FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Artificial Life; capable of understanding, responding and reacting to any situation exactly how a human would, capable of self-preservation and developing emotional attatchments. Mankind has strived to create it since the dawn of technology. In our clumsy and self-important trek through time, there have always been greater minds that have driven mankind onward; Albert Einstein helped to create the Atomic Bomb, despite his best wishes, Bill Gates helped to create the modern computer and Sir Henry Gauvain invented the first Iron Lung. Almost eight years before the Mutenagenix wars between the furred Undergrounders of the Hoven Moon complex and the Human nations of Earth, a science crew was sent out to establish a colony on a distant planet, roughly three hundred light years from Earth in a sector of space codenamed the Burning Cluster. Most of the planets in this remote part of space featured an atmosphere rife with radioactive particles that would burn any human life that set foot on the planet alive. One particular planet, however, did not feature this interesting curiosity; it was here that they made home. Hellen'aht, as it was soon named, was literally dead center of planets that could only be described as hells, dozens of them all covered in boiling magma and seismic upheavals that shook them in their orbits around a White Dwarf star. It is here, in a small laboratory, that Doctor Richard Thompson continued his ancestors century-long endeavour to create A.I.

Little known to him, or the rest of the colony, they were not as safe as they believed. A ship had already landed, and the crew were making their way towards the humans with malicious intent. They entered the city under cover of night as he put the final touches on his greatest work. He had named the robotic individual Sharp, after his great grandmother who had begun the research. He installed movement programs into the A.I. so that she could walk, downloaded the intelligence into her cybernetic brain and connected her to the power grid. The lights overhead flickered and a bass thump thundered in the distance and he faltered, pulling a diagnostic up. This wasn't right, she shouldn't be drawing this much power. Energy readings were off the scales, one-ten, one-thirty percent capacity... He momentarily thought to the radioactive material he had used to create her power core, the same radioactive particles from nearby planet atmospheres. He had found evidence of a massive crater a few thousand miles from where the colony was, and he had procured it from there, a small lump about the size of a golf ball...

He didn't think for long, though, because red hazard lights flicked on, indicating that the colony was under attack. Quick as a flash, he slammed a button causing the work of a lifetime to be surrounded by a protective shielding. He smiled a little when he heard a sound from behind him, and he flicked another button.

"I may never meet you, Sharp, but know this; whatever you choose to do in life, I will be proud of you." He said, tapping the button off again before bullets smashed the glass window to the outside world and his body was almost ripped apart.

Hellborn.

Woken.

Almost three hours later, once the sun had begun to rise, the capsule unlocked and opened up. An orange hand reached out and grabbed the metal edge. Leverage was used, and the rest of the orange body lifted, eventually sliding from the capsule and standing on the rubble covered tile floor. Deep purple eyes blinked and suveyed the room, an ear twitched, listening to screams in the distance. She looked down at the floor between her feet, then back at the broken windowframe. She stood roughly six foot, with long blue hair in dreadlocks and perky ears that curved oddly. Her entire body, save her hair, eyes and the inside of her mouth, was orange; including her long whippy tail which elongated her spine and gave her extra balance. There was so much destruction... Once again her ears picked up on a scream, and she stepped across the room, stopping next to a bloodied corpse. She didn't recognise them, nor could she find its name about its person, but it was clothed. She looked about the room again and stepped towards a locker, which she found to be full of lab coats. She pulled one around her shoulders; she wasn't naked, had nothing that required concealing, but if one had to wear clothes, she might be expected to wear at least what she could find. Finally, she stepped across the broken glass, over the obliterated windowframe and into the street. She paused, glancing back at the corpse on the floor emotionlessly, before walking down the destroyed street.

She followed the sounds, gunfire and screaming that echoed through the near-empty street eerily. She noticed bloodied corpses, all the same species as the one earlier, and several decimated buildings. Craters and pools of crimson blood were everywhere, just yet another feature of the rubble-covered road. When she finally got close enough to see where the sounds were coming from, she discovered about five brown furred creatures, roughly six foot tall, all heavily armed and armoured, closing in on a huddle of that same species that were all over the streets lying in their own blood. She paused for a moment or two, making up her mind, and stepped towards the closest brown creature. She lifted him effortlessly from his feet, his frightened yelp getting the attention of his fellow soliders. She held him aloft, over her head with both hands, and pulled. His body tore in half, spilling blood and gore across the road and all over her. She dropped his lifeless remains to the bitumen.

"Finally!" One chimed. "A warrior caste! I was getting so bored of plowing through these weaklings!"

He stepped forth grabbing her by the shoulder, and she pushed him away, her push knocking the wind out of him. With one swipe, she swung her hand across his head and tore his face clean off of his skull. Another charged her, this one holding a bladed weapon about the length of his arm, but before he could swing, she kneed him in the stomach, then sent a punch right through his spine. His body fell the to the bitumen with a pathetic gurgle. Sharp ignored the blade, allowing the third poor bastard to try his own hand at killing her. His sword was wrenched from his grip and then thrust through the top of his head. Now only one remained, and she rushed him, grabbing his throat and pinning him to a wall. He growled at her through gritted teeth as one of the creatures that were cowering before stepped forth.

"Who are you?" He demanded. "Why have you instigated this attack?! Start talking!"

The brown creature laughed in a cruel and demeaning way. "We are the Highborn, warblood caste!" He barked. "And your pathetic race is weak!"

"Our pathetic race is Human." The man replied. "You've some nerve attacking us."

"The Nobleblood caste shall be your undoing!" The Highborn laughed. "You barge into our space, take up residence on one of our planets and expect us to let you live?! We will come for you, no matter where you run; we shall find you, no matter where you hide! We will end your pathetic species!"

"Looks like diplomacy can wait for now." The human said bluntly.

Sharp threw the Highborn to the ground with enough force to bury him partly into the concrete. She exhaled for what felt like the first time ever and gave the human a cautious glance, almost asking him if he were alright. He seemed to be carefully judging her as he looked her over.

"You know, you almost look like one of them." He mumble suspicously. "A little too much!"

Sharp's eyes grew wide in her shock. She didn't know her own name, let alone how to talk to defend herself, so she did the only thing that she could.

She broke into tears, pushed the man back, and fled back down where she had come from.

Three hours later, after the colony's security forces had managed to secure he city, they were checking what few buildings there were for casualties or survivors of the attack. They had been so unprepared, defensive turrets that had been placed to keep out the vicious wild animals of the planet were powered down, security sentries had been away from their posts, and the long-range sensors had been under heavy repair since the morning before. It had started and ended so quickly that security forces barely even had the chance to get into their squadrons, let alone into the fight. the damage, however, was horrific. Entire buildings filled with corpses, reduced to rubble or just plain missing; men and women alike had been killed, not even children were spared the massacre that the small Highborn force had so easily and readily inflicted. The incident was already being nicknamed 'Bloodbath Thursday', much to the disapproval of the security forces. Butts were being kicked, left right and center, and the only question on everyone's lips was why they had attacked, rather than try to negotiate first.

