HOME | DD

Description
Chapter Two

Zak stood on the other side of the fake wall in his locker, unsure of what to expect upon opening his eyes. Slowly, cautiously, he cracked one eye open. The other followed suit and he began to survey his surroundings. He was standing at the top of a high metal staircase. Behind him was a rectangular hole in the wall, through which he could see the inside of his locker. It seemed the hologram or whatever it was only worked one-way.

Below him was a huge room. Massive. It must have been some kind of warehouse or something. Zak’s jaw dropped when he saw what was actually in the room. People scurried back and forth below, some on foot; others rode strange vehicles Zak had never seen before. Beyond the aisle containing most of the traffic, massive machines stood in ranks. The machines were basically humanoid, with slightly different proportions and the occasional gun or thruster protruding from their metallic hides. They were just like the mechs Zak had seen in the cartoons and comics he loved so much. Only difference was, they were real. As if this weren’t enough, it seemed there was even more to the complex than he could see. All the people below had to be coming from and going to somewhere, after all.

Zak was so dumbfounded by the spectacle that lay before him, he didn’t even notice when someone squeezed through the locker behind him. He practically jumped out of his skin when the man placed his hand on his shoulder. He looked up. Standing behind him was the principal of the school, Dr. Albaine. Dr. Trias Albaine was a tall, sturdy man. His hands were rough, as if he had done a lot of physical labor during his life. None of the students knew much about him, aside from the fact that he was strict, serious, and when he needed to be, terrifying. Right then, Zak was about as scared of him as he’d ever been.

“Welcome to Purple Wing, Zak,” Dr. Albaine said. Zak merely swallowed, unsure of what to think or say. “What’s the matter, son? Cat got your tongue?” He laughed heartily, as if he had told some wonderfully clever joke. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s about the same expression most students have when they stumble into this lovely little establishment.” He was referring to Zak’s slack jawed look of confusion. He took the liberty of pushing his chin up, closing his mouth. “Don’t want a bird to make its nest in there, do we? Come on, let me show you around.” He gave Zak a firm pat on the back. Zak didn’t know what to do except follow his principal, so he did.

“What you see now is the main docking bay. We call it Sector 1,” he said as they began to walk down the stairs. “This is where we keep all of our mechs and mission vehicles when they aren’t in use. This is also where most of the mechanical maintenance and research is done. I’d like to introduce you to someone before we go any further on the tour.” He brought Zak to the foot of one of the massive mechs. The two of them were only a little bit taller than the ankle. Dr. Albaine banged his fist against the hard metal a few times and looked up at the robot’s torso.

The plates that made up its armor spread apart and a man with curly hair poked his head out. His face was smeared with grease and oil. “What, what? What do you want?” he shouted to the ground. He then noticed at whom he was yelling. “Oh, Dr. Albaine, I wasn’t expecting you today. I’ll be right down!” He withdrew into the mech’s chest for a moment, then came down on a small hovering platform. He stayed a few feet above the ground and leaned against the platform’s railing. “Who’s this guy?” he asked, wiping some of the grease from his face with an old rag. “This young man’s name is Zak. He’s our newest recruit. Zak, I’d like to introduce to Mikal, head mechanic here in P-ing. He’s a good guy, but he takes some getting used to.” The engineer leaned over the railing of his floating platform and extended his hand to greet the confused student. Zak reached up, still in an almost trance-like state. Mikal had a firm handshake. Or maybe it only seemed that way because Zak’s own hand was so very limp.

Then, it hit Zak like a bolt of lightning. “D-Did you just ‘new recruit?’” he stammered. “Hm? Oh, yes, I did,” Dr. Albaine answered casually. “You’re a part of P-ing now.” Zak had no idea what P-ing was, how he’d been recruited, what he was doing, or which of the numerous questions swirling around in his head he should ask first. As a result, he just stood there, deeper into his state of shock. “Thanks, Mikal, you can get back to your work now,” the principal said. “Yes, sir.” Mikal’s platform whizzed back up to the robot’s chest, and he soon disappeared inside it. A few flashes and sparks made by his welding equipment were seen before the armor plating closed.

Dr. Albaine looked at Zak for a moment. He didn’t seem to notice. Every year, it always amused Trias to watch the different way each new recruit responded to this overload of information. “Come on, Zak. We’d best move along. We’ve places to go, people to see, and many, many things to do.” When Zak didn’t respond, Dr. Albaine sighed and gave him a slight nudge in the direction they were heading. He snapped back into reality, but still wasn’t sure of what to do

“What exactly is this place, Dr. Albaine?” he asked nervously. “Don’t worry, everything will be explained later. For now, just relax and follow me.” “My parents will wonder where I am if I’m not home soon.” “Your parents have been told that you are attending an after-school activity. They won’t be expecting you until later.” Zak was at a loss. It seemed they thought of everything. It seemed he had no choice but to follow his principal further into P-ing.

