Flames from Ashes...

silentWitness · Post by **silentWitness** » Mon, 18. Apr 05, 23:01

Flames from Ashes, Ashes from Flames…

An awakened dream, the ones I feared… as if irrevocably torn between two worlds, it meant that the drugs were not working. I sat next to a viewing window looking out on unfamiliar stars, while human-looking creatures went about their business, small shops selling skewered meats and coffee-like broth. This was not Earth… no where near Earth. An alert sounded, some way off I noticed weapon fire… powerful beams striking at the station, the lights flickered, and blast doors quickly sealed off the concourse. People were speaking but their mouths seemed silent, a guardsman or some kind of military officer came up to me, he seems to know me, his lips moved, suddenly he grabbed my arm, I felt his iron grip on my skin as he pulled me away from the window. A blast ripped through the concourse as the station lost integrity.

My eyes opened… Darkness… I could hear the whispers softly calling out their words lost on me, I clutched the headboard feeling the cold metal, shapes began to become visible, I emerged slowly from my shadow realm… The blindness was the worst part of waking up, almost as bad as remembering my dreams, no matter how many Earth summits the council has as of yet there is no logical explanation for these dreams… All they can do is offer drugs and counselling… Government research lists me as one of the 40% of the population cursed with these dreams… the Ultranet is filled with images and recreated sounds from those that share this… but no one has ever spoken of almost being there… this is something horribly unique, my own little curse. I opened the door and strolled out onto the balcony, looking out on the landscaped gardens a few floor below me… Urban Tower 72, one of the big habitats of the 30’s… I got dressed and went to catch the inter-rail, as usual an order crowd had gathered at the station… a few familiar faces from previous commutes dotted among the crowd… The train arrived silently… the doors open… we board and once more the commute begins. I look out the window and watch the changing scenery. Bio Centre 878… my stop… I stepped out into the platform… the soft breeze from the air conditioning sent a chill through me as I exited the station out into the Street. The mighty lobby of Sinkhoa Incorporated, one of the largest Space Tech firms in the Eastern Hemisphere... If not the world, the doors opened a few seconds later and I was in the office.

Work seemed to pass as a blur… The obligatory breaks and happiness regimes. Then I was back at my apartment. No matter what you order from the food machines you know its vitamin enriched supplement… it looks and tastes but its not real… only the super rich can afford real food these days. All of a sudden it was time to sleep again… I awoke to my alarm… no dreams today… my PDD reminded me of my psychiatric appointment… The Viewer turned on and Dr. Shuune bowed. She smiled her customary smile “Hello! How are you today?” Her teeth a gleaming white a touch of Hispanic in her voice, I smiled back, “The drug didn’t work this time” Shuune raised an eyebrow almost impressed “My my… You’ve just about rendered conventional medicine inadequate… Would you be interested in an experimental approach?” I turned my head “And this would be?” “Come to the 777 Tokia-City and you’ll be briefed. To sleep normally would provide me more pleasure than anything else. I got on the inter-rail and headed for the space port.

Tokia-City… The Largest of the four Civil orbitals… with Space Station Gunne being the largest Military Orbital Construction with its huge defence systems. As I stepped of the Shuttle into the port I was suddenly surrounded by guards a small woman wearing a light grey uniform addressed me “Miss Xique?” I smiled and nodded “Please come with us”. A personal shuttle carried us out of the space port… The re-entry shutters came down but we weren’t heading back in as there was no turbulence… where ever I was going they didn’t want me to know where it was. Surrounding me were Military Personnel of all ranks… The air was perfumed… I noticed others falling asleep… I’d never felt so awake… I could see a few others becoming more and more alert… I dawned on me… This was a test… they’re weeding out the weaker dreamers… A few solders entered the cabin wearing Environment suits, their masks made a mechanical hissing sound as they breathed out “Please come with us”. Following the others we enter an airlock… The door slams behind us and the compression sequence cycles the sent in the air dissipates. Dr Shuune stands her face smiling “Welcome to Station Gunne. I hope your journey was enjoyable, please come with me.

