The Culling

White Shadow Series
Episode 1: The Culling

Part 1 ( Eregon ):

1 ( intro ):

"My name is professor James Allan bowers, I am recording this message to let you all know the peril that lies beneath the surface of this... Planet" I looked around cautiously as the obvious sign of terror leaks through my facial expression. "Day 2 of project indigo, we are waiting for the culling..." Tremors and howls are heard from the distance, "They are here, I don`t have much time... But remember this, Oeroda has never been a planet, it never was"

2:
Carl Gonzales, 155th president of Calcan, had announced a proposal to the Eregon Science Department, "It is of utmost interest that we send another expedition to the distant planet of Oeroda, and gather as much scientific information as possible", "Sir, with all due respect but, our last scientific venture to Oeroda had only lead to the loss of many bright scientific minds here in Eregon, we could not take this chance again!" The president looked sternly to Eregon Lead Scientist, James Allan Bowers, and said "Listen, this venture will be one of your most important expeditions in your lifetime, it will give our planet the advantage of technology and medicine..." There was a slight pause, and then he continued "and if you happen to help develop a technological breakthrough from the fragments of that planet. You will be one of Eregon`s most influential scientist of all time."

3:

The risk of death is significant, however if I decline the president's offer, I could lose my position as Lead Scientist in Eregon`s Physics department. It took time, for me to make a decision until finally I said "Yes sir", "Good prepare your team as you will begin the expedition this Friday". "That president is a snob, I never voted for him" I've heard John`s expression from the distance, "You do realize that you could get in trouble for that" I said, he rolled his eyes and said "Likr I ever get in trouble for developing nuclear weapons for this planet", "So are you going to join our expedition?" I said mockingly, "Don't get me started." He replied. "So when will the expedition begin?", "Friday, November the 1st, 3154".

4:

"User log - Professor James Allan Bowers"
"October 30th, 3154 - Wednesday"
"Project indigo has been initiated, it took me a while to find willing participants to join the expedition to Oeroda, but how can I blame them? The president is a lunatic for sending us to that life-forsaken planet. Anyways the names of scientists to join us in the expedition are listed below"

"James Allan Bowers - Lead Scientist : Eregon Physics Department ( 35 years old )"
"John Bownings - Lead Scientist : Nuclear Weapons Department ( 35 years old )"
"David Emmet Cruz - Shuttle Engineer : Calcan Space Department ( 30 years old )"
“Russel Greene - Intern : Eregon Physics Department ( 28 years old )”

5:
Project indigo, so it is called, the recruitment board read “the search for abandoned technology on the ruins of Oeroda, witness as Calcan evolves into a greater, bolder planet. Join us now, and be a part of this wonderful future”. “Quite ambitious campaign eh?” John mockingly proclaimed, I smirked with the faintest expression, then a voice from the distant said “No it’s not, it’s actually quite a very marvelous project, by one of this planet’s greatest presidents”. “Another Gonzales supporter” I sighed, as we proceed to the Calcan secret bases.
“May I see your identification?” a guard asked, I took the iDent from my pocket, and gave it to the guard, “ERSD scientists: James Allan Bowers, and John Bownings” the screen had read, as he updated our iDent with permission code 99LVY09N, “You may enter” He said.

6:
It’s the first time we entered this gigantic facility, the floors are carpeted by a shining silver metal of sorts, the walls are filled with sealed certificates and instructions, the stairs are made of a customized diamond gold alloy, “this is indescribable beyond articulation.” I exclaimed as we walk further into the facility, the inner building is encapsulated inside a mighty sapphire dome, where the meeting room, or really a “bomb shelter” is tucked deep into the heart of this facility, it is covered with diamond steel within a couple of meters thick, the silence was broken as the guard said “This base is built in preparation for upcoming disasters”, John then asked “Who owns this building?”, the guard smiled, then responded “The Calcan secret council”. John practically laughed at the idea of having a secret department, I secretly smirked as I had a bizarre vision involving Earthlings and Calcanesians building a death ray on top of Luna. I quickly withdrew my thoughts as John asked the guard, “And who is this council?”

