B.16567 (the starship)

Before she even knew where she was, Zadra perceived that something was terribly wrong. As she slowly lifted her pale eyelids, painful white light strained her eyes. Once this new world started to fade itself into view, she realized she was trapped beneath a thin layer of glass, lying on something comfortable enough to be classified as a bed. At first, a chill of panic struck through her. Zadra didn't like tight spaces. Not one bit. She banged as hard as she could on the glass, hoping someone would hear her, but stopped herself once she saw the lock on the side. Shaking, she pulled it and moved the capsule glass to the left side of the bed. She was stunned to find herself in a tiny cell blocked by thick, other-worldly blue glass. Was this some sort of high-tech prison? She wasn't surprised. After all, there were a million things she could have been arrested for.

Dragging her barefoot feet off of the bed on to the cold floor, Zadra started to take note of her surroundings. Through the glass, she could see other cells like hers. It seemed as though they were all lined up one by one in this creepy bright hallway. It was like she was in some sort of videogame. As she rubbed her eyes, trying to awake herself from her long slumber, she noticed something black printed on her left forearm. She was a little frightened, as she didn't remember getting a tattoo there before. She scanned her arm, and with much bewilderment, she concluded that there was some form of ancient egyptian hieroglyphics printed on her body. It looked as though it had been stamped on. She wondered if it was permanent.

Making her way to the blue glass that contained her, Zadra pounded her fist unto it, but recoiled, as the glass was colder than ice. She started to get antsy. The cave-like silence was starting to get annoying. She continued to peer through the glass, and after a moment, rested her eyes on another girl who looked straight at her. The small girl had curly blonde hair just like hers, and she wore some sort of sheet-hospital gown. Zadra looked down, noticing she had the same one as well. The two stared at each other, as though they were looking into the unknown. They seemed to be asking unanswerable questions to each other. Their eyes shrugging in confusion. Suddenly, Zadra's vision of the girl became blurred. As if out of nowhere, a thick gas was surrounding the young woman's cell, blocking her out of view. The last Zadra saw of her was her hand sliding down the glass. She had been gassed.

Zadra started to think fast, knowing the same would eventually happen to her. And sure enough, small holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling started to appear around her. Before the thick green gas could spray her down, she jumped back unto the capsule bed, and shut the glass door, keeping her safe from harm. She breathed heavily in relief and waited until the smog cleared up. Once the gas was gone and the around the cell closed, she reopened the door. She jumped out and stared back into the girl's space. The lady was on the floor, presumbly knocked out. Zadra prayed she wasn't dead. She peered out into the hallway, seeing the shadows of figures coming towards her. Using her instincts, she dropped unto the cold floor, pretending to be dead. She watched the scene unfold through the tiny slits of her eyelids.

The glass door of the girl's door was opened, and her limp body was placed on another rolling bed-thing. Zadra started to think that maybe this wasn't a prison, but rather a high-tech hospital. She payed attention to the people who had placed the girl on the bed, and once they turned around, Zadra was shocked to see that they weren't people at all. These creatures had the body-like structure of a human, only their arms and legs were more slender, and their shoulders broader. None of their heads had a speck of hair on them, and they barely had pupils, just white voids of eye. She braced herself as she could see the outlander come closer, scanning something that looked like a key card just outside her cell. The glass slid open, and before she knew it, Zadra was lying down in another bright white room, surgical tools all around her.

From up close, she could barely see that these aliens had a morbid blue tint to their bodies, as though they had frostbite. Her eyes tightly closed, she could hear the whispers of these creatures around her. There seemed to be three of them. They had a strange language that she couldn't understand as anything from earth.
From the little slit in her eyes as she squinted, all Zadra could see was needles, needles, and more needles. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to go well for her. Nothing happened until about 10 minutes later, when another one of the blue species walked in. After that, the creatures got closer to Zadra, and from the corner of her eye, she could make out one of them holding a needle filled with a fluorescent colored blue liquid. Without a doubt, she knew in a matter of seconds that sharp needle was going straight into her body. She held her breath, waiting for the pain, but instead of pushing in the needle gently, the creature stabbed it into her right forearm, causing her to make a loud, piercing scream. She had blown her cover.

For a second, her and the creatures looked at each other confusingly. They were stunned and almost shocked, while Zadra was wondering what to do next. On instinct, she leaned over and pinned the closest creature to the ground, depriving him from air. She pushed her hands down hard on his neck, and as he squirmed, she noticed he had sharp, shark-like teeth. She knew the creature had plans to bite her hands off of his throat. Before he could do so, she inspected some sort of gun strapped in a holster around his waist. Instantly, she pointed the gun at the creatures head and pulled the trigger. Besides killing and making a hole through the creatures head, it splattered a purple blacklight sort of paint across the ground, as if a glowstick had exploded. Zadra silently cursed, for fear that clear evidence would be displayed across the room. She ducked behind the bed, hearing the creatures's guns shoot at her. She could see their 'bullets' splatter across the wall behind her. It was like paintball, only deadly. In a matter of minutes, she quickly shot the three aliens, leaving splatters of colored light on the bare white walls.

