|
Dan's Page: DooM (part 1)
By Aragorn
“Dan’s JP3 Page is the largest Jurassic Park Fansite in existence. Originally focused on Jurassic Park 3 news and a place for JP fans to get together with one another, new ventures have expanded into biological research, Internet exploration, and other scientific endeavors. With unlimited funds and the ability to engage in research outside of moral and legal obligations, the Dan’s Page Corperation controls the most advanced technology ever conceived.”
JL Productions…
Aragorn and Seth Rex walked timidly down a dark, metal corridor, only dimly-lit by small emergency lights. Both of them had their own guns raised to eye level, Seth with a shotgun, Aragorn with a machine gun.
And ‘Dan Adventures’ Players…
They lowered their guns as they approached a door with a red light, indicating that it was locked.
“Hang on,” Seth Rex whispered. He immediately rushed to a nearby computer console and began typing away.
Presents…
Aragorn stood at the ready as the light turned from red to green and he pushed a button on the wall. The door slid into the wall with a loud whoosh and the duo were faced with a blackness so dark, they couldn’t see a foot in front of them. All the emergency lights in this hall had been smashed.
Aragorn lowered his gun long enough to raise a flashlight and turn it on. Just as the beam cut through the darkness to reveal the new, blood-splattered hall, something clanged heavily behind them and they heard a low, guttural, growl.
DAN’S PAGE: DOOM
A few hours earlier…
A small Off-Site transport zoomed through the infinite blackness of the Internet. Onboard, in the Passenger Compartment, sat four people. The first was Ben, Dan’s second in command of Dan’s JP3 Page. The second was his personal bodyguard, Tobycompy. The last two were two Mods. One was sound asleep, and the other was excitedly twiddling his thumbs and glancing out the window.
“I hate traveling back to Dan’s TLW Page,” Ben complained. “I don’t even know why Dan still keeps the site active on minimum staff. The Site should have been deleted long ago.”
“We only need to be there for the day,” Toby assured him. “We just need to find out what the hell Dr. Junkee has been up to out there and file a formal report on the matter.”
Ben nodded his head. He knew all of that of course. Dr. JP Junkee was Dan’s top scientist and was put in charge of the science facility on the old Dan’s TLW Page, which was pretty much the only part of the Site that was still active. Most everyone else moved on to Dan’s JP3 Page once it was built. Ben also knew however, that Dan’s TLW Page was now where most of Dan’s more illegal experiments were conducted. Overall, the whole place just gave him a bad case of the willies. Recently however, Dr. Junkee has failed to report back to Dan’s JP3 page, but open communications with the Communications Tower had proven that it was not due to any communications problem. It was obvious after months of trying to reach him, that Dr. Junkee, for unknown reasons, was avoiding updating Dan on any progress. Ben was on his way there to find out why.
“We’re approaching the Site now,” The pilot called back. Tobycompy thanked him. Tobycompy was actually Ben’s younger half-brother. When Ben learned that Toby was joining the Mods, he talked to Dan and Dan pulled a few strings to get Toby as Ben’s personal bodyguard on Off-Site missions. The two were inseperatible.
***
On Dan’s TLW page, in the Communication’s Tower of the Facility, Dr. JP Junkee stood sternly behind a group of techs. In front of them was a large glass window that covered the span of the room and overlooked the barren, deserted wasteland before them. Grey storm clouds covered the sky, filtering the light.
On one of the larger monitors, it showed a small map of where the Off-Site Transport was in relation to the Site, and had a counter displaying how much longer it’d be until the Transport arrives.
“When that Transport lands,” Dr. JP Junkee hissed, “Send Ben to me immediately.” And then without another word, he turned and walked out of the room in a stride.
***
Minutes later, the Off-Site Transport roared overhead of the desolate landscape, rocking forcefully in the strong gusting wind, and finally safely landed on the Landing Pad of the facility. The two Mods were the first two off. They each had a nametag that read their names.
The mod with the name Aragorn paused after stepping off the Transport and sniffed the sandy air as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes again and looked at the stormy sky, then at the nearby cliff walls. “Fuckin’ Dan’s The Lost World Page,” he mumbled.
As Aragorn stepped away and started walking down a ramp towards the entrance of the facility, the other Mod, Seth Rex, looked around the area. “Doesn’t look too shabby to me.” Once Seth Rex was on his way, Ben, with a briefcase in hand, and Toby stepped off and also headed towards the entrance.
Along the way, they passed a Mod making modifications to a storage locker just outside the entrance to the base. Once Aragorn brushed past him and entered the facility, Seth stopped to chat, during which Ben and Toby passed him and continued on.
