Satellites - 1. 1 : Awakening

There is a freedom only known to Starfarers.

A freedom so all encompassing and complete that it terrifies. In every direction, no matter which way you may face, infinity and eternity widen out before you! In any direction you should go, you could go in that direction for the ever that the Universe might exist. The Universe is finite, but to one lonely Starfarer, who’s life can only be extended by some hundreds of years, the term of the Universe’s lifespan might as well be forever. Thus, in any direction about the spherical stellar compass that one might go, it would be an eternal voyage upon an infinite sea of dark matter and dark energy. The dark force holds aloft the pinpricks of bright matter and energy. From galactic quasars to the accretion disks of black holes to the bright burning of blue giant stars, the Universe swells with the intense. Likewise, dark energy and matter hold aloft planets, brown dwarf stars, and vast dust clouds of disorganized matter. With these too, the Universe swells with the subtle.

Infinity and Eternity, filled with wondrous complexity and beguiling simplicity, both are lost on the young sleeping Starfarer who rests in the deepest quiet of his stasis chamber.

Telltales blink in steady patterns all about the darkened bridge of The Sojourn as, outside the plasma viewport, something ominous comes into view. Even at millions of kilometers distant, the blinding glow of the black hole’s accretion warp causes the plasma energy ‘window’ to sizzled and polarize to keep the vast array of radiations from completely flooding the bridge. The effect is to give the viewport ‘sunglasses’ thus dimming the high radiance of the cosmic phenomenon.

The black hole’s gravity has already taken hold of The Sojourn. The ship decants from its Faster Than Light (FTL) warp sled remanding it to the mercies of normal space and the steep gravity well of the black hole.

It is at this time that all the colorful illuminators on the bridge brighten up and the Starfarer’s stasis chamber begins its revivification cycle. While the enhanced human inside is revived, The Sojourn’s AI, the Heuristic Autonomous Multiphasic Logarithmic System (HAMLS), prepares inertial controls and gravity repulsers to balance the ship in a somewhat stable orbit around the black hole. Such a thing is only possible millions of miles distant from the tiny singularity. If the ship were to venture any closer, The Sojourn would begin its uncontrolled decent into the black hole’s crushing power. HAMLS begins compiling a situational report for its awakening commander. The AI has an idea what is to come next, but awaits its user’s input to initiate the expected operation.

As HAMLS finishes and documents its report, the captain’s stasis chamber opens with a soft click and a whirr. Cryogenic mist sublimates from the chamber upon the floor creating a temporary ground fog inside the bridge’s upper deck. Bright green eyes slowly part, breaking a thin rime of ice holding their eyelids shut. The eyes slowly blink open and a deep breath inhales and escapes from Mark’s lungs, ending their long disuse. The breaths bring the expected gagging cough as some of the remnants of the OxyGel escapes his trachea. It is always a most unpleasant sensation clearing that gunk. It’s a horrible mixture of choking to death and vomiting. But, Mark had endured it countless times and was, secretly, grateful to the OxyGel since it was instrumental in keeping him in stasis and free of systemic degeneration.

His eighteen year old’s body is testament to this. Even though he is well into his second century, Mark’s body doesn’t suffer from the destructive effects of entropy. He figures he has been in stasis for seventy of the past one-hundred years. This has been a long stretch of traveling under mere ‘warp sledding’ - The Sojourn’s secondary FTL system. This system effects a time displacement bubble around his ship while bending space sufficiently to ‘crunch’ space forward while straitening it aft-ward. This ‘warping’ of space-time makes traversing the vast distances of interstellar space possible by many factors faster than lightspeed.

Thanks to the neuromuscular interface within the chamber’s life sustainment systems, his body is toned to perfection. So, when he steps out from the rising bed, he has no kinks or hitches to work out. Mark’s body moves with the smooth grace of any fully coordinated young man.

“:: Good Morning, Mark. I trust you are feeling well after your rest? ::” HAMLS’ omnidirectional vocoder greets Mark with its usual gentle level-toned calm. The AI had programmed itself to sound like an older human male’s voice. Grandfatherly, might be a good way to describe it. Mark appreciates that little nuance. He had been very close to his grandfather ages ago. Even for the vast expanse of years, his childhood interactions with the elder were treasured memories.

“I’m doing good, Ham. What’s the story? Why have we dropped out of FTL? Have we reached Epsilon Boötis?” Mark asks the attentive AI.

