Well,
here's Chapter One of Seed of Orion. Maybe not what you expected eh?
Haha, enjoy reading it like I enjoyed writing it, and f you read please
reply.
Chapter One : Strangers from ONI
Another
drizzly day in Manchester, David thought as he climbed out of his car,
locking it behind him. He took a step back and admired it with pride.
It was an AMG 2510, very rare and known for it's reliability. Made and
provided by the company he worked for, AMG Transport Dynamics.
A
droplet of water ran down his back, and David swore at the tingling
sensation. He turned his gaze from the car and quickly hurried into the
building opposite him, holding his black, leather briefcase above his
head as a makeshift umbrella.
The revolving doors of the
building glided along the carpet as he walked through them, and
instantly David was thrown into the warm reception area of his office.
He straightened his tie hastily, and strode over to the receptionist,
Kiara.
"Good morning Mr. Hendel!" She greeted with a warm smile, cheerful as always.
"Nothing
good about it. Have you seen the rain out there?" He replied, brushing
some of the water which lingered on the face of the brief case onto the
carpet.
"Ah well, you're inside now. Now stop moaning and get up to the board room Dave, Mr. Smith is expecting you."
David
grumbled as he walked to the elevator, annoyed that he had been robbed
of his chance to do some early morning flirting. At thirty years old,
Kiara was only a few years younger than him, and cut a striking and
impressive figure. Perhaps one of these day he would ask her out for a
Coffee. But for now he was content being single. The ache from his late
wife had yet to fade.
The button pressed, the elevator came down
instantly. David stepped inside, stretching his arms out behind him. He
had a long way to the top, so listened to the news on the radio.
"Another
Insurrectionist attack has been launched on Eradinus II." A women began
in a crisp English accent. "Whilst the forces there were able to hold
off the attack, concerns have been raised about the level of protection
the UNSC is exercising in the outer colonies. Witnesses report..."
The
radio cut off as the elevator reached the top floor, and before
stepping out, David scowled to himself. *** Innies, they were
hampering humanities progress throughout the stars. It almost made him
feel like rejoining the Corps. Almost. But David would never forget
what the UNSC had done to him.
He'd quit the marines long ago,
a short time after his wife had given birth to a son, and promptly died
afterwards. He'd experienced the horror of losing a loved one, and
simply couldn't bring himself to fight the rebels any more, they each
had a family who loved them, cared for them, and grieved for them when
the unstoppable forces of the UNSC mercilessly killed them.
Luckily
for him, he had a friend who knew someone within AMG, so he wasn't put
out onto the streets. He now owned a home on the outskirts of
Manchester, away from the busy ports and traffic. The £25,000 annual
salary he collected as lead marketing director in Manchester wasn't bad
either.
It all came with a heavy price though, especially when
he was called to board meeting such as these. He couldn't stand the
board members, they were all stuck up snobs. Yet still, he had to put
up with it for the sake of his job.
David walked across the
Persian carpet lightly, and moved forward in the lobby of the top
floor, the show room. He reached a terminal, and a hologram of a young
women appeared. An AI.
"Good day Mr. Hendel." The Artificial Intelligence greeted warmly, a digital smile on her face.
David regarded the AI with a wary expression, he knew that everything he said was being monitored.
"Morning Rachel." He replied, taking care to use the name she had chosen for herself.
Rachel
was a so called "Smart AI", although in AI terms smart and dumb meant
different things. For example, even a dumb AI was smarter than the
average human, capable of performing tasks far beyond the capabilities
of the human mind.
Smart AIs were the next step up however. Each
one was essentially a super computer in its own right processing wise,
but they possessed something else too. A personality. They could love,
hate, think freely, do what they wanted. Of course, they had some laws
programmed into them, but mostly they were given a free reign.
Which
was why, after around seven or so years of service, a Smart AI would
learn to much, and eventually realise that however much it wished to,
it would never truly be human. It then sunk into a deep state of
melancholia, where it became depressed and looked upon the world with a
dark view, then anger, where it would be aggressive towards its
creators. The third stage was jealousy, where the AI in question would
be envious of the people it served.
