by Bret Brown
On these pathways are even stranger looking vehicles, completely unsuitable for military engagement. Also, thousands of pedestrians fill the space between the pathways and buildings. In fact, of all the planets he's been on, this is by far the strangest.
A smooth blackened runway illuminated by yellow markers along it provide the destination for the Phantom to ultimately land. As the ship lands, a group of people exit a large glossy building towering two hundred feet up. The small group of people are running up to the ship, but nothing like P-T has seen before. These people look different to him, definitely not an attack mob like he's ran across on some previous destinations. This crowd is unarmed and dress rather handsomely for such an exercise.
Holding her son, Leliana is all smiles as she works the panel to lower the rear cargo lift. The lift gate is nearly two feet from touching the black pavement before she jumps out and starts running towards the group. Hesitant to even leave the ship, P-T watches from a distance standing on the inner edge of the lift.
Holding her son, Leliana runs into the open arms of an older man, who is physically fit with salt and pepper gray hair. He gives them both a great big hug; kissing them both on the cheek. The welcoming party encircles around the reunion; rejoicing the return as sounds of laughter and indistinct conversations fill the cool air.
An elderly man at the edge of the group takes a look at the Phantom and approaches P-T, who is still standing uncomfortably on the cargo lift gate. The old man, taking his time, doesn't walk too fast as he approaches the strange ship; scoping it out and its passenger. He covers his eyes shading them from the sun with his spotted hand. A thick, white mustache hides his upper lip, his face becomes increasingly wrinkled as he gets closer. His curly, white hair occasionally flaring up as the wind catches it. Standing still, P-T becomes visibly uneasy from the old man's presence, as he's never seen a person beyond the age of forty.
"So, who might you be?", the old man asks.
With a scowl, P-T ignores the question keeping a watchful eye on the old man; his arms crossed and his chest pushed out. The bright sunlight reflecting off of the smooth pavement causes him to squint a little as well; aiding his already menacing demeanor.
Still looking up at P-T, the old man waits patiently for his response. However, he soon realizes that the stranger has no interest in making small talk.
"Well, it doesn't matter I suppose. You brought back one of our people. On behalf of Leliana's family, thank you. Are you from the Gibbons system?"
"I thought you said it doesn't matter.", replies P-T.
"You're right, but it's nice to know. It helps ease tension knowing a little bit about the person you're around.", the old man says. "I don't know about you, but the tension is a little thick around here. Especially, since the last communications we got from Leliana's vessel."
Meanwhile, over where Leliana and Rowan are, the crowd and excitement has subsided a bit. Everyone has started their way back to the large building near the runway. Leliana's father, holding his grandson as they walk asks, "What happened out there? Who is this guy? Where did he come from?"
Leliana, to her dismay, tries to answer her father. "Honestly, I have no clue to any of those questions. First off, the guy, he calls himself P-T 6. Personally, he's very dangerous and I don't think he can be trusted if I had a choice."
Shocked by her answer, her father stops, "But he brought you home... what did he do to you?", as he now becomes enraged.
"It's too much to say exactly. Yes, he's brought me and Rowan home alive and well," she sighs, "but I don't think he's all there, mentally. Also, there's something about him that I can't put my finger on... biologically. I think he has had something done to him to make him extraordinary."
Both of them look back to see P-T showing signs of discomfort with the old man back at the Phantom. "As I said, I can't put my finger on it exactly.", she whispers cautiously. "He's never seen a child before Rowan, and I'm guessing he's never seen an old person judging by that look. Something is definitely off about him."
"How dangerous can he be? He's just one man.", her father asks.
"Extremely, at least to himself and those around him. I don't think he wants to stay, but we should find out more information about him if we can.", she replies.
Leliana's father waves his hand to the old man, who is still talking to P-T, for both to come over. The old man starts on his way, but stops when he notices that he's alone. He goes back and pesters P-T to come along with him until he is finally successful.
They meet up with Leliana, her father, and her son who are all still standing in relatively the same place; waiting for the old man and P-T outside the big building.
With an outstretched hand for a handshake, Leliana father says, "I'm Dr. George Hisk, Leliana's father. Thank you for saving my baby girl and my grand baby. I see you've met Dr. Larry."
P-T looks at the hand in front of him without saying a word, but never moves his hand.
Awkwardly standing there, Dr. Hisk pulls his hand back. "I understand your name is P-T? Ah, which colony are you from?"
Dr. Larry cuts in the conversation, "I told him it didn't matter where he came from, and he's holding me to it. Quite the character he is."
"If you both don't mind, I'd like to have you listen to something. It may help explain as to what happened out there.", Dr. Hisk says as he points to the concrete walkway next to the building.
As they walk down the long path, P-T looks puzzled by the oddly shaped hedges. They look as if someone had purposely trimmed the bushes on both sides into a rectangular shape to give borders for the strange concrete pathway. Drawing upon his life experience, he cannot find good reasoning why such things have been done.
