Vector One : "Set-Up" part 7 Copyright (c) 1992 Ryan Mathews, Larry Mann [Scene: Corve and Jhiro meeting with an engineer. Behind them, the final touches are being are being put on the ship that will eventually be known as the Terrier.] CORVE When will the work be completed? ENGINEER Three days, maximum. CORVE Tell me more about this holographic disguise system. ENGINEER Certainly. The HX-75 experimental holographic field generator consists of an array of holographic projectors, each about the size of an eye, spread over the hull of the craft. Working together, they create a hologram that encompasses the entire ship, allowing it to be disguised as any ship of equal or slightly greater volume. It's completely experimental. It's never been tested on a ship. CORVE Is there any danger? This is only a stealth system we're discussing, after all. ENGINEER Well, the power required to pull it off is immense. If we tried to build it using a standard contained fusion system, the probability of an overload would be well outside the safety margin. This seemed like an interesting way to test the technology while we continue to work on the power problem, since we believe the test subjects will be able to power the system themselves. [Cut to Corve and Jhiro walking toward another area of the research station.] JHIRO May I speak freely, sir? CORVE (not changing expression) Of course. JHIRO Is it wise to give these...whatever-they-are a microcruiser? It draws an awful lot of attention. CORVE That's why I did it. JHIRO But what if it's traced back to us? CORVE It won't be. [Finally turning to Jhiro] Don't forget, Jhiro. We *are* the police. I can be certain that we won't investigate ourselves. And if someone should start an independent investigation, there are ways of dealing with that as well. JHIRO What about Rath? You've put so much effort into this project, I'm afraid you've forgetten about our other one. CORVE I'll never forget Rath. He'll get his. This is just... [he smiles] ...a hobby. [Cut to large (if possible) frame of Vector One, standing in a line as if for inspection. We see them in uniform for the first time, although the logos have not yet been added (and won't be for a long time). Corve and Raal are closest, Jhiro hovers just behind Corve, as usual, while a group of observing techs is farther back.] RAAL (pleased with himself) I present you with XVS, the Experimental Vectored Subjects. I hope you will be satisfied with the results. CORVE I like the costumes. Nice touch. RAAL Thank you. I thought that colorful uniforms would enhance their visibility in the press. You did say you wanted visibility. Let me demonstrate something. [to Ron] You! ID and status! RON I am XVS-1. I am functioning at optimum levels. CORVE He talks? RAAL (excited) Not only that, he thinks! He can devise strategies and tactics without outside input. CORVE (alarmed) He thinks? Raal, that's the last thing I want. I want a personal tool, not some kind of ally that could turn against me. RAAL Don't worry, don't worry! Their minds have been completely removed! The brain was simply so undamaged by the process that I decided to make use of its deductive capacity! CORVE ... When do I get to see them in action? RAAL Now. I've arranged a demonstration. [Cut: Everyone has retired to the observation booth, leaving Vector One by themselves. A door slides open, revealing five V-slaves.] RAAL Attack. [The V-slaves attack. Immediately, Vector One goes into action. Ron takes to the air, Becky begins manuevers on her skates, Steve draws his pistol, Trevor and John take ready positions.] [In a few panels, Ron evades a flying V-slave.] RAAL (caption) The one with the face completely covered serves as field leader. You may see him directing other members through transmitters we've implanted in each of them, which connect directy to the speech and audial centers of the brain. XVS-1's flying ability derives from a force-field around his lower torso and legs which sucks in atmosphere and expels it, much like the old jet-engines. That actually takes very little power, so we designed him to draw from his excess energy reserves and shoot it out his arms. He's a living psi-cannon. [Ron demonstrates, the slave is history.] [Becky, fighting a flamethrower:] The girl we made into a telekinetic. We designed her boots with retractable frictionless skates. This allows her to move at incredible speeds. She's cramped in here, but in an open space, she can reach upwards of 400 MPH. [The flamethrower can't hit Becky.] The telekinesis provides her with a potent weapon. Watch, I believe she's about to use the shockwave. [Becky concentrates and unleashes a wave of force in front of her. The flamethrower is caught and thrown against the wall. Blood splatters from the back of his/her head.] [John fighting a V-slave who is