Skyfall Chapter 1
Chapter 1
1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DATE: UNKNOWN TIME: UNKNOWN LOCATION: UNKNOWN I am rocketing through space at a speed so fast all I see is a white blur. My small craft will be running out of fuel soon, and its hazard lights are illuminated. Luckily, I have spotted a nearby planet that my scanner says I will be able to survive on. The scanner also picked up basic language, which is what I am transcribing my internal log in now. From the looks of it, I will be arriving on the darkened side of the planet-it will be night time. The atmosphere is similar to where I come from... I am still wounded from the struggle, but I am too distracted to feel that sort of pain right now. The nervousness renders my muscles weak, and my body can hardly respirate. I need to calm down. I should be arriving shortly. Even if I survive, I doubt I will be able to update my log again until the events have passed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . My craft slammed into the planet, crashing through green vegetation and cracking against hard mountains. Apparently my landing gear was not working. My safety device snapped in half as my craft spiraled down the rock face, which caused me to tumble around in the craft. I slammed into the sharp edges and felt an intense pain down my spine. The craft spun and fell for what seemed like an eternity as I travelled down the mountainside. Finally, everything came to a stop. The entire left side of my craft was gone, and the rest of it was slowly shattering into dust. I inhaled deeply. The air here felt stiff and burned my throat, and my muscles were not reacting to the gravity as well as they should have been. I needed to find a new form. I wobbled out of my craft, clinging to the edge of its round shape as I slipped out onto solid, soft ground. My head jerked up at a rustling sound. Something was near. I activated my internal scanner and looked around. I identified some small life forms that flew about the dark, but I did not want to take their form. I heard something larger approaching. It was loud, and made grunting noises that sounded defensive. I tried to force my limbs to move in its direction, but they needed time to adjust to the gravity of this planet. I collapsed into the dusty earth, and looked up to see a blurred figure smash through the vegetation and fall to the ground. The planet's pale, blue moon was shining brightly against the creature's bizarre silhouette. I watched the bipedal creature flail around in front of me, swinging it's wild limbs from side to side and roaring like a beast. The ground shook when it moved; this was something with immense power. That was the form I needed to take. I crawled closer to it as it staggered towards me. Once it was close enough, I reached out and grabbed onto the creature's furred leg, which rippled with flexing muscles. The creature froze like a statue, and I saw a large muzzle jutting out of its face with wicked teeth inside. I focused on the creature, and soon it's DNA was entering my brain. The feeling felt unlike any creature I had felt before. It was as if it's DNA was confused, mixed... It was then that I realized this creature was transforming into something else. I hoped I had enough complete DNA to transform into something. I downloaded all the information I could from its brain, but the feeling was overwhelming when paired with my wounded state. Exhausted, I was forced to release the creature. It seemed to complete it's transformation as it ran into the woods and away from me. I looked towards the remnants of my craft, remembering I still needed to destroy it. I used the DNA I had collected from the creature to strengthen my legs, and was able to stumble back over to it. I entered a few commands in the glowing control panel, and the metal-like material began to etch away into nothing as it transformed into the dirt that was around it. With the last of my strength, I focused my mind on the DNA I had collected. I imagined in my head what my new form would look like, and felt the familiar feeling of my own DNA unraveling as it adjusted to create that image. Exhaustion overcame me halfway through my transformation, and everything went black. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When my mind slowly began to come conscious once more, I felt completely different. My transformation must have completed itself while I slept. My brain slowly oriented itself to all the new information it had downloaded....Werewolf. Werewolves... They are supposed to transform on full moons or when they are extremely stressed. Typically, a werewolf does not have complete control over it's morph. The information displayed itself in my head. Shit. Werewolves were usually in a form called human, but I didn't have enough DNA to create a human form for myself. I searched the information to see if a creature like what I had turned into existed on this planet. It did not. I decided it was a good time to open my eyes and find out where I was. I no longer felt the dusty earth beneath my body, but instead I seemed to be laying on some sort of soft surface. Slowly, I cracked my new eyes open. My eyelids were penetrated by a blinding light. All I could see was white. I became aware of the injuries in my new body as I attempted to sit up. Struck with pain, I coughed and reached up my new hand to my new chest cavity. My eyes adjusted and put together a foreign picture as I dared to open them more. I looked down at my body to see that I somewhat resembled the bipedal creature I saw before. My body was covered in a soft, white fur with black markings scattered around it, I took time to feel the defined muscles in my abdomen and legs, which were very, very sore. I had hands that were mostly human, but were covered in fur and had paw pads on the palms. Black claws stuck out of my fingertips. I glanced up to observe my surroundings, and a jolt of panic washed over me. I noticed that my arm had a bond on it with a cord that attached to a white, tiled wall. My other arm had a bandage wrapped around it. I could see some red oozing through in a few places, the color of blood here. Much brighter than the blood at home. I thought to myself. My hand had a needle in the top of it with liquid from a bag of some kind dripping into the vein through a long tube. I was lying on a white bed; the sheets were soft and looked perfect.