“:: Negative, Sir. We have encountered an, as to for, unregistered Class 3 singularity. It has pulled us out of our space warp and into its gravity well. Currently, the antigravity field is stabalising our orbit, but the drain on our energy banks is considerable. If they fail, we may find ourselves falling toward the singularity. ::” HAMLS answers dispassionately.

“Naw. They won’t fail. This certainly isn’t the first black hole we’ve dealt with. Besides…black holes, especially small ones like this one, make excellent slingshooters!” Mark says with enthusiasm as he dons his flight-suit.

“Plus, we can recoup some of our energy expenditure by sucking up some of that plasma from the accretion disk. Plus…we’re not going anywhere at FTL while near that thing!” Mark’s grin at the prospect of total system’s failure should they fail in this endeavor mystifies HAMLS.

“:: Just as a warning, Sir: there is a 75.678% chance that we shall lose orbital balance and fall into the singularity at which point we will be utterly destroyed. ::” HAMLS incongruously calm vocodor warns the eccentric pilot.

“Hey! You only live once, you know?” Mark says as he straps into his command chair and a bank of controls slide into place in front of him.

“:: So, you intend to do this without my guidance? You must understand, Sir, my precision and reaction time are many times greater than yours. With your controlling the ship alone, there is more than a 95% failure rate. ::” If HAMLS was capable of sounding panicked he would at this point.

However, “Of course you’re going to have partial control! I’m not completely crazy!” Mark assures.

“Ok, Ham, strengthen the antigravity field. Set it to maximum output. I’ll insert us into a slightly lower orbit. With any luck we’ll rocket around this thing and be off on a new trajectory.” Mark command.

“:: Gravity repulsers are at maximum and holding at 100% field strength. Gravity shear from the black hole is increasing, however. Energy output from our own quantum singularity drive is increasing output to match, but if we overtax it . . . ::” HAMLS warns again, but is interrupted.

“I got it, Ham. We blow the drive we’re spaghetti. Entering into lower orbit…now!” Mark’s practiced hands flow speedily from one set of controls to the next and The Sojourn responds readily.

With a hard shudder, the ship enters into the lower orbit toward the singularity. The black hole’s gravity pulls mightily at the oval energy field surrounding the ship causing it to flare and bend as the ship pushes against the sucking force.

Inside, the ship shudders again only this time a bit harder. Mark feels his teeth chatter together at the vibration.

“:: Gravity shear increasing 30%. Gravity resistance down to 70%. We are maintaining orbital balance, but precariously so. Are you sure you would not like me to take steerage, Sir? ::” HAMLS queries it’s seemingly insane captain.

“Nope. We’re ok. Just gotta get one more rung down on the orbital ladder. I want to get close to that accretion disk. The energy flux it can give us will give us the push we need to exit orbit.” Mark explains while hastily setting his ship’s controls to descend further down the black hole’s gravity well.

“:: I would not recommend that action, Sir. We are barely keeping orbital balance as it is. If we descend much further we may very well be torn from orbit by the gravity shear. ::” HAMLS attempts again to reason with Mark, but to no avail.

“We’ll make it. Just trust me a little, ok?” Mark says with a touch of irritation.

The ship rattles and bucks inside while the antigravity field outside flares to near blinding light. Inside the ring-like configuration midships, a tiny star starts to glow hotter. The quantum singularity that powers The Sojourn is clearly starting to feel the strain of powering the gravity repulsion field against the immense force of the black hole.

“:: Gravity shear has reached 50%. Gravity repulsive force is down to 50% and dropping. The quantum singularity drive is now outputting to 120%. Destabilisation of the quantum singularity is reaching critical levels. ::” HAMLS reports seemingly pointlessly.

“Just…a little more!” Mark tries to grit his chattering teeth as he seems to be holding his ship together by pure force of will. The shaking, bucking, and shuddering of The Sojourn continues and intensifies as the ship drifts closer to the flaming wall of plasma energy that is the black hole’s accretion disk. If caught in the disk’s current, the ship would vaporize instantly.

“Ham, extend and negatively charge the energy capture basket. Let’s suck some power and then get out of here.” Mark directs HAMLS.

