This should be a great day for me; it is what I've worked for 20 years to do, it should be great, but it is not.
"Eden one and two, and Alexandra one and two, have landed on Mars with no trouble sir."
Cheers rang out in the room as the men and women of mission control got out of their seats to to congratulate each other. I left the room. I should be happy, this is the first real step the colonizing Mars, my dream, but it has turned in to a nightmare.
"Still worried about getting the Arc ship done in time. Ace?"
I turned around to see a young man with short brown hair and a cold but comforting stare.
"That is Director Freeman to you Sanguis, we are still at work you know, and of course worried! Every day Equestria grows larger, soon it will consume the whole earth. If the Arc is not finished soon, the human race will be gone."
"Well except for the ones that went through the Bureau."
"Nigel, you know what I think about the Conversion Bureau! No mater who they were before, they're philosophical zombies now, not humans."
"Ok, it was a joke, Asa."
"No it's not." I mumbled.
"What?"
"Never mind. I'm going to see how our soon to be Martians are doing."
"Well see you later then."
"Bye."
I started off to 'Dome One', where the colonist where preparing for life on Mars; of course they did not know that when they signed up. The government told them they where going to live in new domed city; a half truth I guess. It is a necessary lie, or half lie. Not only the would the news of what we are doing here would send the populace into a panic but also because it would bring Equestria and it's nut case supporters down on us. Most of the common people don't even know about the Ares project, the few who do think it got shelved decades ago; which is not far from the truth. Until recently we had worked under the radar and horribly under funded. In over twenty years the most we accomplish was a few key prototypes and the orbital dry dock, and most of the dock was made from parts of old space station already in orbit. Everything changed with the rise of Equestria. Suddenly the World Government was really interested in our work and was dumping truck fulls of funding and manpower into Ares. Now, months later, thanks to the new jump drives and funding the first part of our mission is done. I should be happy, but all I can do is worry.
"Are you alright sir?"
I looked up, stopping just moments before a potential collision with the guard.
"Just thinking to myself." I said with a smile "How are you doing, good sir?"
"Good, just need to see your I.D."
I gave him my I.D. and he swiped it through the door lock unlocking the door.
"All set sir, have a good day."
"You too." I told him as I enter.
I walked to the farm biome where the colonist were learning to grow real food. As I walked in they were picking apples, probably the first real apples in over fifty years.
"OK, guys you can eat some of your apples but remember to put the cores in the seed extractor." said Dr. Ren, our head of nourishment.
"Hey Dr. Rem, throw me an apple!" I yelled jokingly.
He ran over to me in a panic grabbing an apple on the way.
"Director! I did not expect you today, anything you need?" he said as he nervously handed me the apple.
"Everything is fine, just want to see how everyone is doing."
"Everyone's good. How did the Alexandra and Eden landings go?"
"Very well! Alexandra and its record of human knowledge and history is safely on Mars, and the Eden drones will have the site ready for our use in three months. All that's left is the Arc ship."
"About that sir. We may be delayed for a week or so."
"What!? Why?!"
"P.E.R. attached our suppliers, something about food processors holding us back from the glories of Ponydom."
"God Damn P.E.R.! The last thing we need is more delays!"
"Sir?"
"I'm OK, just ... go back to work."
He left as I walked over to the door. I bit into the apple as I looked at the Ares mission logo.
OK, so this is my main story now... I may need a proofreader, any one like to help? p.s. come on 2.5/5 at least give me a 3 or 3.5, please, it is not like I'm asking for a 5 or anything.
edit: comment please. I need and like feedback. thank you.
Thank you for reading,
Sir Aroun --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Our new home."
I stared at the the screen, looking at the Ares landing site. In the last three months the Eden drones had not only finished the landing site, but were already building expansions to it and the Arc ship shell was done as well. Things where not prefect, PER's terrorism attacks where continually delaying the project and more importantly putting Ares at risk of being discovered. With the labor, supplies, over 60,000 crew members, and a orbiting spaceship the size of New York City, it was a wonder we had not already be found out.
"Director, the CEO of World-Corp. is on the line."
My hands balled into fists and take a deep breath. Not him again.
"Patch it through to my office." I said as I walked over to my door.
I went in and locked the door. Siting down at my desk I turned on the video-phone.
"What is taking so long Freemen!"
"Good morning to you too, sir."
"Don't give me that! Why is this Arc ship of yours taking so long to build?"
"Sir, we are going as fast as we can. It is hard enough to build a ship this size in secret but with the PRE attacks it has become even harder."
"Thats not good enough! Equestria knows about the ship, they called earlier today to ask what it was and what we planed to do with it. If you can't get it done soon, maybe we need to replace you."
Calm, Asa, be calm.