Upon entering the building, P-T sees large glass panes from floor to ceiling, thirty feet high. This glass separates the hall they entered from a busy control room. In the control room, dozens of people are working and conversing at the consoles in front of them.
At the front of the room, is a massive projection filling up the entire wall. On the projection is displayed several star systems, multiple ships with coordinates near their identifiers. As they walk down this hallway, P-T is looking all around him with complete wonder, in awe of the sights he is seeing.
Leliana's father opens a door on the right and the five of them enter an office. Inside a brown desk sits to one side of the room. Across from the desk is a couple of chairs and some pictures of Leliana's family lining the wall with some forms of credentials for Dr. Hisk's accomplishments.
Barely large enough to fit the four adults, Dr. Hisk makes his way to the chair behind the desk. Leliana sits her son on top of the desk facing her as she has a seat, while Dr. Larry offers the last chair to P-T.
Still hesitant about his surroundings, P-T stands next to the door; arms folded across his chest. Dr. Hisk taps a couple of buttons on his computer on the desk and the clear glass looking out towards the control room behind Dr. Hisk becomes a serenity video of outdoor scenes; blocking out the control room.
"Leliana, the reason why I brought you here first thing is we are hoping you can answer some questions we have about your mission.", says Dr. Hisk.
Leliana shakes her head yes, "I'll try, but it's all such a blur. I don't know if I'll be much help."
"We received this emergency transmission about two months ago, from your ship. It may be best if Rowan isn't here for this.", continues Dr. Hisk as he hits another key on his computer. "Amanda, can you come to my office please?"
"Yes sir.", replies a woman’s voice over the intercom. A moment later a small, young woman enters the room, hitting P-T with the door. She's wearing a short skirt to her knees and a light purple blouse under her suit jacket holding a tablet to her chest as she walks in. P-T stands there checking out the woman up and down with very little discretion. He gives her a creepy smile making her feel uncomfortable as she wryly smiles back at him.
"Amanda, take my grandson here to the cafeteria and get him something sweet, w
hatever he wants.", says Dr. Hisk.
"Yes sir.", says the young woman in a soft voice. She walks up and helps the child down off the desk and takes him by the hand out of the room. P-T still watching her every move intently until she's out of the room completely.
"As I said, we received this transmission about two months ago," Dr. Hisk then hits a key on the computer and the transmission begins.
A video begins to play on the small computer screen. A man covered with some blood on his face is clearly in distress as distant sounds of explosions in the background startle the man.
"Denali mission control this is Captain Ezra Sobo of Sigma three. We are under attack. Five unidentified vessels are shooting at us and one is attempting to dock with us. We are not equipped for this. Send-."
A very loud explosion interrupts the man. Multiple shots and blood curdling screams are heard as the man's body blocks the camera. "Who are you? What do-?". Several more shots ring out, blood quickly drenches the man's clothing. Soon after he falls; his head split open, showing his exposed brain matter to the camera as he goes down.
Several heavily armed men wearing battle armor enter the bridge. They begin to rummage through the bodies and computers; unaware of the live camera feed. However, within moments of their arrival a massive explosion erupts, ending the transmission.
Everyone in the room is silent with a solemn look, except P-T, who's standing there with a smirk.
Seeing this, Dr. Hisk ask P-T angrily, "Is there something funny here? That ship was carrying three thousand people on it. Scientists, families, good fucking people! No one should have died the way they did. So, enlighten me, what the fuck is amusing?"
P-T still smirking says, "Fucking amateurs."
Offended by this, Dr. Hisk stands up from his chair and gets to the side of his desk; ready to pounce on P-T. "Can you explain to me exactly, who are you calling amateurs?"
P-T adjusts his stance a bit, feeling the hostility Dr. Hisk is giving him. "The Raiders.", he says in a stern voice.
Leliana lights up from her chair, "The Raiders? Like the ones we encountered?", looking at P-T.
He just shrugs his shoulders not sure if it's the exact same group or if they are from the same band.
Confused by it all, Dr. Hisk continues his questioning. "Raiders? Who are they? What do they want?"
Leliana replies, "Honestly, I don't know. On our way here after he picked us up, we stumbled across them. They made no requests. All I know is they tried very hard to kill us. That's it."
Dr. Hisk turns to P-T, "What about you? Can you tell is what they want, where they come from? Maybe why they killed all of our people on that ship?"
P-T getting visibly agitated from this interrogation, starts to take a hostile stance of his own. His hands drop down to his sides; his fists tightly clenched.
Dr. Larry, watching everything, steps in between P-T and Dr. Hisk, "I think everyone has had an exciting day. We still need to get these two down for a medical screening."
Leliana has a confused look on her face, knowing she's already sent them the medical screening files as Dr. Larry continues. "We just need to take some samples of blood and do some x-rays. We gotta make sure that everything is fine after being in open space for such a long time."
