Drängen für der Drang
The ending has been already written.
If you wanna read it.... wait for the right time. º..º
If you wanna read it.... wait for the right time. º..º
posted by tensayoki @ 20:57
0 comments
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
Synthesis
- As for your sister...... I truthfully cannot provide you with a conclusive answer about her whereabouts. The few remaining of us that weren't infected scattered around, aimlessly, with the panic, searching for safe locations.
The..... last time I remember seeing her was when we were trying to rescue some fellow workers of the debris caused by a rock cave-in, over that drive way headed towards the W wing. We were then surprised attacked by some of these beasts and we got separated. I barely got away. That was the day before yesterday.
It's difficult to say what happened.... but I reckon chances aren't very favorable.
Dan, agitated, asked Sagi to elaborate further, to which the latter replied:
- In any case, you said that Mr. Sadha was awaiting for you at the station, did you not? So it means that he knew that Ms. Autumn had established contact with you and when you were to arrive. And where. It isn't much of a leap to conjecture that this man, whenever he is, may know, better than anyone else, about her current status.
- Darn, that was my theory as well.... If he did something harmful... - Dan muttered, furiously.
Sagi kept looking in the notebook, trying to find helpful answers:
[- Here, it's mentioned the matter of the lymphatic liquid increase. A trouble which was also implanted in our seminal experiments. It describes the attempt at resilience of the host's body to the extraneous infected cells. Trying to shut them down.]
Dan stared at the ceiling; he was, himself, clouded with thoughts.
- So.... supposing that a human implants himself, deliberately or not, with some if this so-called potion. Is it possible that, without reverting to some kind of animal form, such a person could be..... have, evolved.... in a sense?
Sagi put a very serious, straight face right away:
- The result.... the consequences of such is, to me, purely unfathomable... Although I do suspect that this improved toxin is susceptible for dependency. The situation you've hypothesized is something that eludes me completely; Who knows, as you see, the variables are so immense. With these restored formulas, the effects are, simply, unpredictable. At best....
Silence. A dramatic silence, for considerations...
- What about that odd square, with the moving statue? Named... Sahankra Tumhina?
Sagi frowned his face, making a clear non-sequitur expression:
- What... are you talking about? What kind of statue? There is a statue depicting a man of the Prussian army riding a horse, but did you say.... moving? It's nothing I know about.
- Yes... definitely a moving statue.... It saved my life, back there!...
Sagi tried to come up with an explanation:
- Very curious. Such "artifact" should be, in my best guess, the work of a third-party company. This remote place was more than adequate to conduct our highly confidential experiments on our findings. Which means.... it was someone else, possessing intelligence detailing the stages of our own R&D.
Probably.... someone of the acquaintances of Sadha. Perhaps an industrial sabotage attempt of a rival that backfired. It isn't all that uncommon.
- Could it be..... the work of your friend, Mikusu?
- Unlikely.... I can tell you some things about Amin....
[- Regarding Amin... he, Mr.Medetre, was the Cassandra of the team, always prone to raise his discordant voice in all committees.
- Cassandra...?
- Yes.... like the mythological queen, his concerns with the project came to be prophetic.... his foresight ignored, or even scoffed upon.
He was against the project going forward since the very beginning, when the news of the finding circulated in the board talks.
The stockholders actively disagreed with his opinions in every committee meetings and started implementing measures to oblige him to comply with the situation, accusing him of wanting to hinder the eventual growth of profits. He was even dismissed as a haughty kind of person, despite the fact that all of his critics were all well-intentioned.
After all, the unknown always poses a danger. No one knew what that thing, which was to be dealt with, was. But, you see, the potential that could come of fully comprehending the workings of this alien being was something that one couldn't let go so easily.
Insight into biomolecular engineering and ways to turn Man into a more perfected creature, advancement in the creations of mechanisms for human subsisting in space; perhaps research in new kinds of fuels. I have it as one of the foremost discoveries in the history of humankind.
And they were aware of such. The holding's president of operations, covered by the stockholders, who were emphasizing the priority of an eventual use of the specimen, disliked his tries to shut down the operation and threatened to fire him, as well as lawsuit him for financial losses, harassment and fraud. And they were demanding his insurance policies.
The scandal would be total ruin, for him and his reputation: condemned to fulfill severances pays and other charges, he wouldn't be able to find work at ease. Mikusu's supporters were dwindling and dwindling at each passing day. His confrontations, he realized, were a lost cause and he gave in, always under the pressure of the board.]
