Day 2
Location: Unknown
"Uh... thanks," Allee said hesitantly. He wasn't going to knock her out? That was weird behavior for a kidnapper. So was helping someone onto the back of the horse. Still, she took his hand and allowed him to help her up. She couldn't help but think that this wasn't what kidnapping was supposed to be like--she was being treated far too kindly for that. If this was a kidnapping, it definitely didn't live up to her expectations. After studying them and reporting on them for the paper for so long, you tend to recognize patterns, and this experience had defied every single one of them.

This was too weird. She shook her head in confusion. "Who are you?"

Day 2
Location: Unknown

"Lance Corporal Samuel Talon, Ma'am." He clicked his tongue and with a great upheaval, the horse lurched forward like a badly slipped clutch. Sam shook his head in disgust. All things considered, he preferred his old pony car to this ridiculous creature. "Where I'm taking you... Well, its going to be rough. If you ever get into a bind, drop my last name. I'm not sure how much it'll help, but it's worth a shot. Put this on, we're getting close."

He closed his eyes, and focused on what he had to do next. Another part of the protocol. Sam retrieved a chloroform-soaked rag from his saddle-bag, reached forward and held it against her mouth and throat. Gritting his teeth through the whole episode.

Last post here
Day 5, Quadrant 9
12:23, Q9 time
Observation room

"Hello?" the short blonde girl asked timorously. She had her eyes closed and was gazing with her inner sight at what she thought might be a person - or persons - in a viewing box behind a sheet of dark glass. "Look, I-I don't know what you want from me, but I didn't do anything wrong."

Even as she spoke, the words sounded hollow. Like a scared kid trying to get out of trouble.

There was no audible reply from the viewing room, but there was a shift in one of the walls. Hali Royce opened her eyes and saw a row of tiles sliding aside to reveal a large machine gun-like barrel. A clicking sound she had heard in movies indicated the automatic gun was loaded and ready to fire. And in a square room with nothing else in it, there was nowhere to run.

Hali felt a strange unearthly calm settle over her. For the past few days, she felt she had been in a battle against the world. Now, staring down the sleek metal six-shot barrel, she knew that she had lost that battle. She was going to die. And there was nothing she could--

No! some instinct in her screamed. I won't die like this!

She had no physical training beyond what hockey and the occasional kick boxing lesson afforded. She was athletic, but not a fighter. But that primal drive to survive had caught her and she steeled her muscles for a hopeless attempt.

The sound of bullets hitting the wall rang out, almost deafening her. She ducked and rolled to the right, trying to get behind the gun's range. The trail of sparks on the wall indicated the gun was tracking her movement and still trying to finish her off. Hali broke into a dead sprint and threw herself against the wall that held the gun, praying that it wasn't swivel mounted.

As her shoulder brushed the wall, her inner vision burst out again, overlaying what her eyes saw. And where the machine gun fired a sparking trail of bullets... She saw nothing. Hali's jaw dropped and she quickly closed her eyes, trying to see further.

There was no motion, no bright zing of sight there. The gun, if it was a gun at all, wasn't actually firing anything. It's like special effects, she realized.

Not even thinking to doubt her mind's eye, she stood up and opened her eyes. The gun barrel was aimed at her chest, less than six feet away. She stared down the barrel, half-afraid it might really fire something now that she was still. But... Her mind's eye was still active - perhaps adrenaline had something to do with it? - and it didn't look like a real gun inside. Or not what she remembered from any of those spy movies Elise used to watch.

The gun clicked again and what should have been a bullet whizzed through her torso. But she was right; it was only empty air.

"Freaky," she said aloud. "But what's the point?"

Another shift in the wall answered her question. A second machine gun on the opposite side of the square silver room now protruded from the wall. Real or fake? she wondered, closing her eyes to use her mind better. Maybe it's not the adrenaline, so much as getting my eyes out of the way.

Now that she had her eyes closed to study it, this whole room was bright with that sight substance. It ran in lines across the walls, under the floor and the in the ceiling. It was far easier to see in here than it had been in her cell. She focused on the shift in the wall to see the inside of the machine gun. But this time, the mechanism itself didn't exist.

How do they pull this stuff off? A hologram? She had never seen one outside of sci-fi films, but apparently, someone had found a way to make them work.

