Adam's arms flailed as he fell, the breath sucked out of his surprised lungs before he could manage to scream, feet kicking and hands clawing at the air. His stomach shot into his throat for a horrible moment as he plunged downward, and then an explosion of water erupted up around him as he plunged into the marble black surface of an unknown body of water. The cold hit him like a speeding train, and he had to fight the urge to gasp as he was submerged in the cold water.
His Victorian clothing, was quickly saturated with water, and in an effort to lighten his load, he reached up to unbutton his coat, discarding it underwater as he clawed towards the surface breaking the surface tension of the water with a gasp and a curse.
"For fucks sake!." He managed to gasp out before the room was suddenly flooded with light.
Treading water, he had to raise one hand to block his eyes squinting against the glare.
"Marvelous!"
Eyes finally adjusting he looked past his hand and the light to see their patron standing not too far away on a lip of black marble staring down at him.
Adam looked around.
The entire room seemed to be comprised primarily of black marble including the pool in which he tread water. With the coloration of the stone it was almost impossible to determine how much water was below him. He looked around hoping for some sort of stairwell upwards, but found nothing. The sides of the pool were completely sheer, and wet marble wasn't something he was going to waste his time trying to scale.
He lifted his head.
The patron was still clapping.
"Really marvelous. I had heard humans could swim, but I don't know if I believed it or not." Adam kicked his legs furiously and stroked to the side of the pool, "What the hell are you doing!" He demanded resting the palms of his hands against the cool stonework.
The patron looked down at him.
"Merely ensuring the survival of the universe."
"Survival of the universe!" Adam snarled, "How does drowning me have anything to do with the survival of the universe."
The patron shook his head as if in disappointment of a naughty child, "Drown you? Drown you!" I am insulted Adam Vir. I would never dream of drowning you, or hurting a hair upon your head."
Adam huffed, "Well forgive me for not being convinced. Generally when someone kidnaps you hey mean harm.
"Kidnapping!" The indignation was back but greater than ever, "I did not kidnap you. When the party is finished and your friends leave, I fully intend to let you go with them, to go back to protecting the universe and what not. Since I plan on returning you it can hardly be considered kidnapping."
"If you look in the dictionary under kidnapper, you are going to see a picture of your own face." Adam spat shaking matted hair off his forehead.
The Rundi lifted it's chin angrily, "Fine, be that way, but that was hardly my intention. I simply want to test your human abilities for my own eyes. Yes yes, I have heard plenty of rumors, but are they true? How can I know for sure that you are the best investment this universe has for survival if I don't test."
"If this is about humans than any human would do wouldn't it? Besides, I am only scheduled for getting kidnapped every OTHER week."
He kept his head high in defiance as the Rundi looked down at him clearly amused, "You are a feisty one. I will give you that. Despite your sarcasm I wouldn't be surprised if that statement were true. You do tend to end up in poor circumstances a lot."
"Yes, which is why Dr Krill and the others should have just received my panic signal and will be coming for me any moment."
He couldn't help but let the smug smile cross his face as he reached up and untied the saturated silk scarf, that too which he discarded in favor of less weight and a better ability to breathe. He even took a few seconds to undue his vest and discard that as well, letting the items of clothing float away into the darkness leaving him in only his tan trousers and a white Victorian dress shirt.
He had kicked off the shoes first thing.
"Ah yes, the homing device. Quite a useful object, considering that it is embedded inside you as I recall. Burned to your ribs or something like that?"
He nodded, "Yep." He tilted his head expecting to hear the sound of rushing footsteps at any moment.
"MMmm while clever, you friends will not be coming for you."
Adam frowned, "What do you mean."
The Rundi made his way around the upper edge of the basin, "You see, the thing about electronic devices of any kind is that they are relatively easy to sabotage if you know what you are doing. Even if they are implanted on the inside of a person."
He turned to follow the movement of the Rundi, "No EMP, since there was still lights on at the party."
"Well that's because I am not using an EMP. Or at least not in the conventional sense of the word."
"Is this the part where you monologue about your evil plan and give me time to escape."
"It isn't an EVIL plan. I Am trying to do what is best for our galaxy, and to make that decision I need to know what I am dealing with. If it helps you feel better, you are not the first person I tested."