“:: ECCU (Energy Collection and Concentration Unit) system is extended and negatively charged. We must still get within 100 kilometers to attract the plasma particle flow. Orbital balance is now decaying. May I take over, Sir? ::” HAMLS asks almost hopefully.

“Yeah. Ok. I’m gonna need that ‘precision’ of yours to pull this off. I’ll monitor the capture basket and make sure it doesn’t overcharge and blow out half the ship.” Mark says as he stumbles over to another panel of winking controls that just activated.

“Maybe we can turn the ArtGrav plates off and conserve some power. Walking around here is getting dangerous.” Mark suggests, not wanting to trip and fall while the floor of his ship bucks and rattles itself to near pieces.

“:: You may need your personal repulser to move about if I turn off the artificial gravity plating, Sir. Shall I extract your repulser? ::” HAMLS, ever able to juggle a thousand things at once, suggests.

“Naw, I got the hand grips here. I’ll be good. Just get us closer to that accretion disk. Maybe, we can pull this off without being vaporized or spaghettified.” Mark directs.

“:: Very well, Sir. Gravity shear now at 60%. Gravity repulsion field holding at 40%. Quantum Singularity Drive is holding steady at 130% of baseline output. ECCU is beginning to attract plasma discharges from the accretion disk. Plasma intake at 10%. ::” HAMLS reports dutifully.

“Well, we still need to get closer so we can increase that intake or we’ll never get out of here. Get us a bit closer.” Mark commands with a bit of frustration.

“:: Approaching 100 kilometer mark. Plasma intake at 50%. This is as close as we dare go, Sir. Any closer and we will suffer critical failures in all systems. Hull temperature is already in excess of five thousand degrees. Radiation is over one thousand rads, but radiation shielding is holding. ::” HAMLS reports.

“I guess this is as good as it gets. Looks like we have to keep it up for a good two minutes before we have a full tank. Try to keep us in this orbit and also, if possible, keep us from frying. It’s getting pretty hot in here already.” Mark says while wiping sweat from his brow.

“:: Environmental systems are at maximum output, Sir. I do hope you have enough stamina to complete this task. It will become exponentially hotter as the ship takes on more radiant energy from the accretion disk. ::” HAMLS warns.

“I’ll make it. Just a little more…” Mark says, his overheating body forcing him to pant as he attempts to resist heat exhaustion.

One minute and then two minutes click by. Mark starts to feel faint as he watches the plasma intake indicator swim before his eyes. 70%, 80%, then 90%, the indicator’s red bar finally reaches the 100% mark.

Nearly unconscious, Mark manages to activate the control to retract the plasma collector.

“Kay, Ham…get us outta here.” Mark manages to command before everything goes black.

With its unparalleled ability, the HAMLS system pushes the newly acquired power to the quantum singularity. The gravity repulsion field flares turning The Sojourn into a blinding miniature star. Gradually, the ship pushes itself up to a higher orbit and into the flow of the current of the black hole’s higher gravitic maelstrom.

Faster and faster, The Sojourn whirls around the black hole picking up momentum and just as its gravity shear threatens to tear the ship apart, The Sojourn reaches escape velocity and rockets at near light speed out into open space.

++

Mark awakens nestled into his stasis chamber, the cryogenic systems still disengaged and the chamber’s transparent case still open. The chamber doubles as Mark’s bed when not in use as a cryo-stasis chamber. HAMLS must have tucked him in there after he passed out.

“:: It is good to see you are awake, Sir. You were beginning to suffer heat exhaustion. I took the liberty of putting you into cryo-stasis to cool your body and prevent heat stroke. May I suggest we refrain from engaging in similar activities for a while? ::” HAMLS pleads dispassionately.

“No promises, but I agree…a repeat performance of that little trick won’t be the first on my list of favorite things to do for a while.” Mark says sardonically.

“:: That is gratifying to hear, Sir. ::” HAMLS responds with almost a touch of humor in the response.

“So…where did we end up and what’s our heading?” Mark asks as he climbs back out of his stasis chamber.

“:: Astrogation has us on a heading toward the α Boötis star system. ::” HAMLS informs.

“So we are actually in ‘Boötis’ I see, but Arcturus…that’s an interesting destination. Naturally, we’ll want passage through Arcturan space from The Unity, but they’ve been friendly to Terrans for countless centuries. It’s weird we’ve never properly surveyed this system being that The Unity were the first extraterrestrial civilization that revealed themselves to humans way back in the distant past. Without them we’d never have left Earth for the stars at all!” Mark muses.

