New Changes

Earth. The future of the galaxy, the gem of the universe. At least that is what people used to say back on Caelus' homeland. However, Earth turned out to be the exact opposite. He walked down the streets occasionally to cause a fright upon locals and teenagers who felt that 'it was too early to dress up for Halloween', whatever that meant. Today,however was different. It happened after the nuclear plant near his location was melting down due to a mainframe error. Caelus was there in time enough to rewire the system to prevent extreme damage. However, due to his metallic skin, the causes created little to no damage on him. Shortly after, he was recruited by a research program that wanted his brilliance and talents for a secretive program. It was called C.O.R.E or something, he didnt remember, "Finally. A chance to use these gifts I've been longing to use since I arrived on his planet," he grinned. If only he could find where exactly this facility was located.

It was almost every day that Clayton received a phonecall from some bigwig corporate fatcat asking for a meeting, but this time it felt different. It was not some nervous sweaty sounding executive suit that contacted him, but a woman, and she sounded perfectly collected and completely serious about whatever vague offer was being extended to him. It was nice for sure, but if he weren’t in the area he probably would have refused. Luckily for this ‘Abraxis” company he’d heard nothing about, he was.

He sat in the lobby of a large office building in downtown Los Angeles idly pawing through a magazine he had no real interest in. Upon arrival, he was informed by a secretary that the meeting could not be held until the other ‘candidates’ arrived. He wondered if that meant competition. He hated it when they did that. As if everyone in his line of work were like the Bounty Hunters on the bridge of the Executor. He wondered what exactly was so important to the Abraxis company that they would call not only him into a meeting but others as well.

Another woman approached him carrying a styrofoam cup with her, “Coffee, Mr. Wray?” She apparently had it ready before he could even offer her an answer.

“Black, right?”

"Black."

It was his fourth cup while he waited. He decided he would give the Abraxis ten more minutes before he left for good.

An enormous figure clad in a black suit and peaked cap, not unlike a doorman standing by the door of the rather nondescript building on the edge of an inner-city block recieved an order, and moved towards the woman in a beige-cream suit. With an awkward lumbering gait, the giant reached her Lin less than a dozen steps. Standing but an arms-length from her he spoke. "Thank you Miss... Whitman. Abraxis is ready to see you. Now, we have another interviewee hanging about the streets... Ah, there he is." The figure turned towards Caelus, who happened to be on the other side of the street. "Mister Caelus!" He called, his voice somehow magnifying in volume inconsistent with that of a human, "This way, my good sir, over here!" He stepped back once. "Now, follow me on in." He reversed and walked towards the door, pulling it open for the pair. Even while staring at them, his face was obscured, as it appeared to be covered by a layer of black fabric. "Right this way."

"Why hello, sir..,"Caelus remarked as he followed the gentleman in. He had hardly met the man, or even been introduced to the initiative of the C.O.R.E Program thoroughly, but he realized that this stranger might explain it all to him in the nick of time. He then began to walk forward to the stranger and enter the building after he finished speaking to the woman and motioned for another female and himself to follow his lead to a different location. "I don't mean to be rude and all. As you may know already, I am Caelus. I was invited here to the Abraxis Corp, and I was never really thoroughly explained what was actually going on. Do you think you can elaborate for me?", as he felt his croak after a sudden gulp. Caelus was a man of bravery, but this was possibly the first time he's been invited to an initiative. Yet, he felt like it was something similar to a typical first job interview for a human. Never the less, he tried as much as possible to put his anxieties aside. He didn't want to risk any rejection or troubles, especially this early in the game.

There he was, the big guy that first greeted Clayton upon his arrival. It looked like he had friends with him now. Probably the other candidates that were vaguely mentioned to him earlier. From what he could tell it was Legolas and one of the guys from Daft Punk. Were they supposed to be competition? Or maybe this would be a group effort. He honestly hoped it was neither. Just what kind of company had contacted him this time? He supposed he would just have to find out.

