Chapter 1: The Awakening

David Jenkins sat at his desk looking over personnel files. The expression on his face was unreadable. He stared at the file in front of him oblivious to all that was going on around him. He stared at the first few words on the page: "To Whom it may concern."

If anyone in the office had been paying any attention to him, they would have noticed that he had been staring at the same file for over an hour. He was not sure why he was staring at the file, at that same sentence. As soon as he had read those five words he just stopped. His mind went blank and he just stared. Finally his sore muscles registered in the fog that was his brain, his body had not moved since he started staring. His arms were beginning to shake from being in the same position for so long, his back had begun to slump and a small ache began to form at the base of his spine. That unpleasant feeling broke the haze and his mind began to slowly start to function once again. He registered the words on the page and he started to continue to read the file in front of him. He was not even aware that he had stopped reading, and was confused as to why he hurt.

The file he was reading was the cover letter for a resume for a receptionist position that was about to open up in the company. One of the big wigs had become unhappy with his current receptionist and had requested a new one be found so that he could let her go. David would have felt sorry for the girl getting let go, if he could get his mind to work enough to get an emotional response. As it was he was having trouble reading the cover letter in front of him. It was like he had gone into slow motion while the rest of the world had sped up. Yet through it all he still had not registered that anything was even wrong, other than the pain in his arms and the throbbing in his back.

David Jenkins was not a very remarkable man: 25 years old, graduate from a small college with a degree in Human Resources, brown hair and hazel eyes, five foot six inches tall and only about one hundred and fifty pounds. He was very quiet and tended to keep to himself. Not the best personality for his line of work. He got the degree because his mother had convinced him it was the most lucrative and stable job. He hated it; he hated dealing with all the people at the interviews, making themselves out to be better than they were. He hated dealing with the people when he had to let them go, listening to their sob stories as to why they needed the job and how were they going to take care of their families. He hated his coworkers who seemed to relish in one aspect of the job or the other. He could not decide which group was worse: the recruiter who excelled at the interviews and gave false promises and then broke the interview down and found every little flaw in the individual after the interview was done, or the "Kiss-Ass" lackeys to the management who smiled brightly as they destroyed people's dreams and ushered them out the door.

None of these thoughts registered in his brain, not much of anything passed through his head other than a futile attempt to continue to read the cover letter in the file in front of him. His arms finally had reached their limit and his eyes followed the paper in front of him as it was slowly lowered to the desk. His coworkers finally noticed him as his arms fell to his sides and the file fell to the floor. The room went silent as his head flopped forwards on his shoulders and then fell to the desk with a sickening crunch. One of his coworkers screamed as blood splattered across his desk when his nose was crushed between the desk and the rest of his skull. His head bounced off the desk and David's body slipped out of the chair. As he fell to the floor his left arm swung limply across the desk and took the rest of the stack of papers with it. Someone grabbed a phone to dial 911.

As David's head hit the tiled floor of the office the last thought that ran through his mind was, "To Whom it may concern." Then everything went black.

In a dark and cold room, lights blinked and flashed as a console came to life. A holographic screen flashed on and letters formed in the air above the system "Download incomplete ... Destination offline ... Attempting Resume ... Link Lost..."

Another set of lights began to flash across the room and another terminal lit up as its holographic display brought up the image of a planet and a small red dot started to blink on one of its northern continents. The first console began to display more words: "Destination Located ... Attempting to establish Link ... Destination Still offline ... Dispatching remote interface..."

Karen sat at her station at Yutter Memorial Hospital when the ambulance arrived with the newest patient. She came from around her desk with her clip board to get the vitals from the EMT as they brought him in. She quickly took down the information with a practiced hand as the EMT's rattled it off. As Dr. Jones came up behind her, Karen handed him the paperwork she had completed, he took them with a grin and began to look at the patient. As he rattled off more information, Karen quickly began to write once again. Dr. Jones looked her way and gave her a room number and some quick instructions. "The patient is breathing and the bleeding has stopped. Get him into his room, get his vitals again and hook him up to an EKG," He stated as he handed the paperwork back to Karen. "I'll be back in a few to check the readings and order some tests."

Karen nodded to him and placed the paperwork on the patient's chest as she wheeled him to his assigned room. Approaching the room, she finally got a look at the man's face and stopped in her tracks. She knew him, she did not know where she knew him from but she somehow knew him. It was like she was looking at the face of her best friend. She could have sworn she had never seen this man at all in her entire life, but she knew his face. Her mind flashed with images of him smiling over her, her hands brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. A flash and he was sitting across a table from her at a small cafe sipping a cup of coffee.

Karen was brought to reality by someone saying her name. "Karen, are you ok?" A voice said with concern.

She shook her head and looked in the direction of the voice. It was her best friend Julia. "Yeah, I'm fine," Karen replied still shaking her head. "Deja vu, I guess."

