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A World Apart Ch. 2
Posted By: Dark Spartan<gkahn40@yahoo.com>
Date: 21 July 2003, 8:42 PM
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--note to readers--
Hey, seeing as that I'm still in high school and I'm on the football team, things may slow down a little as camp comes up and school starts. So bear with me if the chapters don't come out as fast as you would like. Unfortunately, I'm also a slow typer, so that doesn't help anything. But anyway thanks for your comments. Speaking of which here is a note to Dispraiser and Neco Divad. I came up with the creature "Jarek" on my own accord. I havn't read "Stowaway", and to tell the truth I didn't know it exhisted until now. So if you guys want you can post a comment or e-mail me (gkahn40@yahoo.com) about "Stowaway" and the "AEs" that would be cool. And to answer another question, yes "Jarek" is with the Covenant". He is a genetic experiment. He is not one of the species of any of the known Covenant. He is the only one of his kind and since he is so powerful he is an outcast among the Covenant he is stationed with. Phew! That was a lot of typing. Hope you like chapter two.
Dark Spartan
--end note--
A World Apart Chapter Two
En Route to Planet Reach
October 8 2517
1126 hrs UNSC Military Time
Darkness, swimming, floating, unreachable consciousness. Saul couldn't find himself in the gloom. He was utterly lost. Saul's eyelids seemed to weigh a ton each. They just wouldn't open no matter how hard he tried. His arms wouldn't budge; his feet wore iron shoes. Was he sitting in a chair? Yes, that must be it, why his chin was embedded in his chest, why he couldn't lift his head. He was drugged, that was the only explanation.
" Saul..." a surreal voice echoed. " Saul..." the voice was a long way away. He felt a prickle on his arm. Immediately he could fell his imaginary shackles being lifted. His thoughts were now clearer. " Thank you, Private, you're dismissed." Saul could now hear the voice loud and clear, it was a womanly voice, worn by the ages...very worn. Saul opened his eyes. In front of him was an elderly woman.
She wore large round glasses, wrinkles covered her face. Her hair was almost fully white save a few small patches of brown. He squinted his eyes against the white of the labcoat she was wearing; he had not yet adjusted to the light. He looked around, noticing that he and the woman were in a very small room. Behind him was a solid steel barrier and on either side a large mirror that covered the whole wall. Several feet behind the woman was a steel door with what seemed like an electronic padlock. And in front of the woman, a large wooden desk with a fairly big manila folder resting on it.
" Hello, Saul," the woman said. Saul only stared at her, into her cold blue eyes. " I bet you're wondering why you're here, who I am, why you were caught in Central City Park. Am I right, Saul?" Saul made no physical response, only blinking his eyes, continuously staring. Although he had indeed been wondering these things since he had regained consciousness.
The woman opened the folder before her and began reading. " Saul. Age: four. Sex: male. Skin: Caucasian. Hair Color: brown. Eye Color: gray. Height: four feet, zero inches. Weight: sixty-eight pounds. Born: August 28 2513. Place of Birth: Wendenburg Memorial Hospital, New York City, United States of America, Earth. Current Place of Residence: unknown...well not now anyway." The woman looked up from the folder and directly into Saul's smoky eyes.
" Saul," the woman said as she removed her glasses. " For the past two months you've been allowed to stay in your home in City Park by our good graces. What did you think, Saul? That you could run forever? Despite what you may believe, it was you that led us to your private hideout. Quite ingenious really...electricity, a refrigerator, a bed, small kitchen, electric blanket. Let me guess, one day you stumbled across it about a year ago, and have been living there ever since? Am I right?"
Saul could only nod. How could she know all this? Hadn't he always checked before he'd entered?
" Saul, did you think that we would never find you? That we wouldn't study you?" She looked at the folder again. " Criminal Counts: Eight counts first-degree murder. All local bullies, all between the ages of eight to twelve. No impaled holes, no bullet wounds- entry or exit- and no slashes. Only bruises and impact abrasions. All killed by severe cerebral trauma caused by punches or kicks. You killed them all with your bare hands, Saul."
Saul's eyes twitched slightly. He'd only been giving them what they deserved. Still...he hadn't meant to kill them all. Only one or two. The woman noticed his slight release. She seemed dissatisfied.
" I know why you aren't speaking to me Saul. I know why you never speak to anyone, and I know why you can't speak to anyone. Do you know what happened when you were born?" Saul shook his head. " About three hours before you were born your mother was caught in a terrorist attack. She was walking down the street to the hospital to get her eight and a half month's check up when a car bomb loaded with C4 exploded. Your mother was thrown into a wall and covered with rubble. By the time she was in the hospital she was dead. They did an emergency C-Section to get you out Saul. Everything went fine until the chord wrapped around your neck. When they finally got you out they were wondering why you weren't crying like you should have been." She paused. Saul leaned forward in apprehension.
" The truth is, Saul... is that when the chord wrapped around your neck it crushed your larynx and windpipe. They were able to repair your throat so you could breath but not so you could speak. Any other operation would have killed you, and that holds true to this very day. You're a mute, Saul. You'll never be able to speak."
Sual's eyes were wide, his mouth gaping. He slumped back in his seat, fighting to hold back tears. He looked up, saw the old woman studying him intently. His face flushed and he put on an angry appearance, adding to the effect by crossing his arms over his chest.
The woman smiled cynically, " Your good Saul, one of the best. You know how to survive. But that's only part of the story."
What? How can there possibly be more?
