Faux Realm

Lucian was led by his arm. The path seemed to go in circles. Left then right, then another one. By the fourth time he was lost and just let the woman drag him behind her. First few minutes walking were made in relative silence, not even his inside voice was saying anything. The woman stopped.

"Go slave." He was pushed up front.

*What did we get ourselves into?* Lucian thought.

*Hey, hey, there is no us here, this is all you baby.* his inner voice laughed.

*I do not even know what you are, how do I call you even?* Lucian asked.

*Yeah you do not. Would you care to reflect on that?* the voice asked.

*No.* Lucian briskly answered.

*Then why ask?*

*Honestly, I think we are about to die and I do want to know the voice that's been droning on and on in my head. I cannot keep calling you 'Hey you' every time I want to talk. Can I?* Lucian said.

*Call me... Ishmael.* The voice said.

*Are you serious?* Lucian asked.

*No.* a brisk answer came from the voice.

They stopped beside another door, same as the last. The woman whispered few lines and the doors quickly opened and folded in on themselves.

*Again, fancy* the voice quipped.

*Truly!* Lucian agreed.

As the doors disappeared, Lucian was blinded by a bright light. He was gently pushed out. Since he had his eyes closed, instead feeling the familiar metallic feeling of the floor, he was gently surprised that there was sand beneath his toes.

He blinked. He was actually outside, no longer in a ship. But actually outside. In the wild.

*Well I will be damned.* the voice said.

"Finally, Yeah baby!!" Lucian screamed.

*I know you wanted to see the light, but damn man. I feel ya. Being locked up for that long is nothing to sneeze at. How long were you inside?* a sarcastic tone could be heard coming from the voice in his head. Lucian could swear he could see the voice wipe a stray tear from his face.

*Very funny.* Lucian said.

*Bitch.* voice jeered.

Finally. The smell of nature was in front of him. The sounds, he took his sweet time and enjoyed every passing moment. As if it were the situation he was in interrupted him his silent meditation. The soul was quick to heal. Rattling of mechanical doors or wheels opened his eyes.

In front of him was a rising platform from deep, deep in the ground.

*Weird* he thought.

Lucian never felt he was on a planet, let alone a mechanical factory of some kind.

*Think those platforms up there have something to do with it, bud.* the voice silently warned.

Lucian looked up and around. Platforms the voice spoke about, held a gun nest. He seemed to recognize the type of gun the four platforms were holding. Gatling guns.

*What are they for?* Lucian asked.

*I think they are for us my boy. Maybe for those that go out here to deal with whatever that is, they misbehave and 'brrrrrrrt'. Game over. I actually admire the concept of making quick minced meat.* the voice said.

*Expensive, but effective.* Lucian added.

Lucian could recognize a giant elevator when he saw one. As it finally reached the end of its climb, he saw that there was a large orb like structure riding on it.

*What's that?* Lucian asked.

*A ball of steel, maybe?* the voice answered.

*No, duh, I can see that. I was asking what its purpose was.* Lucian corrected.

*Ooooh. Well that's easy.* the voice said.

Lucian waited for few tense moments. The 20 feet tall metal ball slowly started to move. It started to open up holes all over its surface.

*WELL?* Lucian was anxious for the answer.

*Well, what?* the voice grinned.

*The purpose?* Lucian almost screamed.

*To kill us. Hahahahaha.* the voice laughed.

"I swear to God, I will kill you." Lucian was sick and tired of the voice.

He finally snapped shaking his fists towards the heaven. People who were monitoring the situation, waiting for the result to appear glanced at each other worriedly shaking their heads.

"He can't do anything. Focus on your task. The experiment is about to begin." The man walking around warned everyone.

"He is just venting his frustrations. All bark and no bite." He grimaced while looking at Lucian's sweating form.

"I do not know Master, he is acting odd." One of the women working on her console commented.

The man hulking over her studied the video for few moments, "It seems he is chattering to himself."

"How fascinating." He added.

Lucian on video was grabbing his head as if he was in pain. The man watched the screen. Every Lucian's action was scrutinized by him. He had a small smile on his lips, licking them occasionally.

"Lieutenant, record his every move and reaction." He ordered.

"Yes, Master.' Came the brisk reply.