After crossing the docking bay and passing through a set of sliding doors, Zak noticed a cane-wielding man in sunglasses some distance ahead. He also noticed the larger-than-average cow he had on a leash by his side. The cow’s horns were longer than average, and it looked rather mean. As the man and his cow passed in front of the Zak and his guide, the cow looked right at Zak and flashed him a grin. Behind its fuzzy lips were teeth, which tapered to a point like those of a carnivore. Zak couldn’t help but let out a cry and back against the wall.

Dr. Albaine hadn’t even noticed the odd couple walking by them, and turned around to see what Zak was yelling about. As he turned, he caught sight of them. “Ah, Zak, I see you’ve met Jeff,” he said. “Um, yeah I guess,” Zak choked out, “Why’s he walking that cow… Thing…?” “Hm? Oh, no, Jeff IS the cow. He’s the latest in a series of experimental seeing-eye cows. The fine man you see accompanying him is Ray. No one’s sure of his real name, or why we call him Ray. He doesn’t talk much. Isn’t that right, Ray?” The blind man merely shrugged. “Indeed,” said Zak’s principal. “Why does that cow have fangs?” Zak asked, mildly terrified. “We’re not sure… Seems we still have some tinkering to do with the genetics. So far, all of our seeing-eye cows have been extremely temperamental and violent. However, they’re becoming better guides. We can only work on one problem at a time, I suppose.”

Zak let out a sigh of relief when Ray and Jeff finally moved along, although he did notice that Jeff looked back to give him an evil glare. There is something fundamentally wrong about that cow, thought Zak. He hoped he would never have to deal with it again, but had a bad feeling he might. He turned back around and noticed that Dr. Albaine was already going on without him. He quickly caught up to him and began to survey his surroundings as he walked.

The hall he was in was fairly wide. There was probably space to accommodate two of the flat-bedded transporters he saw in the docking bay with a bit of wiggle room. A purple strip ran along the center of both walls. Above it were various motivational posters, like the ones the teacher’s in Zak’s school loved to put up. These were a bit different, however. For one, they weren’t excessively cheesy or cliché; a good few of them were actually funny. He saw one that said “Perseverance” under it, with an image of a man eating peanuts. The salt on their shells was burning his lips, but he continued to eat them. Most of the other posters had images that Zak didn’t entirely understand. They seemed different from normal photos. More complex and detailed.

Beneath the purple stripe, set at regular intervals, there were labels indicating where different sectors of the complex were located. Zak was apparently being led to the Training Facility, Sector 3. Many more people passed by Zak and Dr. Albaine on their way to Sector 3. Most were wearing labcoats, and all of them wore a uniform underneath with a “P” emblazoned on the right pectoral. Zak assumed it stood for P-ing, even though he still didn’t know what the heck P-ing was.

Finally, they reached their destination. After passing through another sliding door, Zak saw a gym larger than any he’d seen before. There were more weight-lifting machines than he could count, and a lot of them seemed exorbitantly complex. On one side was an open area with several sparring rings in it, both with and without ropes. On the other side was a large track. Treadmills and other cardiovascular machines like that were arranged inside it. There was a stretching area, along with some free-weight.

“There are a couple of people here I’d like you to meet, Zak. You’ll be working with them quite a bit for a while,” Dr. Albaine said. “Wait here while I go and get them.” Zak stayed by the door. He was somewhat uncomfortable. He hadn’t been left to his own devices since he entered the compound, and didn’t really know what to do. And so, he simply waited.

Aside from the strange machines he saw, the gym wasn’t much different than any other he’d seen. Zak didn’t frequent gyms and fitness centers, but he imagined they were all more or less the same. He saw fairly normal looking people milling about. Many seemed to be pretty laid back about their exercise regiments, but others were absolutely engrossed in the process. They wore odd devices Zak didn’t recognize, and trainers carrying towels, water, and clipboards followed them. At least, Zak thought it was water… There was really no telling around here.

He was growing tired of the musky stench of sweat and metal when Dr. Albaine returned. Two characters in trainer uniforms accompanied him. On his left was a tall, muscular man with dark skin. His hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. He seemed to have used some sort of relaxant on it. It would normally have been extremely curly, but was instead sleek and shiny. He stood stiff, serious, and intimidating. On the other side was a woman. She was a little bit shorter than Zak, and had long brown hair with a hot pink streak through the bangs. Her posture was more relaxed than the man’s.

“Zak,” said Dr. Albaine, “I’d like to introduce you to a couple of our associates. You can call them Caliber and Kat.” He motioned to each as he said this. “They’ll be in charge of your physical training. You’re gonna need a lot of work if you wanna keep up around here.” He was referring, of course, to Zak’s obvious lack of athletic ability.

