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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowman24
Spoiler for Marion preview #3:
Marion was then thrown into a small holding cell within the research facility. Dr. Valdren and his two assistants looked at her and ordered, “Check her, remove any dangerous weapons or objects.”
“Yes, sir!” Both assistants said.
But the male assistant hesitated and bit his lower lip, the female assistant noticed and patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, Zev. I’ll do it. I know you’re not good at handling women!”
The female assistant then quickly patted Marion’s pockets and pouches, taking items out along the way. Marion’s wallet, ID card, and a few personal items were scattered all over the floor by her feet. The female assistant then check for her dog tags, but actually lifted out two items from under her shirt. One were her dog tags, the other was a gold medallion in the shape of a fancy cross.
That was when Marion grabbed her by the hand, “Please! Take anything you want, but don’t take this… It’s… special to me.”
“You heard the doctor… everything must go.”
“Please…” Marion pleaded with sad puppy dog eyes.
The female assistant grunted, and looked over her shoulder while biting her bottom lip. The Doctor and Dr. Zev had their backs to Marion and her and were busy going through data collected by the Golems first battle experience.
Quickly, the female assistant tucked Marion’s medallion back under her shirt, “Here!” she said while patting Marion on the chest.
Marion breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you… Miss?”
“Isabella… Doctor Isabella.” Isabella replied.
“Yes, thank you, Isabella…”
Dr. Isabella smiled, then closed Marion’s cell door and reported back to Dr. Valdren, “Prisoner is secure, sir.”
“Yes, yes, but you need to look at this!” Dr. Valdren said as he shoved a clipboard in front of Isabella’s face.
“There was a spike of brain activity a few minutes ago, was the pilot given his shots?” Dr. Valden asked.
“Yes sir, right on schedule, twenty-four hours from the last injection.”
“Then why was there a spike in activity, the shots were supposed to suppress all emotions and memories except for his battle field experience as a General!!”
“I don’t know sir, he’s never responded this way before.” Isabella said.
“Perhaps it has something to do with that girl over there, you said before that he refused to kill her, but not the others.” Dr. Zev offered.
“Perhaps…” Dr. Valdren said while stroking his chin.
“Dr. Isabella, walk the prisoner over to the Golem. We’ll keep an eye on the monitors to see if there’s anymore activity.” Dr. Valdren instructed.
Isabella nodded, got Marion out of her cell and walked out onto the platform and over to the Golem, stopping just in front of its ‘head’ and then backing away as Marion stood in front of it.
The Golem hadn’t moved since it entered the research facility, but once Marion appeared, its head began to turn with a mechanical whirr. Like it was inspecting her. Inside the small lab, Dr. Valdren and Dr. Zev were watching a series of monitors and alarms began to beep and there was another huge spike in brain activity from the pilot.
The huge Golem took a step forward, without an order, which was odd. Marion backed up, but bumped into the railing behind her as she trembled in fear. Then, something occurred that she couldn’t have expected to happen in a million years.
“Mmmm… Marion?” a mechanical voice from the Golem said.
Marion gasped, “H-how do you know my name!?” she cried
The Golems head turned from side to side, “Hmmm… unclear…”
Meanwhile, the Golems monitors were beeping out of control, small sirens began to ring out from within the observation area.
“This. Is. Impossible!!” Dr. Valdren screamed in frustration, “The pilot isn’t supposed to be speaking on his own, nor able to recall any past memories! He’s a failure if he does!!”
“Calm down, sir. Let’s see where this goes.” Isabella said while she watch on.
“Marion… Seighban… Gaahhh!” The Golem cried in pain as it became unsteady on its feet. Its huge body bumped into the platform that Marion was standing on and shook it violently. She cried out in terror and that was when the Golem grabbed the small swinging platform and stopped it, in what could only be described as a protective instinct or reflex for Marion.
Marion let go of the railing that she was holding onto and with her hands cupped over her mouth, she walked shakily towards the Golem. Unable to believe that it knew her full name and acted to protect her just now.
The Golem was still groaning in pain, while inside the observation area, on a monitor, his brain activity was spiking rapidly on a scale that none of the scientists had ever seen before.
“How can this be… The Golem knows who she is! I thought all of his family and relatives were killed in the last war!” Dr. Valdren cried as he pulled at his hair.
“Apparently not, he clearly had some relationship with her in the past before he became our research subject.” Isabella said.
Outside, Marion was now on her knees, hands against the Golems large metal head, trying to comfort it.
Then, without being ordered to, Isabella pressed a button on a control panel and the clamps around the Golems head began to unbuckle, the entire head hissed as puffs of pressurized air began to spew out from inside. The head was slowly raising up.
