A loud noise. The tearing of metal. Shattering. Rush of wetness. Taste of salt and metal. Blood.
Another, softer sound. Rhythmic, patterned. A voice. Muffled. Getting clearer. Wetness pulls away, then returns, then pulls away, then returns again.
"Können Sie mich hören? Können Sie die Augen öffnen?" The voice is a man's, but gentle and fraught with distress. "Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?" Words are overly-pronounced, not his language.
Light. Blinding. Beautiful. Blue. The voice's source above you. Glasses, clean hair cut. Camouflage. Green-brown eyes, light brown hair, bright & excited smile. "Was denke ich? Sie können eine einzelne Sache nicht verstehen! Einen Moment ..." Pulls you out of your vessel, and into his. Takes strange orb, takes plastic rods from around neck, takes one off chain, inserts it into orb. Puts orb over head.
What am I thinking? You can't understand a single thing! One moment...
Above is the first thing you learned from the orb; words to describe your first memories. Afterward, you see images, hundreds of them. One after the other, and as you see them you find you know much more...how to speak, how to fight, how to drive, and more...
The man...er...Leutnant Gruen, you know him...and all the others involved with your...creation...yes, you are the product of...Project Ingenue...the final installment in a decades-long attempt to create original intelligent life through genetic engineering under...several different countries...only now realized due to...World War III.
The man removes the...Apt Knowledge Upload Interface...you see that you are not alone, four of the other Subjects have also survived. Your knowledge of them is limited. Not all knowledge is apt.
Lt. Gruen has already uploaded the other Subjects' AKUs, he starts to assess his findings. He takes out a slightly cracked tablet, and awaits the roll call. That's when you notice the cuts, bruises, and blood on all the visible parts of his body. Upon quick analysis, you understand it's nothing serious. This causes you to assess yourself as well...similar cuts, bruises, and a lack of clothing. This may be contributing to the leutnant's obvious discomfort. May want to rectify soon.
"Okay, let's see who we have...318, American, 'Grey,' nice to finally meet you; Oodie, #350, of course you made it, mein freund; 363 'Vivianne,' bonjour; 705, Angi, hello; and last, but not least, 983 'Celeste-Soutien,' bonjour." The Luetnant proceeds to explain the current situation to them. "Our ship had been transporting you and your generation pods from the lab in Hamburg to the one in London, has been destroyed." He pauses a moment* before continuing, "We are the only survivors as far as I'm aware. The task at hand now is to find our way to land, hopefully a NATO base, without being discovered, and hopefully we'll get new orders from there." The leutnant repeats this speech in German, Dutch, French, and Russian, as he's not sure what languages all of the subjects have uploaded.
His pause is wrought with sadness and despair, he's doing his best to stay composed for some reason.
”Mmmmnmmmmmm? Kof-kof-kof!" 983 lies in the bottom of the liferaft, struggling to move her uncoordinated muscles, struggling to communicate her...distress? Confusion? A voice goes on, switching from a confusing language to a harsh, guttural one. "Kof-kof. Hrmmmph! Mnnnmnnm?" She coughs seawater out of her lungs, opening her eyes to take in her new surroundings. She just as quickly shuts them, unused to the brightness and the colors. Instead, she reaches out and tries to touch the emotions of the speaker.
No use. Whatever he's feeling, 983 can't find it. She opens her eyes again, and she's overwhelmed. Instead of the blue and the brightness, images flash by, each coming so fast on the heels of the next that she's unable to comprehend any. And yet, she does. Lieutenant Gruen. Antoine Degoix. Colt. Qu'est-ce que Colt? Ah, handguns. Trajectories. Using cover. Manual transmissions. French, English. Czech? Why Czech? A sudden wave of pain, and then another and another. She reaches down toward her left leg, clutching it as memories of who, and what, she is rush into her mind. After an eternity of seconds, the images vanish, replaced by Lt. Gruen's smile and his myriad small injuries. She once again tries to touch his emotions, feeling pain, but nothing serious, and nervousness. Nervous. Why would he be nervous?
