Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Under the Five Moons ❯ Humanity's Demons ( Chapter 12 )

Hello ladies and gents. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as I have.

Usual disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or any of its characters.

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White light, bright white light. It flew from the black wings of an angel, hurtling towards an angel with white wings. The other angel spread his wings and sent what could only be described a black light out. The two beams of light met together, swirling, mixing, balancing.

Then they were gone. Another angel appeared, this one female, and without a halo. It had two different colored wings, one red, the other green. Wings outspread she flew over the desert sands, somersaulting, twirling, smiles plastered on her face. She landed at an old church and knocked on the door. A young priest came out and shook her hand.

The angel opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly her red wing opened. It started glowing and the angel shouted at the priest. The priest tried to move, but his feet had fused to the ground.

BOOM!

The thunder crackled outside the apartment window. Rem's eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. [What did that mean?]. She looked next to her. Alex lay there, snoring softly. Rem smiled. There really was nothing she could do about his snoring. And she had tried everything.

She reached to the bedside table and tapped a small icon engraved into the plastic. A small readout appeared in front of her, hovering in mid-air. 04:48.

"Might as well just get up," she mumbled. She slipped out of the covers, taking care not to wake Alex and stumbled towards the bathroom, almost tripping over their cat. She struggled out of her pjs and stepped into the shower.

Rem had just lathered up her shampoo when there was a tap on the glass shower door. She turned to see Alex peering through. His black hair framed his head and his pale blue eyes were full of concern. "You okay honey? You don't normally get up this early."

Rem nodded. "Just a bad dream. Nothing you need to worry about." She started rinsing her long hair. "Why are you up so early anyway?"

Alex chuckled and pointed at his hair.

"It can't seriously take that long to fix it like that?"

Alex nodded. "So could you, um, kinda try to hurry it up? I gotta wash it before I can start."

Rem giggled and gently pushed the shower door open. "Why don't you just wash it with me?"

Alex grinned goofily as he took off his shirt. "That works."

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Rem bit her lip as she stood in front of the door. They wanted another report on the Project SEEDS status.

"Why do I always have to give these reports?" she asked.

"Because you're beautiful. Bad news always goes down better from a beautiful woman," Alex said. His hair was now sticking straight up like a broom. A complete contrast to the well-pressed lab coat, clean shirt, and straight tie he was wearing. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. I'm the one that should be worrying. I've got to meet the backer tonight."

Rem smiled. "Oh come on Alex, he's just a backer. I'm sure he's a nice, normal guy."

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Neron Martinez straightened his suit jacket and ran a hand through his close-cropped brown hair. He found that meetings with scientists went over better if you appeared official. Years of working under a professor had toned them to prefer having somebody that looked like they were in charge, even if they had every intention of ignoring them.

He pulled a pocket watch out of his jacket and flipped it open. 9:30. Dr. Masters was late. Of course, considering what the man would be able to do for him, lateness could be very easily forgiven.

"I'm sorry Mr. Martinez, I was held up by traffic," Alex said as he pushed open the door. He surveyed the room. Neron Martinez sat behind his desk, a medium sized affair carved from mahogany. A full bar was behind him. Besides that and the computer set up on his desk, Neron's office was sparse and empty. Alex got the impression that he didn't use it that much.

"It's quite alright Dr. Masters, and please call me Neron," he said as he stood up. "And I must apologize for making you come out at this late hour, but my schedule is simply too packed to meet you during the day." He indicated the chair in front of his polished desk and sat down.

Alex nodded and sat down. "Well, as long as we're on first names, just call me Alex."

Neron smiled. "Of course, now your assistant told me about your little project, but I'd like to hear it in your own words." He clasped his hands in front of his face.

Alex nodded. "It relates to Project SEEDS. It's become increasingly obvious that we can no longer survive on Earth. There's only so much the Plants can do to keep us from dying. So, as you know, we're sending out ships to colonize new worlds. But what worlds will we find Neron? Is this blue ball we live on an accident of the cosmos? What if we cannot find a habitable world? Throughout human history, we as a species have survived by being adaptable, but there's only so much we can do at this point. What if we were to coax evolution along a little, to make humans more adaptable to any of the environments that we may encounter?"

Neron swiveled his seat to the left and looked out his window. The New Chicago skyline shown brightly through the cloak of night. A teeming mass of life, all of it struggling to survive on the dying planet, and in a day not too far off, all struggling to survive on a new planet.

"Sounds like the plot of a bad horror movie, doesn't it?" Alex admitted ruefully. He hung his head and chuckled. "I guess I shouldn't really have expected for you to understand."

"No! I understand your point completely! Change is needed! If we have to coax that change ourselves, well, it's for the good of our children." He hit the desk for emphasis.