Back outside; Lucian was clawing at his head in frustration. The voice just would not stop.

*Are you sorry now you did not smash that poon?* He took a few moments then laughed, *and you told me I was mad.*

*I just thought...* Lucian was in deep thought, thinking about the past.

*What?! Thinking about your girls? You couldn't get it up 'cause you thought it would betray their trust?* the voice huffed, *Let me ask you something. How do you know they do not have their cunts full of space meat as we speak.*

Lucian gritted his teeth. He did not want to even think about the possibility of his women betraying him. Mechanical buzz made him re-focus his thoughts on the problem at hand.

*Looks like it is starting. Whatever it is that they are looking for.* Lucian thought.

The voice was quiet for few moments, Lucian thought he finally left, *Tough luck.* the voice responded, *I am just thinking about what they were talking when they escorted you out here. Something about an experiment.* Voice added.

Black metallic ball was the size of a house. Lucian just could not stop gaping at its scale. The giant metallic black ball started to gyrate and the buzzing became louder with every passing second, Lucian waited.

The ball suddenly stopped to gyrate. The buzzing stopped.

*What now?* Lucian wondered.

As if reading his mind the balls started shooting lasers in all directions. Bright yellow lasers that sizzled the ground. Lucian could not see any damage but was sure the lasers emitted high amounts of heat and energy.

*Run.* The voice simply said.

As they were outside, in a ring of sorts, Lucian could run circles around the ball easily. The area was well lit and the sand gave traction. So he was not going to slip. However, the speed was greatly reduced so he had to waste more energy to get more speed.

The lasers had specific firing cycle, they launched their attacks only when they had clear shot of Lucian and only in his direction. As he was running around he discovered that the area had little pockets of terrain where he could use the terrain as a cover from the shooting. Using one of those obstacles he found out that the lasers did not shoot. He postulated, from more annoying noises from his inner voice, that the ball only shot when it had a clear shot of him.

Thinking he could use these covers for however long he wished for, he would duck and hide behind them. Trying to catch his breath. However, unexpectedly the covers would soon retract into the ground or as one simply fell apart into sand right before he managed to take a breath or two.

Again he started to run. Kicking the sand with the toes of his feet. It was twice as hard for him since he was missing his left arm. Often stumbling and falling over. He would use these awkward falls to dodge the bright yellow lasers just right as they would burn and sizzle the ground.

A particular violent tumble left him wheezing and gasping for air, when the voice finally screamed in his mind *Move you dip shit!!*

*Now you speak. Can you let me do the work here?* Lucian gasped for breath.

He kept running. Kept jumping. Kept falling.

He forgot how long he was there, but his body became more bruised with each passing second. He was feeling the fatigue coming. His frail body could manage so much. Lucian did seven, eight maybe nine tours around the large ring. He lost the exact number.

*We can only run.* the voice said.

*Are you reminding me?* Lucian spat the dirt out of his mouth.

Still behind one of the covers. Taking few precious moments to breath more evenly and prepare on another round of running.

*Just voicing the situation we are currently in.* His inner voice slowly said.

*What now?* Lucian asked.

*I do not know, if they wanted us dead I doubt we could run. Maybe they are just testing us how much we can run.*

*We? What's all this talk about us? I seem to do all the hard work.* Lucian asked in wonder.

*Well if I could I would.* the voice laughed. *Taking over is my end goal. Now if you could just stand there and let the laser burn you, that would be the best, thanks.* the voice drawled.

*Ashole.* Lucian spat.

***

Inside the viewing room, they were silently watching Lucian's every move. "Zoom in."

A voice interrupted the profound silence, continuing it spoke, "The subject will not stop, it says a lot about his own tenacity."

"Great Master, when is it going to end?" Anya asked softly.

"Soon my pet, for now we watch and probe his every action." He spoke slowly.

On the screen Lucian was almost hit by a barrage of several lasers. Never too late to dodge them he was looking more and more labored but never relented.

"Prepare for phase 2." He ordered.

The room of five people started tapping and working on their screens. Talking between them they engaged the next phase of the plan, the master of the room smiled broadly. This will be his victory.

***

Al'Jafar was watching his men. All of them were extremely tired and needed sleep badly. Several men and women were taken by fatigue and passed out while standing.