She looks at the others, examining them and their emotions as well. Nothing serious. Won't need attention quite yet. Naked, though. The Lieutenant said we were all subjects. Am I...unclothed as well? She finally examines herself and determines that to be the case. That might explain Gruen's nervousness. Shy?
No luck with his feelings this time, either. He must have been...briefed? Yes, briefed. Briefed to deal with 983. She stands shakily, holding her hand out to shake with the Lieutenant. His explanation of where they are leaves much to be desired.
"Bonjour, monsieur. Oui, I am 983, zee Celeste-Soutien. Qu'est-ce que c'est? Avez-vous des vêtements? When you 'ave finished answering zat, per'aps you could also tell us where we are? 'amburg to London leaves a lot of coastline to wash up on, no? No, First, clothing, weapons, and land. Zen zee rest can be discussed." She speaks quickly, sufficiently, and almost musically. I like this voice. Reaching up, Celeste runs a hand through her stubbly, dark hair.
Vivì is overwhelmed by the rush of informations pumped into her brain, both by the AKU and the surrounding environment. She unwillingly gives a groan of pain and despair.
Basta, per favore, è troppo!
Pain, cold, wetness. Blood. A voice. His name is... Gruen. Lieutenent. He seems to be speaking in many different languages, but Vivì only recognizes English, so she answers in kind.
"I hear you, lieutenant. Stand by, please."
Processing. Third World War. *This war, we're not winning it.* Project Ingenue. The Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste (wind, sun, sea). Muscle vibrating techniques! Lots of them. Focusing the body. Focusing the mind. *Last hope!*
A deep breath and Vivì opens her eyes. A few scratches, nothing of importance. No clothes. "I'll have to do something about that. But first things first."
"What equipment do we have, lieutenant? Food? Water? Do we have any communication device?"
"Subject #350, Oodie, reporting for duty. Your attempt at humor was not overlooked. It indeed appears that we are in my intended operational environment."
The leutnant shakes Celeste's hand, making a point to focus on her eyes. The scientist grins at the success of the AKU to teach customs, then replies, "Oui, mon ami, je porte mon uniforme. I had it on when the ship went down. Unfortunately, we hadn't yet attempted to procure clothing for you, as in your gen-pods, they would've impeded your growth and development. I think we went down about halfway out, we'd have been..." He consults his tablet, "A few dozen kilometers past the island of Terschelling, Netherlands. But I got knocked out when I fell into this boat, and I didn't wake up for another few hours. And that's a guess, it was storming when the ship went down, and I didn't exactly look at my watch. So although we may have started near Terschelling, I haven't the faintest clue where exactly we are in the North Sea."
"As for clothing, there's a water-proof tarp, four life-vests, and four blankets on-board; I'm no tailor, but if any of you know what to do with them, feel free. In the meantime," Gruen takes off his soaked camo top, and the white undershirt he had on underneath revealing his unimpressive, but thin scientist's physique. He offers them to whomever would like them. "As far as weapons go, I was wearing my side-arm when the ship sank, but I don't have any extra clips. If I remember correctly, there's also a flare gun on board." The leutnant looks uneasy, he's clearly out of his element. His physique suggests he hasn't done any more physical training than necessary to keep his job; and his survival training stopped at boot camp.
Addressing Vivi's questions, Lt. Gruen answers, "This lifeboat is equipped with 28 person-days worth of food and clean water. I have my mobile, which is useless out here, so no communication. I think our best bet is to use the on-board compass, to make our way to shore."
Gruen grins at Oodie, before heading over to the forward seat and looking at the compass, "According to this, the boat is facing due east."
Subject 318....Grey, according to Lieutenant Gruen, is awoken by the sound of spoken words. He attempts to open his eyes and manages to crack them open for the first time. The first image his eyes see is an unbearably bright light that seems intent on burning his eyes out. He shuts his eyes before the light can accomplish its task.
Next, Grey struggles into a sitting position, eyes closed. As he does so, he remembers how to see in daylight. He opens his eyes and then mutters a word. After a few moments, the searing light is gone and he can see five humanoids, one speaking.
