I might try posting additional small segments about Mutation, probably more informational ones that give more background into Gideon and Philip and some of the plans I originally had for them.
Gideon sat still, his heartbeat racing. “Surely that isn’t it? Surely Eric has more to tell?” He searched all of the audio logs, yet none of them carried Eric’s name. Eric could not have died, though, thought Gideon, else he would have been unable to recount his story. Yet again there were the nagging letters after his name in the directory: “two days b.d.”. B.D.; Before Death. Eric had died just two days after he recounted his tale; perhaps his injuries had grown too much for his body to bear? Yet in the beginning it sounded as if Eric were about to embark on a battle of some sort. Puzzled, Gideon shut down the laptop and tried to go to sleep, rocking in his small hammock.
The next morning was difficult; he had received no sleep. His nagging questions kept him awake, ever-present in the back of his mind. Sighing, he decided not to turn the laptop on that morning; there was much work to be done. He did decide to wear the ring; why, he didn’t quite know. Despite his power suit’s warning about the dark energy inside of it, the ring just felt as if it needed to be worn. And so wear it he did, even as he met up with Philip to work another military job.
Philip smirked as they met up at their usual spot outside the housing complex. “I see you’ve taken to wear that fancy piece of jewelry,” he commented, nodding at the ring. “Any special reason you’re wearing it?”
“I’m not sure why, really,” Gideon admitted, “It just feels like it wants to be worn. The only thing unusual about it is the levels of dark energy; it could be old Revenant tech.” The Revenant were an alien species warring with human colonies in the Betelgeuse system, with far more advanced weapons technology than humans had developed.
“I doubt it; the Revenant aren’t aware of Earth yet, remember? And I don’t think filthy aliens would develop a weapon inside a piece of jewelry.” Philip chuckled. “Could you imagine one of those things wearing any kind of jewelry? It’d be ridiculous.”
Gideon laughed with him. “Good point.” They arrived at the military checkpoint where they would be assigned their task for the day. “So what do you have for us today, Corporal?” They were on good terms with the Corporal here; they had worked for him long enough that he trusted them as well-behaved citizens.
“Looks like you two will be cleaning out the same space as yesterday, only you’ll have some power tools this time to get off all the dirt and grime on the floors. Command wants the place in tip-top shape so they can start parking vehicles there.” The two men nodded and, after receiving their equipment, headed back to the warehouse to begin their work.
The warehouse seemed vast without all the boxes inside of it. The two men set out to their work immediately, remaining silent until Philip finally asked: “So what was in the rest of that audio log?”
Gideon smiled wryly. “So you are interested in what they say after all.”
“Nah. Well, maybe. Just a little bit. It’s certainly more interesting than our lives, at any rate. I mean, it isn’t like the Revenant are going to be coming to Earth any time soon. They don’t even know about half of our other colonies. So come on. What happened?”
Smiling, Gideon recounted the remainder of the audio log as best he could for the next three hours, trying to make sure that Philip understood every detail of what he was telling him. They accomplished a lot of their cleaning in that time, so much so that they decided to take a break for a few hours; though the Corporal would be unhappy, so long as they finished their job he would not mind. Gideon returned to his home and grabbed the laptop before heading back out. As he passed another housing complex he was surprised to see multiple medical vehicles hovering outside the place, with a large crowd of people standing nearby. He tapped the shoulder of a friend who lived there. “What’s going on?”
His friend shrugged. “Apparently some woman went insane, started trying to attack her family. Killed the family cat and started eating it. Medics say it’s a power suit malfunction that caused her to get high levels of dark energy radiation; her cells started to mutate. Kind of freaky, eh?”
Gideon nodded, his breath coming in short bursts. “What about the family? Are they okay?”
“They have a few cuts and bruises, but for the most part they’re fine. One of the men was bitten, but doctor’s say it isn’t anything to be worried about.”
Gideon tried to stay calm as he returned to the warehouse, but it was difficult. A woman had started to mutate, attacking her family… just like in the audio logs. And several people had been scratched or bitten by her, which would spread the infection. He looked down at the ring. Did this ring have something to do with it? Did the ring have some sort of capability to stop the infection? There was only one way to find out: he had to read the remainder of the audio logs.
Back at the warehouse, he told Philip about his encounter. Philip was more relaxed about the situation, but like Gideon he expressed worry. “Maybe if we read the rest of the audio logs we can figure out what’s going on,” he suggested, “We should read all the ones under the same category of Eric’s, though, just so we are following the same story and not jumping around.”
“Way ahead of you.” Gideon flipped open the laptop and plugged the power cell in. The familiar starting screen appeared, with all the audio logs split into their three categories. The one directly beneath Eric’s was labeled “Kate – two days b.d.”. Gideon frowned. Again: “two days b.d.”. Kate had died just two days after recounting her story, probably at the same time as Eric. He turned to Philip, who nodded. They had two hours to listen to Kate’s tale. Two hours to hopefully figure out a way to reverse what was now happening in their time. He clicked to play it.
“My name is Katelyn Millington. My story is meant to begin where Eric’s left off; just as we arrived at the military compound where I am currently being held. In two days, we go off to fight the worst enemy mankind has ever seen, to combat the greatest evil the world will ever have to deal with. Hopefully we will succeed, but in case we do not, in case we fail to survive and save the world from this infection, Dr. Storm has requested that we record our stories so that future generations might understand this blight, and might stand a chance should it happen again. So… I guess I’ll begin.”
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