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Terminus Part 1
Posted By: monitor101<wasup1989@hotmail.com>
Date: 30 June 2006, 12:01 am
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(Author's Note) It's been several months since I've submitted a story. This is a revamp of a previous series that I started (but stop after the third chapter) called "Swarm." This is a completely different storyline but the same concept. Hope You enjoy.
(End Note)
The following is an excerpt from an inquest conducted by UNSC Intelligence Oversight Committee into the Office of Naval Intelligence's "skunk works" projects that accusingly do not show up on daily budget reports:
At this point things become very heated between the interviewee Dr. Joe Webber and Regional Senator Sarah Downing (Rep. American Protectorate). None of the eleven other committee members wish to intervene.
DOWNING – "If ONI Section Zero doesn't exist doctor...then why is a large portion of ONI's daily budget disappearing? Why don't the funds show up on the UNSC Security Council's (SC) budget report? Moreover, is it not true that Section Zero gets the brunt of its funds by outside and often illegal practices since the UNSC SC has been forced to make budget cuts?"
The Panel is shocked as Dr. Webber breaks into hysterical laughter.
WEBBER – "Ma'am, if you look at the budget sheet for yesterday and the day before that a large portion of the daily fifty million dollars is not missing. In fact the reports clearly show that the funds are divided up evenly between Sections One, Two, and Three.
Before Regional Senator Downing can bombard Dr. Webber with another question, Senator Akira Idemoto (Rep. Japanese Protectorate) cuts in.
IDEMOTO – "Remember now Dr. Webber you are under oath and at the mercy of this Panel. Can you tell me with one hundred percent honesty that there is no Section Zero operating under the banner of the ONI without the knowledge of this Panel or the UNSC SC?
After hearing the translation, Dr. Webber removes his earpiece, takes his eyes from Regional Senator Downing's glare, and makes eye contact with Senator Idemoto.
WEBBER– "With absolute certainty, sir."
Dated February 2550
~
A.D. 2551, 13 September, 2200 Hours / Office of Naval Intelligence Research Frigate Asilomar, orbiting planet Orion 3, Orionis system, 10 billion miles from star Rigel
Darkness had almost entirely engulfed the ship, held back only by the red emergency strobe lights that fiercely flashed into the eyes of Doctor Rebecca Haas. She pounded down the corridor, ignoring the lights that could give her an epileptic seizure, and certainly not looking back at what was pursuing her. Like that would make a difference. You couldn't see it, hear, smell it, taste it, or feel it. It was invisible, a plague of death that descended upon you without you ever knowing it. It literally came out of thin air. Like a tornado, it came without warning, impossible to trace, impossible to track. It had already taken over most of the ship, traveling through the air ducts. Even the ventilation sealing system that was used for sealing off parts of the ship that were exposed to vacuum during a ship to ship battle with the Covenant would not stop it. It was everywhere.
A loud shriek that was quickly cut off came from somewhere behind her. Haas did not look back, she kept running. There were certainly others behind her…but there was nothing she could do to help them. She had to get to Emergency COM room. It was not safety; it was one last duty, something she had to do before she met the same fate that so many others had. If she didn't then the crew of five hundred would die in vain...forgotten forever. Haas would rather die at the hands of the Covenant, not the best alternative but at least there would be some rationale in her death, dying while fighting a true enemy who threatened your civilization, not being killed by one of your own creations.
She was close. Rounding a corner, Haas saw the room ahead of her. Sweat was trickling down her face, her heart beating like a war drum. She was a scientist for God's sake not a marathon runner.
Finally reaching the pressure doors labeled: Emergency COM Beacon, Haas leapt at them. They barely opened in time for her to come sailing into the room, nearly hitting them as they parted. She scrambled to her feet, whirled around, and hit the emergency close/lock button. The pressure doors closed with a loud click and locked so they could not be manually overridden nor opened from the outside. The status light winked from green to red. The overhead light flickered on.
Wasting no time, Haas sat down at the emergency COM station, put on the headset, and tapped furiously at the keyboard. She opened a COM link to the Asilomar's AI Alexander, named after Alexander the Great. "Alex, this is Dr. Haas, are you still online?"
A hiss of static, then a distorted male voice responded, "Barely Doctor…the…it's…taking me over…code after code…not going to////****stay***/////online////****much longer," Alexander's voice was overrun with a crackling storm of static.
Haas killed the link. Alexander was useless. She tapped furiously and opened a channel to Reach. The status light on the screen-blinked green signifying the channel was open. "This is Dr. Rebecca Haas, ID number 000-221-7, Alpha Priority; we've had a Biohazard level 4 breach, Project Terminus breakout repeat Project Terminus breakout, implement quarantine procedures now!"
