Lives Of The Unknown Book 1 - 2nd Edition

by G. L. Argain

  A while back, the hupac prepared to eat some alien lemurs for a snack. Upon realizing this, Andrew refused to let it happen. As the hupac came into sight of some lemurs, the human stood right in its way. It bared its teeth and jerked its head to the side, signaling Andrew to get out of the way.

  “I’m not letting you eat those—there’s no need to,” replied the Earthling.

  The hupac managed to raise its brows in astonishment to convey, “What do you mean you won’t let me???” It then growled ferociously to give him a final warning, forgetting that the lemurs could—and did—hear it.

  “One step closer and I will beat you down. You know I will.”

  They went at it anyway, and all of the lemurs scampered away from the area for the next hour. Andrew won in the end with one hand pressing the hupac’s head onto the ground. It laid still in disgust, up until a few seconds after the human had stepped away. He won most of the fights between them, yet the hupac still kept its pride inside as an alpha, even if that time had long passed.

  The fact that the hupac didn’t get to do what it wanted to do, that it was forced to comply to Andrew’s will, elicited a feeling of resentment, especially since it never found out what was so wrong about eating lemurs.

  As ancient primates eventually turned into cave dwellers and then into humans, their intelligence increased, and their bodies became capable of using this newly-found intelligence in many different and expanding ways, including speech and language. However, with this newly-found ability, as well as the expansion of communication and thought, came limits and responsibility. As language developed and humans could communicate with each other in elaborate ways, they explained to each other what they thought was right and what was wrong—the birth of ethics. Animals may have some ethical values as well, but mainly it concerns their own survival. Humans, however, have ethical values based upon other people’s benefits as well, not just their own. It was evident to humans that freedom and free will were “good,” something that should be kept, yet as times passed…well, are humans as free as wild animals are today? The hupac and its species wouldn’t know—at least, not for a long…long time.

  Humans will always have conflicting opinions, and whoever becomes more dominant, whether it be by reasoning or by force, those dominant victors and their opinion shall have freedom, whereas the losers are oppressed to submit to the victors. Are humans forever bound to struggle for freedom as long as everyone is not one and the same? Even in a totalitarian world, where everyone is forced to have the same opinion, there is always somebody that pops up who feels differently, and he or she sees how oppressed his or her race has become.

  Andrew had been thinking about his own freedom—the hupac believed he was asleep, though he was still awake with his eyes closed—and how he had been free to do what he wanted, away from humans and aliens alike. He didn’t worry about the hupac taking away his freedom, mostly because he was the victor. And yet…he felt empty again. He ultimately had all the freedom that he wanted—freedom from society, from government, from all of the modern world’s nuisances. And there was nothing to really reach for anymore. He knew that in time, he would be taken back to Juvir and be used as a soldier, having to obey once again. He hated the feeling of having nothing to gain and everything to lose. He didn’t want to go back. Not to Juvir, not to Earth. This was the only place for him.

  Andrew and the hupac woke up the next morning to the sound of raindrops hitting the ground several times per second. It was raining heavily enough to drench anyone in an instant who dared to step outside. The duo still had leftover food from yesterday, so they wouldn’t have to step outside of the cave much. As for water, they would drink from the nearby puddles; with all of the vaccinations and genetic modifications in their bodies, they became so physically tolerant that trying to get sick would be more difficult than trying to stay healthy.

  “So, while we’re in here until the rain lets up, wanna hear a story?” said Andrew.

  The hupac looked at him drowsily for a couple seconds, then it let out a grunt of indifference as it laid its head onto its front paws.

  “Okay, so this one time when I was on Earth, my home planet, I was climbing this mountain with my dogs. Dogs are animals like you, standing on four paws with fearsome teeth, and humans normally controlled dogs. The dogs seemed to be fine with it, though…probably since we fed them, protected them, and gave them love. Anyway, when we got to the summit, we could see for dozens of miles—it was unbelievable. I swear I could even see the curvature of the Earth, just by a little bit. The dogs seemed to enjoy the sight, and I bet even you would have.”

  The hupac smirked, stretching its mouth to one side of its face but not the other.

  “Everything was just so clear and green and natural…and…I wish it was like that everywhere. You don’t worry about that—you’ve got a huge island, reserved just to yourself. But for my species, and I guess for all intel-beings—is that what they’re called? I think it is. Anyway, me and every other intelligent being on the plan—” Andrew paused, recalling that this was Ku-an Doel, not Earth. “Uh, in the universe, is turning everything to waste, it looks like. I mean, my species is millions of years outdated from everyone else in the universe, and even we are capable of destroying our own planet!”

  The hupac perked up. It only knew the world from the few miles it had spanned, but it didn’t deny the idea that the planet of Ku-an Doel was immensely bigger than that. To this animal, there was no way of destroying such a big place, other than possibly the force of nature.

  “Well, I don’t expect you to know what I’m talking about. But I can always teach you.”