“Hey man, I’m new here,” Seth said.
The mod turned around and his badge read ‘Raptor Dude’. “Hey, welcome. Doesn’t look like much, but you warm up pretty easy.”
“Doesn’t seem too bad to me.”
Raptor Dude chuckled. “Keep that kind of positive attitude up and this place may just not get to ya. If this is your first time on Dan’s TLW Page, you’ll need to go to Reception, just inside the facility here. Hope to see you around sometime.”
“You too, and thanks.” Seth turned and rushed off inside the facility.
***
Aragorn passed by a metal bench situated inside the facility, and saw a man sitting on it. As Aragorn passed by him, he reached out and grabbed Aragorn’s arm.
“Don’t trust anybody here, newbie,” The man whispered. “My name’s Dac. I’ve been here for months and this place has been getting stranger and stranger. I’m set to leave here today though, so best of luck to ya.”
“Let go of me,” Aragorn growled as he yanked his thick arm free and continued on his way. It wasn’t long until he reached a door that slid into the wall and granted him access to a small room. In this room were two small white circles and one giant plexi-glass window looking into some kind of computer room. There was a man sitting at one of the terminals, facing the window.
The door that Aragorn just walked through opened again and Seth Rex rushed in. “We never really had a chance to talk on the Transport since you slept most of the way,” Seth said. “My name’s Seth Rex. I joined the Mods so I could travel and see the Net. This is my first station away from Dan’s JP3 Page.”
Aragorn looked at him with distaste. “This is the ass end of nowhere, buddy. The only people who look forward to being stationed here are idiots and people with nothing to live for. Which one are you?”
Seth stumbled over his response, shocked that this Mod was being so rude to him. He was saved the trouble of answering however, when the computer guy looked up and pressed an intercom button. “If you two could please stand on the BioScans in the floor…” He waited for the two Mods to do so before continuing. “I’m just gonna take a quick read of your systems and make sure neither one of you are carrying any kind of diseases or any other such things.”
The white circles that Aragorn and Seth were standing on lit up brightly and a second later, turned off again.
“Ok,” The computer guy stated. “You two are clear. Enjoy your stay here.” A second later, the red light beside the door at the other end of the room, turned green and the duo approached it. Once they were near enough, it slid open and they walked out into a gigantic lobby.
As they walked across the giant brightly lit room, they passed a video terminal that was playing an informational video on the facility. Seth stopped to glance at it, but noticed that Aragorn wasn’t even slowing down.
“Hey man, shouldn’t we watch this?” Seth called out to him, but Aragorn just kept on walking, ignoring him. Seth took a quick glance back at the video playing on the terminal and then rushed to catch up with Aragorn.
Aragorn would normally have been slightly curious as to why such a happy-go-lucky by-the-books Mod like Seth Rex got stationed out on Dan’s The Lost World Page, but he knew the guy for only a few minutes and already he was driving him insane. He couldn’t even imagine being assigned to the same squad as him.
Aragorn followed a giant metal sign that pointed to which door Reception was behind and went through that door. On the other side was a smaller lobby with a large circular reception desk. Behind it sat a woman with the nametag ‘Yvonne’, typing at a laptop computer. She stopped and looked up as Aragorn and Seth walked up.
“You must be the two new Mods the Sarge is waiting for,” She spoke up.
“Darn toot’n we are!” Seth smiled and laughed. Aragorn tried his best to not squeeze his eyes shut in embarrassment. “The name’s Rex. Seth Rex.”
Yvonne moved her eyes to look at Aragorn, a bit of amusement playing across her face. “That must mean you’re Aragorn.”
“Yes, Mam.” Aragorn replied as he stood at attention.
Yvonne smiled. “You are one naughty guy.” Aragorn smiled back, but before he could talk, Yvonne laid out some sheets in front of them. “Fill these out pronto and get them back to me. Do that in your spare time though. The Sarge is expecting you right now. He’s short on men, and temper at the moment, so you better hurry.”
Aragorn and Seth grabbed their registration sheets. As Seth neatly folded his and slid it into his pocket, Aragorn crumbled it into his pocket messily. “The door over there,” Yvonne pointed, “is the one that’ll bring you to Mod Command HQ.”
Seth thanked her as they walked across the shining floor and through the door. They entered a short hallway with a small set of steps. As they walked down the hall, Seth asked, “What was that back there that she said about you? Why are you here anyway?”
“None of your business,” Aragorn replied with a growl and didn’t say another word. Seth was smart enough to know not to press on with that topic. As they continued down the hall, they passed yet another tech worker, working on a panel in the wall, and another Mod passing by them.
“You guys must be the new recruits,” The mod, Dino_Dude, stated. Aragorn nodded.