A small, five man patrol being led by a captain found its way to a little obliterated laboratory and surveyed the damage. One corpse, a Dr. R. Thompson, a super specialist in robotics and programming, was lying in the room; his body was almost unrecognisable from the amount of damage that the Highborn's bullets had done to him. They prepared to leave, putting a tag above the door to signify another locale that the morticians would have to visit, when the captain shushed them, holding his fist out.

"Hey, you guys hear that?" He hissed.

"What?"

The sound was repeated, a little louder this time, and the squad heard it.

"Is that crying, sir?" One of the privates asked.

"I believe so." He hissed, motioning towards a door. "Sounds like it's in here."

He carefully inched the door open. The only light in the room was from a monitor covered in static, making it hard to define objects, but eventually their eyes adjusted and they could see an orange... something, cowering in the middle of the room. It was crying with its head on its knees, arms wrapped around its legs for what little comfort it'd bring.

"Get a shot and inform H.Q." The captain hissed. "Find out if we have records."

They watched it crying for a minute or two before the corporal replied.

"H.Q. says that, from recent data, she's an experimental artificial intelligence by Dr. Thompson. Codenamed Hellborn, his latest logs have had her name listed as Sharp, after his great grandmother by the same name." He quietly whispered. "Eye witnesses also claim that she's the one who stopped the attack, fleeing after doing so."

"Alright;" the captain mumbled. "cover me, she may react violently." He carefully inched his way over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder gently. "Miss, are you alright?"

She jumped, startled that he was there, and shied away from his touch, pushing herself frantically into the corner beneath the monitor and tucking her tail between her legs. She was no longer clothed in the labcoat, having discarded it in another corner. She had tried to use it to wipe the blood from herself to no avail, the attempts only smearing her further. Pitifully she crowded herself into the corner, covering her head in her hands as she tried to hide from him.

"Shh, calm down." The captain gently said, holding his hands out. "It's alright, we aren't going to harm you, Sharp."

Her shivering stopped, and she looked at him from beneath her arms quizzically.

"That's your name, Sharp." the captain said, inching a little closer. "I'm captain Clement Stillman, it's nice to meet you." He offered his hand out, and she gingerly put hers into his palm, letting him pull her from the shadows. "You're quite a mess, Sharp. Come with us, we'll get this blood off of you at the barracks and get you dressed, c'mon."

She unsteadily stood up, still crying a little.

"Are you able to tell me what happened out there?" The captain asked gently. She shook her head, pointing to her mouth. "You cannot talk?" She nodded. "Okay, that's alright." The Captain said, leading her out the room by her hand. She stopped by the corpse of her late creator, looking down at him absently. The power for the room faltered, and something shorted out, playing a message in a male voice.

"I may never meet you, Sharp, but know this; whatever you choose to do in life, I will be proud of you."

Sharp stared at the corpse again, letting tears well in her eyes. She sniffled, and the captain let her practically throw herself into him, crying onto his shoulder. He took a clean lab coat from one of the privates and haphazardly wrapped it around her shoulders. "It's alright, Sharp." He cooed, putting a hand on the back of her head as she wept. "We've got you."

Eventually they stepped back into the streets, Sharp with them. There were other soliders out here, along with civillians and even animals, searching through the buildings for survivors or corpses. A bus was here, still operating, with wounded passengers filling up the seats and a few medical personell looking to those who hadn't been seen to yet. The driver, himself, looked injured, and the Captain stepped forth.

"Civillian, sit in a passenger seat, corporal Gymes will drive. Corporal, get up there!" He ordered. The driver lumbered out of the seat and further back in the bus, and the corporal sat down behind the wheel. "Let the medics tell you when to go, corp; until then, just hang tight. Radio in H.Q. that I'm inbound with Sharp."

"Yessir!"

"Alright, you three with me and Sharp, let's go."

They nodded and followed, eyeing the damage and worried civillians as they passed. They didn't get far, though, before Sharp's ears twitched and she began to look worried. The captain noticed and turned his attention to her.

"Sharp, you alright?" He asked. "You look nervous."

She shook her head and beckoned him to follow her before breaking into a higher pace. She led them to a corner, and pointed down the road at a toppled bus with soliders standing around it.

"Uh oh," the captain mumbled, "you three come with me, Sharp, stand back here."

The four men hurried over, and the three already there saluted.

"What's going on?" The captain demanded.

"We're not strong enough to lift the bus, she'll bleed to death if we can't get her out. Could you assist us?"

"Sure, grab ahold of something, and on the count of three, lift!" The captain instructed, grabbing ahold of part of the bus. "Ready? One, two, three!"

They pulled, but only managed to heave it about two centimeters, dragging it across the road about a foot and causing the civillian to scream in pain.

"Stop!" The captain ordered. "We're only doing harm!"

Sharp came into view next to him, and she grabbed hold of the roof. Effortlessly she lifted the bus over her head before throwing it across the road where it landed heavily, dropping broken glass onto the bitumen in a cascade. The soliders all stared at her in amazement; what they could barely lift more than an inch she tossed about like an inflatable toy. One of the privates saw to the now freed civillian, and the captain stood back up.

"T-thanks Sharp." He mumbled, getting her to smile at him brightly. "Anyway, the elevator to the Underdome is just around the corner, will you men be alright here?"

"Yes sir." One of the privates said. "We'll assist with the search and rescue."

"Alright, then." The captain replied, putting an arm around Sharp's shoulders. "Let's go, kid."

A couple of minutes later, they stood in a crowded elevator, right at the back. Frantic soliders and civillians were all around, all chatting noisily to each other, some angrily. Sharp had crammed herself into the corner to avoid people, and the captain did what he could to keep her hidden from their eyes. When the elevator was empty, he led her out to the Barracks. This massive campus, complete with eight buildings, the tallest of which was eight storeys tall, had a courtyard that could easily have over five thousand men standing in it with plenty of legroom. Sharp only had a moment to stare awestruck at the sheer size before many pairs of hands wrenched her from the captain's side. She was dragged into the largest building and forced into a cold shower, the ice cold water barely washing any drying blood from her, and she was soon forced onto a solid steel gurney and strapped down at the wrists.

The captain had protested, but the scientists in white only pushed him away, saying 'it's all for the best.' or 'it's not alive, it exists for the benefit of science and that alone.' She never got called her name, only 'it' or 'the machine'. She writhed and struggled against the bonds, but the scientists held her down as their clumsy, probing hands examined her. This was a nightmare; she knew the captain was against her sudden examination, and he was probably doing his best, but there was, obviously, little he could have done. After half an hour, the scientists left, muttering about her staying where she would do no damage to the important equipment while they went about getting ready to dismantle her for study.

