A New Beginning [Comments Welcome] [Canon]

[Nabonassar]

A New Beginning

Ajax stood waiting in his employer’s office, looking out the slanted glass wall that faced the west where the sun was setting. Over the tops of the trees he looked, the coniferous forest something he was used to these days, ever since the Domus Solis Ortum had been transplanted here via his master’s command. The great glass pyramid, when looked at from the outside, was a shining beacon that could be seen for hundreds of miles at this time of day. Like a second rising sun to match the setting one. That was why the King had named it such. His employer was out investigating some place called The Lowborn this evening, which had left Ajax to his own devices, however his devices, since that fateful day when he met his employer, were a great deal less earth-shaking. He shifted, his arms moving around from behind his back so that he could look down at the obsidian hands and forearms that appeared from the rolled-up sleeves of his white dress shirt.

Curious things, his arms. The metal plates were more like bands, resting comfortably against one another as he moved them. Astonishing workmanship. More than he could ever have hoped for when he had been designing them in his laboratory. That was where his employer had found him. Ajax began to remember. He did not particularly enjoy remembering things, but he could not forget these memories, for they had shaped him. Made him the person he was this very day. They had made him worthy of his employer’s notice. Back through time his mind’s eye travelled, to the beginning. . .

When Ajax had been born, he was a flawed littler creature. Genetically imperfect in many, many ways. On the evening of his birth, he emerged into the world a very unhappy child. His mother and father had known something was wrong when they realized their growing child did not punch or kick within the womb. The ultrasound revealed that the baby boy growing within the woman Ajax had called mother had no arms and no legs. Not even the beginnings of them. At his hips were no femur bones, no stands of muscle leading to the patella, thence to the tibia and fibula and so on. At his shoulders it was the same. No humerus, no ulnar and radius. Other than this the boy was perfect. Everything else was in it’s proper place, from what they could see. And so they decided to have the baby anyway, they loved him so much.

Once he was out of the womb, Ajax, named for Ajax the Great who was cousin to Achilles and grandson of Zeus, was unlike any child his parents had ever heard of. He was quiet, not very fussy, and seemed to cope with his apparent disability very well. He progressed as any child lacking arms and legs might. But he was a very serious young boy, and highly intelligent. Driven, even. He was schooled at home by the finest of tutors, mastering mathematics and absolutely devouring sciences. His intelligence clearly outstipped that of his tutors by the tender age of eleven. He was asking questions that they simply had no answers for. Thus he began to explore the realm of science with books and websites. He tore through and learned the majority of what current sciences had to offer within four years. At fifteen years of age he had the equivalent of a triple doctorate in computer sciences, biomechanics, and robotics. That was when he applied for government funding for research into next-generation prosthetics.

Once he had received his funding, he began to design robotic prosthetics that would literally merge with pre-existing muscular structure and respond to electrical impulses from the brain seamlessly. They were crude at first, skeletal arms and legs that functioned imperfectly, but over the course of the next five years he refined them into more natural-looking limbs, sculpted to look like normal human appendages. That was when his research was overtaken by the military. Weaponizing his designs was not something he had planned on, and yet here it was, the idea slapping him in the face with a set of General’s stars upon its shoulders. He agreed. What choice did he have? As he began working with others and incorporated their ideas into his designs, he began to see what lengths the military was willing to go to in order to get their bionic soldiers.

Some digging in military files showed him that the generals were asking people to volunteer for the project. Not just those already crippled, but those willing to undergo unnecessary amputations simply to be part of the project. Horrified, Ajax began to plot his way out of his undesirable situation. It was a messy plan, really. He was not much of a strategic thinker. But in the end he did not need to exercise his plan, for salvation came in the form of his employer. The impeccably dressed man, with long black hair and beard to match approached him one day as Ajax entered his laboratory’s building.

Ajax remembered how. . . unsettling the man was at first. Those too-pale eyes, the nearly albino appearance of his skin. Ajax’s voice-controlled, powered wheelchair came to a stop before the man who was smiling pleasantly, sure in himself and his purpose, “Can I be of assistance to you, sir?” Despite the fact that he was readying himself to flee the country and going into hiding with all of his work, he still remembered his manners.

The pale man smiled a little wider, “You are Doctor Ajax Thorne?”

Ajax nodded slightly, “Yes. Who might you be?”