"Hey! ... Lurch, was it? Are these the other two I was supposed to wait for? Because, I mean, my time is pretty limited right now and-" his words stopped themselves dead in their tracks. It was now clear to him that none of the three were human. The two men were more obvious; it was the woman that had is attention now. At first glance she looked pretty much human to him, and she still did, but now now that she was up close there was something different about her. He couldn't tell what it was, but he had a knack for picking up on that sort of thing. Whatever she was, it started to give him a sinking feeling in his chest. Caught of guard the way he was, he couldn't hide the confusion on his face. He had an eyebrow raised to the woman. "Right." The word escaped his mouth on its own as he followed the other three.

"Right." The giant nodded to the three, and slipped his hat off, revealing nothing, but at the same time defining more of his head's oddly smooth shape. "We will explain all in time, but uh..." he gestured to the many office workers through a door. "They would be best not to know too much. Follow me, and I will explain what I can away from the others." He began to move towards a door at the back of the room. "What they know, however, is that none of us are completely human, and others of us aren't human at all." Opening the door, he lead them through a hallway, and around a corner. "You may again be surprised when you meet my co-worker. She will answer any questions you have after asking a couple of her own. We are Abraxis Corp's founders, and this is our financial management complex. You won't be spending much time here." He opened a smaller door, and led them through it. He pressed a panel on the wall, and it opened a spotless white elevator before them. "You'll spend far more time down here. If you stay with us that is." He entered the elevator, and motioned them to follow.

"I can't wait to meet him/her. And don't worry. All I know already about your corp has interested me enough. I plan on staying here. It may assist me to learning more about human nature," he grinned at the tall gentleman. He then followed his motion to enter the elevator. It seemed that they were probably entering the lab centers. Caelus planned on spending alot of time there as his host mentioned. He rarely carried anything with him, so he hoped they financed for lodging.

As he entered the elevator, he studied the mainframe of the elevator terminal after touching a piece of metal that plated the system. He found out how pre-historic the technology made his people's technology back home. He copied this information to use for a further use in the future.

His intelligence proved to help him remember most things that go on during his lifetime. Humans called it "photographic memory", but his mind was never able to print and photographs of past memories in his life. He planned on gathering as much technological information as possible during this association. He also planned on learning the initiatives of the corp. What could go wrong? It wasn't like they were cloning a species. Right?

Legolas must have noticed his stare. It seemed to make her equally uncomfortable. Maybe she was really nothing special? If that was true, why didn't he believe it? There was no time to think about that, though, as Lurch and the human mirror broke the temporary silence with sounds that exchanged information with each other and the rest of the room.

Finally, it was time for the meeting! And all Clayton had to do was blindly follow a robot, a creep, and what he thought was another robot into a secret basement where no one would ever find his body. "Two robots walk into an elevator... I'm sure theres a joke in here somewhere." He was the last of the group in before they made their descent.

He nodded and silently pressed another panel inside the elevator, closing the doors and beginning a quick descent. When the doors opened again, he motioned for them to follow. He turned a corner, and shed the ridiculous disguise he had been wearing onto a table. The black cloth fell onto the table, and he peeled the mask off of his head. Bearing the metal of his shell, he looked over his shoulder at them. One of them human. Mostly human. He felt something analogous to content in the fact that there were so many to help with his life's work... His chest hummed, and he returned to leading them forwards. Upon finally reaching a large white door, he knocked once sharply upon it, and turned the the rest of the group. He spoke one last time to them alone. "My co-worker is in this office. Please enter, and consider what you hear carefully. She will answer any questions you have after asking her own. Also, good luck." He turned forwards, and looked straight at the door.

"My co-worker is in this office. Please enter, and consider what you hear carefully. She will answer any questions you have after asking her own. Also, good luck.". As they began to walk into the giant door along with the other recruits. It was going to be his first time working with possible the only remaining brilliant minds in the word. He had to make an impression, and a good one. He gripped the doorhandle tight as he began to connect with its main structuring. Brilliant design, but it wasnt like the revolving/sliding doors that he had created back on his land. His people used portals and a tubing system to get around. He had seen only a few scenes of those on the Television system. It was really interesting though. The humans tended to portray their planet decades, even millenniums into the future. Caelus never knew how they could do such acts, as if they've time traveled themselves. Then again, it would explain the series of movies he watched a while back called "Back to the Future". "Gratitude for the tour sir. I hope to see you again some time," he said back to the CORE fellow as he began to walk in. It was now time to get down to business.