They have been guarding the vicinity for the last 72 hours. Everyone was on edge and being crammed inside a cantina was not making them feel any better.

"Sir." A tired man approached Al'Jafar.

He took a long look at the man, he was barely standing. "Yes private. You may speak."

"Team seven is not back from their rounds." The man was shaking.

"Another one? How many does that make?" Al'Jafar asked.

"Twenty sir." The disheveled man said.

"God damn it." Al'Jafar cursed.

He felt every time one of his men would die, but so far he was missing twenty and did not know where or if they were alive. It made him question his every move.

"These beasts will be the death of me. They move without a thought, but once you think you have them figured out they do something that make me question everything." He sat on a crate.

A light shined on his face. The visage of a stoic and proud man was no more. There sat a drained man. Of happiness, strength and determination. He wanted to surrender and get the entire thing over with. However, he was not alone, but in command of fifty people enacting his every command.

He took a deep breath, Al'Jafar spoke in a tired, drained voice "Did the doctor discover anything about them?"

"They recovered few bodies and sir..." The man paused, haunted look on his face.

"Son, speak please." Al'Jafar slowly spoke.

The man looked at the ground, his feet poking few stray materials that fell from the decaying station. Moments later he gave a look that Al'Jafar recognized from years of service, "Sir, its best if you ask himself. I - I - I do not think I can fully comprehend what he was talking about."

Al'Jafar stood up confused. In no time he was walking down the hall and into the laboratory. There were two other people inside the room, one of them was busy behind a device while the other, a redheaded woman, was scanning a body that was on the table.

"Doctor, I was told you had some information for me." Al'Jafar spoke.

The doctor turned, "Yes captain. We have discovered something very important. Very disturbing as well."

The doctor walked to where the woman stood, "Excuse me nurse Tori." The woman stood few feet behind the doctor, as he took a scalpel in his hand. Surgical gloves were already on his hands, and he had to only put a mask on his face. Offering another one for Al'Jafar he spoke, "You will need this." His look saying there was no negotiating.

Al'Jafar looked at the man confused, but the haunting look that he was giving him eventually persuaded him to put the mask on.

"Ok. Now these abominations were attacking us since we got onto the station. It is essential to tell me what led to us in this situation. What were the actions of us being here?" Doctor watched Al'Jafar.

"Of course." Al'Jafar said, "We received a distress signal from this place while we were returning from the Patch. That was approximately 100 hours ago. We came and started hailing the station on all frequencies that we knew. We got no answer. But the signal was still going strong. So I decided to mount an expedition. All of our shuttles were on the fritz and it was my call to dock with the station and board it that way. The rest you know."

"Right. The truth will set you free, Captain." Doctor said.

"This creature was very mysterious. I have my own theories on what led us here, but for now let us focus on the problem at hand." He pointed the scalpel at the body on the table.

"Take this for instance. For you it is a distorted monster bent on death and destruction. However, and this is the main point, it is NOT a monster, well not one from your worst dreams. Essentially it is created. A creation if you will." The doctor softly spoke.

"Created? What do you mean?" Al'Jafar asked.

"All of the bodies here are infected with a bio-engineered pathogen. It latches on to a healthy cell and piggybacks on it to access the rest of the body actively avoiding our immune system that would eventually find these little pests and eradicated them." He looked the captain very carefully, his piercing gaze unnerving Al'Jafar. "If it needed the subject to be alive that is,"

"What do you mean? We are fighting undead?" Al'Jafar asked.

"Yes and no. You see, this is essentially the pathogen itself." The doctor pointed the scalpel back at the body.

"The pathogen lingers in the air, in the rocks on the planet, in the crevices of the asteroid and traversers the space. It is incredibly resilient. And what is scary about this virus is that it keeps searching for a living organism. Another cell, a being, anything really." The doctor said, he took few moments to breathe and then continue, "A very important fact. This right here is still alive."

Al'Jafar quickly grabbed his gun. Just a few nano-seconds and he had it armed and ready to fire, "Easy captain." Doctor patted his hand to relax the stressed man. He had to give it to the old captain, the man had seen horrors and terrors that many only dreamt about.

