AWAKEN - HUMANITY: Book One

Chapter 15: Contact

The floating human form did not move, eyes closed and long hair dancing as small bubbles of air danced around him, his naked torso having a single pipe attached to a mask wrapped around his slender face. The body was tall, slim, muscles flexed, fingers twitched.

Samantha just stood in awe, the body was human, that's all she could think, one word on a continuous loop inside her head, human, human, human.

The doctor slowly walked over to the cylinder touched the glass, staring at the man in front of him, a man who was millions, no billions of miles from Earth, how...

Captain West was the first to break the silence. "How is this even possible?"

Safron suddenly moved forward, her left eye twitching, she ran her fingers over the virtual control keyboard, she looked up at the human form, to her that was all it was, a form, a body, much like her own, just a vessel to use to communicate, to interact in. "I have accessed the system, re-routed sub menus and..." She froze, her eyes closed and her fingers stopped moving.

"Safron?" Captain West moved over to her, "report please..."

The bubbles in the cylinder started to increase, becoming smaller as they intensified, soon the body was consumed with the bubbles. A series of lights came on from a wall panel, flashing at first in red, then yellow then green followed by a 3D image of a heart beat hovering over the console attached to the cylinder.

Captain West stepped back. "Okay people all step away from the cylinder, I..."

Samantha interrupted. "...what is happening?" She sounded fascinated, enthused almost excited but scared, she could feel herself trembling inside the suit.

The bubbles cleared, the cave suddenly turned became awash with red light, Samantha slowly walked up to the glass and placed a hand on it just as the human form inside clenched his hands. She gasped. He opened his eyes, bright blue, piercing eyes, the water began to empty.

The doctor stepped back. "What the..."

Within the blink of an eye, the glass melted away, the water washed out over the console, onto the floor, the mask disengaged from the face, the lights went out.

Darkness. One long second of total confusion, of loss of sense of reality, of time. The red lights returned and standing naked, over six feet tall, with long shoulder length brown hair was a human figure, his muscled chest heaving in and out as he breathed slowly, deliberately. A strong jawline, thin lips and sharp nose the figure stood looking more like a model than an unknown alien.

The human form looked over his own body, at his hands stretching out his fingers, clenching them into a fist, turning them over and looking at his palm. Then gently touched his own skin, his stomach, his face, pulling his hair so he could see the colour, running his fingers through it. He swallowed, felt his tongue run around inside his mouth, licked the edge of his teeth.

With a slight voice, the human spoke. "I...am...born...", he breathed heavily filling his lungs with air which he had not tasted for centuries, feeling skin on skin as he rubbed his fingers together, his senses fascinated with the touch.

Davina stared at the naked man, her eyes running up and down his strong tight torso and spoke slowly with a seductive tone. "You are so naked." She bit her lip.

Christian just frowned at Davina, "your mike is on you know."

Davina blushed.

Captain West spoke but his voice was muffled through the helmet, he glanced at the pads on his arm, they were yellow, he cursed but under the circumstances he had to communicate, he didn't want to scare 'it' wearing an orange suit. Slowly he unhooked and twisted the helmet removing it, a small hissing sound of escaped air sounded then he placed it on the ground.

"I am..." Captain West stopped as the human form raised a hand to silence him.

"You are... human..." The human form looked the orange suited man up and down. "Not pure...but human...like me..." He felt the back of his head, his fingers wrapping around a small pipe leading into the back of his head, he pulled gently closing his eyes trying to block out the pain as he pulled the pipe free. It made a slopping sound as the remnant of fluid spilled onto the floor.

He looked around the cave, the various masked faces, the suited bodies. Where was he? He tried to remember, the thoughts in his head swirling like thick treacle, it had been so long but how long. He glanced at the cylinder, what had been his home, his prison, the memories starting to trickle back into his mind's eye.

He caught sight of Safron frozen, her fingers splayed out on the console. "Such a beautiful creature...artificial but still, a work of beauty..." He slowly moved over towards the Data Gatherer, his hand gently touching her face, the skin artificial and cold. "...I felt her in the system... she was who released me."

The human figure suddenly fell to his knees, he coughed and blood spurted out his mouth and his nose, tears rolled down his cheeks, he clutched his chest and moaned softly, his eyes wide with pain. "I...am...weak."

He collapsed to the floor, unconscious.