Eye of the Storm: Sanity's Reqiuem
Posted By: Ashur<teleblaze@hotmail.com>
Date: 27 January 2003, 11:28 pm
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It was a cold, hard day on Babylon X. The trees spiraled across the landscape as Master Chief looked out of his blood red eyes. The landscape was interesting; it looked like a dragon's wing lay softly upon an inextricable fusion of snowy oaks and the blanket of frost that lay over the terrain. But the terrain was a façade, the grounds were harsh and the metal monsters ? the scorpion tanks, warthogs and APCs ? crossed slowly as they battled against the icy rocks that lay beneath the white veil.
The humans had set up camp not far from a Covenant military base. Most of the marine soldiers were gregariously playing poker and other card games while others were pacing around the Romanesque-styled houses. They lay in a circular formation and there were at least thirty houses. A stockade had been set up around the camp and cyborg sentries had been posted all around the camp.
Master Chief swiftly moved his head towards a small communications tower being set up, leaving a cold wind where his head once was. He remembered the last time he had been on Babylon X. It was back in the human year of 3378 when Babylon X was going through its Desert Solstice period, where the planet scorched like the sun was directly upon it. As he thought in deep muse he went into a reverie of talking to a scientist.
"Babylon X is one of the universe's most unique planets. You see, it has a complex biological system allowing its inhibitors to adapt to the most extreme situations. It uses a different genetic material that the human's have named ENA. This abbreviation states for Elemental Nucleic Acid. It is a very basic name but because biology died out some thousand years ago we haven't made much advancement. Just now has the Universal Society of Biology been revived to continue the research in this confusing science.
See, the problem is that Babylon X goes through what Grax has named 'Solstice periods' in which the planet somehow dramatically changes climate and plunges into an extreme depression. We haven't yet figured out why this happens but we do know that because ENA is innately in Babylon X's inhabitants cells that they can adapt. However, humans have to come at exactly the right time to avoid Babylon X's heavy extremes. We call these the 'Eye of the Storm' periods because the planet changes from an extremely, uninhabitable [for humans] state to a somewhat habitable state. I cannot recall the myriads of military expeditions that have been failed or called off because of malformed calculations on these 'Eye of the Storms.'"
As the scientist's explanation ended, Master Chief began to regain consciousness. He found himself in a Red Cross facility. As he stared around he noticed a female nurse with beautiful blonde hair that cascaded down her petite shoulders. She was wearing a white dress that had been the default for thousands of years with a Red Cross badge over her right breast. She had crystal blue eyes that seemed to peer into him and a distinct look that he would never forget.
Looking elsewhere around the room, he saw many medical tools. Stunned by the sheer amount of knowledge the doctors and nurse must possess to operate all these tools, he let out a sigh.
Stunned by the sigh, the nurse quickly turned around. She was attending to another patient who lay suspended by thin metal wire. His bed looked cold and was ultimately a block of hard plastic with a metal top. A metal light shone over him and bandages covered his scar-imbued face.
"Oh, hello Master Chief! Welcome back to reality. Some men found you near Ralfor's Cliffs and brought you here immediately. Are you injured? Do you feel alright?"
Master Chief was a little overwhelmed that he had fainted while in his daydream. "Yes, I am fine. I must have fainted during my daydream. It was at Babylon X's desert solstice and he was explaining to me about ENA and biology. I'm not sure why I fainted but I do thank you for your care and please award the men who took the precaution to bring me here. I will take my leave now."
With that, Master Chief got up and panted a little. There was a soft mattress under him and a few layers of cotton covers over him. Master Chief chucked and thought to himself, 'I'm no child.' He then pushed the covers onto the floor and put his left foot down on the metal floor, then proceeded to walk out of the facility.
As he exited the Red Cross facility he spotted a small, geeky man running towards him. The man's square glasses dropped and he fell on the hard ice that lay under the camp. He felt around for at least a minute until he found them, put them on, and continued to run.
"Master Chief! Scouts have reported Covenant military mobilizations. We think they may have spotted us. Our communications tower has been malfunctioning and been sending out vivacious signals all over the place. General Grax wants to meet with you immediately on the commanding deck!"
"Thank you, name?" The small man replied, "I am Johnson O'Minhir, sir." "Yes, thank you Johnson and keep up the good work! I'll report to the deck immediately."
Master Chief was a little stunned that their communications satellite had been malfunctioning. It was brand new and sent in from USA's top research facility, Cyrex Corporation. Nevertheless, he walked towards the cavern that would lead him down to the commanding deck.
As he approached the facility, he felt a surge of power fly over him. He quickly looked up to see a massive plasma ball fly over the camp. "Damnit!" he shouted, "A plasma tank!" He began to run towards the warthogs when he saw three plasma grenades descend into the vehicle facility and the encampment explode in a kaleidoscope of fiery splendor. He watched the horrific explosion and then ran to the weapon's department.
"Assault Rifle, Pistol, Now!" he shouted. A middle-aged marine man threw him both and he caught it and ran out just to be greeted by a Covenant Hunter-.
Part II Coming Soon
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