"You and me both know that is an empty threat. At this point there is no one who can run this mission or the colony but me. As far as Equestria goes, we knew they would find out eventually and with only six to eight months till the ship is done it may be time. That is really up to you, sir."
There was a long silents as my boss stared at me angrily.
"I hate it when you're right. I'll talk to the board tomorrow, but remember Freeman, whatever happens is on your head."
The screen went black and I let out a large sigh.
"I hate that man, I really do."
I checked the room for bugs. Not that there would be any, I checked for bugs everyday. Feeling safe, I unlocked the drawer and removed the papers in it. I then, using the ink cartage from my pen I pushed up the false bottom, inside was old black journal. I pulling it out with great care I began to read it.
"Enlighten Man, Enlighten Society By G. Lee Freeman"
"Balance. Balance is the key to a healthy life and a healthy society. Society needs liberty to allow all to reach their potential, but it also needs equality so the strong do not abuse the weak. Likewise the individual needs to assert him or herself while always keeping in mind what is best for all concerned."
My grandfather was a great man. His little book is keeps me going, it shows me how great freedom and humanity can be and why I should be willing to fight for it.
Next Day... ________________________________________________________________________________________________
As I walked into the lab I was greeted by a man in a gray suit with short white hair and beard.
"Doctor Freeman I assume?" the man greeted me.
"Director Freeman, and you?"
"Dr. Breen."
"Doctor?"
"Law."
"Ah, and what can I do for you Dr. Breen?"
"Our benefactors sent me. They wish me to inform you that a diplomat from Equestria is coming this afternoon and will be staying with our team for a few days."
He walks up to me and looks me straight in the eye.
"I think it goes without saying that you will treat her like a guest, but don't tell her anything that may come back to bite us. clear?
The purple pony seemed confused when I met her at the small, desert bus stop. It was not surprising as the based was over ten miles off the road from the stop and there really was not much else around.
"Are you Miss Sparkle?" I asked
"I am Director Freeman. I'm here to take you to our base." I motioned to my vehicle.
"Thank you director, I hope you don't mind but I brought some things with me."
I looked at the bags, they seamed to be full of quills, parchment, and books.
"Not at all Miss Sparkle. Please don't take any notes without asking though."
I took her bags and we drove to the main base. As we passed the warehouses, labs, and launch sites she stared in awe. When we had gotten to the main base she turned and asked me.
As a teacher said her students "If you don't say anything, how can I tell if I'm doing my job right?" Please comment.
Thank you,
Sir Aroun ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Take Miss Sparkle's things to her room please" I said to one of the men by the door.
"Yes sir."
I turned to Twilight and handed her a key card on a string.
"You will need this."
She looked at the card then back at me.
"What is it?"
I swiped my card through the lock.
"It is a public pass, it will get you into, and only into, public areas of the base."
"O" she said as her stomach started to growl.
She stopped, putting a hoof to her stomach. I don't know why but I let out a little laugh.
"So you grow these your selves? I did not think that your world could still support crops."
We sat down at a table in the mess hall and begun eating.
"They grow them in Dome One, I'll show you tomorrow."
I had never spent much time around ponies. O sure, I had read up on them, seen them on television, and even briefly talked to a few in town, but I never spent much time with them; partiality because I'm very busy but mostly because most ponies where so insufferably happy that I felt like they where going to kill me in my sleep or worse. Twilight was different, she was professional, calm, and sane. Strip away the context, and she was cute, a toy like cute mind you, but also respectable.
"What did you mean when you said that you do all this so you can live?"
I put down my fork and looked at the puzzled unicorn.
"Just what I said. We work so that my people may live through the death of our world."
"Why not just become ponies? Would it not be better than colonizing a far off and lifeless world?"
I stood up and walked to the window.
"When I say 'my people' I mean humanity. When I say 'live' I mean as something more than mere echoes."
"Echoes?"
I turn stared straight at her.
"What dose it mean to be human, Miss Sparkle?"
"Human? um... um... It means to be a species of fur-less, intelligent, primates?" she said nervously reaching for the ground as if looking for a book.
"A simple way of looking at it, but wholly correct. "
I opened my arms and looked to the sky.
"Being human is more than that."
I looked back at her.
"Humanity is our cultures, our views of the world, our tastes, our feelings, ... it is the fact we treasure what we learn from sadness and tragedy as much as from happiness and good fortune, and it is the struggle to do what's right when ill is so easy. When a human becomes a pony they lose most of these things and all that is left it a shard of personalty and some memories -- in other words, an echo of the human they once where."
"But... in a way isn't that a good thing? Your human society is violet and intolerant..."
I suddenly started to laugh, it was as if something in me had just snapped.
"Intolerant? Intolerant!? Now isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black. We humans may have problems with tolerance from time to time but let me tell you what true intolerance is."
I walked up to her and looked her in the eye.
