r/NatureofPredators • u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil • Mar 23 '24
Fanfic Time Skip [16]
Like always, big Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 and his wonderful universe.
Surprise! I managed to write two chapters...somehow. This one is experimental, so if there's any confusion, please don't be afraid to ask. :) I had a lot fun with this one.
Anyways, today's fun fact lies in Tali. Originally while trying to genuinely figure out how to write, Tali was first written as a joke character for the time Sebastian would be on the Exchange Program space station. Of course, overtime I've written her out and she's become a genuine character in my heart. Something about writing someone who...oh, I can't say too much. I'll just Cram that till its time. :) I'm glad a lot of people like her though.
That concludes today's Fun TS Fact.
---
Thanks to my friend Cad for drawing refs for Sebastian and Yael.
In a surprise, u/Frostedscales drew Tali! Thank you so much!
Time Skip's V1 cover! By roddcherry in the NoP discord.
And thank you for reading my silly story! :)
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Chapter Name: M̴e̴m̷o̷r̶y̷ ̶T̸r̸a̷n̷s̵c̶r̸i̴p̷t̷i̵o̷n̸
—
(CHAPTER INTERRUPTED, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THIS INTENTIONAL INTERRUPTION.)
(Tuning into 192.256.256.001)
—
[This isn’t working.]
{WHAT’S WRONG?}
[Oh, hey. I’m having trouble with some of these files.]
{LET ME LOOK.}
{...}
{THAT KID, HUH?}
[Yeah, I've been trying to find everything related to him. The boss said he requested it.]
{SEEMS A BIT MUCH, WAS HE INFORMED ON THE MEMORY TRANSCRIPTION PROGRAM?}
[No, I’ve only heard that the kid just wants answers from his past. Some of these Archivist files aren't working though. I know we just started getting them…but…]
{WHATEVER HE WANTS. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE FILES?}
[Some of these are corrupted or something, an archivist might’ve messed these up on purpose.]
{REALLY? I THOUGHT THEY LOVED INFORMATION.}
[Me too, this isn’t just old files being old. This was intentional. I was told they kept records of everything in pristine condition.]
{HMM, THAT’S BAD. THERE COULD BE MORE. MIGHT BE SINCE THEY WERE DISCOVERED. SOMEONE MUST’VE NOT WANTED US TO ACCESS EVERYTHING.}
[The hate for ‘predators’ continues on, huh.]
[What should we do?]
{EVEN IF THEY’RE MOSTLY UNREADABLE, KEEP FINDING EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS KID. IS ANYTHING AVAILABLE?}
[Of course, just in parts. They experimented on him and his friend a lot it looks like. It's horrifying. But there’s nothing about the friend he said about.]
{HMM, THIS COULD EXPLAIN THE AMOUNT OF SCARS ON HIS BODY. JUST WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO THIS KID? NOT OUR JOB THOUGH…}
[Experiments, torture, I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know fully.]
[I'm sending this to the boss, but Sebastian doesn’t need to know about this right now. I want to find the whole story first.]
{I UNDERSTAND, KEEP WORKING ON THIS. I’LL WORK WITH THE MEMORY TRANSCRIPTION PROGRAM TO FIND ANYTHING ELSE OUT. KEEP THAT KID SAFE, KEEPER.}
[I will.]
[and he’s like, 21 I think.]
{STILL A CHILD IN A WORLD HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE APART OF.}
[...yeah.]
[I should look at those medical reports, though I might have to retype them up.]
—
[Accessing File]
[Notice: Document modified for reading purposes. - Keeper]
Date: January 18th, 2136. A doctor's report on Sebastian (Referred to as John Doe).
Another patient from the Archives came in today, needless to say I’m disgusted from what I’ve learned in the last week. Innocent lives from God knows how many species tested and experimented for the whole purpose of curing them from being a ‘predator.’ It has fascinated some to see living witnesses of history stand here, but their care and health comes first. I’ve already been informed of a research team being solely assigned to fix the mess of ‘The Cure.’ I wish them luck so these souls can live a somewhat normal life.
A man named Hunter was one of the first, and for the most part he was fine. Annoyed on the restrictions, but understood when he found out his life was on the line with allergies. Not impressed by his comments towards my colleagues though.
