Sigma/Star

Chapter 59: Reunion

"Leif..." Porter held up his own hand and tentatively placed it against the cold metal of Sigma's. There was a collective holding of breath from those watching as the meeting's weight rippled through the room, bouncing off walls until it returned to the two in the centre. "Your name is Leif."

"And your name is Porter." The two stood across from each other. Sigma stood nearly half a foot taller than body, his mechanized body overshadowing the tall teenager. Sigma's head was clearly spinning still and he had to constantly scrunch his eyes and face up in order to hold his concentration and not lose himself to the mess inside of his head.

"I...I saw you...that was you in the....the man in the tube..." Porter had never spoken to anyone about the dreams he used to have when he was younger, of a shadowy figure floating in the air, bathed in light, suspended in the liquid contained within a vat. It had haunted him for years before disappearing when he entered into the academy. It was a memory then? Of this...person? "What happened to you Leif?"

"Maybe I can help there," Dr. Roth cut in, turning away from the computers. "Sigma there, or Leif, was administered into the Enigma Soldier Project in order to pay off his debts to society. It was either that or life imprisonment...or exile into the Cult of Enia." There was another gasp behind Porter and everyone turned to look at Riya. When they had left her father at Omnicorp he had implored her to seek out the Enigma Project, and had been trying to kill her in order to send her body to them.

Riya's slim frame shook a little with the thought and she clutched Nami, the two holding each other for a moment in comfort. "You bastard!" Chase shouted, shocking everyone. "What the hell is this Enigma project? What are you doing to people?"

The doctor reached up to his face and peeled off the goggles, revealing a very haggard set of grey eyes that had not seen a proper sleep in years. He leaned back against one of the panels and looked up at the ceiling of the cave, staring at it for a while and not answering the question. Finally he took in a breath and opened his mouth.

"At first, we were making science." Roth reached up and rubbed his sore eyelids, pausing some more. Chase clenched his fists tightly and held himself back. Porter had no idea what had happened to Riya had affected the hotshot so much. "Science always has such great hope attached to it. Look at Goliaths, look at what they did to war, what that technology could have been used for instead. And now look at Sigma. Sigma is lost hope now. That's all he represents."

"Stop being philosophical and get to the point!" Chase barked.

"The goal of the Enigma project was to try and revive and perfect the bio-engineering techniques of the Jahari." This time when Roth stopped there was no anger, no impatience. Everybody knew who the Jahari were and had done. Weeks were devoted in history classes for teaching children all about the blighted race that had once ruled the Earth, the people who had called themselves the Jahari. They had believed a fusion of technology and man was possible, that genetic manipulation and biological machinery was the only way to go and they set about experimenting on each other, making horrific weapons and killing thousands of their own and anyone else they could get their hands on. It took the union of every other country on the planet at the time to stop their madness and banish the remains of their culture. It was always believed they had fled underground and had died out over time, turning into a legend instead of fact and becoming mythological beings, supernatural deities that would snatch you from your bed at night, whose hellish experiments should never be conducted again. For anyone to try was pure insanity.

"Before you judge us," Dr. Roth proceeded, "know that we did succeed, unfortunately. Sigma is living proof of our accomplishments, as is Syn, and soon Alpha as well. At first, the idea was simple: to build a weapon to end all wars. I had been drawn in when they offered me my daughter and..." The doctor stopped and turned his head to stare at a large cylinder at the corner of the cavern. The light was off under it but Porter could make out the faint outline of a person inside. Roth wiped his eyes a bit and cleared his throat so he could go on.