Viral Apocalypse
Edited and corrected version.
Rating: ADULT
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters; never have, never will.
Summery: The groups purpose on Earth is more than what they have been led to believe. The end of all life in the universe is closing in, yet life on a small out of the way planet is growing. What hope could humans give to the Antarians?
Couples: CC/Slash
Email: alex_g_smith@hotmail.com
Author Note: This idea entered my brain several months ago and is not leaving me alone so I am going to write it. It came when I read Nikki’s “Bonding Eight” and Watcher Tara’s “Two Down, Two To Go” trilogy, so many thanks to them.
It starts right after “Destiny”.
*****
Chapter 1
An Island Somewhere in the Pacific – Designated: Site Alpha 1
Commander Kalen, like all the others in his command, was in his stasis tube. They had been there since the conclusion of their 10-year research assignment after the Roswell Incident, waiting for the time when the computer of the facility would receive the signal and awaken them for their true mission here on Earth.
All of a sudden, on the highest point of the island the pulse began flash on the peak of the mountain. The signal was carried underground and into the facility where the computer powered up and deactivated the tubes, allowing their occupants to emerge and resume their posts.
“Report.” Kalen said
“Sir, the signal was initiated 5 minutes ago…the Awakening Protocols functioned perfectly, all 43 personnel are returning to their duties.” Thran said
“Triangulate the source of the signal.” Kalen ordered
“Triangulating now sir…” Thran said as he pressed buttons on his consol. “Sir, the source appears to be the Pod Chamber in Roswell. Sir, I’m also detecting multiple signatures all over the western hemisphere…the Skins are also aware of the situation.”
“Very well, activate observation protocols. We will observe the Royal 4 for several months before acting.” Kalen said, “Track down all other hybrids and send units to watch over them.”
“Confirmed sir.”
Kalen turned to leave but stopped at the door, “Oh by the way what is the date?”
“Uh, according to the facility’s chronometers we have been in stasis for fifty years. It’s June 2000…human time.”
“Thank you Thran, I’ll go check on everything.” Kalen said
“Yes sir. Do you want me to contact Lord Larek?”
“No need, the signal would have been sent to him as well.” Kalen said
He walked down the halls of the underground facility and inspected everything from the storage closets to the sleeping chambers. When he was done with his command he transported himself over to an adjacent island, one barely half a mile from Alpha 1. The second facility was more homely and warmer than the first. The layout was also vastly different, it had several bedrooms some of which were clearly intended for individuals where the others were for couples and each room was separate from the others.
There were also a couple of bathrooms that looked big enough to be shared by multiple people. In the centre of the facility was a common area for the people who stayed here, complete with a library, kitchen, a couple of games machines and a large television set hooked up to a satellite dish. When Kalen was satisfied that everything still worked and functioned properly he walked over to an area of plain wall next to the bookcase. He waved his hand and pressed his palm against the silver handprint that appeared.
The wall rippled and Kalen stepped through into another chamber. The walls were covered with a multitude of dancing colours and in the middle of the room was a large circular pool filled with pink and purple ooze that swirled and bubbled. Kalen touched his hand to the surface of the pool and was satisfied with the warm sensation it provided.
“Soon now, soon we will preserve our race.” Kalen said to himself
He left the chamber and returned to his command, awaiting word that at least one of the dozens of sets of hybrids have been found and that hopefully some of them have succeeded in their purpose on Earth.
Night of the Prom, Several Months Later…
Max, Liz and the others had just had their group photo taken and were now piling into the limo, ready to be taken to their dance. When they were all inside they pulled away and started to head toward the school. The driver’s area was completely isolated from the rear of the vehicle and completely soundproofed, allowing the driver to speak without being overheard.
“This is Feln, I have the Royal 4 and their associates in the vehicle. What is your order?” the driver said
“Feln, proceed.” Kalen said over the communicator.
Feln flicked a switch on the dashboard and a cloud of gas quickly filtered into the back, causing the entire group to fall unconscious. The car changed direction and no longer headed to West Roswell High but instead it went out into the desert. After an hour of driving the car stopped, Feln got out and opened the rear door of the limo to let any residual gas escape.
Two helicopters suddenly flew over the hillside next to them and landed a short distance away. Several people got out of the choppers with stretchers and carefully loaded the sleeping teens onto them and onto the choppers.