firing lasers.] I think this one is my favorite. He's our stealth unit. We took the costume from an image we found in his mind during scanning. He had already learned a fascinating talent for using the body as a weapon. We used the talent by incorporating muscle-enhancers into his body. He can jump over most opponents, and balance on a strand of hair. [John dodges the lasers and kicks at his opponent, who dodges. When the V-slaves brings up his arm to fire, John grabs it, pulls him forward and drives the base of his hand through the slave's chin, apparently breaking his neck.] We had to augment that slave's skeleton to channel the lasers. That won't kill him. [The slave gets up.] I think XVS-3 will have to use his sword. It's powered by the energy not used by the muscle-enhancers. It'll cut through nearly anything. [It does. Yucch. Can you say, cut in half lengthwise?] [Steve fighting a strong V-slave with an arsenal on his back. He's hitting the slave every time with his pistol, but it is clearly evident that it's going to take an awful lot of hits to take the slave down.] XVS-4 is our powerhouse, our heavy assault weapon. His entire body is laced with a force-mesh similar to those that are used to reinforce the hulls of spaceships. It makes him incredibly strong, as well as damn near invulnerable. [The slave unleashes a volley of compact missiles. They hit Steve, but he's unharmed. Unfortunately, the blast blew his guns off. He attacks the slave with his bare hands, tearing off the gun mounts. He tries to get a stranglehold on the slave, but it fights back.] Of course, here's where XVS-4 is clearly superior to standard V-slaves. The V-slave will die in seconds. [The V-slave runs out of power and disintegrates.] [Trevor is having trouble with his opponent, a fast-moving V-slave with blades mounted on the wrist. He sustains a small cut as he almost doesn't manage to dodge. He keeps firing his lasers, burning grooves in the floor, but can't seem to hit him.] XVS-5 has a less exciting power, but it's no less useful. Hmm. He's having trouble hitting the slave with those heat lasers. He should try something else. [Trevor manuevers the slave in a certain direction with the lasers, then shoots a cold beam at the floor, which instantly becomes coated with a thin sheet of ice.] As you can see, XVS-5 can raise or lower the temperature of anything he can hit with those beams. [The slave slips on the ice and slides. Trevor freezes him solid. The slave slides toward Steve who kicks him, shattering him into a million tiny shards.] That's going to be pretty gross when it thaws. [Cut: Vector One at attention again. They look pretty much the same, a little battered, perhaps.] CORVE I have to admit, Dr. Raal. I am impressed. RAAL (beaming with pride) Thank you. I see these five beings as my crowning achievement. It's a shame there are only five of them. What I could do with an unlimited supply of these "humans". CORVE I've seen enough. I want them prepared for their first mission, the details of which you will receiving shortly. RAAL It will be done. [to techs:] Lead them back to their chambers. [As the techs attend to Vector One, Becky, whose eyes are blank, notices that one of Raal's assistants is the scientist who raped her. This can be shown by a shot of Becky's face, followed by a panel which shows a closeup, from Becky's point-of-view, of the scientist talking, without dialogue, followed by Becky's face again, while overhead is an image of the man raping a struggling, pre-Vectored Becky. Cut to the the scientist, no longer from Becky's point-of-view.] SCIENTIST [with clipboard] Dr. Raal, I have the figures for the-- [he drops the clipboard and clutches his throat] GGGGK! RAAL DR. TUIN! [Corve, who was walking away, turns to see what is happening. The tech all crowd over the writhing Tuin.] TECH He's choking! RAAL Choking on what? [The scientist's face turns a color. Raal has a realization.] It's her! It's XVS-2! [The techs are shocked.] [Raal shouts in Becky's face. She just stands, unmoving, seemingly emotionless. Nobody who didn't know the circustances could possibly believe she was doing anything.] RAAL Stop this immediately! I order you! Stop-- TUIN GGGGGGLLLLLLLLLLKKKKK! [Blood gushes out of his mouth. One panel of the body.] CORVE What the hell just happened?! RAAL Tuin, he... Well, he took some liberties with XVS-2 before she was Vectored. The memory must have been stronger than we had estimated. We didn't manage to destroy it completely. CORVE This better not happen again! I want no delays in deploying XVS, and I damn well don't them malfunctioning in the field! Do you understand?! RAAL (sweating) Nothing like this will happen again, sir. Don't worry. CORVE I'm not going to worry about it, Raal. *You* are. [He walks out, leaving a rather scared Raal.]