The metallic gunmetal corridor resounded as we pushed deeper into the station further than any civilian had ever gone before… The further we went the more I felt this had been an extremely bad decision. This was a military station… There’s no telling what might be going on in here!!! But I was quite sure it wouldn’t be medical research. We finally reached our destination… A small lecture room, rows of chairs bolted to the floor. “Please sit” I sat… hearing the door Cur-Chunk behind me. The cold metal desk in front of me offered no comfort… The Dr. was still all smiles and light… “Now I expect you’re all wondering why you’re here… Well it’s because you’ve been lying about the extent of your… ‘Gift’. You’re here because civil science cannot control this. Well we have a solution but we need volunteers that’s where you come in… but there’s a catch… we require you to sign a non-disclosure agreement before we can take you any further.” I looked around at the other students… already signing… I thought about the dreams… there was no question… those nights were beyond anything I wished to experience. As I signed I saw the Dr’s face turn to a wicked smile “Thank You” She levelled a taser at my face and pulled the trigger. It had all been a ruse… I was the only one they wanted and now they had everything they needed to do whatever they liked… How stupid I had been…

I awoke… my hands and legs were bound… Shuune’s voice resounded from just behind me… “Ah Miss Xique… how are you today???” she was almost laughing… “You’ll notice that you have been restrained… this is for your own safety… Are you aware at what has just transpired?” “Yes! You’ve Kidnapped me for some military experiment!” Shuune’s wicked laugh resounded off the walls… “Oh nothing so crass… You came here of your own will… You’re advancing the species” I felt the needle come down biting into my arm injecting a putrid yellow liquid into my vain, a flushed heated sensation spread all over my body. “Now lay back and relax”… her voice tailed off as my eyes closed on their own accord.

As I stirred in and out of consciousness my mind filled with voices… All my own… not anyone else’s… just mine… but who was me??? I awoke beads of sweat pouring off me… I was dreadfully thirsty… I drank the water without thought… I looked around me suddenly realising that it might not have been such a good idea… The room looked different… then I realised… I hadn’t opened my eyes yet… I opened my eyes… the roomed looked pretty much the same I was thirsty… There was the water… I put the cup to my lips and drank, the chilled liquid was exquisite… not water a water supplement. The door opened… Yes… Here it comes… I waited… Here it comes… Any moment now… Yes... Well some hours later the door opened… Shuune walked in smiling… “ Hello Niko or would you prefer Miss Xique?” I sneered “Only my friends call me Niko!” She smiled at me “Oh believe me… I’m the closest this you have to a friend right now…” I pushed myself into a corner “So are you going to tell me what you’ve done?!?” “Oh just something that you’ll appreciate later when you sleep…” “Which is?” “Oh I can’t disclose that!!! What kind of Mad Scientist do you think I am?” her manic laugh resounded thought the room… “but seriously we’ve modified your neural pathways to bypass certain areas of your brain… you should sleep more soundly” “At what cost?” “That’s what you’re here to find out! Be thankful you’re not dead already! Anyway I’ll leave you to sleep…” “Sleep?!?” As the door closed gas seeped into the room I felt my eyelids close and I was asleep. As I dreamt I entered a different place… There were fields of wild corn as far as the eye could see… in the sky two moons light up the night sky… the soft chirping of insectiods… the wind against my skin… I laid down and slept among the ears of corn… I was there… If I wasn’t I didn’t know what was real.

I awoke comfortable on the bed if a little thirsty… the cell felt almost homely… The door opened Shuune walked in with a glass of clear liquid… I smiled “Hello Karen” “Karen?” “Yes… Your first name!” “How can you be so sure?” “You look like a Karen…” Shuune looked shocked by this… I have to admit the fact I’d got it right was as shocking to me as to her.

