Jen walked out of the ocean, her red hair darker from the water, which was now dripping from it. The sun had turned her pale freckled skin into a beautiful copper tone tan. She sat down on the beach and started to dry herself off. Hearing just the slightest noise behind her, she casually reached into her bag. When she felt the warm handle of her blaster she pulled it out as she rolled to her right. She had a bead on a man that was just casually walking towards her. He was tall with thinning brown hair, and had on a very old style suit. The suit was a ugly brown thought Jen and it looked as if it were about to fall off of him, as if he had just lost a great deal of weight. His face was ordinary except for the cigar that was being ground between his teeth.
He
said,
“Ms
Fur, I would like you to come to the briefing room.” Jen was amazed, after
all she had the gun, but this man she had never met before was giving her
orders. ‘Oh yes it had been an order,’ she had definitely heard enough
orders lately to know the tone of an order by now. She said,
“Who
are you?” His eyes answered the questioned and they said, ‘someone you
do not want to piss off.’ Then he said,
“I
am the man who has information that you would like to know.”
“So
why the hell don’t you just tell me and then be on your way, so I can get
back to enjoying the sun.” He smiled; it was a very patronizing smile.
Then he said in a voice that is usually reserved for teaching little children,
“Because
you are not the only one who needs to hear this.”
Jen
rose from the sand and collected her gear. Then with the blaster motioned
for the man to move out. The man now moved silently through the bush, and
Jen thought, ‘Had he let her know he was there?’ Jen followed him, as he
seemed to know where he was going. He led her right to the briefing room
and walked right in. There sitting at a desk was another unusual individual.
He appeared to be of a very fine build; his hair was long, fine and chocolate
brown in color. He had rose red cheeks as if he has just run a mile or
been embarrassed by his mother. His name was Flash and he was in charge
of training the new Verge Rangers.
He
raised an eyebrow when he saw the blaster in Jen’s hand. He said,
“Jen
the blaster is a nice touch, but do you think it is necessary?” Jen put
it back into her bag, saying,
“Necessary,
maybe not, but I sure think it is wise.” Flash smiled and said,
“He
is wearing a personal shield.” The man looked at him with what might have
been respect. Flash pointed to his ears and said,
“I
can hear the high pitched sound of the generator.” The man looked Flash
right in the eyes and said,
“I
had heard your race had exceptional hearing.” Flash looked back into the
strangers’ eyes and saw he knew exactly what race that was. There was zero
friendliness in those eyes and Flash knew this man was very dangerous.
He then gave Jen a look that would tell her the same thing.
The
man then said,
“Now
that I seem to have your attention, I have a mission for you both.” Jen
Interrupted saying,
“Who
the hell are you?” The man gave her a look as if to say how dare you interrupt
me. He then took a deep breath and said,
“Ok,
I can see we are not going to get anything done until you have proved to
your selves that I have the authority to send you on a mission.” He pulled
out a DNA sampler and took a sample of his own DNA. He handed it to Flash
and said,
“Check
me out.” He then got up and left the briefing room.
Flash
and Jen both looked at each other and all they could do was laugh. Then
Flash sent off the DNA to HQ on Huges Island. It took about half an hour
and the response was most unique. The Commander for the Verge Rangers responded
to Flash’s request personally. He said,
“Please
do as this man asks. Consider any of his requests as a request from this
office for volunteers.” Flash looked at his commander and saw fear in his
eyes. He said,
“But
who is this guy?”
“I
can not tell you.” Then taking a deep breath as if he were thinking things
over he continued, “Flash I do not know whom this guy is or who he even
works for, but he has the highest security clearance I have ever seen.
If that is not enough he is consider to have the authority of a Magistrate.
I have never seen anything like it.” Then he paused again. “Who ever he
is, do be careful because no one I knew wants to talk about him and that
in my books makes him very dangerous. Flash nodded and said,
“Thank
you sir, and we will be very careful.” The Commander then signed off. Flash
turned to Jen and said,
“You
heard him, Lets go find out what mystery man wants us to do.” They then
headed back to the briefing room and found Mystery Man sitting there. He
said,
“Can
we now get started?” Flash nodded yes and they all sat down.
The
man light up a cigar with an antique lighter, then taking it out of his
mouth, he used it much like a pointer. He said,
“First
off I know all about what you two did at Osvaldo, the Deepfallen City.
You helped our relationship with the Deepfallen” At this moment Flash said,
“And
who are you Bluefall Security, or are you from the Concord?” The Man looked
at Flash as if to say you do not think you are going to catch me that easily.
Besides you do not really want to know. Flash just shrugged, thinking this
guy is good. Usually if you catch some one at the right time while they
are talking they will just keep talking and tell you what you want to know.
The Cigar smoking man just blew a big smoke ring at Flash and then continued
with his briefing,
“There
is something wrong at Osvaldo. Some sort of sickness has hit the city and
the Deepfallen are going mad. There have been some acts of violence that
have even lead to some deaths.” Jen quickly asked,
“Is
Reek all right?” The Cigar Man nodded yes and said,
“He
has been at another while all this has happened. He is the one who requested
your help.” Flash looked at the Cigar man and said,
“We
are not medical people what do you want from us?”
“The
decease does not seem to be natural, but we can not isolate it. What we
need from you is to find the decease and then we are pretty sure we can
find a cure.” He paused for a moment to see if they had any questions,
but when nothing was asked he went on. “I have left you some equipment
and all the information we have on the decease. Your friend Reek is at
Tinee, you can find it at these co-ordinates. Then he got up to leave.