With an exasperated cry, her synthetic muscles gave her a burst of strength she didn't know she had, and the gurney beneath her tore apart, screeching metal all that could be heard in the enclosed space. She pulled the leather straps from herself and paced to the door.

The solid steel door slammed across the hall as she sent it off of its hinges. The lights shut off, casting her in shadow, and her eyes shone through, eerily showing her position as she paced towards freedom. Alarms sounded and thick metal shutters slammed down around her, sealing her into the corridor. From outside she heard a familiar, and welcome, voice.

"Sharp?!" The captain yelled. "You! Let her out of there! Now!"

"It is not going anywhere captain! We need it isolated for study!" Came the voice of another male. She recognised this voice, he was one of the scientists who were, until recently, holding her against her will. Her temper flared and she punched the bulkhead hard, causing it to buckle loudly.

"If you had read the data on her that is in the files, you'd know what exactly you're referring to!" The captain yelled over the din caused by Sharp punching the bulkhead a second time. "She's not just some random machine, she's an Artificial Intelligence! She's got a personality, likes, dislikes, and an intellect!" The bulkhead was slammed again, this time it groaned dangerously. "I think that her personality has it out for you, Doctor."

A fourth, final punch sent the bulkhead screeching across the small crossway. Sharp, still with a green tinge to her orange skin and fury in her teary eyes, stepped out of the darkened hall. She closed the space between her and the scientist quickly, backing him up to the wall and pulling a fist back. He cowered against the wall, and her fist slammed into the concrete next to his head. Tears ran down her face as she pulled her fist back, and she glared into his eyes hatefully.

"Doctor, with all the time mankind has lived, an old saying is still amazingly true." The captain said, walking over and carefully wrapping an arm around Sharp's shoulders. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." He turned Sharp to lead her away. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Sharp is still covered in blood and needs to be cleaned, after that, we're going to get her dressed and up to the General's office. If you have any objections, please feel free to write them down on a postik note and proceed to eat them, along with the rest of your words."

He tugged Sharp down the hall, carefully wiping the tears from her eyes as the scientist stared in amazement.

"She's almost... human..." He mumbled, before a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"No, Dr. Thompson got that mood swing spot on. She's as close to human as we shall ever get." The hand's female owner said harshly.

Sharp was led to another room, in which there was a potted plant next to a counter in the wall. Another solider, female, was idly cleaning her nails when they entered, and the captain walked Sharp right up to her.

"I'll need some skivvies for the young lady and a short trip to the showers." He said. "Is that alright, Major?"

She looked at him, boredome in her features and nodded. "Yeah, you go for it."

"Thanks, sir."

"Aren't these a big enough giveaway, Captain?" She asked angrily, poking her cleavage. "I'm a ma'am, dammit!"

The captain chuckled and led Sharp around the corner into a large, tiled room. Little alcoves jutted from the wall at regular intervals, curtains across the front of each one. there were no other people here, male or female, and the captain soon led her to a nearby stall, pulling the curtain back and showing her the shower.

"Alright, in you get." He said. "You don't want any help, do you?"

She turned to the shower in the alcove, looked at it quizzically, and then turned back to him with a hopeless look on her face. Tha captain sighed, blushing a little.

"Alright then, get over there and I'll close the curtain." He said, pulling his jacket off and rolling up his pantslegs. She did as instructed, and he closed the curtain before stepping over and turning the water on, keeping her out of it. He fiddled with the knobs, waiting until it was hot, but not hot enough to scold him, before gently putting her hand under. "Do you feel how warm it is?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Okay, that's about how hot it needs to be to wash yourself." He said. A bottle of soap came tumbling into the alcove, bouncing off of his head, followed by a pair of bottles that rolled under the curtain.

"Use this stuff, captain!" Came the female major's voice.

"Thank you, ma'am!" The captain replied, catching a sponge thrown over the curtain.

"Yeah, yeah, there's a towel here for you to use as well as her skivvies..." Came her voice again, now back in the same droll tone of boredom she held before.

The captain gently pushed Sharp under the water, letting her become thoroughly wet before soaking the sponge and applying some of the soap.

"Alright, this stuff-" he waved the bottle of soap to get her to note it, "is for using on skin. Apply it to a sponge like I have, and then just run the sponge over yourself. The soap will assist the water in getting that blood off of your skin." He handed her the sponge, putting it in her hand and moving it around her stomach. "You need to scrub hard enough to get it off you, just follow that movement across your entire body, I'll be outside the curtain waiting for you to finish with that task, and then we can proceed onto the next bit."

She nodded, and he stepped out of the shower to give her some privacy, probably for his own sake, she thought. She knew she had nothing to hide from prying eyes, but he did seem a little embarrassed to have been asked to bathe her. Carefully she set to work, getting as much of the green that still clung to her skin off of her as possible, which was everything that the scientists had missed with her cold shower earlier. She relaxed a little, letting the warm water run over her shoulders and let out a sigh. It was comfortable, the warmth seeming to wash away all the stress of the day. she remembered what captain Stillman had told her, and she reluctantly walked to the curtain, poking her head out.

"You ready now?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Alright, get back under the water." He said, walking with her and picking up the black bottle. "Stand with your back to me." He said. "I'm going to put some of this directly into your hair. It's called Shampoo, it's made to clean hair of natural oils and other stuff like grit, dust and blood." He put some of it into her hair, closed the bottle as he set it down and started to knead the shampoo into foam. "You need to massage it into your hair with a little water to get it to froth up, then you wash it out with water before using the other bottle, conditioner, to complete the cleaning."

She nodded as he worked, letting him get it into all of her dreads. They weren't clustered, her hair just happened to be in that shape from wherever it had been made. He finished, turning her around and putting her hair under the water, still continuing to knead it a little to get as much out as possible. When he was done, he repeated his actions with the conditioner.

After he had gotten her out of the shower and dried her off somewhat, letting her keep going with the towel, he ran a brush through her dreadlocks, smoothing them into thick, lush hair that shone and reflected the light. The major had left a packet of hair ties, and the captain used them to get Sharp's hair back into dreadlocks. The ties were blue, and so small that they were practically invisible against her hair. With that, she finished drying off and he helped her get dressed, showing her how certain garments were worn with a bright red face. She didn't seem nervous or embarrassed, and she hugged him when she stood up, new army boots covering her feet.

"You're welcome, Sharp." He said, returning the embrace. "Now, we've got to go and see the General; c'mon, let's go. Don't leave your towel, shampoo or conditioner here, we can drop it off in your dormitory when you are issued one."

She nodded, picking up the towel and bottles when she let go and followng him out of the room. The captain waved to the major behind the counter as they passed, thanking her for what she had handed them, and continued to lead her out into the quiet corridors again.