"True Intolerance is the the disenfranchising of the my whole race and forced destruction of every culture but yours! That is intolerance!"
I took a deep breath and calmed down. I felt embarrassed as I looked upon her estranged and almost frighten face. I sat down.
"Sorry about that, Miss Sparkle."
We finished our meals and I took her to her room. Once I finished with the last of my work, I pulled out my grandfather's book and read it until was time to sleep. _________________________________________________________________________________________________
I walked through the labs to the dorms, sipping my tea. The morning news told of new fights between the HLF and PER in the main cites. It seemed as if the whole world was going mad.
"Good morning, Director." said one of the scientist as he waved to me.
"Good morning to you too. Please be ready for the tour today."
"Tour?"
"For our foreign guest."
"Yes, sir." and he left.
I walked on to Twilight's room and knocked on her door.
"Good morning, Miss Sparkle. Are you ready for the tour?"
The door opened and a fully prepared and ... excited Twilight popped out.
"Yes, Mr. Freeman. Let's go." she said in a happy, almost singing tone.
"Um... yes, let's" I said as I started walking her to the labs.
I scratched my head as she started to hum.
"Miss. Sparkle?"
"Yes, Mr. Freeman?"
"Sorry about last night."
"Don't be Mr. Freeman. In fact I would like to hear more."
I'm sorry for the wait but with Collage and a new Exalted (the game) project to work on I've had no time to write. Some good news, I have a new co-writer, Sixpence, and together we will hopefully make faster and better chapters. I like to also give a big thanks to McBobbish and DaBunnanaKing for commenting on every chapter. Thank you, it means a lot to me. Also this story is now longer then "The Weirdest Reincarnation". :)
Edit: Freeman's best friends last name has been changed to Sanguis to avoid angering the flying monkey army.
Thank you for reading,
Sir Aroun and Sixpence
p.s. video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IvPIWzQcUY (you will under stand why this is here after reading the chapter) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "What is that?" said twilight looking at the large contraption.
"It is a photon-reaction, gravity drive." I told her with much pride.
We had just entered the propulsion lab and where looking at the prototype for the Arc's engine beyond the blast window.
"A what?" Twilight asked.
"It's what lets our ships take the normally two year trip to mars in just under six months."
"Really? How does it work?" she asked, looking at me with a bright eyed expression.
"Sorry, It is a secret."
"Oh, okay." said Twilight sadly.
I looked at the sad pony, trying to think of what to do.
I snapped my fingers. "Dr. Zim, do a test fire of the drive."
"With... her here, sir?" said Dr. Zim.
"I don't think it will hurt anything." I said laughing.
"Okay, sir, you're the boss."
Dr. Zim walked over to the control panel and prepared the engine for test fire.
"Beginning test fire of the Mark III Jump Drive."
He swiped his card key and pressed his thumb against the scanner.
"Mark lll activating test mode." said the computer.
The engine started to whir. Slowly yet surely, multicolored lights began to flare up all over it, shining all across the room. The engine began to twirl like a top, creating a magnificent spectacle of light and motion.
"Amazing." said Twilight entranced by the lights
Then the engine went off suddenly. Along with the rest of the power.
"What happened?" I turned to Dr. Zim, who appeared just as clueless as I was to the cause.
Then, quick as it happened, the power went back up. The engine was off due to it's fail-safes automatically shutting it down if there was an error.
Dr. Zim gave the room a look. "Don't we have generators for this sort of thing? A power outage out here... Ah. That explains it." He said giving the door a look.
I turned to it to see my co-worker Dr. Nigel Sanguis, trying to sneak out the door.
That would be the cause, wouldn't it?
"Sanguis!" I shouted.
He leapt with an yelp before giving a sigh of relief. "Oh. It's just you Ace."
"That's Director Freeman to you. What happened here?"
He looked shiftily at the occupants of the room, before giving a nervous chuckle.
"Well, you see... I was hungry, so I decided to unplug something in order to plug in the microwave." He said with a smile.
I gave him a look. "I see. And this somehow shorted out the whole place? And shut down the engine despite being directly connected to the power source?"
He paused before saying one word. "Yes."
I gave him another look before giving a sigh. "We'll talk about this later. Right now we have guests. Dr. Sanguis, this is Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh. Hello." He said giving the purple unicorn a glance. "By the way, Dr. Zim, if theoretically one was using a heavily modified robotic construction suit, and wanted it to be capable of flight, what would he need to do to it?"
Dr. Zim gave him a look as well, but I saved him the trouble of having to answer.
"No Dr. Sanguis, you are not allowed to use our resources here to build a super robot, regardless of how awesome you say it will be. We have a deadline here."
He looked downtrodden at that, but immediately brightened up. "Ok, sure. Not allowed to build a super robot with the resources here. Got it." And with that, he rushed out the door giggling to himself incessantly. I would have to talk to him later.
