//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Pre-Contact // Story: Lazarus: The Rise of Man // by Immortan Joe //------------------------------// Dozens of hooves made their way across the muddy surface of the forest floor, one by one in a seemingly endless line. The royal guard marched through the thick overgrowth towards the landing sight just on the other side of the mountain. With a fading trail of an unknown creature, the platoon of stallions along with their princess head forth, leaving the town of Saddleston with only hoof full of protectors. Princess Luna led the group, her face grim, troubled by the thought that four of her subjects may be in danger. Her horn lit bright as she and her seventy guards moved forward with caution. After what seemed like hours, the group had finally made its way around Mount Neighson. Luna looked back at the mountain to see that Celestia’s sun was now starting to peak over the horizon. Stopping where she stood, Luna raised her head higher and shined her horn brighter for everypony to see as she signaled for the line to halt. Obeying their leader’s orders, the guards came to a stop, Luna lowered her head and breathed deeply. Concentrating, Luna focused her thoughts on the moon above and imaged it dipping below the horizon. Slowly, the moon began to drift across the sky, the stallions watching in awe. It wasn’t often that they got to see their princess work her magic in such ways. To them it was breath taking, though to Luna it was a chore. It was fun the first few times, when her parents had passed their gifts onto her and Celestia, but as the millennia went by, it had grown tiresome for her. She closed her eyes and blocked out the sight of the awe struck stallions and focused more on her job. Just as the moon fell below the mountain side, bright orange and purple hues assaulted the sky. The sun was finally rising and the dark, ferocious-looking forest began to dissipate and manipulate itself into something more calming and beautiful. The razor sharp spikes that had snagged and torn at the guards armor, distorted itself into a normal tree branch, and the howling dire wolves off in the distance were replaced by the sweet melodies coming from the waking birds. Around the ponies the forest was waking up and becoming filled with life nearly instantaneously. Luna yawned when the sun’s warm rays touched her coat. She had been up since yesterday morning and the fatigue had finally caught up to her. Bags had started to form under Luna’s eyes and her vision seemed to be slightly blurred. If she turned her head too fast dizziness would sweep over her. The guards took note of this. “Your Majesty,” said the first guard behind her, “if you’d like we can take a short break.” Luna looked to her guard with half lidded eyes, facing her head back towards the direction they were headed. She debated whether they should keep moving or not, another yawn took her by surprised, concluding her answer. “I don’t believe that will be necessary, Watcher. We must keep moving no matter the cost. Ponies lives may be at stake.” Without any further questions Watcher bowed his head. “As you wish.” Luna nodded in response and continued to head further down the trail.They traveled over rocks, logs, ditches, and streams. The brush around them thickening with what seemed like each step, the light around them dimming as the flora grew thicker.The air grew muggy, the dirt became mud, patches of water and tall grass appeared around them. They had reached the swamp. “Do any of you smell that?” Watcher asked his hoof sinking into a small mud pit, he grimaced whilst he pulled his mud caked hoof out. A pony beside him sniffed heavily. “Smells of miasma around here.” “That is just the swamp I believe,” Luna replied over shoulder, squinting her eyes from a patch of light that passed through the tree’s leaves. “No, no,” Watcher said quietly, “Not that smell, it’s faint but–” he took a long sniff “–it’s smells of something burning around here.” “We must be getting close then,” Luna said. “You think so?” He asked. “I am positive.” High-pitched, cracks echoed suddenly through the forest. They startled everypony in the group and forcing them to a sudden stop, immediately ponies looked to each other whispering and asking what it was. “Silence!” Luna snapped quietly, her heart was racing due to the unexpected occurrence. Today just wasn’t like any other day she had experienced over the past, of course it still didn’t compare to when Discord was in power. Everypony fell silent. “Listen,” Luna whispered, towards where sound came. She could hear something cheering–no. Somethings were cheering. Luna looked back to her