7:
“15 years ago, a project called blue phoenix was launched. It was proposed by an Eregon philosopher by the name of Bradson Durgenbery. 2 Years after launching, 4 scientists joined Durgenbery on his project. However after about a month, Durgenbery mysteriously disappeared from his apartment. Two weeks later, Sergeant Richard Eriserr took his place and still as of today, he is still the project’s most important person.”, John interrupted “So did you found traces of Durgenbery yet?", “nothing, as far as I am concerned” the guard looks mysteriously worried, from the looks of his face. “So what is Project Blue Phoenix?” I asked.

8:
“It is the movement, to keep Calcan on it’s feet even after an apocalypse” the guard tries to hide his shaking fingers on his shirt. “Thank you for the heads up, we’ll see you later, uh… what’s your name?”, “Hanson, Hanson Traftise”. So this movement, as they seem to tell me, is considered a secret project, while it should have been made public due to the concerns it tries to reach, John interrupted my thoughts as he said “Hanson is suspiciously guilty, I think he is more than involved in Bradson’s disappearance”. “Hopefully not, But I did have the feeling that he was trying to hide something from us”, “Can we cancel the project and be detectives?”, “No, but until we find further evidence about Bradson’s disappearance, we will not let this conversation leak out from our mouths.”, “Amen to that”.

9:
We walked inside the meeting room as we are greeted by a tall man in his forties, “Good morning gentlemen, we will begin this meeting in a short while, please proceed to your chairs”
“He’s our principal” John said quietly. “As you may know, Project indigo has been launched, and tomorrow, our brightest and bravest scientists will fly to the distant planet of Oeroda, there they will battle entropy and madness as they gather scientific information for the further improvement of our planet.”, John whispered “Very patriotic”, I tried not to respond, but I quietly replied “the so called ‘heroes’ preach”. “And for all, the government of Eregon grants you
their best wishes for your venture in the dark depths of the void”. The meeting ended, as we walked back to the eregon science laboratories. Before I entered my sleeping chamber, I went to the diary room, and wrote my “final” log.

10:
“User log - Professor James Allan Bowers”
“October 31st, 3154 - Thursday”
“Recruitment’s been tame ever since the announcement yesterday, I attempted to convince Doctor Jon Stravinsky to join us in the expedition, but to my obvious surprise, He declined.
So here I am recording my, supposedly final log to this system, but hopefully our venture turns out to be successful, so my team and I could see the fruit, that was born from the biggest work of our lives. This is Professor James Allan Bowers, good luck to us, and hopefully it’s not my last time logging into this console.
”

Part 2 ( Into the Void ):

1:
“Good luck gentlemen”, President Gonzales stood at the command center as we are about to begin our venture to the void. “Launching in T minus 10, 9, 8, 7”, “Are we all ready?”, John asked the crew and replied “Oh yes, we’re all ready”. “6, 5, 4, 3” I clasped my hands as we prepared to launch “2, 1, 0”. The thrusters blew to life, and pushed us into the outer bounds of space, “Destination: PI93X9203 - Oeroda”, “Even our computer don’t sound happy”.

2:
The anti-gravity kicked in as we escaped the gravitational field of Calcan, I can tell that the crew was feeling sick, and they try not to vomit on their gear. “Computer, how long should it take before we reach Oeroda?” I asked the mainframe, “calculating…”, “from our current condition it should take, one week”. One week eh? should have bought my iPhone 1145S with a 10 days worth of battery if I knew it would take that long to arrive. “Why are we given classical spaceships instead of those high powered shuttles that they are displaying?” Russel asked annoyingly. “It’s because they are, display models” David replied. “Carl Gonzales is probably having a date with that 866Cal Ship with T90X Shuttle boosters” John replied. Russel laughed, as David tried not to grin. “Do try to remember, that we have active intercoms here” The Computer reminded us.

