*Vilgax POV*
*Location: Cintura, Learning Center*
*Date: 5010th Rotation/1965 Earth Year*
In total, ten years have passed since I was born in this new world, in the body of an alien species with technology far more advanced than Earth's. Which was an... interesting experience in itself, especially when the path that I would go down involved engineering and cybernetic parts, more specifically ones that can help you feel or improve those in the military's overall strength.
Although a more thorough explanation was needed to fully understand my own position in this world, what my existence means. I was part of project Path, which essentially involved artificially mutating Chimera Sui Generis children before they were even conceived, to see which traits were the most desirable in the long term, seeing as how evolution for them had essentially stagnated, and the technology for traveling through space was getting closer every day.
So they needed to improve their species for the longer term so that they could adapt to any planet, any environment, at least to the best of their ability. My own mutation, while it didn't modify my outside appearance, increased my natural strength, durability, and intelligence, with the first two being more noticeable and the last one being a bit more...abstract in that they had no idea how far it increased, but my memory did have a noticable boost when comared to my last life, even though that could just be the basic stuff this body provided.
Either way, it explained why my body was physically stronger than the rest of the group I was paired with, but not as fast, though I honestly didn't care about that bit as I more appreciated the control I had over my body, something one of my classmates sorely lacked seeing as they ran into a wall a few times.
Anyway, my overall education was fruitful and extremmly engaging/intriguing with education far beyond what Earth offered, honestly it was the opposite of a miracle that they hadn't discovered interstellar travel yet, although it seemed they mastered the art of basic terraforming, not super advanced but they were doing a better job of taking care of the-our home planet than humanity.
Now, though, the planet was becoming too small for them, and they wanted to take the next big leap, to expand themselves among the stars. One thing was stopping them, though, well, two things, one was more of a physical problem, the other was mental. The physical was the power source, sure, they could use a basic propulsion system, but they wanted the ships/materials to be reusable and able to go from world to world, instead of a one-and-done type deal.
The mental one was fear...fear of the unknown and the dangers it all presented, especially in a new environment. Which was why they were doing all this, creating new soldiers and scientists, people of all kinds to help lead the future, and I was supposed to be one of them, yet my path in life took me somewhere else, mostly the engineering/medical path in cyberware despite my enchantments, a disappoint to some of them, but my clear interest in the science did spark soem joy with teh scientific division.
Anyway, the five years' worth of basic education before the specialization pathway was an interesting experience, and understanding how my new species functioned was interesting and necessary to say the least, alongside biology, and how we actually had two forms. One being our humanoid form, and one our caretakers/teachers, called the primordial form, when we were more basic and lived in the water.
That one was more for battle and a last hurrah, as it were, seeing as how one's intelligence decreased, but one's strength and durability increased tenfold at least. Again, though, last resort, as things like that always have a cost to them, including this whole project, seeing as how a few of the children were sterile, at least from what I could secretly hear from the caretakers after our physicals/check-ups.
Although they did say they were getting close, close to perfection with batch numbers 12 and 13, those two groups provided more usable material in the long term. In fact, I was able to hear something about myself, too. I remember their exact words.
{Subject Vilgax DNA has proven to be difficult to work with, while the subject has shown excellent results overall, DNA splicing has proven difficult. Shall we still explore this avenue of research?}
{For now, yes, keep an eye on them and study their demeanor, see if their behavior can be molded further or if it's already too late, alongside the DNA experimentation as well, to see if anything useful can be gleaned from this subject's specific mutation.}
After that, I pretty much left, as they began talking about the others, and while this would need to be further studied, I needed to understand fully what they did to me. Right now, though, I need to further focus on my studies and wait until I can further understand it, or wait for them to actually explain what was different about my body. Either that or study biology beyond the basics they've shown here to fully understand how my DNA was changed and why they couldn't replicate it quite yet.
Either way, the next ten or so years should be interesting.
Date: 5020th Rotation/1975 Earth Year*
Ten years have passed, and I have gone through this planet's version of middle school, high school, and college all rolled into one. As it turns out, they have quite an advanced system for this, and it was interesting to witness in action. Although I suppose that was the point of choosing or being chosen for our specialized pathway, as I chose cyberware, the art of grafting cybernetic parts to one's body for one reason or another.