Zadra changed out of her hospital gown, and put on one of alien's uniform. It was a chestnut color with two vertical orange stripes across the chest and sides of legs. She knew it wouldn't be much of a disguise, but it could help. She pulled the tight sleeves up, and noticed the soft blue luminescent light glowing underneath her skin. She realized it was in the exact place where the alien had poked the needle into her arm. She didn't think any of it, until she pulled her left sleeve up. The black ink said #13576.

She cringed in confusion. For some reason, Zadra could make out the hieroglyphics that surrounded the room. She knew exactly what they said, and she knew how to pronounce them. Did the blue liquid clear her blindness or something? Was this some sort of dream? Although she was more confused as before, Zadra scanned the room for clues and information on where she was. Once she was done investigating, she searched the creatures for the card key that opened her door. If reinforcements were to come, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance.

In the uniform, Zadra walked down the hallway, eyeing the test subjects. She stood in the middle of the hallway, and shouted.
"Alright, i'm going to unlock everyone's door now. Everyone who is willing to fight, come with me, while those who want to stay, remain in this room."
She waited for replies, but nobody answered or turned around to face her. She speculated that the cells must have been sound proof. Sighing, she knew she would have to pick out who would fight with her by herself. She slowly walked down the hallway, waiting for someone to bang on their glass for her to release them. If they were smart enough to see that she had a card in her hand, they were smart enough to come with her.

Jack knew he was in trouble. So what else was new? Not long ago he had been brought back to his cell. he wondered what had been done to him this time. maybe I has injected with poisons again? not unlikely given what else had happened. he opened his capsule and tried to climb out when a surge of pain rippled throughout his body. He took a sharp intake of breath and fell to the floor. " Ok, that hurts worse then last time. I feel like I'm being pulled inside out!" Jack begins to say some not so nice things as he tries to get t o his feet. which one was this know? test number 23 I guess. . . I think I've lost track. he finally props himself against one of the walls of his cell and looks out the glass at the other cells. did the others get tested as much as he did? he couldn't guess since he was never awake when he was taken out.

Jack closed his eyes and finally started to relax. he began to focus on the pain in his body. soon he was forcing the pain submission til it faded into numbness. shivering f Rom the effort, he took in a deep breath and sighed with relief. after the first few experiments Jack began to realize he was more then human know, it started with his senses. being able to see tiny details or hear his own blood beating through his veins. he was almost driven mad by the constant sound. next came his strength. In frustration Jack had begun hammering his fists into the walls of his cell, creating many cracks and even small craters. what scared him the most was when he saw his veins and nerves turn black and purple, so had his blood. he got over the fear of becoming a monster what seemed to him like years ago, then again. one tends to loose track of time when locked up.

Getting up and cracking his neck. Jack slaps his cheeks a little to wake up. he looks at his right for arm and saw his identity in this prison. he was subject #12170. looking at his other arm he saw a name carved into his flesh so it scared. . . his name. "Jack Strife. . . . " he went back to his bed and decided to rest for know. . .not much he could do anyway. He got up suddenly, sensing something happening outside. Jack quickly got up and ran to the glass and looked out. not far down the hall he saw three of the blue freaks go into a cell. must be a new one he thought to himself, that or someone's getting tested on. he was in shock and awe when he saw a girl in one of the freaks jumpsuits walk out. it looked like she tried to say something, Jack shook his head. "can't hear you" he stopped when he noticed that she had. . . .holy. . . she had a key?! Jack's eyes almost bugged out of his head as he desperately tried to wave her over and let him out. finally Jack thought. a chance to get out of this nightmare. he just hoped she student leave him due to his. . . "special traits".

Will had been there for awhile when it happened. First the weapon fire, then the woman. Will walked out towards the glass, looking at the girl. Processing the situation, he chose his words carefully. Staying calm and being cautious had become a bit of a habit for him, though really, he would love to have fun and be care-free. He still had all of his clothes, excluding his shoes and socks. He was wearing green cargo pants, and a black long sleeve shirt.

Then it occurred to him she would have said something by now, and the cell was sound proof. But it didn't matter. With the Aliens gone, he had a chance. He focused on his door, the circuitry, the power, the mechanisms. He put a good amount of effort into it. It was his will that it was to be opened.

And it did.

He walked out, and looked at her. "Names Will, by any chance are you planning an escape?"

Suddenly, there was a noise from behind her. Zadra pointed her new weapon at the source, aiming for one of the glass prison doors. A man with a long black sleeve shirt walked out, and glared at her. She put her gun back down to her side, and he said simply, "Names Will, by any chance are you planning an escape?"

"How the fu-..." she said astonished, confused, and a little bit skeptical. She suspended her amazement, and focused on the man's question. "Y-yes, of course i'm escaping. What the hell do you think i'm doing?"

