Prologue

A beautiful day! A gorgeous blue sky with a few small scattered clouds and warm unabated rays of light that heated the body and soul along with a gentle refreshing breeze, all serving to make the day almost perfect. To 23 year old Samantha "Sam" Carson, a young lady with fiery red hair, days like these were one in a million and were worth savoring. In the city she lived in, clouds almost always covered the vast expanse of sky, hardly ever allowing even a sliver of light to pass through them.

Of course, no matter how superbly gorgeous the day was or how badly she wanted to stay and admire and revel in the rare occasion, Sam was unable to do so. Much like this weather, today promised to be, at the very least, full of surprises. Having gotten a call from one of her coworkers roughly two hours ago, Sam was in quite a hurry to get to her job site. She had probably taken too much time to get dressed and ready, but considering how she had to look presentable and "in charge", Samantha refused to show up to work with tangled, frizzy red hair and pajamas.

After checking herself out in the mirror located near her front door, Sam gave a small smile, flashing her rows of perfect white teeth that had been obtained from years of wearing braces. Dressed in a form-fitting pink shirt and pants, she cut quite a striking figure with curves in all the right places. While she wasn't particularly vain, she did think that her looks were above average and she liked to keep her body toned. She was slightly taller then the average female though, around 189cm, which bothered her quite a bit. However, her natural fiery red hair and perfect skin complexion more then made up for that.

After giving herself another once over, Sam nodded before grabbing a long bright white lab coat that was hanging on a coat rack near the door. After sliding it on, Sam grabbed her keys off a hook attached to the entrance, opened the door and stepped outside. This was where she noticed how beautiful it was but having no time to actually take in the beauty. She had to leave right at that moment, so after closing and locking her front door, she hopped into her 2007 Black Chevrolet and began the commute to work.

Sam lived at the edge of the city where there were far fewer houses and a lot more of the countryside, over here cows being a lot more common then people. She had moved to this part of the city purely for this reason, loving the inherent peace and quite that the area offered. She had never been a particular fan of people and she for sure was in no way fond of the hustle and bustle that the city had. She was fine being alone with only the occasional date every now and then, preferring to stay at home and sip wine while watching the latest anime.

Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye and, despite the annoying amount of traffic Sam had to go through, she finally reached her location, parking next to a rather old looking building. The building itself looked like nothing special, just a regular building that looked as if it could use a good paint job. It would be a building that one wouldn't even look twice at while walking by. There was even a guard perusing a newspaper who just happened to be positioned right next to the door in a way that looked completely natural.

"Morning Manny," Sam waved at the guard with a smile as she locked her car doors. "Having a good time? Sure is a beautiful day today isnt it?"

"Oh, Miss Sam," Manny said, setting aside his newspaper. "I could've sworn it was your day off? I thought you'd be watching cartoons. Did Michael call you in again? I guess we know whose really in charge of the project."

"First of all its not called cartoons, its called anime," Sam responded as she pulled out a key card from a pocket inside her white coat. "Also, Michael is in no way in charge. I only came this time because he promised that today he could show me some great results."

Manny shook his head as he watched Sam scan her card on the device located next to the front door. He had been working for these people for the past 12 years and this was the first time he had met someone like Sam, a young woman who didn't even act like a regular scientist. While he could attribute this to her young age, he rather believed that it was because she just had a natural charismatic personality. "Let me know how good those results were when you come back."

"I definitely will old man," Sam said with a smile as she paused by the now open door. "Just make sure you dont keel over from your age. Old geezer." She made a face before quickly closing the door before the rolled-up newspaper that had been thrown could hit her.

The inside layout of the building Sam had entered into wasnt complex, a couple of office rooms scattered around with no sense of organization was all that existed inside. The rooms were well maintained but were all completely empty with not a single person anywhere in sight. Rather then be perplexed by lack of people, Sam ignored every office and kept on walking, headed to the back, opening the door that lead to the janitors closet. Closing it behind her, Sam stood at attention, straightening.

"Samantha Danielle Carson, Head Scientist of Project Alpha." Sam spoke mechanically as if she was reciting something she had said over and over again. after she finished saying this, a brilliant beam of light flashed three times, covering the whole room before stopping. Moments after the light stopped there was a loud "whir" followed by a soft "click".

