Dead Space: Armageddon

Isaac woke up feeling cold and much lighter than before. Light shone into his eyes and he quickly closed his lids before the offending brightness could cause him any more trouble. He reached his hand up to rub his eyes and found skin touching skin. Curious, he opened his eyes a fraction to look at his hand. His arm was bare.

With his curiosity overpowering his pain, he lifted his head and looked himself over. His Engineering suit was gone and he was left with a lime-aqua gown covering his body. To his relief, he wasn’t tied down. His wounds and bruises hurt as he tried to get up, and he quickly found his skin pulling. Looking under the gown, he saw stitches in various areas on his chest. He looked around the room he was in and deduced he was in an operating room. Why he hadn’t been moved to a ward afterward was beyond him, but the interrogation window across from him satisfied his curiosity. He lay his head down and waited for the questions to start.

He waited for nearly an hour before a voice reached him. “Who are you?” it said. Isaac identified the voice as a woman’s.

“Isaac, Isaac Clarke.” he replied.

“Nice to meet you Isaac… Now for the weird question; what are you?” the woman asked. Isaac looked up in curiosity. He half expected the window to somehow reveal the face behind it, but all he got was a brass reflection.

“I’m… human?” he replied, hoping that was the right answer.

“I see… and what is a human?” she asked in return. Isaac was beginning to grow uneasy. Wasn’t he back on Earth or on a Space Station?

“I… I don’t understand. Where am I?” he asked. The woman behind the window didn’t respond at first. Isaac thought she may have been considering the question.

“You may consider it to be an alien world, but understand, you are just as much alien to us as we will undoubtedly be to you. Your vessel crashed on our world about a month ago We’ve kept you asleep so your wounds may heal without trouble, but I admit, I’ve had you woken up because my curiosity has gotten the better of me.” she replied. Isaac froze. he was being observed by an alien, or a multitude of them depending on those present with the woman behind the window.

“Aliens? Are you the ones who created the Markers?” Isaac asked.

“Markers? I don’t understand. Are they like that two-pronged spiral with the markings on it that came down with you?” she asked. Isacc’s blood froze over and he threw himself up into a sitting position. He looked directly at the window with an expression of panic.

“Listen to me, those things are dangerous. I don’t know how they work, but somehow they drive people crazy and all hell breaks loose. You have to get rid of the Marker before it starts happening to your people too!” he began to grow hysterical. He hopped off of his bed and rushed as quickly as he could to the window.

“Isaac, settle down, explain to me the dangers of the marker.” the voice said in a calm and rational tone. Isaac leaned against the window for support.

“I was part of a repair crew that was sent to answer a distress call from one of our ships. Even before we boarded, things turned bad for us. We crashed into the other ship and had to find another way off. Next thing we knew we were separated by some sort of monster that used to be human like us, but it was mutated beyond recognition. These… monsters, tore apart all of us one by one until I was the only one left. I thought I’d destroyed the marker when I blew up the planet it came from, effectively destroying the ship I was sent to repair, but it obviously followed me here.” he said. The woman behind the window was silent for a few moments.

“Not possible, you and the Marker approached from opposite ends of the sky. This marker must have come from somewhere else.” she replied. Isaac looked at the window again, his face displaying horror.

“I barely escaped with my life the first time. If you can, destroy it as soon as possible. Though it may be too late. I’ve been here a month, you said?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“If the Marker landed at the same time as I did, then it’s undoubtedly too late. Look, if you see any monsters, don’t try and shoot their heads or their hearts. That doesn’t work. You have to cut and shoot off the limbs. That’s the only way to stop them.” Isaac backed away, leaning into the bed he was on before.

“I fear you may be right about it being too late. I sent a small contingency of guards to investigate the marker, but I haven’t heard from them in over a fortnight.” the woman said, confirming Isaac’s worst fear.

“Isaac, would you be willing to help us rid the world of this Marker and all monsters it’s converted?” the voice asked. Isaac lifted his head to look miserably at the window.

“I can only promise that I’ll do my best. While I’ve dealt with the Marker before, I have no idea how this one will change your race and what their effects will be.” he said.

“Effects?”

“Yeah, some were made to just blindly kill, others were made to spread the infection and turn the living and the dead into one of them.” he replied. The woman seemed to consider his statement again.

“Wait there. I’m coming in.” she said. Isaac looked around for a door and found one immediately to his left. There was a heavy clopping sound from behind. As the door opened, Isaac was met with a Lavender Alicorn donning a silver crown, chest piece and four silver ruby encrusted horse shoes.

“Hello, Issac. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m one of the four Primary rulers of Equestria, the country in which you’ve found yourself in. The world as we know it, is called Equis. Despite the circumstances, I and the great city of Canterlot, welcome you here.”

Minutes had gone by as Twilight tried to illicit a response from the shocked human. She tried everything from calling his name to waving her hoof in front of his face. Nothing worked, but thankfully, Isaac had come out of his initial shock on his own.

“You’re… an Alicorn?” he asked, disbelieving.

“You’ve seen our kind before?” Twilight enquired. Isaac shook his head.

“No… your kind are an ancient myth back home; as well as Pegasi and Unicorns.” he replied.

“What about Earth Ponies?” she asked.