Flash said,
“How
do we contact you?” Re-lighting his cigar the Cigar Man said,
“You
don’t. I will have people contact you. As far as any information you collect
on this bug, here is a number you can forward it to.” He then walked out
of the briefing room and was gone.
Flash
turned to Jen and said,
“Never
a dull moment when you are a Verge Ranger, so where do you think we should
begin?” She smiled and said,
“Let’s
see what kind of toys the A-hole left us.” They moved off to the storage
shed and found two underwater suits with re-breathers built right in. They
also found a couple of underwater laser rifles. Jen was very impressed
with the weapons, but wonder why they would need them. She still found
it very hard to believe the Deepfallen could be dangerous. She then thought
if Cigar man was right and the Deepfallen were dangerous this could be
a serious problem. After they had finished checking out the equipment she
said,
“We
should go see Reek and find out all we can about the sickness.” Flash heard
the concern in her voice and just nodded yes.
They
loaded up the equipment and were on their way in less then an hour. They
quickly moved to the co-ordinates that the Cigar Man had given them. While
they were travelling Jen reviewed all the information they had on the decease.
When they got to the co-ordinates they found a similar city to Osvaldo
and also Reek was there to meet them. He used his telepathic abilities
to communicate with them and thanked them for coming and helping his people
again.
Then
he explains what has happened. About two of your human weeks ago, some
of the people of his city started to act different. We did not understand
their reaction to things that were completely normal. Talking to your doctors
we found the word for their behavior was aggressive. They were aggressive
towards everyone and everything. It was most uncharacteristic. Then as
their behavior got worse there skin color also started to change, actually
it was more like the color was being removed and they were becoming translucent.
This was when we asked for help from your people. When your people came
to help the sick Deepfallen attacked them with incredibly strong psionics.
Two of your medical people died and four more went insane. One had psionics
of her own and could protect her self. She got out with what information
you now have.
Since
then we have sent in probes and before they were destroyed we saw Sean’s
of mass destruction and there were even dead in the streets. The probes
also had psionic sensors and they picked up unbelievably high readings.
If that keeps up all the Deepfallen will burn them selves out and die.
Your people have estimated that we have about two weeks before that happens.Jen
looked at Reek in order to reassure him. She said,
“Don’t
worry we wont let that happen. I will also make who ever did this pay.”
Reek smiled but it was a sad smile. He thought he was thankful that Jen
would help them, but he was sad at the fact he had been happy at the thought
of another creatures death, even one as evil as this.
They
then collected what data they could and headed back to the island. Once
there, Jen headed straight to the lab. She started by doing a comparative
analysis of the water around the island and that that had come from Osvaldo.
After days of testing and very little sleep she finally found something.
The sample that Reek had given her was contaminated with Nannites. She
then programmed a satellite that went over Osvaldo a couple of time a day
to look for the Nannites. When the information started to come into her
she was absolutely amazed. The Nannites were so thick in the area of Osvaldo
she could not believe it had taken her that long to find them. The area
around Osvaldo was surprisingly lacking Nannites, almost like they were
area specific. She called Flash and had him check all her information and
when they were both satisfied she sent it off to the center for decease
control. With in twenty hours the Cigar Man had contacted them and said,
“We
have found a cure and it is being implemented as we speak. I thought you
might like to know. We have also analyzed the Nannites and found them to
be from your old friend the Klicks. It is the same Nanotechnology that
has been used to modify them.” Jen and Flash both just nodded and they
Jen said,
“What
is going to be dune about that?” The Cigar Man looked at her with out saying
a word, the look said isn’t that your department, Then the screen went
blank.
Jen
walked out of the Lab and down to the beach. It was night and the sky was
full of stars. It took her about thirty minutes to find what she thought
was Mantebron, her home star. It was very dull in the Bluefall sky. She
sat there thinking about her home and how people had to fight to survive
from day to day. It had instilled in her a certain code of honor. She rose
from the beach and moved to the dock. She took a sub to Osvaldo using the
travel time to monitor the treatment of the area. When she arrived, the
treatment had been finished, and they were just doing some final checks.
Putting on her re-breather suit she swam down to Osvaldo. As she exited
from the entrance cave she could not believe her eyes. The beautiful city
of Osvaldo, which had been so full of life the last time she had been here
was now a giant grave. There were bodies floating every where, but because
of the transformation the Deepfallen had gone through Jen did not recognize
them for what they were at first. As the realization came to her she almost
puked. She got herself under control and saw men and Deepfallen collecting
the bodies. One of the Deepfallen came up to her and said,
“You
are the one.” Jen did not understand, so the Deepfallen explained.
“You
are the one who protects us.” She smiled at the Deepfallen and said,
“I
help.” The translucent Deepfallen smiled back and said,
“You
do not remember me? My name is E-pill.” Jen could not hide her shock and
asked,
“Are
you alright?” He smiled and she heard him laugh in her head.
“Yes
I am physically well, but I fear my soul has been damaged beyond repair.”
He paused for a second then said,
“That
is not why I wonted to communicate with you. I am here to thank you from
my people, both the living and the dead.”
Jen
saw the sadness in his eyes as he swam away. Now she really wanted to kill
every Klick she could get her hands on. Under her breath she said,
“So
help me I promise before all the different gods in the universe that I
will find out who did this and make them pay.”