They walked for two minutes, coming to an elevator that they rode to the top floor, and then led her back out into the hallways, now tiled with marble. The captain knocked on a pair of doors, which got a prompt response to enter. Idly the captain opened the door, let Sharp inside, and closed it behind himself before walking to the desk and snapping to a lazy salute.

"I've brought Sharp, as I said I would General Washington, sir!" He said, his sharp, militaristic tone a bit odd with the lazy way he was acting.

The General, Marie Washington, was only in her mid twenties, but she had managed to negotiate her way up the chain of command easily with a fast tongue and amazingly quick mind. She was only roughly five foot three, and she was thin, even for her height, with short brown hair, a young honest face and deep yellow eyes; she was the latest in a long line of Washingtons, and she held an air of authority about her that offset her otherwise teenaged features.

"Sit down, please." She said calmly, motioning to the chairs. Sharp, carefully, sat in a chair and the general held out a hand. "Hello little missy, I am General Marie Washington, but you can call me General, or just Marie if you'd like."

Sharp shook her hand, never saying a word, and gingerly reteacted her hand.

"Oh? No words of greetings? Not going to offer your name?" Washington asked. "That's a little bit rude."

Sharp flustered before pointing to her mouth and shaking her head.

"You cannot talk?" Washington asked, to which Sharp nodded sadly. "That's too bad. Mayhaps, in time, you might learn from the people around you. English isn't a hard language to learn to speak, it just takes a little time." She leaned back on her chair and put her feet up onto the desk. "For now, however, I believe we should find you something more constructive to do. I wouldn't want an A.I. unit that can lift whole buses and rip people into pieces to get bored, now would I?"

Sharp's ears perked a little at this, and she looked over at the commander hopefully.

"Mayhaps you could assist the scientists in the labs?"

Sharp's ears flattened, her eyes became slightly panicked and she shook her head vigorously.

"I don't think that she'd feel safe around the science labs, ma'am." The captain hinted. "They weren't exactly kind to her when she arrived, and I don't think she's taken a liking to them."

Washington nodded. "Yes, I heard about that." She said. "I'll have the door and gurney replaced soon. You know, one of those men actually requested permission from me to allow him to dismantle her?" The captain shook his head in his own detestment of this action. "No, didn't think you'd like that. I told him that if Sharp really is A.I., then it'd be like ripping a consious human limb from limb. Mayhaps you could assist the security forces?"

Sharp tilted her head for a moment or two, mulling this over, before nodding.

"Alright, now that that is settled-"

"General, could you organise a dorm for her as well?" The captain asked suddenly. The general was a little stunned by his interruption, but recovered quickly.

"Of course." She said. "I've already done it. She's right across the hall from you, captain, being in your care and all."

The captain sighed. "Alright, ma'am."

"Anyway, as I was saying; now that that is settled, you should head back up to ground level and help search for survivors of the attack." She waved them away with a hand. "Off you go, dismissed."

Twenty minutes later, they were back above ground. Sharp walked sheepishly behind the captain, watching and listening for signs of life. They came back to the main center of the attack, the street on which she had awoken, and moved to the nearest building, where dozens of people were scrabbling through the debris. A large pile of concrete had built up over the front of the building, caused by the wall, several stories up, collapsing down.

"Commanding officer, or solider, respond!" The captain bellowed, to which a sergeant came running.

"Sergeant Oliver Perks, sir!" He said, snapping to attention.

"What's the situation here, sarge?"

"We've got trapped individuals inside, possibly heavily injured. We're waiting on the crane to come pick up some of the heavier pieces of concrete, we can't budge them by hand. Est, twenty minutes."

"That's too long." The captain said. "They could have bled out by then, we don't have the time to wait." He clicked his fingers. "Sharp, see if you can't help lift some of this rubble, will you?"

Sharp nodded and walked past him, the sergeant gabbling as she walked towards the rubble.

"B-but it's too heavy for one person alone!" He protested. The captain laughed.

"Not this person." He chuckled. "Just get all the paramedics to sort the ones she helps save from those that the rest of us do, there's a good chap."

Sharp eyed the concrete before her, the largest of the slabs, and grabbed it with both hands before lifting it, almost without any physical effort. She carried it away, putting it somewhere out of the way before she retrieved another, large piece. She ended up piling all the large, heavy chunks together, out of the way, before pushing most of a pile aside and sauntering into the building. She returned, partly covered in dust, carrying several humans, one in each arm, one holding onto her back. She let the one on her back climb off before she handed the two she was holding to paramedics, then returning to the building with several humans in tow, whom she had pointed to and motioned to follow her, them being the stronger ones about.

Eventually the building was empty of all but corpses, and several of the men, particularly the paramedics, thanked Sharp for assisting as she had. She was happy that she had managed to help, and the Captain led her further down the street to where her unique abilities might be of some use.

She got many odd looks as she walked through the streets, someone capable of lifting so much weight as if it was simply a box full of wafers usually does, but when the human gentleman who had earlier accused her of being a Highborn noticed her, instead of looks being thrown it was rocks. And glass. And anything else that the humans could throw. The captain, who was walking infront of Sharp and hadn't seen the flying objects, turned when he heard the shouting and her wince. His jaw dropped and his temper flared.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Cut that out!"

A rock flew his way, and he narrowly dodged it, but not before a large piece of glass smacked him across the face. Now he was bleeding from his temple all the way down his cheek, and he cracked his knuckles as he walked past Sharp, who looked worried at his bloodloss. His fist connected with the gut of the man who had hit him and then he pushed him onto the floor.

"Assaulting an officer during a time of crisis!" He yelled, turning his face to the dumbfounded crowd. "Anybody else want to throw something?

"Why're you protecting that thing?!" The male human from earlier shouted.

"Because she can't defend herself, Reginald!" The captain shouted back.

"I beg to differ!" Reginald yelled. "I watched it rip one of those Highborn creatures apart with its bare hands!"

The captain regarded this for a second before he opened his mouth again. "Think about this then:" he shouted loudly, "maybe I'm protecting you from her?!" He gave the crowd an angry glare. "If she can tear people in half and lift city buses like they're made of paper, is it really a good idea to be throwing things at her?"

The crowd faltered, suddenly realising the logic in his argument, and their hands started dropping the rocks and glass they held.

"Get back to work, or I'll have you all fined for assaulting an officer!" The captain yelled. "There are trapped, injured people in these buildings, shouldn't you all be helping to save them?!"

Reluctantly the massed crowd left, and the Captain continued to lead Sharp down the street. She hastened her pace a little to get alongside him, but he brushed her off when she put a hand to her bleeding face with a worried expression.

"I'm fine, Sharp." He said a little harsher than he intended. "It's just a cut, I'll get the paramedics at the next ambulance to have a look at it."

