|
The Terran Ascension: Origins, Part 2
Back to Page 1.
******
On the other side of the planet, unknown to the pirates, as well as the Dominion, a small colony of refugees has already erected a cluster of buildings and has been living peacefully for months. Escaping the Dominion's mad hunt for war-fodder in the ever continuing struggles of the Koprulu sector, these people managed to leave their lives behind and launch themselves into uncharted space, outside of the realm of the Dominon. Here, upon this harsh desert world, these people have sought to make a new life for themselves, free from the chaos of war. Little do they know that their struggle for survival and freedom is about to take a dramatic turn...
Samuel Kynes looked up from tuning a hydrolytic converter to see a strange thing in the distance. A rolling, twisting disturbance was churning in the sky in what was otherwise a cloudless day. Sensing something amiss, he started to walk towards his dull, tan colored, plast-mold home only to spot a wall of energy coming straight towards him, from the direction of the odd distrubance. Dropping his tools in the sand, Kynes took off running towards the main cluster of buildings in the desert colony, flipping up his protective visor and shouting at the top of his lungs,
"EVERYONE INSIDE! HURRY, THERE'S A STORM COMING!"
Hurriedly, people scattered from the main street and into their homes, locking and latching doors and windows once inside.
To the sole inhabitants of this harsh world, storms were a common thing, but Samuel Kynes knew that what he had seen was no ordinary storm. Sandstorms could reach hundreds of feet high, lifting sand into the air and charging the atmosphere with static electricity, but this was different. Regular sandstorms didn't pulse with eerie blue and purple light, and they definitely didn't emit shockwaves.
Once inside his home, Kynes wasted no time.
"Into the shelter, downstairs, let's go!"
Confused and worried, the Kynes family did as Samuel said, clustering into the small underground storage space usually used for refridgeration. This was unusal, because normally the average building erected for desert use was durable enough to withstand a storm above ground. Suddenly, a great rumbling could be heard outside. In mere seconds, the rumbling became an earth-shattering roar that deafened any unprotected ear in range. As the family huddled together in the dark, the room began to shake as the roar encompassed them. Dust and flakes of plaster fell from the ceiling, and Kynes could only wonder what was going on outside. The air seemed to be charged with energy, and his hair stood on end. Abruptly, the noise stopped. Then, as if given a knock-out punch to his mind, Samuel Kynes was thrown to the floor, images flashing through his head; voices, ideas, colors. It was a kaleidoscope of information and chaos invading his most personal space. Forcing his eyes open, he glanced towards his family. From the panicked look on their faces, he could tell that they, too, were undergoing this strange event. Seconds later, the collective population of Samuel Kynes' colony passed out.
One week later...
"What is HAPPENING to us?"
A resounding murmur of agreement came from the people in the circle of seats around the small chamber. Samuel Kynes stood on a raised dais in the middle on the ground floor in the small dome that served as the central meeting hall of their colony.
"Ever since that storm knocked us all on our asses, crazy things have been happening. My daughter can predict the exact time that the next sand storm will come through! I'm asking for answers."
One of the local scientists stood.
"Our tests have shown that the energy in that storm was not merely electricity. The particles in the air were highly charged with psions, a phenomenon usually linked with Protoss activities, as they are the only known users of psionics in this sector, other than Ghosts, and they have built-in dampeners..."
"You're saying that the Protoss did this? Was it some sort of attack, to keep Terrans away? This is a desert planet! What reason would there be to-"
"No, I'm not saying it was the Protoss, only that the storm that started all of this seems to be linked to the sort of power that the Protoss posess."
Another man stood up.
"How does this relate to what happened to us that night? It was like a bad Stim trip! Sam, if no one here has answers, I'm going somewhere else, my family could be in danger!"
"Wait, maybe-"
"NO! I agreed to come to the damn planet to get away from all of this kind of confusion, now if you have a problem-"
Suddenly, as the man raged on, his eyes began to glow red, and a swirling mass of clouds formed in the upper rafters of the dome. Crackling with energy, a bolt of blue lightning came crashing down from the turbulent cloud and struck the ground next to the scientist. All fell silent.
Kynes saw that things were getting out of hand, "ENOUGH! This is crazy, just by getting angry we could end up killing each other unless we find out what has happened and just how we can control these new 'powers'. Could this be an after-effect of this psionic energy?"
The startled scientist shakily got to his feet.
"Ye-Yes, it could. I suggest restraint if possible, until we know the full extent of the changes."
"Agreed, now, if anyone else notices strange things going on, I suggest reporting them to the science division immediately. You can go."
People filed out of the dome as Kynes slumped in a chair. His wife, Siona , put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and he looked up.
"I don't know how we're going to get through this. I'm...afraid."
She gave him a kiss and they both got up and walked out of the room together.
******
"So I hear the Dominion has given our planet an 'official' name," Sam Kynes said as he sat down on the couch in the main room of his small home.
"Oh really, what is it?"
"Coriolis VI. It does have a nice ring to it. Oh, and they've also declared it 'Uninhabitable-Dangerous due to environmental conditions'."
"Well, that's a relief," Siona said as she sat down next to him.
"Things have been relatively quiet lately, maybe the effects of that energy wave wear off. It's almost too bad, we could have used some extra-"
A sudden boom sounded outside somewhere, cutting Kynes off mid-sentence.
"What the hell was that?"
"Let's go find out!"
The two rushed out of the building and scanned the horizon, shielding their eyes from the blazing afternoon sun. Sam Kynes saw someone running his way, and he rushed to meet him.
"Come quick! There's been an accident, it's your daughter!"
Kynes took off immediately, following the man to a nearby flat. When they go there, Kynes couldn't believe his eyes. In the middle of the flat, suspended in mid-air, floated his daughter, Telsia, eyes glowing, a crackling blue energy surrounding her like a shield.
"Telsia!"
"Sam, she can't hear you, we've tried everything, its like she's lost all control of herself!"
"How did this happen?"
"We were just messing around. She said she could stack pebbles without touching them. She was doing just that when she just lost it!"
"We have to do something! TELSIA!"
Sam Kynes took off in a dead run towards his daughter, jumped into the air, planning to take her to the ground. Instead, he just bounced off of the shield, landing in a dust cloud on the ground. Then, as Samuel looked up, in shock, the crackling shield disappeared, and Telsia fell into his arms.
"Will she be alright?"
Sam Kynes looked with worried desperation at the resident colonial doctor.
"I don't know, it's too soon to tell. Whatever happened paralyzed her, and she's still in a coma. It's as if her brain was overloaded. I'll keep you updated, at least she's alive."
Kynes left the medical dome and into the wide, dusty path that served as the colony's main street. Dejected and lost, Samuel Kynes could think of nothing else to do. He sat down to think. Everything was happening so quickly...why couldn't life just be simple? Then, as if a light was switched on in his head, Kynes knew what he had to do. He would find the source of that storm and its damned shockwave. He would find out what was happening to his people, and whoever or whatever he found, he would make them pay for turning his world upside down. Kynes then got up, dusted himself off, and walked on down the sandy road.
Back to Page 1.
| 
- News
- Project Info
» Project Status
» Units
» Heroes
» Interviews
- TTA Files
» TTA Demo
» Tech Demo
- Precursor Story
- F.A.Q.
- Gallery
- TTA Forum
- Staff
- Webmaster
|
