The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) (8 page)
Read The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) Online
Authors: C.A. Kunz
I finally take my eyes off the ship and look down the moving walkway. I see
that
guy staring at me, with the same smile he gave me back in the hallway. His blue eyes pierce through mine. I blush and immediately return my focus back to the ship. Why is he staring at me? This isn’t really the time for this. I glance back over at him, but he’s turned his attention away from me. I almost feel disappointed.
Stop it Kenley! This is not what you came here for. Pull yourself together, girl
, I argue with myself.
I can see the end of the moving walkway coming up ahead, and the other cadets in front of us begin to step off and walk to the right, out of my view. We empty out into what looks like a futuristic airport loading bridge. You can see the entire docking bay as you walk across the bridge. The walls are made of glass and formed into an archway, leading toward the Escadrille.
As we enter the ship, I notice the interior is massive very spacious. We all look like wide-eyed kids in a toy store while looking around. The cool color pattern on the outside of the ship continues inside with the walls being a combination of shiny dark grey and silver.
We pass through the ship’s main bridge and come to the passenger’s section. There are rows and rows of oversized plush black leather chairs that are facing each other. We’re directed by a voice over the ship’s intercom to take a seat and prepare for take-off.
I settle into my seat and immediately look for the seat belt, but there isn’t one. “Wait, there aren’t any seat belts?” I ask worriedly.
Geoffrey slides into the seat across from me. “It’s not like an airplane, Kenley. You don’t feel the take-off. If you wanted to, you could walk around the ship during launch,” he explains.
“How do you know that?” Joey asks.
“My dad builds ships for the Federation,” he replies. “He’s taken me on several test flights. This ship is easily the largest one I’ve ever been on though. I can’t wait to see what it can do.”
Suddenly, I feel a slight rumbling through the ship. “What was that?” I ask Geoffrey.
“It was probably just us taking off,” he replies with a shoulder shrug.
“No way, that was it?” Joey asks surprised.
“Like I said, these spaceships are an entirely different beast than an airplane. It’s like when you’re on a huge cruise ship and don’t feel the waves. Same principle,” he explains.
A man’s voice comes over the intercom. “We should be arriving at the Magnus Academy in approximately T-minus one hour.”
“I think I need to go walk around a bit. I’m getting a little restless,” I tell everyone as I stand up from my seat.
“Do you want me to come with?” Joey asks with slight worry in his eyes.
“No, I’ll be fine,” I reply.
“You sure?” Sam chimes in.
“Yep.”
As I begin to walk away from the passengers' section, I notice there are a lot of cadets milling about in the next area. The sign above the room reads:
observation deck
. There’s a group huddled around a large window, staring out into space. Very few people have been able to travel up here, and I’m sure for most of us aboard it’s our first time. The sight outside the window is truly spectacular and almost surreal.
I see a switch glowing bright green on the wall opposite the window everyone’s looking out of. The label just above it says:
window control
. I push it and the metal panel next to the switch slowly slides open, revealing another huge window. The view instantly takes my breath away. The stars look so bright from space. I look to the right and see Earth in the distance. It looks absolutely amazing.
“So beautiful,” I hear a male’s deep voice say behind me. I spin around and see it’s the guy from before. His face is perfection, right down to the chiseled jawline. A grin creeps across his lips as he sees me blush when our eyes meet.
“Yeah…Earth is, beautiful, isn’t it?” was all I could say.
“I guess Earth is too,” he says and grins wider, his dimples adding an extra touch. My blush deepens and I turn back around to face the window.
So he’s one of those line-user types. Is he seriously trying to flirt with me right now?
I ask myself.
“Wow, that was pretty bad. Sorry, it sounded much better in my head,” he laughs to himself. “I’m not really good at this sort of stuff. I hope I didn’t just make you feel uncomfortable.”
I turn to face him. “You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I just don’t hear compliments like that very often.”
“I find that hard to believe,” he states.
I notice his eyes shift from mine and focus on something over my right shoulder. “Look at that,” he says, pointing behind me. I turn and see a truly devastating sight. Pieces of spaceships float gracefully just outside the window, littering the area we’re traveling through. It almost looks like a ship graveyard. The haunting imagery makes me shiver, and I think of all the lives that must’ve been lost out here.
In the distance, I see the massive front end of a ship hurling through the rubble, past our position, toward Earth. It bursts into flames as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere and crashes right into our planet. I gasp and then a dead silence falls between us as we see the black area around the crash site grow in size, creeping across the surface. We look at each other, exchanging saddened glances, and turn our attention back to the scene in front of us.
