Copyright E.E.D-L Online Author Pename Erisabeisuu
Original work: And yes I took and used already introduced mainstream Sci-fi themes but it’s still original. Rated G for the most part maybe mild cursing.
Hadrian Morgan opened his eyes slowly blinking in the harsh lights of the lab. Slowly he began to flex his fingers moving on to his toes, followed by his wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, and shoulders. Carefully placing weight on his forearms he slowly began to sit up, flexing his back slowly.
“Dr. Morgan all systems are showing a green-light. You have the authorization to begin full-scale testing.” The voice sounded out of a loudspeaker nearby causing Hadrian to flinch as to boomed into his sensitive ears.
“Confirmed, hearing is at one zero zero percent.” He replied pausing for a moment before continuing, “Vocal patterns are stable and within expected parameters. Please confirm sound range Dr. Reed.”
“Sound range is within human perception with a lilt to the higher scale range.”
“Vision is at one zero zero percent, zoom and wave range are full-scale and controllable.”
Slowly lifting his legs over the side of the gurney Hadrian turned to sit on the edge. After flicking his eyes over to the observational window he flared his nose before sneezing quickly and making a face, “Smell is at one zero zero percent, and I must admit that I had thought antiseptic smelled bad enough before.”
A laugh came through the speaker before he was answered, “Confirmed, and I'll keep that in mind.”
Slowly putting weight on his legs Hadrian stood and began to test his balance. Once he was done with that he took slow steps around the quarantine room. “Motor functions all within expected range. Motor control is fully functional.”
“Confirmed, You have been authorized for entry into the obstacle course.” Dr. Reed announced just as a buzzer sounded along with the hiss of depressurization from a door opposite from the observational station. With one last look around the barren lab room Hadrian turned and exited through the open door.
The obstacle course was fairly simple just a track with a few vaults and a couple of rock walls. The test ran smoothly and after a few more basic functions were assessed Hadrian was released into the main complex. As soon as he entered the meeting room all the preexisting chatter was instantly silenced causing Hadrian to smile which drew a few light gasps, “Gentlemen and Lady, I think you can all see the experiment was a complete success. The Silverhand project is now fully operational, and now all we need is for the government to approve the expenses for further production and integration.”
The meeting room remained silent for several more seconds before someone in the group let out a cheer that flowed to the rest until everyone in the room save Hadrian himself were cheering and dancing around in their excitement. The Silverhand project was working! It was fully operational! They had done it!
Hadrian stood in front of the mirror with hands spayed on either side of the sink and took in his own reflection. Emerald green eyes stared back at him as he took in all of his features, raven black hair pulled into a tie at the base of his neck, a smooth jawline, arched eyebrows, and a fairly straight nose all in all he didn't look that bad, but his height was one thing he would always grumble about after all what sort of respectable man was only 5'8? Sighing he shook his head and left the bathroom and came to a stop in front of the double doors leading into the grand ball room that was being used to host what would later be called the party of the year. He straightened up his suit if he was going to do this then he had better be as sharp and businesslike as possible.
It had been three weeks since the experiment and it was now time for Dr. Lewis Reed, and himself to give the speech that would either make or break the project, and naturally Hadrian was a nervous wreck. Oh, you couldn't tell from looking at him, but under his calm and confident expression his mind was more active than an agitated bee hive. Lewis looked over at him before chuckling and reaching over to clap his hand against Hadrian's shoulder, “Cheer up mate, tis not the end of the world.”
Hadrian just looked at him with a raised eyebrow he could tell that Lewis was just as nervous as he was by the way his British accent thickened as well as his word choices, but before he could reply they heard their que and quickly entered the room and made their way to the stage set up just for tonight's demonstration.
“And here we have our men of the hour! May I introduce Doctors Hadrian Morgan and Lewis Reed!” Announced the Secretary of Defense Adrian Conrad, “These two men are solely responsible for the Silverhand Project, which will be shown to all of you today. Now for those of you who don't know the Silverhand Project was introduced as an alternative to modern troops, or rather a method for the creation of super-soldiers.”