  Andrew didn’t know how to put all of his ideas into perspective for this creature, but in time he told them well. He talked about the planet Earth itself, the climates that the hupac could’ve lived in, the animals that resembled the hupac—specifically the leopard and the wolf—and finally how humans made their mark on the world. He talked about all of humans’ events through time, from the cave-men, then to the Romans, then further to the Dark Ages, and finally to various events between World War One and the year 2016. He concluded saying how annoyed he was with how individual people cared more about themselves than about everyone else, about anything else.

  The hupac itself was a very selfish creature. Andrew expected more interest from an animal that could understand English. The hupac just laid there with its eyes either partially opened or fully closed, not sitting up with full attention to Andrew. Although, maybe the animal was interested but just didn’t show it.

  “Are you comfortable? Not just here, but in general? Do you have all that you want?”

  The hupac didn’t know how to respond. It wanted to say, “I don’t know,” but it didn’t have a larynx to speak elaborately with, nor could it even shrug its shoulders.

  Andrew could read his partner like a book. “If you don’t know, just put your paw onto my hand,” he said as he put forth his hand. The hupac looked forward and put its paw onto said hand, creating some kind of social bond between themselves.

  “I guess there’s always something to want, huh? And yet at the same time, even I’m comfortable just sitting here in a cave, watching the rain, having enough food and water for the both of us.” And so, both of them were sitting down, looking outside, waiting for the rain to stop so they could continue on with their journey.

  Then everything changed in an instant. Andrew briefly realized that there was a flashing light enveloping him for two seconds before finding himself in Anzem and Shul’s laboratory. With the laboratory near sea level and the hupac a few thousand feet higher, Andrew instantly felt the difference in the atmospheric pressure as he vomited on the floor.

  “Ah, no, seriously?” said Anzem. “Just get your fluids out now, because we need to tell you something important.”

  As the vomit disintegrated on the floor, Andrew said, “What?…Do I have to go back to Juvir already?”

  “No, it’s not that. The Selentors ha
ve come here to Ku-an Doel.”

  Chapter 17

  After three months of contact with dirt, bugs, and other unsanitary things, Andrew had been sent to the sterilization room. Chemicals sprayed out from every wall onto every part of his body. As he stepped out smelling like fabric freshener, Shul quickly shaved off the human’s beard while saying, “I know, I know, we could’ve told you the news before sterilizing you, but are you aware of how foul you were? Priorities!”

  “Why are those guys here?” said Andrew.

  “The Selentors, you mean?”

  “Yeah! Who else?”

  “They say they’ve come to talk about the treaty. It probably involves you.”

  “Do they know I’m here?”

  “I don’t know. But it’s best to keep you here until they leave. While they can pick up your position out there in the wild, in here they won’t know.”

  A silence filled the room for a few seconds, then Andrew said, “Can I bring my friend in here?”

  Meanwhile, at the AOIB headquarters, Juvir stood in front of the entrance to meet a group of Selentors. The other members stayed in the conference room, waiting to see why the enemy was really at Ku-an Doel.

  “Wait, what? The alpha hupac? No! That animal would just make trouble while it’s here! Probably try to kill us, too—”

  “He’s not just some beast! I’ve lived with him for three months, and I know he understands speech!”

  “Just because it can understand language,” said Anzem, “doesn’t mean it will cooperate. And it especially doesn’t mean that it will be friendly to everyone it encounters.”

  “Well, maybe I could—”

  An abrupt ringing sound came from a screen nearby Shul, whose face expressed shock as he looked to the problem.

  “It’s a Selentor, and he wants to speak to us!”

  Andrew and Anzem both looked at Shul, then to the screen.

  The Selentors entered to meet the AOIB, the commander known as Fall leading them. Every one of them only had the usual black suit on, showing that they were not planning to fight. Some had regular eyes, others had black eyes.

  “Greetings, Commander Fall. We’ll talk in the conference room.” said Juvir.

  “As you wish.”

  “It looks like he’s got something in his hand, like…a dead animal from the island.”

  Andrew’s heart surged at the sound of this. He looked onto the screen and saw a Selentor facing straight into the camera, holding a hupac by the legs in his right hand. The alien was the kind with black eyes and dark muscles. “THAT SON OF A BITCH,” Andrew said between his teeth as he grimaced.

  “Stay calm,” said Anzem, “I’ll figure out what this guy wants.” He pressed a button and said, “State your name and business here.”

  “I’m just here for your help,” the Selentor said. Andrew felt as though he recognized the voice. However, this Selentor’s physique seemed a bit too large for him to remember who exactly it was. It couldn’t have been the commander, judging by the voice. “As you know, my kind has come to the planet for some political business. I was sent here to talk to you fellows, but on the way I noticed how hurt this animal was and I was hoping you guys would attend to its wounds. I suppose someone like you knew about the animals on this island, and how to deal with their injuries?”

  Juvir noticed that the sound of their footsteps were off—they sounded harder and heavier than those of organic beings.

  The AOIB vice-president sat down in his chair in the conference room, but the Selentors remained standing. Some of them stood standing outside of the room.

  “Well then, what have you come here to discuss with us?” said Juvir.

  “We have tracked down the path of a forbidden being to this planet,” said Fall, “and we are curious whether you may be hiding it or not.”

