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Chapter 5: Awakening
Battle for Earth Two
Paris, France. Unknown Research facility.
Charlie Company(?)
Date, Unknown
Conan awoke with a slight dizziness to his head. He rose his arm to rub his head, but to his suprise, even though he could move his arm, he could not feel anything. He examined his arm for a second, then realized that he was in a small clinical room. The walls were shining from the glare of the sun from outside a large window. He was laying on his back in a small bed, it's sheets thrown back. Was it a dream? That the human-covenant war was just a dream? A terrible dream? No, it wasn't. Just outside of the glass, there was a holographic image of a battle. Things were still the same. Conan let go a long sigh of frustration, then began to investigate he arms again.
His arms looked fine, and moved like normal, but something wasn't right. He could hardly feel anything from his shoulders down, and he thought he could see something under his skin, something that Conan just couldn't pinpoint. He made a tight fist as he head became clouded. What's going on? This must be a...He lost thought again, but this time he knew the reason why. The wrist of his squeezing fist glowed blue. Three yellow lights and a single red light formed a line down his wrist. No... He moved his right leg aside, but it felt the same. No... He jerked his leg back, but there was no sign of anything. So he flexed his calf, and there it was, the blue streak with four yellows and a single red light flashed on.
Conan began to breath eratically, trying to take everything in. Nothing seemed right, even his vision. He looked to his right and left to find something find his reflection, he found a small personal mirror. As he gazed into his refection he saw that on the corner of his eyes, five thin, straight red lines shot towards the center of his eye, only stopping half way. He looked like a freak, his eye color had even changed from brown to a greenish-yellow. NO!
There was nothing he could do. Something had happened in the past that would have brought something like this into existence. His mind was blank, only his family and friends would come to him. As he tried to straighten things around, he looked around the room again. The exit was just cracked, but there wasn't any sign of life on the outside, yet he could sense that there was.
"Hey! In here! I know you're out there..." Conan yelled as he leaned back as far as he could, trying to look out the cracked doorway. I don't even know how I know... Then all of a sudden the came open, and in came a middle-aged man. The doctor, Conan presumed, carried a holopad in his hand.
"Yes? Oh...I'll go get Doctor Andrews. He's been waiting for a while now, but you've seemed to have gotten up right on time..." The man looked down at the pad, and made a few adjustments."...Boy, he's going to be very nervous when he sees you, so just play it cool would you?" The man walked back out the door. Who ever he was, or who ever he was going to go get, better explain what's going on.
About three minutes passed, yet Conan did not move his eye sight on bit away from the door. He was ready to get some answers. Another few minutes passed, and Conan still hadn't moved. Finally the door came back open, and in came two men. One of them Conan knew very well, but the other Conan regconized, but didn't know where he had seen him.
"Sergeant Kennen..." Conan muttered slowly as he watched the two men enter. Kennen was in his daily UNSC officer off-duty uniform, and the other man was dressed like every other medical staff in the building.
"Private Conan, it's been a while. You feel okay?" Kennen stood by Conan's side. Conan just nodded, then looked at the other man.
"Listen. We know that you have a lot of questions, but as time passes you'll regain your memories." The other man didn't bother to introduce himself, but continued on as if he had. Conan just stared at him.
"Well, then, maybe we don't have time. Maybe we should fill me in on what's going on, before the wrong thing happens." Conan stared harder into the man's eyes. He could tell that the man was nervous, but he was trying not to show it.
The man then looked at Kennen, which shrugged. "Okay, listen. You were in a battle, in which a pelican crashed into your location. Sergeant Kennen here saved you, but from the imminent threat. As you were brought here to Paris, your limbs were replaced, eyes, jaw, ribs, spine, and abdoman were reconstructed from advanced material..."
Conan continued to stare, but the man did not continue. "So, you're saying that I'm half-man, half-machine?" Which the man replied with a simple nod. "Then what matters? I can't feel what I'm doing, I can't even think straight, and I can't even imagine what others would think of me!"
Conan threw himself from the bed, sliding just next to Sergeant Kennen. Anger was venting from Conan at a rapid pace. He punched the nearest wall as hard as he could, leaving a large hole in it's place. Several shots rang throughout the room, and multiple thuds hit Conan's back. He turned himself around, and before him stood Sergeant Kennen aiming a smoking magnum right at Conan's chest. Conan took a shallow gulp. No pain, just the feeling of thuds.
"You're practically invincible, with multiple layers of heat absorbent and kevlar body covers just under your skin. It's tightly packed together, and it covers your bones completely. About five plasma rounds would have to hit to have any direct damage to you. If you don't beleive me, once your feelings come back, you can see for yourself that your skin is rough when pushed on hard enough. Oh...and by the way, you may call me Doctor Gregory Andrews. I'm the head of the Cybernetic Project." The other man, Doctor Andrews, stood patiently, with fear engulfing him. "Sergeant Kennen. You may want to head to security and explain the situation, I'll be down in a few minutes. Conan and I need to talk."
Kennen began to head for the door, but first stretched out a hand. Conan accepted the quiet appology, and then leaned back against the wall he had struck. Now it was him and the doctor. Some sweat began to appear on Conan's forehead. As he began to wipe his forehead he asked, "So, this Cybernetic Project, what is it?"
[Edited on 05.02.2009 10:23 PM PDT]