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Present Day Biosphere Labs Time: 10:58 PM March 22nd/2166

My friends seem horrified at my stories. Sarah and Tyler were pale in the face and Allen and Jacob were completely speechless. The kid was laying in the bean bag with his hands over his ears.

"I always knew that Glykseians were bad people", Tyler said, "but what they did was just..."

"Pure. Evil", Jacob replied, "how'd you get out anyway?"

"Waited till one night when they came down with the silver", I said, "they made the mistake of not tying me up first. They opened the cage and I went Primal on them. Got the first one with a swipe to the neck and the other two with my tail. Grabbed what I could and I bolted from the house and ran through town, not stopping for anything or any one. I walked for a few days before I found another town. I'd played my share of video games when my owners were feeling "generous" and one of the first things I learned was when you arrive at a new town, look for work, so naturally the bounty board was the first place I hit. I picked out the bounty worth the least, which was for a man who wanted some scrap metal recovered from an old ship, so I took the job and went to the General store. Convincing the owner to sell me the Automag and some ammo wasn't that easy, but I managed and on that same job I managed to find a couple of power cores that I was able to turn for some serious money. That was when my life began to turn around. The scars helped too. People thought I was a hardened bounty hunter and started coming to me directly. Slowly I built up a reputation and a name for myself. I still live in that town. It was my second chance. My "Continue from last check point" if you will."

"That's badass", Jacob said.

I just nodded, "can still find something good here and there. The people had heard about my plight years ago and welcomed me once they knew who I was. They said I should go back to Bespin and take it back from the Glykseians, and in time, I intend to."

"I hate to be the wet blanket here", Allen said as Sarah brought us all bowls of Alfredo and Chicken, "but were all gonna end up as well chewed meat or strapped to one of Ding Dong Denis' experiment tables if we don't come up with some kind of game plan here."

"What do we know?", I asked, "we know he's at the top of the compound, that he can access the Mainframe, but has to rewrite his program everytime."

"We also know that CHDISK will eventually ban his address from the 300", Tyler said, "knowing Dr. Loony Tunes he'll move to a different computer, or get into the code of CAD 21 and change his address."

"If he can access the mainframe then that means he also is the one who initiated the quarantine as it has to be initiated manually", Sarah said.

"And I'm assuming if I were to go back down to the mainframe I could release the quarantine locks?", I asked.

"Not quite", Allen said, "knowing Martin he's going to turn CHDISK against us, if he does that then the only way to disengage the locks is to head up to the Tower and do it manually, assuming he doesn't kill you first."

"What level of weaponry does he have?", I asked.

"Everything", Allen said, "the one advantage we have over him is that we have the only High-Power in the lab, that big double barrel will One-Shot everything but a Skin and you can punch through a foot of steel at point blank range. You could more than bring down anything Martin could hide behind with one blast."

"Well I guess any advantage is better than no advantage", I said, "what else do we have?"

"On the ground floor is where a lot of the Bio-Mods were made", Allen said, "special genetic modification that comes in four flavors. Lightning, Fire, Ice and Telekinesis. Telekinesis was developed with Xenomorph use in mind, so we have the guarantee that it will work. The other three are more geared towards human use, but our 97% similarity in DNA should still be enough to allow the abilities to work, though they may not be 100% efficient."

"I'll take any advantage I can get at this point", I said taking a bite of the Alfredo. The sauce was really thick and rich and I could taste each individual ingredient and spice. The chicken was nice and tender and it was at just the right temperature.

"This is out of a bag?", I asked.

"Strangely enough yes", Sarah said smiling at me, "I mixed in a bunch of the spices you found as well as some others I found stashed away in the quarters down the hall."

"Well it's good", I said taking another bite.

"Yeah it is", Jacob said slurping it up, getting sauce all over his chin, which he wiped off with his arm.