Once Leutenant Gruen is done speaking, Grey asks, "Do our enemies know that we are alive? Shouldn't we be watching out for an attack instead of cobbling together weapons and clothing?"
Gruen answers the dark-eyed one, "No," he sighs, "as far as we know, we've been successful in keeping you a secret from everyone save the highest members of the NATO forces, and those involved with your creation."
Grey looks out and sees blue ocean as far as he can see.
"Is there any fuel for that engine, lieutenant? We may want to reach the coast fast, I suppose nights are quite cold at this latitude. Oh and also would you kindly pass me a blanket please?" Vivì is doing her best not to shiver too violently, but the cold is kind of slowing down her thought processes.
Celeste also accepts a blanket, glancing at Lieutenant Gruen's skinny frame. "No, I cannot take your clothing. You will freeze yourself when zee night comes." She looks at Grey for a few moments, contemplating his words, before looking pointedly at the sky and the sea. "Eef my death comes from a bomb or a torpedo, I see no way to control that fate, but eef eet comes from enemies on boats, we can fight that. Zee best way to fight eez to 'ave an idea of what we 'ave to use, no? May I call you Gris, or do you prefer zee English?"
Making her way over to the engine, Celeste begins to examine it and fiddle with the controls, trying to start it.
Angi winced as the audio flooded her mind - her senses, for the moment, felt like they were on fire. She slowly opened and closed her mouth a few times, then carefully pushed her body up... and felt fire flicker between her fingers.
"...Understood." she eventually said. "If necessary, I do believe we can supplement our rations with sea life - I am equipped with modifications to cook food to safe temperatures, as well as generate heat should temperature become a problem." She held up two fingers and a small, knife-like blade of flame formed. She shut it off a moment later, not wanting to waste energy. "...I would prefer to avoid swimming." Words were... hard, at least for the moment.
Oodie grimaces. "I recommend that we head south. Once we get within sight distance of a coastline, I would be willing to go ashore and perform recon."
"Call me what you like....Celeste. Gruen, I think we should go wherever gets us equipped and on the front lines fastest. Weapons belong on a battlefield."
Grey pauses and holds a hand to his stomach, then looks out at the ocean.
"In the meantime, I wouldn't mind trying some fried fish."
Oodie turns to Grey and says, "Agreed, but the first step to getting to the front lines is figuring out where we are, and that is going to require hitting a coastline and doing some recon."
The luetnant points at the seat in front of her, "Access to the cargo is under the seats, it lifts up from the front. The blankets and the tarp should be in that one. The food, water, life-vests, and flares are under the bench seats in the middle, here." As Vivi is closer to them, Gruen lets her get blankets for everyone.
If no one takes them, Gruen lays his clothes out on the front console to dry.
Seeing the flicker from Angi, and the fire-knife, Gruen gawked a bit, "I read the files, and understood them, but..." He shakes his head to snap out of it, and answers Oodie, "Yes, south sounds like a good plan. Who wants to drive?" Half because he'd never done it before, and half because he wanted to see what they could do, he opts to leave piloting the ship and procuring food beyond the survival rations to the subjects.
Vivì takes her blanket and wraps it around her body, then looks around to see if anybody wants another, handing them in case. Then moves next to Celeste to assist her in case she has troubles starting the engine. "If we can get this thing started, I can steer the boat to our destination. Which, incidentally, I suppose should be south, not east? East would take us back, no?"
Celeste takes a blanket, wrapping herself in it. She feels warmer right away.
"Merci, Vivi. I think I might be able to figure zis boat's controls out." Celeste thinks back through her memories, but doesn't find anything on piloting a boat. Oh well, I'll just try this switch, and this lever, and then-
*Sput-sputsput vrrmmmmmmmmm*
"Oui, south eet eez. Eet would seem we 'ave fuel." Swinging around to the south, Celeste moves the throttle as far as it can go and aims for hopefully-friendly shores.