guards, already their eyes were locked with hers, all bearing looks of confidence. “Watcher, Swift.” Luna eyes fell on the two stallions behind. "Come with me.” “Yes Your Majesty.” Both Stallions bowed. Luna looked back up. “The rest of you,” she called, “rest up! If we are not back in fifteen minutes continue on ahead!” “Yes Ma’am!” Everypony said and immediately went to find a rock to sit on. “Come on you two,” Luna said to her guards, turning around she went into the brush. :[-]: It didn’t take long for the three ponies to find the source of the bizarre sound. Within two minutes a light, unordinary smell invaded their nostrils. Stepping out of bushes and into a very small clearing Luna, sniffed the air lightly. “It’s smoke. Faint, but I can definitely tell,” Watcher whispered as he followed in behind her. “Could it be the meteorite?” Swift asked, nearly tripping over a twig. “No,” Luna responded rather quickly. “The site is a little more up north.” “It could be the remnants of that cracking sound we heard–” The sound of snapping twigs, cheerful voices, and laughter startled the ponies nearly half to death. Quickly Luna turned around and ushered the two ponies into the thick bushes, diving in after her guards. She quickly cast a spell that caused her mane to stop flowing and fall down her sides. Facing back towards the clearing, she peered through the many small branches. And what she saw was something she’d had never expected to see: Two tall, slender creatures made entirely out of moss stepped out into the clearing. Luna had seen minotaurs that looked like this before, their hair grown so long that their form was almost indistinguishable. However, these creatures were different, while they seemed to have almost the same anatomy of a minotaur, their legs bent differently in that it almost seemed straight, and the moss on their bodies appeared to be added on rather than a natural hair color. These creatures were nearly the size of Luna, maybe even a head taller, one of them held a long object that was covered in moss and it was strapped across its chests. On top of it was a cylinder with some sort of reflective glass on the ends of it. Luna’s eyes were wide with curiosity, but also with extreme caution, each motion the creatures made, caused her eyes to follow it like a cat eyeing a dangling string. Both creatures walked with a swagger, one arm swinging loosely on the side, the other holding the end of a long, thick object with a strap that wrapped around its body. Occasionally the smallest one of the two, would turn its head around and speak to the other. Its voice sounding muffled and very light (almost feminine), unfortunately for Luna. She couldn’t understand a single word that was being said, which was entirely new to her since she already knew every language her subjects spoke. Equestrian, Prench, Draken, Zebrican, Avian, Arabian; practically any language around the globe she can speak it. But this, this sounded like straight gibberish to her, and whatever this gibberish was it must of been humorous because the tallest moss creature started laughing hysterically. With a hand to its abdomen, it laughed loudly, to the point that it nearly snorted. Calming down, the larger one ran a thick, mossy hand across the back of its shrubby neck, and it spoke, this one’s voice much more masculine than the other. The smaller one snorted and waved its hand to the side, before nodding its shrubby head towards the brush just across from them. They began to move. Luna began to wonder where they were going, when they passed through the bushes and twigs. She could hear the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves for a few moments before it came to sudden stop. “Your Majesty?” Watcher asked, “Is it safe to go out–” “Shh!” The creatures began to speak again, a low groan came from the bushes, next came a clatter of something hitting the forest floor. A hiss was heard followed by a giggle, a playful like voice could be heard coming from behind the bushes, a thud and a girlish yelp erupted with even more laughter. A twig snapped and another groan was heard. “What’s going on?” Swift’s eyes shifted between Luna and Watcher. “I have no clue,” Watcher whispered. “And by the sounds of it, I honestly don’t think I want to know.” “It sounds like mating if you ask me,” Swift said with no hesitation. Watcher looked at the young stallion and shook his head, Luna didn’t even move. Her eyes were fixated on the shrubbery. “Don’t know for sure,” Luna said over her shoulder, “but there’s only one way to... Oh–shh.” She silenced herself at the sight of the two beings appearing once again. This time however, there was a