She continued to wheel the patient to room 316 and rolled up to the bed. Two orderlies were already waiting to help her get him into the bed. Julia followed Karen into the room. She was a short Latino woman five foot three inches tall, full of spitfire and vinegar especially where her friends are concerned. "Deja vu? Ya' have got to be kidding me! That was more than Deja vu; I called your name three times! You girl, were in la la land."

The orderlies loaded the man into the bed and left as Karen pulled out the needed equipment to hook up the EKG. "Julia I am fine, it's ok. I just thought I knew him for a second that's all."

"Do you?" Julia asked. When Karen looked at her with confusion she finished the question "Know him, I mean?" She asked her hands upraised in front of her in a dramatic attempt to express her question.

"No, I have never seen him before today," Karen replied as she hooked him to the EKG. "It was weird, I looked at his face and it was like I was looking at someone I had known forever," Karen looked at Julia with a bemused expression on her face. "But I swear I have never seen him before today."

Julia smiled a wicked grin at Karen as she helped her hook up the equipment. "Maybe you did know him, in a past life or somethin'. You know, like a lover. Girl, he's kinda cute."

Karen smacked Julia in a playful manner. "Julia, I am serious it was really weird."

She looked at the unconscious man in the bed beneath her, and felt a pang of concern. Normally she can detach herself from her patients; not completely, no good nurse ever completely detaches herself, but with this one it was different. She really and genuinely was concerned for his well being. It felt like a part of her was dying and there was nothing she could do about it. She almost started to cry as she walked out of the room back towards her station. "Are you sure your ok, Girl?" Julia asked her.

The remote interface floated above the structure that the up-link destination was located in. It scanned the area and determined that the facilities were quite crude and antiquated by its standards. It began to interface with the local wireless devices around it in order to determine its best method to gain entry into the structure and interface with the destination. It quickly scanned the files it was receiving, learning about the planet it was on and the culture it was trying to interface with. None of it was very promising; it discovered quite quickly that violence was prevalent in all forms of media on this planet, from its news to its entertainment. Also the planet was even more culturally backward than they were scientifically. If it were to make its presence known the backlash from local authorities would likely cause damage to itself and many others including the destination, which was not acceptable. An upgrade to its mission systems was going to be required. " ... Remote Interface to Mainframe ... Destination not available with current systems ... Upgrades Required ... Sending data, Mark II schematics required ... Mission Aborted ... Returning to mainframe for upgrade."

The remote interface floated away from the structure, continuing to scan the area and establishing links for the mainframe to utilize as it was upgraded.

Dr. Jones looked at the paperwork in front of him, then up at the man lying in the bed. He was quite puzzled; according to the tests there is no reason that Mr. Jenkins should be unconscious. Every test came up negative, his vitals were normal. For all intents and purposes the man should be conscious. "What is wrong with you Mr. Jenkins? Why are you here?" He asked aloud, as he continued to look over the charts.

As he asked this question, Dr. Jones felt a strange warming feeling begin to fill his body. He barely noticed at first, but as it grew he began to become concerned. He put down the clip board and looked around the room. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his skin began to flush. He quickly loosened his collar and looked at the patient again. His eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw a faint glow coming from Mr. Jenkins. The glow was emanating from Mr. Jenkins' head and floating across the room to Dr. Jones. As quickly as it started, it stopped and the flush began to subside. Dr. Jones backed out of the room and called to the Shift Nurse: "Nurse Debbin I need an immediate MRI on Mr. Jenkins and I want the security cameras in his room turned on and recording."

"Yes Doctor, right away." The nurse responded as she began typing on her computer screen. Nurse Debbin suddenly let out a yelp as an ark of electricity shot from her screen onto her hands. She jumped back from her station and the screen suddenly went dark. "Doctor, what the hell is going on?" She asked a quiver of fear on her voice.

"I am not sure." Dr. Jones responded as he looked around the ward. It was late during the night shift and most of the other night nurses and doctors were on rounds. Since Mr. Jenkins had stabilized, he had been moved from the emergency room to the observation ward, so it was just him and Nurse Debbin. As he realized this, the lights on the floor suddenly when dark, as well as in all the adjoining rooms. Nurse Debbin screamed and jumped falling backwards, her head striking the counter behind her. Dr. Jones leapt across the counter to catch her before she hit the ground. He lowered her unconscious body to the floor and began checking her vitals. Slowly the hall began to grow brighter. Once Dr. Jones was assured that Nurse Debbin was ok, he looked around to determine where the glow was coming from.

Dr. Jones slowly looked over the counter of the nurses' station. What he saw filled him with horror, and it took all of his willpower to hold back the scream that was building up in his throat.

