Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
'What... Is that... Sound?'
That sound was a constant in the child's mind as he tried to process what was happening around him. He pried open his eyes, and a dull blue light filtered into them, forcing him to close them once again in order to adjust to the light.
[Welcome to Henan. Congratulations on your successful birth.]
A voice suddenly appeared in his mind, startling him. He blinked slowly and hesitantly, noting that the light no longer hurt his eyes.
A bubble of thoughts surged within his mind as he looked around. He was currently laying on a metal board, in a puddle of lightly glowing green gel. Around him were a few pairs of feet, belonging to people he had not yet seen.
"Oh, this one seems smart." One of the people surrounding him spoke up.
"Of course, he is. He was born from my genes." Another voice spoke.
"Our genes." A more feminine voice pitched in.
'People...'
After another minute, Rowan finally tried moving his head in a way that would allow him see the people around him. His arms twitched as he tried to move them, but failed, as he was not used to controlling them.
He could at least see some things. There were white walls surrounding him, and numerous advanced machines. But he did not know what any of them were.
"Get me a towel so I can clean him up." The feminine voice said and one pair of feet left Rowan's line of sight. He felt someone pick him p and hold him in a sitting position, finally allowing him a good view of the people around him.
The woman that held him up had a soft smile on her face. She had a wave of black running down across her shoulders, and her light blue eyes stuck out to Rowan. Behind her stood a stoic man, with a stern face. He had brown hair, and a short brown beard. His bottle green eyes looked sharp as he studied Rowan with a frown. A couple of steps behind the two, another man, a much older man, with long, grey hair, watched Rowan with a smile. He waved slightly at Rowan before turning to face the door behind him when it slid open to reveal a young man that greatly resembled the brown haired man from earlier.
The brown haired young man who had just entered the room made his way over to the woman who was holding Rowan with a towel in hand.
"He looks like Father." The young man spoke to the woman as he handed the towel to her. She nodded her head and began wiping down the gel that covered Rowan's body.
"He has my eyes, though." Her smile grey even wider after she said that.
'...M... Mother...?'
A few more minutes passed before she was done wiping down Rowan.
"Bring him over to the table, so that I can run another scan on him just to make sure everything is alright." The grey haired man said. He motioned to the table that he had in front of him. There was a multitude of different equipment arranged around it. Staring at it made Rowan feel uncomfortable.
"But the initial scans before his birth said that everything was fine." The woman holding Rowan frowned.
"I know that, Lena, but it is better to be safe than sorry. He is also acting a bit more strangely than other new born tube babies. Even Eric was fussy after his birth." The man smiled wryly. He had known that she would protest. She had never been that much a fan of technology unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Ha~ Fine, then. But please, be careful." Lena sighed deeply, and lifted up Rowan's small body, before passing him over to the older man.
The man took Rowan with a gentle hold, and took him over to a metal table that had a scanning machine handing over it. After he placed Rowan on it, he went around to the operating panel of the machine to initiate the scan.
Rowan felt a wave of uncomfortable feeling pass through him, but it only lasted for a few seconds before vanishing without a trace. A minute passed in silence before Rowan finally heard the grey haired man speaking.
"All his vital signs are stable, but he is showing a much higher level of brain activity than what new born tube babies usually do. Even the particularly smart ones. I'm afraid we have stumbled upon a gem here." The man said.
"So, this little one has the genes of a soldier. Nothing too shocking, considering that both his father and brother are soldiers." The face of the stern, brown haired man appeared in Rowan's vision.
By this time, Rowan had gained a bit of coordination in his limbs. He reached up, and the brown haired man had a surprised look on his face. He frowned as he allowed Rowan's hand to end up on his cheek.
"He is strong." The man nodded, and held onto Rowan's hand. Rowan's hand was only about half of the man's hand, and was wholly swallowed by the man's large hand. "How old does your scanner put him at?" His green eyes shifted to gaze at the old doctor that was outside of Rowan's vision.
"He should be twelve standard years old. A pre-teen." The man's voice came. "Just give him a couple of weeks, and he should be moving about like the average twelve year old."
"What should we call him?" The faces of the woman and the younger brown haired man entered Rowan's vision from the side. They all peered down at him curiously.
"We will call him Rowan. It has the ring of a strong warrior to it." The man spoke. A small smile graced his face as the corners of his lips were lifted up. He squeezed Rowan's hand a tiny bit as he stared into the newborn's eyes. "Welcome to Henan, my little warrior."