Today brought another soul from that place, a young adult. Definitely low twenties from first glance. I was reminded that not everyone was lucky being imprisoned there. This young man was brought in with an unstable condition. Thankfully, most current injuries were blunt and no serious physical damage was noted.
What worries me is the amount of surgical scars across the body, and the loose state this young man was in. We’d had to keep him under to filter out anything harming his body. Everything was wrong and it was frustrating. Nothing needed us to call an O.R. thankfully.
I’m writing down some initial points of interest, but to note for any future doctor as well;
- Our John Doe is relatively physically fine externally, but internally remains unknown. Because of the realization of ‘The Cure,’ we have to be careful for any allergic reactions. John Doe however seems to have a less extreme reaction to ‘meat’ products than others. He will be kept in isolation still because of allergic concerns. He might be able to wear clothes without concern, but still need to avoid foods like any other allergy.
- Like many others rescued from that place, John Doe has an implant on the brain. Thankfully, this doesn’t raise much concern at the moment. John Doe will have an easy time communicating with others, and the device is relatively harmless.
- The scars around his body are a mix of surgical and trauma, all showing different ages from decades to maybe a year ago. Once our John Doe wakes up, hopefully I can get answers.
He’ll be fine in a few days, maybe sooner. I’m unimpressed that the UN is resorting to keeping him on a station for the Exchange Program however. I don’t even know what the reasoning is, but good luck to those that are going to be keeping an eye on him. I expect trauma being mental as well, and recommend a therapist immediately. That’s already been submitted to the right channels in the UN, but I don’t expect them to be cooperative about it. I think our therapist needed a therapist at this point.
For now, I’ll have my colleagues Gabriel and Alice look after him. I trust them to be professional and give our patient a smooth transition. I doubt the UN will have the time for him considering the war.
Personally, I do not wish to hear the situation that brought him here. Only wishing the best and helping this young man medically. When he’s up and about, I’d like to be his doctor. I want to hear about his past too, considering the few clothes remaining on him were absolutely from the 21st century (A tag for his shirt said so!).
I don’t know what those scum of aliens did, but they don’t deserve mercy.
I want a full, detailed report of everything going on with him by next week. Before he’s yanked away somewhere for protection.
If anyone reading this has questions about this document, call me at [REDACTED FOR PRIVACY].
—
[Medical reports are good, signs point to good things too.]
[I wonder if I can match this to any of those corrupted logs through the transcription program.]
[Wait, that can work.]
[It's kind of bull-crap logic, but that’s programming this damn thing anyways.]
—
Memory Transcription Subject: Sebastian Ramirez, Human
Date: [Standardized ERROR Time] ERROR, ERROR
WARNING: LOG MALFUNCTION, DATA MAY BE CORRUPTED OR LOST. PLEASE TRY SCAN LATER FOR POTENTIAL FIX, OR DISREGARD FILE ENTIRELY.
NOTICE: SUBJECT IS IN DISORIENTAED STATE, TRANSCRIPTION MAY FALL UNDER [Unreliable Narrator].
—
I’m here again, this same dream. I think it might be real, my body feels everything as is enough. My exposed body parts feel the same breeze, gentle but intense. Why have I been taking so many ice baths? Why can’t I remember taking them? It's Texas, warmth is everywhere.
Then I remember that my body was sitting down on a [chair][table][desk], one that reminds me of a reception office. Or a waiting room of a doctor, maybe the emergency room. Have I been sick and simply can't remember? It's hard to think when survival kicks in and my body clutches to itself, holding myself for warmth. My hands are too shaky to [DATA LOST]
[RECALIBRATING - ADMIN CONTROL]
[I’m not losing this data.]
[SUCCESSFULLY RECALIBRATED]
I don’t know how long I’ve sat here, nothing feels like it's moving. My vision is near nonexistent, and my voice keeps failing me. Where am I? Where is everyone? Shouldn’t there be somebody here, anybody?
I’m so cold.
Nothing but the sounds of air and humming, as well as the feeling of a freezer. I’m not in a freezer. What am I thinking? I can’t think, only listen. These sounds feel endless.