“Yeah, we are.”
“Good luck here. You’re gonna need it. I advise you watch your backs. This place…there’s something not right about it." The tech working on a control panel on the wall shot Dino_Dude a scowled look, which the Mod caught. "Well I better get going. Sarge has freak attacks when we’re caught slacking.”
And with that, Dino_Dude continued on past them in a rushed hurry.
***
Ben, followed closely by Tobycompy, walked into a dimly-lit office. The only source of light came from one small light in the wall and the lamp on the giant desk in the center of the room. On the other side of the desk stood Dr. JP Junkee.
“By now, I’m sure you know why I’m here,” Ben spoke.
Dr. Junkee chuckled nervously. “There is no need for an investigation.”
“Dan wants one.” Ben argued. “So one WILL be done. With or without your co-operation.” As Ben said that last sentence, Toby lifted his hefty-sized gun and held it with both hands, against his armored chest.
Dr. Junkee caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and swore under his breath. “Dan wouldn’t understand these things,” he whispered. Then more loudly he said, “Very well. I will show you what you want to see.”
And with that, Ben and Toby followed Dr. Junkee out of the dark office.
***
Aragorn and Seth Rex reached an intersection. One way led to a door, which had ‘Mod Command’ written above it. The other way led to the Kitchen. Aragorn took a step towards the kitchen, but felt Seth grab his shoulder. He turned around with an angry glare.
“We need to go THIS way,” Seth pointed to the closed door.
“Get your hand off me,” Aragorn said.
“The Sarge is waiting for us and it’s our duty to report on time.”
“Get…Your hand…off me,” Aragorn repeated slowly. Seth quickly removed his hand. “You go and be a good little boyscout. I’m hungry.” And with that, Aragorn disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. He didn’t care if he got in trouble. The worst that would happen is that he would get shipped off to someplace else, and as far as he was concerned, anywhere was better then here.
Aragorn glanced back behind him and saw that Seth was heading towards Mod Command. Aragorn entered the kitchen and the first thing that struck his fancy was a TV mounted on the wall. It was currently playing a news station with reports of things happening back on Dan’s JP3 Page. Of course the news was all several weeks old, with the distance that the signal had to travel, but for the folks up here, he guessed it was better then nothing. Late news was better then no news for those cut off form everything.
He walked over to a counter, where another man, a scientist named Chavez, was fixing himself a sandwich. He looked up as Aragorn approached. “Haven’t seen you around here before,” Chavez said. “Are you new?”
Aragorn nodded his head. “Yeah. Just arrived.”
“Well keep your nose outta trouble and mind your own business and you should do fine. That’s what I do and I haven’t had any beef with anyone. More then I can say about most there people up here”
“Thanks,” Aragorn said, not sure of what to make of this guy. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He added on before walking away from Chavez. That’s when his eye caught something across the room. It was an arcade game, but not just any arcade game. It was the official The Lost World: Jurassic Park arcade game. His favorite!
Aragorn began to rush over to it, but was stopped when he heard his name get called out. He turned around and saw two mods, Malcolm and MartinRandle, who he had been best friends with in Boot Camp. Aragorn smiled a huge broad smile as he saw his friends for the first time in over five years.
“Malcolm? MR?” Aragorn asked, surprised and thrilled at the same time. MR was MartinRandle’s nickname that Aragorn always called him. “What the fuck are you guys doing here!?”
MartinRandle laid his hand of cards down on the table and took a sip of his beer. “Sergeant Trainwreck needed more recruits out here, and we weren’t exactly top on our commander’s favorite list. Something to do with setting fireworks off in the barracks.” As MartinRandle told the story, Malcolm chuckled to himself, remembering the incident.
“What about you, dude?” Malcolm asked. “When did you get here?”
“Just now,” Aragorn replied. “I’m on my way to report to the Sarge now. Just taking a slight detour to look around.”
“What you do to get sent all the way out here?”
“It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll be sure to fill you guys in later.”
“Drinks,” MartinRandle stated. “Meet us for drinks tonight and we can catch up.”
“It’s a date,” Aragorn clapped his hands over their shoulders. “Catch ya then.” Aragorn turned to leave, but his eyes drew back to the arcade game. He had the most terrible urge to play it. He looked out the window and saw the approaching storm clouds were darker now and that wind was slamming harder against the side of the complex.
Bah, the game could wait. He did still have to report to his new Sergeant anyway. Aragorn turned and made his way back out of the kitchen and through the door he ignored earlier.
On the other side of the door was another hallway, but this one was extremely narrow and lit only by one dull light every few feet. Aragorn made his way down it, but before he could turn a corner, he heard voices coming from the other side.