Caliber held his hand out to shake Zak’s. Zak had to shake his hand out after experiencing Caliber’s iron grip. He held his hand out to shake Kat’s as well, but rather than shake it, she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. She twisted and pulled his arm, testing its flexibility. When she had successfully managed to twist his left arm over and behind his head and stick his hand into his right armpit she said, “Does that hurt?” All Zak could do was whimper a little as he tried to extricate himself from her clutches. She let his arm go, and before he had a chance to assess the damage, she swept his legs out from under him and pulled his leg as close to his face as she could before he let out a pained cry.

“Kat, could you please refrain from breaking our new recruit on the first day? There’ll be plenty of time for you to contort him later on.” Zak was both relieved and terrified by his principal’s intervention. He was glad to be back in the shape he was supposed to be in, but deeply disconcerted by the prospect of another round of human pretzel with Kat.

“Hmph.” Kat stood up and brushed off her hands. “When was the last time you stretched, kid?” Zak struggled to his feet as well. “Um… I dunno… I haven’t had a P.E. class since sophomore year…” Kat massaged her temples as she turned to go about her business. “This is what they give me to work with,” she muttered as she walked away. With a slight bow, Caliber excused himself as well.

As they walked away, Zak leaned over to Dr. Albaine and asked, “What was up with her?” The doctor chuckled slightly. “Glad to hear you’ve found your voice again, son. Kat will be in charge of your endurance, flexibility, reflex, and dexterity training. I think you’ll learn to appreciate her quirks. Caliber will be leading you in combat training. You’ll be learning various forms of martial arts, as well as being trained all manner of weaponry, from simple swords to some of our more advanced, experimental weapons.” Zak once again found himself unable to speak. Combat training? he wondered to himself. What have I gotten myself into?
“Come along. There’s still a lot I have to show you.” With that, Zak was ushered out of the gym to continue his tour.

“I’ll be showing you the Biological Research centers next. It’s where we conduct all of our experiments and observations on, well, living or once-living things. Right now we’re focusing on some genetics work. We’re working to make the human body more resilient and adaptable to a wider range of situations. As a P-ing employee, you can never know what lies in wait on your next mission. We always provide what we consider adequate protection, but now and then something… Unexpected… Happens, and you’ll find yourself ill-equipped to deal with it. In such cases, it’s up to you to figure some way out of your sticky spot and out of harm’s way. But if our research goes well, we may not even need to give you any special armor or protection in the future. We thought we made a breakthrough several months, and we foolishly moved into human testing… But that’s another story for another day. You won’t have to worry about that for now.”

By this point, Zak was used to having no idea what was going on. He figured he’d figure it out before too long, and after all, what could he do but play along? Sure, the talk of genetic testing and human modifications was unsettling, but Zak’s state of shock had rendered him numb to surprise.

After traversing another set of hallways and taking so many turns Zak wasn’t even sure which way was up any more, they arrived at a door with several warning and caution signs on it. “We’ll have to be disinfected before entering this portion of the complex.” With that, Dr. Albaine punched a few numbers into the keypad by the doors, opening the way to an airlock lined with white protective suits. The pair of them stepped inside, and Zak was greeted by an uncomfortable sensation as the air around him seemed to crackle and vibrate. After a few moments, the crackling stopped and, the principal indicated that it was time to don one of the white spaceman suits on the walls. Zak did. Once they were properly insulated, they proceeded out of the air lock and into the Biological Research sector.

The first thing Zak noticed was how dark it was. The only light came from dim rectangles placed at intervals along either side of the walkways. All around him were dark machines with tubes and valves scattered across their visages, and oddly enticing tanks containing slimy creatures the likes of which Zak had never imagined. Every now and then, one of the creatures would lunge at the glass or thrash about in an attempt to get a taste of the pair walking among them. This portion of P-ing was also considerably quieter than the rest of the complex. There didn’t seem to be many people there. Zak was actually beginning to question whether there was anyone there for him to meet when they came upon a large table with various lights and instruments scattered on and around it.

Hunched over the table, a strange character was examining… Something… It appeared to be a cross between a squid and ferret. The man examining the creature was rather interesting as well. His hair fell across his back and shoulders in long, rope-like clumps. A few of the dreads where a bright green color, and appeared to be made of some shiny, flexible polymer. He appeared to be fairly thin, but it was hard to tell under his long labcoat. As Zak and Dr. Albaine approached, he turned his head to examine his visitors.

He wore large goggles, so Zak couldn’t see his eyes. He had several piercings on his face. He stared at the pair for a few moments, then turned around without saying anything. There was a large squirt as he continued poking around inside the creature on the table in front of him. He simply wiped his forearm across his goggles and continued working. Dr. Albaine walked to his side to observe the procedures. Zak was a bit curious, but he never did like dissections very much, so he stayed put. After a few minutes of silence, the man attempted to break the ice.

