Biohazard Archive

Chapitre X : ''A.D.A.''


« Systeme online... Good morning master Alpheus. »
The sun rose slowly on Sadiel. It was winter in Nerath; it was always winter in Nerath and things seemed to have fallen asleep one day and never woken up since...
There it all was, but so different then before... The streets here were once filled with people from all over Sadiel that came to enjoy the pleasures of the Glistening city, where everything was new and modern ... But most of all people came here for the freedom they got out of it, here they had a chance to become whoever they whished as long as they strived hard enough... There was no God to obey, no Order of the Templar's, no Seraphim. They were there own masters, they made there own laws, and elected there own Emperor. Which lived in the greatest of all Palaces ever built, a grand black Pyramid which protected the city with this new magic they had created from there knowledge: they called it Technology and it replaced the old tyrannical order of the gifted: the Templars who's powers were only used in the name of the Gods that served only themselves and had enslaved them...
But not anymore now they were free in there city of Naquda, an indestructible material which they had found only in there land: Varvendel.
Protected by the mightiest shield ever... For years Nerath flourished than after a glorious century the city built upon the best of values began to fall under a new influence: the one of money and power. People no longer cared about there common good they wanted there own good. The old laws fell and slavery and gods were once more allowed to increase profit. They even decided to build a great temple to the very god they had run away from: Amaphara, which had promised a considerable reward to Nerath's council if she were permitted to peacefully enter the city... Few weeks later the laws were modified once more and the first blood sacrifice to Amaphara was allowed to “welcome” there new guest which would bless the great council of Nerath with more wealth... The streets then slowly filled with angry people which felt betrayed. The prices increased again and some rebelled... They protested at the newly built temple and were slaughtered by the Seraphim guards... No action was taken to prevent or punish the useless massacre of more than a hundred unarmed citizens. Shops closed, merchants fled, the city no longer proposed its refined goods and jobs became scarce... Finally the worst came... There Emperor which had considerably slowed the progress of the council and Amaphara died of an unknown disease that soon after spread out to the howl nation in a few months. Nerath was then put into quarantine...
Times were getting desperate and the council delayed the election of a new Emperor because all wanted to keep full authority... Finally Amaphara stepped up and said she had found a cure to the disease that had now killed thousands of people. The only catch was that Amaphara would have to relocate her temple in the black pyramid to cure everyone at once... This violated Nerath's most sacred rule: never to let any god occupy the Pyramid they had built to protect themselves of those very gods, most of all Amaphara. People everywhere rebelled and said they rather all die than let this reached god that had only brought misery to them so far occupy there beloved symbol of now failing freedom... A council member fell ill two day later and the council panicked... To save there lives they decided to comply with the Goddess's request. In vain the crowd tried to stop the ceremony but it was too late. Amaphara took over the Palace and destroyed it from the inside, oblerating the forgotten shield...
Then the people remembered the city which they had fled from: “Menatheron” whose powers were kept out of the city by the Palace shield...
The most gigantic army ever seen then flooded through the city gates and destroyed most of the city killing many and taking thousands of slaves back with all of the city's most precious goods...
It was all over, Nerath had fell, the survivors woke up from there dream of which there was nothing left but a city in ruins... Amaphara decided not to kill them all, instead she would cure them like promised from her plague and take everything away from them in exchange. The chosen most fit could live in Menatheron as slaves the banished inferior beings would live in Nerath which would become the “Hell” of Sadiel, a “gigantic asylum for the unwanted”....
So goes the story of the Great Nerath...
Alpheus watched the city in the fog from above, holding a cup of warm coffee in his two hands. He seamed preoccupied... Like if he was waiting for some sudden explosion below not knowing if it would come...
A cool female voice sounded in the room: “Master Alpheus the board is awaiting your arrival in conference room 153b...” Alpheus didn't move at first than he took a sip of his coffee and said sarcastically: “Ada tell the board that I will not follow in their childish behaviour and assist a useless conference about problems, I know them, What I want is solutions Execute” The cool female voice of Ada sounded from nowhere again and said with an almost content tone: “Very well, Master Alpheus.” Then it happened, the fog below became purple and moved like flames over the city like an immense fire... Alpheus's nose almost touched the glass wall, he seemed stunned... Ada's voice sounded once more: “Aura X 154 has appeared again... Intensity level: 59%, toxicity: 0, Molecular activity: none, Psionic activity: extremely high. Cause of perturbation: Unknown, Effect: Unknown...” Alpheus frowned, he seemed to concentrate then he said: “Ada I want you to put the station in alert level 2 now, this could be our only chance to get some samples and run live tests...” A siren sounded and Ada's voice was heard throughout the complex like a giant echo: “This is a scientific alert level 2, all scientist attend your posts for immediate briefing... This is not a drill; I repeat this is, not, a drill.” Ada went on repeating the message again and again wail Alpheus moved from his office to the main hall. There people in white and silver were running in all directions, they seemed very excited, like if they were about to witness a great event. On the other hand, the guards seemed almost annoyed by all the commotion. Finally the alarm stopped, a male voice sounded and the station fell silent: “This is your Commander speaking! Aura X 154 has manifested again and this time I want us to get work done properly... Those who will come up with the most samples and analysis will receive an important reward so do your best. All extra information is available on Ada's mainframe... Good Luck, and Dismissed!” All the sudden, noise flooded the corridor's again and the scientist took their positions, some were in labs, others in small ships that left the main base which floated 10 miles above Nerath like a giant white mass... The small silver ships seemed very versatile their shape was adapted to all environments and conditions. They were long and oval, with a large glass cockpit in front and two reactors in the back on each side propelled the machine at great speed. The top was full of antennas and radars the bottom was covered by a thick layer of wavy reflective metal, the rest of the machine was made of the same strong looking material but it was thinner, straight and opaque, their seemed to be no entrance.
Alpheus nervously watched the progress on an enormous holographic projection in the middle of a gigantic room where thousand of people were operating computer frames and navigation tools on several different levels, it was the command centre! Alpheus was on the top floor next to a 10 feet red half-sphere which was part of the wall; it glowed strangely like a giant light bulb.
Ada's voice seemed much less robotic here, she said: “Aura is getting stronger; level is currently 70%.... The psionic waves may become dangerous soon.” Alpheus was absorbed in the use of giant holographic computer now, images went so fast, one couldn't imagine a normal human being able to understand anything at such speed but Alpheus did, almost like if he was part of the machine... Twenty minutes past like a flash and suddenly Ada sounded again not only in the main base but outside, her voice was extremely loud: “ATTENTION: Level as jumped to 175%, all personnel must come back in less then twenty sec, then shield will activate...” Every silver ship rushed chaotically back to the base, the purple fog had morphed into a thin blue energy cloud which stroke everything with powerful lightening that made huge black burn marks on the main base's outer shell. The small ships used their shield to deflect these attacks but it seemed to weaken them terribly. Surprisingly every single one of them made it back and a giant transparent shield then covered the installation. Alpheus' voice sounded: “All reactors offline, prepare for jump!” The giant reactors suddenly stopped and it seemed for a few seconds that the base held but onto an invisible string, then as it was about to fall, it glowed and disappeared into fine air...