I had learned how they used a specialized battery to help power the arm, seeing as how...well, it needed something to help run it beyond being connected to one's nerves, a mixture of signals essentailly taht told the arm just like it would a regualr arm how to move, how to grab, and how much strength to use with proper pratice of course. Alongside other enhancements, sometimes for a specific purpose, other times it was more for prosthetic purposes.
A fascinating field of study that I found quite a bit of joy in, both in actually attaching the pieces to people during our more hands-on demonstrations. Alongside this was the studying, the understanding of the initial mechanics behind it all, with the power source having to be more or less reshaped to better fit whichever model it was. I even helped make minor improvements to the fluidity of the machine itself.
Nothing groundbreaking, but it was noticeable to the people it mattered, and well, now I was on the course for a job in this field. Now, for the biological portion of my future need-to-figure-out list was...progressing, albeit very slowly, seeing as I didn't have the most information to work off of, but the basics were that my DNA was perhaps made me a bit...to strong, not easily bending metal or destroying mountains in one hit, or soemthing like that but enough to break concrete but it also lead to an increase in durabilty alongside an overall basic chane to how my body handled the stress.
I had a theory that I was further mutated beyond what the scientist accounted for, alongside perhaps a bunch of little things. Meaning that, in theory, my body was a Jenga tower that couldn't be easily replicated without thorough means. Well, that was where further study was needed once I had more time and fewer prying eyes on me. Sure, they told us the basics of the project. Once my group turned 18 anyway, they explained to us how we were created, how our parents had to give us up to pay off some debts, because they had enough children as it was, or for any number of reasons.
Essentially, stuff I already knew and quite honestly didn't care for, if my family or biological parents didn't want me, then I didn't care. Anyway, once my education was finally completed, I had to join the cybernetic division of, well, the Scientific Division, with more studying to be needed in order to really make it. Well, in the end, I ended up working the lower levels when it all happened.
The day our planet finally learned of extraterrestrials beyond us, the day we learned we weren't alone in the universe, the day they appeared.
*Year: 5025th Rotation/1980 Earth Year*
I remember that day, I was on my way home after another day of attaching appearance modifiers, a bit tiring but interesting nonetheless. I believe they wanted their eyes to change colors, wanting to impress future dates and have a conversation starter, alongside different types of sights added to it so that it can be somewhat useful as well, even if not practical.
Not the first time I did eye work, but it was interesting to perform nonetheless, but that wasn't the most interesting part of the day. No, that would be the sonic boom we all heard, well, everyone in the city anyway. It was a humanoid figure, emphasizing the human; the man was pale and was clearly graying somewhat, with a familiar-looking mustache.
Now, at first, I didn't recognize the man, of course, after all, it's been about twenty-five years at least since I've thought about anything Earth-related for good reason. So I was, of course, confused as the rest of them, the rest of my people, as the figure stared at us with corn in his eyes as something else pierced the atmosphere. While during my informative years and the five years since interstellar technology had come a long way, we were nowhere near ready for a full-scale launch.
So imagine our surprise as massive ships entered our view, armed with guns, as miniature ships came charging down, and the singular flying figure began speaking, doing his clear best to suppress his emotions as he somehow spoke our language.
{Your leaders have one chance to become part of something greater, with all of you still alive.}
{You will join the Viltrumite Empire and be a part of our ever-expanding empire, given technology years ahead of your own. Choose now the easy way, or would you rather go the hard way?}
If there was one thing I think both humans and chimera sui generis agree on, it is that we would never bow to invaders. So, almost immediately after that little announcement, our military leaders began firing, not choosing to give them any time to formulate or attack. So once the first shot was fired, everyone, including myself, began running for shelter, trying to find the best place to take cover whilst we all prepared ourselves, prepare ourselves for a war between species.
That's also when I recognized the man's face.
Nolan Grayson...a Viltrumite, one of thestrongest species in the universe.