Far Beneath the Surface of Vos
(The Badlands)
The screams of Camilla’s agony carried out through the underground passages from the small metal room she was in. Her arms were braced at her side with metal cuffs, her legs apart and knees and ankles also braced with cuffs as she beared down to deliver the last of three offspring. As she yelled out for God’s mercy and finally the last of the three abomination passed from her birth canal, she eased back in her angled bed attempting to regain her breath until the door to the room opened.
In came one Kradam, seen only by a distortion in the air like a faint mirage moving across the room and stood above the three infants, which squirmed, writhed, and twisted on the floor. After a several minuted the mirage stooped low, collecting the three infant into its transparent embrace and went to stand next to Camilla.
“Would like to see your children?” He spoke, leaning closer.
Camilla struggled, drawing a deep breath to release her despise, and screamed out at the top of her lungs – “Get those fucking things away from me!”
The Kradam moved a small distance back, and in an unperturbed voice, said; “We thank you for your gift to us, Camilla. In our appreciation, you will be free to turn to your home in a short time.”
“Like I even had a choice in the matter.” she snarled at him. “Just let me go home. Now!”
“Soon.” He replied. “Rest. We will release you in time. Sustenance will arrive for you shortly.”
With that said, the mirage-like figure turned and left the room with its prize possessions in arms.
Border of Zandor and the Badland’s
Sandi Shon and Bran Wisken, two Zandorian soldiers patrolling the border of the Badland’s, were near ready to hand their shift over to the next to be on duty when Sandi noticed something out of place. She stopped in her tracks, holding to the side one arm to stop Bran as well, and gave a swift nod in direction of the oddity she had noticed twenty meters into the Badlands from the border.
For a minute they both stared, eyes squinting in the lowering sun to make out just what they were seeing.
“Is that a body?” Bran asked, lifting his AMP Rifle in a ready position across his torso, and pressed a little green button on the side.
“Looks that way to me.” Sandi agreed, as she too readied her rifle and pressed the red Button. “Keep your setting on Sonic.” She suggested. “Mines set to Particle”
“Already done.” He assured her, and gave a wink. “Great minds think alike, am I right?”
She shook her head with a little laugh, saying; “Why do all the Zandorian men hit on the girls every chance they get?”
“You don’t put out enough, clearly.” He jested, as they started over to inspect the situation.
On closer inspection, the body was female, lying in an undignified fashion face down in the charcoal colored dust; malnourished, naked, dirty and sprawled out like she had simply just collapsed on her face. They’d left footprints behind in the dust, trailing off into the Badlands in a staggered formation.
“Wow….” Bran muttered, his eyes following the trail of footprints into the distance. “Tell me you’re thinking what I’m thinking. This is actually happening….?”
Meanwhile, Sandi was squatting next to the body. She placed a hand on the girls shoulder then pressed two fingers against the girls neck, before lifting her wide eyes to Bran. “Looks that way to me. Warm. Got a pulse. She’s alive.” She said, then carefully turned the girl over for a better look at her face. She was young, not a day over twenty, brown hair and pretty, despite the dirt and sunken malnourished condition of her face. There were laceration on many parts of her body, and red marks at her ankles and wrists. “Tell them….” She looked up to Bran again, sincere concern stunning her face. “Tell them somebody’s returned from the Badlands….”
In a fluster, Bran almost dropped the palm-size electronical devise he pulled from his pocket, allowing his riffle to swing by its strap as he then turned the device on. It came alive with small procession of beeps and he opened a signal to base with a touch of one finger against the screen.
“Speak!” Said a male voice at the other end.
“Sub-officer, Bran Wisken, reporting!” Bran replied I haste, close to stammering his words.
“I know who you are,” The voice at the other end replied in a tired tone, “what’s the problem, soldier?”
“We’ve found something, sir!” He declared almost yelling with excitement, then lowered his tone to a moderate key, “It’s a girl. She’s alive. Looks like she’s returned from the Badlands, sir.”
There was a moment of radio silence, before; “Repeat that statement, Officer Bran.”
“We’ve found a live body of a girl.” Bran said. “Looks like she’s returned from the Badlands.”
“No one has every returned from the Badlands,” The voice replied sceptically, “Are you certain of what you’re telling, Officer Bran?”
Bran looked out at the long trail of footprints once more, and replied; “I’m pretty fuck’n sure, sir.”