“So… Any particular reason you’re here?” he asked. Dr. Albaine looked up from the thing on the table. “Hm? Oh! I apologize, Zak. I get so easily distracted when I come in here. This specimen is fascinating. I do believe Dr. _____ is attempting to discover the secret to its remarkable camouflage mechanisms… You see, they have the incredible ability to—“ “Sorry, what did you say his name was?” Zak interjected. “Dr. _____.” “Um… I still didn’t catch that…” The only thing Zak heard whenever his principle mentioned the scientist’s name was an odd mumble. “That’s perfectly okay, Zak. You see, we’re still not entirely sure how it happened, but this good man lost his name some time ago. Now, no one can say it, hear it, write it, or see it. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on research to solve the mystery of this phenomenon, but to no avail. However, feel free to call him Dr. X.”

“You know I hate being called that…” “Well, what else is he supposed to call you? He never knew your real name, so he can’t even not say it properly. You’re just going to have to deal with it. Or get your name back.” The scientist pulled his hands out of the ferret-squid with a sickening squelch and came closer to Zak. He leaned closer and whispered into his ear, “Do you know what it’s like to lose your name? You lose your identity… You lose a part of your very existence… It’s like I’m not even real… But at the same time… It’s… Liberating… No longer tied down by he labels of society! Free to do whatever I wish!”

Dr. _____ was growing quite excited now. He was flinging his hands around, splattering ferret-squid fluids all over the place. As his speech began degenerating into senseless babbling, Dr. Albaine ushered Zak out of the lab quietly. Once they were out of the goofy spacesuits and in a normal hallway, if you could call it that, Dr. Albaine apologized to Zak. “I’m terribly sorry. When he gets like that, it’s best to just leave him to his own devices. He’s a brilliant scientist. He’s just a bit… Unstable sometimes… You’ll learn to love him. He’s like a psychotic, anarchist teddy bear! But anyway, I think it’s about time we got you properly entered in the databases and sent you home. I’d love to show you more of the complex, but we can’t put more hours in a day without causing big, nasty problems. Now, then. Follow me.”

Zak didn’t have a chance to respond before he found himself being whisked away to some other part of the building. After traversing another set of hallways, an elevator here and there, and a couple of teleporter pads, the arrived at Dr. Albaine’s office. They stepped inside, and Zak was shocked.

It looked normal.

He saw a plain, mahogany desk with normal papers and pens and stamps and photos on it. He saw a normal tower computer, and an average LCD monitor. Curtains covered one wall. Dr. Albaine motioned for Zak to take a seat in one of the very normal looking chairs in front of the desk. Zak did as instructed, and was pleasantly surprised by what greeted his rear end. The chair was extremely comfortable. Unnaturally so. But Zak didn’t complain. Dr. Albaine typed something into his computer, and it became apparent that this was no ordinary office. The curtains opened behind him, revealing a wall of windows looking down over the main docking bay area that Zak had first entered. Several holographic displays popped up on the windows. After mumbling to himself for a few minutes as he typed information into the computer, the principal looked up to Zak.

“Alright.” He turned around in his chair and moved a few of the holographic displays around by touching them. He dragged a few on top of each of other, and punched in a couple of codes, then asked Zak to come to the wall. He motioned to several displays and instructed Zak in what to do. He had to input prints for all of his fingers, undergo retinal, facial, and oral scans, and supply a sample of DNA, as well as inputting his name and other information. Once he was finally finished, a small chip was ejected from a slot that opened on Dr. Albaine’s desk. Before he could protest, the chip was implanted in his via some strange mechanism Dr. Albaine pulled out of his drawer. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all, and the was no discernable mark to show that anything had happened.

“Very good, Zak. I think you’re all done for the day. Get yourself home. Don’t worry about your parents, we’ve taken care of your story. Just act normal.” When Zak simply stood there, confused, Dr. Albaine seemed a bit annoyed. “Well, what are you waiting for?” “Um… I don’t exactly know the way out, sir…” “Just use the chip in your arm. Think of it like another organ. You can access it as easily as you can any other part of your body. It has plenty of information about the complex and the organization, and it will allow you to contact someone here whenever you need to. I know today has been confusing, but it’ll all make sense soon enough. Until then, just let it happen.” With that, Zak turned, left the office, and found himself walking around the building as easily as if he lived there. Shortly thereafter, he was standing atop the staircase above the docking bay, taking one last look before he went home for the day. He was already feeling better. He was picking up tidbits of information from the chip in his arm, and everything was slowly coming together. He sighed, readjusted his bag, and left through the locker, wondering what the future had in store for him.