She turned to face the only other object of interest in the room: the sheet of glass. Her eyes still closed and aided by the bright sight stuff - as she was beginning to label it in her mind - she clearly saw three human figures inside a small room. All of them were male, and one of them had his hands on some sort of control board.

"Okay, I know you're in there! I can see you!" Her hands clenched into frightened fists so tightly that her nails bit into her sweaty palms. "Look, can you just come out and talk? I'm really freaking out here. I'm not, like, a trained dog, okay?"

A voice over a PA system answered - calm, calculating and oddly soothing. "No. You're something far more."

Arida: Day 3
De Mon Estate

"The Dogs of Doom will howl more..." Chris quoted cryptically from an old song he remembered at the mention of the gangs in the area. While the threat of an organized, or slightly organized, criminal network did not phase him, he knew it would be better to avoid such groups for now.

After watching Candi take a few puffs of her cigarette, Chris spoke again. "I don't suppose we could move everyone to somewhere else... like a mass exodus from Arida to..." the bounty hunter gestured idly, leaving the destination open. "It would take some massive control over the people and strong leader, but its been done before. Just a thought."

Chris lit a cigarette of his own as he waited for his hostess to reply.

Arida: Day 3
De Mon Estate

Candi let out a stream of smoke and watched as it dispelled into the air.

"I have an old...friend in Burg," she finally said. "His parents left him well set up. I don't remember much about him except that when we were little, we would explore and find all the secret passageways in the mansions. We even found a skeleton in a dungeon once. Anyway, he has always had an obsession with the medieval, and had all of his grounds renovated to match. I've heard that he even set about having all of the staff trained to be ready at arms. I would guess that Burg is in about as bad a shape as Arida is, but if we could combine forces...."

Her voice trailed off, as she stopped to look at Chris, gaging his reaction.

Arida: Day 3
De Mon Estate

Chris chuckled/coughed slightly at the mental image of two spoiled rich kids governing a colony in royal attire with servants, banners, etc. scattered about. The bounty hunter cleared his throat before replying, "You could have your own little kingdom near Burg, if you worked at it."

He stopped long enough to take a thoughtful puff of his cigarette. "Burg is more industrial than anything else... lots of resources on hand and working class folk around... Yes. I think you could pull it off. There is a wealthy bachelor that lives on the outskirts of Burg, a Mr. Lawrence if memory serves. I doubt he would be any trouble though. More of a recluse than anything else... except for the occasional wild parties."

Chris looked down at Candi as he said this, wondering if the mention of yet another wealthy man would have any effect on the heiress.

Arida: Day 3
De Mon Estate

Candi mused over this new information, wondering exactly how rich this Mr. Lawrence would be, and how well-supplied he might be for such an extended emergency.

"I don't really remember any Lawrences," she finally said. "Of course, it has been quite a while since I've mingled with the hoity-toity of Burg. The Baron and I kept in touch for a much longer period, due in part, I think, to our parents wanting us to marry. Of course we were diametrically opposed to the idea, so no worries there."

She paused.

"Either way, I think everyone as a whole would be better off away from Arida. There is, however, a downside to this plan."

She stood and looked Chris right in the eye.

"If the Baron declines the offer, there is no place to go."

Q9
Day 3 | 9:50

"Well, at the moment, I am far more open than that door you are standing in front of." Arthur's brow was raised and amusement wrought moderately into the creases in his expression, but where humor did not touch, cursioty and confusion did. What she had explained, succinctly and without flowery detail, helped him understand a little bit more of his situation and way he had been brought to the facility, but it still allowed for many voids and gaping spaces, begging to be filled with information.

A good portion of the populace had suddenly changed, there genes mutating...

He recalled the blackout and wave following the intense brightening of the sun. There had been a surge. An incredible wave of energy immediately following, saturated with enough power to fry electronics and shatter glass. It had quenched all light, effectively forcing him to finish surgery in utter darkness. Darkness. His fingers tingled again as they had directly following the phenomena.

Our goal is to be able to change and modify their behavior and outlook enough so that they do not need to go to higher levels of treatment.

Rehabilitation. Mutants. It was increasingly sounding more and more like a futuristic novel. But this was real. Too real. He had not experienced, first hand, any evidence of these beings, but it was also true that he had seen no anyone but his nurse, Catherine, since the event. He wondered if she was safe, but the thought soon scurried in light of the other weight pressing upon his mind.

And remember, these are patients, not projects. They are humans, with feelings, emotions and souls just like the rest of us.