“Just whatever you do, be sure to stay away from Delta Labs,” one man said. “There’s been some weird things going on there.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” the second man stated. “Mikeymike went down there last week and hasn’t been able to sleep since. He can't event talk about it, just mumbles nonsense. He saw something there that put him in shock.”
Aragorn decided he heard enough. If he was told he needed to go to those Delta Labs, that was his assignment and he was going to do it. Hearing horror stories wasn’t going to change anything.
As soon as Aragorn walked around the corner, the two men hushed up. One was laying on his back on the floor, his top half going into a duct in the wall by the floor, the grate laying flat on the floor. There was sparks flying every few seconds. It was obvious he was doing some kind of maintenance work in there. The other man was typing away at a console located in the wall right above the other man.
Aragorn quickly continued around the corner and down the hall, allowing the two men to continue their conversation in private. Aragorn entered a small lobby that had two benches, opposite each other, and a small set of stairs leading to a door.
He walked through the door and an armored man with a gas mask and helmet stood straight up against the wall, holding his gun in both hands.
“Um, I’m looking for the Sarge.” Aragorn said, unsure of the guy in front of him.
“That way,” The soldier pointed down one of the halls. Aragorn thanked him and quickly moved in that direction. Soon enough he emerged into a wide open room. There was one Mod standing guard at one end of the room, as it turned off into another hall at the other end. Another Mod was walking back and fourth, patrolling, and the third was knelt down on the floor, doing some mechanical work on a small robot. There was a large set of computers that had three teches sitting at them, concentrating on the data they were providing.
“Um, excuse me?” Aragorn asked as he entered.
The nearest Mod, the one patrolling, had a nametag that read ‘Rez’. He turned to Aragorn and said, “Our job doesn’t require chit-chat, Newbie.”
“Newbie?” Aragorn took offense to that statement. “I’ve been in the Corps for five years. six if you count Boot.”
“Ignor him,” the other mod, Carnosaur3, stated from his spot. “He was just bitched at by the Sarge, so he’s not in a good mood.”
“That’s kind of what I wanted to know,” Aragorn said. “Where to go to find the Sarge. I need to report to him.”
“Two new guys at a time, huh?” Carnosaur3 chuckled. “With the way we go through men out here, they outta be sending fifteen at a time.” He pointed to a door. “Just through there. And don’t mind RaptorVinny down there. He’s just doing some repairs to that little sentry bot there.”
Aragorn made sure to go around RaptorVinny and the sentry bot and walked past the computer terminals. He glanced at one of the giant screens and saw that one was viewing a security camera that was located in one of the Infirmaries. There was a screaming Mod tied down to the examining table, half his skin ripped off and blood flowing out. Two doctors rushed around the room as they worked on him.
Aragorn shook the Goosebumps away and turned from the screen to walk through the door. He walked into a room with a few rows of small computer terminals, a few monitors hanging from the ceiling, a giant window overlooking the barren Martian landscape beyond, and other equipment strewn around the room. Seth Rex and another man were facing each other, talking, but they stopped and turned to face Aragorn as he walked in.
"Took your sweet time, Mod," the guy Seth rex had been chatting with said with a stone glaze on Aragorn.
"Sergeant Trainwreck," Aragorn nodded.
"I am. Now, here's the situation. Another member of the science team has gone missing. Since you love to stroll so much, you can take a stroll and go find him. We think he went to the old decommissioned COM Station."
Trainwreck walked over to a computer, Aragorn following him. The tech at the console typed some buttons and brought up a schematic of Mars City, with a red trail going from where they currently were, to the decommissioned COM Station.
"I've programmed this Sentry to guide you to the main elevator," Trainwreck waved at a little spider-like robot on the floor, which tooted and whistled when it was acknowledged. "From there, you'll need to go through the underground tunnels. You can pick up some gear at the security check point down there." Trainwreck turned to see Seth rex eagerly looking over his shoulder at the computer screen. "And you can take Private Rex here with her as well, since he seems so eager to get a lay of the land."
"Sweet!" Seth Rex exclaimed with excitement, which only brought about a groan from Aragorn.
"Oh, and Aragorn?" Trainwreck added on as an afterthought. "If I catch you complaining, you'll be scrubbing the floors of this entire complex with just three bristles from my own ass-scratching toothbrush."
Without saying a word, Aragorn turned and headed for the door once again, Seth Rex excitedly following him. The eager Sentry Bot rose up on all its legs and scuttled quickly across the floor, taking the lead, almost tripping Aragorn to do so.
7/16/2008 3:12:25 PM
Comment on this fan fiction!
|
|
|