3:
“Someone’s going to lose his job” I said mockingly, “Like I care, you hear me Gonzales?! I don’t Care” John replied with a tone that tries to annoy a president. David was rather impressed than annoyed by John’s personality, he went and talked with John for a while, as I try to talk to Russel, “Sir!” He saluted, “I’m no officer, put your hand down”, “So you are?”, “Russel, Russel Greene, I am the new intern to your physics department”. “So you are the radio kid? they loved to call”, “unfortunately yes, I always carry a 30th century broadcaster which ultimately got me the nickname, Radioboy”.

4:
“INTERCOM - SPACESHIP 8080X903”
Mission Control: “Mission report”
Bowers: “We are currently on track moving towards PI93X9203”
Mission Control: “Any irregular activities?”
Bowers: “None, we’ve checked the levels, there is nothing to worry about”
Mission Control: “Good luck gentlemen”

5:
{ 5 days later }
November 5, 3154
“Computer how much further is Oeroda”, “Calculating…”, “Only 4,421 lmm”, We are arriving ahead of schedule! “Gentlemen, Oeroda is only 4,421 lmm away, prepare our equipment, so we can get back to our homes as soon as possible”, “finally!” Russel exclaimed. “2,212 lmm”,
“1,250 lmm”, “531 lmm”, “124 lmm”, “Initiating landing procedure…” However, something was amiss, “Cruz why is the hazard signal blinking?”, “I don’t know”. Then it started to rumble, “What the hell was that?!” Russel anxiously asked. “Hazard landing” David replied. “Wait! are you seeing what I am seeing?”, “no it’s not possible!”, "it can’t be..."

6:
The third icon started blinking on the dashboard, “a different frequency is trying to get in!” David exclaimed, “can we read it?”, “I don’t think so”, then the intercom emitted an 512 bit white noise, then slowly it transformed to a radio wave, “can…. you… hear me?!”, “someone is trying to access our intercom” david said, “yes, we can hear you” I replied. “do not attempt to land… I repeat… Do not… attempt…. to…” then it faded back into white noise. “What was that” John asked. “I have a bad feeling about this” I said, “Cruz, do we still have enough power for the escape routine?”, “hopefully, wait, yes! yes we have!”, “good, let’s get out of here” Then suddenly the dashboard turned black, and the machine died, and we found ourselves plummeting down to Oeroda.

Part 3 ( the Revelation )

1:
“Activate emergency power!” I ordered, “no we can’t, we are in an emp field, if we do that, we can lose our ship”. Great! no supplies, no backup, and we are currently entering a dead planet with a broken ship, a few moments later, we found ourselves in the middle of an endless ocean, “Gentlemen, we are in Oeroda…” John announced.

2:
We activated the mechanical controls of the ship, as we try to traverse the endless ocean of acid and toxins. “No one could possibly live here” Russel said, “Get the equipment ready, get a sample of the Oerodan water…” I ordered, we took our cal90 elemental tester, and extracted acid water from the outside of the ship. “80% acid 10% sulfur 9% hydrogen 1% oxygen”, “wait, it changed into: 80% hydrogen 10% acid 9% sulfur and 1% oxygen”, “what the hell is that?”, “I don’t know” “80% sulfur 10% hydrogen 9% acid 1% oxygen”, “is it changing into another element?”, “no it’s not”, “now it’s 80% oxygen 10% hydrogen 9% sulfur and 1% acid”, “why is it changing?”, “we don’t know, and frankly this is scary”

3:
“90% oxygen 5% hydrogen 4.5% sulfur 0.5% acid” whatever that element is, we have to find a way to turn it into much stabler element, so we can study it properly. “Try injecting acid” Russel said, “Do not even attempt it, it’s too dangerous to experiment with this without studying it”, “wait it’s shifting it’s elements again! it’s now 70% oxygen 10% hydrogen 5% acid and 15% radon”, “wait it’s now radioactive?”, “apparently, yes”. “Oh were damned, we are currently sitting in the middle of a toxic radioactive ocean” John exclaimed. “Now it’s 40% oxygen 5% hydrogen 5% acid and 50% radon”, “we have got to get out of here, before we die of radiation poisoning”!