The man smiled, “My name is Nabonassar. You and I have an appointment today. Right about now, actually.”

Ajax arched a brow, “Nabonassar? I had thought that was a joke. Or at the very least an assumed name. For the original man named Nabu-nasir died a very long time ago. He was the nineteenth King of Babylon during the Ninth Dynasty. He ruled between seven-hundred forty-eight and seven hundred thirty-four B.C.”

Nabonassar’s brows arched in return, “My my, someone knows their history. Yes, as it happens I was named for that particular Babylonian King. But that is not what brings me to you today. Today, I have a rather unique opportunity for you. Shall we adjourn to your office?”

Ajax frowned slightly. He was not a fan of offers related to unique opportunities. So far that had meant such things as the weaponizing of his designs. He pondered, and while he did he observed this ‘Nabonassar’. From the cut of his clothing, the man had money. Wealth and opulence far beyond anything Ajax had seen before. Not even princes dressed that well. The fabrics were unknown to him, but that was no real surprise. He was not a fashion expert.

“Very well,” he said. “To my office.”

Nabonassar stepped out of the way with a smile as the wheelchair rolled on. They passed in silence into the elevator and up to the top floor of the building. Once inside Ajax’s office, Nabonassar let the door automatically swing closed behind him before speaking, “I have been following your work for a number of years now, Doctor. I have observed that you not only have the mind of a true genius, but the soul of an artist as well. The attempts to make your designs as aesthetically pleasing as possible, I mean. Very well done.”

Ajax nodded, “I thank you. Now--”

Nabonassar held a hand up, “Before you speak, allow me to finish. I have also noticed your troubles with the military interest in your programs. You recently found out about the lengths they were going to to find suitable candidates. I understand you have a plan to escape your current situation, but if I may say, it is not your finest work. Instead, let me offer you an alternative. Leave with me. Right now. To a place where none will ever find you, or your research.”

Ajax’s brows furrowed, uncomprehending, “If that were possible, I might consider taking you up on it. However it is not. First and foremost, my research is not simply something I can download onto an external hard drive and abscond with. Secondly, even if it were, escaping the building would be nigh on impossible. Lastly, there is also no way to destroy my research in such a way as to keep my associates from recreating it.”

Nabonassar smiled indulgently, as one might smile at a child who was protesting without realizing that all of his protests were immaterial, “Well, not to nay-say you, doctor, but all of these things are possible.” He reached into the pocket of his jacket and removed a silvered USB device and held it up, “This drive will do both of the things you desire with your research. On it is contained an automatic download program with a data compression ratio so refined that everything stored upon the servers in this building will be copied and compressed within a six gigabyte file. Secondly, there is an intelligent virus on it that will be uploaded once the download is complete. The virus will burrow its way into every corner of your mainframe, destroying all of the data contained therein before initiating a surge throughout the building, frying all of the computer systems. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

Ajax was speechless for a long moment. Could this be real? Could his wildest dreams be coming true? He shook his head, “No. There is still the matter of escaping the building. Also, I do not know your plans for me or my designs, either. How do I know they are any better than what those militaristic monsters envisioned?”

Nabonassar chuckled softly, “You mistake my intentions, doctor. I have no plans for your designs. Plans for you? Yes. Those I have in great detail. But your designs are far less important than your mind. I simply realize that if I wish you to accompany me, you will not leave behind your research for others to abuse.”

Ajax nodded slowly, still frowning, “And our escape?”

Nabonassar stretched forth his other pale hand and, before the doctor’s eyes, a portal opened in the form of a spacial anomaly. Through it could be seen a lab space that was quite clearly years beyond what Ajax had now. Equipment he had only daydreamed could exist.

The doctor looked between the rift and Nabonassar, “You expect me to travel through that?”
The King nodded, “Indeed. I am utilizing an ability classified as Bio-Molecular Spacial Displacement. With it we can travel very great distances.”

Ajax looked incredulous, “I know very well the theory involved but to see it. . .” He shook his head to clear his mind, settling in to think. After several long moments he appeared to have made up his mind, nodding his head, “Very well. My work terminal has hardline access to the mainframe. Plug in your device and let us see if this truly works as you say it will.”