"Sorry about that. Dr. Sanguis is a bit... exuberant with his... hobbies."
As we walked around Dome One enjoying some apple we had procured from the trees, Twilight brought up the matter from last night.
"We are not trying to destroy your cultures. We are not making people to become ponies, it is a free choice." said Twilight nervously
I walked over to table were some water glasses had be left by the workers. I picked up one in each hand and lifted them up to Twilight.
"Lets say that this cup had a, um... humanization potion."
I raised up one of the glass.
"And this one had a deadly poison, that WOULD kill you, and was very slow and painful."
I raised up the other glass.
She looked at me strangely, as if try to figure out where I was going with this.
"Now if told you that you had to choose one and drink it, would that really be a free choice?"
She sat down rubbing her hoof on her neck, then her forehead.
"No...?" She said weakly
She shot up and turned to me.
"But that is not what we are doing! We are not making anyone commit suicide!" Twilight said with a rare ferocity.
I was taking a back for a few moments, but then continued with a calm tone.
"Isn't Twilight? The expansion of your world is like a poison. It will kill any human in its path and one day we will find our selfs without an ground to stand on and die out."
She opened her mouth to speak but said nothing a quickly closed it.
"I'm not accusing your people of anything, I'm just saying that is not a free choice." I said as nicely as I could.
I look upon her sad face
"I want you to see something."
I walked to my office, she followed with confused curiosity. After closed and locked the door I turned back to the still confused.
"Now before I show you it to you can you promise not to tell anyone or anypony." I said
"Sure." said Twilight
"Really?" I asked giving her the look
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." said Twilight
"Huh?" I said confused
"Its call a Pinkie promise, and trust me do do not break Pinkie promise." she said with much confidences
"That will do, I guess?"
I opened my video screen and played a video labeled 'The Great Dictator Speech'.
"This is an old video done by a man name Charlie Chaplin. My grandfather used to show this to my all the time when I was young." I said as the video stared to play.
...
"I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.
We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful.
But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die liberty will never perish…
Soldiers – don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you – who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate – only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers – don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written ” the kingdom of God is within man ” – not one man, nor a group of men – but in all men – in you, the people.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers – in the name of democracy, let us all unite!”
"Thanks for showing me that and thank you for the book." Twilight said say putting the old copy of 'What the Buddha Taught' into her bag.
"Welcome, I think you will like that book. Have you read much human philosophy?" I said as we walked down the hall.
"None, just history and biology."
I stopped and looked at her.
"Just history and biology?" I asked surprised
"Yes?" Twilight asked confused.
"Well that would explain a lot." I said starting to walk again.
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"History focuses on big events like wars and calamities; biology only talks about the flesh, based only on these it be easy to misjudge us." I stated
"That is not all I base my views on." said Twilight "I also base it on what I've seen coming here"
"That is even worses!" I exclaimed. "The world is essentially a barren destitute shadow of its former self. The world is run by an oppressive corporation, many of our natural recourses have vanished, and most of our food is gone, and replaced with syntho-food, and outside of this facility everyone is being watched Twenty-Four seven!"
She blinked twice. "Well. That seems... Bad."
There was an awkward silence after my outburst.
"Well," She quickly changed the subject. "About that friend of yours. Dr. Sanguis. Why did he call you Ace?"
"He's not supposed to." I replied. "But he is my best friend, so that gives him certain liberties. Speaking of which, I should probably go see what he's doing. Would you mind joining me?"
"I would love to." She answered, and so we headed to my best friends lab.
The door to the lab was an odd one to say the least. It was covered in stickers and odd drawings of Mars with crayons. Written in small space in the center in gold cursive script was
Dr. Sanguis Lab
Please, Do Come In
I took the writing up on its invitation and opened the door. Inside was a sight to behold.
All around the room were tomato vines growing everywhere. The plant was nearly extinct, but you wouldn't realize it seeing this genetically modified variant growing on lab equipment, all over the floor, and even hanging from the ceiling. At the back of the room, there was a depression filled with water, creating an artificial pond, though puddle would be a more correct word. There were drawings and plans littering the floor, and a few supplies, including crayons and pencils.
At the far left of the room, there was a train car with tomato vines growing up that as well. One could see a bed and a computer monitor through the window, and right of the room, there was an old decrepit robotic construction suit with a ladder on the side. That was Sanguis' "Desk" For lack of a better word. Even this had vines growing on it. Dr. Sanguis himself was on top of it typing away on a laptop like lightning, oblivious to the world.
Though not for long.
"Dr. Sanguis!" I shouted over to him. He yelped and almost fell off the machine before looking around and spotting us, and he gave us a wave.
"Hello Ace!" He quickly folded up his laptop and climbed down the ladder before skipping over to us, careful not to step on any vines.