" Saul, your four years old. Normal children at the age of four still haven't even mastered speech. You on the other hand... oh, right, bad example." Saul glared at her through clenched teeth. " Ok, Saul, here's a better one. How are you able to comprehend what I've been saying this whole time when you are only four? How are you so big for your age, and how were you able to survive being born early, not to mention under weight. At birth you weighed four pounds. Four pounds! Most babies barely survive under six pounds, let alone four! How were you at the age of three to four able to outsmart and kill people twice your age and size? How can you explain these things, Saul?"
The answer was that he couldn't, not even if he had been able to speak. How had he survived his birth? How had he been able to kill those people? He remembered that at the orphanage he could never understand why all the other children ran about babbling. Why was he so special?
" The reason is, Saul is because you are not entirely human. You're a hybrid created to be the way you are... the smartest, strongest, and the best there is."
* * *
October 8 2517
1126 hrs UNSC Military Time
The room was dimly lit. Shadows crookedly streaked across the floor from the obstacles that had been set in place earlier. On one side of the room stood the highest ranking Elites at K.E.T.F.; on the other side of the obstacle course was a large flat surface, devoid of anything save air, in about a square kilometer.
" This men," the ranking drill instructor spoke, " Is today's course. You know the drill. Now move it out!" Yeah, Jarek thought. Everyone knows the drill.
The objective of the obstacle course was to run as fast as you could to the other side without getting killed by the automated guns that littered the course, and then fight a hand to hand match with your partner. However no killing was allowed, other than that anything was legal.
Over the past few years Jarek had left many an opponent marred for life. The top brass hated it when he put their best out of commission, but the rules were the rules. None of Jarek's partners had managed to escape without at least a brutal scar, all except Za'Ul. Jarek looked over at him while the first two plunged into the fray. His usual self, Za'Ul was watching quietly. He was the top soldier of the Special Ops at Kuk'Tat, second only to another halfway across the planet. Whom that was, Jarek didn't know. Za'Ul had been Jarek's partner for twenty-seven days, the longest before him had lasted only two sessions. Jareck almost liked Za'Ul, he gave Jarek at least a little challenge. So Jarek didn't ever maim him, instead he simply rendered him unconscious. Za'Ul always learned from his mistakes though, so that he became a little more interesting every day.
By now the first two combatants were hacking away at each other. Jarek sighed, at this rate it would be at least another half-hour before he would get his turn. He noticed Za'Ul looking at him, studying him, trying to find Jarek's weakness so that he could break his losing streak. Jarek narrowed his eyes and shrank back into the darkness of the shadows, all the while morphing his skin to blend in. Za'Ul continued to look in his direction, concentrating his eyes to train them to find the cloaked Jarek. Jarek crawled up the wall and transferred to the ceiling until he was directly above his opponent. The ceiling was twenty feet high so Jarek could easily leap from the ground to the ceiling when needed or vice versa. Za'Ul continued to stare at the shadows where Jarek had been until he looked back at the races, convinced that Jarek would never wait that long in one place.
When it finally came Jarek and Za'Ul's turn, all the remaining warriors who hadn't been knocked out watched with ever increasing interest. This was always the best fight of the day. The spectators noticed that Jarek did not camouflage himself as he usually did, he slowly made his way to the starting line. The course was not separated into two parts, but instead both participants shared one large path. Jarek, on all fours ready to spring forward, and Za'Ul in a sprinters stance. The crowd hushed, the starter raised his arm, "GO!"
Jarek disappeared, Za'Ul took off after him. The spectators could barely see black spots where Jarek had just been, Za'Ul slowly making his way through the barrage of plasma. He actually was moving much faster than anyone else on the base, save Jarek who made anyone look like they were in slow motion. Za'Ul sprinted down the runway, jumping boulders, dodging flying plasma, he was an inspiration to all the other Elites. Jarek, still on the ground, was watching as Za'Ul crossed the three-quarters mark. Jarek had been finished even before Za'Ul had crossed the halfway marker. Za'Ul was now very close to the finish line, only about two hundred more meters, he was past all the gun posts, but they were still firing madly at him.
With no way to see the plasma coming from behind Za'UL was running as fast as he could. The last part of the course was dark; the lights had accidentally been shot out during the previous race. He was no in almost total darkness, trying his best not to hit anything. He was close, within one hundred meters now, sprinting blindly. Stray plasma skipped off his shield. The other Elites were cheering, urging him on. Suddenly their encouragements turned into yells of warning. " Look out, Za'UL! Here they come! Run faster!" Za'Ul couldn't see it but Jarek could.
Dozens of charged shots from the guns were approaching at breathtaking speed. Za'UL heard the warnings and changed course, moving diagonally now. His plan failed, the green orbs changed course, perfectly mirroring him. He didn't have a chance, there were way to many, even if he could dodge a few the remaining would turn him into a burning corpse. The first was approaching fast, fifty feet... twenty...five! It struck Za'Ul square in the back, crushing his shield under the enormous stress. He stumbled, kicking an outcropping rock and pitched forward as the second whizzed just over his head. A third singed his left arm and dissipated on the ground. The others, some three dozen Jarek guessed, were swiftly approaching.
Jarek watched as Za'Ul jumped to his feet and started running again, but Jarek knew that he was going to die unless someone intervened. Eyes blazing desperately, Za'Ul wasn't running like the trained military Elite he was, it was the run of the crazed, the stumbling desperate lank of the one running from deaths edge. The orbs approached, burning intensely, deaths hand in green bolts of pure energy, capable of melting the skin right off your bones. Za'Ul crouched and leaped through the air towards the finish line. He flew farther than any Elite had ever seen, the longest jump in the history of the empire. It didn't seem natural though, he seemed to hang limp as he flew though the air. Just as he passed the energy barrier it harmlessly deflected the blasts.
Za'Ul lay still, face down on the cold metal floor as everyone ran to help. Jarek was nowhere to be seen.
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