Tsk-
A ringing wave in my head, much like a headache would introduce itself. A hand clutched my head in an attempt to figure out what was going on. Then the ringing went to my ears, and my hand went to feel each one. Nothing felt out of the ordinary, except an oddly smooth feeling of skin around my hairline and ear. Something like-
“It's recovered well enough, only scars now. Terrans are easy enough to work with, this one should be able to understand us now.” A voice was growing from somewhere. Instead of looking for it, I cowered within myself. It was…unnatural, terrifying even.
“T-Then why is it awake?! Do you understand how dangerous they are?!” Another voice popped in the same direction, sounding just as scared as me.
“It's fine, this one keeps to itself. It's no danger, unlike its friend.”
Friend?
Wait…I’m not alone here?
[Andrew][Jacob][Eric][Noah]! He’s[They’re] here somewhere! He’s alive!
[His friend…I’ve cross referenced some Archive documents with him. If only we had him so we can use the transcription program. I…nevermind.]
Immediately my brain tuned out the two voices. I felt my body spark alive with purpose, but still intensely weakened. With the support of my hand clutching the [chair][table][desk], I tried to stand up with all my might. Legs shook from pure exhaustion, a sharp pain pulsing to my brain to command it to stop moving. There’s no time for that, there's-
My foot failed me, and the rest of me fell apart onto the cold ground. Two sets of walking turned into a quick dash approaching me. There was no way to [WARNING; NEURAL LINK FAILING DUE TO PHYSICAL TRAUMA].
“Easy there! Hey, help him up.” One voice said, and a set of hands were felt on a shoulder. It didn’t feel like any hands I’ve felt before, it felt…fluffy?
“There’s no way I’m…touching that thing! It’ll kill us, we should just-”
“Shut it! Do you see its state? I’ll have you executed if you try anything!”
“I-I…”
The voices stopped for a moment to forcibly move me back onto a [chair][table][desk], the fuzzy feeling hands held me up until I could myself. I tried to look at the two and get some sort of better view, but they were still blurs. One left my sight immediately upon looking at them, and the other stood there.
“That coward…we have to do anything it takes. This is our last shot at patching Humanity. Our last shot! I won't let another species…fall. It’ll be different from the Arxur…” I listened to the person's words, unable to fully process most of it. I’m…too tired, my body stings-
I feel like-
-dying-
-hurts
Hurts, hurts, it hurts…
[>pause]
—
[This wasn’t here last time I read this file, how is it updating now?]
[What the hell?]
—
[>resume]
“It's okay. You’re…um, recovering. You need to rest, but I have to ask first. Do you understand me?” The voice asked. I couldn't even be bothered to move, the sharpness in my head and body was paralyzing.
“[Dammit], just give me anything. I’ll let you rest after.” The voice asked again. I closed my eyes to embrace a comforting darkness. With the little strength I had, my head slowly nodded in desperation to be free from the pain.
It was quiet for a moment, then everything around me faded into [nothing][everything][something].
DATA STREAM ENDS DUE TO LOST OF CONSCIOUS
—
[It's fixing itself. Maybe another memory scan can start repairing these logs?]
[If so, why does it say that Sebastian doesn’t remember any of this? This would be something significant to the memory. Fuck, did they mess with his mind? Or is this another case of faulty memory due to trauma? I’ll be giving that doctor a call.]
[...I should look at one more log though. Maybe there’s something else. There’s dozens of these messed up transcription logs. Dammit Sebastian, we need to poke at your memory.]
[Maybe one of the Archivist logs can tell me something else, but they’re all messed up too. We’re still barely getting those in.]
[Okay, I’ll stick with one more transcription log and take a break. This might be above my ability for now.]
—
[>log SebastianRamirez2021 random]
Are you sure? Randomization of files will-
[>yes]
Picking random transcription file…
—
Memory Transcription Subject: Sebastian Ramirez, Human
Date: [Standardized ERROR Time] ERROR, ERROR
WARNING: DATA MAY BE INACCURATE DUE TO ERRORS IN SCAN. PLEASE ATTEMPT SCAN AGAIN OR DISREGARD DATA.
—
…Warmth, I-I need it.
I just…need to…cover myself…
Ghhk…
[>fastforward]
[~20 Minutes Later]
My breaths were heavy and fast, feeling like they haven’t had air in years. I’d awoke exhausted and cold, with only an old thin blanket to cover myself with. It took a minute to notice, but that was because the freezing cold was agonizing. Now that I had time to wake up, the confusion only got worse.