“I wonder how many people were there,” I say in a reflective tone, pressing my forehead against the glass, still keeping my eyes on Earth.
“I don’t know, but I’ve got a feeling it’s only going to get worse,” he replies solemnly.
“I don’t think anyone else saw what just happened,” I state looking across the way at the group gathered around the other window.
“Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe not knowing makes you better off.”
“I guess,” I say distracted, wondering if any of the cadets onboard just lost anyone.
“You know, speaking of not knowing things. It just occurred to me that I don’t know your name.” His deep voice brought my attention back to him. I think to myself that maybe this isn’t the right time to flirt like this, but maybe he’s trying to take our minds off what just happened.
“You first.”
“Okay. My name’s Landon. Landon Shaw.”
“Shaw? You wouldn’t by any chance be related to Dominic Shaw?” I ask with one eyebrow raised.
“He’s my father,” he replies hesitantly.
“Huh, the son of war hero Dominic Shaw is standing right here in front of me.”
“So…you heard about that, huh?”
“Who hasn’t heard of the man who single-handedly led the blitz squad against the Bringers, driving them back to their planet,” I answer.
“Yeah, that’s him, but I just call him Dad.”
I get silent for a minute. He asks if he said something that upset me. I shake my head. “My brother was in your dad’s squad when they fought against the Bringers. He was killed in battle. It was his first mission.”
“I’m so sorry,” he says quietly as he places his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s okay. I’ve had some time to come to terms with it.”
“So, I’ve told you my name, what’s yours?” he asks, leaning up against the wall next to me.
“Kenley Grayson.”
“Wait, Grayson, like the scientist who created our implants? That Grayson?”
“Yep, the one and only,” I joke hollowly.
“It seems like both our dads are important to this war, huh?”
“You could say that.” I look at him with questioning eyes and ask, “So, not to be rude or anything, but what made you come over here and talk to me?”
“To be honest, you intrigue me,” he replies, returning my stare.
“I intrigue you?”
“Yeah. You didn’t seem like most of the girls I run into. You have this...I don't know...'thing' about you that intrigues me.”
“I see,” I reply and push myself away from the window.
“Sorry, that all came out wrong…like I said, I’m kind of terrible at this whole thing,” he blurts out.
I giggle.
How could he be bad at this? Has he seen himself in a mirror? He’s drop-dead gorgeous. He has to get a lot of practice. There’s just no way
, I tell myself.
“Well, I got a giggle, at least that’s something,” he says and lets out a light laugh while running his hand through his beautiful chestnut brown hair. He must be one of those guys who has no clue they’re good-looking.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did the daughter of the lead scientist behind this project end up a part of it? You’d think your father would’ve done everything in his power to keep you away from all of this.”
“Maybe it wasn’t his choice,” I reply defensively.
“Sorry, didn’t mean anything by that. I was just trying to feel you out and get to know you a little better,” he explains.
At first I don’t say anything as I lean up against the wall next to him. “He did try to stop me from doing this, but I want to fight. Besides, if I didn’t go through with this, I’d probably end up no better than my brother did. At least now with this project I might have a fighting chance.”
“Fair enough,” he replies and lets out a sigh.
We hear a commotion coming from the group of cadets looking out the opposite window. We rush over to see what all the fuss is about.
“Is that where we’re going?” I hear someone in the crowd ask.
In front of us I see a massive dark grey triangular structure floating there. It looks to be about twenty times the size of the ship we’re currently on. We seem to be heading straight toward it. “That must be the Magnus Academy,” I say under my breath.
A man’s voice comes over the intercom. “All cadets, please prepare for departure from the
Escadrille
. We will be arriving at the Magnus Academy shortly.”
“Sorry, Landon, I have to go find my friends, see you around.”
“I hope so, Ms. Grayson,” he says with a cheeky grin.
As I enter back into the passengers’ section, I hear my name called and see Joey and Sam frantically waving at me. As I make my way over to them I look back trying to find Landon, but he’s lost in the swelling crowd heading toward the exit door of the ship.
The Federation guards on board begin to round us up like cattle and move us closer to the exit hatch. We stand there, waiting for the go-ahead light to appear at the top of it, per the instructions of the voice overhead. The sound of the ship docking with the structure fills the area and we begin to hear this odd whining mechanical noise.
“Don’t worry, that’s just the passage tunnel connecting to the structure and locking into place,” Geoffrey chimes in.
I turn to look at him, the worry slowly draining from my face. “Thanks for that, I was beginning to wonder what the hell that sound was.”
“No problem. I thought I’d say something since you seemed a little tense.”