Dan could try to understand. It really was like if he had taken a trip to another world; jarring, intense, cold-blooded.
- Anyway, we've stood here for long enough! - Sagi declared - For the time being, we'll be alright, however we must find a way to communicate with outer marker posts. These monsters managed to rip out all wires leading outside. We can't have our cell phones in here, as the electromagnetic radiations of high frequency could be able to interfere with our experimentations.
- And what about landline phones?
- The wires were all cut off.
- What a story...! - Dan let out, crushed - This is really..... heavy stuff!.....Worthy of two lifetimes -- An alien denizen, right out of faraway space? Wow, who could have guessed it? Not in a million of years.
- You can see it for yourself, Mr. Medetre, what no one could see coming.
Dan felt like a beam of electricity flooding his insides. The cause of the entire turmoil, at only a few feet of him. The old scientist stood up. And Dan went after him.
They moved backwards, heading to the adjoining room, sealed by another blocked passage; this door seemed like the reinforced door of a safe -- iron and steel.
It was locked by an alphanumeric keyboard, which was at the midst of an inclined electric panel right on its right side, on which Sagi digited some buttons, forming a code, to which the door responded with a buffering sound of a lock turning itself open.
Dan helped his partner rotate this other, weighty and bulky, frame door.
There it stood, in the middle of the insipid room, inert inside the stasis acrylic tube, curvaceous and larger than what Dan had imagined, almost of the size of a very small jackfruit.
There it was, immersed in paraffin.
Dan could almost hear some kind of organ, playing a sinister theme in the background. Through the translucent liquid, one could notice some stripes similar to those of a jackfruit; seeing a pastel green tone.
- This proto-sample.... it's a menace to humanity, a hazard to doom us all! This stuff must be destroyed, right away! What was caused here, if it spreads to further regions, it's the end! It's unavoidable.
The..... last time I remember seeing her was when we were trying to rescue some fellow workers of the debris caused by a rock cave-in, over that drive way headed towards the W wing. We were then surprised attacked by some of these beasts and we got separated. I barely got away. That was the day before yesterday.
It's difficult to say what happened.... but I reckon chances aren't very favorable.
Dan, agitated, asked Sagi to elaborate further, to which the latter replied:
- In any case, you said that Mr. Sadha was awaiting for you at the station, did you not? So it means that he knew that Ms. Autumn had established contact with you and when you were to arrive. And where. It isn't much of a leap to conjecture that this man, whenever he is, may know, better than anyone else, about her current status.
- Darn, that was my theory as well.... If he did something harmful... - Dan muttered, furiously.
Sagi kept looking in the notebook, trying to find helpful answers:
[- Here, it's mentioned the matter of the lymphatic liquid increase. A trouble which was also implanted in our seminal experiments. It describes the attempt at resilience of the host's body to the extraneous infected cells. Trying to shut them down.]
Dan stared at the ceiling; he was, himself, clouded with thoughts.
- So.... supposing that a human implants himself, deliberately or not, with some if this so-called potion. Is it possible that, without reverting to some kind of animal form, such a person could be..... have, evolved.... in a sense?
Sagi put a very serious, straight face right away:
- The result.... the consequences of such is, to me, purely unfathomable... Although I do suspect that this improved toxin is susceptible for dependency. The situation you've hypothesized is something that eludes me completely; Who knows, as you see, the variables are so immense. With these restored formulas, the effects are, simply, unpredictable. At best....
Silence. A dramatic silence, for considerations...
- What about that odd square, with the moving statue? Named... Sahankra Tumhina?
Sagi frowned his face, making a clear non-sequitur expression:
- What... are you talking about? What kind of statue? There is a statue depicting a man of the Prussian army riding a horse, but did you say.... moving? It's nothing I know about.
- Yes... definitely a moving statue.... It saved my life, back there!...
Sagi tried to come up with an explanation:
- Very curious. Such "artifact" should be, in my best guess, the work of a third-party company. This remote place was more than adequate to conduct our highly confidential experiments on our findings. Which means.... it was someone else, possessing intelligence detailing the stages of our own R&D.
Probably.... someone of the acquaintances of Sadha. Perhaps an industrial sabotage attempt of a rival that backfired. It isn't all that uncommon.
- Could it be..... the work of your friend, Mikusu?
- Unlikely.... I can tell you some things about Amin....
[- Regarding Amin... he, Mr.Medetre, was the Cassandra of the team, always prone to raise his discordant voice in all committees.