Tyler expressed his satisfaction by stuffing as much as he could into his mouth, causing the rest of us to laugh. We discussed our plan over dinner, coming to the agreement that we would pick resume our efforts at noon the next day to allow me some time to recharge and get over my stomach problems, which hadn't gotten worse, but they hadn't gotten better either. Sarah looked me over and came to the conclusion that it was toxins from when I had bitten a member of the Vine People and when the feeder had grabbed me. After dinner everyone showered and then we decided just to relax a bit. Allen was in the security room working on sending a signal over the coms, Tyler and Jacob was playing cards, the kid was reading and I was sitting on the couch syncing my PDA to the 300 so I could download all the maps, wiring, piping, anything I thought might come in handy for the near future. Sarah came out of the bathroom dressed in a blue T-Shirt and blue flannel pants and sat beside me.

"Where are you guys finding this stuff?", I asked looking up from my PDA.

"You think we just sit around while your out shooting shit up?", Sarah asked.

"Yes", I answered sarcastically.

"Well your wrong", she replied, "we've been searching out the lab, taking anything we can use."

"And that's where your finding all this?", I asked.

She nodded, "can I ask you something?"

"Shoot", I answered.

"When you were telling your story...you said that you waited until they came down with the silver...what did you mean by that?"

"Oh", I sighed, "from time to time they'd get pissed at life and take it out on me in the form of a gallon of boiling silver."

She looked horrified.

"It normally lasted an hour or more", I said, "they'd go till they were scrapping the bottom of the bucket or until I blacked out from the pain. I'm just glad that it never burned holes in my skull."

"Your lucky the heat didn't cook your brain inside your skull", Sarah said, "the boiling point of silver is almost 4000 degrees."

"It felt hotter", I said.

"I'm not sure whether to believe you or not", Sarah said, "the heat alone should have been enough to kill you."

"That's what the doctors said too", I told her, "go figure huh?"

"What doctors?"

"The doctors that occasionally looked after me so I wouldn't die", I said, "every now and again they'd beat me so close to death that they had to take me to the emergency room."

"And for 17 years no one thought to report what they were doing to you?", she asked.

"That planet doesn't have laws against beating slaves", I said, "but if I had died, they would have gone to the noose. The law says you can go as far as you want, but if they die..."

"Well that's a stupid ass rule", Sarah said, "why punish them for killing a slave if you allow them to beat them to the brink of death over and over and over?"

"Because the Emperor of the planet is screwed in the head", I said, "that's all. Now it's my turn to ask something."

"What?", Sarah asked.

"Whats the deal with the kid?", I asked, "there's something in the way he carries himself and in the way he acts that seems kind of...off. A couple of nights ago he woke me up and his eyes were like flashlights."

Sarah looked over at the kid, who was sitting in the bean bag with his arms behind his head.

"Matt?", she asked, "he's a Synthetic."

"Like a robot or something?"

"Exactly", Sarah said, "he's one of the first attempts at creating a Synthetic human that can grow and learn from his surroundings. He's actually a combat model, so the longer this goes on, the less scared he's going to get. He's the single most advanced Synthetic ever made as his circuits are not only waterproof and all but EMP proof, but his brain utilizes hyper conductors, a smaller version of the Cluster 300 and CHDISK and his body is actual living tissue over a Carbon-Titanium alloy."

"Like in a Pagani Hyrua?", I asked.

She nodded, "that's one way you can look at it. His muscles are a kind of synthetic fibers that can react to even the weakest electrical stimuli, meaning his brain runs at half the current mine or even yours. In fact, if you hooked him up to an EKG it would register him as being clinically dead. His internal organs have even been genetically modified for the different fluids that his muscles and joints need as well as function on half the energy of a normal human. Even his eyes, which in a normal synthetic would be all man made, his are real, with the exception of the pupil, which are composed of nanobots He can even derive nutritional benefits from food and just like everyone else, he needs water. If you look at it a certain way, he's the next step in human evolution, if you look at it another, he's living proof man and machine can share the same body."

"I'm not sure whether to think that's cool, or to be piss myself horrified", I said.

"A little of both", Matt said.

"So you know?", Sarah asked.

"I found out this morning", Matt said, "don't ask how."

"Sorry I never told you", Sarah said, "I wasn't supposed to to keep with the rules of the program."