A sound came from behind her. A man with jet black hair was waving for her attention. She nodded, acknowledging him, and started to figure out how to open the door. "Like it or not, Will, you're coming with me. There's something important in the room down this hallway......Name? Dammit, what is this?!" Zadra flipped the card over, revealing a picture of the predator she had killed. The strange symbols for his name were imprinted into the card. She punched the letters into the security system, and the door to the man's cell opened with ease.

"C'mon." She gestured to the two as she led them down the hallway.

Jack breathed in sharply as the woman opened the door. "well, doesn't smell like freedom yet..." he nods at the woman and the man standing next to her. he eyes the man's gloves curiously for a second then brings his gaze back the them both. " Jack Strife at your service." he smiled showing unusually sharp and pointed teeth. his black and purple veins became more visibly now outside his cell. one would have to be blind to miss the contrast between them and his pale skin. he cracked his neck making strange piping sounds be for looking around at the other cells. they still want to feel safe and hope it will end in time. . . can't afford to wait. it's either stay and die or move and survive. Jack defiantly wanted to survive.

the woman gestured for them to follow as she advanced down the hallway. "C'mon." Jack turned to the other guy and shrugged. he followed up behind her, tens and vigilant, not knowing what might happen know. it sure is better then being in that same cell.

Justin sat slumped in his cell, his knees up to his chest and his head tucked over the edge of them, concentrating hard on all the memories that flooded his mind. What is real? he asked himself internally. But no answer ever came to question. He knew he'd been on this ship for months... He knew his name was Justin... But short of that he knew nothing about himself. Where had he come from? No Idea. He answered himself. What did he do before all this? No idea. he answered himself again. Most of Justin's time outside of testing was spent sifting through all the memories he'd absorbed from all the people and beings he was forced to touch... Unfortunately for him every memory he had was from the perspective of the person he touched, effectively every memory he had was like his own memory.. He only knew how to sift through the most current memories because he'd come in contact with those people and begun to remember them and when he touched them... That and the alien's memories... Afterall... Their memories always involved, or at least, mostly involved, things Justin wasn't familiar with.

Justin sighed deeply and gripped his test-subject issued pants in frustration. "Why do you keep doing this to me!?" he begged to no one. Justin stood up, heaving deeply and cursed loudly but to no avail.. It was no use. He knew these cells were sound proof. He turned around, paced quietly as he waited and bided his time. He contemplated often, like he did almost every waking second, trying to escape. But something in the back of his mind told him he couldn't do it just yet.... Unsure why he had that feeling, Justin never seemed to question it. It was like his former life was trying to break through whatever it was that caused him to forget.

Justin banged his fist hard against the solid glass door to his cell and slumped down to the ground in silent defeat. "I just want to leave.." He whispered to himself, "Forget this and remember who I was..." Justin wasn't really concentrating when he realised there was movement outside the cells. Instinctively Justin recoiled, fear getting the better of him. He stood quickly and moved to the back of his cell, quickly ripping his gloves from his hands holding them out defensively; a tactic he had learnt kept his captors at bay... Most of his abductors attempted not to touch Justin at any cost... His ability to absorb memories of those he touched was not only draining on him, but those he touched, but more so for his abductors, potentially dangerous... Not that he had found anything of great deal out about the aliens since his ability kicked in, but the potential was too dangerous for them to allow the possibility happening.

But as Justin raised his hands outwards to ward of the aliens he soon realised it was a man walking past his cell. He in turn was followed by two others, a woman and another man, more extraordinarily they were alone, not accompanied by the ships inhabitants. "WAIT!" Justin called out in vain, remembering suddenly these cells were soundproof. Justin ran forward and began to beat against the cell wall, hoping that the three would notice him calling to them; "WAIT! WAIT!"

"All right, we should probably get going then. I don't see any Cameras, but Cameras are easy to hide...they could be watching us now...". Thats when he noticed one of the Alien weapons, just knocked on the floor and slipped outside during the fight. He picked it up, and then began checking the other cells. I few of them were empty, not from the others, these were different cells. Probably being experimented on. He looked in each one, but did not see them. He sighed, and went back to where the woman went.

As she was opening the door, something occurred to Will. "Wait, how do you know there are not going to be more aliens behind that door?". Naturally, as soon as the door opened, there was in fact an alien standing there. Will, in a quick reaction, wanted it to die. He quickly changed this to suffocate however; willing something to die was extremely harder then just willing them to suffocate to death. Its the difference between a whole body and the specific muscle group(s).

So, it began to suffocate, in front of them. As if it was choking on something, but nothing. And then it died. Will, unsure how the others would react, dismiss it as "That was lucky. Lets go!".

Thats when he thought he heard banging. "I think someone else back there wants to get out and come with us....."