“:: Speaking of which, we are being hailed by a Unity City Ship currently. Shall I put the transmission through Lingual? ::” HAMLS asks.

“Of course! We don’t want to keep them waiting. Put them on.” Mark directs as he takes his command chair.

“* Terran ship, transponder designation Sojourn: you have entered Unity space. Please, state your intent. *” the synthesized translation directs.

“This is Mark Webb, commander and sole pilot of this vessel. We are on a mission of peaceful exploration and found ourselves in your neighborhood. We got caught in the Class Three Black Hole a few lighthours from here and were cast by it in this direction. We do not mean to trespass.” Mark’s measured ‘diplomatic’ voice always fascinates HAMLS. The AI is capable of such nuance in it’s own communications abilities, but not with as much flexibly as its human operator.

“* The singularity you refer to is artificial and of our make. Its purpose is to direct extrasystemic phenomenon and craft into our system for analysis. You are the second craft to enter into this system in the past twenty-one cycles by these means. Be welcome as long as you remain peaceful and allow us to direct your flightpath. *” Intones the synthesized transmission.

Mark, never one to enjoy being out of control of his own ship, nevertheless acquiesces to the Unity. Even if he wanted too, Mark wouldn’t be able to put up much resistance to The Unity in any case. Their technology is far too advanced. To them The Sojourn must seem no more than a toy.

Releasing his ship, Mark allows The Sojourn to begin its smooth and easy journey toward, what at first, looks to be a large asteroid. Only as the ship draws closer to the body does Mark see the artificial encrustations and lights that appear on its surface.

A Unity City Ship is always an awesome thing to see for the first time. Easily one-hundred kilometers in diameter, the artificial parts of the ship extend in stalactites and stalagmites of metal and polymers created by processes of which Terran technologists could only dream. The base of the ship is an actual asteroid from which the materials of the city are made and recycled.

“* Please prepare for docking procedures. *” the synthesized voice of The Unity directs.

A tiny speck next to the City Ship, The Sojourn is drawn toward a docking aperture. Silently, the starlike aperture opens in six sections, drawing back into the superstructure of the surrounding hanger edifice.

Mark looks through his ship’s plasma windows with awe as he sees the vastness inside the City Ship. It looks to him almost like being in an internal universe of stars highlighted by streamers of light showing definition into which those stars are set.

In the void between the far off surroundings of the city’s superstructure, Mark sees globes of light zip by in chains of traffic crisscrossing the City Ship’s interior. These lights are the vehicles of the Members, what individual ‘units’ of The Unity call themselves. The vehicles are composed of alternating frequencies of plasma energy. The Unity had long ago forsworn using materials for transitory constructs like vehicles. It was a technology far beyond Terran capabilities which still depended on steels and plastics to construct their starships. Terrans had only managed to master using plasma constructs in leu of transparent polymers or glass for viewing ports. The Unity only made use of matter for permanent constructions meant to last for thousands of years. Constructions like the City Ship’s main superstructure. But even so, the main superstructure bristled with dazzling light displays of plasma edifices. The multicolored beauty of these buildings of light is almost more than the human mind can bear.

Completely distracted, Mark is startled by a firm bump as The Sojourn couples with the plasma-constructed docking clamp now adhering itself to the ship’s main airlock.

“:: The Unity have established positive atmospheric pressure inside their docking assembly. Shall I open the airlock? ::” HAMLS asks.

“No, lets wait on The Unity first. They’ll tell us when they are ready to have us come aboard.” Mark says as he feels gravity capture him and gently drag him to the floor of his ship.

With that, he hears the airlock cycle on its own and then open with a gush of strangely scented air entering into The Sojourn’s main cabin.

“Hams? Weren’t you listening…?” Mark begins to chide.

But,

“:: That was not my doing, Sir. The Unity have taken complete control of our systems. I am effectively locked out of ship control outside of my ability to communicate with you. ::” HAMLS states the alarming without a touch of alarm in his measured voice.

“Hmmm…that was pretty forward of them. They usually ask permission first. I hope this is going to be a nice port of call rather than not.” Mark remarks with concern.