Confusion and fear crept into my mind. I began to breathe heavily. I saw a reflective surface on one of the walls and glanced into it. My face resembled what they called a wolf, pointed ears, soft fur, and a muzzle jutting out of my face with sharp teeth tucked inside of it. Opening and closing my mouth a few times, I observed the movements of my face, unsure of how to feel. It looked like I had adopted some patterns from my original form. This made me uncomfortable. It must have happened when I fell asleep. I studied my eyes. They were a deep violet with specks of a rustic red on the edges. I blinked several times. My ears shot foreword at the sound of the door opening; the door I failed to realize existed until it opened and a creature walked through. A human. My heart raced. I was overwhelmed by all the reactions this body was having. It-he, was wearing a white coat over white pants...everything was so white. Sterile. My wide eyes locked with his dark, black eyes. He was smiling at me. Was this a threat? I had to scan my brain to find out. No. That gesture is not a threat. He made a noise but I did not hear him. My body lurched forward in panic, and I was caught by the cord on my wrist. My injured arm stung from the sudden pressure I had placed on it as I caught myself. "Calm down!" The human said as he froze, "Calm down, I am not going to hurt you." I allowed my mind to decode his message, this was the first time I had heard the language spoken aloud, and it took a few moments for it to sink in. "Can you speak?" He asked. I swallowed hard; I did not know. The beast I had encountered in the woods was roaring madly, which I understood now was an animalistic noise that these "humans" did not make. At least, they didn't make those noises when they were in their human forms. Humans communicated using specific sounds called words and used very little body language. They considered themselves very different from all other animals, yet their biological structures were very similar. How strange. "Do you understand me?" His voice was soft. I focused as hard as I could on the molecular structure of my mouth. I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. Surely it could make those noises...if I tweaked a few things... I coughed violently as I rearranged some of the cells, mostly to distract the human, but partially because my throat was still raw and sore from my arrival. He watched me carefully, but remained silent. Finally, I stopped coughing and turned back to him, "I..." I coughed again, and this time some red blood shot out of my mouth. "Yes." I wheezed. Good. I DID have a voice and I was capable of making those noises... I would just need to heal and practice, first. The human approached me again, "Take it easy." He said, sitting down on the side of the bed. My muscles tensed. I was unsure of how to feel, and my downloaded information did not help me this time. "Our guards found your body in the woods three nights ago. You were very weak and hardly coherent." He said calmly, studying my tense body "We do not wish to harm you. We are trying to help you." I wondered who "we" were as my brain scanned his tone. I stared into his eyes, which were deep brown close-up, and studied his face. His face was narrow with sharp features, and he had a soft expression that still carried strength with it. My downloaded information told me he looked like a young adult. He did not SEEM to be lying, but I could not be certain. I attempted to relax a bit. "Okay." I attempted speech once more. This time I seemed to have a more solid sound to my voice. "Do you have a name?" The human asked, running a hand through his dark, brown hair, which laid flat on his head and covered his eyes just slightly when he looked down. His hair seemed to be a bit longer in the front, and a few long strands fell over his ears as it shortened out in the back. Distracted by his hair, I had forgotten to pay attention to his question. I became nervous once I realized what he had asked. He stared at me as he awaited an answer. "N-no." I lied. "I cannot remember." Even if I wanted him to know my name, there was no way it could have been pronounced in human tongue. "What exactly are you?" He asked, his eyes probing at me. I was tempted to run, but my broken body, however strong, could not have made it out. Not to mention my arm was tethered to the wall. I swallowed hard. "I do not remember anything, sir." I choked out. The word "sir" seemed to just pop in there. I suppose it was a defensive reflex...make the human feel respected, let them know you recognize their authority over you. "Okay, dog." He laughed a bit, my mind scanned the word "dog" and my downloaded information informed me that this was a derogatory term used for werewolves and canines. I briefly wondered if he was insulting me, or if it meant something else I didn't understand; he had also laughed...I was confused, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. "We're going to figure something out. I need to change your bandages." The human said. "Please do not panic. This will hurt, but it is necessary to keep your wounds clean. Do you understand?" The fear came back again. I nodded shakily as he leaned over my body and unwrapped the bandage on my right arm. I watched him reveal blood-soaked fur underneath. The wound was horrible. My