Justin wasn't the only one screaming for help. Ever since Tabitha saw the chance for escaping, she didn't stop beating, scratching and kicking against the wall while screaming with all her force. Nobody could be sure what did she say, but it was clear what she wanted. From time to time she stopped for a second in order to take a breath. Tabitha continued screaming afterwards. It seemed like her life turned over to the positive side, when the young woman saw Zadra, Jack and Will outside the cages, but her paranoia and nervousness caused her to break down when she noticed that they may not notice her.
"HELP! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE ANY MORE!" She continued screaming like mad. The cells were soundproof and she knew that, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to join the group of freedom.

Jack followed the others, taking the rear. his eyes narrowed when he saw that alien suffocate. their was nothing wrong, would of been able to hear something choking the alien. no time to think about it know I guess. one thing was certain was that assent luck. when he headed will say another one wanted out Jack turned on his heel and faced the mans cell, he then noticed a woman trying desperately to get their attention. "make that two, the keys to slow though. . . we need to move know." he motioned for them to stand back and did the same for the two in their cells. Jack pied his arms back and tensed concentrating on them. it was time he tested his new "gift" his captors had given him.

Jack shot an arm out at both the cells, as he did so black and purple tinted tentacle shot out from his fore arms and pierced into the edges of the cell doors. pulling his arms back, the tentacles retracted while pulling the doors clean of with a loud fringing and screeching, ripping sound. he roses the doors down and flexed his arms as he retracted the tentacles back into bis arms. he noticed that the four of them where staring at him in aw. Jack gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. " hahaha. . . yah. . . um. . . they kind of turned me into a monster. . . ." please don't freak out to much. not likely but he could hope.

Angrily, Zadra grabbed Will by the shirt collar. "YOU IDIOT!!! YOU JUST KILLED IT WITHOUT THINKING OF HOW IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SENT HERE!!! I don't know if you know, but those aliens send TELEPATHIC MESSAGES to each other. That thing probably came in here wondering why there was no signal in this room. Thanks to YOU, if somebody knew that thing was coming into the room, they'll know it's dead, sending reinforcements." she let go of him, throwing him down to the floor. "Next time, don't do anything without my permission."

Zadra knew about the alien's telepathic messages thanks to the liquid in her bloodstream. She didn't possess the full power of mind reading, but she did know when messages were being sent. The aliens seemed to be connected by some sort of psychic bond. She knew she was being harsh on will, but the cold sould inside of her didn't feel guilty. She was a naturally bossy person.

She heard a ripping sound behind her, and saw jack standing there between two glass doors that were cleanly ripped off of their hinges. " hahaha. . . yah. . . um. . . they kind of turned me into a monster. . . ."
"I'm sure they did" she replied sarcastically. "Whatever, just c'mon! We have to get to the surgical room before more aliens come..."
Zadra threw the card behind her, and it landed on the floor. She ran to the door of the surgical room, and it opened. She proceeded into the room, making her way to a device with a screen that was similar to a computer. She started to boot it up, and glanced down at the four aliens still dead on the ground.
"While i'm booting this piece of crap up, you guys might want to check them for loot. Found a gun and other useful things on the one."

Jack noded and event to look around. he found dead aliens in what had been Zadra' s cell. he picked Jennifer's one and peeled off its suit. he first mad a slit in the back of it for his own reasons and then put it on. he didn't like the coloring it had but this w a sent the time to complain. he knew he had chosen right when he found the arms and legs to be baggy. perfect for him since he'd need the room. Jack then hooked on one of the belts and holstered one of the guns. " guess this will do." turning around, he gets an idea. he starts rummaging around and picking up ruler lengths of metal. he began to squeeze one end of each using his enhanced strength to bend them into handles. Jack then let's out a tentacle from his Palm and whips it at the other ends of the bars, cutting them down to jagged sharp edges and lethal points. " . . .And presto! we have improvised daggers." he sticks all 6 into his belt.

Jack starts up and down the hall looking into the cells as if any others had waited for the last call. he wondered if he should just ripe down all the doors and cause a mess down here before they left so the freaks would have to deal with it enforcement at them. might work, then again it might not. "Damon, not many options here. . . ." he takes out one of his daggers and starts scraping a wall trying to think of what they might do anyway what should be made their first course of action.

Tony:

Tony was in a cell near the surgical room. He had finished a fight recently and was recuperating from a very minor operation. He had fought a subject who had it's body modified into almost living weapon, blades mostly. Tony killed it but his leg got cut a bit so the aliens patched it up with some cell regeneration. The process was quick but they always liked to keep him under watch afterwords to see if the man had any physical reactions to the regeneration.

For some reason the alien left the room in a rush, which confused Tony a bit. He heard talking in another room, fortunately his cell wasn't sound proof or else the aliens couldn't hear him scream when his body reacted to something. The man began to punch the center of the glass door with his mechanical arm repeatedly. The pain was incredible as he used all of his strength and the artificial nerves made it feel as if the skeleton was breaking. After the fourteenth hit the glass broke. Tony stuck his arm through, cutting up the artificial flesh in the process, and typed in the password to the door on the side. He had memorized that code for the many years he had stayed there though he had memorized many things also. The door opened so he continued his way to the next room where he heard the voices.