Description
Chapter Two

Zak stood on the other side of the fake wall in his locker, unsure of what to expect upon opening his eyes. Slowly, cautiously, he cracked one eye open. The other followed suit and he began to survey his surroundings. He was standing at the top of a high metal staircase. Behind him was a rectangular hole in the wall, through which he could see the inside of his locker. It seemed the hologram or whatever it was only worked one-way.

Below him was a huge room. Massive. It must have been some kind of warehouse or something. Zak’s jaw dropped when he saw what was actually in the room. People scurried back and forth below, some on foot; others rode strange vehicles Zak had never seen before. Beyond the aisle containing most of the traffic, massive machines stood in ranks. The machines were basically humanoid, with slightly different proportions and the occasional gun or thruster protruding from their metallic hides. They were just like the mechs Zak had seen in the cartoons and comics he loved so much. Only difference was, they were real. As if this weren’t enough, it seemed there was even more to the complex than he could see. All the people below had to be coming from and going to somewhere, after all.

Zak was so dumbfounded by the spectacle that lay before him, he didn’t even notice when someone squeezed through the locker behind him. He practically jumped out of his skin when the man placed his hand on his shoulder. He looked up. Standing behind him was the principal of the school, Dr. Albaine. Dr. Trias Albaine was a tall, sturdy man. His hands were rough, as if he had done a lot of physical labor during his life. None of the students knew much about him, aside from the fact that he was strict, serious, and when he needed to be, terrifying. Right then, Zak was about as scared of him as he’d ever been.

“Welcome to Purple Wing, Zak,” Dr. Albaine said. Zak merely swallowed, unsure of what to think or say. “What’s the matter, son? Cat got your tongue?” He laughed heartily, as if he had told some wonderfully clever joke. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s about the same expression most students have when they stumble into this lovely little establishment.” He was referring to Zak’s slack jawed look of confusion. He took the liberty of pushing his chin up, closing his mouth. “Don’t want a bird to make its nest in there, do we? Come on, let me show you around.” He gave Zak a firm pat on the back. Zak didn’t know what to do except follow his principal, so he did.

“What you see now is the main docking bay. We call it Sector 1,” he said as they began to walk down the stairs. “This is where we keep all of our mechs and mission vehicles when they aren’t in use. This is also where most of the mechanical maintenance and research is done. I’d like to introduce you to someone before we go any further on the tour.” He brought Zak to the foot of one of the massive mechs. The two of them were only a little bit taller than the ankle. Dr. Albaine banged his fist against the hard metal a few times and looked up at the robot’s torso.

The plates that made up its armor spread apart and a man with curly hair poked his head out. His face was smeared with grease and oil. “What, what? What do you want?” he shouted to the ground. He then noticed at whom he was yelling. “Oh, Dr. Albaine, I wasn’t expecting you today. I’ll be right down!” He withdrew into the mech’s chest for a moment, then came down on a small hovering platform. He stayed a few feet above the ground and leaned against the platform’s railing. “Who’s this guy?” he asked, wiping some of the grease from his face with an old rag. “This young man’s name is Zak. He’s our newest recruit. Zak, I’d like to introduce to Mikal, head mechanic here in P-ing. He’s a good guy, but he takes some getting used to.” The engineer leaned over the railing of his floating platform and extended his hand to greet the confused student. Zak reached up, still in an almost trance-like state. Mikal had a firm handshake. Or maybe it only seemed that way because Zak’s own hand was so very limp.

Then, it hit Zak like a bolt of lightning. “D-Did you just ‘new recruit?’” he stammered. “Hm? Oh, yes, I did,” Dr. Albaine answered casually. “You’re a part of P-ing now.” Zak had no idea what P-ing was, how he’d been recruited, what he was doing, or which of the numerous questions swirling around in his head he should ask first. As a result, he just stood there, deeper into his state of shock. “Thanks, Mikal, you can get back to your work now,” the principal said. “Yes, sir.” Mikal’s platform whizzed back up to the robot’s chest, and he soon disappeared inside it. A few flashes and sparks made by his welding equipment were seen before the armor plating closed.

Dr. Albaine looked at Zak for a moment. He didn’t seem to notice. Every year, it always amused Trias to watch the different way each new recruit responded to this overload of information. “Come on, Zak. We’d best move along. We’ve places to go, people to see, and many, many things to do.” When Zak didn’t respond, Dr. Albaine sighed and gave him a slight nudge in the direction they were heading. He snapped back into reality, but still wasn’t sure of what to do

“What exactly is this place, Dr. Albaine?” he asked nervously. “Don’t worry, everything will be explained later. For now, just relax and follow me.” “My parents will wonder where I am if I’m not home soon.” “Your parents have been told that you are attending an after-school activity. They won’t be expecting you until later.” Zak was at a loss. It seemed they thought of everything. It seemed he had no choice but to follow his principal further into P-ing.

