Post by jay on Aug 31, 2012 23:04:00 GMT -5
Primal Force
Issue #1: Choices
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?-Edgar Allen Poe
Ridge Industries International, Science Division.
Northampton, North Carolina, USA.
July 4th 2012[/i]
Night. On an evening when one should be off celebrating their independence a lone scientist works on a project that has the utmost importance. He is Dr. Alec Holland. A thirty year old biologist on the brink of a amazing discovery. He's been working on this project for the last two years, and in the last week has made a breakthrough. The only helper he has in the lab is a small audio recorder.
“Tonight hopefully the experiment will be a success. I'm attempting to create a restorative formula that will hopefully make any soil useable once again to create vegetation. I am putting the serum into the chlorophyll. Hopefully all the overtime will be justified for Mr. Ridge.”
The serum that Alec Holland has devoted his life to starts to interact with the chlorophyll. A startling transformation occurs. The plant cells begin to multiply. This is only part of the test. Alec takes the sample and places it into toxic dirt. The dirt that will never grow anything green again. A few moments go by. Nothing. Alec takes a moment to take it all in. Every experiment is not a failure. You learn from them all. He looks back at the dirt and something catches his eye. It's a single sprout. A few seconds pass and more sprouts begin to rise out of the ground. Alec starts up the scanners in the lab to see exactly if the solution is holding stability. After he sets up the equipment he goes outside of the lab and dials his boss on his cellphone.
“Mr. Ridge. Hi. Sorry if I am bothering you, but I have great news. The Bio-Resoration Formula works. I'm going to run a few more tests tonight.”
“That's great Alec!” Alec feels a relief wash over him when only two weeks ago there was talk of canceling his research due to no concrete results. “I'm going to call the rest of your team. You've done enough tonight to warrant a bit of a rest. I see a bright future for us in this Alec.”
“Us? What do you mean sir?”
“Alec. Your brilliant mind is getting all the credit on this. We are going to save the world, you and I, with this great discovery. Billions of people will never go hungry again. It's all thanks to you. Just do me one favor. The changes you made to the formula. Have you shared it with anyone else?”
“No sir. They're on my personal hard drive and in my head of course.” Alec never trusted the computers at the lab due to possible power outages.
“Great Alec. That's wonderful. I knew I could count on you. The Board was just not seeing your potential when they made that decision in those two weeks. You've done something amazing my friend. Get started on that Nobel Prize Speech my old friend. See you Monday buddy.”
Alec sighs. For the first time in years. His work is finished.
Northampton Docks.
Northampton, North Carolina, USA.
July 4th 2012.
A half hour later.[/i]
The darkness of the July sky is shattered in a blast of colors and noise. The joy of this evening is darkened for one man this night. He is Ben Travis, a nanotech programmer working for Ridge Industries. He sits in a warehouse tied to a chair. The warehouse door opens and two people walk in. One is a young blonde lady, wearing a gray business suit and skirt. Her black glasses hide back a look of pure calm and malice. The other is large black man wearing street clothes. He pops his knuckles as he punches Ben down to the ground.
“Sup chump?”
“Mr. Mass. Please do not attack Mr. Travis until our employer shows up.” The large mountain of a man helps set the chair back up. “Now. Mr. Travis. You were contracted to program our new project and you decided to not only leave the program unfinished, but kept it to try and turn it over to the police. Why?”
“You people are sick!” Ben screams. The screams drowned out by the fireworks outside. “You and your boss can keep your money! I will have no part of this sickness you are trying to spread!”
“Now that's just rude...”
From the door comes another figure. A sandy blonde white male, in his late twenties walks, wearing a black suit and white tie walk into the room. He rubs his hand through his short styled haircut as he smiles a pearly white grin at the angry programmer.
“...I mean here I go giving you more money that you are ever worth and you go and decide to screw with me.”
“Mr. Ridge? Damien Ridge?” Ben is confused as Damien walks around him. “What? Why are you doin this?”
“If I told you. You wouldn't believe me little man.” Damien puts his left hand on Ben's shoulder. His black onyx triangle shaped ring glimmers for a moment in the light. He smiles at the young man. “You are lucky the police are in on it otherwise you could have ruined my little plan. That would not have been good. Miss Jennings, due turn out the lights.”
The young lady rolls up her arms showing a wristband like device. She pushes a button on the side and darkness starts to cover the room. Ben starts to panic as it gets darker.
“No! NO! NOOOOO!!!”
Suburban Neighborhood.
Outside of Los Angeles, California,USA.
August 25th 2012[/i]
“You know. Most stars don't mow their own lawns.”
Buddy Baker smiles at his wife, Ellen, as she rolls her eyes at her husband. He tries in vain again to crank the push mower. She laughs as it spews out smoke into Buddy's face. Life for the Baker's has been this way for a while. Buddy was once a rising action movie star and stunt man, but he didn't take a lot of the good roles offered to him because it would mean time away from his family. Ellen works in advertising to help support them in between Buddy's movie jobs. Their two kids, Cliff and Maxine, due very well in school and help out with the family when they can. Cliff is just starting high school and Maxine just started the sixth grade. Buddy wipes the grim from his face and looks down at the mower.
