Project Darwin Chapter 15

Project Darwin Chapter 15

“So that’s how they hide the saucer!” Watt exclaimed. “Very clever.”

“That’s exactly what I thought,” replied Darwin. “They really are taking the extra mile to keep everything a secret. I wonder what the scientists and this ‘Team Blastoff’ are trying to accomplish.”

“Actually, I believe they’re called ‘Team Rocket,’” said Watt. “At least, that’s what I found in the computer. That’s who they’re getting funding from.”

Darwin was very surprised. “TEAM ROCKET?!”

“Shh! Not so loud!”

Darwin continued in a whisper. “Watt, do you even know who they are?”

Watt thought for a moment, and then shook his head. “Never heard of them.”

“It figures,” said Darwin with a sigh, “you haven’t been around long enough to know about them.”

Watt was a little confused. “Are they bad?”

“Bad?! Team Rocket is infamous among Pokemon…and humans, for that matter! They’re dedicated to stealing Pokemon and using them as tools for taking over the world!”

Watt was very surprised at this information. He suddenly became very worried. “…I see. That explains a lot of things now. It’s all coming together!”

Darwin was curious about this statement. “What do you mean?”

Watt closed his eyes. “Well, according to the computer, our creator was approached by Team Rocket about his newest experiment…Alpha at the time. In exchange for heavy funding, he and the scientists would focus on developing a more advanced and more powerful Pokemon, which would then become the property of Team Rocket.”

“That’s not good,” said Darwin. “That’s not good at all!”

There was silence for a moment. Darwin and Watt looked down to the floor, then to each other. They had very concerned expressions on their faces. Suddenly they heard loud footsteps entering the saucer. They both dodged under the computer table, but no one entered the room. A few seconds later, a strange high-pitched humming began to streak towards the opposite direction, leaving the ship. After a minute of silence, they resumed their conversation.

“You mention ‘our creator,’” Darwin resumed. “Who is our creator, anyway?”

“Oh!” Watt slapped his head. “Sorry. The name didn’t come to mind at the moment… his name is Dr. Stein. He had been interested in the original Mewtwo experiment and had since strived to perfect and improve the technology. He didn’t have any particular personal goals aside from that, but he seemed more determined to expand the boundaries of the science when Team Rocket commissioned him for his work.”

Darwin nodded. “Interesting… Could you tell what kind of a person he was? Is he bad like Team Rocket?”

“It’s hard to say,” said Watt. “Initially he seemed very happy with creating Alpha…he was a treasured creation. But it seemed like his focus really began to shift the more he worked on the later experiments. He didn’t treasure his creations as much unless they were absolutely perfect. They had to suit his specifications and desires, or they would just be considered failures.”

“And none of us had managed to do it?” asked Darwin.

“We were essentially stepping stones, as we pretty much figured. For a while he kept us around because initially he didn’t think it right to just destroy us when we weren’t as useful. But he doesn’t appear so caring anymore.”

Darwin sighed sadly.

Watt continued. “The more recent project, Mira, looks like it’s very close to what Dr. Stein wants. But he had to overcome an obstacle that’s present in the rest of us…”

“What’s that?” Darwin asked with uncertainty.

“A conscience. Sure, we may be more powerful than any Pokemon, and we might have the potential to cause a great amount of chaos and destruction. But none of us WANT to… it’s not our nature! What they ended up doing was placing some kind of device on Mira to control her way of thinking, so that she would do whatever they wanted no matter how unthinkable the action would normally be.”

“…Like destroying buildings and jeopardizing others’ lives,” Darwin added.

“Exactly.”

“That reminds me,” Darwin said suddenly. “The scientists said that Mira was in fact the one responsible for destroying the first lab, and damaging the one I was in before!”

Watt nodded. “I had a feeling…”

“They also said,” Darwin continued, “that after she recovers she’ll attempt to destroy that place again…and then the Power Plant we visited yesterday!”

“NO!” Watt grew angry. “W-we can’t just let them get away with this! We have to do something!”

“But what can we do?” asked Darwin. “This whole situation sounds dangerous! With all their new experiments and their mind control technology they could potentially destroy us!”

“We’ll have to figure out how to deal with that problem when the time comes,” said Darwin, closing his eyes in thought. “And now that you mention ‘new experiments,’ I did recall seeing information on only two more…”

“Only two?” asked Darwin.

