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[OORP Segment]
Rated R: Contains potentially disturbing descriptions
[/OORP Segment]

Static flickered across the screen, and a blinking red circle appeared in the lower right corner, accompanied by the letters REC. The picture resolved into the image of the interior of a dimly lit medical laboratory. The walls and floor were clean, but they also showed signs of age. The only visible door into the room was of an older design, popular in the later 790's, but much of the equipment within the room looked much more recent in design, and many bore the symbol of the Cambridge Research Institute's latest designs. The center of the room was dominated by a large surgical table, fitted with what appeared to be arm and leg restraints. At the moment, this table was occupied by the only person in the room.

The camera suddenly moved forward, focusing on the table's occupant. The man appeared in his early 30s, with short brown hair and a thin goatee. His clothes were well worn and appeared to have been repaired many times over, though the entire left sleeve was missing right up to the shoulder. The man's eyes were wide with fear, and he struggled against the restraints holding him, to no avail.
Here, a small segment of text flashed up at the bottom of the screen.

The camera panned in closer to the table, and the whirr of machinery could be heard. The man's head whipped around to focus on something out of view of the camera, and his struggling intensified. More text flashed up on the screen.


The object that had drawn the man's attention, a medical android, moved into view of the camera. The android stepped up to the table and clamped one hand down on the man's bare left arm. With the other hand, it picked up a syringe from off of its equipment tray and, without a word, injected the contents into the man's arm. Within moments, the man's struggling lessened, and then stopped all together, though his eyes still watched the android. More lines of text appeared.
The android lifted another syringe off its equipment tray, this one filled with a strange metallic blue liquid. The man made no attempt to struggle as the android held his arm down again, and wordlessly injected the liquid into him. There was no immediate reaction, but within moments, the man began convulsing on the table, his eyes rolling back in his head. More text appeared.
The man continued to convulse against the table, hyperventilating and frothing at the mouth. At the point where he was injected, the skin of his arm began to darken and blood began welling up at the center. Another few lines of text appeared.

The affected area began to spread quickly up the man's arm, and at the point where he was injected, his flesh began to seemingly rot away, disintegrating as an odd greenish film began to cover the open wound. As blood began to seep out from the wound, the man screamed, bucking wildly against his restraints. The gruesome spectacle continued without pause for minutes, until all that remained of the man was his clothing and a bleached white skeleton, coated in the same thin greenish film. The camera suddenly flickered off, leaving a black screen and lines of text.

A hum started up as the file began playing; no static this time, the screen simply flickered once and the recording appeared on screen. The picture is that of a security feed, displaying a plain, unremarkable white walled hallway. Two figures strode down it side by side, one dressed in a simple white lab coat, the other in a more formal dark blue business suit. Compared to the fair quality of the rest of the video, the faces of the two men were strangely out of focus, blurred and indistinct. The audio was unaffected, however, and the voices of the two came through clearly, revealing that the man wearing the business suit was actually a woman.

"I didn't come here for idle chatter, Doctor Cameron. The board wants an update."
The man in the lab coat chuckled and quickened his pace, waving for the woman to follow him, "Of course, Director. This way, please."

As the two passed beyond sight of the security feed, the picture suddenly switched over to a view of a small room, the majority of which was dominated by a quartet of glass tubes, slightly larger than human sized and filled with a murky greenish liquid. Only one of the tubes contained anything visible, but of what could be seen of that tube's contents, it was something hideously abnormal. Vaguely humanoid, but any similarities to humans ended there. Though the liquid obscured any real details, the thing's right arm was clearly out of proportion with its left, larger, warped, and seemingly with far too many joints.

Following the sound of a door sliding open, Cameron's voice rang out again, "Magnificent, isn't it?" Cameron and the Director moved into view, approaching the tank as the scientist continued, "I must say, the genetic code of the sample you provided us with is very interesting... and very difficult to work with. A natural splicing with the human genome was near impossible, so we had to make some.. alterations in both genetic codes to facilitate the integration. As well as a bit of...improvisation in a few instances."

The Director approached the tank to examine the specimen within, "Hrm. No mouth? No nose?"

