PILOT 1 - REGENESIS

PROLOGUE: "Who are you? No - who are you, really? The answer might be a question. The law of the universe is anarchy. Duality. In diversity there is divinity. In unity lies the Trinity." A man gasps awake from a dream. Sweating and looking at his hands. He sighs, knowing that it's the same dream as always. He then promptly goes back to sleep. 

CHAPTER 1: REGENESIS

In a remote location on the outskirts of Alaska lies a sole research facility. This facility and it's occupants reside in a world of their own. A league above all else. An entity so far beyond understanding that it's own personel do not know that they are part of a larger scheme to appease the higher-ups. You see - this isn't just any meere research facility. Indeed. This is the top competitor to NASA: COSMO. The Cosmological Organization for Signal Observation. Like NASA, these people research, gather photos and evidence of any life beyond the veil of space. They send people on missions and have dozens of satellites orbiting cosmic bodies. However, unlike NASA, COSMO is secretive. COSMO is superior. Yes. Unlike NASA; They struck gold.

DATE: November 19th, 2000. TIME: 11:27 AM. COORDINATES OF IDENTIFIED BODY: (REDACTED) POSITION: STABLE

A faint alarm sound buzzes throughout the facility. It's not terribly loud - just enough to let the workers know that something was found. And found something was. James, the lead observation officer walks hurriedly through the main double-doors to the bridge of the observation deck. It's a space slightly elevated for better positioning. It is filled with a total of 20 people, each observing specific quadrants of space pointing at and highlighted by their COSMO telescopes. James scans the room, looking for the one person responsible for setting the alarm off. His eyes dart around and land on exactly who he thought it was: Corthaw. He had fired false alarms in the past. He was an overly excited young man. The image of a nerd. 5"9, white and brown droopy hair. He was like a child to James. A child that was given too much sugar. "How did a kid get into this place?" James would often think. But he also liked and respected Corthaw's drive for discovery. It was a good contrast with the rest of the dreamless drones throughout the facility.

"Mr. Corthaw. Why am I not surprised?" Asks James, in a sarcastic yet relieved tone. Corthaw stood up hurriedly and walked straight towards the officer. "Sir! It's actually something of interest this time!" Says Corthaw, sounding ever eager to show the observational officer what he had supposedly found.

James rolls his eyes and sighs. "Let's get this over with, yeah? I've gotta head to the bathroom." Corthaw nodded and ran back to his monitor. James saw that Bella was next to Corthaw, enjoying a donut and slacking off as usual. She wasn't necessarily lazy, she just "took too many breaks" as has been discussed in her and James' many talks. "Hello, Jammie. You know..." She pauses to finish chewing her donut, "He may have actually found something this time." This peeks James' interest. His right eyebrow raising. Yet, this also sends a bit of fear down his spine. He finds it akin to death. You know it's coming, you come to terms with it and ignore it. You hope that it doesn't come but it does. Yes. James has a deep rooted fear of finding life beyond our world.

James hovers over Corthaw, unintentionally seeming intimidating. His stature is quite large. A man 6"2, white overcoat, black shoes and brown pants. He sports a set of thick glasses on his neck that he never wears. The usual attire for the people of this facility. James, however, has the added perk of having a fancy badge where his heart, is stating "OFFICIAL COSMO OBSERVATIONAL OFFICER" along with his full name "JAMES W. TORINO". Corthaw hacks away at his keyboard, pulling up multiple windows and pictures. It all looked too confusing for the Observational Officer. He just wanted to see what was uncovered so that he could go use the bathroom. Little did he know that what Corthaw found would make him forget that he even needed to use the bathroom.

"Take a look at this." Says Corthaw, pointing to the screen. An image is clearly seen. It's of the Earth's orbit. "What exactly am I looking at? Is this ours?" Asks James. "No. We don't know, but... It might be from NASA." This shocks James. "NASA? Why the hell would NASA send their competitors valuable images?" Asks James, slightly annoyed yet worried. "Martha says she received it at around 4:23 AM. 'Says that the sender could have been a NASA employee. Ex, that is." James looks at the image, then at Corthaw, then at Bella "Huh... But... It's just an image of the planet. What of it?" Corthaw then uses a pencil to point at a specific black spot on the image. "This. Doesn't this look familiar to you?" James squints and gets close. "I can't see it well." Corthaw then zooms in, using enhancing artificial intelligence to clear the image up. What lays before the eyes of the Observational Officer is something strange. Something indescribable.

 Something that should not be there. An anomaly. Mixed up in our reality.

"No. 'This a prank?" Bella then speaks up "I'm afraid not, sir. Martha checked. It's as genuine as my certifications." James is dumbfounded. He opens his mouth to speak, but he stops, trying to process. "It's..." He clears his throat, clearly nervous "The Black Knight Satellite. It's back." Jammie rolls back to her position, donut in hand, going back to work. James, on the other hand, just looks at the image. "Who... Exactly does Martha think sent this?" Corthaw looks at him plainly "I have no idea, sir. She didn't disclose that." At this, James looks both scared and annoyed. "Damn that Martha... So secretive. Keeping this to herself as if she was some sort of higher authority." James scoffs, looks at Corthaw and says "I want you to make 4 backups of this image. Trace it's exact location if you can. I'll go speak to Martha in the morning. I'll see what I can do. If it's still there in five days... I'll ask for clearance for a manned mission to make contact." James then whips around, walks away determined, and loudly closes the door behind him. The room falls silent. Both Corthaw and Bella look at each other. The rest of the room goes back to work. But little did any of them know that theirs and everyone else's lives where about to be changed. No. Shifted. Such are the white lambs. Yet something has yet to be decided; Who will fill the role of the wolf?

PILOT 1 - REGENISIS - END