When the door opened he saw five humans in the room. Some were armed. They must have been what scared off the doctor. He thought to himself as he walked over to the one with the knives. He needed to cut that flesh off his right arm so that the pain didn't get in the way. "I need one those knives you have." He told the other human.

Thankfulness... This is what embraced Tabitha's heart after she was released. Finally... the end was near...
Tabitha followed everyone else and was about to thank Jack, but her vision got blurred... and in the next moment she wasn't in the prison any more. She was in a cartoon environment - everything was drawn.

A beige anthropomorphic dog with black ears and nose jumped in front of her. "Hey, Snappy! Are you ready for your next episode?" She talked to him in a tender voice.

As everyone were in the room, Tabitha was tapping Jack on his head. "Aren't you a good boy? What do you want to do in the episode? Do you want to munch a toy that turns out to be the mail man's voodoo doll? Or perhaps for the first time you'll talk! Right, Snappy?" Tabitha squeezed her eyes and opened them slowly. Her savior was in front of her. She looked at him with a shocked look in her eyes and hugged him out of sudden. She whispered something that wasn't very clear. It sounded like 'Thank you...'

"I need one those knives you have." a man said and took Tabitha's attention.

Jack had been scratching on the wall out of boredom till he had walked back out of his cell. He noticed the girl he had recently let out had walked up to him. "Hey, Snappy! Are you ready for your next episode?" She talked to him in a tender voice. he blinked in surprise. excuse me? his face scrunched up in a puzzled look. Then she started patting his head. "Aren't you a good boy? What do you want to do in the episode? Do you want to munch a toy that turns out to be the mail man's voodoo doll? Or perhaps for the first time you'll talk! Right, Snappy?" Jack's face flushed an unnatural purple color from the strange praise. ok, why dose she think I'm a dog? How badly was she tested on? before he could speak she closed her eyes and then looked at him in shock, then embraced him. Jack blinked in surprise then heard here whisper softly. "thank you...." even though she had mumbled it, Jack heard it as clear as day. He smiled warmly and put an arm around her for comfort. How long had it been since he last had any actual human contact? He disclosed the thought as his body began for feel warm for the first time since he r remembered getting to this he'll.

Jack whispered " it's ok know . . . . Week get you out of here. . . " he then heard Someone walk up from behind and saw a new guy. Where did he come crime? More importantly, how did he get out of his cell? Best ask questions later I guess since he's here know. The ma n gets straight to the point."I need one those knives you have." Jack nodded. Pulled on out and handed it to him while Jack held it by the blade.

Zadra rolled her eyes at the crazy woman. She was most likely having hallucinations. "How did i end up in this?" she muttered under her breath. With one final press of a button, a green hologramic screen popped in front of her. The strange writing from before was written all over the screen, the same writing that was imprinted on everyone's forearms.

"Alright, so i managed to recover some of the data from this ship," Zadra projected to everyone in the room. She motioned for them to come near as she spoke,

"This manned spacecraft is in control of the Zedasian galactic exploration league. The identification code of this ship is B.16567. Life-forms from various planets have been taken to be used for scientific research, testing, and enhancement. These planets include Andromeda, Tumus, Krylistian, Quanthium, Elysia, Chronin, Brio, so on, so on, so on....and EARTH. Authorizing director and commander of operations.... Xelius Pyro."
She turned to the ones behind her, a malicious grin on her face. "Looks like we aren't the only life-forms that want to smash Xelius Pyro's face into his skull."
With a snicker, she turned back to the screen.
"The main purpose and objective of this sight is to test and enhance life-forms so that...."

Zadra abruptly stopped in mid-sentence. She flicked her eyes toward one of the doors. Almost instantly, the screen flicked off, and an alarm started to sound in the room.
"Shit," she muttered.

"Everyone, grab your weapons, the reinforcements are coming," she said, pulling her gun from a strap on her belt. "Don't know how capable everyone is on fighting for your lives, so good luck, and don't die."

Zadra pointed her gun at the door where they would be approaching. They weren't in the room yet, but she could sense an army of them coming.

Justin stepped back and sighed in quiet relief when suddenly his cell door was ripped away. "Thank you..." he said earnestly as he cleared his throat and stepped out into the hallway, cautiously putting his gloves back on his hand. He just nodded to the rest and quietly introduced himself as Justin before following them onwards into another room.

Justin waited patiently, although nervous and confused about what was going on, he listened patiently and watch curiously as these survivors and escapees worked within their own mindsets to begin their processes of breaking out. Curiously though, it seemed while everyone was working together, they all had their own ideas on how they were going to survive. Justin nodded in quiet agreement at how some of them immediately began to dissect the computers, and hack into the alien's systems, and shrugged in agreement as one of them made weapons.