"Dire- You know what? Fine. We're are not on duty anyway, Nigel."
"Anyway, Ace, I had a great idea. We could put trains on Mars. Now i know what you are thinking but hear me out..." He then proceeded to talk for about a minute straight about the topic before noticing we were not the only two people in the room.
"Oh, hello. Would you like a tomato?"
This would have broken Twilight out of her stupor, but as if she was used to him and his antics, she politely nodded, and with a smile he rushed off to grab a few tomatoes from a vine.
"It's almost like you are used to him." I whispered to her.
"I have a friend named Pinkie Pie. He reminds me of her." She whispered back.
I opened my mouth to inquire about her friend, but quick as a flash he was back with three tomatoes. He tossed one to me, one to Twilight (who caught it with magic), and took a bite out of the third as if it were an apple.
"Thank you for the tomato, but I really should be going back to my room." Said Twilight almost apologetically.
"Oh, that's fine." He said, before taking another bite out of the tomato.
"It was nice speaking with you both. Goodbye." She said with a smile before heading through the door.
"Those ponies have awfully large eyes." He said before looking around for another tomato, having polished off his first one quickly. "I feel oddly compelled to poke them."
"Don't be so mean Nigel. Anyway, in a few months, we won't see them anymore." I said taking a bite out of my own tomato.
Sorry for the lateness but our school work and other project has fill up most of our time. with school out for me and soon out for my co-writer we will have more chapters for you soon. Also as a note: this is a short story, not a novel, so there will be about 4 more chapters till the end then I will start rewriting the earlier chapters. As always, please comment.
Thank you for reading,
Sir Aroun and Sixpence ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I finished by tomato, I turned my attention back to my friend and co-worker, Nigel, who was now juggling tomatoes for some reason. Juggling them very badly. I gave a throat clearing cough to get his attention which somehow surprised him and caused him to drop the remaining tomatoes.
"When did you get here?" He said. I was about to give a sarcastic response when I paused at a horrible realization: He was serious.
"I have... We were just... You know what? Never mind. So, tell me, how are the Land Cutters going."
"Oh, great! They're at full cutty-ness."
"That isn't a word."
"It should be."
Land Cutters were part of our plan to terraform Mars. High powered lasers capable of slicing through diamond like wet paper, they are to be used to slice through the land to reach the inner core to help create an atmosphere. Of course we need to add some other gases to the mix to make it livable but still. The cutters are also very dangerous as Nigel demonstrated a week ago, trying to cook a hot dog near them is not recommended in the least.
"Oh, before I forget, how many moons did you need again?" he said suddenly.
"Just one. It needs to be large enough to keep the magnetic field stable, but nothing you cannot handle, right?"
"Of course no-"
And then the facility rocked and the lights flickered off, plunging us into total darkness.
I wasted no time.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I shouted at Nigel
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" he shouted back. "At least... not recently..."
I opened my mouth to reply when i was interrupted by a loud screeching noise. The Alarm. Red lights flickered on everywhere as the emergency generator kicked in, and a simulated voice over the intercom spoke:
"It appears that we are under assault. Please calmly and carefully make your way to the nearest exit. The local authorities have been informed, and will be on our the way soon." It continued to repeat this message, over and over.
"Couldn't that have been a bit more alerting?" I said as my co-worker walked over to an unusually large pile of vines. "Probably." He replied even has he pulled out a large black gun with yellow stripes on it.
A World Corp heavy industrial Stun Shotgun with a retractable Zap Bayonet. A heavily custom one at that.
"Shouldn't we be running?" I said to him.
"Eyup." He said as he put on a blast proof vest.
"As in, not going into the horrible combat situation that is sure to follow?"
"Mhmm." He said as he put on rubber gloves and a face plate mask.
"Still have that crossbow you were holding onto for me?"
As much of a horrible idea fighting our way out was, this facility wasn't made to withstand assault. It was made with a horribly designed single exit single entrance format, and that was only rarely used as we were supposed to live on the area. Meaning that if we were under assault, it was from that way.
"So, who do you think is attacking us?" I said to Nigel.
"Dunno." He replied.
"Do you think it's PER?" I asked him.
"What? No. Of course not. How would they even learn about this pla-"
The Intercom chose that moment to speak up again.
"Ponyfication Gas detected in Dome One. Enemies identified as the radical group "Ponyfication for Earths Rebirth". Dispersing gas neutralizers. Activating Automatic Turrets and other defense systems. All unidentified personal will be fired upon. Have a nice day."
"...Well, the computer might be wrong." He murmured. I on the other hand was on a different tangent.
"Have a nice day? Have a nice day?! How... you... We're... Oh well. We'll be fine as long as we have our ID Car-"
Then my mind flashed to a certain purple pony.
