The Chains are Broken: Part 1

[Tek]

Howdy again, this is part 1 of "The Chains are Broken." Before you read this, please note that it is rather long, and you should read the introduction I posted, if you haven't already. This is only part 1, so you can guess how long the completed story will be: Probably the size of a small novel. I probably won't end up finishing it, but it's a good time-waster for those slow weekdays. Anyway, here's part 1:

The Chains are Broken: Chapter 1

I hatefully watched Professor Harkin as he walked off, staring daggers at his back. When I turned around to go to the cafeteria and vent my anger, I was suddenly face-to-face with a woman wearing military fatigues. She was pretty, with enchanting green eyes and brown hair that peeked out from under a camouflaged cap. She looked me straight in the eye.
“You two must not be the best of friends,” she said, wearing a knowing grin on her face. “I met the guy at the main base a few weeks ago. He came up to me in the bar, drunk off his ass, and said some stuff to me that should have gotten him arrested. He’s one hell of a cocky bastard.”
“I know it,” I replied, looking back at him. “And I have to work with him, if you can imagine that.”
“You poor baby,” she said as she brushed a stray wisp of silken hair out of her eyes. “Name’s Gina. PFC Gina King.” With a wink and a grin, she held out her hand to me and I shook it well, heartened by the fact that there was someone out there who shared my hate for Professor Harkin. “I’m not on duty right now; you want to get a drink or something?”
If I wasn’t mistaken right then and there, Gina had asked me out, and I was more than willing to oblige her. It’d been quite a while since I’d been in the company of females—whenever I tried to go out on a date, Harkin had always dumped a pile of work on me—almost as if he planned it. All the more reason to hate his guts.
We left the hangar and started towards the bar, stopping at the giant plexiglass window I had looked out of before. Gina looked at the surface of Phobos with a childlike curiosity, as if she’d never seen it before.
“I was on duty at camp Pendleton back on Earth when I had to come up here,” she said, her eyes scanning the horizon. “This place is so weird; it’s nothing like Earth.”
“Well, you get used to it,” I replied, bringing Gina back to the here-and-now. “If you spend enough time cooped up in here, it doesn’t seem so strange. Just boring.” She looked at me and let out an embarrassed chuckle. We continued down the hallway.