The body on the table was rattled with bullets. His head almost blown off, hanging by a mere thread of flesh. The entire body was rancid. The flesh parts were decomposing and starting to smell horribly. The rest of the body was slowly being replaced by fungus of some kind. Clothes and shoes were still a part of it, though very dirty with blood and dirt. Bullets ripped holes through the fabric as it was shot from all sides at some point.

"Excuse me, I should have finished what I was speaking. The body is dead. However, the pathogen or virus inside it is still alive and well." Doctor ended.

He turned and grabbed an instrument, with a scalpel in one hand and a strange clamps in his other he moved forward. Al'Jafar twitched, "Easy captain, it really is alright." He explained.

"Now this right here was one of our men." The doctor said.

Al'Jafar looked horrified. He had a hard time believing what the man in front of him was saying, "Doctor I find it hard to believe, actually impossible that one of my boys out there is this - this thing." He pointed the barrel of his gun towards it.

"Nothing that we see here can tell us who the man is. If not for his DNA scan that is. I would not even recognize him. However, we got lucky here. The virus was essentially consuming his own DNA and replacing it with his own makeup. Even now it's looking for a strand of DNA that it can latch on to and plant its commands." Doctor explained.

Pointing his scalpel on the subject he added, "I recon by the size of the subject and the strength of the virus the subject was infected approximately 59 hours ago. Only few more hours and we would not even know what the species the entity was.'

"What - How do you know?" Al'Jafar asked.

The doctor looked at his captain, then moved indicating the old man should follow him, "This right here is Private Briggs." He pointed his scalpel at yet another abomination.

Al'Jafar just stood, mouth agape, disbelieving the doctors words, as the creature in front of him looked nothing like tall, lanky private he was so accustomed to.

"I know this of course, because the man was in my infirmary just 20 hours ago. His flesh was partially infected. Thinking I could help him I injected him a bunch of medications that would combat the inflammation. What I thought was an infection, turned out to be far from it. The reaction to the treatment was explosive and the virus just bloomed, for the lack of a better word." The doctor sighed.

Now it was the doctor's turn to look haunted, "The twisting of flesh, the wails of a man that cried as his own bones were being liquefied and turned to fungi is something I will never forget. A man does not stop feeling when he goes into shock. He just forgets he felt the pain. Usually during those times the brain would induce a coma, or we would induce one, but the virus prevented any treatment that meant loss of brain function. The man felt and was aware of everything. I killed that man"

"How?" Al'Jafar wanted to know just one thing.

After 100 hours they still did not have a sure method for eliminating hordes of abominations bent on eating their flesh.

"Desperation Captain. I just wanted to screams to stop. Even fully turned, the man would not stop. I just shot him in his head. It stopped." Doctor silently said.

"Then I took few vials of his blood and tested them. Just to be sure that my theory is correct. And it was. Right there on the wall I could see his DNA about to be devoured. Don't ask me why I did it. Just a hunch."

"Wait? We have been shooting them in the head for the past 5 days it never worked." Al'Jafar said.

"Fully turned maybe, he here was in the process, maybe 2 hours more and I would have a hard time doing anything to stop it. Or him." Doctor explained.

The old man swallowed, "So they need us to, what? Molt?" Al'Jafar asked.

"Not necessarily. I mean the end goal of every Sentient is survival. But this is a virus. And it was specially created to hunt live cells. What that means is as long as there is life this little thing will thrive. And the scary part is, the god damn thing is constantly improving. Its cells are constantly evolving." The doctor looked troubled.

"You have something on your mind Doc. Tell me what it is." Al'Jafar asked.

"Few times I assaulted some of the cells with different agents, bio neural cells and micro gel plombs. I had 5 test subjects if you will, in these small vials," he pointed at the table where 5 vials ominously sat, "every vial had a virus evolved to some point to resist the attack that I implemented not even a minute before. Testing further the resistance did not stop to just resisting the modern bio attacks and medical treatments, what I found is that this pathogen develops a slow resistance to elemental and environmental attacks and damage."

"The pathogen is ever evolving. And that is its biggest strength." Doc softly ended.

"Captain they are approaching again." A man came rushing in and calling for his leader.

"Doc, you work on it, burn the bodies." Al'Jafar ordered running past the doors and into the jungle.