It was a pleasant, beautiful morning that day i.e. someday in the year 821 A.S.
Oliver wakes up, blinking his eyes, circling around as if the sunshine through the Left window has disturbed his dreams. The dulcet tones of a bird humming around, sweetens the very atmosphere engulfing the moment there.
"Good Morning, Amber. Seems we are right on time, isn't it ? "
"Good morning sir. Scheduled waking time of yours is set to 0600 hours. You are 10 minutes earlier. Should I reset the reminder, sir ?
Stretching his arms, Oliver moves towards the window. He slides ahead, looking to one of the lovely mornings he had. He whistles around and tommy, his dog starts to swirl around him.
He picks him up in affection and moves to the door, ignoring the very question Amber had asked and perhaps was waiting.
" Rest a bit Amber, Poke me up in the Alpha Beamer if it gets dark up here. I will be moving to a bit higher ground today. Might just loose track of time. Help me in it ? "
"Noted Sir. The atmospheric shifts estimate that it will get dark here at approximately 1100 hours. Should I move up it to your Beamer Screen Now ?"
"Oh Com'on, get a nerve Amber" Oliver chuckles.
He then moves up to the undulating hills, small ones ahead. These hills seemed as if they together formed a small wave.
He moves around, searching for something, something that is more important to him. Something that has denied him to bathe in the sunshine he was waiting for. "Hey Tommy, seems you need to work around a bit." He kneels down
"Can you do this for me ? Please, Just sniff around and find out something shiny, very shiny, silver" Oliver looks up a bit towards the sky and backs himself towards his dog "I know this will be difficult, but trust me, we will be back soon" He stands up and starts searching in the parched grasses.
The day unlike the other days was relatively more shinier, more sharper, more beautiful.
The sun rays glint brightly in the clear waters. The sun-lit sky and sea blend perfectly into each other.
From freezing night, it had turned to be a scorching day as the sun climbed towards its zenith. The unending bright sky was glorious luminous blue and pink.
"Hmm. This is going to be tougher as the day moves on"
Basking in the golden rays, Oliver mutters "I hope to have a flattering tan"
After a while, may be after getting cooked up in middle for more than 2 hours, The Sky suddenly became dusky. It was nothing in charts that Oliver had noticed.
He hesitatingly beeped back to Amber. "Amber, get me the weather Droids, bring them up and pass me the radar notices now"
"On it sir" Amber promptly replies.
Oliver looks up. It had all suddenly changed up. From shiny, gold sky a moment before, it has become pale, purple and dark, with rather dust glittered clouds fading away. "Sir, Droids reply negative weather and set time changes" Oliver cuts the transmission. Something makes him feel terribly wrong.
Suddenly, A torch of fire started to light up the darkness around them. It was a radiated light, soon many followed. It was as if meteors are being shoot down but with a tail of light and instead of something solid, it was a burning fire. "BOOM" hits at the cornered parchment of grass.
"Damn, what's this" Oliver picks up tommy and starts to run. The area now has turned to a tale of city under rapid bombardment. A stretch of light continuous in its path,not fluctuating even the slightest, was adjacent to the hill and was falling from a relatively perpendicular source.
Oliver nods as he begins to understand. "Oh No.. "
"Amber, you hear me.. Amber" No signal back whatsoever.
Returning back, He find his camp, but in rather in a vicious way which the nature had showed him. It was in par with dust. He stood there silently to see a conical fire wave approaching him. "I am not going to die. I will not give up"
"Aaah.... Arrr..... "
Oliver suddenly wakes up. In a cold, rather dark room, he was sweating profusely. He had this series of bad dreams following up straight 2nd week.
As he stood, gazing at the dilapidated room, he shivered, as though, ice had replaced his spine. The cold air enveloped the entire body. The multiple layer of clothing could not protect against the deathly cold.
The door begrudgingly creaked open. A musty, dank order creep into his nose.
The moonlight cast a ghoulish glow on his room. He reached his stdy. Lighted out his lamp, and drew out something from the drawer.
It was a shiny metal; soft, silvery, paramagnetic metal. On the notes and papers, scribbled were a lot of equations and tables.