Angi quietly kept watch as the boat moved, watching the ocean for signs of trouble - or food. As they went, she idly considered the animals they were seeing, trying to figure out if any information about them had been uploaded into her mind. If she could pinpoint the type of creature they were, maybe she could compare that to the movement of the sun and get a better sense for where they were and what direction they really ought to be going in.
Grey accepts a blanket. "Thank you...Vivi" He wraps the blanket around himself as he watches Celeste start the engine.
"Leutnant Gruen, while we wait, I would like to know more about our present situation. How was our ship destoryed? Were we attacked by a URP ship that could still be in the area? Bombarded by long-range weapons from shore or space?"
As Celeste pilots the boat south , Angi finds the clarity of the ocean that day to be quite spectacular, such that she seas a school of cod. She knows, however, that these fish as well as the majority of the fish found in the North Sea are ubiquitous therein.
Gruen answers Grey, "I haven't the faintest clue. I was finishing up the documentation for the Project, when I heard a loud boom. It was thunderstorming at the time, so I thought nothing of it until the alarm sounded." He paces a bit, "So I grabbed all the data I could, the one AKUI, and I pulled the emergency release on your pods so that you wouldn't go down with the ship. That's all I know." He pauses, considering the rest of Grey's inquiries, "As for being taken down by a ship still in the area, I doubt it, or else we'd have been taken down by now. Long-range weapons are possible, but as I said, I couldn't say."
"Are zere any units een zee Netherlands cleared for Project Ingenue? We could per'aps get een contact with zen and from zere, Make our way to London. I believe zat wwas zee mission, and we should finish it before we try to fiind zee front lines."
Angi quietly listened to the others as they decided where they wanted to go - she was casually testing the range of her powers and seeing just how well she could pinpoint a target.
It was going... middling-well. Not a terrible shot, but hardly anything someone would confuse with a crack sniper. "Well, thank you for saving us." she said quietly. "South is warmer, right? I wouldn't mind that..."
Answering Celeste, Gruen says, "As one of the founding countries, there should be some agents in the Netherlands with clearance on our project." He thinks a bit, "I don't remember visiting that location, though," he taps around on his tablet, "Ah, here we are...the Netherlands Joint Force Headquarters is in...verdammt noch mal! Brunssum! A three hour drive from the coast, and that's if we land close. We'll never make it there unnoticed." He shakes his head, "Either way, you're right, 983, we should find refuge and report in once we land."
Angi's shot scatters the school, but being underwater, they escape unharmed. Gruen answers her gratitude bewildered, "'Thank you'? Huh, no you lot are my life's work and all I have left of..." he sighs, shakes his head, "Let's just say there's no way I was going to let you sink if I could do anything about it." He pauses thinking to himself, the he nods and admits, "I couldn't save all of you. There were more. you're all I could find. Like I said, I had gotten knocked out during the storm."
"Let's put it another way, Lieutenant. What do you think would be the closest location where we could find refuge and support? Because I think Celeste and Grey are both right, we should report to London as soon as possible and then proceed right to the front lines once we have clear orders and instructions. We cannot afford to lose any more time wandering around and attracting unwanted attention."
"The answer to that question lies in determining where exactly we are now. The currents in the North Sea are far from stagnant. I believe the best course of action is to motor south, determine where we are and make a new plan from there. Does everyone agree?" He knows that the expertise uploaded into the subjects outweigh his own, but he feels as though they're going around in circles.
"Yes, Leutnant, I believe that is essentially what I recommended. Once again, I volunteer to swim ashore once we're in sight of land in order to find us a suitable place to go ashore."
"It... would be best to avoid damaging the boat." Angi agreed, nodding slightly. She'd help carry it, of course, and between all of them they ought to be able to manage something for storing it safely.
"Right, okay, south," Gruen says more in relief than anything else.
A few hours later, they can see a pale white beach. Celeste kills the engine and Oodie leaps out gracefully into the water and swims effortlessly closer to shore.