Nabonassar nodded, moving to the desk and inserted the drive into one of ports along the surface. Ajax turned his chair toward the three glass screens that sat behind his desk. Just as the King had said, the download began to work a lightning-fast speeds. The files that were being copied popped up in turn, overlapping one another across the screens while the transfer/compression progress bar remained atop them all. Ajax watched as his life’s work was rescued.

As the transfer finished and upload bar appeared and began to do it’s work. Once it was complete, the files began to pixelate and vanish first one at a time, then two, then four, increasing exponentially as the files were shredded down to their base coding. Even the programs that utilized the files were utterly destroyed. As this began, Ajax spoke, “Security camera footage, server rooms A through C.” New windows popped up on top of the disintegrating files that showed the server rooms. As the virus finished its work, suddenly the servers were receiving surges one after another. Sparks flew from the stacks of electronics as their circuitry was fried in an instant, fires starting while others simply went dark. The video feeds flickered and went dark as the server running them fried, and then the entire building went dark. Not even the emergency lights came on, as the backup generator had succumbed to the onslaught.

Nabonassar smiled, “Satisfied, Doctor?”

Ajax turned his chair toward the King with an answering smile, “Quite. Shall we?” The doctor nodded to the portal which remained open.

Nabonassar removed the drive from the desk’s USB port and then turned his attention upon the anomaly. It widened, allowing enough room for the wheelchair to pass. Ajax directed it through before Nabonassar followed. The spatial distortion closed behind them, “Welcome to your new home, Doctor.”

Ajax looked around the lab space with an intrigued look, “And where would that be?”

Nabonassar turned away from him and motioned out the window, “The space between spaces.”

Ajax turned his chair to look and saw nothing but blackness. As Nabonassar described it, understanding dawned on him, “The Sea of Dirac? But. . . how?”

Nabonassar chuckled, “It is tricky, I’ll grant you. It requires a special sort of shielding developed by yours truly.” He motioned to himself. Then he moved to the holotable at one end of the room and inserted the drive. The files taken from Ajax’s old lab were decompressed and copied on the drives in the table, “All of this equipment is voice activated and will respond to your voice patterns. I suggest you begin reading about the equipment I have filled your lab with. I expect you to to have your designs fabricated and operational within three months. I will supply you with materials as needed.” The King then opened another spacial anomaly, “I’ll need you on your feet and out of that chair as soon as possible. Big things are coming.”

Ajax was left alone in his strange new home. But at last. He had the freedom to create his new limbs as he wished. He began working immediately. Two months worth of hard work and trial and error saw him walking. Nabonassar had used the robotic surgeon himself so as to get everything ready for the prototypes. Surgeries that had included a processor within his brain stem to add to his considerable brain power and help him with the management of his new limbs. He then, with the help of his new arms and legs, created a set of masterpieces. Sculpted to match his physique, the limbs were perfect. Everything he had ever dreamed.

That was when he had begun to work for Nabonassar as his attaché. Upon learning what the man truly was, how could he not assist him? There was also the matter of his gratitude, of course. As months passed and his physique changed, he crafted three new sets to match, each new set outlining how much his body had changed since he had begun walking, lifting, carrying. Things others took for granted.

As Ajax returned to the present he smiled slightly. He had come a very long way since those days. As had the King he served. He was no longer the brusque man he had first seen upon entering the Domus Solis Ortum. He seemed more open and honest. Willing to chat about the future, one might say. The doctor flexed his metallic fingers and saw the smooth motion of the palm and joints. He was so very proud of the things he had accomplished in service to the King. His gaze turned back up toward the horizon to find that the sun had gone down completely and the stars had taken over the sky. Behind him the spacial anomaly opened and Ajax turned to see Nabonassar stepping through. He smiled, “How was your evening, sir?”

The King looked up to see Ajax and smiled, “It was excellent. The cognac was terrible, but I met a rather impressive woman there. A ferrokinetic with her own magnetosphere.”

Ajax arched a brow, “Interesting. Such a thing should not be possible.”

Nabonassar nodded, “Indeed. Upon examination of her powers I learned something. . . very valuable. Something that she does not even know. She can create metals. Not simply transmute or alter, but fabricate. Which leads me to a new project you and I will be working on.”

Ajax’s other brow shot up now too, “Oh? What might that be, sir?”

The King offered a cheeky grin, “You and I, with that woman’s help, are going to change the face, and future, of Black Sun.”


The End