4:
“Activating emergency protocol 1!” David yelled, as he pulled the lever and activated the nuclear drive, as the ship lifted upwards, we saw teensy small islands made of obsidian, “we are running out of energy, this is impossible!”, I looked cautiously below and asked “how did that happen?”, “the waters, it’s siphoning our energy!” David shockingly replied. “Now we are damned!!!” Russel yelled, “keep it down kid, we are trying to focus here!”, rumblings are heard from the distance. “A storm?”, “this is impossible, the last time I’ve checked this planet is dead! it should never give off any type of activity anymore!” I was dysfunctional, as the truth unfolded before us.

5:
We are plummeting yet again, but this time we tried to land on one of the islands, “Oh bloody fruitcake!” David is trying to control the ship, and thankfully this time, we haven’t landed on that deathly ocean of radioactive toxins. “Status report” I ordered, “Code 98E1, everything is fine, except uh, you know”, “right”. John asked “You said a we saw a storm?”, “yes, it shouldn’t exist, as everything in this planet had died, even it’s natural chemical reactions stopped for no apparent reason, and now…”, “It came alive” John continued. “Yes, everything came alive, chemical reactions”, “how about it’s biology”, “we have no idea yet…”

6:
“Damn the intercom doesn’t even work!” David yelled, “Well on the bright side we are not under the power of president D-bag” John mocked. “We are going to die horribly here!” Russel exclaimed, still horrified from the events, Russel is shaking beyond relief. I took my instruments as I began the search for life signs on the planet, “Hopefully nothing is alive here anymore… Err, except for us”. I was terrified beyond belief when I’ve heard angry howls from the distance.

7:
“Return to ship!” I commanded, “I’ve detected multiple energy sources in this planet, some of them are radioactive emitters, while some of them are…” I paused for a minute, as I verify what I am seeing on the screen. “creatures, living… creatures” Russel stomped in dismay as he yelled “kill me now, I didn’t join this expedition to die horribly”. “We can escape this damned planet, if only we can wrap our mind around this phenomena.”

8 ( interlude ):
“There is one way out, though” John said, “What is it?”. “The final action of survival, Calcan Action Procedure 887E2”, “The Culling, if it’s the only way out, then we’ll use it”.

9:
The night was silent as the radioactive downpour continued until morning’s light. “Execute AP887E2” I ordered, “Are you sure about this captain?” David asked, “yes”. David pulled the lever which revealed a secret dashboard that contains the emergency nuclear power, and automated action procedures. He inserted the code, then pressed a button. The machine sprung back to life, then released a powerful laser beam aiming directly at Calcan. Moments later, the Nuclear Drive stopped working “Damn you Oeroda!” David yelled, as he hit the dashboard with his fist.

10:
“I will gather power from the ocean” david said, then left the ship, as we try to think of a plan to get out of the planet. Five hours later, david hasn’t returned yet, John looked outside and he saw another downpour of radioactive toxins, “He’s dead” Russel said, “how can you tell?” I asked, “the rain brings death, and the ocean is the remnants of the lives it took.” Russel said in a monotone voice, “what is happening to you Russel?”, we saw a drop of the Oerodan water on his shoulder, “He is damned”, Russel faced the dashboard, as he plans to deconstruct the hull. “Stop this now, if you don’t want us to tie you up”, “I will do what the masters order” Russel replied.

Part 4 ( On the Verge of Chaos and Madness )

1:
Russel’s arm slowly mutated into a claw like structure, “what the hell?!” John exclaimed, “Prepare the emergency weapon kit” I yelled, John took the weapon pack from the wall, and gave me a 8CAL21 Laser pistol, “Stay where you are Russel, I don’t want to kill you”, “I can’t disobey the master, all outsiders must be eradicated” Russel jumped towards me, as I shot the laser pistol at his head, Russel fell on his back as the laser burnt through his skull. Moments pass as the execution of my action suddenly came back to haunt me, John broke the silence as he said “Let’s dispose his body, we don’t know the abilities of the Oerodan water yet…”

2:
We threw Russel’s carcass into the window, we watched as his body burn from the constant shower of radioactive waste. “This is madness, we can’t stay here” I exclaimed, “Well now that David is dead, there is really nothing much that we could do”. “Let’s just hope that the culling succeeds, so we can leave this… Planet”. 3 hours later, the sun fades into obscurity as we heard, howls from the distance. “I’ve heard that exact same howl yesterday”, “Me too, I never really knew where it came from, it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve heard before.”