difference. The larger one was carrying a large buck on its shoulders, its legs were wobbling under the weight but it didn’t let that be bother. Instead it pushed on back where they came from. The smaller creature was carrying both of those long pieces of shrubbery with the reflective glass. It was watching the larger carefully, almost as if it was examining it as it moved. “Princess, look!” Watcher whispered, “the deer, look at its neck its...” His voice wavered a bit. Luna squinted and leaned forward a bit, looking to where her guard mentioned. Just below the buck’s jaw was a large gaping hole in the shape of a circle that still leaked blood. “It’s dead...” Luna said. “That’s terrible, what pony would do such a thing?” Swift said in shock. “No pony would,” Luna said, “but that’s the thing, Swift, these creatures aren’t ponies... matter of fact I have no clue on what they are. But I know this for sure, they’re not from this realm.” “Should we make contact Your Majesty?” Watcher asked. “I do not know,” Luna replied, she watched as the larger struggled with carrying the buck. “But I think we should gather the rest of the party before trying to advance further on these beings.” “Aye, I agree,” he said as he slowly backed into the bushes. The two moss creatures had now officially vanished from their field of vision. “Alright then.” Luna stood up turning back towards the way they came. “Return to the others and continue the march, and Swift.” She looked down to the guard who was already standing at attention. “I want you to send a briefing to my sister as soon as possible.” :[-]: A bright light engulfed Johnny’s vision as if the entire world had turned to fire, his pupils constricted under the intense rays. He tried to close them, but Hassel’s gloved fingers sat firmly on top his eye lids. “Everysing seems to be alright, Mr. Convay,” Hassel said releasing Johnny’s lids and switching off his light. “I see no signs of any damage as of yet,” Hassel stepped back and allowed Johnny some space as he returned to his desk; opening a lower drawer he began to finger through old files. Not finding what he was looking for he pushed the drawer shut and moved to the upper one; there he pulled out a stack of papers that contained various data on symptoms pertaining to the dreaded Sleeper Virus. Johnny couldn’t help but keep his eyes shut throughout Hassel’s search, his vision obscured by multicolored floaters. “Sankfully,” Hassel said before Johnny could even utter a word, “you aren’t showing any immediate symptoms, vich is fantastic!” John smirked, his vision returning to normal the floaters slowly drifted out of eyesight. “Thank God.” He chuckled. “What about the guards? Are they okay?” “Pvt. Valker and Sgt. Albert are under containment and being looked over by my men.” Hassel said as he skimmed and checked off any symptoms that hadn’t been noticed. “So zere is no need to vorry about zem. Mein Gott.” Hassel smiled a small smile. “I’m afraid Mr. Convay you’re going to haf to stay under constant surveillance in zee medical vard, for approximately twenty four hours, seeing zat is how long zee common turning period takes.” “Wait, wait.” Johnny grew uneasy. “I thought I wasn’t showing any symptoms, or any permanent damage?” Hassel sighed and stuck the papers back into the drawer. “Mr. Convay, you and zose guards vere exposed to elements vee humans can hardly wrap our great minds around.” Hassel turned to the monitors that held the charts that were recording the equines brain waves right before it tore them out along with destroying the rest of the room. The equine itself shortly after was contained and forcefully thrown back into it’s cage with the others who had woken; the equine didn’t resist. Matter of fact it seemed confused, as if it itself didn’t know what had happened. Hassel pointed to the chart. “Through the entire period I’ve been trying to monitor its brainwaves, and as you can see.” Hassel pointed to a specific spot on the chart. “Right here is a few minutes before you revealed the card trick.” Hassel tapped the screen showing off a calm red line that occasionally bounced up and down. “But here.” His finger slid across the scene towards what looked to a continuous mountain of red lines. “Right ven you revealed zee card; zee equines beta patterns went completely hayvire!” John leaned in closely his face contorting as he tried to wrap his mind around it. