Project: A35 Ch 1
Project: A35
Written by the people in strait jackets at Crazy Fox Studio. (Justin Henderson) As the title suggests, this is a complete rewrite of Project: A35. A story with a lot of action, comedy, drama, and a touch of romance tossed in there somewhere. Please comment and enjoy.
Chapter 1
"So, I hear we're headed back to that Earth planet, Quivel." One Zevox alien said to another as they walked down a hallway in the gigantic Zevox starship.
"Yeah, if memory serves me well, I think that was the planet General Zahkrin was talking about making our next home." Quivel said with a grin. "It's about time, huh. I mean, we've been looking for a planet to call home since our's basically died so long ago."
"Yeah, that sucked. We keep going around conquering planets and experimenting on and killing off species, which is fine by me, don't get me wrong." The first alien said, his shoulders then slumping. "But I wish we could just keep a planet to call our own, you know? I'm sick of this stinking ship. I'm getting claustrophobic."
"I know what you mean, Gaice," Quivel concurred, "but General Zahkrin knows what's best for us. One day, he'll bring us to the "destined planet", where we'll be content. And when we finally get through researching and experimenting on the inhabitants from the planets we conquer, we can use the research we got and give ourselves the power to live like gods forever!"
"You know, that kinda cheered me up!" Gaice said, his lips curling into an evil smile.
The two Zevox walked into a room filled with Zevoxian scientists walking about and at work stations. At one of the work stations, they saw Zahkrin standing proudly, with his hands clasped behind his back. Zahkrin was the long time general of this starfleet. He was a tall daunting Zevox with pale green skin, a slightly elongated head,and had round stubbed ears, as most Zevox had, and almost always had a serious disposition about him. He was gazing up at the figure suspended in a liquid filled bio tube before him. The figure was a male anthropomorphic wolf with fiery red hair. He had wires and cables attached all over his body and a mask so he could breath while in the liquid.
"What is the progress on Project: A36?" Zahkrin asked the scientist that was typing on a holographic keyboard in front of him.
"About 80%, sir." The scientist replied. "A36 would be further along if Galen were here, sir."
"Yes, I agree." Zahkrin said, never taking his gaze off of the wolf in the tube. "He was a very gifted mind. His passing is a shame. However, you and your team have replicated his work well, considering you created this one from scratch instead of using a living specimen."
"Thank you, sir." The scientist said, lowering his head in respect, then turning around to continue what he was doing on the keyboard.
"We'll need Project: A36 for when the Ulidians attacks us again. I don't know how, but they had some kind of creature that was able to destroy two of our last experiments." Zahkrin pondered aloud. "Those projects were relatively early in development and weak, but still, how could the Ulidians, being the primitive race they are, have such a creature?"
"I'm not sure, sir." The scientist answered. "If I'm not mistaken though, it looked similar to an inhabitant of one of the planets we destroyed not too long ago."
Zahkrin grunted at the thought. "Whatever it was, we have a secret weapon of our own. We've put entirely too much research and development into that one for it to be defeated. Project: Xaya is effectively invincible."
"General Zahkrin, sir." Gaice said as he and Quivel stood at attention next to Zahkrin.
"Yes?" Zahkrin acknowledged him.
"We've just been informed that have just come out of our space jump, and we're now within visual range of the planet Earth, sir." Quivel stated, still at attention. "Excellent." Zahkrin said as he walked past Gaice and Quivel through the lab door.
The Zevox had been to Earth a couple of times. The first time, Zahkrin had deemed it a planet worth living on and that the natives were ideal test subjects. They spared the planet for the time being, however, they had abducted and experimented on some inhabitants of that planet, but only one survived the augmentations: Project: Xaya, their crowning acheivement and greatest project. To this day, they still experiment on Project: Xaya, making it the ultimate weapon. The same thing had happened the second time. Project: A35 was the only survivor. According to Galen, who was the lead scientist on that project and a very respected person among the Zevox, Project: A35 was a prototype for several new implementations he was working on. Project: A35 was returned to Earth to fulfill his mission to kill off the inhabitants of the planet so that, when the Zevox came back, they could make it their own home. Unfortunately, during a surprise Ulidian attack on the Zevox starship, Galen disappeared. Everybody was certain that he was among the other casualties. After that, Zahkrin had his scientists research what Galen had been working on and replicate it in Project: A36. Galen had made breakthroughs in several much needed enhancements that could prove beneficial to both projects and the Zevox, such as regeneration and extended life. However, since most, if not all, projects' ends were the same, then there would be no need for them to have extended life. Whether a project failed it's mission or completed it, the Zevox would study the effects of the augmentations on the project, extract the data from them, and dispose of them. There's no need to keep an outdated project when you've made a new improved one. They were only pawns to be used. Nothing more. However, all of this research is being done for all of the Zevox to make them the ultimate race. Since Project: A35, the Zevox improved upon Galen's work and implemented it in Project: A36, and made him A35's true successor in every way. Galen's death was not in vain.
Zahkrin finally made his way to the control room where Zevox workers were manning each computer in the impressively sized room. Gaice and Quivel had followed him to the control room but stopped inside the doorway when they saw a picture of the planet Earth on the massive holographic moniter covering the front window of the room.