Dr. Larry makes his way to the door in the tight room. He opens it and motions with his hand to have P-T exit first in a polite gesture. "Come on Leliana, the sooner the better.", says Dr. Larry holding the door.
Leliana stands looking back and forth between her father and Dr. Larry uncertain of what their intentions are, but she gets no insight from either of them. She lets out a big sigh and then leaves the room, soon followed by P-T.
Dr. Larry walks with the both of them through a series of hallways; entering further into the building. Stopping at an examination room, Dr. Larry points to it looking at P-T, "This will be your room. The staff will be in shortly to get what they need."
The glossy, white walled room is bright with shiny, stainless steel panels covering the lower part of the walls as well as a stainless-steel examination table that is sitting center of the room. On the right of the room, there is a metal counter holding various types of empty medicinal containers for samples. On the left, is a computer console in front of a mirror.
Still hesitant to really do anything, P-T looks to Leliana for suggestions; as she is the only one who has his limited trust.
Seeing his discomfort, Dr. Larry says, "Don't worry, Leliana will be in the room next to you if you need anything."
Reluctant, P-T steps into the room and Dr. Larry closes the door. The doctor and Leliana enter the next room. In the room they enter, are a couple of technicians in lab coats sitting behind computer consoles with a direct view of the room P-T is in.
"What is this?", Leliana asks.
"I'm surprised you don't know. Your father signaled to me that he wants some tests ran on your guest", says Dr. Larry. "He has a rapport with you and seems to trust you a bit. That's why I said you needed to do a medical screening as well. If he thinks you're doing the same thing, he might be a little less apprehensive about it all."
As they watch on, two young, attractive female nurses in lab coats enter the room with P-T. Their perfume and makeup are very pleasing to a wary traveler such as he.
"Hello, my name is Cynthia."
"And I'm Sarah. We are here to run a few tests on you, if you don't mind. We promise to take good care of you while you are here." Immediately after the introductions, the two young women begin to carry on with prepping the materials they need for his examination.
Thinking that these women are here for sex, P-T drops his pants; exposing his nearly aroused manhood. Completely oblivious to his actions, the women have their backs turned; operating the medical equipment. Sarah turns to P-T, only to quickly turn away; shielding her eyes from his penis.
"Put that away!", says Sarah disgusted, as she waves her arms to pull up his pants. "You don't need to get naked just lay down on the table here." She points to the examination table averting her eyes still from his genitalia. Both, Sarah and Cynthia, blush over the incident having never experienced such an embarrassing moment.
Disappointed, P-T pulls up his pants slowly, shaking his penis at the women to ensure they don't want to change their minds. After a few futile moments, he pulls up his pants to cover his manhood again and he finally lays down on the table.
A green, linear beam of light comes from a small box hanging down from the ceiling and scans P-T from head to toe. Making several passes slowly, it takes nearly five minutes for each pass of his six foot four-inch frame.
In the other room, Leliana hides her face behind her hand; feeling a mixture of embarrassment, anger, and disgust towards P-T's annoying behavior while Dr. Larry, and the technicians have been observing quietly. Shortly after the scan finishes, one of the technicians pulls up the schematic of P-T's body. Tapping some keys on the console, it strips away layers of his tissue in the schematic as it zooms in on his body. A notification pops up as they get down to the skeletal structure of P-T saying "Normal."
Discouraged, Dr. Larry hits a key on the console and talks through the intercom to one of the nurses in the examination room, "Let's go ahead with the blood sample."
Cynthia grabs a syringe from the counter and proceeds to draw blood from P-T. To Leliana's amazement, she's surprised that P-T has been so docile and cooperative. After withdrawing the blood, the nurse places the vile in a device under the mirror and it drains its contents.
Back in the room with the technicians, a monitor has all different kinds of code scrolling up and down on the screen. A notification pops up saying "Abnormality detected.", alerting the staff.
Dr. Larry nods his head to the technician to carry on with the analysis, and the technician continues working on the console some more. Finally, as the final key stroke is hit, an enlarged picture of an alien like creature appears.
At first glimpse, it appears as if it is a parasite of some sort. It has
a flat rigid body, on the back a rounded abdomen. Ten appendages total with five on each side ending with microscopic claws. With a closer look, you can almost see mechanical joints on the appendages.
As they zoom in closer, Dr. Larry becomes pale as the blood leaves his flesh, "I-I've seen this before.", he says barely beyond a whisper looking very deeply at the creature. "This can't be real. I-I mean this technology is... it literally cannot be true."
Confused by Dr. Larry's reaction, Leliana says, "I don't understand, what is it?"
Dr. Larry, gathering his composure, says, "Keep him here for a few minutes. Run more scans on him to keep him busy. I need to go to my office. I'll be right back."