Seeing some of the crowd shift uncomfortably at the notion Hadrian spoke up as Lewis powered up all the required systems that made up the Silverhand System or as many of the techs had nicknamed it the Nuada Drone, “The Silverhand System while expected to replace the mobilized troops, will not be replacing the soldiers who will be doing the fighting. Now this may be confusing now but I'm sure you'll all be pleased with the results and understand them in a moment. While I'm speaking Dr. Reed behind me is powering all the components initially needed for the Silverhand System. The system itself has a bio-electrical field to power itself, much like the human body. The system will be piloted by me for this demonstration, and I hope that you all enjoy both this demonstration and the banquet afterwords.”
He turned and getting a nod from Lewis opened the capsule chamber that was not unlike a gelled over coffin while turning all the fields to the required settings even as Lewis spoke up to give a running commentary, “What Dr. Morgan is doing now is tuning all the settings for the capsule and what we have now nicknamed the Nuada Drone.”
Seeing the glances and confused expressions on the guests faces Lewis gave a small smirk before continuing, “The system in now fully powered and is only awaiting the pilot entry into the capsule to begin the full-scale linkup.”
With a last nod Hadrian removed his shoes before hopping up onto the bed of the open capsule before he quickly swung around until he was laying flat on his back, “Now that Dr. Morgan is ready I would like to draw your attention to the covered gurney on the other side of the platform.”
Seeing that the guests had done so Lewis closed the lid on Hadrian's capsule and quickly strode over to the gurney. Once he was sure that all the curious faces where focused on him and the gurney he spoke again, “May I now present with great pride the Silverhand System!”
Pulling off the sheet quickly and revealing the foreign body on the bed which quickly sat up causing the entire audience to gasp in shock, awe, or for some fear. The military representatives went ramrod straight and had their hands hovering over their various hidden weapons. The thing now sitting on the gurney was without a doubt not human. It's skin was the color of ink, so dark that it was almost hard to make out it's features except around it's mouth, palms, and soles of it's feet which where silver in color. It's face seemed human but also seemed to have a slightly elongated jaw and cheek bones that gave the effect of having a snout. It's ears where elongated and came to a point like the elves of legend, but for the fact that they seemed to swivel around as the audience made even the slightest noise. It's eyes were a solid silver-tinted violet that seemed to glow, and when the thing smiled it showed off needle sharp teeth with even larger canines. When it stood they could see that it was at least 7' or more, but the thing that caused yet another wave of gasps throughout the assembled leaders was when the thing started to talk.
Standing up while in control of the drone Hadrian began the speech that would decide everything, “Ladies and Gentleman.”, here he paused for the gasps, “As I have previously stated I am piloting this drone from the capsule on the opposite side of the stage. This drone is a bio-engineered bio-machine, and has been specifically built for combat and reconnaissance. Through genetic manipulation, and a variety of pre-programmed nanoscopic machines we were able to engineer this construct. And now we will begin the regular pre-op program to confirm full range of functions.”
Here Dr. Reed stepped forward to begin a standard physical for the crowd while starting up the same list as the first time the drone was activated, “Vocal patterns within human perception Dr. Morgan. Please confirm all functions.”
“Hearing currently at five zero percent, increasing function range now.”
“Confirmed, activating music program.”
“Hearing now at one zero zero percent, confirmed the speakers currently located in the great hall are playing 'Fur Elise'.”
They both saw the eyebrows of everyone in the crowd go into their hairlines as they took in his statement seeing as the great hall was currently on the other side of the rather large mansion. Lewis smiled at him before speaking, “Confirmed, now switching off music system.”
“Vision at one zero zero percent, full scale range confirmed.”
“Activating laser system now.”
“Confirming activation, lasers are performing programmed configuration number three.”
“Correct, for the benefit of the audience I will explain that Dr. Morgan has just demonstrated that the drone has full spectrum vision by describing a small laser show displayed in the upper ultra-violet wavelength of light usually invisible to the human eye. Another function is the ability to zoom in on a certain area from up to one kilometer away.”