Dr. Cameron nodded, stepping up behind her. "Indeed. The original sample's species appears to be photosynthetic to a degree, though a bit different from that of a plant. They appear to take in energy from the stars themselves. Naturally, this was one of the compatability issues we ran into, and the solution was less than elegant, in my opinion." He motioned towards the creature's torso, and the Director adjusted her gaze.

"Cybernetics?"

"Indeed. The human digestive and respiratory systems were conflicting with the original sample's photosynthetic processes in earlier specimens, and it would ultimately result in the deaths of those specimens. We were eventually forced to craft specialized implants to transform the photosynthetic energy of the sample's processes into something useable by a more human physiology. Unfortunatly, the experimental nature of the implants has reduced the estimated lifespan of the specimen to only a dozen years, but continued development of the implants should remove that issue."

"So, is it alive?" The director glanced over at the scientist, who simply shrugged and turned back to stare at the creature.

"In a manner of speaking, yes... and no."

The director glared at Cameron, "Explain."

"Biologically, it is alive just as we are. However, ever since it finished developing, it hasn't moved at all. There is some brain activity, but it resembles that of a human in REM sleep. A more fitting question would be 'Is it awake?' However, the answer to that is sadly no. Though this is not from lack of trying. We have made many attempts to invoke a response from the specimen, to no avail."

"And its... abilities?"

"Ah, yes.." Cameron stepped up to the tank, pressing his hand up against the glass and staring at the creature within with admiration, "The potential is there, I am positive of it. We have been unable to confirm the exact extent of its powers with it in the condition it's in now, but with more time, I'm certain we'll get results."

The director sighed, and stepped back away from the tank, shaking her head and muttering with a hint of disappointment, "So, it's not even useable... Theories don't carry much weight, Doctor. Perhaps it is better it remains like this.."

Dr. Cameron blinked at her, a touch of fear evident in his voice as he spoke. "Ma'am?"

"The board is not at all satisifed with the apparent lack of progress with this experiment. The results were not at all up to their expectations, and they've decided to cut back on funding. There have been too many security issues popping up recently, and this facility may not remain secret for much longer. You have two weeks to show some progress, or the board will shut down this experiment."

The camera feed flickered to life again, with a view of the same lab as the previous clip, but this time lit by a dim red glow. This time, it seemed to be from a desk-mounted camera, the type that would be used for audio logs or the like, rather than a ceiling-mounted security feed.
The camera shook for a moment, as something hit the desk it was fixed to, and then a man's face filled the screen, the face of the scientist from the previous clip. His clothing was in disarray, and his movements were frantic, almost panic-filled, as he adjusted the camera. A cluster of wires trailed out from the side of his head where his neural net implant would be, leading down off the desk and out of view of the camera.

As Cameron flicked on the camera's audio, the sound of klaxons almost drowned out his words, and he had to shout to be audible.

"Log entry thirty seven, date.. I don't care! This place is under attack! We've been discovered, and they've gotten aboard! It's some merc group, or something! It doesn't matter anyways! No success in awakening the subject using normal means, so we've grafted a neural net interface into it. I've been trying to link to it and stimulate its mental functions with my own implant."
He slammed his fist down on the desk, shaking the camera again. He seemed visibly agitated now, and his shouting had become much more forceful.

"This will work! It MUST. I will not let fourteen years of work be disrupted by a band of miserable guns-for-hire!"

He turned away from the camera, stalking across the lab floor as he continued. "The security teams are incomptent! Useless! If I was allowed to pick my own teams, this would have never have happened!"

Suddenly, he spun around, dashing back to the camera and grabbing the arm supporting it as he screamed into it. "NEVER! That stuck-up bureaucratic bitch knew I needed more funding! She KNEW! And did NOTHING! And now I'm stuck here with nothing but pathetic rent-a-cop guards standing between those Mercs and my greatest work!"

A thin trail of a whiteish-green liquid oozed down from the corner of the man's mouth, but he barely seemed to notice as he continued ranting.

"Not the only thing I was working on here.. Oh no. I'll use the toxin.. Yes... yes.. CXTY-24. Airborne transmission vector.. highly infectious, lifespan of only a few hours." As he spoke, Cameron hammered away at the keys of the nearby computer terminal with a speed born of panic.