She nodded reluctantly, and simply contented herself by walking alongside him until they came to their next accident site.

This one wasn't as bad, only small amounts of rubble were between the humans and the trapped survivors. Sharp made quick work of the site, and was returning to the captain when a yell behind her got her to turn. A man was pointing up, towards the higher floors, where a part of the wall had just given way. Currently it was tumbling towards a paramedic and his patient, who hadn't noticed it.

In a flash, Sharp was standing next to the paramedic, who looked up at her puzzled until she caught the slab of concrete, her back bending backwards as her frame struggled to hold it. The paramedic, and the patient, were pulled from under her as she fell to one knee, pushing the huge chunk of solid concrete to the floor in front of her, where it cracked and smashed into several pieces. It had torn huge gashes into her skin, revealing the metal beneath. She panted heavily and turned to the paramedic with a worried expression, her concern masking the pain she felt from her broken skin.

"I-I'm alright." He stammered. "Thankyou."

She smiled and slumped sideways, falling into the dust beside her as her world went black.

She awoke an hour or more later, still under the same building, with the captain's worried face looking down on her. She smiled at him and tried to lift her arm, but she was pinned down by something.

"Don't try to move, Sharp." He said gently. "You stressed your power core a little too far, and it stopped providing energy to the rest of your body. Professor Engelbert says that in about a week it'll be powerful enough for you to do practically anything that your specs can handle, but for now you need to take it easy. You can easily lift that much weight, but catching it took more than the brand new core could handle at the time."

"I'm impressed, to say the least, that you have enough power to fuel all of those sythetic muscles at once." Came another voice, the male owner of which came into view. "Hello, Sharp, I'm Professor Engelbert, I'm a specialist in robotics and engineering." He said. "I worked with Dr. Thompson to develop over half of your body structure for the better part of a decade. I also worked on the nanobotic repair systems that are integrated into your body, they worked wonderfully well, repairing your broken skin. Tell me, did you feel pain from it?" She looked quizzical, and the doctor sighed. "May I test a theory? It'll only hurt for a moment, I promise." She nodded, and he took a small scalpel from one of the paramedics, gently stabbing her arm with it. She gritted her teeth, and he quickly withdrew the blade. "So, you do feel pain..." He mumbled. "Extraordinary, he was a genius, he most certainly was." He prodded her stomach with a finger, and she giggled a little at his touch. "Ticklish, too." He mumbled. "And I could feel a sort of internal organ, mayhaps he's added something extra to complete the illusion of life..?" He sighed. "It doesn't matter, the head labs won't let me see a thing of his research notes and experimentation logs, damned superiority complexed-"

Sharp shook, getting his attention back on topic, and he looked down at her. "Oh, yes, you're free to go." He said, unstrapping her from the gurney she was on. "Sorry about the straps, they were for precaution's sake. If you'd lashed out involuntarily while out, you could have harmed someone."

She nodded, and then sat up, looking about for something, eventually taking the Professor's palmpilot from him, and motioning it towards him.

"Sure, you can borrow it for a minute." He said. She smiled and looked down at the screen, taking the small stylus in hand and setting to work with the keypad.

Eventually she had typed out a message and handed it to the captain, who gingerly took it from her hand and read it through.

"You want to go to the labs?" He asked, to which she had answered on the pad, expecting his question. She had even given the reason. He sighed and handed the pad to the professor, who also took the pen back from Sharp. He read it quickly.

"Ah..." He mumbled. "I see; you're worried that they'll use that information against you?" She nodded her affirmation, and the professor turned the little device off, slipping it back into a pocket. "Well, yet another definition of intelligence has been discovered; self-preservation. With my fellow scientists being who they are, it isn't long before they find some way to try to shut you down remotely, so I suggest we get there quickly. Captain, I suggest you inform the general and tell her to meet us at the labs."

The captain nodded, stepping away for a moment as Sharp stood up and dusted herself off. She stretched wide, getting the feel of her muscles back, before noticing the almost sly smile on the professor's face. She gave him a quizzical look.

"Oh, just admiring the craftmanship." He said cheekily, patting her shoulder. The captain jogged back over and ushered them to follow him.

"The general will be there shortly, we need to move now." He said.

Sharp nodded, and followed the two men as they hurried to the elevator to the Underdome.

The trio arrived at the entrance to the science labs shortly after Washington had, and she impatiently stood in waiting. She nodded to them, and allowed Professor Engelbert to swipe his keycard. The panel beeped twice, flashed red, and he swiped his card again, much to the same effect. Washington pushed him aside and swiped her card, but this, too, came up red. Angered, she pounded on the door.

"I order you to open this door, professors!" She yelled angrily. When she didn't get her response, she pounded again. "Hey! Are you lot listening?! I demand you open this door and surrender all information regarding the Hellborn project immediately!" She waited a few moments, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears, so she stepped aside. "Sharp, if you could do the honor of opening this door for us." She said.

Sharp stepped forth, looked the door up and down, and then slammed it with both her hands as hard as she could, sending it into the next room and across the far wall with the agonised protests of extremely heavy metal under stress. Washington stepped inside and unclipped her pistol.

"If anyone wants to try anything funny, they'll be scraping their brains off the walls." She said angrily. "Hand over the research, now!"

"This information is vital!" One of the many scientists yelled back. "We need a defence against-"

"Against what, Dr.?" The captain yelled. "We've been out there saving lives while you've all been in here devising a way to kill her! The only project you should be working on right now is the defence grid and whether or not we can negotiate our way out of an interstellar war that we cannot win right now! Give us that data!"

"If you create a weapon to kill Sharp and use it just so that you can sate your curiosity, you'll be wasting our only chance to protect ourselves if the war does come." Engelbert said. "Don't be foolish."

Sharp sighed and walked to a nearby PC, its display on a large plasma screen overhead, and typed a few words into a word processor for all to see: 'If you don't hand over the files and data, I'll break someone.'

The scientists sighed. "Please, you're threatening a group here."

Sharp thought for a moment, and then corrected herself. 'If you don't hand over all files and data, I'll break someone every ten seconds.'

She turned back to the collective audience; with only twelve viable targets, it wouldn't take long for them to realise that they would not only get hurt eventually, but might be one of the first she chose to 'break'. She stalked over to a male, who just so happened to be one of the men who had roughly examined her earlier. She grabbed him by the arm, and he started screaming.

"Hand over the data!" He yelled in his panic. She held his arm on either side of his elbow and pulled, dislocating the joint loudly and painfully, causing the man to scream louder. Washington grimaced, but didn't protest.

"She has shown the first sign of life, ladies and gentlemen." Engelbert said. "Self Preservation. She won't stop until she's out of danger, we know this; hand over the documentation, and no-one else has to get hurt."

