Victernus - Chapter 14

Story by Baumarius on SoFurry

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            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.

Victernus - Chapter 15

            Athius picked up a long, thick stick and then charged at a creature that was boring a hole in Namara's leg. It used the sharp ridge on its forehead to tear at him. The animal looked like some sort of cross between a bat and a lizard, with...

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Victernus - Chapter 13

            New Selania was mankind's latest attempt at society. It was located deep beneath the ruins of Washington D.C., the city that once held the seat of all of the world's power. The entire world barely managed to unite into a new civilization,...

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Victernus - Chapter 12

            A few hours after they began their journey, the dark clouds rolled overhead and replaced the usual white. Thunder and lightning crashed through Namara's senses as he bounded forward, causing him to mind the metal sections of the tube so as...

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