“Well you work about as good as my agent.”
“Are you all right Bud?” Ellen asks him as she brings a cloth for Buddy to wipe off his eyes. Buddy cleans off his face as best he can and sighs. “We're going to need to buy a new one aren't we?”
“Well. The good news is I've got some stunt work coming up. The bad news is I dunno if we can make it till that paycheck. Things are kinda slim right now."
“It'll be all right Bud.”
“No it won't. Ellen I really don't know how much longer we can stay in this hole I keep digging us into. Maybe I should try doing some more foreign film jobs?”
“And leave me here to help raise our children by myself. Ask yourself. Is that a good idea?” Buddy can't help but laugh.
“You're right dear. You are absolutely right. They die from overexposure to pizza and bad romance movies.” Buddy takes off running for the front yard as Ellen chases after him.
“Get back here you jerk!”
As the couple chase after each others like they were teenagers, their children come out onto the front lawn as well.
“I think we need to get the hose on these two.” Cliff says as he walks outside. “Dad. You really suck at doing chores. I can smell the smoke from inside.
“Hey. My resume says master cook, award winning actor, and fabulous stuntman. It says nothing about yardwork.” Ellen tackles Buddy to the ground. The two play fight for a while.
“Act your age you guys!” Maxine says through laughing.
Cliff see's something. A car. A car he knows. The car belongs to Maddog, a local leader of a gang in Los Angeles known as the “AK's”. Cliff had seen a drug deal go down at school. They told him to keep his mouth shut and he did. The car speeds up. He see's the guns out of the side windows.
“Mom! Dad! Get down!”
Cliff grabs his sister and ducks down just as the shots start to fire. Maxine screams. The bullets riddle the house. Ellen is to scared to move. Buddy dives on top of her. The bullet's hit his body. After a few moments it's over. The drive by has done it's dirty deed. A former movie star struggles to breath as his body tries to fight off death's grip. The bullets have hit him in the side of the head, chest, and his arms. He can't leave his family like this.
“No...no...” It's all that Ellen can say. Buddy reaches up to touch her. His hands are covered by his own blood.
“Don't cry. I'll be fine. See. Just a scratch.” Darkness falls over Buddy Baker's eyes. There is nothing for a moment.
A white light surrounds Buddy. He starts to stand up.
“What? NO! Not like this! You can't do this to me! All I've ever wanted was to have a family! They'll be lost without me! Come on! You gotta send me back.”
That is not allowed.
“I'll do anything! Please!”
Anything?
"Yes."
Then Buddy Baker. The Red accepts you as their avatar. Rise...
To be continued
Issue #1: Choices
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?-Edgar Allen Poe
Ridge Industries International, Science Division.
Northampton, North Carolina, USA.
July 4th 2012[/i]
Night. On an evening when one should be off celebrating their independence a lone scientist works on a project that has the utmost importance. He is Dr. Alec Holland. A thirty year old biologist on the brink of a amazing discovery. He's been working on this project for the last two years, and in the last week has made a breakthrough. The only helper he has in the lab is a small audio recorder.
“Tonight hopefully the experiment will be a success. I'm attempting to create a restorative formula that will hopefully make any soil useable once again to create vegetation. I am putting the serum into the chlorophyll. Hopefully all the overtime will be justified for Mr. Ridge.”
The serum that Alec Holland has devoted his life to starts to interact with the chlorophyll. A startling transformation occurs. The plant cells begin to multiply. This is only part of the test. Alec takes the sample and places it into toxic dirt. The dirt that will never grow anything green again. A few moments go by. Nothing. Alec takes a moment to take it all in. Every experiment is not a failure. You learn from them all. He looks back at the dirt and something catches his eye. It's a single sprout. A few seconds pass and more sprouts begin to rise out of the ground. Alec starts up the scanners in the lab to see exactly if the solution is holding stability. After he sets up the equipment he goes outside of the lab and dials his boss on his cellphone.
“Mr. Ridge. Hi. Sorry if I am bothering you, but I have great news. The Bio-Resoration Formula works. I'm going to run a few more tests tonight.”
“That's great Alec!” Alec feels a relief wash over him when only two weeks ago there was talk of canceling his research due to no concrete results. “I'm going to call the rest of your team. You've done enough tonight to warrant a bit of a rest. I see a bright future for us in this Alec.”
“Us? What do you mean sir?”
“Alec. Your brilliant mind is getting all the credit on this. We are going to save the world, you and I, with this great discovery. Billions of people will never go hungry again. It's all thanks to you. Just do me one favor. The changes you made to the formula. Have you shared it with anyone else?”
“No sir. They're on my personal hard drive and in my head of course.” Alec never trusted the computers at the lab due to possible power outages.
“Great Alec. That's wonderful. I knew I could count on you. The Board was just not seeing your potential when they made that decision in those two weeks. You've done something amazing my friend. Get started on that Nobel Prize Speech my old friend. See you Monday buddy.”
Alec sighs. For the first time in years. His work is finished.
Northampton Docks.
Northampton, North Carolina, USA.
July 4th 2012.