The Chemistry was typical of the late actinides, with a preponderance of the +3 oxidation state; the +2 oxidation state, especially in solids ..
It was brief description on the paper pointed up.
As Oliver held up the metal, it was the Old, beautiful but dangerous and radioactive like all synthetic transuranic elements, It was Einsteinium...
Oliver Sanderson, the gifted child as named at his homeland, the boy with green eyes who was loved by each and every family member near his place, was an extrovert. He was more of a loquacious boy always indulging in one or other topic.
“Do you know what this is made of” the very question which had been the mark of his conversation.
He was an extremely voluble young boy who engaged in soliloquies not conversations.
In his room, he was working to figure out something he had missed, something which was silently asking for his attention, something important, rather useful.
The room was dead silence except for the intermittent creaks and moans. Black and brown mold dotted the ceiling in clusters, evident of rain seeping through the roof. Oliver went back to his living room.
He quietly entered the dark living room. Windows covered with grime and dirt, the calm moonlight struggled to penetrate the darkness in thin thread rays. Sharp shadows roamed around the room.
Picture frames hanged off-centered. Pictures of his dearer ones, with whom he shared an important part of his life.
“Where is the creation table and where is that alloy. It must be here. I am sure it should be here”
The safe box was more of an untidy place. It had papers, research papers, portraying figures of unknown identities, things. But amidst all of this, aside each arbitrary thing, blood stenches were marked in the only relevant thing found there: a dogtail.
It had engulfed all the memories of past, painful history. It was the identification of what was Oliver now.
Name: Oliver Sanderson
Blood: O+
Worker ID: PH024579
Department: Factory/ Hauling section, Corinth Research Station
The information inscribed in the dog-tail was complete different to what Oliver was currently pursuing.
The Corinth Research Station is the main research center of the Zoners, often visited by scientists of The Order. New Zoner equipment and weaponry is being developed here, using the latest technologies available in Sirius.
The factory used to process the counterfeit software, design and architecture it to the export stall of the station itself. Scientists pour in every month to enhance their quality and brainstorm the software available and use it to manufacture the deadliest of weapons that Zoners can sell to their Sirius Weapon partners.
In between all this, somewhere in the deeper sections of the station, rather a haunted compound itself, rumors flow around about possible experiments on subjects relating the aliens. Experiments that were conducted and information to these all was played pretty close to the chest of the chief scientists and trusted workers.
Oliver had sorted out all now. His long working equations, models had started paying off. The model was working inordinately fine.
“I hope it works when I layout my final version” A ray of hope coated on his face.
He had brooded over his thoughts about the creation a thousand times and it was his baby.
He took out a research book to feed his doubts with some answers, and kept it on the table. He moved to arrange for a coffee, which he desperately needed to keep himself active the remaining portion of the night. The Book toppled and fell down as it was at the edge of the study, which couldn’t balance the weight of the heavy-structured shape.
On the cover page, was inscribed which revealed the truth as to why it was such a secrecy for him.
Oliver, fondly known as Ollie was known around the compounds of the Research station. He was called “The Diligent Sand”, the later a short version of his surname.
On his first joining, he was assigned some “easy stuff” which he completed with an ataraxic mind. Due to his endurance and decisiveness traits, he was one among the top sorted out trainee in there.
He, as of today, is one of the scientists and more of an explorer, who has his own chamber and experiment that he chooses not to share with anyone, or at least he couldn’t find anyone who could carve out his garrulity.
Leaning back in his chair with coffee in his hands, he looked at the book on the grounds. He went aside and starred out, looking past the surroundings. Not much to ponder around, the familiar weapon platforms with enormous guns and launchers, going down a little further comes the enormous field of mines, cross-designed, Lutetium-alloyed, dried mines spread all over to restrict access to this top secret installation.
*Beep Beep* comes an ascending tone.
Ollie redirects the transmission to the monitor.
“Oliver, the material you were in need of has been found out. The data is not 100% sure, but there is a lot of possibility that you may find what you need”
“Cut aside the probability stats and give me location details”
“Unfortunately, the closest planet which matches your specifications is inside a dead system with lots of nomad activity”
“Location details, please. Don’t worry about the warning speech”
“It’s the only planet in Omicron-90 system, that’s Planet Olympus. We recommend taking a rather armoured ship for your exploration. Any other details you need?”
