Author’s notes in this story will precede the chapter body.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is owned by the wonderful Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon Studios. The albums & songs of Thousand Foot Krutch are distributed by Tooth & Nail Records and designed by the also wonderful Trevor McNevan “T-Rawk.”

Set It Off

Book One: Phenomenon

phenomenon - pt. one

September 11 2552

1:45 a.m

Silence. It had always been something Victor Masters hated. The moment when all sound disappeared and he was left to deal with his own thoughts. He could handle the bustle and agitating noise of the daily grind, but when the work day ended, he found he could hardly bare the abruptness of the silence that came once everyone retired to their beds.

His dark blue eyes gazed lazily around the room, taking in his surroundings. His office was fairly small, necessary for the station’s protocol, and he didn’t mind. He had several others down the hall. This was his favorite; it was small, organized, and remained cold – the way he liked it. A door that opened to a lab was on his right and the door to the rest of the heli-carrier was in front of him. The door on his left was to his bedroom. USNC’s logo was plastered on a rug in front of his desk and said desk was covered with tiny gadgets and gizmos Victor was currently too distracted to pay any mind to. A slender red cat was curled up in the corner sleeping.

His mind was currently directed at the day’s hard work. His latest experiment had gone remarkably well, had even surmised his own personal hope. However, unlike the rest of his scientific work, this project was confidential. Only three people knew about the program he was working hard to fabricate because many thought it was too dangerous to accomplish. But by the heavens, it had been successful.

Now, all that was left to do was release it. See what it was capable of, the mental and physical power, how fast it could learn, how it could feel. And he would teach it day by day, train it to become the very embodiment of his own identity: Victor Masters. His own creation would live immortally. And rule.

It was nothing short of a miracle and his own growing insanity. His heart palpitated in excitement. In two weeks, the experiment would develop into a realistic, intelligent, and sentient being. More human than his brothers. More human than Victor could ever be.

But human was all he’d ever been. With the continuous war, he was one of few left. Sure, there had been military programs designed in order to protect his own species, but several had failed.

He had not. Getting older was a human curse, not one he particularly desired. But he couldn’t stop it. Yet.

There was a sudden knock at his door, disturbing his thoughts. He glanced up and leaned back in his chair. He wasn’t sure if he was glad for the interruption or bothered by it. “You may enter.”

The door slid open with a quiet ‘whoosh’ and Colonel Quen Kury stood in the metal frame, looking bitter. The patch over his left eye seemed more obvious in the dim light of the room than it did in the bright light that illuminated the rest of the station.

“Commander,” he saluted.

“At ease Colonel,” he replied, sighing. The door closed behind Quen as he took a seat in the chair opposite Victor. “What’s the bad news for me today?”

Quen hesitated a moment and then sat up straighter. “Commander, I’ve been asked to come in here to get questions answered.”

“An interrogation, hmm? And what am I in trouble for now?” He smiled, but Kury remained neutral, clearly annoyed, but trying not to express how annoyed he was. Victor saw right through it.

“Commander Keyes wants you to expand your research to greater things. The war is getting worse, especially with the spread of the Flo-”

“Commander Keyes is way in over her head if I may say so myself. Her father’s death was hard on her and her leadership skills….” He paused, searching for the right words. “Rumored to be nepotism.”

“Rumors, I assure you. Commander Keyes has done everything and is enlisting everyone she can to end this war. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.” Quen’s cheekbone twitched and Victor watched him swallow.

“She wants me to expand past my work in artificial intelligence, am I correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was Cortana not successful until now?” he wondered vaguely, already aware of the answer. He’d created her, a sophisticated and beautiful AI, and the USNC had used her and grown to trust her. She’d been transported to the Autumn cruiser not long after her creation. Now, two years later, her whereabouts were cloudy with the ever growing threat of outside forces.

She knew things that would save humanity forever. Victor knew better than to lose hope that the AI had fallen, but sometimes he wondered. He’d once been showered in glory upon creating her. Now his fellow compatriots doubted if his invention could outlast the most terrifying realities of the war. Most especially the Flood.

He shuddered at the thought, but hid it well from Colonel Kury.

“She was, yes.”

Victor pretended he hadn’t heard. “And what does Miranda have proposed that I should do?” he asked coldly.

“Commander Keyes has issued this.” Kury handed him a slip of paper and Victor took it, but did not read it.

“And what is your opinion on my line of research?”

Quen looked startled at the question. “Pardon, sir?”

“What is your own personal opinion – off the record – of my work?”

The young soldier turned his head ever so lightly towards the lab. “It is usually very useful, very excellent work. I can tell you devote yourself to it and sometimes, I admire it. But sometimes your work seems…very different.”

“Sometimes?”