A half hour later.[/i]
The darkness of the July sky is shattered in a blast of colors and noise. The joy of this evening is darkened for one man this night. He is Ben Travis, a nanotech programmer working for Ridge Industries. He sits in a warehouse tied to a chair. The warehouse door opens and two people walk in. One is a young blonde lady, wearing a gray business suit and skirt. Her black glasses hide back a look of pure calm and malice. The other is large black man wearing street clothes. He pops his knuckles as he punches Ben down to the ground.
“Sup chump?”
“Mr. Mass. Please do not attack Mr. Travis until our employer shows up.” The large mountain of a man helps set the chair back up. “Now. Mr. Travis. You were contracted to program our new project and you decided to not only leave the program unfinished, but kept it to try and turn it over to the police. Why?”
“You people are sick!” Ben screams. The screams drowned out by the fireworks outside. “You and your boss can keep your money! I will have no part of this sickness you are trying to spread!”
“Now that's just rude...”
From the door comes another figure. A sandy blonde white male, in his late twenties walks, wearing a black suit and white tie walk into the room. He rubs his hand through his short styled haircut as he smiles a pearly white grin at the angry programmer.
“...I mean here I go giving you more money that you are ever worth and you go and decide to screw with me.”
“Mr. Ridge? Damien Ridge?” Ben is confused as Damien walks around him. “What? Why are you doin this?”
“If I told you. You wouldn't believe me little man.” Damien puts his left hand on Ben's shoulder. His black onyx triangle shaped ring glimmers for a moment in the light. He smiles at the young man. “You are lucky the police are in on it otherwise you could have ruined my little plan. That would not have been good. Miss Jennings, due turn out the lights.”
The young lady rolls up her arms showing a wristband like device. She pushes a button on the side and darkness starts to cover the room. Ben starts to panic as it gets darker.
“No! NO! NOOOOO!!!”
Suburban Neighborhood.
Outside of Los Angeles, California,USA.
August 25th 2012[/i]
“You know. Most stars don't mow their own lawns.”
Buddy Baker smiles at his wife, Ellen, as she rolls her eyes at her husband. He tries in vain again to crank the push mower. She laughs as it spews out smoke into Buddy's face. Life for the Baker's has been this way for a while. Buddy was once a rising action movie star and stunt man, but he didn't take a lot of the good roles offered to him because it would mean time away from his family. Ellen works in advertising to help support them in between Buddy's movie jobs. Their two kids, Cliff and Maxine, due very well in school and help out with the family when they can. Cliff is just starting high school and Maxine just started the sixth grade. Buddy wipes the grim from his face and looks down at the mower.
“Well you work about as good as my agent.”
“Are you all right Bud?” Ellen asks him as she brings a cloth for Buddy to wipe off his eyes. Buddy cleans off his face as best he can and sighs. “We're going to need to buy a new one aren't we?”
“Well. The good news is I've got some stunt work coming up. The bad news is I dunno if we can make it till that paycheck. Things are kinda slim right now."
“It'll be all right Bud.”
“No it won't. Ellen I really don't know how much longer we can stay in this hole I keep digging us into. Maybe I should try doing some more foreign film jobs?”
“And leave me here to help raise our children by myself. Ask yourself. Is that a good idea?” Buddy can't help but laugh.
“You're right dear. You are absolutely right. They die from overexposure to pizza and bad romance movies.” Buddy takes off running for the front yard as Ellen chases after him.
“Get back here you jerk!”
As the couple chase after each others like they were teenagers, their children come out onto the front lawn as well.
“I think we need to get the hose on these two.” Cliff says as he walks outside. “Dad. You really suck at doing chores. I can smell the smoke from inside.
“Hey. My resume says master cook, award winning actor, and fabulous stuntman. It says nothing about yardwork.” Ellen tackles Buddy to the ground. The two play fight for a while.
“Act your age you guys!” Maxine says through laughing.
Cliff see's something. A car. A car he knows. The car belongs to Maddog, a local leader of a gang in Los Angeles known as the “AK's”. Cliff had seen a drug deal go down at school. They told him to keep his mouth shut and he did. The car speeds up. He see's the guns out of the side windows.
“Mom! Dad! Get down!”
Cliff grabs his sister and ducks down just as the shots start to fire. Maxine screams. The bullets riddle the house. Ellen is to scared to move. Buddy dives on top of her. The bullet's hit his body. After a few moments it's over. The drive by has done it's dirty deed. A former movie star struggles to breath as his body tries to fight off death's grip. The bullets have hit him in the side of the head, chest, and his arms. He can't leave his family like this.
“No...no...” It's all that Ellen can say. Buddy reaches up to touch her. His hands are covered by his own blood.
“Don't cry. I'll be fine. See. Just a scratch.” Darkness falls over Buddy Baker's eyes. There is nothing for a moment.
A white light surrounds Buddy. He starts to stand up.
“What? NO! Not like this! You can't do this to me! All I've ever wanted was to have a family! They'll be lost without me! Come on! You gotta send me back.”
That is not allowed.
“I'll do anything! Please!”
Anything?
"Yes."
Then Buddy Baker. The Red accepts you as their avatar. Rise...
To be continued