“They’ll be out for seven more hours, you’ve got that long to get them to the island.” Feln said
“Yes sir, we’ll get them there in plenty of time.” said the pilot of the first aircraft
“Make sure you do.” Feln said
“Sir, if I may…what about their parents?” the pilot asked
“That’s my problem pilot, get going.” Feln said
“Sir.” he responded
Feln backed off to the limo and used his powers to change its shape into that of a Corvette. He watched as the two helicopters took off and headed back out to Alpha 1. The people that surrounded them carefully monitored each of the unconscious passengers.
Sleeping Quarters, Island Alpha 1, Several Hours Later
Alex carefully opened his eyes but was almost blinded by the bright light shooting down into his eyes. He quickly closed them and shielded his face with his arm as he sat up and looked around the room. He saw each of his friends lying around him, each on a medical bed, surrounded by darkness and with a single white light shooting down into their faces.
The first person he was able to focus on was Isabel and he carefully stumbled over to her side. His head was spinning from the drugs, all he could remember was getting into the limo and chatting with Isabel but after that there was nothing.
“Isabel.” he whispered as he shook her shoulder, “Isabel wake up.”
“Hmmm…Alex?” she groaned out
Alex quickly covered her eyes from the light and helped her sit up before heading over to Max. One by one he helped his friends come back to reality, when Max realised that something was happening he immediately went over to Liz and helped her up.
A few minutes later Alex was back beside Isabel and helping her to her feet as the others stood up and looked around in the darkness.
“This is so not a good thing.” Maria said
“No shit.” Michael said as he stumbled around, trying to find the wall
“Where the hell is this place?” Kyle asked as he found a button on the wall.
He pressed it and the room was filled with light, illuminating the entire room. The room was empty save for the eight beds that they had woken up on. The walls themselves were as empty as the room, not even a door was visible to the group.
“So…Special Unit? Military? Any ideas?” Max asked
“Hell, with us it could be the old lady down the street.” Liz said as she sat back down on the bed, “We seem to pick up a new enemy every other week.”
“I’m actually one of the good guys Ms Parker.” Kalen said as he passed into the room from one of the walls.
Michael and Max quickly raised their hands to blast the new arrival but found that their powers wouldn’t work.
“I assume you recognise this.” Kalen said as he held up one of the hexagonal devices. He pressed a few buttons on it and deactivated the device. “Now your powers will work my friends. My apologies but I knew your first instinct would be to attack…not that I blame you. With everything you have been through in the last year…well, I needed to get your attention and this is the only way I could think of.”
“Where are we?” Max asked
“A small island in the south pacific, King Zan, we call it Alpha 1. I am Commander Kalen of your Majesty’s defence force.” Kalen said as he bowed when introducing himself.
“My name isn’t Zan.” Max said
“Yes of course, I apologise again…Max.” Kalen said, “And you are Liz…Michael…Maria…Alex…Isabel…Kyle and Tess.”
“Okay so you know who we are…still doesn’t tell us who you are or why you kidnapped us.” Michael said coldly
“Forgive me Rath…sorry Michael…I was only following orders.” Kalen said
“Who’s?” asked Tess
“Yours.” Kalen said to Max
“What?” Max said confused
“There is a situation…out there.” Kalen said while pointing up to the roof, “Please come with me and I’ll explain.”
Kalen walked back out through the wall. The others walked up to the same spot and just looked at it and then to each other. Liz was the first to step through the passage, quickly followed by Max and then the others. On the other side Max quickly grabbed Liz arm to stop her.
“Liz, are you crazy?” Max said
“Max, I want to be back home. If you and Blondie there want to stay then fine.” Liz said angrily
“Liz…I…” Max started to say
Kalen had stopped not to far from the others and heard her comments. He should have picked them up earlier and not allowed the situation between them to deteriorate to this point.
“Actually Ms Parker, your presence here is essential…it is for all of you.” Kalen said
Max let Liz’s arm go and they followed Kalen into the Command Room.
“What is all this?” Max asked
“This facility was created approximately 20 years before the crash at Roswell for the purpose of this mission. Around 4 thousand years ago a meteor crashed into region on Antar. Within three years the birth rate on our world was cut by more than half. It took us nearly 2 years before we discovered that the meteor carried a virus that caused sterility in our race. We’ve survived this long through a program of genetic mutations applied to each generation.