After crossing the docking bay and passing through a set of sliding doors, Zak noticed a cane-wielding man in sunglasses some distance ahead. He also noticed the larger-than-average cow he had on a leash by his side. The cow’s horns were longer than average, and it looked rather mean. As the man and his cow passed in front of the Zak and his guide, the cow looked right at Zak and flashed him a grin. Behind its fuzzy lips were teeth, which tapered to a point like those of a carnivore. Zak couldn’t help but let out a cry and back against the wall.

Dr. Albaine hadn’t even noticed the odd couple walking by them, and turned around to see what Zak was yelling about. As he turned, he caught sight of them. “Ah, Zak, I see you’ve met Jeff,” he said. “Um, yeah I guess,” Zak choked out, “Why’s he walking that cow… Thing…?” “Hm? Oh, no, Jeff IS the cow. He’s the latest in a series of experimental seeing-eye cows. The fine man you see accompanying him is Ray. No one’s sure of his real name, or why we call him Ray. He doesn’t talk much. Isn’t that right, Ray?” The blind man merely shrugged. “Indeed,” said Zak’s principal. “Why does that cow have fangs?” Zak asked, mildly terrified. “We’re not sure… Seems we still have some tinkering to do with the genetics. So far, all of our seeing-eye cows have been extremely temperamental and violent. However, they’re becoming better guides. We can only work on one problem at a time, I suppose.”

Zak let out a sigh of relief when Ray and Jeff finally moved along, although he did notice that Jeff looked back to give him an evil glare. There is something fundamentally wrong about that cow, thought Zak. He hoped he would never have to deal with it again, but had a bad feeling he might. He turned back around and noticed that Dr. Albaine was already going on without him. He quickly caught up to him and began to survey his surroundings as he walked.

The hall he was in was fairly wide. There was probably space to accommodate two of the flat-bedded transporters he saw in the docking bay with a bit of wiggle room. A purple strip ran along the center of both walls. Above it were various motivational posters, like the ones the teacher’s in Zak’s school loved to put up. These were a bit different, however. For one, they weren’t excessively cheesy or cliché; a good few of them were actually funny. He saw one that said “Perseverance” under it, with an image of a man eating peanuts. The salt on their shells was burning his lips, but he continued to eat them. Most of the other posters had images that Zak didn’t entirely understand. They seemed different from normal photos. More complex and detailed.

Beneath the purple stripe, set at regular intervals, there were labels indicating where different sectors of the complex were located. Zak was apparently being led to the Training Facility, Sector 3. Many more people passed by Zak and Dr. Albaine on their way to Sector 3. Most were wearing labcoats, and all of them wore a uniform underneath with a “P” emblazoned on the right pectoral. Zak assumed it stood for P-ing, even though he still didn’t know what the heck P-ing was.

Finally, they reached their destination. After passing through another sliding door, Zak saw a gym larger than any he’d seen before. There were more weight-lifting machines than he could count, and a lot of them seemed exorbitantly complex. On one side was an open area with several sparring rings in it, both with and without ropes. On the other side was a large track. Treadmills and other cardiovascular machines like that were arranged inside it. There was a stretching area, along with some free-weight.

“There are a couple of people here I’d like you to meet, Zak. You’ll be working with them quite a bit for a while,” Dr. Albaine said. “Wait here while I go and get them.” Zak stayed by the door. He was somewhat uncomfortable. He hadn’t been left to his own devices since he entered the compound, and didn’t really know what to do. And so, he simply waited.

Aside from the strange machines he saw, the gym wasn’t much different than any other he’d seen. Zak didn’t frequent gyms and fitness centers, but he imagined they were all more or less the same. He saw fairly normal looking people milling about. Many seemed to be pretty laid back about their exercise regiments, but others were absolutely engrossed in the process. They wore odd devices Zak didn’t recognize, and trainers carrying towels, water, and clipboards followed them. At least, Zak thought it was water… There was really no telling around here.

He was growing tired of the musky stench of sweat and metal when Dr. Albaine returned. Two characters in trainer uniforms accompanied him. On his left was a tall, muscular man with dark skin. His hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail. He seemed to have used some sort of relaxant on it. It would normally have been extremely curly, but was instead sleek and shiny. He stood stiff, serious, and intimidating. On the other side was a woman. She was a little bit shorter than Zak, and had long brown hair with a hot pink streak through the bangs. Her posture was more relaxed than the man’s.

“Zak,” said Dr. Albaine, “I’d like to introduce you to a couple of our associates. You can call them Caliber and Kat.” He motioned to each as he said this. “They’ll be in charge of your physical training. You’re gonna need a lot of work if you wanna keep up around here.” He was referring, of course, to Zak’s obvious lack of athletic ability.