“Yeah…just a little,” I laugh nervously.
As the light turns green above the exit hatch, its door splits down the middle and both halves slide to either side. Before us lies the passage tunnel, which is made completely out of glass with a shiny metal grated floor.
A voice echoes through the ship again. “We have arrived at the Magnus Academy. Will all cadets please exit the
Escadrille
in an orderly fashion?”
As we come to the end of the tunnel, I immediately recognize one of the people standing in front of us. It’s my father again. His eyes scan the crowded corridor and finally find mine. He sends me a strained smile.
A woman with caramel-colored skin dressed in a white lab coat, like my dad’s, is standing next to him. Her jet-black hair is pulled up into a tight bun. She’s beautiful, almost model-like.
There are two other men standing on the other side of my father. One’s dressed in military garb, but it’s not from the Allied Federation. It looks like the dark blue uniforms from the U.S. military before all of this happened. He’s tall, statuesque, and stands there stiffly with his hands behind his back. He stares at us from under his dark blue beret, with a face that looks chiseled from stone. The other man looks very bookish. He’s dressed like a stuffy librarian, but has a youthful energy about him. His wire-framed glasses, which he’s constantly adjusting, add to his look.
A door opens behind the small group, and out pours six people who line up on either side of the doorway. There are three men and three women. The three men look like the driver who picked Joey and me up from the airport, except they all have different colored hair. It’s the same deal with the women. They all look like the nurse and receptionist, but with different hair colors. Must all be androids.
“Welcome to the Magnus Academy, everyone,” my dad announces, looking out at the crowd. “Please proceed to the mess hall for the opening ceremony.”
We all begin to file into the facility. As I pass my dad he reaches out and touches my shoulder. He gives me a head nod and I slightly smile back at him before continuing inside.
The area beyond the entrance was unlike anything I’ve seen before. It looks like a futuristic utopia, a perfect blending of nature and technology. The room had bright white walls, which almost seemed to be illuminated. There is a grand staircase that leads up to a second floor balcony which overlooks where we’re standing. The stairs seem to be made up of this bright neon blue light and not metal, wood, or any other solid material.
I’ve never seen that before
, I think to myself.
Off to the left is a small waterfall surrounded by all kinds of colorful foliage. There are two rows of trees that run up the center of the room, leading to a large fountain. As I pass a tree, I reach out to touch one of the leaves. My hand goes straight through it and the image of the leaf shutters.
What the? Is this all virtual reality?
I ask myself.
“Weird,” I hear Joey say beside me as he does the same thing.
Before I have a chance to reply, an Ada android appears beside me and tells us to keep up with the group. Falling back into line we continue toward the mess hall. Upon entering the large space, the first things I notice are the armed guards lined up at the front of the room, right in front of the stage and podium. My eyes grow wide with shock as I recognize the man at the podium. His face was undeniable and one I’ve seen a thousand times on television. It’s the Federation’s head general, Roman Barclay.
“Welcome, welcome. Everyone come in and take a seat,” he announces with his arms outstretched wide.
Shiny and polished white posts are scattered throughout the area in several rectangular patterns. I’m amazed when suddenly a blue light emanates from the stands, creating tabletops. The smaller white posts that sit next to the four room-length tables begin to project out the same light, forming benches.
I’m wary as I go to sit down. Feeling the blue light that makes up the bench, I find that it’s actually solid.
This is crazy,
I think as I take my seat. They seat us by region and continent, so I find myself next to Joey, Sam, Geoffrey, and Caleb. I look down the table a ways and see Landon. He sends me a little wave and I return it with a smile.
“Uh-oh, boy trouble three o’clock,” Sam whispers at me jokingly from across the table.
“Shut up,” I reply playfully. “It’s not like that.”
She laughs. “Okay, Grayson. Whatever you say.”
I give her a withering stare and her grin grows wider.
We hear the sound of someone tapping on a microphone, so we turn to look at the stage. The general clears his throat and then smiles really big, his pearly whites glistening in the lights overhead.
“I’m sure you all know who I am, so I can probably skip the introduction. This next part, though, I want to emphasize.” He pauses and looks seriously out at all of us.
A hologram of a hulking beast projects from the wall behind the general and walks up next to him. Shocked gasps sound throughout the crowd of cadets at the sight of the creature. It stands about seven feet tall, with long muscular arms that hang way below its waist. It almost has a human appearance, except for its face and the fact it’s skin is a dark purple color. The creature has two sets of eyes, an almost nonexistent nose, and four mandible-like fangs that encase its mouth.