"Go on?"
"I have long been trying to find someone who seemed the most likely to keep this universe under control. I didn't bother with the Vrul or the bran or any of those as they are easily thwarted. I quickly discounted my own species as the presence of water, so common on other livable worlds, is poison to us. I thought the Tesraki might do it, and for a while they did, but I soon had to discard them in favor of more promising prospects. Burg seemed like a good idea until I learned that stripping them of their slime was an effective way of terminating them."
Adam bore his teeth, "What was all that about not killing me?"
"Oh you misunderstand. I haven't killed anyone. Everyone who has stepped into my holdings has always come out alive, and in some cases with a very handsome sum for their troubles. Granted the Burg was a little less cooperative than the rest I will admit, but I did my best on that one. Anyway, the point being is that I have been testing species for a s long as I can remember, to know their real capabilities under pressure, and this time it is your turn. As far as it goes, Adam Vir, I chose you, not because of who your are, and not because of some personal vendetta. It wasn't even because of my admiration for you."
He adjusted his monocle on his face.
"I chose you simply because you were the only human that I knew of who had a secret important enough to use as blackmail, and one which is likely to keep your mouth shut when all of this is over."
"Secret! What secret?"
"Your little interspecies tryst with the saint of Anin. My bet is that if you aren't willing to go public with it yet, you would rather not go public with it at all. Think about all the backlash that could accompany a revelation like that. Recruitment would go down, support for the alliance would fade away, and there would be even more people willing to form isolationists groups, which you cannot afford to deal with right now. If you are a smart man, Adam Vir, you are going to do my tests and you are going to keep your mouth shut after they are over."
Adam gripped his fists, but the gesture was almost completely futile.
"Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier. I Donated to the UNSC not only because I believe in your cause, but to make sure that I got the chance to meet you myself. When your ship entered orbit, I closed the comms relay system which means no one is going to be calling on or off this planet. As the guests arrived they were given champaign laced with a special little sedative derived from the plants of A1-36. Oh don't look at me like that, it isn't going to hurt them. It's not even a sedative really. Its sort of a tincture that increases the amount of relaxation and suggestibility in humans, kind of like hypnosis. If you recall there were also no clocks inside that room, and everyone outside has been informed that the retreat will last a few days. Meanwhile the guests will be fed and taken care of, and they will have a wonderful time at their little party dancing the night away and sleeping under tables. Most of them will not remember a thing, and those that do will simply remember being on a bit of a.... how do you humans say? A bender? As far as you are concerned, however, we didn't want you partially sedated when it came to my little plan, and so you have been drinking some sort of mixed white grape juice all night strategically implanted with biodegrading technologies that are going to keep that pesky alarm system quiet for the moment"
In growing frustration, Adam dipped his had down, sucked up some of the water into his cheeks and then turned his head quickly spitting it directly at the Rundi. It would have been right on target if there wasn't a sudden flashing of red light, and the water sizzled against an energy field that only appeared for the briefest moments before vanishing away again.
"Fascinating." The Rundi said, leading forward over the basin edge. "They said that you could do that, but I had never actually seen it. A very useful weapon in a galaxy like this . that might have taken me off guard if I had not been prepared for it, but you will find you want me alive more than you want me dead as I am the only one that can get you out of that basin."
He walked to the other side of the hole and opened a control panel to reveal hundreds of little white buttons, neatly labeled along their sides, though Adam couldn't make out what they said."
"Anyway, try to behave yourself, but we are going to see how long you can stay floating like that. The last creature that I tried out in this chamber was the Drev, his was quite promising, however, it turns out that Drev are no great shakes when it comes to swimming. Sank right to the bottom and I had to send the crane in after him, poor fellow, though you might be interested to hear that Drev can spit water out of their non-facial nasal passageways kind of like a whale."
"You bastard." Adam hissed kicking his feet to he was closer to the Rundi."
"Mmm yes save your breath as you are likely to need it."
He turned and walked out of the room leaving Adam alone in the water hands waving back and forth as he pushed through the water. He was fine for the first few minutes, or even hours he thought as he ran his hands through the water. Time dragged on immeasurably slow as he swam around the interior of the tank trying to find a way out.