"Oh shit." Was all I could say. I whipped over to my co worker. "Dr. Sangui-" I started, only to find that he wasn't there, having already run off. I was on my own. With a crossbow that Nigel modified into being a rapid fire electric pain machine. I stared at it weirdly, before taking a test shot at a wall.
A glowing white bolt of energy fired off at the wall leaving a scorch mark. And more amazingly, it didn't shock me.
"This will do." Was what i said before rushing off to find Twilight. _______________________________________________________________________________________
Nigel is crazy somethings. After hitting one of the attackers with my shock bolts I grabbed the enemies radio. He was singing creepy nursery rhymes over the radio while PER members shouted for their comrades to respond. I did not have time for Nigel's craziness right now.
If Twilight Sparkle doesn't have her I.D. with her, hell, even if she does, the turrets might just shoot her on sight! The I.D. I gave her was just a visitor I.D. and therefor would not be on the defense's I.D. log. I dashed from room to room shouting for her, but to no avail.
"There's one!" i heard someone say, and turned to see two rifle toting PER members rounding the corner. I readied my crossbow... But to no target. The turrets had already rounded on them and fired, causing them to burst open in an explosion of horrid blue light, and the remaining pieces resembling black putty lit by an ominous blue flame.
What if Twilight had already been reduced to the black mess I see on the ground? I thought in horror, but shook my head. She would be fine. I dashed past the "bodies" down the hall, and took a left and a right, stopping as I bumped into someone. I quickly pulled up my crossbow and aimed, as the other man spoke. "Don't shoot! I surrender, I surrender!"
I blinked in surprise at the cowering form of Dr. Zim.
"Dr. Zim?" I said in surprise.
He opened his eyes with a similarly surprised look. "Dr. Freeman? What are you doing here? And with that thing?"
"Looking for our guest. She doesn't have an Official ID card and the turrets are active. And this is a crossbow. I am a medieval enthusiast, and this was a lot better than a sword."
"But, wouldn't a gun be much better in this scenario?"
"This one was also modified by Dr. Sanguis to be combat capable."
"Ah." Was all he said to that, but his actions of taking a long step back from it spoke volumes. "I am afraid I cannot help you with your... choice of weaponry, but I last saw Ms. Sparkle heading towards the library. I would advise taking cover however. The last PER Agent was moving this way in a hurry."
"I do understand that, but I still have to save her; just get to the security room, you'll be safe there."
I ran off to the library, dodging or shooting any PER members in my way. I really feel that it was my responsibly to make sure that Twilight was safe not just because she was the representative for Equestria but also because she was the first pony I had ever been able to really talk to.
Run passed another recently incinerated PER member, I entered the library to find Twilight curled up in a ball with a copy of a book called "So the Building is Trying to Kill You? By: Nigel Sanguis". When she saw me she jumped up and ran over to me limping strangely.
"Mr. Freeman, I'm so glad you are here! I tried to leave and one of those turret things nearly shot me leg off."
I noticed the burn mark on her hind leg
"It is going to be ok" I said patting her head.
I then ran to a locked bookcase, and opening it up, pulled a book called "Emergency Manual" casing A small terminal to pop out from the wall.
"Whats that?" She asked as she limped over.
"Its a Admin terminal. It can turns off the security on the path to the head security office." I said as I pressed the touchscreen on it. The touchscreen instantly changed to insert password. I entered "STONER SUNSHINE" as fast as i possibly could, and heard a clicking noise, then a buzzing. I then shut down the security on the path to the offices, and closed the terminal re-locking everything as it had been before.
I beckoned for Twilight to follow me as we rushed down the hall, as fast as her wounded leg could carry her. I ran ahead to scout, when the sound of an explosion stopped me.
I looked down, and saw blood coming out of my thigh, along with a hole in it. I looked up at the Per soldier who shot me, just in time to see Nigel materialize into existence and knock him down the hall with a shot from his gun.
"Hm, missed one." He said as he turned to me. "You okay Ace? Ace?"
Thank you for waiting it has be a busy summer. Please comment.
Thank you for reading, Sir Aroun and Sixpence
Edit: Some parts of this Chapter have change! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I floated in a void above a red sphere as it turned to green and blue with gray streaks. I stared in wonder, then in horror, as the sphere was swallow by the Sun. Then I felt a blinding pain. Looking down I saw a large horn piercing me heart. I turned around to see a shadowy man with a gun. A bullet shot through the back of my skull and exploded out of it, splattering my brain against the void.
I open my eyes to blinding light and steady beeping.
"Good Morning."
"Nigel?"
"Eyup."
"What is going on?"
I looked around what appeared to be a room in our medical wing.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Politics, science to be done, we have announced our top secret project to the general populace, the tomatoes are in bloom-"
"You Revealed Operation Ares' Kingdom?!" I yelled, jumping up in my bed before the pain made be lay back down.