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he rose up and snapped his fingers. “So you’re saying the horse is responsible for what happened in there?” He started off confident but ever so slowly faded his response into a question. Hassel nodded his head. “So I believe, whatever happened in there I sink it must of been some sort of chemical reaction. Zose glowing particles we saw forming around zee card, zee table when it was torn to shreds, and ven zee blast hit you. Zose particles share zee same characteristics as zee Sleeper Virus.” At first John looked at the doctor with a confused look, then his face began to sag, his eyes widening as the realization struck him. “Oh... f––uck...” He cradled his head in his hands. “You can’t be serious!” Hassel knelt down in front of him. “Remember John, you aren’t showing any symptoms...” He fell in a momentary silence. “Yet,” he added, “But zat is vhy I vill be hafing some guards watch over you for a day.” These words hardly held any comfort for the poor man. “I knew this was a bad fucking idea!” He grumbled angrily. “Now, now, John,” Hassel spoke like a disapproving mother, “zere is no need to start getting hungofer–” “Why didn’t you open the door?” “Excuse me?” Hassel raised an eyebrow. John had taken his face off his hands and glared the scientist in the eyes. “When shit started hitting the fan in there; why didn’t you open the door?” Hassel stood up and smirked. “Come on Mr. Convay, now is not zee time to start placing zee blame on me.” John rose from his chair. “I and two other soldiers were in danger, pleading for you to let us out. Why didn’t you open the doors?” He took a step forward, Hassel took two back. Hassel rose his hands in defence. “Mr. Convay, vat did you expect me to do? Open zee doors and risk myself getting infected? Maybe even zee entire crew?” John’s brow furrowed. “You were only worrying about yourself weren’t you?” Hassel lowered his hands, his old wrinkled face distorting into anger. “Mr. Convay I had joined zis operation to safe humanity. Not to throw away lives just so zat I vould safe myself. Vat do you take me for?” Hassel approached John his nose coming barely in contact. “If you truly sought your life vas in danger how come you didn’t shoot zat sing ven you had zee chance?!” John stood there in silence, half a minute passed and the two men stood there locked in a staring contest. Finally, John broke eye contact. “I didn’t fire because I panicked and stopped thinking.” “Zat is vat I sought, Mr. Convay, I didn’t open zee doors, not only because it risked zee possibility of infecting everyone on board, but I too did not know vat vas going on. Vat happened in zere happened fast, so fast zat I couldn’t even understand. So please, don’t start pointing fingers.” Hassel turned away from John and stepped towards the door that led back into the laboratory, only to stop at the panel resting on the wall. Pushing the red button just besides the speakers, Hassel leaned forward and spoke, “Mr. Convay is ready.” Within a minute the door that he had entered the laboratory through slid open and three men in hazmat suits, two of which held guns, walked in. Hassel stepped out of their way, the three came up to John and stopped about three feet away from him. “Officer Conway,” The unarmed woman in the center said her voice muffled behind her mask. “If you’d come with us, we’ll get you situated.” Johnny eyed the guns the guards were carrying, a bit a sweat formed on his brow. “When were lab coats allowed to carry firearms?” His voice sounding uneasy. “It’s only a precautionary measure, there is nothing to fear.” The woman said. “Now please follow us.” Johnny gulped and rose up from his seat, giving Hassel one last look. He saw the scientist with an ear to ear smile just before the metal door slid shut. :[-]: Screaming, a constant shrill cry drilled itself into John’s ears; John sat curled in a corner inside a large glass room. His hands cupped over his almost bleeding ears, the blood curdling cry never coming to an end. Despite the inch thick glass between him and the source of the cry, it somehow managed to seep by and pummel itself into his ears! Popping one eye open he could see the man producing such a horrific sound, a large soldier in a hospital gown thrashed violently in his bed, two men in bio protected suits tried to calm the man. Their hands firmly planted on his chest, trying to keep the man from throwing himself off the bed. “Dammit Nancy where those sedatives!” The head doctor looked over his shoulder and called. The door separating the quarantine between the rest of the medbay slid open, in came a woman wearing a blue protected suit; in her hands she carried a metal platter with syringes and vials “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” The crazed man hollowed at the top of his lungs, one of the doctors losing grip on his arm; a fist came crashing into the side of the his head. The doctor stumbled