Prelude
From the Story Arc: The Essence of Life
Next Story in the Arc: Joanna's Tale by Krasnaya Zvezda (Sunday, March 21, 2010)
(posted Sunday, March 21, 2010)
“Just be careful, we cannot afford to get this wrong.”
The words, spoken by a white coated gentleman of advancing years, echoed around the underground room. Seeing his assistant nod nervously, the speaker turned his attention back to the object in front of him, his expression softening to one one of a grandfather doting over his first grandchild. Dominating the room, the item stood close to nine feet tall and was fashioned of the latest technology available to both this dimension and others that they were able to access. Most visitors, the few that there were, described their first impressions as a cross between a Crey cloning cylinder and a Vampire birthing unit – to the speaker however such comparisons, though understandable, were a sign that the others failed to grasp the true potential of his creation and reaffirmed his thoughts on the stupidity of the people he had to work with.
Various wires and cables snaked their way out of the chamber and to all corners of the room, connecting themselves to equipment that quietly monitored and powered the chamber. A huge trunk of this cabling was fed towards a bank of terminals at which stood a nervous looking technician – the only other person within the room.
“Yes, sir, I’m starting now.” said the technician, tension evident in his voice. When the Lady had issued her instructions there was nothing implied in the threat of what would happen should this go wrong – hence the reason that the technician was at the controls.
Younger than the other gentleman, he looked to be nearer thirty years of age, the technician was also wearing a white lab coat which all but shone under the harsh, florescent lighting overhead. Reaching across the panels, the technician pressed a button, increasing the power to the chamber and lighting up several of the displays in front of him. Seconds passed and the older man made his way across the room towards the technician, who was now staring intently at the dials and meters, almost willing them to remain stable.
“There, we’re in. Everything looks fine – sensors are normal and it all looks good.” The technician said, breathing a sigh of relief.
The older man examined the readings and agreed, “Yes, so far so good; the subject is stable and I’d say you were ready to begin.”
“Right.” said the technician, tension returning to his voice. “I’m making the initial entry. How far back did we want to go?”
Pursing his lips in thought; the older man walked behind the technician, past the door to the corridor and headed over to his desk – which was located near a bank of screens that filled one wall of the laboratory. “Let’s start off with eighteen to twenty four months and see how it goes – we can start pushing it once we are happy that everything is working correctly. Remember; take your time with this, if anything goes wrong you’ll wish that you were in there.”
Involuntarily, the technician’s eyes flicked up and towards the chamber. The subject was propped upright inside, shimmering as coloured light from the various active scans bounced off the containment field. They were taking no chances with this one; it was a delicate procedure at the best of times – not mention prone to failure – and this subject was too important for anything to go wrong. Wrenching his attention back to the monitors in front of him, the technician steeled himself and pushed a button. “Initiating scan number 124.”
In reply, the monitor began to reel off information:
Scan number: 124
Modification period selected, insert activation key to begin procedure...
“Ready for your authorization, sir.”
“Good.” said the older man and he placed the activation key - a cylinder of plastic and electronics - into a slot on his console. Lights ran up and down the cylinder as it synchronized with the equipment, finally settling down to only a pair of lights which signified the synchronization had completed successfully. Nodding slightly to himself; the older man eased himself down into his chair and turned towards the bank of monitors. “Now all we can do is watch and wait.”
The technician’s eyes returned to the subject as an azure light sprang to life around the chamber and moved downward, passing over the subject’s head. On the monitor bank, symbols representing the subjects vitals all reported as stable and a small window lit up, displaying an image of a large room filled with rows of empty chairs, all facing a podium which stood in front of a flag covered wall. Nodding to himself, the technician returned his attention back to his monitor.
Activation key accepted. Procedure underway.
So far, so good.
The words, spoken by a white coated gentleman of advancing years, echoed around the underground room. Seeing his assistant nod nervously, the speaker turned his attention back to the object in front of him, his expression softening to one one of a grandfather doting over his first grandchild. Dominating the room, the item stood close to nine feet tall and was fashioned of the latest technology available to both this dimension and others that they were able to access. Most visitors, the few that there were, described their first impressions as a cross between a Crey cloning cylinder and a Vampire birthing unit – to the speaker however such comparisons, though understandable, were a sign that the others failed to grasp the true potential of his creation and reaffirmed his thoughts on the stupidity of the people he had to work with.
Various wires and cables snaked their way out of the chamber and to all corners of the room, connecting themselves to equipment that quietly monitored and powered the chamber. A huge trunk of this cabling was fed towards a bank of terminals at which stood a nervous looking technician – the only other person within the room.
“Yes, sir, I’m starting now.” said the technician, tension evident in his voice. When the Lady had issued her instructions there was nothing implied in the threat of what would happen should this go wrong – hence the reason that the technician was at the controls.
Younger than the other gentleman, he looked to be nearer thirty years of age, the technician was also wearing a white lab coat which all but shone under the harsh, florescent lighting overhead. Reaching across the panels, the technician pressed a button, increasing the power to the chamber and lighting up several of the displays in front of him. Seconds passed and the older man made his way across the room towards the technician, who was now staring intently at the dials and meters, almost willing them to remain stable.
“There, we’re in. Everything looks fine – sensors are normal and it all looks good.” The technician said, breathing a sigh of relief.
The older man examined the readings and agreed, “Yes, so far so good; the subject is stable and I’d say you were ready to begin.”
“Right.” said the technician, tension returning to his voice. “I’m making the initial entry. How far back did we want to go?”
Pursing his lips in thought; the older man walked behind the technician, past the door to the corridor and headed over to his desk – which was located near a bank of screens that filled one wall of the laboratory. “Let’s start off with eighteen to twenty four months and see how it goes – we can start pushing it once we are happy that everything is working correctly. Remember; take your time with this, if anything goes wrong you’ll wish that you were in there.”
Involuntarily, the technician’s eyes flicked up and towards the chamber. The subject was propped upright inside, shimmering as coloured light from the various active scans bounced off the containment field. They were taking no chances with this one; it was a delicate procedure at the best of times – not mention prone to failure – and this subject was too important for anything to go wrong. Wrenching his attention back to the monitors in front of him, the technician steeled himself and pushed a button. “Initiating scan number 124.”
In reply, the monitor began to reel off information:
Scan number: 124
Modification period selected, insert activation key to begin procedure...
“Ready for your authorization, sir.”
“Good.” said the older man and he placed the activation key - a cylinder of plastic and electronics - into a slot on his console. Lights ran up and down the cylinder as it synchronized with the equipment, finally settling down to only a pair of lights which signified the synchronization had completed successfully. Nodding slightly to himself; the older man eased himself down into his chair and turned towards the bank of monitors. “Now all we can do is watch and wait.”
The technician’s eyes returned to the subject as an azure light sprang to life around the chamber and moved downward, passing over the subject’s head. On the monitor bank, symbols representing the subjects vitals all reported as stable and a small window lit up, displaying an image of a large room filled with rows of empty chairs, all facing a podium which stood in front of a flag covered wall. Nodding to himself, the technician returned his attention back to his monitor.
Activation key accepted. Procedure underway.
So far, so good.