“This is your enemy…the Bringers. Not many people have seen one of these things and lived to tell about it. This unknown race had been lying dormant for some time now, and their silence since the Shaw Blitz was worrisome. We assumed that they were prepping for something on a large scale. Well, it would seem that the devastation we’ve suffered from recently was due to falling war debris, and not direct attacks from the Bringers themselves. We’ve still yet to rule out the possibility that the Bringers were involved in some way though. These ‘attacks’ may be a part of a much bigger plan of theirs to always keep us on guard. The Bringers have proven in the past to be a malicious, cunning, and unyielding foe, decimating our soldiers without even an afterthought. So we’re inclined to believe that their next attack will be an attempt at a crippling blow. That’s where all of you come into play. You will help us hit them before they hit us. Every single one of you is an integral part to this war, and the Magnus project. You’ve committed to the ultimate sacrifice, and there are no words to describe how important you all are to Earth. You are not just representing the Allied Federation here. No, you’re representing the entire world…your world. So don’t hold back, and make us proud,” General Barclay finishes his speech and salutes us as the hologram of the Bringer fades away. We all stand and salute him back. He waves as he leaves the stage and is followed out by his group of armed guards who are dressed in all black, which is slightly different than the rest of the Federation.
The beautiful woman who was standing next to my dad at the entrance, approaches the podium with a clipboard in hand. “Hello, cadets,” she begins, “my name is Dr. Sadie Patel. I’m the head of the Fortification Division here at the Magnus Academy. But more on that later.” Her British accent is very alluring. “Now, I’m going to call you up in groups of five to receive your Artificial Intelligence partner, or as it is more commonly called, AI. They will act as your guide during your stay here at the academy. Your AI will also monitor your implant and vitals, just to ensure you’re acclimating well,” she explains and then peers down at her clipboard. “First, we’ll begin with North America. We’re doing this alphabetically by geographic region, so when you hear yours, please approach the stage. First up is Appalachian Mountains region.”
My little section stands and makes our way toward the stage. Five androids are waiting in front of us, holding what look like smooth white strips of hard plastic in their hands. The female android before me smiles awkwardly as I come to stand before her.
“Please present your right arm,” the female android says.
I send her a confused look, but still do as she asks. The android holds up the piece of plastic above my arm and then swings it downward. It slaps around my wrist, stinging a little. I flinch in pain. As I examine the piece of plastic that now has become more like a bangle, I can’t seem to find any kind of opening or release mechanism. It seems to have sealed itself.
“Please present your right arm once again,” the android requests.
I extend it out, wincing in anticipation of more pain, but instead she takes my hand gently and brings my wrist close to her. She smiles awkwardly once more. Bringing her left hand up to the bangle, her index finger opens up and reveals some kind of probe looking thing within. As it touches the band of white plastic, it begins to pulse with a faint blue light and I feel this tingling sensation in my wrist.
“Unification complete,” the android tells me.
The bangle begins to pulse again and a little blue hologram projects from it, startling me. The image resembles the nondescript figure of a man. It shutters when it speaks.
“Greetings, Grayson, Kenley. I am called Galileo.”
“Hi,” I reply hesitantly.
“Hi…searching database for
hi
…an informal greeting used in place of greetings like
hello
…adding to vocabulary.”
This should be interesting, I think to myself.
“Now, if you five will follow Ada 26, she will give you a brief tour of the facility and then show you to your living quarters,” Dr. Patel explains, pointing to an android standing over by the entrance of the mess hall.
While walking through the facility, I find myself faced with technology that I never dreamed could be possible. I’m continuously in awe as we enter each new area.
Ada 26 stops in front of a large window looking into what appears to be a classroom of some sort. Beyond the classroom is another room, but the lights are off and I can’t make out what it looks like.
“This is one of the three training classrooms in the facility. All of your Fortification exercises will be discussed and practiced within this room,” Ada 26 explains. “Moving along.”
“Fortification exercises? I ask Joey.
“Maybe it has something to do with our implants,” he replies.
“Please keep up,” we hear Ada 26 call out to us as we lag a little behind, still staring into the training room.
Joey puts his arm around my shoulder and proceeds to act like a robot while whispering mockingly. “Please keep up.” We both chuckle and catch up with the rest of the group.
Reaching the second floor balcony, which looks over the entrance to the facility, we peer down the main staircase and see that the stairs are comprised of the same solid blue light that the tabletops and benches are.
The hallway in front of us, across the balcony, has a sign above the entryway that reads:
living quarters
. As we walk down the hallway we pass many doors labeled with a letter followed by a number. The doors are very unique in that they’re circular in shape.