Oodie swims back to the boat. After climbing aboard, he says: "Leutnant, Subject 350 reports that we have reached a place called Norderney. There are people on the beach directly ahead, though not very many, but if we head east a ways, we should be able to ground the boat unobserved. However, there is no available concealment for the boat."
Angi blinked at the report, and a small flame appeared between her fingers. "What kind of people?" she asked. "Any sign of advanced technology among them? Well-fed or hungry? Dirty or clean?" she inquired. Observing a person's general condition could tell you a lot about what was going on.
"Norderney?" Gruen looks a bit disappointed, "The current must have been strong...we're back in German waters." Hearing Angi's reply, he reiterates, "Yes, what type of people? Vacationers, I doubt. Soldiers? Perhaps not this far from the lines...What were they?"
"They did look like vacationers. Older people."
"Vacationers? Per'aps we could land on zee unoccupied beach, send Gruen to find us some clothing, and zen commandeer a vehicle. Norderney eez be'ind our lines, corriger? (correct?) Eef we can find our way into France, zee Sanofi-Aventis biomedical company in Paris might be able to 'elp us. I believe Dr. Degoix worked on zee...theory...my skills are based off of, no? Of course, zere weel also be military bases we could find as well; however, we do not get closer to our missions by sitting 'ere een zis boat."
If no-one has a better idea, Celeste tries to start up the engine again and heads east.
Angi simply nodded as Oodie talked. All right... older people on vacation, suggesting at least some wealth in the area. It was also suggestive of a lack of immediate hostilities in the region - that was good, because she'd really rather not go into a war zone so soon after waking up. She was tough, but firearms would shred her.
As the others decided on the course of action, Angi made her way to the front of the boat to keep a lookout - and if necessary later on, she'd manipulate fire to help light their way, but that was a last resort. The light would help them see... and would help others see them, too, which was best to avoid for now.
Angi quietly kept looking around, though it didn't seem like she was able to spot too much at the moment. She still wasn't used to this body, and had quite a ways to go before she understood it properly...
As the Ingenues approach the beach, another boat comes speeding into view. Without the time to react, it's clear they are seen and will soon be approached be approached by the inhabitants of this new boat. Lt. Gruen fumbles for his credentials as the blue and white ship with the word "Küstenwache" painted across the hull nears and one of the men aboard says, via megaphone, "Sie sind illegal Segeln in deutschen Gewässern, erzeugen Sie Ihre Farben, oder bereiten Sie bestiegen werden."
"Quoi? What are zey saying?" Celeste brings the boat to a stop, but leaves the engine idling. She starts shouting at the boat. "Je suis désolé! Je ne parle pas allemand! I do not know German!"
"What should we do?"
"They're saying we're in German waters, and we're not flying any colors, so that's illegal." Gruen says with a sigh, finally giving up on trying to locate his lost papers. "It seems I left my credentials in the ship. I was never given clearance codes for the Küstenwache, so I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this. I suppose worst case scenario we're taken to war prison and questioned, which won't be a problem if you all can lie or at least keep your mouths shut. But you Oodie...Sie brauchen, um verdammt raus!"
"I don't suppose we could convince them that we're lacking in navigational equipment, appreciate the warning, and would be happy to be escorted out of their waters? ...Can anyone talk well?" Angi asked quietly.
"I don't speak that language, but I infer that, based on my appearance, I would be an unwelcome sight."
Oodie jumps in the water.
"I obviously speak German, but showing up on the German coast during wartime in an unmarked vessel, even appearing as we do, won't go over very well no matter what I say."
"I suppose we'll have to tell the truth - or at least part of it. Our ship was destroyed and we are the only survivors. Aren't the Germans our allies?"
"Quite, but they won't necessarily know that we are theirs for certain. I suppose the other option is to non-lethally incapacitate them, and continue with plan A, only much faster. What do you think Grey?"
"If we can't approach the shore without a marked boat, then I think we should take theirs. Oodie can hide underwater until we determine their numbers. If there aren't too many of them, then we should be able to seize the ship if we take them by surprise. Then, we can approach the shore."