One of the female scientists up the back pulled her headphones off, noticing the spectacle, and looked up at the large plasma. She sighed and started typing on the PC she was at. A series of beeps sounded from the computer, and she disconnected a large box that was, until recently, wired up to it. She walked over to Sharp and handed her the box.

"This is all of the electronic data." She said, getting an aggrovated roar from one of the scientists behind her. "I did not copy it, this is the only copy of any of it." She said. "The paper documantation is in the next room, you shouldn't have trouble finding the filing cabinet, the only black one in there."

"Barbera, you can't just-"

"Do you want to end up like Samuel here?" She snapped back, indicating the man currently rolling on the floor in pain. "No? Shut up then!" She sighed and returned her attention to Sharp's own. "All these dickheads told me was that we were looking for weaknesses in your frame." She admitted. "They said nothing about looking for a weakness we might exploit against you. I did find one, small flaw with the late Doctor's calculations on something, but, like a tiny piece of glass in the bloodstream, small things can lead to huge problems. Seeing as you're active, it doesn't matter anymore."

"And what flaw is this?" The captain asked.

She looked a bit apprehensive. "His calculations on her power core." She mumbled. "The material used is... potent. We can track the radioactive signal that he discovered it creating, but the gamble he made was dangerous. The material used was pumped full of raw power from the power grid, and he calculated exactly how much it should be capable of producing after she was activated."

"Get to the bloody point." The captain snapped.

"Well, due to the corrected calculations, there was a small chance that, after connecting her to the power grid..." She fidgeted with her collar. "She could've... Gone thermo-nuclear and wiped out all life on the planet, if not just reduced the planet to swirling debris."

Sharp suddenly felt like the center of very terrified attention, and she actually saw several people take a cautious step back.

"All the more reason to not find ways to kill her, hm?" Engelbert said.

"I did, however, also come across another, strange piece of evidence." The woman continued. "He mentioned, briefly, the radioactive material that all the other planets in the sector have throughout their atmosphere. something about there being a massive quantity of it here, on Hellen'aht."

"Wouldn't we have noticed it by now..?" Washington asked, to which the girl shook her head.

"No, it's actually the reason that this planet is free from radioactive atmosphere." She explained. "It's all concentrated in one giant lump, he suggested a meteorite." She looked, rather hopefully, to General Washington. "I think we should go find it." She said. "It's clearly capable of generating massive amounts of energy, we could find the first, true clean energy source."

Washington shook her head. "This is not the time to suggest leaving the city." She said. "Once the rescue and cleanup is all finished, then I'll consider sending you out, we just don't have the manpower to split ourselves up right now." She sighed, exhaling heavier than she probably intended to. "If you'd like, I can let you work with Professor Engelbert on Sharp's data." She mumbled, getting a surprised look from Sharp. "Engelbert, you're to catalogue everything." She said. "File it all in a secure harddrive, no-one is to attempt access but you and Adams, here. If I find that someone has attempted access, they'll have their butt kicked so hard their brains will shoot out of their ears."

The Scientists, all except samuel, who was too busy whimpering to himself, gave a chorused 'yes, Ma'am!' and promptly got out of Sharp's way as she walked into the next room to retrieve the filing cabinet.

To Become a Tool.

A couple of weeks later, Sharp had been called into Washington's office. Again, she had done something she shouldn't have, and had, this time, broken something that was difficult to repair. She sat on the chair on the other side of Washington's desk from her, looking and feeling sorry for herself. Washington let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Honestly, Sharp; I don't know what to do with you." She said. "You're breaking things too often, trying to figure out how they work, and that's dangerous. I've been requested to send several scientists, your project's researchers included, to find that element that the late Dr. Thompson discovered, and they will need to be wearing protective suits to guard them from the radiation; if you break one of the suits, you could cost a life."

Sharp sadly nodded. She still couldn't speak, and Engelbert was furiously pawing through the research and documentation on Sharp to discover why, but for now she made do. Sign language was tricky, and few people at the outpost knew it, but she learned it anyway. She had tried to use a portable laptop, but that took too long, so instead she was simply a yes or no person, and would tap people's shoulders for their attention.

"As you will have to go with them, that will make you officially commissioned." She said. "Before we can do that, you must be preseted to the scientific populous." She gave Sharp a wry smile. "You will find, in the closet in your room, formal attire that you are to wear. Adams shall deal with your hair. Go get ready, the function is in three hours in the Maxwell hall."

Sharp nodded and left, still feeling sorry for herself.

Three hours later, she was in the massive hall, standing behind the curtains of the stage. She was examining the floor between her feet with the same grim determination that a bomb defuser examines his work. She didn't like being here, standing in the dark all alone, and the anticipation of what might come made her only more nervous. Eventually the din of hundreds of voices quietened, and she heard Professor Engelbert start speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen;" he began, "today marks the beginning of a grand new age. If I could summarise what you are about to witness, it would be... human. One of our companion races has come to witness this momentus occasion, and we shall not disappoint. I read now from the log notes of late Dr. Richard Thompson, ten days before he was so brutally gunned down:

'It's amazing how easy it has been to forget that my A.I. is only electronic. It has literally grown before my eyes as any child would, and like all children do with their fathers, has managed to weedle its way into my heart. Sharp is, indeed a fitting name for her, as she is intelligent and quick, her thoughts like razors. With the same speed and efficiency of the human brain, she calculates any task given her, and I look forward to the day that she gains the body I, and several other scientists have constructed for her. I hope only that my fellow professors and doctors all see the same as I, for, as far as species go, we have surpassed all others with the creation of artificial intelligence.'

"He was, of course, correct that Sharp is quick and intelligent. I have worked with her for almost three weeks, and she has been nothing but inquisitive and adept at learning. She has, indeed, grown; and it is my fondest hope that Dr. Thompson is smiling down on her, proud of how she has adapted and grown into our society. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall delay no longer. I present to you A.I."

The curtain rose, Sharp's eyes refocused to deal with the light, and she looked at the amassed audience. She was a bit frightened, she had to admit, and when Engelbert stepped over and led her forth, she tried to hide in his shadow. She was moved to the front and gave the audience an 'I really don't want to be here' face.

"Please, say hello, Sharp." Engelbert said, to which she became a little more nervous. She signed hello, and a few scientists seemed to smile, one or two signing back, but the majority laughed, figuring she was just waving spastically. Sharp took a step back, tears in her eyes, and Engelbert caught her.

"Now now, don't cry Sharp." He said. "The majority of our scientific staff do not know sign language." He gave the audience an annoyed face.

She tried to catch her confidence, which was quickly giving way to her paranoia, and sighed. She signed a few words to Engelbert.