Caliber held his hand out to shake Zak’s. Zak had to shake his hand out after experiencing Caliber’s iron grip. He held his hand out to shake Kat’s as well, but rather than shake it, she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. She twisted and pulled his arm, testing its flexibility. When she had successfully managed to twist his left arm over and behind his head and stick his hand into his right armpit she said, “Does that hurt?” All Zak could do was whimper a little as he tried to extricate himself from her clutches. She let his arm go, and before he had a chance to assess the damage, she swept his legs out from under him and pulled his leg as close to his face as she could before he let out a pained cry.

“Kat, could you please refrain from breaking our new recruit on the first day? There’ll be plenty of time for you to contort him later on.” Zak was both relieved and terrified by his principal’s intervention. He was glad to be back in the shape he was supposed to be in, but deeply disconcerted by the prospect of another round of human pretzel with Kat.

“Hmph.” Kat stood up and brushed off her hands. “When was the last time you stretched, kid?” Zak struggled to his feet as well. “Um… I dunno… I haven’t had a P.E. class since sophomore year…” Kat massaged her temples as she turned to go about her business. “This is what they give me to work with,” she muttered as she walked away. With a slight bow, Caliber excused himself as well.

As they walked away, Zak leaned over to Dr. Albaine and asked, “What was up with her?” The doctor chuckled slightly. “Glad to hear you’ve found your voice again, son. Kat will be in charge of your endurance, flexibility, reflex, and dexterity training. I think you’ll learn to appreciate her quirks. Caliber will be leading you in combat training. You’ll be learning various forms of martial arts, as well as being trained all manner of weaponry, from simple swords to some of our more advanced, experimental weapons.” Zak once again found himself unable to speak. Combat training? he wondered to himself. What have I gotten myself into?
“Come along. There’s still a lot I have to show you.” With that, Zak was ushered out of the gym to continue his tour.

“I’ll be showing you the Biological Research centers next. It’s where we conduct all of our experiments and observations on, well, living or once-living things. Right now we’re focusing on some genetics work. We’re working to make the human body more resilient and adaptable to a wider range of situations. As a P-ing employee, you can never know what lies in wait on your next mission. We always provide what we consider adequate protection, but now and then something… Unexpected… Happens, and you’ll find yourself ill-equipped to deal with it. In such cases, it’s up to you to figure some way out of your sticky spot and out of harm’s way. But if our research goes well, we may not even need to give you any special armor or protection in the future. We thought we made a breakthrough several months, and we foolishly moved into human testing… But that’s another story for another day. You won’t have to worry about that for now.”

By this point, Zak was used to having no idea what was going on. He figured he’d figure it out before too long, and after all, what could he do but play along? Sure, the talk of genetic testing and human modifications was unsettling, but Zak’s state of shock had rendered him numb to surprise.

After traversing another set of hallways and taking so many turns Zak wasn’t even sure which way was up any more, they arrived at a door with several warning and caution signs on it. “We’ll have to be disinfected before entering this portion of the complex.” With that, Dr. Albaine punched a few numbers into the keypad by the doors, opening the way to an airlock lined with white protective suits. The pair of them stepped inside, and Zak was greeted by an uncomfortable sensation as the air around him seemed to crackle and vibrate. After a few moments, the crackling stopped and, the principal indicated that it was time to don one of the white spaceman suits on the walls. Zak did. Once they were properly insulated, they proceeded out of the air lock and into the Biological Research sector.

The first thing Zak noticed was how dark it was. The only light came from dim rectangles placed at intervals along either side of the walkways. All around him were dark machines with tubes and valves scattered across their visages, and oddly enticing tanks containing slimy creatures the likes of which Zak had never imagined. Every now and then, one of the creatures would lunge at the glass or thrash about in an attempt to get a taste of the pair walking among them. This portion of P-ing was also considerably quieter than the rest of the complex. There didn’t seem to be many people there. Zak was actually beginning to question whether there was anyone there for him to meet when they came upon a large table with various lights and instruments scattered on and around it.

Hunched over the table, a strange character was examining… Something… It appeared to be a cross between a squid and ferret. The man examining the creature was rather interesting as well. His hair fell across his back and shoulders in long, rope-like clumps. A few of the dreads where a bright green color, and appeared to be made of some shiny, flexible polymer. He appeared to be fairly thin, but it was hard to tell under his long labcoat. As Zak and Dr. Albaine approached, he turned his head to examine his visitors.

He wore large goggles, so Zak couldn’t see his eyes. He had several piercings on his face. He stared at the pair for a few moments, then turned around without saying anything. There was a large squirt as he continued poking around inside the creature on the table in front of him. He simply wiped his forearm across his goggles and continued working. Dr. Albaine walked to his side to observe the procedures. Zak was a bit curious, but he never did like dissections very much, so he stayed put. After a few minutes of silence, the man attempted to break the ice.

