Darkness enveloped the tunnel like a thick tarp, the faintest bit of lite was provided by the strange purple stones that poked from the rocky wall. They shimmered like tiny stars, illuminating the ex-scientists face in a purple hue. For a moment, the neon plum light reminded the man of his old Clap-Trap unit. It sparkled akin to the disco ball the small robot loved so much. Yet, the battered miner tried his best not to remember his old CL4P-TP unit. It was sure to bring up nothing but heart ache and regret. Instead, he swung his tool violently at the stoney wall that clung ever so tightly to the chunk of Eridium.
He was in an Eridium mine, somewhere on some junky planet whose name escaped him. He had never heard of the strange element until he was dropped off in the dark tunnel and told to mine for it. In a way, he figured this was better than the empty cell he had been stored in. There, the only thing to keep him busy was the constant fear of wondering what would happen to him next.
Finally the Eridium shard fell from the wall and tumbled by his knees. He crawled towards the small cart he had been assigned to and chucked the stone in before moving on to the next purple piece that poked from the tunnel wall. This was his routine, for hours, until his tunnel was empty. Then, after his arms refused to swing his tool another time, he would strap himself to the cart. On his hands and knees he was made to drag the cart out like some work horse. The chains that swooped under his legs had nearly worn holes in his work pants. It felt like hours as he dragged that heavy cart up the sloping tunnel until finally a breeze of fresh air filled the space around him and he knew he was nearly out.
As the ex-scientist poked his head out of the ground like some bashful prairie dog, his overseer darted towards the tunnel.
“Oi, Clay, stop screwing around and haul that Eridium up here. You're the last one and the shipment is ready to leave.” His overseer barked. Clay allowed himself a half a second to breath in the cool night air before he drug himself out of the hole. He squirmed out of the harness as soon as the crate was secured, of all the things he hated, the harness was what he loathed the most. Other workers began unloading the Eridium from his wagon leaving him to rub at the raw spots on his thighs.
“Stupid harness.” He hissed as he limped back to his bunker. Day in and day out Clay was forced to work the Eridium mines. Him and the rest of the “miners” were up before the sun, fed a sorry excuse of a meal, given rations, then shoved down a narrow tunnel before the sun was even up. Each worker had their own tunnel, simply because they weren't wide enough for two men. Clay could hardly sit on his knees without scraping his head against the rocks above. It was in these exhausting conditions that he picked and prodded Eridium shards from the ground, and dragged them back up like a mule.
Clay looked at the scabbed callouses on his palms, he figured he'd be worked to death before the year was over. Perhaps he would have been, surely if this had continued, he would have died a scrawny skeleton man in a narrow tunnel on a trash planet. However, Hyperion had big plans, and they were hardly done with him.
Clay continued in the mines for months on end until one fateful evening. His tunnel for the day had been especially narrow, but it was abundant with Eridium. He had broken his pick axe sometime around late afternoon, and was forced to claw the purple stones from the wall with his bare hands. His nails were cracked and chipped, red brown stains crusted under them. His finger tips were numb, covered in dirt and dried blood. He was relieved when his wagon was filled and he knew it was time to return to the surface. He made the long trek back, emerged from the ground and was almost instantly yanked off his feet.
“This one! This one used to be a scientist!” He heard his overseer's voice barking in his ears as the harness was roughly ripped from his hips. Clay had lost so much weight, his overseer was easily able to hold him off the ground by the back of his shirt collar. He tossed Clay at the feet of three armed Hyperion soldiers, their yellow uniforms glistening in the moon light. Clay groaned, pushing himself up, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Had his time finally come? Had the higher ups decided to end his suffering and shoot him down? Surely he wasn't worth the bullets.
The soldiers sneered down at the soot covered shell of a man.
“He doesn't look like a scientist.” One of the soldiers kicked at him, earning a grunt from Clay.
“Pandora will do that to you, it has a way of making everything look like crap. I mean, have you seen the “animals” here?” His overseer laughed and pulled a crumpled paper from his belt.
“Here, they gave me this when he was dropped off here. Says he used to be not only a scientist, but a project manager as well. He was demoted to miner after assaulting his co-manager, ignoring orders from the CEO's, stealing Hyperion property and lying on project reports.” He folded the paper after reading it aloud, handing it over to the soldiers.
“W-what is this about?” Clay winced, trying to ignore the accusations against him.