"Of course they won't believe that you're A.I. without proof." He said, to which she signed more words. "No, I've no idea how to prove it, though you might be doing a fairly good job yourself." She smiled a little at this, actually finding humour in his words, before signing a little bit more. "Hmm, no. I don't think that's work, though..." She looked crestfallen and sighed again.

"I think;" a voice in the audience called out, "that a good way to demonstrate would be through combat." The owner of the voice walked towards the stage, ascending the stairs and standing before Sharp. "Young lady, my name is Delta Singe, I'm of a unique species and you'd be very unlikely to harm me. My entire body is comprised of a gelatinous material, and I can shapeshift at will. Would you like to prove your intelligence?"

Sharp was a little shocked, but she nodded reluctantly and stepped towards the edge of the stage.

"Where are you headed?" Delta asked. Sharp signed some words towards her. "Ah, you do not wish to damage those clothes. I understand."

Quickly Sharp removed her formal clothes, folding them and placing them on a table. She was wearing her casual clothes underneath, not that it mattered too much to her. She walked back over to Delta and nodded.

"Now that you are ready, I suppose it is my turn." She said. Her dress, red like the rest of her, seemed to liquify, moving in almost disturbing ways until it was more streamlined, and resolidified into a tight, armoured combat suit. Delta smiled at Sharp's astonishment. "I did say that I'm made of goo." She said. I'm ready when you are, Ms. Intelligence."

Sharp grinned and rushed her, swinging a clawed had at Delta's face. Delta dodged easily, and caught her hand before Sharp could pull it back. A foot was swung, and Sharp narrowly parried it. Sharp grimaced, she was focusing hard; Delta was, indeed, no pushover. She found herself thrown across the stage, where she slid to a stop. Delta had already started to charge, and she was smiling like this was the most fun she had ever had. Another thrown fist plowed into the wall behind Sharp's head as she dodged. She slammed both fists into Delta's chest and pushed her back, but Delta didn't even seem phased.

"It'll take more than that to wind me, Sharp." she said. "You're adapting to one-on-one rather well, so how. About. This?!"

Delta slapped the ground, and red lines streamed across the marble. Where the lines had been longest, they exploded into huge needles, and the effect flowed across the room towards Sharp. Sharp, a little astonished that Delta could do such a thing, barely managed to dodge the advancing wall of needles as they scratched at her meager clothing. Delta only smiled again, and the needle-covered tendrils along the floor came alive, chasing Sharp across the room. She dodged and weaved and sidestepped each near-lethal swing, her mind barely keeping up with Delta's ever increasing pace. Soon, a heavier figure rushed through the tendrils, and Delta came into view, still apparently having the time of her life. Sharp dodged Delta's fist, only to be struck by a tendril and cast to the floor. She'd have been screaming had her voicebox been working, but instead all she did was cringe, practically curling into a ball as she held a hand over the torn skin on her arm. The tendrils faded, Delta stood upright, and her clothes returned to the dress she had been wearing beforehand. Carefully she knelt down next to Sharp.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard, and I wasn't concentrating on making those needles rubbery, like I had intended." She sighed, standing back up and facing the amassed audience. "Only instinct can help someone in combat that fierce, robots simply take the damage with no care for their own well being. There is, truly, an adaptive mind at work here." She smiled a little. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have your A.I."

There was applause. Sharp could remember the applause. It was loud and sounded like hailstones on a tin roof, something she had experienced a day or so ago when the planet's weather took on a chillier side. She remembered being rushed as she almost writhed on the floor with her right hand over the massive gash in her left arm. The nanobots were working as quickly as they could, but what she remembered most was the pain. It had hurt so much she was crying, and the scientsts that were around her only thought that this was amazing. One even stretched the split open wider to get her to prolong her show of emotion. Her eyes had bulged, and she thumped the marble tile below her in agony before the pain proved to be too much, and she blacked out from the overload on her artificial mind. Her eyesight went black, her eyes stayed open, and simply turned completley black as they stared at nothing.

She was lifted from the ground by a large red tendril that put her into Delta's arms. She gently carried her across the room and out the stage door, putting her onto a couch and carefully closing her eyes with her hand. She sighed as Professor Engelbert hurried into the corridor.

"What's going on..?"

"She's passed out." Delta said.

"Passed out?" Engelbert parroted. "But she's-"

"She can feel pain, and she has emotions that are exactly real." Delta growled. "The pain must've been too much for her to process properly, so to protect her, her mind shut down." She sighed again. "Your fellow scientists have much to learn when it comes to dealing with a lady in pain."

An hour later and the nanobots that were repairing Sharp's torn skin were finished, returning to where they were stored for later use. Slowly her brain rebooted, and she woke. Her eyes opened slightly, and she looked about the corridor, her eyes locking on Delta's own. They stared at eachother for a minute or two before Delta sighed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sharp." She said. "I'm really sorry, not only did I cut you, but the others used that cut against you."

Sharp shook her head before sitting up and signing that it wasn't entirely Delta's fault. Engelbert was waiting further down the hall, holding her formal clothes for her. Sharp tried to stand, but Delta grabbed her shoulder.

"Woah there." She said. "I've something to say before you go." Sharp gave Delta her full attention, and Delta let go of her shoulder. "The Highborn will be sending dignitaries to negotiate with the Humans, and you'll need leverage to get on their good side if you want to dodge an interstellar war. As such, I have some advice for you. Where you will be going, there is a forest nearby. Search the forest; head east and don't take humans, the wild animals could easily kill them, but you're much more resiliant than they. You will need to be armed, however. You will find your leverage there."

Sharp nodded, finally allowed to stand, and signed a thankyou to Delta before walking away, following Professor Engelbert to the barracks.

A few days later, and a portable, well armoured building was lowered into position outside of a large cave in a mountainside created by a monstrous crater. Sharp, standing atop the structure when it landed, removed the cables that held it into position and waved the chopper pilot off. She grabbed her rifle from the roof, looking about for violent animals. Supposedly there were dozens of them about, several much larger than herself, but not that she should worry about that; if they could manage to harm her, she deserved the pain.

The scientists and soliders quickly set up camp, placing perimiter lights and turrets. With Sharp constantly watching what they were doing, it took a little longer than it should have, and it was soon dark.

Sharp had the night planned; she was going to go after Captain Clement powered down the turrets, and she would fire a signal flare when she was going to return. The soliders were all informed of her personal mission by the Captain, who was in charge for the time being, and they were going to stand guard when the turrets were going to be powered down on her return.

She didn't want to waste time, and she had been given a unique new weapon designed by Professor Engelbert that was far too large to be weilded by a human, and special ammunition was in development for it, but for now its basic mode of fire would suffice, and she carried it with her.

Large, rectangular and heavy, the weapon was designed for maximum output with minimum fuss. It had a scope on the top and a pair of supports at the end of the weapon, the secondary fire was planned to be an extremely long range round. Its primary output was energy based, requiring recharging after more than eight thousand shots were fired, but all tests showed it potent enough to fire through multiple targets, even through foot-thick concrete.