- Cassandra...?
- Yes.... like the mythological queen, his concerns with the project came to be prophetic.... his foresight ignored, or even scoffed upon.
He was against the project going forward since the very beginning, when the news of the finding circulated in the board talks.
The stockholders actively disagreed with his opinions in every committee meetings and started implementing measures to oblige him to comply with the situation, accusing him of wanting to hinder the eventual growth of profits. He was even dismissed as a haughty kind of person, despite the fact that all of his critics were all well-intentioned.
After all, the unknown always poses a danger. No one knew what that thing, which was to be dealt with, was. But, you see, the potential that could come of fully comprehending the workings of this alien being was something that one couldn't let go so easily.
Insight into biomolecular engineering and ways to turn Man into a more perfected creature, advancement in the creations of mechanisms for human subsisting in space; perhaps research in new kinds of fuels. I have it as one of the foremost discoveries in the history of humankind.
And they were aware of such. The holding's president of operations, covered by the stockholders, who were emphasizing the priority of an eventual use of the specimen, disliked his tries to shut down the operation and threatened to fire him, as well as lawsuit him for financial losses, harassment and fraud. And they were demanding his insurance policies.
The scandal would be total ruin, for him and his reputation: condemned to fulfill severances pays and other charges, he wouldn't be able to find work at ease. Mikusu's supporters were dwindling and dwindling at each passing day. His confrontations, he realized, were a lost cause and he gave in, always under the pressure of the board.]
Dan could try to understand. It really was like if he had taken a trip to another world; jarring, intense, cold-blooded.
- Anyway, we've stood here for long enough! - Sagi declared - For the time being, we'll be alright, however we must find a way to communicate with outer marker posts. These monsters managed to rip out all wires leading outside. We can't have our cell phones in here, as the electromagnetic radiations of high frequency could be able to interfere with our experimentations.
- And what about landline phones?
- The wires were all cut off.
- What a story...! - Dan let out, crushed - This is really..... heavy stuff!.....Worthy of two lifetimes -- An alien denizen, right out of faraway space? Wow, who could have guessed it? Not in a million of years.
- You can see it for yourself, Mr. Medetre, what no one could see coming.
Dan felt like a beam of electricity flooding his insides. The cause of the entire turmoil, at only a few feet of him. The old scientist stood up. And Dan went after him.
They moved backwards, heading to the adjoining room, sealed by another blocked passage; this door seemed like the reinforced door of a safe -- iron and steel.
It was locked by an alphanumeric keyboard, which was at the midst of an inclined electric panel right on its right side, on which Sagi digited some buttons, forming a code, to which the door responded with a buffering sound of a lock turning itself open.
Dan helped his partner rotate this other, weighty and bulky, frame door.
There it stood, in the middle of the insipid room, inert inside the stasis acrylic tube, curvaceous and larger than what Dan had imagined, almost of the size of a very small jackfruit.
There it was, immersed in paraffin.
Dan could almost hear some kind of organ, playing a sinister theme in the background. Through the translucent liquid, one could notice some stripes similar to those of a jackfruit; seeing a pastel green tone.
- This proto-sample.... it's a menace to humanity, a hazard to doom us all! This stuff must be destroyed, right away! What was caused here, if it spreads to further regions, it's the end! It's unavoidable.
posted by tensayoki @ 01:11
0 comments
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Répandant les haricots (cont.)
Saturnine, Dan inquired:
- There was nothing... you could do..... at all?
- It was a lost cause. The modified genetic code affected the host like a fast-growing metastatic cancer. Unknown causes; as such, idiopathic. We had studied the forming chains to its Metaphase stage and weren't able to obtain firm conclusions. Nor a could we find a healthier hybridization, to somehow nullify the Protogenos.
The old man reached into his waistcoat's pocket again, in order to get another smoke. After a few seconds of fondling, he pulled his right hand out, surprised.
- My cigarettes... not here! They must've fallen somewhere in the field, during the ordeal of earlier.
Dan never lost sight of this weary man, a scientist, who had been all but abandoned by the very dear science he regarded so highly, and had devoted his entire life to uphold. For a man who gave his all to science, the shocking notion of losing control would of be something overwhelming. He handed him the letter, found randomly earlier in a topsy-turvy situation.
- So you're Doctor Sagi. Lydia Sagi....