"You. . . you agree with me?" Alex asked.

Neron nodded. "Enough to give you full funding at least."

Alex blinked. "Full, full funding?"

"Yes. My resources are now at your disposal." Neron stood up and walked to the window. "You know, Alex, it's so rare to find someone with a true vision these days. Nobody can see past next week. It's how our planet got in the awful state it's in today!" He turned around. "But enough of this, a toast! To our partnership."

He walked to the bar behind his desk and took out two glasses. Taking a whiskey bottle down, he uncorked it and filled one glass to the brim. He slid it across his desk to Alex, who caught it absentmindedly. Neron smiled and pulled out another bottle, this one a deep red.

"I prefer mixed drinks myself," Neron said as he mixed it with the whiskey. He held out his glass. "What shall we toast to?"

Alex held out his glass. "To vision?"

"To vision then."

CLINK

They both drained their glasses in one gulp. Neron slammed his glass on the table and Alex followed suit. "Now, if you'll permit me, I'd like to take you and that lovely lady you came with to dinner."

"What? Rem? How did you know about her?"

Neron took his coat down from a peg on the wall. "It is my business to know things, how do you think I got this high on the corporate ladder at such a young age?"

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"I just don't know Rem. He agreed too easily, that's all."

Rem snuggled closer to Alex. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, the government turned me down so quickly I just thought. . ."

Rem tapped him on the head. "You think too much Alex. Logic doesn't solve everything."

"I never said it did. The best things in life can't be figured out on a calculator," Alex said as he put his hand behind Rem's head.

"Like what?"

"Like you."

Rem chuckled and started humming. She had heard the tune on the radio a couple of days ago and now she couldn't stop humming it.

"So, on the first evening a pebble from somewhere out of nowhere drops upon the sleeping world."

Alex smiled. He reached over and keyed off the lights. "Good night Rem."

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6 months later

Alex peered at the data readout and blinked. The numbers swirled and danced and turned, he thought for a second, into flowerpot. Rem was right; he had been working too late. He promised himself that he would finish this genome code then head for home.

"You know, I hired you assistants for a reason," a voice said behind him.

Alex swiveled around in his chair. Neron stood there, the very image of a corporate CEO. His hands were clasped behind his back. "Rem called my office. She wanted to know why I was keeping you so late." Neron walked over to a desk, picked up a file and starting flipping through it.

Alex stood up. "That's the reject pile, nothing interesting there."

Neron raised an eyebrow. "Reject pile?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, stuff we thought was going to work out but ended up only being useful for destruction. I suppose the military might be interested in it."

Neron flipped through the files. "Poison touch, illusionary replication, light emission. . ." Neron looked up. "What's so bad about light emission?"

Alex walked over and glanced over the file. "Oh, that. The problem was that the light could only be emitted in flashes or beams, like a laser. Not too useful for non-military applications."

Neron nodded and picked up the next folder. He read the name on the tab and held it up. "Demon's Eye?" he asked.

"Sensory hypnosis. Would've manifested itself as a red eye, which would have become pretty grotesque over the generations. One of the lab techs thought up the name." He took the folders from Neron and put them back on the desk. "Let me show you what we're really interested in." He opened a drawer and pulled out two files.

Neron took the first one and looked at the tab. "Psychic powers? Are you serious?"

Alex nodded excitedly. "Telepathy, telekinesis, the whole thing. It's like I was saying, the amount of untapped human potential is staggering."

Neron nodded and turned to the next file, which was only labeled NM. He flipped it open and pawed through the papers. "Alex, this isn't a gene alteration pattern. This looks like a sketch for a robot."

"Nano-machine. It's a sketch for a nano-machine. Microscopic robots that can live in the human body. Who knows what abilities they'll grant? They'll even pass down to the children of anyone who has it injected into them."

"Amazing. Are you sure the robot can be built?"

Alex chuckled and took a jar from a rack on the wall. He held in front of Neron. "Why don't you ask them?"

Neron's eyes widened. "In six months you've done all this? I'm impressed." He put the folders down on the desk next to the reject pile. "Have any of these been tested on humans yet?"

Alex shook his head. "Even if we did inject them into human subjects, it would take at least two or three generations for the gene modification to manifest. All we've done is computer work. Though our research has led me to believe that the radiation produced by Plants would augment the evo. . ." Alex yawned and rubbed his eyes.

Neron grabbed him by the shoulders and guided him to the door. "Go home Alex, the future can wait for tomorrow. You've got a beautiful woman waiting for you back home."

Alex tried to struggle against Neron's grasp, but the man proved to be surprisingly strong. "But I have to clean up," he protested.