In a dark cold room, far from the hospital, two holographic displays continued to flash brightly, the first one showed a holographic image of the earth with a red dot blinking somewhere in Northern California. The other displayed text readouts and schematics for the Remote Interface Unit Mark II, a covert style using a human body that could enter the structure that was holding the destination. Suddenly the small blinking light on the holographic display went out, an alarm started going off and a red light in the center of the room started flashing brightly. More displays began lighting up all around the room. Some appeared to be running scans of the area that the destination was last seen. Others appeared to be bringing up images of the Structure that contained the destination, both internal and external views. The original display dropped the schematics it was showing and began to display letters once again. "Contact with Destination Lost ... Interference at target location ... Scanning interference ... Morgalon Presence detected ... Destination's Existence is in danger ... Engaging Protocol Alpha ... Morgalon Presence Must be Neutralized at all Costs ... Combat Drones Deployed to Location ... Stealth level 0 ... Deadly Force Authorized ... Civilian Casualties Authorized ... Remote Interface Unit Mark II Complete ... Deploying Remote Interface Unit Mark II."

A few seconds latter a small shadowy form approched the interface, in a sultry feminine voice the shadow began to speak. "Belay last order, Combat drones on hold. Stealth Level 5 required. Civilian casualties not authorized. Remote interface Unit has command of rescue operations. Activate teleporter devices. Transport Remote Interface Unit and Combat Drones to last know location on Remote Interface Units Command. Combat Drones: Deadly Force Authorized on Morgalon and any Scabs it may have only. Engage beam."

A bright Flash of white light filled the room and then everything went dark again. The only lights in the room were coming from the alert beacon above and the monitors which continued to flash images of the inside of the structure. Bright Red Letters began to fill all the screens, and they started blinking in unison. "MORGALON PRESENCE DETECTED, PROTOCOL ALPHA IN EFFECT, PLANET QUARANTINED."

Dr. Jones Crouched behind the Nurses station, staring at the most horrific thing he had seen in his life. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was seeing. They were like creatures straight out of a bad horror movie. The Big one, the source of the eerie yellow green light, stood over seven feet tall. It wore tattered armor over most of its body, where its flesh was visible the skin was sickly and almost translucent, the muscles and veins could be clearly seen underneath. Its bones, the source of the glow, were quite visible through the muscle and flesh of the creature. It held a large metal staff in its right hand, the top of which contained a small skull that glowed with the same light as the creature. On either side of the thing were two smaller forms. Dr. Jones barely recognized them as two of the wards patients; their flesh was contorted and stretched over their bodies like mummified skeletons. They had no hair on their bodies anymore and they shambled behind the first creature as if they were on a leash.

The creature had its head raised in the air and appeared to be sniffing around as if trying to smell something. One of the smaller creatures hissed and spoke in a dry crackly voice, "Master, something comes."

The thing looked around, the sockets where its eyes once were probing the room as if it could still see. Suddenly one of the side entrances burst open and the Head physician and two security guards came running into the room. They all came to an immediate stop as soon as they saw the creatures in the hall, one of the guards fell to the ground in his attempt to reverse his direction. The larger creature pointed his staff at the three intruders and stated a single word that came from its mouth as nothing more than a soft whisper. "Yalkash."

As it spoke the skull on the top of the staff turned to stare at the three and opened its jaws. A reddish beam of light flew from the head and slammed into them. Their screams were horrifying and will haunt Dr. Jones nightmares until the ends of his days. The flesh of the three men began to shrivel and stretch on their skeleton, their uniforms turned to dust almost immediately. All the hair on their heads fell out and disappeared into the beam. Just as quickly as it started, the beam stopped. Where the Head Physician and two Security Guards once stood now stood three more of the corpse-like creatures.

Dr. Jones looked at the Master creature in horror and disbelief. That's when he noticed it seemed to be standing straighter, its skin seemed less sickly and it had begun to grow hair on the top of its head. "Oh My God," He thought. "It's feeding off of them."

The creature that was once the head physician approached the larger creature. "Master the one we seek is this way." It spoke in the same dry crackly voice as the others, as it shambled towards Mr. Jenkins' room.

As the shambling forms approached Mr. Jenkins' room the dark hallway was filled with a blinding light. Dr. Jones covered his eyes with his hands and tried his best not to scream. The light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and with it went Dr. Jones vision of the hall. Dr. Jones hid behind the counter as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness. What he heard would give him nightmares for weeks to come. The Creatures all hissed and screamed, crashes and explosions could be heard form over the counter, and at one point he could have sworn he heard the whisper like voice of the Master laughing. As Dr. Jones's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness once again he noticed the yellowish green light was gone. He peeked over the counter and was astonished at what he saw.