“The opportunity for you to get promoted has arisen. Hyperion knows you have potential and is willing to give you a second chance as an underworking scientist in a new project.” One of the soldiers explained, offering him a hand. Clay frowned, standing to his feet without the help.
“What if I don't want to be a scientist anymore? I'm perfectly happy mining.” He snorted, turning to go to his bunker.
“You don't have a choice.” His overseer stepped in front of him, gun poking into Clay's stomach. Clay held back a gulp, he silently weighed his options in his mind. After his few months at the mines, he had practically excepted his inevitable death, realizing there was no opportunity for escape. However, here was presented with another option. A tiny flicker of hope sparked in his heart and he figured that maybe, just maybe, with this new job, he would have a better chance at escaping. He swallowed his fear and turned to the soldiers, ignoring his overseer.
“When do we leave?” He croaked, his voice hoarse and dry. His overseer gave him a pat on the shoulder.
“That's more like it.”
Clay was ushered away with the crates of Eridium, he cast a reluctant gaze back at the mines. On the ground, merely a shape in the midnight, was the harness to his tunnel wagon.
“Nope,” he thought, facing forward to follow the soldiers, “I won't miss this place.” Surely, things could only get better, because there was absolutely nothing worse than that damned harness. At first things did seem to get better. He was escorted to another lab across Pandora where he was given a room similar to his one back home, but much smaller in comparison. He had full access to the miniature food court, but that was about it, every other room in the facility was strictly guarded. On his first day there he was left alone for the most part. He washed off the grime of the mine and changed into a new lab uniform, much different than the one back home. His lab coat was much longer with all sorts of loops for belts and what not. A strange gas mask was included with the new clothes, but he ignored it for now.
After visiting the food court, and stuffing himself on much missed carbs and fats, he returned to his room. To his shock, and discomfort, he found a communication device sitting on his bed, it had not been there before. Beside it was a note that read,
“Welcome Dr. Clay. We are excited to have you join our new team of Eridium Scientists. This device is your new ECHO. It only works within the facility, so please do not try to make outside contact. Keep it on your person, your new overseer will be in contact with you shortly.”
Clay held back a gulp, he couldn't shake the feeling like he was being monitored. Not only that, but someone had been in his room in the short amount of time that he was gone to the food court. Immediately he began to wonder if perhaps he had made the wrong decision back at the mines, then again, what choice did he really have? Death? It wasn't much of a better option. He had to remind himself that he had agreed to do this in hopes that he could find a better chance at escape. However, he knew somewhere, someone was keeping a close eye on him. He had been given an ECHOE that couldn't contact outside the facility. He was also denied access to any doors that led him remotely near an exit, in fact, he hadn't even seen a map. He knew practically nothing about his new job, associates and location. So far his hopes for escape seemed quite thin.
As Clay began to slip into thought, his ECHO device began to static, a red line flickering up and down over the tiny square screen.
“Dr. Clay, this is your new overseer, I hope you have received everything you need.” A voice grumbled out of the tiny speakers. Clay nearly dropped the device all together, startled when it began to static. Quickly he responded,
“Ah, hi. Uhm I guess so.” He wasn't sure what it was he even needed.
“You guess so? What does that mean? A yes or no will suffice Dr. Clay.” The voice sounded impatient.
“Well uh...I was given a uniform, name tag, gas mask and this ECHO, but that is it. Do I need anything else?” He stammered.
“No, for now you have all you require. Now listen up, I'm only going to say this once, I have several more new workers to inform and don't have time to throw away on you.” His overseer barked and Clay immediately sat down as if to listen better.
“At 12 sharp you will proceed over to the Eridium labs on the second floor. Keep your name tag on you at all times so the patrol doesn't arrest you. Once in the lab, find the lab manager and they will assign you a work space. Every morning on your desk there will be a new chunk of Eridium and instructions on what is to be done with it. Follow these instructions, that is your job. If your lab manager finds you are not able to complete them sufficiently, you will be terminated. Finish the work and you may return to your room for the day. That is all. Do your work, don't ask questions.” The voice stopped and the ECHO device clicked off.
Clay allowed himself a sharp inhale, trying to process everything he was told. This was by far the most bizarre branch of Hyperion he had been to. There was definitely something going on. Why else would everyone be so secretive and illusive?
He wasn't given much time to think about it. The small clock on his wall was a quarter to 12 and he didn't even know where the labs were. Quickly he grabbed the gas mask from his bed and darted from his bedroom, not bothering to lock the door behind him. He had a feeling that locking it wouldn't make much of a difference.