“If I may elaborate sir, in training today, I noticed something different about one of the experiments. I think you know what I’m referring to.”

Victor hid a smile by standing. “Come along Colonel, you must show me what you mean.” He led the man to the door, punched in a code on the keypad, and they walked inside the lab once the door opened.

Fifteen AI’s currently rested in a state of hyper-sleep, lined up in small chutes against the wall. Ten designed to be male, five female. He knew that thousands of AI’s already roamed the halls of the heli-carrier, but these fifteen had been created for greater things then secretarial work and military training.

“Which one? Humor me,” he said upon Quen’s confused gaze.

“NHF067,” he said, pointing at the same time.

Victor’s internal grin widened. “And what, what was different Colonel?”

“It seemed more aware of its surroundings, sir. It even seemed to show emotion. I know what concentrating looks like, and it appeared to be focusing on things, distracted.”

“You feel it’s a malfunction?”
“I feel like your experimentation on this particular AI has gone to the extreme to be honest sir.” He paused a moment and Victor didn’t turn to look at him. “AI’s are not meant to do anything they are not programmed to do. Mistakes are made and could lead to deadly situations.”

“He is not a mistake.”

“He? I know these programs are made to look like they’re human, but they’re far from it. He should not be even considered human.”

“His name is Daniel.” Victor walked up to the still, sleeping AI and touched the glass in front of him. “And yes, I have named him. He’s my greatest invention yet and none of my real projects goes unnamed. And there’s more to come Colonel. Concentration, focus, mental power…it’s just the start. Soon he’ll be able to speak like us, act like us…”

“This is what I was talking about. You should focus your work on the Spyder Virus or designing new technology in order to face the brutes and grunts, a real problem.”

Victor cut him off, maintaining a neutral fury. “I did ask your opinion, I’m afraid. You do remember this does not go outside this room? After all, if word were to get out about Mr. NHF067, bad things could happen.” He left it at that, pursing his lips together in anticipation.

“Are you threatening me?”

Victor turned, his dark eyes catching in the light, so that for just one second, it appeared they were glowing. Quen stared back angrily. Victor brushed off the look, leaning down to pick up the fluffy cat nudging his legs. He stroked its head and it purred sweetly in his arms.

“I don’t make threats Colonel Kury, I fulfill them.”

Quen remained silent and Victor sighed, once again reminded of why he hated silence. “Tell Miranda that I will continue my work on artificial intelligence, but I shall also use my talents to build any necessary weapon she may find useful to her advantage in this…war. Dismissed.”

Victor turned away from him to look at the files he’d posted onto the computer screen next to Daniel. He could sense Quen’s submissive anger, nearly radiating off of him in waves, and resisted a smile. The soldier finally left, exiting dramatically but missing the last bit of his act because the doors had been designed not to slam.

Too bad.

He touched the glass again, palm flat against the cool surface. These AI’s had been designed to look human, unlike Cortana, who was only a foot tall and similar to a holographic image. He had expanded his work farther, had even created five other AI’s before the fifteen that were standing before him. Two of them were used only in drastic measures, one had failed because she’d been way too corrupted, and the other had worked wonderfully, his own personal AI.

And now there was Daniel. He couldn’t believe that three years ago, he’d doubted the schematics for this particular AI. He’d been skeptical, certain that the plan would fail and he and his partner would be doomed to become mere nobodys. But that had been three years ago. He hadn’t spoken with his partner since he’d arrived on the heli-carrier with the ultimate plans of creating Cortana. And no longer was he a nobody.

He would have to be more careful now with whom he told about Daniel. Maybe not even tell anyone. He was good at keeping secrets. And his methods of keeping those secrets were even better.

Victor supposed he’d better devise a plan to make Ms. Miranda Keyes happy. Then he’d return to his work on Daniel. For now, the AI would be safe with the few alterations he’d made. He scratched at the cat’s head once more until the green eyes closed with contempt. “Come along Madilyn. We shall retire.”

He carried the cat to the edge of the lab, turning off the lights after glancing back once more. It was quiet, the same eerie silence he hated. He wondered how the machines, as inhuman as they were, could stand it. With a sigh, he walked away and the door closed with a click behind him.

And the green eyes of AI NHF067 opened, glowing in the darkness.

A few notes. The plotline makes reference to Halo 3, but characters of the XBox 360 game will not make an appearance. The war is just a future plotline. Musical vocals will not be used in every chapter, just some of them. Some chapters will include a variety of different parts, this one included.

Next chapter: Phenomenon, pt 2; point of view: Daniel

There will be no sneak peeks for this story, but I will include a “previously” (such as they do in some tv shows) before certain chapters.

As my great friend faith’s melody says – “Reviews make miracles.”

Raina Wolfe – Lateraina