Camilla sat in a chair that had both arms, backrest and seat padded with imperial cushioning. She was dressed in a white, freshly pressed shirt and pants. Her recently cut and impeccably groomed brown fell about her shoulder, and her pretty green, big doe eyes scanned the room she was in. Despite her new and aliquant retire, the marks on her face, neck and hands unmistakably told of the trauma she’d been through.
The room was the Sovereigns private living quarters. A nearby table on her right was set with all manner of food dishes and drinks and decorated with various flower types, while the large open window to her left allowed a cool, refreshing breeze and sufficient light to fill the room. In front of her, seated on a chair of equal quality to her own was Her Eminence Goaldinhoe, dressed in a full length purple garment, a crown of violet lilies was perched on the golden locks of her hair, her hands placed congenially in her lap.
Following a quiet wait to allow her visitor to adjust to her new surroundings, Goaldinhoe strengthened a smile, saying; “Welcome to my home, Camilla Blaid.”
With no need to further relax, Camilla replied a small nod and added; “Thank you, Your Eminence Goaldinhoe.”
“No,” Goaldinhoe rebuked her kindly, “You may call me Faith. I would like very much to be your friend.”
Camilla gawked at the sovereign awkward. “…Alright then. Why Faith though?”
“Faith is my first given name. Goaldinhoe, as you know, is my Sovereign identity.”
“Alright then,” Camilla managed a smile of her own, “Nice name. Unusual.”
“As is yours on both accounts.” Faith smiled. “How have you been keeping since your return, Camilla?”
“I’ve been okay,” Camilla replied, not sounding convinced, “I would have liked to have seen my parents, but… apparently they’re dead.”
“I prefer to think of them as missing.” Faith told her. “And try not to worry, my child, I am still doing all within my means to find everyone lost to the Badlands. But your parents were brave. You should know, your fathers venture into the Badlands to rescue you was not only brave, but in a way it paved a way for a new era in my Empire. If it were not for him and those who ventured into the Badlands by his side, we would not have many of the technological advances we have today.” Faith paused a moment, a touch of despair tainting her smile. “Alas, we have yet to find a way to reach our missing civilians and soldiers.”
“I’ll help any way I can.” Camilla said, staring with conviction at the sovereign. “Any way at all.”
“I have no doubt in the strength of your young heart,” Faith assured her, “and this is one of the reasons I have brought you before me today. Just you and me.”
“I understand.”
Faith nodded appreciatively, and added; “Camilla. I want you also to know that everything you tell me here today will held in the strictest confidence. You have no need to fear any personal matters or matters of embarrassment to yourself being shared with any other soul on this planet. You have my word as your sovereign. Any information you share will be applied to my efforts in bringing our enemies to justice in the utmost and anonymous manner.”
“I understand, and thank you.” Camilla said.
“So… shall we begin?” Faith regarded the table of food. “Or perhaps you would enjoy something more to eat first?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ve eaten enough this morning. “And thank you for letting me live in your Tower of Meth. It was very kind of you to do that for me.”
“The honor is my own.” Faith assured her. “So shall we begin with the hard questions? Perhaps getting them out of the way would be the best thing to do at this point.”
“Absolutely.” Camilla agreed. “Fire away.”
With her smile slightly fading, though keeping her congenial appeal, Faith leaned back in her seat in a pose to relax, and spoke casually: “As you know, my leading medical physician’s and psychological analysts have evaluated your condition.”
“Yes.” Camilla confirmed with a slight squirm of unease.
“I do hope they were not too invasive? I will have their heads.”
“No, it’s fine. They had to do what they had to do. I understand.”
“Very good.” Faith said, and continued. “Their physical evaluation of you shows that you have recently given birth. Is this true?”
Camilla rolled her eyes with a grind of her jaws. “Yeah, that’s true, but it wasn’t human.”
“And apparently neither are you, well… at least not anymore.” Faith said. “Now, isn’t that the interesting part? You now have what we can only describe as foreign DNA linked with your own human DNA chains. My scientists have seen nothing quite like it before.” She paused, folding her hands in her lap. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, Camilla? Take your time….”