"Oh, it isn't that big of a deal. I mean, sure the press is trying to get in our door at this very moment, but look on the bright side: We can order pizza from off the base now! Sure its terrible syntho-pizza but..."
"What of the Arc ship? The Spacejets? The Domes? HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN OUT?!"
"The Arc Ship is ahead of schedule, the Spacejets are done, and the Domes are a bit behind schedule. Oh, and about two weeks. I've never seen someone be unconscious that long from a bullet, shock, and a concussion. Congrats."
"TWO WEEKS! When did you announced the project?!"
"Eh, shortly after the attack got leaked to the media, so like three and a half weeks ago."
I just stared in horror. What was going on out there? Fire? Panic? No I needed to calm down
"How has everyone reacted to the news?"
"Well, let me put it this way: Before the media showed up, it was protesters and the panicked."
"and now?"
"Well, now its the Press and the protesters."
"Protesters? HLF or PER?"
"Both, actually. Its not a good day for us."
"What's their reasons?"
"Well, the HLF wants us to use this as a type of war machine and bombard the ponies with death from above, or at least make it open to every single living human. PER just doesn't want us using it to ship humans off to Mars. They also hate each-others guts and the security team regularly has to patrol outside to stop them from shooting at each-other. Though that would solve most of our problems."
"They're outside!"
"Yes, they as a matter of fact are. They even have tents set up, and people are afraid if we try and make them leave they'll start shooting. Which they probably will."
"And the Media?"
"They are interviewing, or trying to interview everyone. They also have news tents set up. We would try and make them leave, except that both HLF and PER loves the publicity. I guess that is how the news of the attack got of to begin with"
"Would the word 'besieged' be appropriate for our situation now?
"That will do."
I sighed.
"Have they stared the lottery for the spacejets?"
"No. It's been publicly announced that there will be one however-"
Just then a nurse entered the room.
"Time for you medicine Dr. Freeman."
The nurse walk over to me caring a siring of yellow fluid. The weird thing was that I had never seen her before, and I knew every one here.
"Excuse me ma'am but who are you? I've never seen you before."
"Oh, I just started working here a little while ago." She said with a smile.
"Oh, thats strange." Said Nigel with an equally large smile. I saw his hand reaching for a lamp subtly. "We stopped hiring new employees about a month after the project started."
Her smile wavered slightly. "Well, they opened it up to replace employees they lost in the attack by PER."
"Thats stranger. We never announced exactly who attacked us." They both stopped smiling.
For a moment, every thing was a blur of motion, and I found myself on the ground. I heard the sound of something colliding and something breaking, and things were silent for a moment. Then Nigel looked over the side of the bedpan. "We should probably get you out of the hospital wing."
He helped me up. and i saw what had happened. The nurse was on the ground, a bloody lamp next to her. The syringe she was holding had broken on the floor, the yellow liquid had flown out of it.
"What just happened you mad man?"
"We haven't hired new employees since this project started, she knew information she shouldn't know, and was about to inject you with a strange liquid. So i threw you off the bed and hit her in the head with a lamp. Do you see a phone? I need to call security."
"Over there." I pointed to the red wall phone "and I'm asking why you throw me off the bed on right next to the poison."
"Because she wouldn't be expecting it and the poison hadn't hit the floor yet. So yeah. Besides, for all you know it might just be some other yellow liquid. Either way, you lived, and better safe than sorry."
I stared at him. "Of course it was not poison, she just trying to inject me with yellow food coloring." I said sarcastically.
"Well, I hit her with a lamp, so the point is moot." He said as he helped me up slowly. "Now come on. Lets get you to a slightly less dangerous place."
Moving through the halls, we took a familiar route to Dr. Zims office. "Nobody would expect to find you there." Was Nigel's reasoning. Just as we turned a corner, we saw movement. There, standing in the hallway, was the Mega-Fox News Team.
"O God." I said putting my hand over may face"
"Ah, Director Freeman. We were looking for you." said the interviewer. "Would you like to share a few words with us?"
"No. He would not." Said Nigel as he attempted to get around them.
"I'm sorry, but nobody asked you Mr-"
"Assistant Director Sanguis, thank you very much."
"Ah, well we would also like to speak with you."
I could practically smell Nigel's irritation.
"How did you even get in here?" He said with a roll of his eyes.
"That is irrelevant. Would you like to give us a few words on your inventions? Your previous military career? Your actions in project Ares?"
"Security!" I yelled.
It took about ten seconds for the security team to arrive, and escort the Mega-Fox interviewees off the the area, them shouting questions at us the whole time.
"Annoying little..." I heard our co-worker mutter. "I swear, the holes in our security have gotten bigger since the whole disaster. The science teams call it the Deluge."
"Get me to my room, there is work to be done." I said
"Forgive me my hesitance, but you just got out of the hospital. I really don't think you should be working."
