Adaptation

Adaptation

Prologue

A large creaking sound rang through a large, dark hallway followed by a rounded room with a large pedestal in the middle.

The roof of the room was decorated with red and black wires that sparked with electricity. Four round prongs rested on top of the pedestal, which was held up by three heavy-duty steel ropes that were attached to the sides of the spherical room.

The sides of the hallways began lighting up and glowing a lime green color. A pulse of electricity surged down the hall and entered the room in a flash. The steel ropes began to conduct the high voltage, causing the pedestal to light up. A trap door opened up from the side of the pedestal with a deafening screech of metal rubbing, and a container-like object emerged, connected to a fibrous arm that slowly made it’s way down to the four prongs connected to the dimly glowing pedestal. The “container” hovered over one of the prongs and suddenly shot out a hollowed, cylindrical object with a transparent ring around it that connected directly to the prong. The ring that was holding the cylinder began to glow a whitish color. The mechanical arm repeated the process until all four prongs were occupied. The arm shrunk back into it’s holding immediately after.

All of a sudden, a voice started booming through the room. A man was speaking through an intercom and began giving orders.

“Send in a subject from EQ-13. Make it a male.” The voice commanded.

Out of nowhere, two doors swung open from the luminescent, green hallway. A large, round and translucent capsule floated out and stopped in the middle of the hallway. As the two doors closed behind it, another trapdoor opened above it and the capsule disappeared into the opening.

“They’re sending another human”, exclaimed an Earth Pony to a Pegasus as a man was audible from the other room, screaming and pleading. The Earth Pony had a bright-yellow coat and an orange mane. On his flank, he had two pencils crossing each other with a piece of paper in the middle.

“That’s the fifth one today… What is happening behind these walls, Sketch?” The Pegasus pony said, flapping her wings in unease. She had a messy, purple mane and light blue fur. Her cutie mark was a hurricane’s eye.

“I’m not sure, Whirlwind, but we’re gunna get outta here one way or another.” Replied Sketch, determined to get answers from somepony… hopefully.

A buzzing sound rang through the containment room and red lights started flashing.

“Oh, no.” Whirlwind cringed and curled herself into a ball.

Nearly every other pony did the same.

Sketch squinted at the red lights, flashing on and off, until he turned his attention towards the roof of their containment room opening slowly and a transportation capsule entering the fear-filled room. The capsule’s data scanner buzzed and formed a beam from one side of the room and slowly moved its way to the other side. The capsule hovered towards the motionless, bright yellow Earth Pony.

Sketch sighed. “I guess this is it, Whirlwind. It’s my time to go now.”

The capsule opened up and a claw emerged, gripping Sketch’s waist.

“NO! Don’t take him!” Whirlwind stood up, trying to grab Sketch’s hoof. “DON’T TAKE HIM!!” She shrieked, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Sketch closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see Whirlwind in devastation. The capsule soon had him in full embrace, and closing the hatch. Sketch could no longer hear screaming and hollering, but as he opened his eyes, he began floating further from his partner and everything began fading. He was not unconscious, but he let himself imagine he was, eyes closed once again, drifting away from reality, hoping it would all go away.

Sketch was all of a sudden jolted forwards a bit, assuming that the capsule had stopped forward motion. He prepared himself for the worst, as the capsule’s insides began buzzing and creaking, while playing smooth jazz music. The bottom opened, dropping the suspecting pony on top of the pedestal, each leg in a cylindrical slot.

“What the hell…?” Sketch looked around the spherical room, obviously puzzled.

The sound of an intercom turning on instantly had every muscle in his body tense up. Static rang through the room until another being started to speak, this time, a woman.

“Welcome to the Multi-Race Research Facility.” The woman said in a soft, but quite icy tone.

“For safety protocol, you will be gassed with a paralysis drug so you will refrain from making any unwanted actions upon this facility. Do not worry, for this drug will be ineffective within the next twenty-four hours.”

The chamber opened vents, releasing the drug into the air. As Sketch started to breath in the foul, contaminated air, his muscles began to seize up and his bones joints became frozen. Sketch grunted in pain as the drug slowly spread through his system.

Once Sketch could move nothing but head and vital organs, the vents sunk back into their sockets.

“Safety protocol complete.” The woman said.

“Wh… What do you want from me…?” Sketch muttered, ready to give up.

“Many answers are classified for the sake of everyone in this facility. However, I will be able to fill you in on the basics now.” The woman said, in the same tone every time she spoke.

“Our purpose at the Multi-Race Research Facility, or M.R.R.F for short, is to have our test subjects will be given codenames and are to document and log your time on a different world. Your codename will be Sierra. Test subjects will be wearing our specialized suits for protection and finishing certain objectives. I will be your suit manager, you may call me Teresa.”

Two claws came from the sides of the room, each with a half of the suit and ready to place it on Sketch.

Teresa continued. “You will be doing a 60-day course on that planet to obtain and log your experiences on that planet.”

The two halves of the suit attached themselves onto Sketch and a helmet was unfolded out from the suit, which was soon placed on him.

Sketch was still confused. “What do I do after? I mean, after I’m done 60 days?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” Teresa said joyfully. “You will be terminating the planet and coming back to do more testing on other planets with signs of intelligent life.”

Sketch made a face with a mix of shock and disgust underneath his helmet. “Why are you telling me this? Aren’t you afraid that I’ll go rogue?”

Teresa giggled. “Because the only thing you’ll remember is your codename, and I, being inside the general system of your suit. It’s time to go to sleep now, Sierra.

The suit injected Sketch with a knockout drug, causing him to go unconscious instantly. The prongs disappeared from the pedestal, and instantly folded inwards, dropping the yellow pony into a course headed for a distant planet.