The old man had a rather weary, but sincere scoffing smile:
- No - he looked at the letter - Lydia was my aunt's name; my mother adored her sister and promised that if she ever had a daughter she'd give her this name. Unfortunately, I came instead. It became my second name. Eventually, though, I honoured that wish: "Lydia" is my only daughter's name. If it had came a boy, I was thinking of naming it Peter....; How I'd love to give an account of this tale in a more proper context, not this horrible setting. I guess it's irrelevant, now; these are, now, nothing more than the reminiscences of another lifetime..... - the last sentence was spoken in a noticeably wistful manner.
- The Stoichiometry of life is still a few steps behind in complexity, compared with some human idiosyncrasies.....
He was intently focused on the letter, probably still wondering how Dan could of had got a hold of it.
A thought crossed Dan's mind; that it was Sagi that was in need of painkillers, not himself.
- Was that why? That is why "anything short from mind-blowing success is disappointing", as your friend puts it?
- Amin was a 'gentle' friend, if I can say so. It's just that he was always a bit of shady soul. He was, always, sort of fighting an invisible enemy, that kept crushing him like inhuman. Him against the whole world. - again, he let out a bit of expectoration - I now understand that we never should have been blinded by our lack of team spirit. A person alone crumble in himself. He was convinced that the best way required independence.
It was time to get an end to the pseudo-metaphysical discourse. Dan's sympathy was starting to give way to more pressing issues.
There was one survivor in particular, of whom Dan was interested in more than anything. Sagi must of know something.
- What about the survivors of the V wing. Any news? My sister?
- Very well, I'll concede.
[When I received that letter, the investigation was well under way, and we were obtaining notorious results. We had inserted the combined gene pool on a vulgar rat and, there were visible alterations indicating an evolved state. By July 14th, we were having significant data to process -- but only information regarding failures, as these states were chaotic at best. Not only it had propagated to the whole of this region, but by yesterday communications had been lost with exterior regions.]
- But before I continue, Mr. Medetre, may I ask how did you became in possession of this letter, as well as that lab coat you're wearing?
- The reason is a freaky as everything else. I met the strangest of your acquaintances... He was the one who first told me about you...
Dan told the man his own story, of how he he had met Vincent Sadha at the train station, who was supposedly his sister's envoy, but ended up being this deranged maniac. The visit he had made to the dorm's complex; the violet liquid; how he was almost injected with an amount of that gooey: and the lab coat containing the letter.
The mention of that name almost threw Sagi into a trance. At first, he stood motionless, then we began gasping for air.
Dan noticed his sudden change of behaviour, and promptly asked:
- Are you..... alright?
Shadows were etched on his wrinkled face, becoming pasty like wax....
- You've met him..... So, he's still around....
[He's, was, the most enthusiastic scientist working on the project.
An incredibly dedicated and helpful aide......He was always confident that we would eventually find a possible application for all those analyses; a way to enhance humans and eradicate the limitations of anthropic biology.
We came to discover that he was conducting testing in subjects all through his inconspicuous means. Somehow, amidst the confusion, he managed to amass the power of the toxin into a modified solution.
That much was known by me. Notwithstanding, he became unlocatable even before the outbreak. That whole wing is now dire to circulate...... Somehow a paramount quantity of radiation began increasing, at an enormous rate.]
- I'll resume the story. But what did the man told you, when you apprehended him? In such a broken state, surely you've must have only heard oddities, from that lunatic, a man broken by the pressure he imparted onto himself.
- You're right - Dan chuckled - He didn't tell me a single useful, or even coherent for that matter, sentence. However, I'd found this.
And Dan showed the carmine notebook to his companion.
- Where did you...? Ah, Mr. Medetre, I don't know what to expect of you. Digging out well-hidden, and important, relics.
- A deer is most resourceful when he's cornered, or so they say.
- Undoubtedly.... You had also told me that the letter was within the lab coat? Well, yes it was. I was the one who had put it there. Nevertheless, could you permit me access to the data imprinted in that notebook? Any unknown information in there, that I'm unaware of, might be of help for us to get out of here.
Dan, wanting to diminish any chances of future setbacks to the minimum, placed it on the scientist's hands, whom, without wasting a second, examined it carefully:
- I see it now - he quickly wiped his glasses' lenses clean, and adjusted it back on his nose - Sadha was able to compound it into a stable; yes, quite stable, injectable solution via combining it with an excipient. It's activated at the body's own basal temperature, though requiring another process as a catalyst. How he did it.... Expectable from a mad genius.... And it doesn't completely overwrite the host's genetic code.
