Victernus - Chapter 14
Namara woke up in a hospital bed
with several IVs attached to his arms. The room he was in was small and white -
monitoring equipment, a door, and a metal rolling table stood to his left and a
window and chair were on his right. He sat up in bed and stretched, yawning
widely. When he realized that he could not feel part of his arm or leg, he
looked down at his arm and widened his eyes. The section where his hand was cut
off was severed almost up to his elbow and replaced with a cybernetic version.
It seemed somewhat simple in design, being just a few cylinders that connected
together and ended with a sphere. However, four metal claws floated in the air
around the sphere, showing that there was more to it underneath.
With his mind, he rotated the claws
around, closing and opening them. They weren't the best option for certain
things like taking out the IVs in his arms and leaving, but they could probably
shred through anyone he came across with little effort at all - it would all
just be a "mind game" at that point.
Namara undid the covers, pulling
them forcefully from their heavily-tucked position, to find that that his foot
was replaced with a similar design as well. It seemed a bit trickier though,
considering that the parts were attached to his ankle. He took the IVs out of
his left arm with his right and then took the others out with his teeth before
trying to stand up. Stepping onto the tile floor with his right foot, he
lowered his other down slowly and found that the metal claws stopped at the
floor and kept the rest of his leg suspended in the air. Pushing down gave him
more resistance - so much resistance that he couldn't touch the ground with the
sphere.
Stepping forward, he found that the
claws moved ahead and gave him a firm grip on the ground. Not bad, he mused to himself.
The door opened right in front of
him and a female nurse came in. That is, before she screamed and ran the other
direction a split second later. Namara was surprised at first, but he chuckled
and ran his hand through the fur on his neck. He opened the door and peered
past the entrance, seeing her at a counter talking to a man on the other side;
both were wearing white uniforms. To the right rested a lounge for the faculty
that was recessed into the floor. There were at least five others sitting on
the couches there, talking to each other.
He opened the door fully and stood
in the doorway, calling out to the nurse at the counter, "Hey, what was that
about?"
Someone in the lounge exclaimed,
"Whoa, that thing actually talks!"
The lady turned her head to see
Namara standing there and then hurried to the door, trying to shoo him back
inside, "Get back inside or get some clothes on!"
Namara stared at her and laughed
questioningly, "I... uh... isn't fur enough, when it comes to animals? It's not
like much is showing..." He motioned to his crotch. "And besides, you probably
see more than that all the time."
She moved the brown, curly hair that
was covering one of her eyes and then glared at him, putting her free hand on
her hip. "This isn't a hospital."
He looked back in the room and
sighed, "I don't see much to wear, unless you want me to wear my blankets."
Looking at her again, he saw that
she remained resolute. Rolling his eyes, he went back to his bed, took the
thinnest blanket off and then wrapped it around his waist. He came back to the
door and asked, "Better?"
She huffed and brushed him off like
it wasn't her problem, walking back to the counter.
Namara shook his head in amusement, came out of the
room fully and then walked to the lounge, "So, if this place isn't a hospital,
what is it?"
An adventurous-looking man with a white beard and
short, greying hair sat down in the opposite end of the room. He said, "This is
a research facility. We found you bleeding out at our doorstep, so we decided
to help you out a little."
Namara stepped down into the red square of couches
and then sat down on one side, keeping his distance from the others. "I see.
Who runs this place? I'd like to talk to them about a few things."
The man stood up and came forward, standing near him
with a hand outstretched, "That's me, sort of. The Great Demonstrator oversees
all of our research here, but I make sure everything runs as planned. I am Dr.
Grant. I was hoping to talk to you too, cause... I've never seen something like
you before."
Namara stood and shook his hand, "Oh! Well, I'm a
bit of a scientist too. My name is Namara... Namara Galvarros. Back when I was
practicing, I took on... a few science projects here and there. But, I managed to
finish what I was working on, and now I'm just looking for some people."
Dr. Grant nodded and sat back down, "What kind of
projects were you working on, exactly? Honestly, if you are good, we could use
someone like you." He chuckled and pointed to the blanket, "We could also find
you something better to wear than that."
