Xenix

Complete darkness enveloped the once very active laboratory. At one point in time scientists and their assistants were thick about this room all conducting tests and gathering data. It was a storm of key clicks and paper shuffling. Now only the sounds of a soft bubbling much like that of a fish tank, but larger echoed in the otherwise silent blackness. Not a soft whir of a computer or the blink of a terminal light, it all lay dormant. Then something changed. Was it some sort of built-in feature? Was it merely a timer expired? No one but the scientists that once worked her could say for sure with any certainty. The sudden shock of a, comparatively, brilliant blue light seemed to pierce the blackness. It blinked several times and with each blink the outline of desks and chairs were almost distinguishable. Then a screen flickered to life and a cursor blinked upon it. Then some sort of automated program ran:

SYSTEM CHECK -- PASS

LIFE SUPPORT -- PASS

V-A-N-S -- PASS

EXT. ENV -- WARNING

STATUS:

POD.0 -- FAULT

--EXT. ENV ERROR

POD.1 -- ALL PASS

PROCESSING... ... ...

INITIATING PROTOCOL --  XENIX.1

The screen then went blank the static crackled in the stale air until it faded as another light blinked into existence illuminating a label POD 1 on a large oblong capsule. A loud hiss, like a giant carbonated beverage being opened, erupted into the slightly less hopeless darkness and blew decades of dust from its uninterrupted rest into a chaotic dance floating about the lab. The capsule opened. The upper half split down the middle and opened to either side. The bottom hinged at the bottom apex of the half oval flipped downward. The now open capsule revealed, at first glance, a humanoid form resting in the padded recess of the inner capsule. It appeared to be further encapsulated by some sort of membrane holding in some sort of fluid. Now the light shown through the liquid and the form inside appeared to be armored, no, built from metal sleek, smooth almost artfully crafted out of a dull gray metal. If it had to be labeled it would most likely be considered male even if no body parts could actually be seen to differentiate.

From one of the upper quarters sparked a beam of light that directed toward the membrane and seared a slice right down the middle of the membrane. After the instant, truly if one had been around to observe the... birth, yes that would be accurate, the beam was gone and he fluid spilled out onto the floor and through the grates on the floor and then to parts unknown. The curled metallic form opened its eyes revealing a familiar electric blue. As proof of the masterful craftsmanship the body moved as if it were actually breathing! The eyes closed and opened several times as it blinked. Reaching up with a mechanical hand it gripped firmly to the side of the capsule and helped itself out of the pod to stand surprisingly steady and looked around the room.

The light from the capsule had gone out leaving the masterwork in complete darkness. Fortunately it quickly discovered one of the benefits of its construction. Its vision changed and displayed a thermal readout of its surroundings for it. After a few scans something, a void stood out, perhaps the form of a person? It took several steps towards the void and upon closer investigation it was indeed a body. It had been long dead and amazingly preserved, "Dead," said a surprisingly non-mechanical voice, though something was slightly off about it. The body half lay over a console with a note fixed to the screen, 

Xenix, I pray the systems hold out long enough to see you whole again. After a few modifications it should house your body indefinitely. However it was untested and therefore I can't be one hundred percent certain of its reliability. Unfortunately I don't have the time to write more. The lab was closed and sealed so I will likely die here. If that is the case then you'll likely need more answers. They are in my journal. I didn't have the chance to bring it here before they came. It's in my safe. Just know we tried... I tried. 

Near the end the writing was almost unintelligible and the signature even more so. The figure was obviously losing consciousness as it wrote. Still, it looked familiar somehow and the site of it sent a pain right down to his soul. It paused and looked at its hand, "Do I even have a soul?" There were so many answers it needed and its memories were a blank spot, but he remembered her. Just another question to add to the list.

The next step toward those answers, so it... no he... yes he, he remembered that, but back to answers. He needed to get out of the lab first. He looked around and moved toward the door. Standing in front of the thick doors of the sealed lab he looked at his hands and gave a shrug and dug his fingers at the seam with all the considerable strength he could muster. The door didn't budge. It was sealed tight. He scanned the room more and found what appeared to be a vent with a smaller door behind it. He took a chair to get him to the proper height and pulled off the vent cover to give him clear access to the door. It fell to the ground with a loud metallic clanking sound. He paused and looked around as if someone was going to protest and then solemnly turned back to his endeavor. He bent slightly to one side and placed his hands back to back and placed his fingers side by side interlacing them and with a large effort he thrust his hands toward the smaller door's seam and his fingers slid in bending the surrounding metal some. He pulled out and the door groaned at first, then whined until a shrill screech and some fluid poured around the door as it slowly moved open. His vision flashed red. A warning. It was alright though, he was done and his exit prepared.

A gust of fresh air rushed in swirling dust around the lab and sending papers flying all over. He crawled up into the vent and began crawling out. Turn after turn, several vertical shots and finally out. His vision returned to normal and he looked around. Ruins. Amazing. So much that could have been there was now in shambles. What caused it? Where was the apartment he was supposed to go to? Would there be anything there? Still more questions. Better get started Xenix… or you’ll never find any answers. With that he was out of the hole of a vent shaft and he slunk out into the ruins in search of his long lost past.