It was a miracle that he found the labs on time. He had raced to he second floor like his overseer had instructed and spied a worker with the same purple band on his lab coat that Clay had. Clay followed him to a large, strangely laid out lab. Inside were rows and rows of lab desks, each one had a scientist leaning over it. At the end of each row were giant bins filled with chunks of Eridium. Clay imagined it looked more like a factory than any lab he had ever been in.
A short petite woman with a lab coat one size too big, was walking laps around the room, inspecting each desk carefully. She had a metal baton that she twirled in her fingers. Clay watches as she approached one scientist in particular who looked like he could fall asleep any second. The chunk of Eridium he held was slowly slipping out of his hands, his head nodding down as his lids drooped closed. As soon as the Eridium hit the table, the short woman was on him smacking her baton into the back of his knee.
“WAKE UP YOU DOLT!” She barked, her voice high and shrill like a agitated pomeranian. The man yelped in surprise, jerking his head up.
“That's strike two for you, I better not catch you slacking again.” She warned before continuing on her walk. Clay felt a chill go down his spine, how could he possible work with that angry little shrew pacing around his desk? As if she could read his mind, her eyes darted up to him in a judgmental glare. Clay felt his heart stop, it was like looking into the eyes of a shark, she would eat him alive. She raced over to him quicker than lightening, yanking his name tag from his belt.
“Dr. Clay eh?” She sneered, looking him over. “How long were you planning on standing there before getting to work?” She chucked his name tag towards his face making him flinch. Clay quickly stooped and plucked his tag off the ground.
“Pick an empty desk, and get working!” She barked, smacking the baton over his rear. Clay leapt forward and charged for the first empty lab table he saw.
At the desk a chunk of Eridium waited for him, along with a note.
“Purify Eridium.” Clay stood there quietly, frowning at the lack of information provided to him. He eyed the other scientists who presumably had the same task as him. Some ran around frantically looking for tools and chemicals they needed. Others were clearly pretending to preform the task, their minds drifting off, however they were quickly smacked by the lab manager.
“Am I supposed to just figure this out?” He frowned, pinching the bridge on his nose. He hadn't even started his job yet and already he was stressing out. He picked the purple stone up, rolling it over in his hands. It was just like the pieces he had mined from the ground just yesterday, in fact, he imagined this was one of his. He could even see the persistent specks of dirt that still clung to it.
“W-what am I going to do with this?” He grumbled. Before he could finish his thought, a commotion arose from the other side of the room. The lab manager was swinging her baton in the air, shouting at one of the scientists. A puff of nasty grey smoke was wafting from his lab table, small flames licked at his beakers. Now he knew why they needed gas masks.
“YOU IDIOT! THAT IS IT!” The manager shrieked. “TAKE HIM OUT! HE'S DONE!” She practically screamed to a set of guards by the door. Clay gulped back his fear, watching as the soldiers ran to get the scientist. However, the scientist had other plans in mind.
“No way am I going with them!” He barked, kicking the manager out of the way. The scientist raced down the row of lab tables, making a circle around the room. Clay had to lean into his desk so he wouldn't get run slam over. The soldiers yelled and shouted as they chased the stubborn scientist around the room. Suddenly there was a flash of red, it whizzed past Clays desk and shot right through the other scientists head. His body jerked before he fell forward, red liquid splattering across the floor. Clay's eyes widened as the room fell silent with a hush.
“Take him out!” The manager instructed. She was standing on a lab table, smoking laser gun in her tiny hands. A scowl was plastered over his face and she waved the gun in the air threateningly.
“WHAT ARE YOU ALL GAWKING AT!? GET BACK TO WORK!” And just like that the lab sprang back to life, as if nothing had happened.
Clay wiped the sweat from his brow, his hands were shaking.
“Purify the Eridium....” he reminded himself, and his mind immediately began to race through possible steps. “Ok...I need to separate it from any other element it may be combined with.” He muttered. His eyes fell on a large cabinet on the far wall where other scientists were gathering the equipment they needed. He ran over and immediately grabbed a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide, and a bottle of Acid Medium.
He quickly returned to his desk and started forming a solution with the two liquids. He tried to block out the noise of the lab as he watched the Eridium in the beaker, slowly raising its PH level. He didn't know much about Eridium, but he did know this was a common method to removing impurities from other precious metals, so it was worth a shot. He attempted with this method all day, switching out with different pieces of Eridium. Sadly, none of his attempts worked.