"Already set up, too. I'll have it pumped into the air circulation system.. It will kill them, yes.. Kill them all!"

The man began cackling maniaclly, but that soon gave way to sobbing, and he hugged himself, looking around the room in fear.

"Oh god.. What am I doing here? I could be.. could be out there.. somewhere. Somewhere safe.. But I'm here.. Stuck here.. with my life's work. And they want to take it. They want to take it away!"

As he hit the keyboard one last time, the door to the lab suddenly exploded inwards, nullifying the room's soundproof properties, and letting in the chaotic sounds of faint screams, gunfire, and shouting voices. Standing in the door frame was a trio of men dressed in light, helmetless body armor and carrying particle rifles. The center one pointed at Dr. Cameron, shouting, "That's him! Stun him!"

Cameron screamed in rage at the mercs, and dove over the desk, upending it behind him. The camera fixed to in swung down hard against the lab floor, and then the picture cut out.

The feed suddenly changed to the security camera from the previous entry, which gave a clear view of the lab, the desk which Cameron ducked behind, and the three mercs. It also gave a clear view of the tank in which the specimen still rested, a cluster of wires now linking the tank and Dr. Cameron together.

As the merc vaulted over the desk, Cameron lunged at him with a medical scalpal, his moves frantic and panic-driven. The merc casually deflected the inept strike, and jabbed a stun baton under Cameron's ribs. As the scientist spasmed, the creature in the tank twitched and jerked along with him as the electrical current travelled along the makeshift wires to the specimen's tank. Almost in unison, Cameron and the specimen both went limp, and Cameron slumped to the floor.

The merc stepped over his body and knelt down, pressing two fingers to the scientist's neck. "Damn... He's gone..", the merc muttered, standing.
The leader shook his head. "God damnit, there goes the bonus. Let's g-" Suddenly, all the klaxons went silent. For a few moments, there was nothing, then the air vents all around the room began to emit a hissing sound. The mercs all swore, and tried to run for the door, but each only got a few steps before they collapsed, blood streaming from their mouths, eyes and ears. While the last two attempted to crawl forward a bit more, the leader reached down to his belt and pulled off a small cylinder, staring at it with his bloody eyes.
"Screw it."
He flipped up the cover of the detonator and hit the trigger.
The entire room shook, and as the camera feed flickered, a calm mechanical voice spoke over the intercom.

"Station Orbit Destabilized. Biohazardous materials present. Venting atmosphere. Warning. Decompression Event Imminent. Reentry Event Imminent. Evacuate Immediatly."



It was so..... quiet.

There was not a sound, save for the soft whispering of the wind and the echoes of fleeting dreams.

The man stirred. For a moment, his eyes fluttered open, to be met with a blur of brown and blue, mixed with a hulking mass of grey. For a moment, he could feel the cold fingers of an icy breeze blowing across his face.

Then the darkness swam back in, and there was nothing.

In time uncounted, awareness returned to the man, but with it came.... questions.

So many questions filled the man's mind, but for each one, no answers arose.

The eternity of unconsciousness drew back with a, snapping sound, a sudden jolt and a feeling of motion; the man's eyes flashed open in time to watch a curving glass surface rush up to meet his face.

As he hit the glass, he braced for the pain, but.. oddly, it did't seem to hurt as much as he'd expected. He tried to move his jaw, thinking it had gone numb from the impact, but he felt nothing.

There was another loud snapping sound, like a guitar string snapping from too much tension, and he felt his body jolt again as whatever was supporting him started to give way with a loud snap. There was another snap, and he started to fall, his body twisting around in the air. Suddenly, there was a sharp, painful tug on the side of his skull, and, instinctively, he reached up with his arm to dislodge whatever it was. Something felt wrong, though.. His arm seemed too thick, and without structure. Eventually, he managed to wrap his 'arm' around the offending object and yank it out, letting it, and his arm, drop.
A cluster of wires, held together with a makeshift tie fell down into his view, along with a pale-ish thing that looked nothing at all like an arm.
Then, whatever was holding him up gave out completely, and he dropped to the floor, head first. The last thing he saw before unconsciousness took him was a huge hole in the wall beyond the glass, and a flat, dusty plain beyond.

Then it was dark again.