After going out into space we discovered other worlds that were affected the same way…in total over 256,000 civilizations are either infected or have died out because of it. Every race, that is except humans. Earth was infected in 1909 after a meteor strike in Tunguska…a few local life forms were infected but the virus was killed off. It would appear that humans are immune.” Kalen said
“So what’s the problem? Find out what makes them immune and use it.” Tess said
“We’ve tried. We spent decades working through every aspect of humans on Earth…everything from the human genome to your diet. We can’t find anything to account for it.” Kalen said
“So what happens next?” Max asked
“After our research failed, your father ordered a program to combine human genetics with Antarians to create hybrids. He selected the children of several families to come to Earth, combined their D.N.A with that of human donors and kept them on Earth so that they could continue to live. However, it didn’t take long to spot problems with the joining.
The virus also affected the chemical used to combine the gene code and as a result that generation died of quickly. It was determined that Ganderium would have to be used but that came at a cost…slower gestation for the hybrid and the use of the pods. By the time we were able to implement this we had reached the limits of the manipulation of our genome…our race was no longer of reproduction and as a result we were on our last generation.” Kalen said with sadness in his voice
“So why are we here then?” Tess asked. Nasedo had told her none of this in their time together.
“It was determined that with the Ganderium, a hybrid child would be free of the virus but if they were to procreate amongst themselves their D.N.A. would be susceptible to it once again. King Zan, your predecessor Max, ordered the combining of D.N.A from the same families…including himself, Ava, Rath and Vilandra…and all were sent to Earth. The mission was to find human who they could love and trust with what they were and to raise families with them. This way the Antarian people would continue to exist and out culture would not die off.”
“So why bring us here?” Liz asked, “Why not let them get on with it?”
“Well our first reason is that recently relations between a few of you have been…strained. Bringing you all here is for the purpose of allowing some wounds to be mended and for all of you to bond. The second reason is that we discovered something about procreation between a human and hybrid.”
“And that would be?” Maria asked
“It doesn’t work. With Antarians procreation can be controlled. Conception will only occur when both partners release a particular pheromone that affects their mate. Without this, it just wouldn’t work. Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess as you have Antarian D.N.A you still require these pheromones to be emitted during sex for conception to happen.”
“Well in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re humans – no freaky pheromones.” Maria said
“Yeah so mission failed, send us home.” Kyle stated plainly
“I think I have to agree with my friends.” Liz said coldly, “You’ve already ruined what could have been a fantastic night.”
“My apologies Ms Parker but I cannot send you home. You see the chemicals needed to produce the pheromone can be duplicated in the human body…but only after a hybrid and a human of the same gender have sex. To this end we have an island about half a mile away where we have created a facility where you will all be staying for the next few months.”
“You’re out of your damn mind.” Michael yelled
“There’s no way….” Maria said
Kalen quickly pressed a button on the wall and the next thing any of the group knew was that they were in the common room on the other island. On the screen Kalen’s image appeared and began speaking.
“I apologise my friends, it was necessary. The facility you are now in is fully equipped and there are clothes in your rooms. I’m sure they’ll fit perfectly; you have food, necessary supplies and a nice tropical beach that you have full run of. Please use the facilities freely and if you need to contact me press the blue button on the side of this monitor.” Kalen said as his image vanished
Each of the group sat silently down in the plush seats around them. For nearly ten minutes not one of them spoke.
“So…what do we do now?” Maria asked quietly
“I don’t know.” Max said, “Maybe just sit around and do nothing. When the see us doing nothing maybe they’ll just send us home.”
“I doubt it Max. They’re doing this to try and save their race.” Michael said
“Our race Michael. They’re our people as well.” Tess corrected him
“Well, it’s late.” Liz said, “I’m going to find a bed.”
Liz looked around and left down one of the hallways that lead to the bedrooms. She found a nice and quiet room that was marked with her name and entered it. When she examined the drawers she found some appropriate sleepwear and changed out of her dress. Back in the common room the others just looked around.
“Is it just me or has she been a little too quiet about all this?” Isabel said
“Yeah, but she is right. It is late, I’m too tired to think and I’m going to bed. I’ll try to get more answers out of Kalen tomorrow…I suggest you all get some sleep.” Max said
To Be Continued…