“Tell me the planet specifications”
“It’s Uninhabited, Diameter is approximately 12,280 km and it …. “
“Not all this, I need temperature stats and velocity data”
“Temperature ranges around -88°C to -41°C and its not possible to dock”
“Can be beamed to surface?”
“Yes”
Oliver cuts the transmission. He looks at his ship chambers and returns to his table.
He flickers around and swaps screens about the ships he has in his possession.
“Corvo or the fearless”
He points at the destination area and creates a waypoint.
“Interesting, two holes in the system, the outcast system and the nomad system”
He goes past his bed, stops around at the beeper screen.
Moving to the Hangar, Oliver checked his ships. The shiny Corvo with sparkling embedded letters on its hull created an aurora of its magnificence. Bold letters marked “Stheno” did recite a tale of proud history from its background. This ship had dealt many encounters, survived the furious and won over the best.
Oliver knew he had to embark into the dark worlds, something not lucrative at all. Not many returned back. There always remained a sense of fear of losing the very purpose of life in those dark cornered and thorny worlds which demands more than what a person can endure.
He had helped many explorers from losing their stability, both mental and physical, into the depths of despair.
Standing on the edge of the massive, glass-built, transparent screen, He smiled at what he contemplated about death. Now he is on another situation where death is a possible outcome too.
Oliver chuckled.
*When he was younger, he would always wonder how he was going to die. Maybe he will drown. Or suffocate. Or maybe he will simply die from old age. It wasn't long however, before those thoughts were accompanied by an immense and uncontrollable fear of death.
For years he dealt with what many may refer to as an irrational fear; because after all, death is inevitable. But it is its exact unquestionable inevitability (mankind's lack of control over their fate), coupled with the unknown and unfelt experience of death and the questions of existentialism it raises that exacerbated his fear and anxiety.
Initially, he would simply shudder at the idea of being dead, but eventually he became constantly possessed by the thoughts of death.At the time, it was a psychologically defeating and conflicting feeling. However, he has since learned to overcome his anxiety and apprehension of death and used what could have been a mentally and physically damaging experience as an opportunity for learning, self-exploration and understanding*
"I know I'm going to die someday. But that someday isn't that day", He whispers.
In that moment, he looks at the distant screen, a beep again.
He starts closing on the gap, and finds a transmission.
“Strange”
He opens the transmission, only to notice a communication request and attached Transmitted file.
Eric Jayden was roaming around the bars of Luxury Liner Hawaii,when his Personal Assistant notified him of a transmission he recieved from IND.It turned out that his application to IND had been rejected.He was confused as to why it was rejected.He shrugged and ordered another cocktail from the bartender.
"I think that I am not rich enough to be one of them.Fine,no issues.I may have to find other way to put good use to my fortunes.Can I get another glass?"
Though he seemed like he didnt care,he felt a bit let down on the inside.It had hit him pretty hard,the fact that he is not welcome in the society of rich people.He tried to comfort himself.And some time later,he saw a relatively aged man on the pool side.The man approached him to speak.
"You seem to be a little worried young man"
"How did he find that out?"
Trying to maintain his composure,Jayden started off in his usual low pitched voice
"Nothing big,just that I am having a bad day.A bit let down."
"Oh,may I know the reason?"
"Hmm,I am rich and I am new at being so rich.The problem is that I dont know what to do with all my money.I am tired of all the casino,party,luxury trips and ladies stuff.I always end up feeling that I am not wise enough to handle my wealth."
"Dont worry my boy.It is a feeling that everyone has when suddenly something superior,something that they had not even dreamt of,is bestowed upon them.I may find yourself a good place to invest all your money in.I am a scientist and my base of operations is Freeport 9.There are always scientists who need funds for their dream projects.You can support any project monetarily if you feel his research is something worth to humanity in all."
" That was not anywhere near to my line of interest sir.Though I would like to give it a try.New ventures are always what I am fond of.And,will there be exquisite bars in the Freeport"
"I cant assure you that,but you may find something that you will never forget of.A once in a lifetime experience as I prefer to call it."