“Wait Here please” I sat in a small waiting room a secretary tapped diligently on a jotter pad… The door opened and I was hustled inside “Miss Xique… Its wonderful to finally meet you after all this time…” Liar… you’ve known about me all of five minutes… Oh he’s still talking “I hear you’ve had a few interesting side effect to the operation… most notably Telepathy…” “No…” “No?” “Yes! No.” “Do you know what it is?” “Not yet…” I looked out the window… something was wrong… “Something’s wrong” the man hit a button on his desk “Bring the station to Red Alert”… “No not yet… Soon…” “Cancel Red Alert… how soon…” “What’s the time?” The Commander looked at Shuune who nods “11:32AM” “you’ve got half an hour…” I lied I hadn’t a clue what was happening… but they seeming awed and impressed… I hoped that something actually happened or I was going back into the cell…

The tea was delicate… the bright reflective coasters were from the early 2000s… probably priceless by today’s standards… Suddenly there was a bright flash… The alert sounded… Inbound ship!!! Inbound ship… Oh my god… It’s the Xperimental!!! Repeat it is the Xperimental Shuttle! Now that was a stroke of luck… but something was definitely wrong with this picture…

silentWitness · Post by **silentWitness** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 00:09

*Poke*

Read Read...

Urashima Keitaro · Post by **Urashima Keitaro** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 00:11

Good read. As always.

Graf_Grau · Post by **Graf_Grau** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 01:16

its good, but I wonder, will there be more as it ends with a desire to know what happens next.

silentWitness · Post by **silentWitness** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 01:48

Maybe... It all depends...

BDStyle · Post by **BDStyle** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 04:58

I must admit i haven't read your other stuff.. but i noted a new effort by you and have heard good things so i decided to keep up to date if you stay with this one

So far I like the way your descriptive writing actually works with the plot so as not to seem fabricated. More of a fluid feel to the read as opposed to some short stories you get on the internet.
I also like the way you emote actions aswell as the spoken word... all in all an enjoyable read that i hope you keep up with.

Smarty74 · Post by **Smarty74** » Tue, 19. Apr 05, 23:44

Hiya Silent, one typo, 'looking out on the landscaped gardens a few floor below me… ' should be floors.

Nice one silent

Very original. Would love 2 see this one continued so don't leave us hanging eh

jannix · Post by **jannix** » Sun, 24. Apr 05, 16:43

Really good - though a bit dark and spooky

(Just kidding)

Mechty · Post by **Mechty** » Wed, 4. May 05, 00:56

Silent
The deep feelings of loss and conciousness blurred, started to pull me in to your misty sensory world.

It was only then that I realised the coffee was leaking from my cup.

Keep up the good work. I liked it.

Strana Mechty of Clan Coyote

Dragon_Rider · Post by **Dragon_Rider** » Wed, 4. May 05, 14:08

wow!! thats great, can't wait for more

Thalass · Post by **Thalass** » Thu, 5. May 05, 13:16

Great work as always, SW.

Aside from a couple of spelling mistakes (which I can't seem to find now) and one missed ", it looks great.

This is set on Earth, is it? At first I thought it was set on Argon Prime, but after a while Earth seemed to be the place.

Keep it up! MOOORE!

Mercenary · Post by **Mercenary** » Fri, 24. Jun 05, 11:41

This is just a tad late.

Looks good SW,

Just one comment and it's just a readability thing really. I suggest breaking out the speech, so each time it starts a new paragraph. Gives it more impact, otherwise it sort of gets lost amongst the other text.

Pandion · Post by **Pandion** » Fri, 24. Jun 05, 15:11

Looking forward to wherever this leads.

silentWitness · Post by **silentWitness** » Fri, 24. Jun 05, 23:21

Pandion wrote:Looking forward to wherever this leads.

Then read the next part already!!!

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=85680

Drainy · Post by **Drainy** » Fri, 19. Aug 05, 01:37

Nice, I like.
Good sterotypical mad scientist too

Will enjoy reading the next few parts tomorrow!
Hope you've got other stories to follow

Mastermue · Post by **Mastermue** » Mon, 12. Sep 05, 01:16

Wow!
That was different........And really good!
Most of the stories I read are from a mainly third person perspective.
Reading a story from a first person perspective, especially in a futuristic setting is amazingly........cool and very well written.
Nice one Silent.
Gonna read the next bit now!

silentWitness · Post by **silentWitness** » Thu, 15. Sep 05, 21:04

I've found some time lately so looks like the next part will be soon...