In his mind, Mark is suddenly filled with feelings of peace and calm and his tension, despite himself, begins to dissipate. Then a calm voice enters his mind as a short, thin fellow with a large hairless head and huge black slanted eyes enters his ship. The creature has its hands folded in front of its torso and it almost seems to glide in with smooth movements of its thin legs.

~ Welcome, Mark Webb, to the City Ship: Delta Five. We mean no harm, naturally, and receive you in peace. ~ The calm mental voice conveys with surprising depth.

“Ok…that’s great. Thanks for having me, I suppose, but was it really necessary to co-op control of my ship in the process? That’s a bit disconcerting.” Mark mentions pointedly.

~ Our apologies. That is our protocol for alien craft entering Delta Five. We, of course, have to protect ourselves from possible hostility as many starfaring races we encounter do tend toward being hostile. Terrans were once that way not too long ago. ~ The creature responds with gentle dispassion. Mark finds it interesting that hundreds of years seems ‘not too long ago’ by Unity standards. Humanity had moved beyond violence and fear generations ago and now only engages in violence when all other options at peace are exhausted.

“Yeah, but…we’ve put that behind us since the Second Age Of Enlightenment.” Mark says in way of catching The Unity up on ‘current’ events.

~ Oh, we know. Remember, it was we that made your Second Age possible on Disclosure Day! ~ Now it is the alien that is being Mark’s history instructor reminding him what a big part The Unity played in bringing humanity to its next stage of evolution.

~ Come. There are reasons other than pleasant conversation that we have brought you here. ~ The alien telegraphs telepathically as it comes up to Mark and gently takes him by the hand. The gentle gesture is touching to Mark on some deep level. It is almost ‘grandmotherly’ the way the alien is treating him.

“Do you have a name or a designation?” Mark asks almost absentmindedly as he gazes around at the wonder of the City Ship about him.

~ (A rush of feelings, memories, special thoughts, and visions enter into Mark’s mind. The apparent summation of all the alien’s existence. Such is its ‘name’.) ~

Mark stops and staggers a bit as the lightning fast download of information enters into his mind.

“Whoa! Th-that’s incredible, but I thought maybe you might have something I could actually ‘call’ you, like…verbally?” Mark asks almost sheepishly.

~ How about, First Friend? ~ the alien responds after a second of thought.

“Ok. I guess that will do.” Mark answers distractedly as he finally sees, close up, one of the plasma-constructed vehicles the aliens use to get around. It’s completely spherical in shape and glows like a hot coal. Mark and the alien sit inside of the vessel completely unharmed by the energy as the vehicle zips itself up and away into the traffic of the other vehicles flying in formations overhead.

“Um, can I ask…what reasons do you need me for?” Mark asks, managing to get his situational awareness back in line after recovering from the bedazzlement of his surrounding. There is some concern. The Unity experimented on humans for hundreds if not thousands of years before Disclosure Day. Some of the experiments, Mark was given to understand, were not always entirely pleasant and were often a little humiliating.

First Friend picked up on this instantly, ~ Do not worry, Mark. Those days of field testing are long behind your species. We have acquired from Terrans all the physical and genetic data we ever desired. No, you are here because there is something we need to show you. Perhaps, you can shed some light where we cannot. ~

“Wow! You guys actually need my help?” Mark asks incredulously. He cannot fathom why a race so completely beyond him in intelligence and technology could possibly need his assistance with any kind of question.

~ Indeed we do. We have never encountered anything like this before and yet there is a definite connection it has with Terrans. Your coming into our sector was a stroke of luck, to coin a human phrase. It was either that or…providence. In any case, my explaining it further would taint your first hand impressions of the subject. We very much need what your first impressions will be upon your…introduction. ~ First Friend explains rather evasively.

“Ok. You have me at your discretion, I guess, and you’ve got me curious.” Mark responds with a touch of misgiving.

~ Again. Be not afraid. The Unity has only wanted the best for humanity. We would never harm you or deceive you. I believe this, erm, ‘phenomenon’ to be of utmost importance to humanity. For lack of a better explanation until you actually see for yourself, I believe this discovery may answer some questions as to the…well…the actual origins of human-kind. Nothing less than, actually. ~ First Friend’s huge eyes seem to sparkle with feeling as he looks up in to Mark’s.

“Um…wow…again!” Is all Mark could think to say. Now he is truly curious! What, in all of this vast galaxy, has The Unity found to mean something as significant as the very origin of humanity!