The back of the closet slid open as if they were a pair of elevator doors, revealing a set of metallic stairs that lead quite a ways down. Without hesitating Sam began her descent, holding onto the aluminum handrail that had been attached to the wall. As some of the scientists she worked with were rather old in age, Sam had had this aluminun rail installed so there were no accidents. Ironically though, it was Sam that used it more then anyone else due to the fact that she wasnt too good with stairs thanks to an anime she had recently watched called "Another".

Sam felt a disturbing shiver run down her spine as she recalled the anime. A class filled with dying students thanks to a curse they called 'the calamity'. This anime alone had made her not only bad with stairs but alos pointy umbrellas and even elevators. She didnt regret watching it, but she really wished she had watched it with the lights on and she even wouldn't have minded watching it while she was drunk.

"Sam, you there?" A deep voice asked, snappping her out of her thoughts. "Why is it that whenever I see you you're lost in thought."

The person who had called her was a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and straight white teeth. This person was Michael, the one who had called her out here in the first place. He was the second-in-command of Project Alplha as well as one of the scientists who had no problem speaking to her like a normal person.

Sam smiled back at Michael and, without missing a beat, responded with a tilt of her head and a blank look. "Human thought is so primitive that it's looked upon as an infectious disease in some of the better galaxies. That kinda makes you proud doesn't it?"

Michael looked at her with a weird expression for a bout a minute before finally smiling. " Thats from one of your cartoons right?" He turned around and walked away from the stairs, making his way down an adjacent hallway.

"Its called anime you uncultured swine and no it wasnt," Sam said as she ran down the rest of the steps. "It was from Men In Black with Will Smith. It was a godlike movie and the fact that you didnt know it is a sin by itself."

"Alright Sam, its time I show you why I called you here despite it being your day off," Michael said, completely ignoring Sam's insults. "Its about the 20 subjects that we had remaining. We now only have 5."

Sam's face morphed from one that had been slightly offended to one that could only be identified as a serious expression. "Show me. I also want to see that data charts on the last five as well as the other 15 we lost. We can use this chance to see what the set them apart from the others. Did they adapt to the DNA better then the others? How are their vitals?"

"Well thats one of the things I wanted to talk to you about," Michael said as he opened the door at the end of the hallway. "They're all fine, but there's one among them thats a cut above the rest. His body seems to have completely adapted to the DNA to the point where....well I'll let you see for yourself."

The room behind the door was huge, about the size of a football field with various computers and monitors lined along the edge of the room. However the only monitors on at the moment were 5 located near the front of the room. Lined in neat rows in the center were large cylinders that extended from the ground to the cieling like soda cans in near rows of six. Next to each cylinder was a machine with its own monitor and various buttons along with its own keyboad. Most of these cylinders were empty, but five of these cylinders near the center of the room were actually occupied.

"At first we thought it was the blood," Michael said as he walked towards the cylinders with the lights on. "However we may have to change that theory. Those with every other type of blood except type O died within the first month leaving only 20. After nearly three more months of study we thought that accepting the DNA was simple matter of the right blood, but 15 more dying has put that theory to bed. Our new priority should be to assess these five and why they were able to accept the DNA and the others weren't. Especially unit #98, codename Mako. We should begin physcial tests at once."

"I want to see him first," Sam replied, her tone serious and strict, completely different then how she was a moment ago. "Meanwhile I want you to me those papers. Even if you already perused them yourself, I want them delivered to my office. I can handle things from here. Go!"

Michael left without saying a word as Sam approached the five cylinders. Each cylinder was filled to the brim with a rather yellowish liquid and kids around 2 to 3 years old were postioned inside. Four of the five were unconscious and just floating in the liquid as if they were asleep. This wasnt what really surprised Sam though as it was only natural for them to be unconscious considering the pain of the experimens they put them through. What really surprised her was that one of the experiments was wide awake and gazing at her.

Bright blue eyes, probably the bluest she had ever seen, fillled with intelligence gazed at her. There was no hostilty in the gaze of the youngling but rather one teeming with curiosity as his eyes held onto Sam's own bright red ones. She felt captivated by the boys gaze, as if he could see into the very dpeths of her soul. She lifted a hand a placed it on the glass in wonder as she watched the child move lower in the cylinder towards.

Shortly after she placed her hand on the glass, the young child mimicked her movement and placed his hand on the glass as well, directly on her own. His hand was small but the fact that he had this much intelligence after such an expirement was truly remarkable.

"Mako was your codename right?" Sam asked in amazement. "Someday, youre gonna change the world as we know it."