back, his shoulders making contact quite forcefully with the inch thick glass separating Johnny from the fray. “Lt. Bell!” The head doctor clapped his arms onto the lieutenants shoulders and leaned forward. “You’re acting delusional! There are no voices! Don’t listen to them, they aren’t real!” He tried to reason, but to his avail the soldier continued to thrash and cry. “Doctor.” The poor man who had taken a fist to the head stumbled his way back over to the bed. “You’re reasoning with a man who is on the border of insanity.” He firmly grasped the doctor’s shoulder. “The best thing we can do is sedate him and wait for data come in.” “The sedative is ready, sir,” The woman named Nancy said; she had just finished filling the syringe with some clear liquid. The head doctor nodded. “Yes, Nancy.” He looked back to the sobbing patient; the Lt. gnashed his teeth together, his once dark brown skin had turned unnaturally pale, his eyes appeared to be literally bugging out of his head as he jerked his head forward. Johnny watched with sheer horror as the poor marine snapped his teeth towards one of the men’s arms, like he was trying to take a chunk out of him. “I said hold him down!” “I’m trying sir, but he’s too strong!” “Just fucking do it!” With saying that, the head doctor forced one of the delusional marine’s arms flat onto the bed and injected the sedative into it. The soldier released a startled yelp, and suddenly jerk his arm; causing the doctor to step back and the needle to dislodge from his arm. But as time progressed the man’s actions seem to slow to more of a snails pace, in his crazed eyes the men could see the drowsiness begin to kick in. His movements became even more slug like as his limbs fell limp, his breathing settled, and his mad like cries became more like psychotic mumbles, which then settled into a deep sleep. The doctors took a step back from the bed, all three of them sharing concerned looks with each other. “You alright, Greg?” The head doctor asked the boy that took the blow to the head. “My ears are still ringing a little, but I’ll be fine; thanks for asking,” He replied. “How about you Dr. Hartman?” “A little shaken up that’s all...” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to go get something to drink,” Hartman said turning towards the door; he brushed passed the trembling nurse; her eyes fixitated on the unconscious man. “If any of you want to tag along; feel free.” One by one; never taking their eyes off of soldier, the three doctors and one nurse silently left the quarantine room. Johnny (who at this point had covered his ears and clenched his eyes shut) opened his eyes; the screaming had fallen silent. With trembling hands, he took them away from his ears; his body was shaking as if the temperature in the room and just dropped below zero. Turning his body towards the glass barrier that served as his only protection from the crazed man right next door. Johnny released a shaky breath as climbed onto his wobbling legs; the sight that he had just witnessed was something he had never seen before. Nor does he ever want to see it again, what he just saw and heard was something that would make any sane man drive a nail through his heart. But it wasn’t the screaming or the crying of unknown voices that drove Johnny to such an edge. It was the thought of something so small; so small that it’s not even visible to the naked eye, could drive a man to such lengths. It only took one bite and a little bit of tainted air, and here we are now; screaming about invisible voices and acting like rabid animals. Johnny was horrified; he didn’t want to end up like the man on the otherside. He’d rather die than suffer through what the poor man is enduring After seeing what the seemingly harmless pathogen did to you he didn’t even want to step foot outside anymore. No sirree. He’d rather keep his ass glued to his chair and stare at that damned globe for the rest of his miserable life. Then again... what if it isn’t the air; a thought came to John’s mind. Could it just be an infection caused by the bear’s bite? No, no. It couldn’t be. Looking at him he noticed his pale skin. In all his life John had never seen a man or woman that pale, save for the occasional albino or... A darker fear began to etch its way into John’s skin; John shook his head, turning away he planted both his hands on the wall and shifted his weight over to them. “No,” He moaned which sounded more like a whine, “Oh God please don’t let it come to that.” The door behind him opened. “Hello there Mr. Conway,” A muffled almost robotic voice sounded behind him. Johnny turned to face the woman behind him, she was wearing a highly