She hit the SEND button, the timer popped onto the screen,
Message Sent to ONI Reach HQ
Time until arrival:
Six Hours
Just great, Haas thought. She didn't relax yet; there was one more task to complete. She accessed the Asilomar's memory and navigation bank. With one strike of the ENTER button she deleted the locations of every human occupied planet, especially Reach and Earth. She then disengaged the ships engines and began the process of melting down the reactor. Suddenly, like a TV set with no cable, the screen went blank. "What the hell!" she exclaimed. A cursor flashed on the screen and a message began scrolled across it,
Clever. Clever. Clever.
Haas's eyebrows shot up.
Suddenly Alexander's voice boomed over the loudspeakers, it was distorted and deeper than normal, "Doctor, I cannot allow you to do that."
Haas balled her fists and slammed them down onto the keyboard. Little bastards have taken him over, she thought. "Fuck you!" she yelled.
"Doctor Haas, we're very disappointed in you. You deleted the NAV database…but that is okay, your AI Alexander has it stowed in his memory bank. Problem solved."
"Damn it!" Haas had forgotten about Alexander's memory. She should have yanked his data chip.
"You not safe you know, you shall end up like the rest. We cannot imagine the wealth of information in the mind of our creator."
A smell filled her nostrils. It was an acrid, metallic smell. Haas instantly knew what it was. The overhead light fluctuated and died, replaced by red emergency lights. Haas slowly turned and instinctively looked up. Her eyes widened and she let out a shrill scream. A faint black cloud was forming in front of the vent. As fast as it appeared, it disappeared.
Her nose itched; she sneezed, once, twice, three times. Haas shook her head and looked down at her arm; it was a ghostly pale. She tried to flex the muscle but it went limp, she lost all feeling in it. Goosebumps formed on her skin as a cold sensation ran down her spine, like cold liquid being poured down her back. A sharp pain rapidly filled her head. It was like a bad migraine headache. The pain grew so intense she tried to scream, but nothing came out. Her vocals couldn't form any sound. Instead, blood came streaming out. Haas started coughing, lightly at first but it grew harder and intense. She made a terrible squelching sound that turned to hacking. Haas's entire body ceased and she fell out of the chair onto all fours. She coughed up bloody tissue that hung out of her mouth and plopped onto the floor. By now, blood was gushing out of her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Her body stiffened and she fell onto her back.
A primal look formed on her face. It was a dark look, full of anger and aggression. She stood up, dug into her lab coat pocket, and pulled out a pen. Clicking it open, she smiled belligerently and jabbed it into her neck. An arterial jet sprayed out of the wound and onto the computer screen. Her body tensed and collapsed onto the ground.
As her body lay bleeding to death, a black cloud came out of her nose and mouth, and hovered over her. It moved in a deliberate manner. As if, it had a will of its own. Like a marionette it moved with controlled purpose. The dark cloud floated up to the vent and faded into nothingness as if it were never there.
Haas, still alive, and feeling the last of her life fade away, remembered the phrase that had described her last actions…the last actions of her creation.
Clever. Clever. Clever.
0630 Hours, 13 September, six ½ hours later / Epsilon Eridani system, Planet Reach, ONI Military complex
Dr. Joe Webber sat at the far end of the large conference table, listening to the sound recording for what seemed like the billionth time.
"Implement quarantine procedures no—"
Someone snapped their fingers and the message stopped instantly. Colonel James Ackerson lowered his hand.
The three other ONI officials in the room were silent. Ackerson's face was beat red and made the atmosphere in the room all the more tense. Webber thought he could see steam coming out of his ears. Webber of all people didn't want to break the ice. The Asilomar was under Section Zero's jurisdiction and Webber happened to be the unofficial head of Section Zero (ONI still denied its existence).
Ackerson took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "Webber," he said with a tenor that was nothing short of pissed off.
Webber's palms became sweaty. He forced himself to meet Ackerson's fixed stare. The Colonel was not physically imposing. At five feet, ten inches he was what one person described to Webber as a, "Modern day Napoleon, only a little taller." Despite not being a giant, Ackerson's anger was legendary and Webber was all the more apprehensive that it was aimed at him. He gulped so loud the entire room heard.
"The Asilomar is your responsibility," Ackerson said in a voice laced with provocation.
Shit, he thought. "So…what should we do?"
"You are going to clean this mess up. You are going to do exactly what Dr. Haas said, 'implement quarantine procedures'. Stop your little pet project from getting smarter, understand?" Ackerson said.
"Yes sir," Webber's heartbeat slammed in his ears like a jackhammer.
Captain Louis Callahan worriedly ran a hand through his short, dark hair and looked at Webber. "If the swarm finds earth…we won't even have to worry about the Covenant as humanity's most dangerous enemy anymore."
Ackerson got out of his chair and pointed at Webber. "From the start of this project you were jumping into the deep end with a weight tied to your leg, pal. Clean this up!" With that, he stormed out of the room leaving Webber on the verge of having a heart attack.
To Be Continued…
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