Ajax

Prologue

 To say it was the moment they'd all been waiting for would be an understatement. This was the moment that they'd been anticipating for years and been needing for months. Dr. Layton Terrell could see his reflection in the thick pane of glass sweating nervously and fidgeting like he was about to give a speech. The doctor's muddy green eyes were pinned on the switch in front of him, the switch that would start the flow of oxygenated blood through several lengths of tubing and into a needle inserted into the muscular forearm of a seven-foot-tall, impossibly muscular soldier. Well, he wasn't a soldier yet. Right now he was nothing but an empty shell, a lifeless body that lay on a table on the other side of that glass like he Frankenstein's monster waiting to be animated. But at a flick of Dr. Terrell's finger, blood would fill the soldier's veins, and bring life to the ghostly white form of the genetics department's creation. And then, the months and months of hard work of programming and re-programming the thing's brain would be put to the test... He was supposed to have, upon waking up, all the intelligence and military knowledge of a fully-trained soldier, the life skills to function and survive in the warring country of Pyrion, and athletic ability that quadrupled that of the average male soldier. They knew he'd be alive, but would he stumble around like Frankenstein's monster, or would he be the perfect, fearless, strong, agile, and obedient soldier they needed? All was about to be revealed.

"Is everyone here?" Dr. Terrell asked impatiently.

"We're still waiting on Dr. Park, Sir," a woman called.

"Who?" the tall doctor scanned the crowd of scientists, medical doctors, and curious military staff for the source of the voice. A short woman looked back at him, and repeated: "Dr. Park!"

"He doesn't even need to be here; he's a psychiatrist."

The woman shrugged. "He's a science guy like the rest of us."

Dr. Terrell sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine. I'll wait two more minutes. But after that, I'm hitting this goddamn switch whether he's here or not!"

His reaction was amusing, but no one dared laugh. This man didn't like laughter.

After about a minute of Layton's impatient foot-tapping and watch checking and exasperated sighing, the automatic door to the genetics lab swished open and a tall, thin, floppy-haired man in an un-tucked uniform shirt rushed in. "Sorry I'm late! Did I miss anything?" he called, trying to mask the fact that he was out of breath.

"Nothing at all, Dr. Park," said the first man through a false smile, "we were waiting on your arrival."

Oblivious, Shiloh Park smiled back. "Oh, wonderful! Carry on, then!" He gestured to Dr. Terrell, stepping into the crowd.

Terrell rolled his eyes once more. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, now that the interminable waiting is over, I'd like to present to you the genetics department's latest and greatest achievement: Ajax." Dr. Terrell stared again at that little switch, letting his left thumb rest on it. He took a deep breath and flicked it. Blood began to creep through the tubes and towards the soldier.

"Ajax..." Dr. Park muttered to the short woman beside him, "Isn't that a laundry detergent or something?"

"Shh!"

"No wait... It's a cleaner! It's a brand of cleaning stuff like dish soap and whatever, right? Sera'?"

"Shiloh! I already pissed off Terrell by making him wait for you! I don't want him to catch me talking to you!"

"Wow, such a loyal friend, Seraphina," he whispered jokingly.

She rolled her eyes. Shiloh Park was just one of those people who couldn't seem to take anything seriously. Even though their country was in the midst of a giant war, and they were living on the largest military base involved, he still acted like his life was sunshine and rainbows. She'd always surmised that he was such a good psychiatrist that he'd eliminated the possibility of feeling negative emotions.

"There is really no way to predict how long it will take him to wake up, so please bare with us here, Ma'am," Terrell assured a stout, older woman in the front row.

"Are you even sure he will wake up, Dr. Terrell? I understand that no such experiment has been attempted before," she told him.

Layton nodded, smiling nervously. "Yes, that's true, but every precaution has been taken to ensure the success of this experiment."

"Alright, then."

That voice seemed familiar to Seraphina. "Shiloh, is that Minister Turner? I can't see."

"Minister Turner? The super important Minister Turner? Can't be!"

"Sounds like her..."

Dr. Park craned his neck to see. "Uh... I..." He noticed the unmistakable short, dyed-silver hair of the infamous Science Minister. "Yup. Yup, that's her."

"Oh, Gosh... And she saw you come in late!"

"Right... Gotta hide!" Shiloh slouched over, folding himself out of view.

Seraphina chuckled at her friend's antics. "She probably doesn't care. I don't know what she does care about."

"Not this, that's for sure..." Shiloh muttered as the Minister in question stepped away from the glass observation window and began to examine the laboratory equipment.

"Say, it's taking quite long..." Seraphina pointed out.

"Yeah..." Dr. Park checked his watch. "It's been about five minutes since that guy's had blood in his veins."

"Come on, sleeping beauty!"

"Sleeping baldy," Shiloh corrected, "look at that shiny head!"

"Be nice, he's under some bright lights."

The pair laughed. "Why am I even here right now?" asked Shiloh, "I have nothing to do with genetics. I'm a psychiatrist."

Seraphina shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm glad that you are."