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It was huge. A large deep cavern, it could easily be the reason why there was a hill here. The flare cast strange shadows on the walls and reflected off the steel sheets.
The floor was grated and I could see a small stream running under my feet. I heard Blake walking behind me with the flashlight. �I wonder,� he said and turned to his left as I turned around.
Bringing the flashlight up next to his cheek, he focused in a metal box. The words on it were written in some foreign language, I was thinking Japanese because Blake seemed to know what it said and he had been taking the language ever since I could re-member. He cocked his head and pried it open. �Bingo�� he reached in and did some-thing. All of a sudden there was power. The fuse box. I love electricians. �Alright, we�ve got power now.� He shut off the flashlight and looked over at me. �Fuck!�
�What?� I turned and my face dropped also. We had stumbled into some sort of laboratory. �Guys!� I touched my ear. �Joby, John, go get the others and get down here.�
�Why?� Joby stood up. I could hear the fabric of his clothing move. �What�s down there?�
�Just go.�
�Alright.�
Blake looked at me as he put the flashlight away. �What exactly were they doing here?� he walked over to a table and picked up a beaker. �Hey, there�s a book here.�
�What is it?� I walked over to him as he wiped the dust off it.
�Subject A: Jene DeVowe. Type: Class A.�
�Let me see.� I took the book. That�s what the cover said. It was a regular string bound book, the two lines on the front filled in with those words. I opened it to the first page. Blake bent the book in my hands so he could read it also.
Age: 6
The Nuclear Shine was a complete success. This morning when he came out of the sleep he was in, he complained about how sensitive his eyes were to the light. This seems to be going well thus far. All experiments are complete and passing. Plans for the bone transplants are still in progress, but are coming along nicely.
I looked up. �He was six.�
�He was?� Blake had turned and was looking around. �Hey check these out.�
He handed me some pictures. They were of Jene, during probably the bone trans-plant surgery. They had to be, why else would they have to perform surgery on him?
�Hey, what�s this?� he picked up a piece of paper. �Hey, they have classes. And here�s Bronze.�
�What?� I took the paper.
Class A:
Subject A: Jene DeVowe
Subject B: Bronze Seid�
Class B:
Subject C: Steele Tekko
Subject D: Akira Shi
�So there are four? What�s the difference between Class A and B?�
�How should I know Blake?� I shrugged. �But Jene and this Bronze guy are Class A. I would really like to know what that means too.�
�But Bronze killed all those people. Are you thinking Jene was made to be an as-sassin?�
�I don�t know. He wasn�t armed.�
�He was also on school grounds, trying to get away from the people who shot him.� Blake turned again. �Maybe there�s more info or something down here. It looks as if Jene spent quite some time down here before he had to go to the Colonies again.�
�Or maybe he was here after he came from the Colonies?� I set the items I held down. �I can�t believe this. Jene didn�t seem like a killer. Did he to you Blake?�
�He wasn�t armed.� Was the cold reply. �Maybe they messed with his program-ming or so he didn�t kill.� Blake shrugged. �How exactly was he programmed?�
�I�m not sure. We�ll have to ask Dennis when they get down here.� I turned to-wards the open cavern and crossed my arms, mumbling to myself. �He was born Human, like me, but then he was also converted. Are the others also this way?�
13:31
I looked to my watch as John and Joby, followed by my Dad, Suzie and Dennis, all came down.
�So,� Dennis didn�t seem surprised, neither did Joby look it. �This is where it was.�
�Where what was?� Suzie took a few steps into the lab. �This is incredible.�
�This is where it started,� Dennis fell into a story without even being asked. �Jene DeVowe, prototype slash Class A, Subject A, was started down here. All types of tests were preformed and a few series of surgeries were done. The major ones done on the Colonies though. I never thought I�d stumble across this place.�
�We found some things,� Blake picked up the stack of objects I had put down ear-lier. �Pictures; a book about Jene and a list of the four subjects.�
I was getting mad now. �Guys,� I tried to stay and sound calm. �As much as you�d hate to admit it, Jene was born Human, probably like the others! Why are you talk-ing about them like they aren�t Human?�
�They aren�t,� Dennis turned to me. �Petri I know they were born Human, hell I was on the team for a little trying to protect Jene, but after the bone transplant surgery and the small bit of brain surgery��
�Brain surgery?!� I stopped and looked at him wide eyed.
�You don�t know?� he seemed shocked. �Yes, why do you think Jene�s reflexes were so good. But he managed to stay calm and quiet. The surgery was very extensive. They put a series of chips and things, even I�m not sure, in his skull to make him combat ready. All the things he knew, the martial arts, the hand to hand, long range, all the fight-ing skills, were programmed, not learned. And Jene may not have shown it, but with the bone being, almost entirely replaced with some metal alloy, he was a lot stronger then the average seventeen year old. Hell, stronger then some of the stronger seventeen year olds.�
�You were on the team?� all the other information seemed to fly by unnoticed. Dennis had been on a team.
He nodded. �Yes, for a few years. When he was younger. During the beginning of the Colonial wars. I was witness to part of his surgery.�
�He didn�t have any scars though,� All I could concentrate on was Jene now.
�Technology is greatly advanced. With what this group had, Jene was up and walking again within a couple days of having his legs worked on. As if nothing ever hap-pened. No scars, no complaints, and then he was under the knife about a week later for more.�
�Didn�t Jene know?� I could feel the tears. Me and Jene had been rather close friends.
�I don�t know. One of the chips put in was some sort of memory holder. They could erase all memories, except fighting memories. That�s the way the program was de-signed. That way they would be in control no matter what. So all Jene would really know is a lot of black space.�
My Dad placed his hand on my shoulder. �That�s enough Petri.�
�Hey, look at what we found!� Joby�s voice echoed about. I had been so caught up with Jene I didn�t even realized or seem them walk off.
We all turned towards them.
It was a room. A small room, but large enough for Blake, John and Joby to stand in. John held a box. �Look at these.� He opened it up.
They were small. A small set of hand pistols of a type I had never seen. In fact none of us had ever seen them before. Dad picked one up. �These are incred�� he stopped. �Jene?�
�What Rich?� Dennis looked up from a small box of unmarked bullets.
�This says Jene on it right here.� He tapped the end of the handle. �In the silver plating.�
I picked up the other one. �This was what he was looking for.