This brought out grins and impressed looks from the military sections as they started adapting to the idea that it was the scientist in charge of the...drone. It seemed that they where fast getting used to the idea and where very happy with what they were hearing.
“Now releasing pheromones.” Lewis said as he typed on his laptop.
“Raising Smell to one zero zero percent.”, Hadrian announced before sneezing violently causing the crowd to laugh as he scowled at Lewis before literally growling at the man as he continued, “I thought I said not to add Sage to the pheromones.”
Lewis just grinned up at him and said quite flippantly, “Yes you did, but I did it because I know you hate Sage.”
The crowd laughed at the byplay and Hadrian only hoped that it didn't work against them in the long run. Shaking his head in exasperation before continuing with the test he drew in a deep breath through his nose mostly for the crowd's benefit, “Lavender, Sakura Blossom, Juniper, Orange Peel, Vinegar, Beeswax, Dog, Cat, Peanut, Chocolate, Ammonia, Lemon, Pineapple, and...Sage.”
Lewis grinned broadly back at the drone as Hadrian paused slightly before listing the one thing he hated more than antiseptic when it came to the scent department. Shaking his head slightly he turned back to the crowd who mostly all had curious expressions on their faces, “Correct, again for the benefit of the audience I will explain. At the back of the room many of you might have noticed a small black bar that was resting on a table beside a data pad. That bar contains several small samples of synthetic oils that release a set of scents or pheromones in a random order that was transferred to my laptop here to correctly test the drone's sense of smell. Dr. Morgan has just listed the order that the scents where released.”
Again the commentary seemed to be having a positive effect on the military members present as they turned to spot the machine described to them. Both of the doctors on stage saw the glances being exchanged amongst not only them, but the President and the Secretary of Defense as well.
“All functions confirmed, and we will now give a presentation of a previous physical ability test.” Dr. Lewis stated once he was sure he had everyone's attention again. With his comment a projection screen was lowered down from it's slot in the ceiling, and a video showing Hadrian running a military grade obstacle course was shown. Though the ease and speed that the drone was able to finish it with made it seem as if it where a child's rendition of the same course. The presentation was over after a few more words of promotion and explanations of the workings of the system. All in all both of the doctors where looking forward to the official reactions to the project.
Hadrian easily placed himself on the gurney moving the drone back to it's original position before reaching up towards the small silver circle behind the drones left ear while explaining the disconnection procedure, “The disconnection process is very simple all that the pilot has to do is make sure the drone is either hidden and/or in a resting position, and then simple press the sensor behind the left ear, like so.”
Just after that was said the audience watched the drone go limp, and with a small hiss of air from the hydraulics the capsule opened with a few wisps of mist from the water and oxygen circulation systems escaping as Hadrian sat up back in his own body slowly. As he was removing himself from the capsule and replacing his shoes Lewis stepped forward to give the closing words to their presentation, “Thank you all for staying with us through the entire presentation of the Silverhand System. We hope that you can find the system to be of some use, and now we can all retire to the prepared banquet in the great hall.”
Even as the two doctors headed out a side door they noticed all the military leaders in the room moving toward the Secretary and the President hopefully to ask for the production and use of the system rather than it's dismantlement. Entering the great hall for the banquet the two doctors nervously waiting for the rest of the guests as they stood on either side of the double doors. It didn't take long for the guests to start trickling in as they took their places, and finally the president entered with his entourage only for the man himself to pause beside Hadrian, “You have your funding Doctor.”
Hadrian was elated he had finally done it; the project was completed and now soldiers would no longer die in combat leaving behind their families like his father and his brother. With the drones so many lives would be saved, he only hoped that it would be enough. So with a smile Hadrian Morgan gave Lewis a subtle thumbs up, and spent the rest of the time answering questions from all the curious attendees.
It would be just over fifteen years later that Hadrian Morgan would look back and remember one particular saying, 'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions', and think to himself that that particular road must have been paved with a miles worth of his own. After all he never knew that day he had almost single-handedly started World War Three.