The final, theorised stage
of rampancy was named meta stability. No examples of this occurring had
ever been shown, AIs tended to shut down earlier than that. The theory
though was that at this stage the AI would be like a true person, free
to do whatever to wish. It was widely believed by many to be a
ridiculous thought however, how could a machine ever become like a
human in all but body? Preposterous.
"You seem tense Mr. Hendel.
Would you like me to book you in for a treatment at the spa later?"
Rachel asked, slightly concerned by the expression upon David's face.
"No
no, I'm fine. Thanks for offering though. Am I okay to go in now?" He
replied hastily, wiping a new sheet of sweat from his moist brow.
"I'll check."
Rachel's expressions seemed to go blank for a few seconds, presumably while she contacted the board room.
"Please, go right in." She spoke haughtily after a few moments. "And try not to mess up like last time Mr. Hendel."
David
gave her a cold look before picking up his briefcase and walking down
the corridor to the double doors which opened into the board room. He
hesitated outside, taking a few, long, deep breaths, and entered.
Without
looking at the penetrating gazes of the four people who made up the
board executives, he quickly moved to the front of the room, and,
opening his briefcase, drew out a small, wafer thin laptop.
After
taking a second to plug it to the large Holo screen at the back of the
room, David loaded up the presentation, hit the full screen key, and
stood nervously. He couldn't believe that he, once a renowned Staff
Sergeant in the corps, was getting anxious talking to a bunch of
business men.
"Glad you could join us today Dave, we love hearing about how the marketing side of the business is doing."
That
was Mr. William Smith speaking, head of the Manchester AMG branch. He
was old, around sixty or seventy, but due to advancements in anti -
ageing technology, he didn't look a day older than forty; with his
black hair and smooth, tanned skin.
"Ahem, well, yes." David
awkwardly said, trying not to get annoyed. He hated the way Smith
called him Dave, it wasn't like they were pals who went out for a drink
every night.
"The new ad for the Civilian hog is receiving mixed
reception," He began, elaborating with his fingers as always, "The
current war is unpopular to say the least; people don't like the idea
of driving something advertised as a decommissioned Warthog; in my
opinion, we should drop the war aspect from it and proceed to sell it
as a Jeep, nothing more." David explained, bringing up a slide showing
how profit had dropped since the new advertisement.
Smith leaned forward, a slight frown in his gaze.
"That advert cost a lot of money to make Dave, are you suggesting we just drop it?"
Keep your cool David, he thought, don't let him psyche you out.
"Actually
sir, yes, I am. I'm aware of the cost that was needed to create the
advert, I thought it was a nice piece of work, it appealed to the
marine inside me; but the general public aren't too happy with it. What
I suggest is that we --"
He was cut off as his pocket vibrated,
and a tune played. David's stomach sunk as he realised he had forgotten
to switch his phone off. With a pained agony, he brought out the phone
from his pocket and saw the caller was his son's school. Odd, David
remembered giving him a pack lunch this morning. The boy had probably
fallen over or something.
"Mr. Hendel, you know the rules on
mobile phones in meetings." Smith spat with venom. "Would you please
turn the infernal device off before I have security throw you out."
David contemplated on pressing the off button, but for some reason he wouldn't. It was like an instinct."
"Please
sir, it's my son's school calling. He's only six years old. I'll
literally be one minute." He pleaded, then turned away and brought the
small phone up to his ear. A female voice issued from the other end.
"Mr. Hendel, is that you?" A voice he recognised as Dawn's, the head teacher at the school.
"Yes,
it's me. Now what's wrong? I'm in an important meeting here." He hissed
down the line, glancing back at Mr. Smith quickly. The man was drumming
his finger's on the mahogany table, a look of malice in his eyes.
"I'm
sorry Mr. Hendel," She apologised hastily, " But I thought you should
know that three men have approached your son on the playground. I don't
know who they are."
A look of disbelief crossed over David's face.
"What? Why haven't you called the police then?" He inquired worriedly.
"I
was going to, but they flashed badges at me when I asked them what they
were doing. They looked pretty official, Office of Naval something or
other."