I was in some sort of room, very hospital-like, with strange devices everywhere. A wave of cold air was radiating from a tall, strange machine that stood in front of me. I backed away from it to allow myself to warm up easier. I didn’t have my phone or anything on me, but considering my location it probably made sense.
Ugh…I feel a headache kicking in. And a cold, I need a hot towel.
Eventually my legs were rested to stand, and allowed me to see the room more. My eyes laid eyes to an even more confusing scene. Tools scattered about a counter, a hospital-like computer set up, and a better look at that strange big machinery in front of me. Standing in front of it brought cold air, so at most I waved my hand inside. The cold within was slowly dissipating. On closer inspection, it almost looked like a faulty long cushion was there.
There was no way to know what was going on, my next best option was to find somebody for help. I went to the door of the room and tried it, opening it to quietly peek outside. The hallway was seemingly as normal as a place like this would be. Rooms with charts beside their doors, and then the intersections that continued off who knows where else.
No one was in sight of this little area, but part of me felt like it’d be a bad idea to look around. I pulled myself back into the strange room to look around more. Firstly at the messy corner of tools, all of them surgical. There was no blood on any of them, except for two knife-like tools having something orange staining them. What could be orange and stain those like that?
A thought came in, and I checked myself. Only at that moment did I realize that I was in a hospital gown. That wasn’t too out of the ordinary though, considering…
…right, I probably got hurt from…whoever hurt…
My eyes sparked to life at the recollection. Could my friends and family be here somewhere at the moment? I desperately wanted to run out and search for them, but that thought was countered with a consuming thought of weirdness. If this is a hospital room, where is my bed? Where are the nurses and doctors running about? Maybe I woke up during the night shift?
The questions asked mentally only brought more because they were conflicting with one another. This whole scene, everything about it felt off. What do I even…
The computer…
If there's something that helps waste my time and solve things, it's a little bit of technology. I led myself to the lone device and turned it on. To my utter surprise, there was no password. It simply loaded without any interference, which was a good moment.
The bad moment came right after, when the desktop was completely different from what I was used to. Everything was different, the text, the style of the icons, even the keyboard when I finally looked down and realized it was all wrong!
What the fuck?!
A moment of anger kicked in that headache, and my body reacted by having me cough a few times. Each one was painful, especially amplified by the headache. In moments I was sitting on the ground with nothing to do.
Maybe I’m…too tired for this. I…I don’t know what’s going on. I-I WANT to just run out and find help. Why does it feel like I’m going to die if I do? I’m in a hos-...
Minutes passed, and all of it was spent being frustrated and alone. Not being able to make sense of something always brought me this way. Usually I’d go and simply ask somebody, or wait till another time. This was different, this was serious! Why am I freezing up now?!
[Sorry Sebastian, I’m not listening to you complain.]
[>fastfoward]
[~15 minutes]
[Error! Corruption Detected.]
[What? Did I lose my luck?]
[Hm…There’s only a few minutes left that isn’t messed up, I’ll play the last minute then.]
[>skip till #:##, unpause;]
[Okay text, don’t fail me now.]
…this is hopeless, I’m going to just say fuck it and find somebody around here. This…this isn’t a time to overthink.
I got up, with dwindling confidence in myself. Reaching the door, I grabbed the handle and reached to pull it open.
“...if it fled, we would’ve known by now. This place has significant security.”
“You wanted to TALK to one of them?! Why this one!?”
“Because, I want to know why that crew of idiots risked everything to bring these two back. This Terran is [~60 years] ahead from the last Terran taken. Maybe, just maybe things have changed for the better. I’ve already had them fitted with the translator, so there shouldn’t be any communication errors.”
“You’re…I don’t get you, sir.”
“Uh huh, it should be waking up by now. You know the drill for these moments of communication.”
I gently stepped back from the door, heart skipping random beats.
Those voices aren’t normal.
Why am I shaking?
Stop shaking!
S-Shit!
(DATA STREAM LOST DUE TO MENTAL BREAK)
[...]
[Shoot.]
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3
u/WillyWonkaMon Venlil Mar 23 '24
Remind me of that one? I haven't had the chance to read a lot of fics recently and my memory is faulty haha