protected chemical suit; looking at him through a large bulky protective visor that made her head considerably larger. Her suit was a bright orange and her gait was more of a waddle as she moved closer to him; a small, pained smile growing with every step. “I’m sorry you had to witness all of that.” She motioned her head towards mentally unstable man who was still mumbling despite being out cold. “My colleagues were not expecting him to break down like this.” She chuckled darkly, but not out of humor. “What do you mean?” Johnny asked, sounding sour. The woman sighed. “Just a few hours ago he was acting cooperative, doing as we asked. Allowing us to take blood samples and redress his wounds, basically like any normal person would” Her face turned grim. “Then all of a sudden he turns pale and begins shouting about these voices. ‘Shut up, shut up’ he shouted.” The doctor’s voice was muffled by the mask, and Johnny found it difficult to make out certain words. The woman waddled over to the small medical cot sitting next to the wall in John’s room within the quarantine bay. “At first I thought Jamison pissed him off or something,” She continued and turned her torso with a crinkle of the suit to glance back at John, he looked puzzled, again her voice making it very difficult to understand, it sorted sounded as if she had a faint English accent. “Huh?... oh. Jamison’s the guy who’s watching over him twenty four seven,” She clarified, despite that not being the reason on why John was confused in the first place. The doctor sat down onto his cot, the mattress giving a squeaky protest as she did so. “Before I continue, I must admit how rude I’ve been to you.” John processed what she had said and cocked an eyebrow, while stepping off from the wall. “Excuse me?” He asked as he moved in front of her. “I haven’t introduced myself.” She stuck out a large, black gloved hand “I’m Doctor Alyssa Joyce, I’ll be checking up on you for here on out.” John eyed the stuck out hand with a frown, looking back up at Alyssa’s smiling face, clearly visible behind the facemask, her eyes motioned for him to shake it. Hesitantly John raised his hand and took it. “Officer Jonathan Conway, pleasure to meet you Alyssa.” Alyssa’s smile turned from “pained” to “pleased”, one that was eerily similar to Hassel’s. “Brilliant. Now then.” She slowly stood up, seeming to have completely forgotten about their previous conversation. “ Would you mind taking a seat Mr. Conway?” She waved a bubbly, orange suited arm towards the cot. Johnny obliged. “Do you mind if I ask why?” He asked, his eyes flickering back towards the sedated man laying on the other side of the windowpane. The fear for what may have infected the poor sod across from him crept back into his chest, making his blood run cold. John’s arms were assaulted by goosebumps. “It’s all part of the procedure Mr. Con–Is everything alright?” Alyssa asked, she was leaning forward in front of him, seemingly concerned. “You seem a little pale Mr. Conway. Are you feeling nauseous?” She tilted her head slightly, inspecting him. The suit bobbed along. “N-no.” John looked the woman in the eyes. “Why do you ask?” Her arm went back as if she was reaching for something, “Just part of protocol that is all–” Her arm stop and she frowned. “Ah, bugger all,” Alyssa groaned, her arm falling back to her side. “I knew I forgot something.” She smiled. “Give me a minute Mr. Conway I’ll be right back,” She said turning towards the door and heading out. Johnny’s eyes flashed towards unconscious man again, despite being separated from the crazed man he couldn’t help but feel terribly frightened. “Wh-where are you going?” “No need to worry dear,” the doctor snickered. “I only left a few things back in my office, I’ll just be on the other side of the door.” “Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately, I repeat: All available units report to the armory immediately! This is not a drill!” Three loud, muffled bumps followed by a wailing alarm echoed throughout the ship, causing Alyssa to paused at the door and gaze upwards toward the source of the bumps. “What in God’s name could this be?” John mumbled through the wail of the alarm. “Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately!” The intercom buzzed louder than the alarms. “I Repeat! Attention Security Status 2! All available units are to report to the armory immediately!” Just outside the door John could hear the pounding of thundering boots as men and women all over Horizon hurried towards the armory to gather their gear and report to their defensive positions “Whatever it is,” Alyssa said, her voice barely even a whisper, “I think we’re in trouble.”