Justin moved through the small group, an almost vacant smile across his face as he pushed himself to be standing next to Zadra. He watched her curiously as she worked her way through the system, "Can.. Can you understand their language?" He asked curiously. Justin's question was quickly quashed when the girl who was released at the same time as him went into some sort of delusion. Justin just watched for a moment, a small grimace across his face showed he'd seen other abductees like her before, and in fact, Justin had a memory or two absorbed from people who went into hallucinations... Justin didn't like thinking about those memories... They weren't the most pleasant.

His train of thought was suddenly broken though when another man unannounced join the little team, his arm was torn revealing machinery-like appendages underneath. Justin's eyes widened at the recognition of the man.. He didn't know he who was per se, but Justin knew he'd been here at least as long as Justin had.

Suddenly the woman who had formulated this groups escape spoke "Alright, so i managed to recover some of the data from this ship." She went on to explain that they were part of some sort of galaxy wide experimentation program, reeling off names of planets that Justin surprisingly was familiar with... Although not exactly personally familiar, he did pertain some memories from a few alien planets, and their names stuck with Justin as the woman reeled them off. Justin looked around the group as the woman spoke and mentioned the name "Xelius Pyro" but it didn't really mean anything to him. He noticed how a few members of this group were obviously fighters... Justin was not one of them. He was grateful he wasn't, it seemed for now, going to have to kill anyone to get off the damned floating prison.

The woman stopped her information session suddenly as an alarm rang out all around them, "Everyone, grab your weapons, the reinforcements are coming," she said, pulling her gun from a strap on her belt. "Don't know how capable everyone is on fighting for your lives, so good luck, and don't die."

Justin froze for a moment, a moment of panic rushed over him, "It would be better to lay down and wait for them to come, don't put up a fight" he reasoned internally with himself. But as he heard the alarm ring louder and the approaching steps of the reinforcements Justin's mind twitched for lack of better words and a brief memory of him trying to escape flooded his immediate thoughts and suddenly Justin's fear at escaping left his body immediately, replaced with the need for escape and the commitment to do anything that he needed to make sure it happened.

Justin ran to the door of the room they were in and pressed himself against the wall on one side, removing a glove from one of his hands. Readying himself for a fight. He may not be able to force their pursuers and captors back with physical enhancements, but Justin was able to read their memories upon touch... Doing so he could render at least one of them unconcious and there might be a small chance he could help the group find their way out in the process to getting to their next escape destination.

Tabitha grabbed a gun so she could be able to defend herself. As Zadra said, 'Good luck and don't die.' The fact that death is on the list of possibilities scared the brown-haired woman to death. Her hand was shaking madly while holding the alien gun. Not to mention that she has never shot with a gun at all. However, there was no time for fear.

There was no time for not being able to see enough, but that happened to Tabitha - she was barely able to see silhouettes. What now? How could she be able to see who is an alien and who is one of the escaped? Not to mention the waiting - the pressuring expectation made her breathe deeper. Her heart was pounding. She didn't know if there was time to tell everyone to be careful because of her sight. It seemed to her like there was plenty of time. Her mind was screaming like she has been waiting for an hour. Probably another one has passed. And maybe 15 more minutes... Tabitha's knees started shaking.

Everything happened in her head in 20 seconds.

For about 20 seconds, everything seemed to stand still. Zadra looked around, surprised to see everyone deep in thought. She was especially surprised about the man numbered #10056, who ran right to the door and pressed himself up to the wall. Whether he could handle the reinforcements at the door or not, she thought this man either had guts or was just plain crazy. She had always thought not to get too close to enemies, unless they'd get close to you. (that's where close combat comes in)
She decided to keep an eye on him.

Suddenly, Zadra could feel telepathic signals pick up. They were getting closer and closer every time she took a breath. They were coming in 5......4.......3......2...........1.

As soon as it opened, Zadra made a wild shot at the door. Luckily, the bullet struck right through one of the Zedasian's heads. There was a little bit of shock between them, and then the aliens situated themselves, and the battle began. Zadra used the same strategy before; ducking under the table and shooting from behind. From the looks of it, there seemed to be about 10-14 aliens in the room. For Zadra, it wasn't too bad, but she wondered what it was like for others.

After Jack had handed the blade over to the newcomer he heard Zadra say to get ready for an attack. He grinned and quickly pulled back his arms like before and caused inky, black and purple masses to.swell up on his arms and pour out the slit in his back. His armed became a tangle of black tendrils as the ones on his back seemed to fuse with his hair making it seem several lengths longer and possessed for it never touched the ground. "Let them come...." Jack grins as he cracked his neck and loosened his shoulders.

As the brief 20 seconds passed Jack took in deep breaths. Time seemed to slow and every slight sound he heard echoed in his head.

