History
Part 1. Secret Project
Iyru looked around her lab. The large white, pristine room was filled with
tables. There wasn’t a single clear spot open. On every table there were
stacks of paper and chemical tubes bubbling with strange-coloured liquids,
or oozing down spiralling glass pipes.
Suddenly a door opened and a huge pile of papers walked in. The feet below
the papers got caught behind a lingering computer cable, launching the
files through the air. With cat-like reflexes Iyru thrust forward and
saved the largest part of the stack. Her eyes looked up after her heart
had calmed down and she looked right into the eyes of her lab assistant
Knux de Econa.
"We’re already behind schedule and already they look at us like we
were some freaks using up their money and doing absolutely nothing with it."
"But…but…but."
"No buts!"
"No, but really! Some cracks are appearing in the eggs."
"Finally!" Iyru called out, "Why didn’t you tell
me?"
"But… but, but."
"No buts!". Iyru called and ran to the neighbouring cultivating
area. The room was even more pristine than the previous lab, but unlike it’s
fellow lab, this lab was empty except for a large oval machine, radiating
heat.
Iyru wiped off her brow and looked through the looking glass. She didn’t
see any movement for a few minutes, but then a small shudder stirred one
of the three eggs.
Awed, Iyru watched as one by one small pieces of the egg peeled off and a
metallic sheen became visible underneath. Not knowing what to do, she
opened the incubator and took the egg out. Almost immediately the rest of
the shell broke away and she was holding a mechanical lizard-like creature
that chirped at her with a voice that was unmistakingly animal, but that
oddly had a metallic ring to it.
The door to the main lab zoomed open and the head of the genetic research
department entered. Iyru awoke from her trance-state and pulled her eyes
away from the gaze of the creature in her hands.
"I’ll take that, miss Luna."
He reached out his hands to snatch the creature away. But the small winged
being hissed menacingly and bit the head’s thumb. Then, accompanied by
curses and yells of pain, the small lizard scrambled up Iyru’s arm, onto
her shoulders and locked itself firmly around her neck.
"Knux, We didn’t add boa constrictor genes, right?"
"Not in this one."
"Great."
Iyru looked back at the department head and just caught his angry glance,
before he turned away.
"This isn’t the last of it, miss Luna." He said before he left
the lab.
***
"Lieutenant Tasrin, #060683, report to head
quarters." The metallic female voice sounded through the intercom.
Inside his room, Tasrin lifted from his bed where he had been reading ‘Being
Assertive for dummies’. He dropped the canary-yellow book on his bunk
and opened the doorway, securely locking it when he closed it.
Tasrin wondered why they had summoned him to headquarters. That usually
meant one thing, that he was getting a degradation once again for
disobeying a commanding officer in the field. However, he had not been in
the field for two years now. He hadn’t done a thing except training,
laying on his bed and reading every book he could find on the base.
Half a kilometre of hallways behind him, Tasrin reached the HQ. The door
opened after one of his moody glances into the camera. Inside a female
researcher was waiting.
"Hello!" she said, "My name is Iyru Luna."
Only now did Tasrin spot the strange collar the woman was wearing. Did it
move?
"That’s a strange necklace." Tasrin said, avoiding bodily
contact.
Iyru retracted her hand hesitantly and two bright green eyes opened on the
necklace’s face.
"It isn’t really a necklace, lieutenant…?"
"Tasrin."
"No first name?"
Tasrin grind his teeth together and chose to ignore Iyru's question. It
was no-one's business what his first name was.
"Ok… apparently not. Welcome on board. We’re leaving in 14 days with the spaceship."
Tasrin’s eyes nearly popped out of his head in disbelief when the words
hit him. "Excuse me?"
"Didn’t they tell you?" Iyru asked with an apologising smile,
but inwardly smiling because of how the lieutenant had reacted.
The doors zoomed open once again and three high officers entered. Tasrin
recognised his own superior, the director of the research laboratories,
with a bandaged hand and the director of space reconnaissance which made
the claim of the female researcher about going off into space all the more
real. He was getting a bad feeling about this.
In the next two hours, Tasrin learned about the plans the military had
about using creatures like Iyru’s necklace as an advanced defence and
offence system, and the testing they would undergo on a planet in a nearby
solar system. Truth be told he didn’t pay that much attention. He did
gather however that he was supposed to go with the mission, as head
security under the lead of this Luna woman. It was a pity he couldn’t
decline, because missions led by women always turned out wrong.