3:
Night comes, just as we thought this day couldn’t get any more uglier…
“President D-bag still thinks it’s the most important thing in the world, I did hope we took him on board with us”, “So you can push him outside the window, yeah. That would be awesome.”
A few moments later, we heard knocks on the window, “David’s back, I guess” I said, “Let’s welcome him with a blast from my BFG-9000!”, “By the way I am the leader, how come did you have the larger gun!”, “since I helped engineer it!”, “fair enough”. I walked and opened the door, only to be greeted by an empty stare from a mutated david, “Out of the way, Allan!” John yelled. I dived towards the cardboard boxes as John shot david through the head. David screamed in agony as his entire body was burnt with the gamma radiation from the BFG. Death did come to you, david, only it’s not the way you expected it to be…

4 ( interlude ):
David dropped dead, but on his last action, he threw remnants of Oerodan water towards John’s face. John fell on his knees, then after a few seconds he stood up and ran outside. But before leaving he yelled “Quickly close the ship!!!”. The sense of terror returned to me, as I realized that I am the only one left on the ship. I returned to my instruments panel, until I realized something I didn’t found before. The entire planet is, alive. The reason, the chemicals started reacting again, is because it is waking up, and if my calculation is correct… It is awake now, and it is hungry…

5:
I stood on the content recovery capsule, as I began recording a retrieval message:
“My name is Professor Allan Bowers, I am recording this message to let you all know the peril that lies beneath the surface of this… Planet” I paused for a short second, then continued “Day 2 of project indigo, we are waiting for the culling… they are here, I don’t have much time… But remember this, Oeroda has never been a planet, it never was;” Then I quickly saved the message hoping, that it would be salvaged by the recovery ship sent from Calcan, Well this is it, my crew is waiting outside to tear me to shreds, I took my laser pistol, and jumped outside.

6 ( Epilogue ):
I ran away from the ship hoping to find a working abandoned transport. A few seconds later I saw millions of mutations rising from the ocean, chanting “Join us, the master is waiting for you”. I fought my way across the beach, until I reached a dead end. I checked the remaining power on my laser gun, it’s still has sufficient power until dawn. I shot through the horde as I saw a great light from the skies. The ship is here, they are recovering our transport, I have to get back inside, I ran towards the ship shooting everything that blocks my path, until a mutated john appeared, and pounced against my back, then slowly, he began slicing off my neck. My vision is starting to fade, as I saw the ship carrying our transport outside of the planet.
In my mind, at least no one will ever dare step foot on this hellhole again.
My body was casted into the ocean then I returned as one of them. Thinking back, this is not the path I envisioned to cross, yet I am still alive, hoping that another foolish planet sends an expedition so that we could feast on their remains. And continue living our wicked lives.

<Calcan>
A message from professor Allan Bowers was retrieved from the transport ship, President Carl Gonzales gave his condolences to the families of the scientists from the indigo expedition. Six months later, President Gonzales stepped down from power, and passed it to Erin Desidas. “Calcan will forever remember the dedication and courage of these scientists, may they all rest in peace”, the crowd burst into tears, as they clapped their hands to welcome the new president to Eregon. Erin entered the facility that houses the blue phoenix gallery. She looked at the guard and said “Hanson, can you keep this meeting as a secret”, “yes madam, I will”. The guard opened a secret door, leading directly to the underground calcan base, “I will take it from here” she said.

<unknown>
“how much longer should we keep this”
“just a little patience my dear, soon everything will fall into place”
“I don’t know Mr. Durgenbery, your last experiment ‘indigo’ was a catastrophic failure, I am not even sure if the council should allow me to suggest a new project”
“you’re now the president erin, they will listen to you, whether they like it or not”
“fine, so when will project White Shadow be initiated”
“soon, my dear, very soon”


END OF FIRST EPISODE