Then the door opened and aliens poured into the room. Not before Zadra shot one down blindly. Right after the freaks got themselves together Jack strikes. He lashes out wait all three groups of his tentacles which snare, wrap, and impale three of the Zedasians. Jack laughs as he begins to ripe the three bodies apart and fling the pieces back at the others to demoralize them. Well this is turning out to be more interesting then I imagined. Jack grinned wildly as he began to support the others by blocking shots with his tentacles, after all he could grow more in no time.

Justin felt the tension within room begin to escalate as everyone took their defensive position around the room, and as he felt each of his new found 'friends' begin to fall silent in preparation for the oncoming attack, he pulled his second glove from his hand and braced himself for the onslaught of what was to come. Every possible bad outcome sped through his head a thousand miles per hour. Every bad scenario that could happen, every death that could be... Yet for some unknown reason Justin stuck his ground and couldn't help but think about what cool air felt like, and how much he longed to feel it again... It was one of the only memories, if you could call it that, that he remembered about earth.

Twenty seconds passed as Justin though about freedom and suddenly a gun shot rung out through the room and an alien attacker dropped to the ground before the silence was truly broke. Justin heard a whooshing noise and suddenly saw tentacle like appendages rush forth and promptly begin to dismember three other aliens. Justin gulped in terror as the bits that were left intact of the Zedasians were hurled back into their still living comrades. Justin stayed up against the wall as the Zedasians made their way into the room. As the group rushed forward, taking their prospective humans on, Justin followed the last two of the would be attackers and firmly grasped the backs of their necks.

Everything went dark for a moment as Justin's power took hold. Silence encapsulated his mind again as each Zedasian's memory competed against one another for Justin's attention as he read their thoughts and memories that they held most important to them at the time...

Suddenly a cool air filled Justin's lungs as he opened his eyes and saw two great moons high in the sky above him. The dark night was warm, and he was standing in a field of deep lush grass. The feeling of the air across his face made him feel at home, and as he turned around he caught the eye of a beautiful, blue-skinned woman dressed in light fitting clothes. Her eyes were white and to Justin, unnerving, but to the man who's memory he was seeing, she was the most beautiful creature to ever exist. Justin called out across the field "Tyvia" and the woman raced forward, jumping into his arms. They embraced and for a moment Justin felt the world stop.

Suddenly the memory faltered and Justin found himself sitting in a cold dark room. It was lit by only the glow of the various computer screens and the like around him. Justin found himself quiet, reserved and almost frightened of the man before him as he introduced himself as Xelius Pyro. He stood firm and strong in stature as he began to relay his plans to the group around them. Justin himself tried to listen intently, but it appeared that the real owner of this memory, while intimidated by the men and women around him, was also incredibly bored, as though he'd heard this all before, so he tuned out and began to nod off to sleep. Justin heard nothing, but soon was snapped out of his drowsiness when an alarm began to resound in the dark room around him. Suddenly commands were being shouted and Justin was commanded to take a group of other aliens and hunt down the escapees. He was moving from the room which he heard someone refer to as "The command room". The memories host was now moving about the ship, turning left and right, punching in a code on some keypad - Justin took note just in case - and soon he was turning a corner. He barked out some command as his group readied themselves outside a door, "They're in there" he heard a nearby ally call. Suddenly Justin's eyesight went blank and the memories stopped.

Justin came back to yelling in agony as the memories took their physical toll on him. His hands released their grip upon the Zedasians and Justin pushed himself back onto his arse, panting heavily as a strong headache took hold of him. The aliens he had taken the memories from were collapsed on the ground before him, unconscious, unable to take the mental infiltration Justin had forced upon them. As the fighting died down, Justin realised the fight had gone on the whole time he'd subjected the two Zedasians to his power.

When the other survivors realised the fight had died down Justin stood shakily and took no time in wasting the precious moments they'd gained. He looked towards Zadra and with a stern voice spoke, "Where do you want to go.. I think I know where to look for a main computer... That might tell us how to get out of here..."

After the aliens broke in, Tabitha managed to make some differences between everyone. She quickly pointed a gun at an alien, as her hand was still shaking madly and her teeth were squeezed. "RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Her yell mixed with Justin's. As her sight changed from weak to x-ray, she saw the alien's insides before she pulled the trigger. She could see the blood going trough the veins and sprinkling out of the shoulder, after she shot it there. Another alien shoved her so hard, Tabitha slammed with great force into the edge of the door and fell on the ground.

After Tabitha stood up, she realized that the battle has ended.
"Where do you want to go.. I think I know where to look for a main computer... That might tell us how to get out of here..." Justin said. As she was looking at him, Tabitha noticed how his organs were getting less visible and she could slowly see his normal appearance. Suddenly she grabbed Zadra's and Will's hands. "WAIT!" she croaked.

Everything in front of her eyes got pitch black. A white strange symbol appeared. It was swimming slowly in the darkness. Another symbol did the same. They were followed by many more. All of them were speeding up and trying to order in a line.

