Ultimate Sligs oddysee: Chapter 5, New illustrations
Chapter 5: One of Three
-The Slig Barracks-
-5 months later-
It had been some time since Eba had been shown his attributes and equipment. During this time Eba had been vigorously trained in the arts of killing by hand, weapon, or improvisation. Dr Mort had educated him well on the happenings and inhabitants of Oddworld, with a strangely un-biased view. He had learnt to use his new legs extremely well, and could now perform almost gravity defying feats. He could now activate his chant suppressors at will, with kicks and jabs, and excelled in using his mask when sharp-shooting. His training had been compressed fast, after the destruction of Necrum Mines, the Bonewerkz, and the Soulstorm Brewery, so he had been trained harder than planned, and was better off for it. Soon the time would come for his first mission, and Eba looked forward to it. He now lived in his own room, which backed onto yet another specially made facility, the training chambers. In the morning, as he was practising dropping bombs, a Slig trooped in. “General Eba, SIR!” shouted the Slig as he saluted. Eba had been automatically made a general once his training began “Dr Mort requests you presence at his labs, SIR!” Eba hovered low and dismissed the Slig saying thank you. He still couldn’t really treat them as underlings, he just didn’t find it right. All the Sligs respected Eba like no other. No Slig made jokes behind his back, no Slig did not stand to attention and salute when he passed by, and no Slig did anything that may in any way interfere with Eba’s schedule without asking first. It was strange, but he was a ‘messiah’ after all. The propaganda made sure that no news of genetic tampering had reached the troops, and Shrinks would put straight any Sligs that showed the slightest doubt. His gun and mech-pants were revered as holy icons, and had been etched into walls all over Industrial facilities. The Barracks main entrance hall contained a huge mural of Eba using his rifle to destroy a black, purple winged Mudokon, with the words “The death of Abe” underneath. Eba didn’t relish it, but he did not mind it either. It was nice to stand out sometimes. He retracted his wings and chopper, and switched to normal mode. He made his way out, and to a heavily armoured ball car. He wanted to travel in the normal ball cars with other Sligs, but was forbidden to. As the ball car clanked, whirred, and slowly spun while moving forward, Eba thought more about this first mission. He had not been briefed, but knew that it was something to do with Mudokon leaders, and a gathering. Before his thoughts could trail anymore the car clunked to a stop, and shuddered slightly. The door opened to a small chamber, the decontamination room. After the destruction of Soulstorm Brewery news had come in of green gas killing Sligs and destroying machinery Dr Mort had installed lots of decontamination equipment like in the genetics block. Eba had suggested that Abe had perhaps somehow possessed his farts, but Dr Mort had dismissed this as childish foolishness. Eba stepped in, the door shut behind him, and a weak spray came from all sides. Once it had stopped, the door ahead opened in a completely white corridor. Dr Mort stood into the centre. “Welcome Eba, the ride was amiable, I presume?” Eba nodded and stepped through “I still think those machines should be removed, they are a distraction and a waste of time.” Eba observed. Over time, Eba had adopted Dr Mort’s accent and fancy way of speaking, purely by accident. “When that spray saves this lab, then you will see child. Come I have something to tell you, and show you on the projector.” He scuttled off to the third door on the right into the room Eba had woken up in, months ago, after his first meeting with the entire army of new recruits. Through this room was the door to the projector. All was the same, apart from the security orbs which constantly monitored everything after the recent attacks. He went through to the already darkened projector room and sat down on the steps. Dr Mort followed him in. “Now, it is time for you to learn your full purpose…” Eba groaned “Not more incredibly important details which you happened to miss out first time around?” Dr Mort grinned “I am afraid that is the case” The projector sphere fuzzed on and a Slig appeared in the centre. There was something very odd about the Slig, Eba noticed, as it faded into view. It was grey, and had two legs like a big bro. It was bent over quite far, and had very long arms. Eba was stunned when he realised what it was “…that’s a machine!” Dr Mort nodded “This is what you must realise, you are not alone in this world. You are one of three ultimate Sligs, each designed to hunt down Abe.” Eba turned to face him “Why haven’t I heard of them before? Why doesn’t anyone else know of them?” Dr Mort grimaced slightly “The other two are in fact secret. You were designed to be a morale raiser, as well as one of the three Ultimate Sligs. The first is, as you can see, a machine. It is the Abe-Suppressor. It is designed to hunt down, tranquilise or capture, and return Abe to the nearest Industrial facility, where he will be dealt with. It does not sleep, eat, or grow tired. It is already out there, relentlessly following him, as the programmers intended. We have no doubt that Abe has no idea it is after him. It is also programmed to hunt Mudokon leaders, as secondary objectives. The second is you, the morale raising super intelligent assassin, a figure for the armies to follow, and probably the most effective of the three at catching or killing Abe, the genetically enhanced one. Then the third…” Dr Mort grimaced slightly “If both should fail, the final resort shall be used…” the picture changed to a horrible beast. It had the top half of a Slig, but instead of tendrils, had Paramite mandibles, and a long thin tongue snaking from the centre. Once arm was a strange fusion of Paramite parts, the other was normal, and instead of mechanical pants, it had the legs of a Scrab. Eba gawped “…what is it?” Dr Mort sighed “It is the Scriglemite. Its the ultimate fusion of creature parts. The legs of a SCRab, the torso of a slIG, the tongue of a fLEech, and mouth of a paraMITE. The SCR-IG-LE-MITE. It is a berserk monster that would kill anything in its path. It has been genetically programmed to hunt Mudokons of any kind, and feels no pain. Our hope is eventually it will hunt down Abe, and tear him limb from limb, then it can be killed by us.” Dr Mort looked at Eba “It is a race now, between you and the machine” for some reason Eba got the feeling he was trying to tell him something else “But why, surely we’ll both be roughly the same thing?” Eba asked “…yes. I suppose” answered Dr Mort. “Destroy the Mudokon messiah. That is the outcome of any of the three” Over time Eba had begun to notice a definite sad tone when Dr Mort mentioned Eba’s overall mission, or killing natives. “Go now, and get your briefing from the desk. May luck be with you.” He definitely sounded crest fallen. Eba said his goodbyes and picked up the folder. He felt uneasy as he left, wondering if something was wrong with the doctor.
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