. And the experiment failed." Levy said.

Then turning to Sahetow, he said, "He's completely harmless."

 

((Sorry Antiaircraft, but you aren't online and I want to advance the storyline.))

[Ruto]

Sahetow maintained her distance from SC1. The explanation seemed logical, but she didn't want to take any chances. "We'll find out, won't we?"

 

A large tremor passed through the lab, large enough for Sahetow to feel it. The humans ran off, leaving the cat alone again. She could tell that the lights were flickering. Looking at the barrier, Sahetow noticed that it was dimming. The barrier became thinner and thinner until it completely disappeared. Given this chance, Sahetow bolted out of her room and out into the hallway. She had no idea where to go, so she was basically wandering about. As she was running, other creatures started to appear out of their containment rooms. Sahetow didn't worry about this, and finally found the exit. Outside, there was a large thunderstorm. It was larger than an average one, and obvious more dangerous, so Sahetow quickly ran for shelter, avoiding the crowd.

[Guest Levy]

"We?" Levy asked, "So you are starting to trust me now?"

[Ruto]

Sahetow gave Levy a glare. "I don't trust anybody, nor will I ever. I think you have your hopes too high, fox man." She spat at him a little, then started wandering around.

 

Sahetow took shelter under a tree. It wasn't the best spot, but it was better than nothing.

 

She must have waited for hours for the rain to stop, but it kept pouring relentlessly. I can't stay here forever, she thought. I have to keep moving, despite the rain. Sahetow came out of the sheltering tree and started running. The more she ran, the more she had to run, for the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon. After about thirty minutes, she finally found a forest. The rain continued to pour, so Sahetow looked around for a little alcove. She finally found a cave, so the cat dashed inside and panted.

[Guest Levy]

Levy ignored Sahetow's glare and turned to SC1, "You should get out of here, come on."

Levy put his tail back down his pant leg and put his hood up. He hopes he looks enough like a human to not cause a commotion if anyone saw him. No one would be outside anyway in the heavy rain.

[antiaircraft]

SC1 stood completely frozen, unable to respond. This wasn't out of fear, or anything like that - it was simply that every last neurone in his body was already engaged. Five prototype supercomputers trying to hack and override your control systems will do that to a computer-human hybrid. Still, he was playing safe - even these supercomputers posed no significant threat. They lacked their own motivation, and relied on human operators for control, a weakness that robbed them of the advantage their processing speed should have given them. Focusing, he unleashed a barrage of conflicting data streams on the first supercomputer, while simultaneously forcing his way into its kernel files, disabling its I/O devices and drawing out some key pieces of information he wanted. Then he turned his attention to the next computer.

[Guest Levy]

"Eh, SC1?" Levy said to him, "Are you awake?"

[The Original Luna]

Nkiruka and Luwa were gathering the beings to the stronghold, when she came across the cave,

"Anybody inside here?" she asked aloud, hoping there not to be beasts inside.

[antiaircraft]

Having disabled all the computers, SC1 turned back to reality. "I apologise for the lapse - several computer systems based in Zzyzx's London branch attempted to interfere with my systems. could you please repeat your previous statements?"

[Guest Levy]

"Lapse? If you are as advanced as I was led to believe, then you would have been able to disable those computers in mere nanoseconds. Computers think at the speed of light, do they not?" Levy questioned.

Levy didn't give SC1 time to respond, "You need to get out of the woods, its too dangerous."

[The Original Luna]

Nkiruka slowly stepped in, Luwa waiting outside in the woods where it had started to rain.

Seeing the beings there, she made her presence known.

[Ruto]

Sahetow turned her attention to SC1. "I agree, your little human-cyborg body better get out of here before a bear gets to you. And I've seen one tear the flesh off of many creatures. You'll be no different." She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight that lied before her: black soot, ashes, and bare, black trees.