“So… Any particular reason you’re here?” he asked. Dr. Albaine looked up from the thing on the table. “Hm? Oh! I apologize, Zak. I get so easily distracted when I come in here. This specimen is fascinating. I do believe Dr. _____ is attempting to discover the secret to its remarkable camouflage mechanisms… You see, they have the incredible ability to—“ “Sorry, what did you say his name was?” Zak interjected. “Dr. _____.” “Um… I still didn’t catch that…” The only thing Zak heard whenever his principle mentioned the scientist’s name was an odd mumble. “That’s perfectly okay, Zak. You see, we’re still not entirely sure how it happened, but this good man lost his name some time ago. Now, no one can say it, hear it, write it, or see it. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on research to solve the mystery of this phenomenon, but to no avail. However, feel free to call him Dr. X.”

“You know I hate being called that…” “Well, what else is he supposed to call you? He never knew your real name, so he can’t even not say it properly. You’re just going to have to deal with it. Or get your name back.” The scientist pulled his hands out of the ferret-squid with a sickening squelch and came closer to Zak. He leaned closer and whispered into his ear, “Do you know what it’s like to lose your name? You lose your identity… You lose a part of your very existence… It’s like I’m not even real… But at the same time… It’s… Liberating… No longer tied down by he labels of society! Free to do whatever I wish!”

Dr. _____ was growing quite excited now. He was flinging his hands around, splattering ferret-squid fluids all over the place. As his speech began degenerating into senseless babbling, Dr. Albaine ushered Zak out of the lab quietly. Once they were out of the goofy spacesuits and in a normal hallway, if you could call it that, Dr. Albaine apologized to Zak. “I’m terribly sorry. When he gets like that, it’s best to just leave him to his own devices. He’s a brilliant scientist. He’s just a bit… Unstable sometimes… You’ll learn to love him. He’s like a psychotic, anarchist teddy bear! But anyway, I think it’s about time we got you properly entered in the databases and sent you home. I’d love to show you more of the complex, but we can’t put more hours in a day without causing big, nasty problems. Now, then. Follow me.”

Zak didn’t have a chance to respond before he found himself being whisked away to some other part of the building. After traversing another set of hallways, an elevator here and there, and a couple of teleporter pads, the arrived at Dr. Albaine’s office. They stepped inside, and Zak was shocked.

It looked normal.

He saw a plain, mahogany desk with normal papers and pens and stamps and photos on it. He saw a normal tower computer, and an average LCD monitor. Curtains covered one wall. Dr. Albaine motioned for Zak to take a seat in one of the very normal looking chairs in front of the desk. Zak did as instructed, and was pleasantly surprised by what greeted his rear end. The chair was extremely comfortable. Unnaturally so. But Zak didn’t complain. Dr. Albaine typed something into his computer, and it became apparent that this was no ordinary office. The curtains opened behind him, revealing a wall of windows looking down over the main docking bay area that Zak had first entered. Several holographic displays popped up on the windows. After mumbling to himself for a few minutes as he typed information into the computer, the principal looked up to Zak.

“Alright.” He turned around in his chair and moved a few of the holographic displays around by touching them. He dragged a few on top of each of other, and punched in a couple of codes, then asked Zak to come to the wall. He motioned to several displays and instructed Zak in what to do. He had to input prints for all of his fingers, undergo retinal, facial, and oral scans, and supply a sample of DNA, as well as inputting his name and other information. Once he was finally finished, a small chip was ejected from a slot that opened on Dr. Albaine’s desk. Before he could protest, the chip was implanted in his via some strange mechanism Dr. Albaine pulled out of his drawer. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all, and the was no discernable mark to show that anything had happened.

“Very good, Zak. I think you’re all done for the day. Get yourself home. Don’t worry about your parents, we’ve taken care of your story. Just act normal.” When Zak simply stood there, confused, Dr. Albaine seemed a bit annoyed. “Well, what are you waiting for?” “Um… I don’t exactly know the way out, sir…” “Just use the chip in your arm. Think of it like another organ. You can access it as easily as you can any other part of your body. It has plenty of information about the complex and the organization, and it will allow you to contact someone here whenever you need to. I know today has been confusing, but it’ll all make sense soon enough. Until then, just let it happen.” With that, Zak turned, left the office, and found himself walking around the building as easily as if he lived there. Shortly thereafter, he was standing atop the staircase above the docking bay, taking one last look before he went home for the day. He was already feeling better. He was picking up tidbits of information from the chip in his arm, and everything was slowly coming together. He sighed, readjusted his bag, and left through the locker, wondering what the future had in store for him.