Neron wouldn't be persuaded. "C'mon, get that tired spiky head home. I'll clean up the files. I haven't been an executive so long that I've forgotten how to file."

Alex opened his mouth to protest again when a giant yawn cut him off. "Good night Neron," he said as he staggered into the arms of Neron's chauffer.

"Good night my friend," Neron said. He turned to his chauffer. "Take him home, then head for home yourself. It's a nice night for a walk."

The chauffer nodded and slipped a shoulder under Alex's arm and led him off.

Neron went to the window and watched the chauffer help Alex to the limo. The chauffer climbed into the driver's seat and started up the engine. The limo rose gently and flew off into the night over the lights of New Chicago.

Neron smiled. "Brilliant and idealistic. I couldn't ask for a more perfect helper." He walked over to the desk and flipped through the reject pile. He glanced over to psychic file and the jar full of nano-machines. [Tonight would be ideal,] he thought.

He pulled out his pocket watch. [Luther and his crew should be up by now.] Neron put the watch away and pulled out a phone. "Luther," he said. The phone beeped, then a hologram projected itself in front of him. "Luther, it's ready. Tonight's the night."

The hologram nodded. "We'll be right on it boss."

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The next week Neron's secretary received a phone call.

"I'm sorry Dr. Masters, Mr. Martinez is indisposed at the moment. Yes, I'll tell him. Yes, I'll make sure he meets you. Don't worry. Goodbye Dr. Masters." The secretary sent an e-mail to Neron's desk.

"Dr. Masters wants to meet you at the lab tonight."

She went back to painting her nails. Whatever Dr. Masters was so angry about wasn't any of her business.

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Alex stood in front of the computer screens and leaned against the desk, breathing heavily. He was furious with himself. He knew Neron had gone along too easily.

The door opened behind him. Alex didn't even look up. "Just a sap, aren't I Neron?"

"Why Alex, whatever do you mean?"

Alex knuckles tightened. "Your boys were sloppy. They didn't bother to erase the computer records. After I traced them back, it wasn't too hard to find out what you did. You injected everything I've worked on into human subjects, without their consent, without their knowledge. What gives you the right to do such a thing?"

Neron chuckled. "Since when do I need the right to do anything? Bluesummers, Shriver, they are the recipients of your masterwork. The heritage you leave to the world."

"My greatest works went into them huh? And what about the others? I thought I made it clear the reject pile had no non-military application!"

"When did I ever say I was after non-military applications? You were hired for one purpose alone Alex, to create weapons."

"These aren't weapons Neron, they're people!"

Neron's voice drew closer. "Not anymore they're not. Now they're something different. Demons perhaps, like the Demon's Eye you so wanted to throw away. I like that actually. Humanity's demons, made by humanity's own hand, your hand. Except for one. Did you catch it? The other strain injected into Bluesummers. I must admit that it was my own little experiment. A little experiment with wolves and bats. Who knows? Maybe they'll fly one day."

"I. . . I did this, didn't I? No, you did it! You made these people into demons!" Alex shouted. He looked up into his reflection in the blank computer monitor. Besides his face, the monitor showed the entire lab behind him, with it's beakers, test tubes, and banks upon banks of computers. But no Neron.

Alex whirled around. Neron stood there, in his well-pressed suit, straightened tie, and shiny corporate shoes. Alex looked back to the monitors. Still, Neron did not appear in the reflection of the room.

Neron smirked. "Guess the cat's out of the bag." He continued to smile as two fangs came down from the top of his mouth, forcing the rest of his teeth aside. The whites of his eyes flashed red.

"You, you can't be a. . ." Alex stammered

"A what? A vampire? Check the facts Alex. Doesn't appear in mirrors, two protruding fangs, and when was the last time you saw me during the day?"

Alex steadied himself on the desk. "But, at the restaurant, you were eating with us!"

Neron chuckled. "Common misconception. Vampires can eat and drink just fine. It just provides no sustenance. It just has no taste." He pulled out a flask and took a swig. "Except for alcohol, if it's prepared right." He took another swig from the flask. "I'd offer you some but I'm afraid it's an acquired taste."

He walked up to Alex, sipping from the flask. His hand darted around and struck Alex in the neck. Every muscle in Alex's body suddenly gave up and he sank back into his chair. "Do you know what I did my first night, my first real night I mean? It must have been eighty years ago. I don't think the vampire who made me had any intention of doing so. He was too quick too feed, and let some of his blood come into me. So I found a priest, and paid him for a bottle of holy water. I tracked down the vampire that made me and caught him off guard, throwing the water into his face." Neron took another swig from the flask and screwed the top back on.