"Fine then.You have my word.I will accompany you to Theta."
They both shook hands and decided on a time to take off to Theta.It atleast did something to make him feel happy.Afterall,he hadnt gone to any of the Freeports before.This all seemed to be the beginning of something very important,he felt.Something that he may carry on for a lifetime.
Not much had Ollie ever ruminated about the meeting. His contemplation was a very matter of concern for the distasteful past occurrences. The moment of discordance kills the work he has put forward for issues which he observes beyond consolation.
"Had my endeavour been successful, things would have been different"
The lack of a suitable clarifying agent and the deficiency of a proper Cyro Container beats the nail at the final outcome.
"Its Oliver speaking, I am in need of Moringa oleifera and aluminium chlorohydrate or aluminium sulphate. Can you make it quick"
"The mixture of this can bear very prolific consequences to the subject. All I have to figure out whether it's going to be a blissful outcome or a minacious one"
He effectively drops a piece of a Niobium-coated substance into the flask for letting it decompose in a while. The digital calendar beeps indicating the end of 12 hours from that transmission which had crept up in middle at the hangar.
"Surprise Surprise, all I get from them is 3 day prior to all this crap. Sometimes I believe, they organise this as an excuse to humiliate me"
The thought of this surrounds him in a silent-spread spectrum of disarray. He quietly moves on to the corner and turns off the recorder. Ollie ponders.
"Wish I had a colleague, work would have easier and so does the aura that surrounds the very researchers over here"
He looks unexpressed at the recorder. "Thanks there" He smiles and clears the shinning dust on the machine, which has been the only interactive, even though one-sided, for him at this hole.
The Armoured Transport that took off from Hawaii, found its way through the edge worlds and ventured into the deep green nebulae. Jayden grew a bit tired of the trip. It was long, and he was accompanied by an old scientist. Science was not to his liking since he began his schooling. The old man beside him was occupied with a pile of papers and some random stuff that Jayden couldnt even care to look at.
"It is a bit interesting isnt it?" asked the old man.
" Well, it is. As long as I dont know, what it means, it is quite amusing to me"
" You will be keen to know about some things that happen in the Omicrons. It is different from your normal definition of Science. You will be interested to know about them. You will see that yourself"
" Well, lets see. If it lives up to my expectations. And if I will be clearly interested in a young man's reserach, enough impressed to fund that."
"Time will tell."
The Jump hole to Theta was in visible range. Jayden looked in awe at the surrounding nebulae. This being his first visit to the unknown edges of space. Jump was initiated and they were in Theta, in no time. The green mist surrounded his view. After a few minutes of thrusting past it, he was able to see the bright green vasts of Theta. They arrived at Freeport 9 soon after. Jayden wondered as to how they built such a large space station in the middle of nowhere. The nature of that place was very mystifying and surprising to him. Their ship docked in Freeport 9.
"Lets proceed to have our accomodation sorted out" muttered the old man
" Yeah sure."
They proceeded to the apartments, where they got all their stuff checked in. They were given access to their rooms and proceeded to have a nap.
" Well then, take some rest, We will meet later tomorrow, and I will take you to the research labs. "
" Fine. See you later"
They seperated ways and proceeded to their rooms. The anxiety and awe was still alive in Jaydens' mind. He thought to himself that, he might have a precious little thing to do here. Thinking about it, he dozed off
Sinking projects, mounting mind pressures, and uncertainty about his future...when he was in middle of the night's thoughts, the taste of life's ups and downs filled him with doubts about the world around him.What is success? What is happiness? What is virtue? Gradually he learnt that predecessors who had faced the same questions, and that there are written records of their life-long research left to him to explore. He thus turns to voracious reading of philosophical books, the secret retreat in which he is free to let his mind flow with the wise counsel of the greatest thinkers. As time and circumstance allowed, he begins to take a more tangible hold of philosophy.
The Night, as it grew longer, He prides himself as an apprentice of philosophers like Confucius and Laots, studying and even memorizing their texts. Ollie notices that there are different schools of explanations for a same philosophical phenomena. He is caught up in the dilemma of not knowing whether to go with one school or another. Who is right? Which is nearer to the truth?