Dr. Valdren grabbed Isabella by the shoulders and began to shake her while screaming: “What is the meaning of this!? I never gave you the order to--”
“Just watch, if I’m correct, we’ll know what the problem is soon, sir.” said Isabella, while prying Dr. Valdren’s hands loose.
As the head raised completely out of the way, Marion cupped her hands over her mouth and shook her head furiously, “No… NO!! It can’t be!?”
Now, the pilot was fully exposed. But, his arms and legs were gone, mere stumps in their place. Cuffed and coiled around each arm and leg were a series of mechanical clamps, wires and circuitry. The pilots body was covered in a black body glove, all manner of blinking lights, buttons and glowing, pulsing wires, tubes and cables covered his entire torso. His head was bald and bore what looked like a black headband, his face was horribly scarred from burns that had once covered his entire face.
But, Marion saw past all of that. It was his eyes, his bright sky blue eyes that she remembered. The ones that she was always looking up into as a child whenever she sat on his knee.
“Uncle Caius!” Marion said with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Marion Seighban… I remember you…” Uncle Caius said with a weak, wheezy voice.
Though not her true uncle, he was her sworn godfather, the title given to him by her father when she was born.
“I thought you died in the last war, Uncle!!” Marion cried as she reached out and softly held his cheeks in her hands. “What did they do to you!?”
Uncle Caius closed his eyes, “It’s hard to remember, child… all of it…”
Across the room, Dr. Valdren was tapping his fingers against his lips, his palms sweating, “This is bad… this is very bad. How is he able to fight the serum and regain control of his memories and emotions!?”
“I don’t know sir! It’s not possible! I swear!” Dr. Zev responded.
Dr. Isabella shook her head as she watched the two ‘family’ members being finally reunited, in a manner as cruel and tragic as this. She had a very good idea of what went wrong. But kept it to herself. Because she was not cruel and wouldn’t reveal this secret.
Back on the platform, Marion was still crying and softly stroking her uncles cheeks with her hands.
“The last thing I remember was… rushing back home… to save you…”
Marion nodded, “Yes, I remember. You went against orders and returned to our hometown in order to get us to safety when the Imperials invaded.”
“Then what happened?” Caius asked.
“We all got into the cars you brought, my family and yours but…”
“But, what?”
“Your families car got hit by a tank shell and exploded, killing everyone inside… But you stayed with us, determined not to let your granddaughter get killed as well. We drove while you covered us with your tank. But…”
“No more buts, child. Tell me…”
“Just when it looked like we were in the clear… your tank was hit by a series of tank shells and caught fire and burned. I could hear you screaming from within… I tried to get out to help you, but father wouldn’t allow me. He told me that if I got killed, your sacrifice would be for nothing…
Your screams stopped soon after and we had to leave… It was all so horrible!”
“The agony of being burned alive must have wiped my memory from those events. Though you tell them, I have no recollection of any of those things ever happening.”
“Oh Uncle, How did this happen to you!?” Marion cried in heartbreak at the sight of her uncle, embedded into the cockpit of the Golem.
“I do not know, Child… How I came to become… this…” Caius replied weakly.
A set of speakers crackled and screech, “Alright, times up. Time to get you back into your cell, young lady.” Dr. Valdren ordered and Isabella was already walking towards Marion and her uncle.
“Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything to your goddaughter. We won’t hurt her, you have our word.” Isabella reassured, “Your body must be very weak by now. I’d imagine it's near impossible to remain awake, correct?”
Marion’s uncle was fighting to stay awake, his eyelids were opening and closing much slower.
“You used up a lot of power today and your body is feeling the fatigue the same as a battery that is running low. You need to recharge, or in this case, sleep. Otherwise, you risk the possibility of shutting down… permanently.” Isabella said.
Uncle Caius’s eyes turned to Marion and she rubbed her hands together and then nodded, “It’s alright, Uncle. Do as they say. I don’t want to run the risk of losing you again.”
Uncle Caius nodded and the head compartment was already beginning to close as Marion and Isabella backed up and looked on. It soon sealed and the Golem backed up and entered a large section next to the wall. Large sets of mechanical arms and clamps began to close in around it and sealed around its arms, legs and torso. The Golem lights from within the cockpit turned off and it then lowered its head and arms and powered down. A soft humming rang throughout the building as the recharging section came to life and did its duty to restore the Golem to full power once again.
How's it coming along, lol, I'm on a roll. Wish I had more time to write, I'm sure I could finish it tonight, if only it weren't 3:30 A.M. and I had work tomorrow!
This'll probably be the last preview, so tell me what you think, any changes, etc.
-I'll take that under advisement, actually, it was pretty much what I had in mind. But we'll have to wait and see where it goes. |
I look forward to the end result.
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