She walked on, through thick trees and ever onward along the rocky wall, heading directly east, as Sharp had instructed. Every now and then she heard rustling from all around, like she was being tracked, but it wasn't until she came to something truly out of place that she stopped long enough for the wild animals to show themselves. Larger than wolves, much, and scaled like reptiles, but their eyes were what freaked Sharp the most. They glowed in the dark in eerie reds, and their calls were like those of wolves if they were made of metal. She stood her ground, waiting for them to make their move. The first foolish candidate moved in, and she sent a bolt of energy through its skull, causing the one standing behind it to be shot through the stomach. Sharp grinned a little. Taking a life, no matter what, was something she didn't want to do, but she was impressed at how potent the gun was. The other creatures rushed her, and she swung the gun from one of the many straps that hung from it, earning a series of bone-crushing crunches as she struck home on several of them. The rest all seemed to figure her too much fuss to attack right now, and they backed off, fleeing back into the undergrowth. Sharp, now content that she had done enough, turned around and inspected what she had been looking for.

The structure was large. Metal bulkheads covered in plant growth, the facility, what was left of it, seemed ancient. Meekly she searched the wall she was next to, finding a panel that pressed in. A section of the wall groaned and the ungodly sounds of moving rusted parts echoed through the forest, scaring a flock of flying wildlife into flight. She moved towards the opened bulkhead, gun at the ready, she didn't know what might be in wait beyond in the pitch darkness.

Carefully she stepped into the building, gun raised and torch lit. She groped about on the wall next to her, finding a light switch. She flicked it on, and the door behind her slid shut again. She was momentarily frightened by this turn of events, but when the lights flicked on, she almost dropped her gun.

Green blood, dried for possibly centuries, stained the walls and floor. Several rock hard skeletons, Highborn, lay scattered about the room. From what she could tell, this had been the sight of a fierce battle between the Highborn and... something. There was a large skeleton that she didn't recognise, but from what she could tell it had been very resistant to bullets and claws, only a pipe through its skull signifying what might have killed it. The grisly scene, though centuries old, still made her uneasy, and she made damned sure that there wasn't anything lurking in the room before she moved forth. She was, probably, the first to be here in centuries, and she took great care to not touch any of the remains.

A panel on the far wall was glowing ever so slightly, and she crept over to inspect it. The red glow, which proved to be a button, caused something deep in the walls to clunk heavily, and another panel slid open. A single pod, much larger than herself, slid from within the panel. It was roughly four foot high, and almost eight long, and it was wide enough to accomodate at least two people. It hissed and spewed mist into the room before growing silent. A glass panel was on the top, but Sharp couldn't see through it, an icy buildup within keeping it opaque. Gingerly she rested her gun against the wall and pushed a button on the side of the pod, causing another clunk and the lid to jolt slightly.

Sharp pushed the lid open, looking in at whatever might be within.

A single female Highborn, extremely muscled, but with plantigrade legs and a much larger horn on her head than the Highborn from earlier, lay asleep in the pod. Sharp sighed, thanking the fact that she wasn't something with a deep interest in eating her face off, and felt around the pod for anything that might be inside. There proved to be nothing, no clothes, no identification, no weapons, just this female and the blanket she was laying on. Sharp grabbed her rifle, slinging it over her back and feeding a flare into the end of the barrel, before wrapping the Highborn in the meager blanket she was on and lifting her from the pod. She was cold to the touch, but a few signs of life were present; she was breathing, albeit only once every fifty two seconds, and her pulserate was much the same. Sharp thought it likely that this female might have been in this pod for a very long time.

With great care, Sharp moved across the room, flicking the lightswitch off experimentally to see if the action would open the door back up, and smiling when she was rewarded with the same clunk and rusty-joint squeal. The night air greeted her, and before she left she quickly turned the lights on, making the door shut behind her and preserving the room. She turned to hurry from the area, heading back west, only this time she could hear an entire pack of the wolf-lizards following her, and it sounded populated indeed. She ran for roughly five minutes, and the pack behind her kept up admirably. She could see the edge of the forest now, and she shifted the Highborn female into one arm, using her other to pull the trigger on her gun and launch the flare into the sky, where it illuminated the campground and forest in eerie reds. She heard the turrets power down, and then the sounds of rifles being cocked, and she exploded from the forest, pounding towards the soliders where she put the highborn down and pulled her own rifle, quickly signing to the Captain.

"Jesus, we're on the front lines of a warzone." He mumbled. "Multiple targets, expect wide field. They sound fast, shoot to kill." He ordered.

The pack burst from the trees, dozens of the creatures all rushing towards the encampment.

"Open fire!" The captain yelled.

Their shots rang through the dark night, and the creature's corpses hit the ground hard. Not enough were falling, however, and Sharp put her gun down, grabbing a nearby pipe. One made it past the gunfire, and the pipe connected squarely between its eyes, the sound akin to a baseball bat. Its corpse flew back into the treeline, and sharp nodded to the soliders; she'd take care of any that came too close, they were to range them. As fate would have it, not many managed to get close, but one that did undoubtedly won the match in the human's favour.

He was most likely the Alpha, and he had dodged the bullets until he was in leaping range, and he lunged towards the Captain. Sharp caught him in midair with her hands. The creature writhed in her grip until she held it out, tearing it in half before throwing the remains into the forest. The rest of the wolf-lizards backed off, howling dismally at the loss of their Alpha and over half their pack. After they had all moved away, Sharp carefully moved the remaining corpses into the forest, throwing them as far as she could so they'd not stink up the campsite.

Now that the excitement was over, Sharp moved back to the Highborn, slinging her gun again and picking her up before moving into the fortified outpost and carefully laying her on a bed. She was still deathly cold, but her breathing and heartrate had accelerated slightly, and Sharp waved one of the medics over. Reluctantly he checked the female, making sure she was unharmed before checking her pulserate and respiration.

"She's alive." He said. "But I don't know anything about Highborn anatomy, she could be fully aware for all I can guess." He gave a grunt of disgust. "Though, personally, I think that she should be de-" Sharp clapped a hand to his mouth, giving a stern look. Professor Barbera Adams, the female human scientist working underneath Engelbert on the data surrounding Sharp, stepped forth. She gave the Highborn a bored look, carefully examining her before sighing.

"I and several of the other scientists will be here all day watching the video feeds from the crater." She said. "I'll keep a close eye on her for you."

Sharp nodded, signing a thankyou before sitting with her back against the bed and letting herself drift to sleep. She didn't need to, but she had found it... restful. She had discovered dreams on the first night she slept, and the nights she had been awake through had scored her some complaints from the rooms directly around hers. So, for now, she slept.