"No, with things as they are it is vitally important that we reestablish order and get things going as fast as we can."
"Alright, if you insist..." I could tell it was mock opposition. he wanted things to be set right as much as i did.
We went to me room where got out me work clothes, lab-coat, and a walking stick.
"Get the team together, I want to talk to them and set up some new equipment" I said as I got dressed.
He got started on just that without a word. There was nothing to be said.
After he made the calls we headed to the main auditorium.
"So what is to be our fate now, old friend?"
"Don't be so dramatic. Lets just get things under control, then think about the future eh?
I let out a little chuckle and smiled.
The crowd of scientists had already gathered when we arrived. Nigel stood aside while I took the stage hobbling with me walking stick. I could here them whisper as got ready to speak.
"Men and Women of Operation Ares!" I started. The crowd went dead silent, and all eyes were on me. I took a deep breath before continuing. "Thank you for seeing me today on such short notice. As you know, things have been a bit hectic in my absence, to understate it a bit. Unfortunately, it appears that things shall only go down from here. Today, a lady tried to inject me with poison, stopped only by the quick thinking of Assistant Director Sanguis. Those outside would stop us from completing our goal, to twist our hard 20 years of work into something vile, a weapon, or just end it period. We cannot let this happen! We have worked to hard on this to have it end here. We have suffered much hardship, went through many setbacks, but here we are against all odds, about to make it happen. "
I take a deep breath and signal a camera man in the back.
"This next part is for the people of the world."
I turned to look at the camera
"The Ares project is not a weapon to be twisted to violence, nor will we be bullied by PER and Terrorist supporters. We will not break; We not fold; for If humanity is to survive We Must Succeed! and We Will Succeed!" I throw my fist into air.
The crowd roared in excitement as i signaled to Nigel to cut the camera.
I was hurting badly but I was glad, even if barely stand.
"How long until you can have that on the air?" I said weakly to Nigel hobbling over to him.
"Tomorrow." He said putting my arm over his shoulder.
"Good. By the way, Have they named the Arc-ship?"
"Actually yes, Dr. Zim named it."
"Really? What did he call it?"
"The UNS Everfree."
I smiled a little as Nigel helped me back to the medical wing.
2053 A.D. - Oil production falls dramatically, The resource wars begin.
2060 A.D. - Dr. Hannah Powal discovers a new type of allege deep in South America when studying local river life. She names the new plant Dragon Fire do to its combustible nature and the fact that it burned green.
2061 A.D. - Dr. Powal discoverers that "Dragon Fire" not only made a great and easily grow-able fuel but could be use to make numinouses artificial materials and even food.
2063 A.D. - The Green Dragon Corp. opens for business providing a number of cheep oil alternatives and food packets. Soon Green Dragon becomes the biggest and most powerful company in the world.
2065 A.D. - Tired of the resource wars and with heavy pressure from Green Dragon, the nations of the world form the United Nations of Earth (or World Gov.) and Green Dragon become the global state own company World Corp.
2067 - 3005 A.D - Humanity enters its golden age. Hunger, sickness, and homelessness become almost nonexistent in may parts of the world. Huge and bright new super cities are made and attempts to fix the environmental disasters of the past begin as well as make Dragon Fuel cleaner it self. Humanity begins to expansed in the a new era of science and technology, founding the first moon colonies, developing nano-engineering, advance robotics, and lastly genetic engineering. The first version of Operation Ares' Kingdom is drafted.
3006 A.D - Dr. Powal dies. Protect "horn o plenty" ends in disaster known as "Last Harvest" where most of the worlds crops (except Dragon Fire)become sterile and uneatable.
3006 - 3009 A.D. - "The Decay" begins with hunger revolts, civil war and the overall decay of the super cites . The UNE (World Gov.)enters a state of marshal law.
3010 A.D. - World Corp. takes total control over the UNE and puts a violent end to the revolts and rebellions. The Decay continues as World Corp. becomes more and more tyrannically and lets the former-UNE fall into a state of into of technological and environmentally regression.
3050 A.D. - Deadly Magic bubbles form allover earth. Bubbles of Void (anti-Magic) form in Equestria. Princess Celestia and Luna invert the Void Bubbles causing the magic bubbles to consolidate into one big bubble in the pacific; this new super bubble began to expansed.
3051 A.D. - Equestria and World Gov. enter first contact.
3052 A.D. - After what Equestria called "exhaustive" attempts to stop the spread of The Barrier, the equestrians presents an new idea "Ponyfication".
3053 A.D. - Conversion bureaus open world wide. Operation Ares' Kingdom is reactivated under the management of Dr. Asa Freeman.
3063A.D. - Earth Falls. The New Terran commonwealth is formed on mars. 4060 A.D. - The Lunar crises begins