Fear clutched at David's heart.
"Naval Intelligence?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah,
that's it. They had copies of his reports and everything. At the moment
they're just talking to him, I don't know what to do Mr. Hendel."
David swore loudly down the mouthpiece. ONI was bad news. His vulgar outburst caught the attention of Mr. Smith.
"Is
there a problem Dave?" The man asked dispassionately. David somewhat
rudely held up a silencing hand without even turning around.
"Mr.
Hendel? Is something wrong? Do you know these people?" Dawn asked
worriedly, and he could hear her breathing, short and rapid.
"Dawn,
listen to me. I'm coming right over. Don't approach those men, keep the
other children away from them." He spoke in an assuring voice he hadn't
used since the days he commanded a squad.
"Wh-What do you mean? Are these people dangerous?" She asked frantically, her voice rising a few octaves.
"I'll be right over Dawn." He stated, then hung up.
"Dave, what's happening?" Mr. Smith asked curiously as David turned to face him again.
"I'm
sorry sir, but something's come up involving my son. I need to go."
Dave told the chief executive, already moving towards the door.
"What?
No Dave, you can't leave. Dave, stop moving towards the door. Dave, if
you leave now then you're fired!" Smith shouted after him. David turned
around one last time.
"Consider this my resignation then ***-hole."
The door slammed as he left.
David
rushed out of the lobby, and made towards the elevator. He heard Rachel
behind him give a gasp of surprise as he ran past her, his suit and tie
flailing behind him somewhat comically.
He jumped in the
elevator, and hit the G button on the panel. G for ground floor. David
impatiently bounced from foot to foot as the slow box travelled
downwards. A million questions were surging through his mind. What the
hell did these ONI officers want with his son? Was it something to do
with what had happened that day eleven years ago?
Finally, the
metal doors slid open, and Dave stepped out hurriedly, only to bump
into a rather large security guard. David groaned out loud, clenching
his fists in preparation.
"Mr. Smith called ahead." The large
guard rumbled. He was easily a foot taller than David, perhaps more.
"He didn't appreciate the way you spoke to him before, said he wants me
to bring you back to him. I'm sorry about this, but hey, I'm just doing
my --"
"Stand out of my way." David spoke in a deadly quiet voice. The Security Guard laughed, and remained where he was.
"Are
you trying to scare me short stuff? Well let me tell you something, I'm
gonna -- oof!" The guard was interrupted as David's fist swung into the
side of the guards face, sending him sprawling to the ground.
The
guard was obviously in shock, he hadn't expected to even be touched by
the marketing director, never had he dreamed he would have been nearly
knocked out by the blow.
Before the large man could right
himself again, David grabbed him and tossed him into the elevator
behind, smashing the man's head against the mirror inside. He then
reached over and ran his hand over every button inside the elevator,
and old prank which would make the guard have to stop at every floor in
the building before finishing his journey.
David then looked
down at his arm and saw that it was covered in the guard's blood. He
cursed silently, then remembered his son and moved quickly towards the
exit of the building.
"Oh my God Dave, you're covered in blood!" Kiara screamed as he ran past her. "Dave? Where are you going? Dave?"
He didn't acknowledge her, which made him feel bad, but he couldn't afford to get into a conversation at a time like this.
He
looked at his AMG 2510 in dismay; it was reliable, but not fast enough.
He looked further down the road, and saw what he had been hoping to
see. A motorbike was sailing along the carriage way.
Without
wasting a moment, David rushed out into the road in front of the
oncoming vehicle. He heard the man driving it swear, as the screech of
breaks sounded as he tried to avoid David. Whilst the man was swerving
on the bike though, David grabbed the man by the shoulders and yanked
him off, using momentum to throw him on some grass a few metres away.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" The motorist shouted at him as David boarded the bike. "Hey! That's mine arsehole!"
"Sorry!"
David called back even as he revved up the engine of the bike. He
started up the engine, and flew off down the road, his tie flapping
manically in the wind.
Why couldn't ONI just let him get on with his life?
"This one has forgotten whether it's heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate" ~ Blasto, the only Hanar Spectre.