The bar was once again depopulated; even more so than the previous night. Only five other people sat at the tables, all of them watching the Gate opening ceremony on the video monitors. They were all off-duty marines, probably from Gina’s squad. Gina and I took seats at the bar and Charlie walked up, absently cleaning a glass as he smiled at me and my newfound companion. He expressed his disbelief at me having a drinking buddy for once and offered me a Bud to celebrate, but I turned him down and ordered a Dr. Pepper as usual. Gina, however, ordered a Margarita, and Charlie was quick to deliver. When we got our drinks, we turned our attention to the video monitors and watched various scientists give speeches and other pleasantries to the crowd of research staff and UAC employees. Then Professor Harkin stood up.
“Oh, here’s your slavemaster now,” Gina said, taking a sip of her Margarita.
I simply looked on as Harkin took the podium and delivered his speech. For the most part he simply talked about himself and how great he was, and the crowd ate up his every word—he was a good speaker. Then he said something that really cemented my complete and total hatred for him:
“I’m glad I got to work with such a wonderful staff of brilliant scientists and researchers. Without them, I would not have been able to finish the project. Not even my bufoon of an assistant, Daniel Ferguson, could keep the project from being completed on time, and in the highest quality possible. Can you believe that he couldn’t even be bothered to attend the opening ceremony?”
The entire crowd let out a roar of laughter at this. I simply sat there watching the monitor, helpless to keep him from humiliating me in front of hundreds of people. Gina gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
“That bastard’s going to burn in hell.” She finished off her Margarita.
I took the last few sips of Dr. Pepper and threw the bottle in the wastebin. Harkin wrapped up his speech with a bad joke about physics or something and stepped off the platform as the hangar was cleared of observers and final preparations for the gate opening were made. Scientists began rushing about the hangar, checking computer monitors and running diagnostics, making sure that every little thing in the planning was running correctly. The hangar seemed like a beehive, with staff busily milling about, cocking a probing eye to anything and everything. I saw Colonel Gaynes still in the hangar with his attendants; he probably wanted to see the spectacle close up. An island of sloth in a sea of busywork, he stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the scientists go to and fro.
“There’s the Colonel,” Gina said, pointing at the video monitor in his direction. “He’s the highest-ranking soldier on the entire moon.”
“Why did they send your squad up here?” I asked.
Gina shrugged. “I really don’t know for sure, but I’ve been told that UAC thinks the gate has the ability to transport stuff to and from this moon, and they don’t want to risk some alien coming through and destroying the nice little operation they’ve got here. I think it’s a dumb idea, but orders are orders. They assigned us here with full combat armament, so they must really suspect something.”
I nodded inattentively, still watching the screen. The scientists were all off the platform now, standing at various computer workstations and observation posts. Harkin stood in the middle of it all, his eyes fixed on the gate. He took a decidedly dramatic pose, his hands on his hips and his legs ceremoniously spread, as if he were some kind of superhero.
The countdown to opening began at ten, and steadily went on. The entire bar was silent and every pair of eyes was fixed on the monitor as the droning countdown continued, then reached zero. The gate was activated.
The hum of machinery could be heard throughout the complex, and the gate seemed to glow an eerie emerald light that came from the base. Azure beams of electricity suddenly arced from the sides of the gate, and the scientists all donned shaded safety goggles. The arcs of electricity seemed to merge into one massive ball that spread through the entire area of the gate. Then there was a flash, and the gate was open, a huge, ovular azure wall in the middle of the apparatus. The gate seemed to ripple and undulate, casting a strange bright-blue light on the cheering scientists. Bottles of whine and champagne were popped, and celebration filled the hangar with whoops and cheers. The superiority of human intellect was once again proved with the opening of the gate. Then something unplanned occurred.
A being actually walked through the gate. The celebration stopped as the research staff all took in the unexpected visitor. It was huge and muscular, with hard, pink flesh. Sweat glistened on its muscle-bound chest, and it stood on two goatlike legs, which curved back at the knee and ended in cloven hooves. Its head was the most striking feature: It looked like a goat’s head, with horns and a snout that had a beard at the chin. Its eyes were blazing red, as if the fires of hell raged within the crimson orbs. Several small holes in the creature’s wrists oozed a glowing green liquid that looked as if it was radioactive. It hissed and bubbled as it dripped on the floor, creating sizzling pock-marks.
It looked like it was confused and hunched down, its deep-set eyes scanning the hangar. The creature let out a strange roar that sounded like a bull mixed with a gorilla. The scientists were all scared, and let out one big, collective yelp. Colonel Gaynes stepped back a few steps. The creature screamed viciously and jumped off the platform. It landed with a ‘clank,’ its cloven hooves making large holes in the metal floor.
Suddenly, a group of marines burst through the door and knelt down in front of the creature, assault rifles shouldered and aimed. The monster growled low, its fists starting to glow more brightly. The marines yelled at the creature to stand down, even though it probably didn’t understand human language and was only getting angry and confused. Then, the creature wound up and threw a glob of the green ooze at the marines.
Three marines and a scientist got it on them, and the ooze burned through their uniforms like acid. They all fell to the floor, screaming horribly. The remaining marines fired their rifles, concentrating their fire on its head and chest. Amazingly, some of the bullets glanced off the monster’s thick hide, and two of the marines had to reload their rifles. The monster didn’t counterattack, but instead withered under the concentrated fire pulverising its considerable bulk. Then, as if the will to live had suddenly left its body, the creature let out a harsh death-knell and collapsed in a bloody mess. It bled a red liquid that looked like blood, but hissed as it flowed from the corpse. Four marines jumped up from their kneeling positions and ran to the crumpled mess, firing a few shots into the body to make sure it was dead. Several doctors came to the marines and scientist that had been wounded by the creature’s acidic glob, but they were pronounced dead after their pulses were taken.
Once the situation was back under control, I realized that Gina, me, and everyone else in the bar had watched it all in a deathly silence. None of us had said a word throughout the entire spectacle, and none of us had moved an inch. Charlie had even stopped cleaning his glass. He simply stood there, a dumbstruck expression on his face. Gina watched it all in grim fascination, here eyes focused only on the creature that had walked through the gate. I decided to break the silence.
“Gina,” I said, tapping her on the shoulder. “Gina, we should go see what we can do in the hangar. Gina…”
Though she still watched the video monitor, she gave me a reluctant nod. She pried her eyes away from the screen, got up and followed me out the door.

*****

Hope you liked it, and if you did, you can expect the second part in a week or so, depending on whether or not I die, or kidnapped, abducted by aliens, hit by a car, stricken with a horrible disease, or incapacitated in other ways. If any of these things happens to me, please call the appropriate authorites. So there.

[dsm]

Well, I can't exactly say that this story is 100% true to the Doom backstory (what happened to all the military "volunteers" that were to disappear or go insane?). But it's not a big thing - the important thing is that the story is original, so I'll try and shut up about the story "not being true to the Doom backstory".

But I have *one* thing to complain a little about: I find that the bit about rumours going on about the marines being stationed there to prevent a possible alien invasion is a bit dumb and too leading.

Other than that it's a superb story as always :-)

[Tek]

I had a hunch that that would attract some flak, but I wanted to put it in because I needed to have some kind of reason for the marines' being there. If I didn't, Gina would be a bit of a fish out of water. I admit, however, that I really could have done better on that part. And about it not being true to the backstory, that wasn't the objective in the first place. I'm simply trying to give some sort of creative take on the events which happened on Phobos; not just a detailed retelling of the story in the manual.

[dsm]

Here's a suggestion to why there would be marines stationed there: It's a top secret project and it must be kept under close vigilance to ensure that noone steals the plans, data, takes photos of the gates or any such thing.
Afaik, top secret projects are always closely guarded by well-armed soldiers.

[Tek]

I really like the idea, but it's come too late for me to fix it. Maybe I'll put it in a "gold edition" update or something, and give you credit for it.

[dsm]

Nevermind, I like your story as it is (I like how your character meets a cute female marine - I hope you don't intend to kill them both off) - no need to change these minor things.