He spends hours and hours rereading and comparing the philosophical works, searching for the ultimate answer. Slowly Ollie learns that there isn't any absolute right or wrong, and that every plausible theory has to be seen within its specific context. Casting aside his fear of the night and the volcanoes of doubts erupting in his mind, He looked at the text sent to him earlier by the person.
The very reason of his doubts start fading away, remembering the venture he has to make to the nomadic world. But prior to that, the very case of his research lies within the deep corners of the "Maltese" world.
The Purity of the research, the vastness of the knowledge makes him smile his way to his sleep.
He savours on the texts he had studied tonight. Quite confident of moving to a place of his work. He checks the transmission, It was from the "Ghosts" -- his smile paves way of the thoughts he had in his mind. The goal at which he was stumbling had now a pristine path and he chuckles in his mind and whispers "Its not the first" *laughs*
Generally during his life, Ollie always tried to do his best. However, sometimes by considering the condition such as lack of time, he behaves more quickly for which the result doesn't be the same as the normal condition. The haste in doing something causes time and cost waste beside the low quality of the result as for Ollie's prospective. This time the call has already been decided. The only thing that remains is the time in which Ollie aka Oliver Sanderson, reaches for the ranks at the Ghosts in Alpha.
He pulls up his transmission screen, and types out a very safe yet known address signal code which happens to be loitered around at most of his possessions in the room. He slides out his writing pads to make necessary amendments and throws in a very prioritised transmission to that vernacular Code address. He then starts to pack around his required accessories, tamping around his clothes and required tools, research papers inside the light S-17 Air-bag textured Violet to suit ambient surroundings nearby.
The Transmission read - "The Horn has been blown and the dead will rise. Meet me at the graveyard with a proper date and time for the room to glow". The message trailed to a position somewhere near at Luxury Liner Hawai.
It has been quite a long time since Oliver moved into Alpha inside his new quarters. Working as a cardamine researcher, he had few papers to go through; the 1st documentation being an important aspect to be considered. He kept aside the logs and the transmission along with the papers along side his airbags still packed tight from the starting point. The trip to Omicron Alpha had been rather a bumpy ride. Not to mention the dangers out there in Omicron Space which is heavily infested by the aliens that are rumoured to be seen quite a few many times at Alpha and nearby systems.
The Maltese Nachion as of now is one of the strongest foothold of the outcasts which supplies the known "Cardamine" drug; the variant at Alpha being the most popular among the people in market especially in Liberty homeland. Oliver's work had been directed to studying a new variant, better and copulative substance after synthesis. Oliver moved to his nearby docking bay in the station. A shiny Series Z class "Sabre" was parked in with couple of people working with the specs at that very moment. Oliver looks at the transmission sent to him by the Specs officer.
"Your ride is almost ready and is waiting confirmation of your weapon loadouts. We have loads of Krakens and Wyrms which can burst out the creamy layer of any ship out there. Let us no before hand about your choices"
Oliver types in a small message
"Thank you for your work. If you can, do leave the ship without any loadout.. ahh.. just keep it upto the Mines and countermeasure dropper and the disruptor. I will deal with the weapons and before hand I can assure you I know the hardpoints of the ship and what it can carry. So, you can rest assured"
The day seems promising, he has been out here at the lab since four days and it was his first day inside the lab. The auxiliary lab untill the head permitted him to the centre lab which was for special entrant. The look at Oliver was the same as he had started as a researcher. The monitor had a slight darkish outlook matching the strength symbol of the Nachion. He opens his portal and relays to this frequencies and starts encrypting the channel. The bandwidth was adequate but communication cell sectoring needed a revised angle. He altered it to 120 degrees and made sure his threshold level remained afloat.
The decryption bar at the left side of the channel receiver showcases a prioritised message, encrypted to the guard level. Ollie starts decrypting the sender's address and is quite surprised to have seen an old friend out there trying to establish a contact with him. His friend had been one of the survivors of the unfortunate event where he and others after the event, remained in secrecy at Liberty. Oliver shrugs remembering the incident which was deemed as a blackout in their lives. He moves back and starts communicating with him; with proper encryption and prioritised guidelines mentioned in the nation communication rules.