When they get a significant distance from The Sojourn, their craft veers off from the traffic flow and toward a small aperture in the wall of the City Ship’s interior. The orb glides into the doorway effortlessly and with absolute precision. All through the flight, Mark notices that First Friend touches no controls at all. He merely sits silently only ‘sending’ his thoughts to Mark periodically.

“Just a question, but, how do you control these things without controls?” Mark wonders.

First Friend’s answer only invites more questions: ~ Our vehicles are fabricated and controlled by our minds. ~ is all that he would answer.

At last, they arrive at a docking port after a labyrinthine maze of tunnels. As soon as First Friend and Mark step out of their glittering vehicle, it totally disappears!

“Uh…our ride is gone! How am I supposed to get back to The Sojourn now or am I here for a while?” Mark asks with a little trepidation. He still isn’t so sure he could trust his ‘First Friend’ entirely, yet.

~ You worry far too much for your health, Mark. As I mentioned before, our plasma-constructs come to exist as needed. There’s no sense cluttering valuable space with a construct that is not needed at the moment. ~ First Friend would have chuckled if he was capable of such a thing.

“Ok…I guess.” Mark says as he follows First Friend down a white corridor that is illuminated from all sides.

“How much farther?” Mark is getting a bit tired of the maze he is being lead through. He now has a touch of concern that he will probably never find his way out of this place again without help.

~ We are here. ~ First Friend answers as a seamless part of the wall simply opens admitting them entrance.

They enter a white room that is similarly illuminated by light emanating from the walls themselves. In the center of the room, propped on a smooth support that seems to be growing out of the floor, Mark sees what looks like a seed-shaped coffin.

It is primarily made of a bright silver material, but it is highlighted with gold bands conforming to the curvilinear shape of the strange little vessel. The style of the technology is definitely not of Unity make. It is obvious!

Mark follows First Friend around to what he figures will be the front of the vessel. What Mark sees next takes his breath away!

Incased behind a crystal of some kind of glass-like substance is the most beautiful man Mark has ever seen! The man seems asleep and at complete peace inside of this artificial chrysalis. He looks like he couldn’t have been any older than Mark is physically. A man looking to be in his early twenties with silver white hair and the palest flawless skin that seems to almost glow from the inside! He is dressed in a formfitting outfit of white with gold-like plates covering his chest, shoulders, and waist.

~ He is humanoid, obviously, but with many traits far different than Terran humanoids. Our noninvasive readings have discovered that his physical structure is many times denser than Terrans which would make him considerably heavier and stronger than a typical male Terran. We have yet to get an exact age of the subject using noninvasive means and we are unwilling to break into his stasis-pod for fear of causing him physical harm. We are not yet versed in their technology. It is advanced…even by our standards! ~ First Friend explains.

“Where did he come from?” Mark says gazing at the ‘subject’ with awe.

~ Unknown. Our artificial singularity captured him in its orbit and, not unlike your ship, his stasis-pod was able to achieve sufficient gravitic balance to sling-shot the subject toward our space. ~ First Friend says.

“Well, if you guys can’t figure out who he is or where he comes from, I don’t know how I could be of help here. I’ve got no idea of who or what he is. Other than looking similar to humans, what else would there be to make a connection?” Mark wonders.

~ It is rather simple, really. Look here… ~ First Friend comes to the side of chrysalis and points at something.

As Mark comes to look closer he is astonished to find that there is a word engraved in gold on the side of the pod. In wonder, Mark sees that the word is written in the Latin-style lettering of Earth!

“Balder?” Mark reads the name aloud, daring to touch the words as if by touching them they might bring added meaning.

~ Does that word have any significance to you or your people? ~ First Friend asks with a touch of hope in his mental ‘voice’.

“I…I’m not sure. I’ll need to consult with HAMLS back on my ship. He might have a clue…” Mark suggests.

~ Then, by all means, let us return to your ship at once! My superiors are very interested in this subject. He may represent someone or something of great importance! ~ First Friend says with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

With that, Mark and First Friend make haste back to The Sojourn. But, after their hasty departure, something unusual happens with the chrysalis. It begins to hum and the interior alights with a faint glow. Within The Unity laboratory, a slow beeping starts to sound pulsing at regular intervals.

Behind the crystal glass, bright blue eyes slowly open and blink.

The ‘subject’ awakens…