When the lab manager announced the closing of the lab, he was still watching a beaker, feeling somewhat defeated with himself. He had miserably failed on the first day, and was no closer to purifying any Eridium. He took comfort in knowing that none of the other scientists had been successful either, and he boasted in the fact that his method was by far the most logical. One man had shoved an Eridium piece in the break room microwave in a desperate attempt to do something right. Needless to say, the lab manager was not impressed.
That night in his room, Clay racked his brain for other possibilities to purifying Eridium. He could feel frustration racing through his veins and it kept him awake for hours. The next morning he hurried back to the lab, returning to his desk. On the desk was a new chunk of Eridium and a new note reading the same as yesterday: “Purify Eridium.”
Clay let out an exasperated exhale and cracked his knuckles, he was determined to figure this out. If he could do this one simple task, then maybe, somehow, he would gain trust with the lab manager. If he could earn favor with his overseer's, managers and essentially anyone else above him, then he had a better chance of escaping. As of now, he knew they didn't trust him, and they had every reason not to. The CEO's made him out to be a terrible worker. It was still a shock to him they had even given him a second chance.
The lab manager seemed rather energetic on this particular morning, and was having a great time giving all the scientists a hard time. She clacked her metal staff against table legs and found something wrong with practically everything anyone did.
“Eridium is a tough element, holy water isn't going to purify it!” She barked at one of the scientists who was submerging the stone in some sort of concoction. Clay figured he had better get to work before she made her way down his row. Luckily, a thought hit him before she could reach him, and he was off with his Eridium, gathering the tools he needed.
If a simple chemical mixture wasn't enough to break down the Eridium, then perhaps heat would be a better option. He darted toward the small burning furnace in the neighboring room. Not too many scientists went in their, Clay guessed so one was to keen on melting their skin off. A clay crucible had already been set up with the furnace and Clay quickly plopped the Eridium in. He set the furnace to 1,000 celsius, watching from the safety room. The Eridium sat nicely in the crucible, the temperature rose and rose, but it didn't lose any density. Frowning, Clay turned a nob, cranking the furnace up to 2,000 celsius, far over the melting point of gold. However, even at such great temperatures, the Eridium refused to change. Frustrated, Clay cranked the furnace even higher. It was now at 3,600 celsius, hot enough to melt even diamonds. Still the Eridium was just as whole as when it was pulled from the mines. He wanted to do things proper, he really did. As a true scientist, he knew he should take the time to slowly raise the temperature, jotting down results. But he felt like anything but a true scientist, he was being worked against his will and forced to perform experiments on purple rocks. With procedure to the wind, he turned up the furnace as far as it would go, 5,000 celsius, no known material had a melting point so high.
The wave of heat from the furnace room was so strong that Clay could feel it sizzling into the safety room. And yet, the Eridium was resistant. A shrill alarm blared into the safety room, the furnace rattled and popped and Clay was forced to shut it all off, another failure.
By now he was completely out of ideas. Defeated for the second time, he returned to the lab. He grabbed another bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and Acid Medium and concocted the same mixture as the day before. If the manager was going to nag him, he might as well have something for her to nag him about. His motivation was completely gone, if heat couldn't purify the Eridium, then he guessed no chemical solution would do the job either.
“Still doing the same crap as yesterday!?” He heard the high pitch of his manager behind him. She tapped her metal bar on the back of his chair. “No wonder you're not a real scientist.” She laughed and quickly moved on. Clay clenched his fists, angrily glaring daggers at the stubborn purple stone.
“Not a real scientist?” He hissed, “I'm more of a scientist than any of these goons. I created DNA on a computer, I formed life in a petri tray.” He let his teeth grind together in irritation. He had tried his best to keep all memories of his project at bay, Clap-Trap, Tabitha, and A...it was all too painful to think of. He had cried enough in the mines, he had stayed up countless nights regretting everything. But he wouldn't let it get him down this time, no, he wouldn't be defeated by Hyperion, and he definitely wasn't being bested by the stupid Eridium shard. He would purify it, if it was the last thing he did.
Authors Note: I hope I didn't bore you all to death with the science....uh...stuff. I just feel like it makes the story more believable if the reader can see that Clay actually does know what he's doing (well...he tries at least).
Also, how come almost every character I introduce is annoying as crap...everyone at Hyperion sucks (save for Patterson, Leanne and Simeone...Hyperion doesn't deserve them). 662Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr2BY9n9Sf