Namara shook his head, "I like my fur just fine,
thanks." He paced around, "When I was working, I made all kinds of things... but
most notably, a device capable of transferring a consciousness from one body to
another. I also managed to create a wolf that could not age whatsoever. I
transferred myself into it, and then one of my colleagues turned me into this
in a strange accident." Reaching out with his mind, he went a step further. I'm also telepathic now. Cool, huh?
The staff members around him were astounded. Dr.
Grant responded, "Man, what I would do to be like that! Your thinking voice
seems to be different from your actual one still though... How long ago did these
things happen? We know that there's nobody on the surface still, and we don't
know anyone bright enough to do something like that in New Selania."
He sighed and sat down again, resting his arms on
the back of the couch, "Well, to me, it feels like it happened yesterday. But,
according to a drone I met on the way here, it's been..." he calculated the time
in his head, "165 years."
"It's been that long?! Surely you must be a bit
tired of things by now..."
He disagreed, "My friends put me in some sort of
stasis thing. It was only supposed to go for a little while so that we could
find a way to put an end to the government's insane 'security' measures. I was
their only chance of defeating that, and now that time is gone..." He stared down
at the floor.
Dr. Grant apologized, "I'm sorry. I don't think
we'll be able to find out what happened to them; most of the databases about
our history were wiped clean after the new Great Demonstrator came to power.
But, if you don't mind, we could allow you to work here with us. We'd love to
learn about you as well, and you might even get to speak to the Great
Demonstrator himself."
Namara grumbled to himself and stood up to leave, "I
don't want to work science anymore. I'm searching for something, and I've done
all I can in the realm of science to achieve it. The rest must be done by other
means."
Dr. Grant warned, "I'm afraid there isn't much else
for you in New Selania. We only work with math- and science-related jobs.
Everything else is forbidden."
"Wow, really? Then where do you stand
with it? Do you agree with what this 'great demonstrator' teaches? I'm assuming
that this is not a democracy?"
He nodded, "Everyone is taught the
same thing here, and we all agree with it. And, I'm afraid you don't have much
of a choice. Not in this place." He motioned to a nurse. "You'll be staying
with us now. We were hoping to do a few studies..."
Namara felt a dart hit his neck. He pulled it out
and then asked, "Seriously?"
Dr. Grant shrugged, "I told you, you'd make a great
addition to our team."
He growled, and when he turned to leave, the four
others in the lounge held his arms as if expecting him to be weak already. Tilting
his head up, he laughed loudly at them and then pushed them back into their
seats. He stepped past them and then stumbled, running into the wall around the
room he slept in. Another dart hit his shoulder. Shaking his head, he flung the
blanket back at Dr. Grant, went around the room and then bounded down a
corridor in search of an exit.
The corridors of the facility were dark and the
doors were locked. It quickly became eerily quiet, and Namara could only hear
his footsteps on the ground and his breathing. There was another turn up ahead,
and when he went around the corner, he arrived in a sort of observatory or
lookout area. A window built into a large dome of hexagons was on the edge, but
there were still no exit doors.
He stepped forward and stumbled again, knocking over
a small table and some ceramic cups that were on it. They fell to the floor and
broke into pieces. He felt a haze come over him, but he fought it hard. Running
to the window, he jumped up and thrust himself through. Glass shattered around
him and cut his face, but the damage was minimal. He rolled on the other side
and then shook it off.
Outside, a dense forest of palm trees stood before
him. The facility, which had a white exterior and a red horizontal stripe near
the top, was behind. Looking up, he saw that there were no stars. A faint light
reflected off of the sky, revealing that he was in a cave. Large, brown
stalactites hanged off of the ceiling, and the ground he was standing on was
brown and rocky as well. He grasped his forehead with his hand and then loped
around the building. I have to stay
awake!
The forest surrounded the facility, but there was a
black metal road leading to it on one end. He ran along it for a few thousand
feet before slowing. His body was finally succumbing to the tranquilizer.
Staggering to the side, he fell over beside some of the palm trees and stared hazily
upward.
Several high pitched screeches reached his ears. A
fear grew within him as if there was something else out there to get him - and
he was powerless to defend himself. The sounds came closer and echoed past the
trees. The drug wasn't strong enough to make him unconscious, but it was still
quite powerful - considering that it would've probably knocked any human out in
seconds. Forced to lie there in his half-conscious nightmare, he waited in a
sluggish blur and hoped that he wouldn't be eaten alive.