Parts of the corpse-like creatures littered the hall around Mr. Jenkins' door. Two Large Floating egg like robots appeared to be standing guard on either side of the door. They had at least eight mechanical arms protruding from either side of their bodies. Each arm ended in a weapon of some kind. Some appeared to be knives others needles and at least two ended in what appeared to be the barrel of a gun. The light in Mr. Jenkins' room was back on and a beautiful naked girl stood over his bed, her left hand resting on his forehead. She could not have been any older than thirteen or fourteen. Her honey blond hair was done up in locks reminiscent of Shirley temple. As Dr. Jones continued to watch the strange scene; one of the Robots suddenly turned towards him and in a flash was across the room and in the nurses' station. Dr. Jones jumped back and placed himself between the Robot and Nurse Debbin.

The robot looked at the two of them and then started making clicking and whirring noises as it leveled one of the gun like arms at them. The girl in the other room never looked up from Mr. Jenkins as she replied to its noises. "Subdue them; we will investigate who they are..." Dr. Jones never heard the rest of her statement as the gun on the end of the Robots arm blasted out an energy beam and his world went black.

The Remote Interface Unit stood over the comatose form of the Destination. It looked down at him with curiosity as it continued to run its fingers through his hair. It was a new an interesting sensation, the sensitivity of this form was very interesting to the Unit. It was entranced with the type of ocular vision and the sensory touch receptors on the outer shell. As it continued to stroke the destinations hair one of the combat drones chirped at it, breaking it from its infatuation with the sensory inputs it was receiving. It continued to stare at the destination while it responded. "Subdue them; we will investigate who they are once our mission is complete and we get back to The Mainframe."

After incapacitating the two humans, the drone chirped to it again. "Yes, I am aware that the Morgalon can return at any time. The transfer will be complete in a second," It responded as it brought its hand from the destinations hair and gently placed it on his forehead.

Its hand began to glow slightly as millions of Nano-Bots streamed out of its fingers and began to course into his body; they began to repair the damage done to his external and internal systems caused by his collapse. Others began to rewire his mental synapses, repairing the damage done to his brain by the Mainframes attempt to upload the activation program into him. The last of the Nano-Bots located and activated the dormant Nano-Bots in the destinations body; as soon as their missions were complete they went dormant to be incorporated into the destinations systems. The Remote Interface Unit removed its hand from the destinations forehead; it began to establish links with the destinations Nano-Bots and continued the up-link of their activation orders and instructions on upgrading the destinations systems.

The Remote Interface Unit walked out of the room and looked around at the mess. It turned to the drone that communicated with it earlier. "Clean up this mess, grab the two witnesses and deploy a surveillance drone. We need to keep an eye on the destination until The Mainframe can up-link and communicate with him. Then both of you return to The Mainframe." It stated as it walked over to the nurses' station.

It looked down at the unconscious female and judged her clothing would be adequate. It quickly undressed her and put on her clothing then exited the ward. Scanning the schematics of the structure that they had acquired earlier, it headed from the floor to the security station. It quickly modified the nurse's access badge to enable it to access the security room. The guards at the station looked its way as it walked in, realizing it was not a fellow security guard they both jumped to their feet. "You're not supposed to be in here." One of them stated as his hand reached for his baton.

It reacted quickly slamming its left hand into the first guard's gut, Nano-Bots streaming from its fingers as soon as it made contact. The second guard managed to get his baton out and raised it to swing; the Remote Interface unit brought its right hand across the second guard's neck deploying a second wave of Nano-Bots. The Nano-Bots quickly spread through the two guards systems, temporarily incapacitating them. It then sat down at one of the security consoles. Its fingers coming into contact with the keyboard. Nano-Bots once again flooded out from its fingers, they entered the security system and began altering the security logs and tapes ensuring that nothing remained of any files or video that showed the Remote Interface Unit, Combat Drones or the Morgalon and its Scabs. It was aware that investigations would be started inquiring into the disappearance of the people that were on the same floor as the Destination, but that could not be helped nor would they ever lead anywhere. Once it was complete it rose from the station and disappeared with a bright flash of light. The two Security guards woke up shortly after, both looked around the room and at each other completely confused with no memory of why they were on the floor.

David walked down a foggy road; how long he had been walking he was not sure. His surroundings had not changed nor had he seen any signs of life anywhere on his journey. He did not know how he had gotten here, the last thing he remembered he was sitting in his cubical at work picking up yet another resume', then everything went black. When his vision returned, he found himself standing on the deserted road in the middle of a thick gray fog. He was very worried and several thoughts kept running through his head: How did he get here? Where the hell was he? Why did someone bring him here?

As he continued down the long straight road several other things came to his attention. During the entire walk he had not gotten tired or hungry. It was all very strange and disquieting. The most unnerving aspect however was the fact that he was not panicked, that he just kept calmly walking down this highway in the fog. Eventually David thought he felt another presence, a voice whispering in the back of his mind. "What is wrong with you Mr. Jenkins? Why are you here?"