“What?”

“Earth Ponies. They’re like us but don’t have horns or wings.” she replied. Isaac considered mentioning the name horse, but if Twilight had said ‘ponies’ instead, then perhaps that was the name of their species in general. And Unicorns and Pegasi were different races just as Caucasian and Asian were different races among Humans.

“We have those, only they’re more… animalistic than you seem to be.” he said. Twilight dismissed the subject without warning.

“Before I forget, I had a close personal friend design these clothes after the ones we found you in. You’ll find the fabric to be softer than what you previously wore, but just as sturdy, I should think. In my opinion, it isn’t bad for her, given she’s usually a fashion designer.” she said, levitating some folded clothes from behind her over to Isaac. He knew that Unicorns possessed magical abilities, so he wasn’t that surprised to see clothes floating over to him. He took them and quickly changed out of his gown. He saw no problem being naked in front of Twilight, for she too was mostly naked, not to mention the difference in species would undoubtedly prevent attraction. He slipped his new pants on first, finding them very comfortable indeed. Up until now, he found fashion to be overrated, but after feeling the comfortable clothes, he wasn’t so sure. With his dark olive khakis and his dark grey t-shirt with an equally dark grey jacket, he felt better protected against the oncoming necromorph plague. But he really needed his suit; with that, he would be able to do his best, he would have a chance at winning.

“Thanks. Now, what have we got in terms of weapons?” he asked.

“Before you arrived, we were working with crossbows, spears and swords. But after taking a look at your weapons and armaments, we've done the best we can to create similar items.” she showed Isaac an example of what she meant. The design looked like an old flintlock revolver.

"I'm assuming you've managed to create some form of ammunition?" Isaac asked. Twilight nodded showing a round iron ball.

"Sadly, we can't seem to get any propulsion from it. No matter what we try, it just falls out of the barrel." she said.

"Ah, so you haven't created Gun powder yet." he stated.

"What good is this... gun powder?" she asked.

"It's an explosive powder that puts force behind the bullet. Without the powder, those bullets are as good as marbles and the gun's only good for carrying them in." he replied, handing Twilight back the revolver.

"I see, yes explosive force within a small cylindrical tube would do the trick. Unfortunately, we don't have the time. If what you say is true, we must focus on building a fort. Any advice you could give us would be very helpful." she said. Isaac thought about it for a moment before replying.

"Try not to let any gaps in the defences. On the Ishimura, Necromorphs were jumping through air vents, climbing out of maintenance hatches, you name it. Also, try to get as large a fort as possible. Something along the lines of a small village should do the trick. Best bet is somewhere far from the Marker." he said. There was a subtle scuffling sound from above and both Isaac and Twilight looked up. Of course, they could see nothing, but there was definitely something in the roof. "Swords and crossbows will have to do until I can get things up and running." he added as he moved for the door. Twilight followed close behind, both of them keeping their eyes on the roof.

"So exactly how difficult can these things get?" Twilight asked as she led him towards the Armory.

"One would think that the large house-sized ones are the most difficult. But I think the regenerators are the worst." he replied, rubbing the back of his head. He still hadn't gotten much sleep despite the unconscious state he'd been in.

"How so?" Twilight asked.

"Well usually, all the big ones can do is either attack you if you're in reach or throw things at you. With the Regenerators, you can end up wasting your ammunition, or in this case, crossbow bolts cutting off their limbs to no end. It doesn't matter how many times you decapitate them they just keep coming back for more. Thankfully, I learned that if you incinerate them, that tends to do the trick." he replied.

As they reached the Armory, Twilight led Isaac to his suit which had suffered little damage in the crash. "We tried to copy the suit, but we couldn't even attach bits of armour to our clothes. Our fabric's too soft." she said.

"You'd have to have invented a polyfibre fused with a self-sealing unit." he replied. Even to Twilight, those words were unfathomable.

"And not even you can do that, I'm assuming?" she asked. Isaac nodded his head before activating a holographic icon on the HUD. The suit opened up like a sarcophagus, waiting for Isaac to enter. He did so, stepping backwards into the suit. His body was jolted into the back as the armour closed around him. The RIG connected with the suit and all systems were green.

"Alright, let's get this started. I'll need my rifle and a sword for starters. Afterwards, you should start evacuating all the ponies and sending them to an area that could potentially house them all. Multiple forts would be needed, I think." Isaac stated. Twilight nodded and levitated a sword and sheath over to him. The suit adapted to the primitive technology and welded the sheath to his waist, thus eliminating the need for a belt. Next came the Pulse Rifle, which rested beside the Helmet. Both came towards Isaac. With one hand he gripped the rifle, and with the other, gripped the helmet. Holstering the rifle over his shoulder, Isaac put the helmet over his head, and the blue light flashed on, signifying that it had connected with the rest of the suit.

"The Guards know you're on our side. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like you to remain by my side until we've established a fort in Ponyville and Appleoosa." Twilight asked. Isaac nodded.

"Sure. Not much else I can do until all hell breaks loose. Besides, I might be able to make some things that should help in the defence of those places. Of course, I'd need to create electricity first in order to power these things." he said. He stepped off the pedestal the suit had been on and approached Twilight. "Lead the way, Princess."