"Don't worry about it", Matt said, "I'll get used to it."

"Now that you know what's up we expect your help", Jacob said, "in fact, come with me right now, I need to check the barricades by the doors."

Matt sighed and rose from the bean bag, leaving with Jacob. As I watched them disappear around the corner, I asked, "Could Dr. Crazy possibly use the Mainframe to hack into Matt's brain?"

Sarah sighed, "I suppose it's a possibility, of course Matt runs on a closed system and doesn't have any kind of wireless."

"You know...in hind sight I can think of a few things wrong with what you just said", I laughed.

Sarah laughed too, "yeah. Your probably right."

"And you were just gonna send them to die?", I asked after a brief pause, "something that took so much work, so much time and money and they were just supposed to be meat for the grinder?"

"Key word supposed", Sarah said, "I didn't think that was humane, and seeing as how I didn't have anything better to do with my money, I bought out the project for 3.6 million, Tyler, Jacob and I had just activated Matt for the first time when the outbreak hit. The data Tyler asked you to get was data on Matt's running software, all of his schematics, everything."

"No wonder he seemed so attached to it", I said, "so how can he help us get out of here?"

"At the moment that's on you", Sarah said, "I'm not willing to send him out just yet because he doesn't know enough to be combat effective. Allen and I will start on training him in firearms tomorrow morning."

Sarah leaned back in the couch as I looked at my PDA, the time was 11:30. Getting late.

"I need to take a shower", I said pulling myself from the couch. I walked into the bathroom and peeled off my camo, stepping into the shower. Even though the power was back on, I used cold water because it felt better. I cleaned myself as best as I could and then pulled on my last spare shirt and the pants I'd worn last night. Last shirt...need to wash them somehow.

I walked back into the lounge and sat down on the couch, picking up my PDA, the maps were only at 20 % downloaded, so I figured I would have to let it download over night. I reached into my pack for my charger and plugged my PDA into the wall, setting it on the floor next to the outlet. Yawning, I stretched out and lay down, using the arm rest as a sort of pillow, it wasn't the softest thing in the world, but it was a far cry from sleeping on the floor, something that had left me with an aching back all day. As I began to drift off, I started to wonder about something. Martin said he "Had a goal with this lab". Let's see, what are the facts? This lab deals with Inter-species Crossing, Synthetic research and production as well as gene modification of living creatures. How does it all fit together? A super weapon maybe? Maybe some kind of hyper gene or an android even more advanced than Matt?

"Hey Skyline come here", Allen said kicking me out of my thoughts.

Huffing, I pulled myself out of the couch and walked back to the security room where Allen had some camera's on live feed. They were showing four laser drones trying to cut through a huge metal door, at least four times the size of the one in the Biome's.

"What's going on there?", I asked.

"That's the same question I'm asking", Allen said, "those drones are trying to get into a cage that used to hold Rhino's treated with Chemical 240 and Number 12."

"Used to?", I asked.

"The main cage was moved closer to the main labs", Allen replied, "that cage was locked and left to gather dust."

"Well there must be something in there if Loony Tunes wants in", I said.

Allen spun around in his seat, "this is turning out to be a worse situation than I ever could have thought. Something else is playing Martin's hand for him and I can't help but think that it has something to do with whatever goal is running around in his twisted, deranged little head."

"Where in the Biome's is that door?", I asked.

"Near the very back", Allen said, "what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I'm going there first thing in the morning", I said, "I'm taking Mike with me so you'll be in charge of things back here."

"Rodger that", Allen said, "get some sleep, you'll need it."

I nodded and walked back into the lounge. I found Mike relaxed on a huge bean bag that I assumed he'd gotten from one of the quarters down the hall.

"Hey Mike", I said, "wanna tag along with me tomorrow?"

"Where you going?", he asked.

"Dr. Walnuts is trying to brake into what Allen says is an empty cage", I told him, "my guess is that empty cage isn't so empty."

"Yeah I'll tag along", Mike said, "if Martin wants something, then so do I."

"Get some sleep", I said, "I have a gut feeling things are about to get a whole lot worse."