“There’s an Experiment #8 apparently being worked on at this very moment. They intend on this being the last and ultimate Pokemon experiment that they have to make. They sound very confident that this one will work…”

“Did it say any more about this experiment?”

Watt looked away. “No. the only other thing it mentioned was that if #8 didn’t work, they’d have to depend on their other experiment. There’s no real detail to it, other than the fact that it was begun around the time you were being worked on, and that it was exceptionally risky.”

Darwin’s ears began to droop. “I’m really scared now, Watt.”

“Me too. We should get out of here and tell Nitro about all the stuff we found out. We might be able to figure out what to do next.”

“I agree.”

With that, they left the computer room and began to head to the exit. Looking for clearance, they saw no one around and left the saucer. They then proceeded to look for Nitro.

“Have you found him, Darwin?” shouted Watt, looking above the tall grass.

“No, not yet!” he shouted in reply. He noticed some remnants of smoke drifting above a part of the distant forest. This made him feel a little uneasy. “…Watt! I see smoke over there. Do you think those guys gave him some trouble?”

“I don’t know,” replied Watt. “I’d like to think Nitro’s more than able to dodge those guys, but even he’s not invincible. Maybe he had to resort to some force to get them off his back.”

Darwin suddenly heard a strange sound from the distance. Attempting to locate the source, he saw a large mass hovering in their direction. Darwin was suddenly in a panic. “WATT! HIDE!”

Watt quickly turned to Darwin. “What?!” He then saw the hovering mass heading their way and also became panicked. They both ran and hid behind the dense trees, waiting to get a clear view.

The mass had become clear when it finally arrived at the saucer. It was a strange hovering machine, apparently built to carry cargo. They saw the four pursuers on board, and with them was a giant mass of ice. At first they couldn’t see anything among the thick ice other than the tops of two trees jutting out of the top.

“Well, I’d say that was a success,” said one of the pursuers. “We can check that one off the list. One less to worry about now!”

“Let’s get it on board and see what they need to do next,” said another. “I’m fairly sure we don’t have the gear to handle this.”

With that, he reached for a remote and pressed a button. In moments the saucer reappeared in view. They adjusted the hovering cart to the ramp on the saucer and proceeded to enter.

Darwin was confused about what they said at first, and he began to whisper to himself, hoping to piece the puzzle together. “One less to…” Suddenly he knew what happened. He was in shock. “Oh no…”

“Darwin?” Watt whispered with concern. “What’s wrong?”

Darwin turned to Watt. “They got Nitro!”

Watt became shocked. “WHAT?! NO! NITRO!!”

“SHH!! Watt! Don’t yell! That’s how Nitro ended up in this mess!” After saying this, Darwin became depressed. “If I didn’t open my big mouth…” he continued in a sad tone, “…we wouldn’t have had to risk this happening. It’s all my fault…”

Watt looked to Darwin and said nothing at first. He then looked to the saucer. He was very concerned about his friend’s fate, and he wasn’t about to abandon him.

“Darwin, you stay here.”

Darwin looked to Watt. “What?! Watt, you’re not going to—“

“I have to rescue him! There’s not telling what they’ll do to him, and I’m not going to just sit here and watch them take him away.”

The saucer suddenly began to start up. A loud hum began to sound, and the entrance of the saucer started to close.

“NO!” Watt ran to the saucer’s ramp and quickly leapt on.

“WATT!!” Darwin shouted. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU INSANE??”

“I CAN’T LEAVE HIM BEHIND!”

“BUT WATT—“

But at this point, Watt had gone inside, and the entrance was closed. The saucer began to take off, and after slowly rising higher and higher, it immediately dashed across the field. Panicked, Darwin began to run after it as it was leaving, even though in the back of his mind he knew he could never catch up. Within minutes, the saucer was gone…as though it were now amidst the stars in the sky. He kept running for another minute before finally giving up the chase.

Darwin was all alone now, and even more depressed. Now both of his friends were in the scientists’ grasp, and there seemed to be noting he could do. He slowly began to walk back towards the forest. He didn’t know what to do anymore…he had no plan, no direction… and he started to believe that nothing he could do was going to help the situation. After a short distance of walking, he fell to the ground and started to cry. Darwin felt like all hope was lost. He continued saying to himself, “It’s all my fault…”

After many minutes of sobbing, he had fallen asleep. It was only an hour later that the sun began to rise.