new flesh was sliced inches deep, with the muscle torn right open, and it had been stitched together with some string, but the edges were still raw and stripped off. The wound ran from my wrist all the way up my forearm. I doubted I would be able to hide the scar once it DID heal, considering that my transformation had barely helped. Usually, I would have been able to heal it right up with some new DNA, but I suppose this wound was different. At least my internal bones were no longer showing. "Some scars last forever." They always used to tell me... The air hitting the wound caused it to sting. I watched carefully as the human sprayed some liquid over it. I screamed out. This pain was almost as bad as receiving the wound was, and I struggled to keep myself from ripping my arm away. The liquid burned deep inside my tissues, and I roared much like the beast in the woods had. The human seemed to flinch at my reaction, "I am very sorry." He said while remaining very focused on my arm. He tenderly dabbed at the wound with different types of cloth and burning liquid before carefully redressing the wound with a fresh bandage. He did seem to care, or at least feel sorry that I was in pain. That helped me relax a bit. After my arm had been cleaned, none of my other wounds caused me to react in that way. Many of the other wounds were small scratches or bruised bones, and a few cracked ribs. The rest of my wounds I was able to heal up during the transformation. I breathed deeply while he cleaned the rest. While watching him tend to my wounds, the thought that I was tethered to the wall gnawed at my mind. I tried to ignore it, being too shy to ask questions at first, but finally I burst. "Am I a prisoner?" My voice must have been filled with fear, and my body began to shake again, "Why am I bound?" My mind filled with terrifying answers as I asked the question. The human looked up briefly with a rather conflicted expression. "No. Not a prisoner." He sighed after a few moments, "We just did not want you to wake up in panic and harm yourself, or one of our staff." I probed my downloaded information. I could not gather the data, and this place looked extremely unfamiliar. That shouldn't have happened...perhaps I was unable to download complete memories from the werewolf in the woods? Still, the creature should have been able to recognize general objects, such as the things in this room, but my downloaded information was as confused as I was at the foreign sights. I wondered what sort of place I had ended up in. "Staff? You mentioned a guard earlier." I wheezed again, my mouth and throat were so dry, "Where exactly am I? What is this place?" I asked. The human finished dabbing at my last wound and looked up at me, flicking his head to flip his hair to the side, "This is the Rhizodeoxy Institution Laboratory, or TRIL." He said, placing the soiled bandages and fabrics on a metal tray. "We study genetic structures and DNA specifically in this lab, but all kinds of scientific experiments go on here." My heart began to race again. How did they know? DO they know? Is this some sort of twisted coincidence? "Experiments." I repeated, fear coating my weak voice. "Is that what I will become?" I dared to ask. The human laughed, "No! No. We do not experiment like that." He assured me, stepping away from my bedside to dispose of the bandages. I remained uncertain, "So I will be allowed to leave?" He looked over his shoulder at me, "Yes, certainly. But we cannot let you leave until you are healed, that would be quite rude of us." He smiled again, "...and, my boss has taken interest in you because of your strange form. He will be pleased to know that you speak, as well!" I closed my eyes and tried to wrap my head around what was just said. They must not know what I am, but they must want to know...but they aren't admitting to it, not yet. What could they possibly want from me that would keep them from asking questions? I wondered to myself. Why are they playing so nice? "What does he want from me?" I sounded defensive. "No worries, he was just considering offering you a job position." I turned to look at my body again, studying the features and carefully learning them as I practiced flexing different muscles. I felt as though I was going to pass out. "Look, you should be resting, um..." He paused, "You really do need a name, buddy. Maybe you should pick one out for yourself!" He said, holding out his hand, "My name's Misha." I reflexively took his hand and shook it with a nod. "I need to get going, but you rest up. I'll be back tomorrow to do the same thing all over again, unfortunately. But we can talk more then, okay?" Misha asked me, smiling that warm, genuine smile again. I felt shy and avoided eye contact. I did not want to speak with him again... I was homesick already, but I knew that "home" harbored a much worse fate than whatever I faced here. Still, playing out my fate at home would have been easier than running away. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and I wondered if it was worth it to run away. I nodded to the human and mumbled "okay" quietly. He took another look at me, studying me once more before finally leaving and closing the door. I heard it lock behind him. I would have been uncomfortable if the darkness of sleep hadn't consumed me as soon as I laid back down.