  “We sent it away the moment we discovered that it was a forbidden species.”

  “But you have seen it, then?”

  “Yes, but what I want to know…is why you are tracking down such a species.”

  “Fucking lies,” Andrew muttered. He moved straight in front of the screen and shouted, “Bullshit, ‘you found him hurt!’ YOU DID THAT!!!”

  “Is it any different that it needs medical attention?”

  Anzem had shoved Andrew away from the screen out of fury. “You aren’t allowed to speak to him! This is a delicate matter, let me handle this!”

  During this quick aversion, the Selentor whispered into something on his left wrist: “The subject is here.” Moments later, a beam shot down upon the alien, giving him an armored suit along with some futuristic weapon. He dumped the hupac onto the ground.

  Fall had picked up the lone Selentor’s signal from a device implanted in his head, undetectable to Juvir.

  “I’ve just got word that the human is here,” said Fall, “and my mission here is complete.”

  Juvir and the other politicians said nothing, though surprise and horror fell onto their faces.

  “I can just tell you everything here and now,” the commander continued, “since it’s evident that we both broke the treaty.”

  “Why the hell couldn’t you just teleport him into a prison or something?!?”

  “Because he has rights!”

  “And I don’t?!?”

  Anzem had leaned toward Andrew’s face, curled his tongue so that the tip pressed onto the back of his upper teeth, and was about to utter something. In this same instant, Shul was appalled enough to about to intervene. However, what stopped both events was the destruction of a wall as the Selentor barged in. Anzem had just looked toward the sound, only for the Selentor to shoot his weapon and hit the scientist directly in the head. It was vaporized clean off, with several electrical sparks coming out from his neck. He fell onto the ground with a disturbing “clank.”

  Andrew’s first thought from the sight was his memory of Lee. His face turned pale from pure fear and astonishment.

  “Despite our efforts to hide our projects from you, this particular subject dubbed Andrew Lockeford has miraculously broken the cycle with the help of an anonymous robot. Normally they all just die trying to escape the ship.” Fall had a smirk on his face for a moment, but it had faded shortly afterwards to an expression much more serious. “It’s time we took back what we were always meant to keep.”

  “OH YHN, ANZEM!!!” screamed Shul.

  The Selentor aimed directly for Shul’s heart. Andrew’s right arm was in the path, and when the vaporizer fired, away the lower part of the arm went. The vaporizing beam had reached Shul’s torso, but it had only penetrated halfway through his body. Even so, with the mass of metallic and electric components exposed, it was evident that Shul was robotic as well, and both he and Andrew could feel pain.

  “AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!!”

  Regaining his composure after a matter of seconds, Andrew leapt toward the Selentor in a boiling rage, only to hit him as though he hit a brick wall. The Selentor retaliated by striking his fist right into Andrew’s head, making a cracking sound on the skull as it struck the wall.

  “And just for the record, you should keep closer control of your own subjects.”

  Juvir pulled out a vaporizer and shot Fall four times, revealing all of the circuitry within—a fake, he thought. All of the other Selentors behind him had suddenly shut off and fell down, each of them beeping.

  “TAKE COVER!!”

  Each and every robotic Selentor exploded, causing chunks of debris to fly at frightening speeds in various directions. A few of the AOIB members had been hit, but no severe injuries had been taken. The walls of the building had been damaged, and the nearby teleporters had been altogether destroyed.

  “…Zepentiro!”

  “Sir!”

  “Call in some helpers and assess the damage to the facilities and personnel. I need to leave.”

  Without the chance for Zepentiro to utter any comment, Juvir held the button on his belt for one thousand milliseconds, then he released and ta
pped it twice. A teleportation light enveloped him and sent him off in a tenth of the time that ordinary teleporters took.

  What inconceivable strength that Selentor had! Could it have been the armored suit? Or was it truly how much more powerful one got from that muscle-altering gene? Andrew was not able to move—he had never experienced so much pain from one hit, not from the hupac or anything else during his training. His blood was flooding with adrenalin, but it was nothing to help him get back up.

  The Selentor shot Shul a couple more times until all that was left was an unmoving, metallic body, covered in holes the size of basketballs.

  Andrew tried to reach out to Shul’s body, but with every inch he moved, it seemed to increase the pain tenfold. His eyesight was becoming blurry, but he managed to see the Selentor approach him. The alien bent over and broke Andrew’s kneecaps as well as his shoulders. With even more pain to deal with, the human nearly fainted. He stayed awake for a few more seconds to see he was being dragged out of the laboratory, and he could see the hupac right beside him as they were both to be teleported onto a Selentor ship. The hupac didn’t look like it was breathing, let alone conscious.

  All of this had happened in about one hundred seconds.

  Chapter 18

  “Wake up.”

  Andrew was in a stupor; his sense of time and place was dull. However, he could tell that he was not lying down, but instead was being hanged by his arms. He was stirring into consciousness, but he could not fully awaken. His eyes felt heavy…as though they would never open. Every muscle in his body was so relaxed…so difficult to move…

  “Wake up, already!”