"As I stood there, watching him burn, I realized that I hadn't fed. I encountered my bloodlust for the first time and accepted my nature. I caught the vampire that had made me and drank him dry, taking his power into me. I also took this watch." He pulled the pocket watch from inside his coat and flipped it open.

"That vampire was over two-thousand years old, and yet he had been brought down in a night by a twenty-seven year old kid, newly introduced into the ways of darkness. It was then that I realized the truth about the system of life as we know it."

SNAP!

Neron flipped the watch closed. "If a vampire that has lived over a thousand years had become so complacent as to be brought down by me, then the whole system is too complacent. It has become too ordered, too set in its ways. Like you said, change is needed. Chaos must be injected into the system."

"And you're going to be the one that does it, right?"

Neron looked surprised. "Me? I lack a vision. I seek chaos, but have no specific chaos in mind. No, these demons you created aren't for me, they're for a man with vision, a man I'm still searching for."

Alex struggled against the muscle paralysis. He could already wiggle his fingers. "And so what happens to me?"

"Well, you obviously know too much now, I can't let you live," Neron said.

Alex could move his hands now. "And you don't need me any more now that you've injected the gene strains?"

Neron nodded and bent over a computer screen. "Exactly. All I need is a copy for my files and then that's it."

The numbness slowly lifted from Alex's arms and legs. He flexed his fingers slowly. "I guess I'm your next meal then."

Neron chuckled and shook his head. "Hardly Alex, I have too much respect for you to do that. Besides, AB negative disagrees with me."

Alex slowly stretched a hand out to the desk and stroked a panel. It slid open, revealing a small alcove. A pistol lay in there. Alex had protested until he was out of breath, but the military attaché from Project Seeds had insisted. Thanking God for the military's stubbornness, Alex plucked the gun and pointed it at Neron's head. A small red dot danced on the back of Neron's head, quaking with Alex's nervousness.

He thought of Rem. In his mind she appeared in the jeans and white cowboy shirt she had been wearing when he met her. For some reason his imagination had changed it into the full cowboy outfit. Spurs, hat, she had everything except the six-shooter. In his mind, she looked over her shoulder at him. "No one has the right to take the life of another." His arm continued to shake, and the red dot continued to dance. Slowly, the dot trailed down Neron's back and onto the floor.

Neron took a small chip from the computer's burner and slipped it into his pocket. "Good move Alex. It wouldn't have done much good anyway." He stood up and turned around. "Don't worry, I'll make sure Rem is taken care of."

He dashed forward with blinding speed. Alex yelled and brought up the pistol, but it was too late. Neron wrapped his hands around Alex's neck and twisted.

CRACK!

Alex slumped to the floor. The last image he had seen before Neron snapped his neck was Rem, in her cowboy outfit. She had waved to him and called out "See you later, Alex."

Neron stuck his hands into his pockets. "Well Alex, it looks like there's going to be a little accident."

`

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The firefighters battled the conflagration valiantly, but to no avail. The lab was going to burn to the ground, and there was no way to stop it. The flames licked the night air, reaching for the moon.

Neron sat on the edge of an ambulance. His arm was in a sling and he had a large bandage on his leg. All wounds were, of course, self-inflicted.

Two firefighters held Rem back. Neron levered himself off the ambulance edge and helped pull Rem back. She tried to resist him, but he again proved to be surprisingly strong. Pulling her back to the ambulance and sat her down on the edge of the door. He pulled a handkerchief out of his suit jacket pocket and handed it to her.

"I'm sorry, Rem. I really am."

Rem sobbed into the handkerchief. "How can I go on?"

Neron sat beside her and put his arm around her. "Don't tell me you're contemplating suicide?"

Rem shook her head. "No. No, Alex disapproved of suicide more than anything." She blew her nose. "I just wonder, was this supposed to happen? Was I destined to face this pain?"

Neron patted Rem's shoulder. "My dear, nothing is destined. Nothing is set. Nothing is ever supposed to happen. Remember, your ticket to the future is always blank."

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300 years later.

Neron pushed open his cold-sleep coffin and surveyed the world Earth had populated. Didn't look too habitable. Sand spread out before him, an endless ocean of desert.

Neron inspected the ship and came to conclusion that Project SEEDS hadn't quite gone as planned. This place was a barren wasteland. He flexed his fingers. "Perfect."

The vampire Neron Martinez set out into the wastes with only the five moons to see him go. He set out into the night, searching for a man with a vision.

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Evans: Thirteen years ago, war erupted on Gunsmoke. Unlike the previous violence that plagued this world, this was organized, planned, war. The Cavalry fought bravely against the warlord who sought to build an empire in his name. Some say that this time was the Cavalry's finest hour, but it was also the time of its most shameful atrocities.

Next Chapter: The Lasuken Massacre