Camilla took her time. Looking to the side to stare at a bowl of fruit for a while as she gathered her memories of events. At last she turned her sights back the sovereign, saying;
“They call themselves the Kradam. I never saw what they look like. They have some sort of shield that stopped me from seeing them…. Anyway, they kept me locked up in a small cell for a long time. It seemed like years…. When they finally let me out they planted some things in my ears.” She flicked back her hair, turning her head for the sovereign to acknowledge the device protruding from her temporal bone, then sat back in her seat to say; “It makes me understand their language.”
“I see….” Faith said, clearly captivated by the story. “Please, do continue….”
“So uh…” Camilla rubbed her nose with one finger as she thought about the next things to share; “They told me they wanted me to help with a problem they had. But they didn’t really get into detail about what the problem was, and I didn’t really have any choice in the matter.” She sighed, thinking some more, and added;
“They said I had what they needed – whatever that means – and told me they needed to use my reproductive system to help create some sort of new thing for them. I still don’t know what they created, but they said my DNA would react properly with a DNA they had been synthesizing or something like that. I’m not a scientist though. I don’t know what they meant, I can’t even remember properly what they said. Anyway, long story short, they impregnated me with whatever they’d made. I was pregnant for a while and held in a room the whole time. Then when I gave birth three of these... things came out of me. They were disgusting. I couldn’t even look at them.” She started to cry, wiping a tear from her face with the palm of her hand before concluding;
“That was only like a week ago or something, then they sent me home.” She swallowed hard, looking to the fruit bowl then back to Faith again, seemingly confused as her voice broke with emotion. “I didn’t know they changed my DNA as well.”
Her eminence Goaldinhoe had lost any remaining trace of a smile while listening to Camilla. Her folded hands were now gripping uncomfortably to each other as her deeply troubled eyes glared at the girl before her. “… and you never once saw them…?” She asked in a whisper.
“That’s right.” Camilla wiped another tear from her face. “They touched me a couple of times though. They didn’t feel right…. They were cold. Rough and kinda smooth at the same time. They felt like…. steel or something.”
“And did you see any other – any of your friends? The countless other Zandorian who have gone missing?”
“Never.” Camilla shook her head sharply.
“Camilla….” Faith said softly, taking a moment to recompose herself; “There is another matter I would bring to light at this time. Perhaps you can shed some light the matter?”
Camilla sighed, preparing herself for any manner of confronting question. “Of course, just ask.”
“Very well,” Faith obliged, a small smile returning to her face. “By our records you were seventeen years of age when you entered the Badlands. By any standard count, that would make twenty now. However… my physicians have informed of a particular anomaly they discovered in your cellular structure. According to the many tests they performed on you, all of which repeated to ensure no mistakes were made, your current cellular structure remains as a female Zandorian still in her mid-teens. And I must confess….” Faith finished with a sigh of her own; “sitting here before me today, you do not have the face of a twenty year old. So tell me, Camilla…. Is there anything at all you might be able to share, anything that might be able to explain this phenomenon?”
Camilla scrunched up her face, clearly baffled by the sovereign’s words.
“I have no idea.”
Zandor’s Leading Military Science Base
Doctor Entil Blike, dressed in his white lab coat with black hair and glasses, stood away from the computer panel and looked apprehensively, possibly even fearfully, at the Jerin Loc, his colleague standing beside him. Jerin had blond hair, tightly curled, and dressed in the same manner as Entil, but was wearing himself a look of stressful anticipation. After regarding each other for a while in this manner, they both turned their gaze back at the monitor in front them, which was displaying the most recent information of the DNA they had found inside Camilla.
“There’s no denying it.” Entil swallowed hard, removing his glasses to rub one eye with the palm of his hand. “It has a silicone property.”
“But that’s… that’s not possible.” Jerin said, his expression changing to one of puzzlement. “Silicone life forms can’t exist – and even if they did…. They can’t combine with a carbon based life form. None of this makes sense. I literally don’t believe my eyes right now.”
“You don’t need to tell me that.” Entil replied.
“But it’s just not possible….” Jerin said again, attempting to reassure himself of every piece of knowledge he’d obtained in his years of study.
“…I know.” Entil agreed, turning to look at his colleague with a note of bewilderment. “But we’re still going to have to inform the Sovereign about what we’ve discovered here.”
“You can do it.” Jeril told him straight, removing his coat and walking towards the exit of the lab. “I haven’t slept in three days. I’m going to bed. Good luck with that.”