A degree of surprised flitted across the azure irises; not from shock at her statement, but that, in fact, she had spoken it. So few of the general populace of doctors even registered that delicate fact. Humans. With souls. They were not cattle to p***k with needles and restrain; to treat as if they were too unintelligent to be told the adverse affects of the medicine they might be ingesting, or to articulate to them that their small intestine, in a space of a about 2-4 inches, was inflamed, instead of speaking brutally, with arrogance, 'Your guts are messed up.' He had not anticipated such words from her, in this specific situation, but as he mulled the phrases, his orbs narrowed and a smile that lacked his previous mirth lifted briefly.

Then it was gone as swiftly as it had come, and the blonde hair upon his head bounced as he gave a nod. "To speak the cliche, 'I am as ready as I'll ever be.'"

9:51 qn, Day 3
Quadrant 9

Tamara smiled.

"Good," she turned and pressed in a code on the keypad. "You will get your own code soon. I'll take you down to the tech department and you can sit down with one of the programmers to get everything arranged. The codes are linked to your name, so you may be asked to scan your fingerprint, too, to confirm identity."

The keypad flashed, then the bolt turned in the door. A long, white hallway extended before them, with windowed rooms on either side.

"As you become familiar with these rooms, I'm sure you'll see many things you are familiar with," she said, securing the door after Arthur entered. "This is, in essence, a microbiology lab. Every test you can conceive to run on a sample can be done here."

Tamara continued on with very minimal comments as they slowly walked down the hall. The strange orange light of the x-ray rooms glinted through the tinted windows. A few technicians moved about quietly inside the rooms, their skin red from the light. Another door barred their way, but Tamara quickly coded through, and Arthur found himself in the same hallway with the same orange glow emanating from the rooms. But this time, there were patients in the rooms. Each patient lay on his bed, a pair of headphones over their ears, a few with patches over their eyes. Some were hooked up to machines. Tamara stood by one of the rooms, watching Arthur.

9:51 qn, Day 3
Quadrant 9

Sam signed his name on the dotted line, completing the required paperwork. All bureaucracies seemed to love paperwork, the smell of fresh ink and the crispness of parchments held some strange appeal to certain types of people. Even those who operate in a concentration camp after the end of the world. And at that moment, nothing in the universe could have made him angrier.

Luckily, his frustration was interrupted abruptly by a lone, lowly attendant. "Lance Corporal Talon?"

"Yes, that's me."

"You are to report to Doctor Lightwood's office," he said. "As soon as possible, sir."

And so Sam reported to the Doctor's office. When he entered the medium sized room, he was shocked by the transition. Throughout the complex, he had only ever encountered grey concrete and steel. But as he stepped over the threshold, he was suddenly surrounded by lush paneling of dark maple-wood. The whole room reminded him more of his grandfather's library than any Professor's chamber that he had ever been in.

The soldier half expected to enter to find an actual person, instead he was greeting by an empty room. Not a single living being to be found. Just a desk with a swivel chair in front of it. Now this, this was tempting. But he resisted the urge to spin and simply took a seat, waiting for the Doc to show up.

10:07 qn, Day 3
Quadrant 9

"Make sure Doctor Ford gets all of his paperwork completed, and sets his codes for the door," a muffled voice finally said outside the office door. "I don't want him to accidentally lock himself in or out of something."

The response was unintelligible. Finally, the door opened and Tamara stepped through. She paused for just a moment, surprised to find a young officer in her office.

"Good day," she finally said, closing the door behind her and walking into the room. "Can I help you?"

To cap off his rather flippant and almost rebellious introduction, he gave her a salute, one that looked official. But was almost too much, over-exaggerated. One might say.

10:08 qn, Day 3
Quadrant 9

Tamara blinked and stared at him. 
"Oh, yes," she finally said, recognition appearing on her face as Sam finally spoke his name. "Talon. Nice to meet you. Doctor Tamara Lightwood." 

She offered him her hand.

"Good to meet you."

Of course in his rather unimaginative mind, the thought never crossed him that this woman might be different type of doctor.

10:10 qn, Day 3
Quadrant 9

"Of course. Please, have a seat," Tamara said, taking a seat herself. After both were settled, the doctor reached over and sorted through a couple files on her desk, then laying one on top, turned back to Sam. 

"Mr. Talon, I would like to speak to you as a normal human being, not an employee of our government. Also, I wish you to keep this discussion off the record."