Zahkrin winced at the screen. "Veth, zoom in." He commanded.
"Yes, sir." Veth, a Zevoxian working at a computer, responded loyally.
The image of Earth on the moniter zoomed in to show a bustling, peaceful city.
"Wow," Gaice thought aloud, "It looks the same as when we left it..."
"It sure does..." Quivel agreed. "I don't think Zahkrin's going to be happy. This could get ugly. We might want to get out of here."
"What in the name of Talah is going on!?" Zahkrin exclaimed, throwing his usually professional attitude out the window. "There should be no sentient life on that planet!"
"Yeah, we need to get out of here." Quivel said to Gaice as they both took off out of the room.
"Project: A35 has been given adequate time to complete his mission! There's no way he could have failed! There was so much work put into him!" Zahkrin yelled, redfaced.
Zahkrin collected himself and thought for a moment, his forehead resting on his fist.
"Veth, give me a planetwide search for Project: A35." Zahkrin finally ordered.
"Yes, sir." She answered loyally and began typing away at her computer.
There was silence for a while except the clicking and whirring of the computers.
"General..." Veth said meagerly.
"Yes?" Zahkrin responded, agitated.
"I can't find him. His chip isn't responding." She said waiting for him to blow up on her, but to her surprise, he kept calm. She looked to see him still sitting in his chair and cover his eyes with his hand, slide it down his face, and then say calmly. "How could that happen, Veth? Every project has a chip embedded into their body so we can control and track them. The chips are fullproof. We have never had one fail us before. I want you to check again."
Veth paused for a moment and said. "I've already checked three times, sir. It's just not responding. He may not have one."
Zahkrin sat in his chair thinking for a moment. There was silence in the control room. Suddenly, Zahkrin's lips formed an evil smile as he remembered something. When Galen had informed him that Project: A35 was a prototype for new implementations, he took great interest and had a second chip secretly embedded into Project: A35 so he could better keep tabs on him. How fortunate that he did that. Zahkrin let out a sinister chuckle.
"Veth, run another scan." Zahkrin commanded looking over at the Zevox worker. "This time use the chip ID A352B786R5I0."
"Yes, sir." Veth typed on the computer and then paused. "I found him, sir."
"Excellent." Zahkrin said as he turned toward the screen. "Zoom in to exact coordinates."
The image of Earth on the giant moniter then zoomed in until there was a live video feed of an anthro fox running down an alley way.
Zahkrin just stared at the screen.
"What the..."
...........
Victor ran through the alleyway dodging the trash cans the human robber he was chasing threw in his way.
"Damnitall, punk, you're making me miss my favorite tv show!" He yelled at the robber a few yards ahead of him.
"Ask if I care! Leave me alone, you damn animal!" The robber retorted.
Being called an animal pissed Victor off to no end. He hated that. He was an anthro. Which were people that were half human, half fox, cat, dog, animal...whatever. Legally, they were a minority. Human or not, they didn't exactly choose to come into existence. They just did. They were here now, so the humans might as well just deal with it. Victor wished it could, at least, be a peaceful coexistence. Like most ethnicities you have your supporters and your not-so-supporters. This guy was apparently a latter.
"You'd better hope I don't catch you, ya little shit," Victor shouted at him, "'cause if I do, there won't be anything left of you to throw in jail!"
"Just try!" The robber yelled back.
Victor sped up his pursuit when he saw the robber duck around a corner. As Victor came around the corner, he ran smack into a parked van. It had to be the getaway vehicle, he concluded. The engine revved up and Victor looked inside to see the robber give him the one finger salute.
"Ah, hell..." Victor mumbled to himself as he turned tail and ran.
He heard the van take off and he knew it couldn't be that far behind him. He turned his head to check the distance and, as he expected, the van was a little over an arm's length behind him. Victor jumped onto the hood causing the driver to panic and turn the vehicle into the wall of the narrow alleyway causing Victor to lose his balance and fall to the front of the van, hanging onto the hood with his feet dragging the ground.
"Well, this sucks!" Victor said to himself. "Didn't think I'd die like this."
At that moment, something in Victor snapped. He blacked out, losing control of his body. His eyes turned a bloody red and then he stomped his feet onto the ground, using the van's momentum and his sudden supernatural burst of strength, picking the van up over him by the hood and backdropping it. Causing the driver to land on his head in the van and lose consciousness. Victor came back to his senses and looked at the van in amazement.
"Whoa!" He said, wide eyed. "What the hell just happened!?"
He looked his body over for injuries, but couldn't find any.
"Oookay then..." He commented as he reached into the wreckage and carefully pulled out the unconscious robber. He slung the robber over his well built shoulder and began walking back to the crime scene. Everything had been weird the past six months. Victor had been having very strange dreams about aliens and him being inside a green tube looking out. Ever since he'd started having those dreams, strange things had been happening to him. For example, he was working on the roof of his house one day and he lost his balance and fell off, gashing his arm open on something as he fell. Sean, his youngest brother, bandaged him up the best he could and they headed for the hospital. On the way, Victor lifted the bandage to check on his wound and, to his amazement, it was completely healed! Luckily, that saved them from an ungodly high ER bill, but still, that was just freaky! Another thing that Victor found weird is that after all that running and action with the van, he wasn't winded at all. He wasn't breathing hard and his heart was at a normal rate. He worked out a lot, but it couldn't possibly be doing him THAT good!