He discarded his billowing Victorian shirt watching it float away to the other side of the pool. Bare chested, wearing nothing but the trousers, he continued to swim around the outer side, taking breaks to float on his back and rest while he determined his next move. He could not have known how long he was swimming and floating there, ut it felt endless, and by the time his legs and arms began to grow heavy he was sure that he had been there for days. He continued to kick with his feet and arms, but his head was sagging dangerously towards the water. He tried to support himself on the marble wall, but that only helped so much.
His legs were so heavy.
So tired.
His head bobbed below the surface and he sputtered back to life as he clawed for the surface again, his hands flailed as he tried to maintain his tread, but ever so slowly his form grew worse and worse and worse, until his face was only just peeking out of the surface of the water. His muscles were exhausted, his hands and arms so tired, his legs on fire. He sunk a little deeper and the water splashed over his face. He took one more gasping breath as he sunk even lower his hands reaching out of the surface as he began to sink.
Somewhere in the darkness, a bright light began to flash, and he lifted his head to see a message written in English in glowing lights on an underwater screen.
"How long can you hold your breath?"
He struggled to hold onto the air that he had managed to keep, forcing himself to kick his legs though they didn't manage to bring him to the surface. It must have gone on for minutes as he tried to find a way out, tried to force his body to work. His lungs were on fire, screaming for air as he sunk even lower, his ears popping as the pressure increase The light overhead faded from him as he went deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, still holding his breath but unable to do much else. He willed his adrenaline to kick him and save him from this, but his energy was spent, and he continued to float down, down down.
His lungs were ready to burst.
He was going to drown!
And then a sharp buzzing noise under the water, and he was caught up in a tidal wave as the wall just to the side of them began to open. Grasping at the water like he was trying to crawl his way out, he was sucked through the opening and out into darkness. His hands and feet brushed against soemthing hard and cold and then his face broke the surface as the water spilled around him, lapping out across a massive room, spilling into a puddle that was no more than two inches deep.
Adam lay on his back coughing and gasping his body spent his head throbbing He choked water out onto the ground curled up in his puddle shivering with the exertion of it all. He hurt all over, and with no more energy to stand or walk, he rested his head against his arm and simply lay in the pool of water.
"Very good!" A voice echoed from somewhere, "Very good."
That was more than ten hours, you would have gotten less, if you didn't float, though I had no idea you could do that. Bravo, Bravo."
There was clapping over the intercom.
"You'll be pleased to know that you can hold your breath for about two minutes, which I hear is the high end of average."
Adam groaned in response.
"Oh don't worry, you'll feel right as reign in a moment, and don't worry about your friends, most of them are sleeping right now, but others are still dancing. I am keeping an eye on them to make sure no one gets hurt."
There was a slight whirring of noise, and Adam looked up to see a strange mechanical creature roll across the floor towards him. He didn't move as it scooped him up and rolled him away over the water and down another tunnel depositing him on the floor of the strange room. It was warm and dry and all Adam wanted to do was fall asleep.
He rested his head on the ground.
"No no no, we don't have time for that. Have this instead."
Adam felt a sharp prick in the back of his leg, and sat up with a snarl as the robot scooted out the door. His body was suddenly filled with energy. The pain from his limbs was gone and he felt as if he had just woken up from a ten hour rest.
He looked around the room but saw nothing.
"What was that."
"A little tincture derived from the plants on A1-36, surprisingly useful for how useless they seem. It cerates the illusion of alertness in humans. Granted its effects last for a short amount of time and do not cure the exhaustion, but it temporarily blocks exhaustion and the associated pain, which is going to be important if we want to get all of this done this week.
"Sick psychopath." Adam hissed.
"Mmm perhaps. If you would like I left out some dry clothing for you. Forgive I could only provide shorts, but I sort of need you to be exposed to the elements if I am going to learn about your resistances."
Adam didn't want to put on the clothing, but right now it didn't seem as if there was going to be any other option.
And so he did discarding his sodden pants.
"Good. Now you are a primarily hair less creature. So I am wondering, how resistant you are
To the cold."