Tabitha let the hands go. Grabbing them in the first place didn't have anything to do with the hallucination, it was just a reflex. She was in such rush, she didn't bother finding a pen and a piece of paper. She didn't even know if there were any around here, or if they worked differently. She took a dagger, lifted her left leg's part of her pants to her knee and... you guessed right - she started writing the symbols by making cuts. "This may be useful. I don't know if it will help us with the main computer, but this is a password for something in here."

The battle had ended, and all the aliens had fallen. Zadra checked around to see who among the group was dead, and was surprised to see everyone still alive and well.

"Where do you want to go.. I think I know where to look for a main computer... That might tell us how to get out of here..." Justin said with a stern voice. "A main computer? Where do you think it..."
"WAIT!" Tabitha had interupted her mid-sentence. The girl gripped unto Zadra's arm as well as Will's. She looked at Tabitha with curious eyes, but it seemed as though the girl was just standing there. "What, what is it?" she asked. Finally, Tabitha took out a dagger and started to cut symbols through her skin. "This may be useful. I don't know if it will help us with the main computer, but this is a password for something in here."

Zadra wondered how Tabitha knew this in the first place. Had she received some information prior to their escape about the password? Questions aside, Zadra gazed upon Tabitha's leg, and read the password silently to herself. If you were to look at the detail in her face, you would notice that the pale color of her skin became even paler. Her hands slightly trembled, and her eyes crackled with electricity. She knew what the password said, and she refused to tell it to the group.

"Alright. I don't know whether that information is true, but i guess it's worth a try at the computer." Zadra said, her face regaining it's normal color. "I know it's a bit risky, but i think our best bet is to go the way the aliens came. There might be something useful, right?" She started to run to the door, and motioned for everyone to follow. "C'mon, we don't have much time."

The next room seemed to be just a storage area. Vials were kept against the wall, and crates were scattered all across the room. Then, she saw it; a glass tube that was blowing crates across the room and down into the floor. There had to have been a floor below them that received these crates. Taking this as an oppurtunity to get far away from the testing room, Zadra shot at the glass with her gun. It made a hole into the tube, and blew air into the room.

"I think our this is our best bet if we want to get far away from the Zedasians. They'll expect us up here, not down there," she said, pointing down at the portion of the tube that went straight down to the floor. She pushed a crate over to the pipe, and in one motion, she jumped into the tube and skyrocketed down below the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest and held unto her gun for dear life. The tube was very long. As she slid down, she could see lights flying all around her. She wasn't going a story down, she was going MANY stories down. She hoped that she wouldn't fall unto concrete or something hard when the tube finally ended.

"WAIT!" Tabitha shouted. "WHAT IF YOU FALL SOMEWHERE AND DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...." Tabitha accidently fell in the tube and her yelling got squeaky. She was upside down. Her eyes were wide, her irises shrunk. She stopped screaming, but was still afraid. Suddenly, the flying lights caught her attention.

They caused her irises to widen. Her painfully fast pulse slowed down. Her breathing was slow and calm, her mouth was slightly open. The hypnotizing image of the constantly moving environment made her forget she was actually falling. She fell in trance - a different one from the hallucination trance. "Shiny..." she whispered.

Finally, before Zadra was starting to get impatient, she felt the tube come to its end. She free fell for about 2 seconds, and braced herself for impact. Except, there was no impact with a flat surfice. She had landed in what she assumed was water.

She held her breath, pushing herself up to the surface, and looked around. She did a double take before finally realizing that she was somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Was that it? Was that really the end of the alien madness and the escape? Was she finally back on earth?
No. Upon looking back up at the blue sky, she saw no trace of the tube or the spacecraft. This was merely a hologram, an optical illusion. The scary thing was, it all felt so real. There was the distinct smell of salt in the water, and she could feel a slight breeze blowing through her hair.

Curious, Zadra dived under the water, trying to reach down as far as she could. There on the sandy floor were hundreds upon hundreds of the same crates. Some were broken, while others were still intact. It was too dark below the water to see exactly what they looked like, but the silhouettes were enough. The question was, why would the Zedasians just throw these crates into the water? After all, it was a waste of productivity. Zadra pushed herself up above the water again, and waited for the others to come down, that's if they decided to follow he in the first place.

Relaxation... peace... Tabitha felt like she was making a small trip to the end of a dark tunnel, called afterlife.
The end of the tunnel was near... all the bliss and joy in her mind invaded her soul... relaxation... peace... Her hair covered her already closed eyes... the sounds around her were far away and in her mind at the same time... all the bliss and joy... It felt like a half-lucid dream... peace... relaxation... All was gone once she reached the end.

Tabitha gasped and screamed in fear, she was rapidly waving legs and arms. The girl found herself in the water. In survival reflex she immediately held her breath. She quickly swam to the surface. Her eyes met Zarda's. Tabitha swam to her and hugged her. She didn't know her well, but Zarda was a savior... a leader... and she was glad that nobody was dead so far.

Tabitha let Zarda go and looked up. She was waiting for the others.