"Okay, so maybe I'm turning into Superman or something." Victor joked to himself. "That'd be too cool. I could fly."
When Victor made it back to the crime scene where he'd chased the robber from, it was covered with police. He knew most of the police in the GCPD, and was friends with most of them, but they seemed to be busy. Victor saw a portly policeman he didn't recognize scribbling things down in a small notepad. He didn't look too busy so Victor thought he'd ask him where, the captain and his best friend, Jack was.
"Excuse me, where's J-" Victor started to say, but was rudely interrupted by the porky pig imposter.
"I'm busy! Go bother somebody else!" The portly human officer snapped.
Victor's blood pressure rose tremendously. "I will when you tell me where Jack is." Victor said, trying to keep his cool. He hated smartasses.
The chubby officer closed his notepad and looked at Victor. "And who wants to know, tough guy?"
"Me!" Victor replied sharply.
"Well, 'me' isn't good enough, chief!" The policeman retorted.
"Fine then! You can take this to him for me then!" Victor said as he chunked the robber's body at the officer. The body knocked the officer to the ground. Other police officers around him just looked at him for a second and then continued what they were doing.
"I see nobody's rushing to your aid." Victor chuckled looking down at the cop with the body laying on him. "You must be really popular."
The cop pushed the body off of him and scrambled to his feet. "I could lock you up for attacking a police officer, jackass!"
"Then who would catch the criminals that you couldn't catch even if you were in shape, Winston?" A voice from behind him questioned.
"Hey, Jack." Victor waved at him.
"Captain Stapp!" The piggly little officer squealed.
"Calling mommy, are we?" Victor teased.
"This..." he paused. "'Fox thing' attacked me!"
"'Fox thing'!?" Victor snarled. "How many teeth do you want to lose?"
"Easy, both of you." The new human officer, Jack, said. "Winston, this 'fox thing' you're referring to just so happens to be my best friend and a VERY big help to the GCPD."
"But-"
"No 'buts', Winston." He said. "They need you over there."
"Yes, sir..." Winston grumbled and walked off.
"Sorry, he's new on the force. He's not the most liked person we have. He's a douche, but he's a cop, so please try and show, at least, a little respect, ok? So, what happened this time?" Jack asked. "You just so happen to drive by and see the robbery in progress?"
"Yep." Victor replied. "What are the odds, huh, Jack?"
"You were listening to the police scanner again, weren't you, Vic?"
"Guilty as charged." Victor admitted, scratching the back of his head.
"Victor, we appreciate your help, we really do, but do you honestly enjoy putting yourself in danger by being a vigilante?"
"Actually, yes. I love the excitement and adrenaline rush. I don't know why. I'm weird like that."
"I don't know if that kind of thrill seeking is good for you, but you know, if you want to seek thrills by chasing criminals, why don't you just join the Greyton City Police Department?"
"How many times have you offered and I've refused, Jack?"
"About 43...Wait, that would be 44 now, wouldn't it?"
"You seriously kept count?"
"Sadly, yes."
"You're sad. Sorry, but I have my reasons for not wanting to join."
"I know. By the way, there was an accomplice in this burglary. He had the money when the two split and he got away."
"Why didn't you guys get 'im?"
"We came as fast as we could, but by the time we got here, he was gone. We'll get him though."
"Good. Hey, listen, something weird happened when I was chasing this guy."
Jack looked at him with a puzzled face. "Like?"
"Well, you probably won't believe me, but I think I suplexed a van."
Jack raised his eyebrows and exhaled. "You need sleep, Vic. Lots of sleep. Go get sleep. That or some serious medication. The heat's gotta be getting to you with all that fur. Go take some medication and fall asleep in front of an air conditioner. There ya go."
"No, I'm serious. I've been having weird dreams the past six months and strange things have been happening to me."
"Such as?"
"I've been healing like really really fast."
"Ok, so you eat your veggies. Big deal." Jack said, shrugging his shoulders.
"No, no. I mean like superhuman...or anthro fast. That and just...I dunno...my body's going through changes."
"Wait, do anthros go through puberty twice?"
"I'm done talking to you." Victor said as he rolled his eyes and walked to his car.
"I was just kidding, Vic. By the way, thanks for all your help." Jack said.
"No problem. Just doing your job." Victor chuckled as he got in his car.
"Real funny." Jack waved him off. Jack has been Victor's best friend for years. He was a really good guy, but Victor didn't really expect him to believe him. I mean, who would believe something as farfetched as that. "What is happening to me?" Victor wondered. As Victor drove home, thoughts about what all had been happening went through Victor's mind. He also had this odd feeling that somebody was watching him. People have called him paranoid before, but sometimes he was all too certain that somebody was watching him.