- Yeah, as they say: Talent is, often, inversely.....
- ............proportional to one's character. - Sagi finished his sentence, abruptly.
- There was nothing... you could do..... at all?
- It was a lost cause. The modified genetic code affected the host like a fast-growing metastatic cancer. Unknown causes; as such, idiopathic. We had studied the forming chains to its Metaphase stage and weren't able to obtain firm conclusions. Nor a could we find a healthier hybridization, to somehow nullify the Protogenos.
The old man reached into his waistcoat's pocket again, in order to get another smoke. After a few seconds of fondling, he pulled his right hand out, surprised.
- My cigarettes... not here! They must've fallen somewhere in the field, during the ordeal of earlier.
Dan never lost sight of this weary man, a scientist, who had been all but abandoned by the very dear science he regarded so highly, and had devoted his entire life to uphold. For a man who gave his all to science, the shocking notion of losing control would of be something overwhelming. He handed him the letter, found randomly earlier in a topsy-turvy situation.
- So you're Doctor Sagi. Lydia Sagi....
The old man had a rather weary, but sincere scoffing smile:
- No - he looked at the letter - Lydia was my aunt's name; my mother adored her sister and promised that if she ever had a daughter she'd give her this name. Unfortunately, I came instead. It became my second name. Eventually, though, I honoured that wish: "Lydia" is my only daughter's name. If it had came a boy, I was thinking of naming it Peter....; How I'd love to give an account of this tale in a more proper context, not this horrible setting. I guess it's irrelevant, now; these are, now, nothing more than the reminiscences of another lifetime..... - the last sentence was spoken in a noticeably wistful manner.
- The Stoichiometry of life is still a few steps behind in complexity, compared with some human idiosyncrasies.....
He was intently focused on the letter, probably still wondering how Dan could of had got a hold of it.
A thought crossed Dan's mind; that it was Sagi that was in need of painkillers, not himself.
- Was that why? That is why "anything short from mind-blowing success is disappointing", as your friend puts it?
- Amin was a 'gentle' friend, if I can say so. It's just that he was always a bit of shady soul. He was, always, sort of fighting an invisible enemy, that kept crushing him like inhuman. Him against the whole world. - again, he let out a bit of expectoration - I now understand that we never should have been blinded by our lack of team spirit. A person alone crumble in himself. He was convinced that the best way required independence.
It was time to get an end to the pseudo-metaphysical discourse. Dan's sympathy was starting to give way to more pressing issues.
There was one survivor in particular, of whom Dan was interested in more than anything. Sagi must of know something.
- What about the survivors of the V wing. Any news? My sister?
- Very well, I'll concede.
[When I received that letter, the investigation was well under way, and we were obtaining notorious results. We had inserted the combined gene pool on a vulgar rat and, there were visible alterations indicating an evolved state. By July 14th, we were having significant data to process -- but only information regarding failures, as these states were chaotic at best. Not only it had propagated to the whole of this region, but by yesterday communications had been lost with exterior regions.]
- But before I continue, Mr. Medetre, may I ask how did you became in possession of this letter, as well as that lab coat you're wearing?
- The reason is a freaky as everything else. I met the strangest of your acquaintances... He was the one who first told me about you...
Dan told the man his own story, of how he he had met Vincent Sadha at the train station, who was supposedly his sister's envoy, but ended up being this deranged maniac. The visit he had made to the dorm's complex; the violet liquid; how he was almost injected with an amount of that gooey: and the lab coat containing the letter.
The mention of that name almost threw Sagi into a trance. At first, he stood motionless, then we began gasping for air.
Dan noticed his sudden change of behaviour, and promptly asked:
- Are you..... alright?
Shadows were etched on his wrinkled face, becoming pasty like wax....
- You've met him..... So, he's still around....
[He's, was, the most enthusiastic scientist working on the project.
An incredibly dedicated and helpful aide......He was always confident that we would eventually find a possible application for all those analyses; a way to enhance humans and eradicate the limitations of anthropic biology.
We came to discover that he was conducting testing in subjects all through his inconspicuous means. Somehow, amidst the confusion, he managed to amass the power of the toxin into a modified solution.
That much was known by me. Notwithstanding, he became unlocatable even before the outbreak. That whole wing is now dire to circulate...... Somehow a paramount quantity of radiation began increasing, at an enormous rate.]
- I'll resume the story. But what did the man told you, when you apprehended him? In such a broken state, surely you've must have only heard oddities, from that lunatic, a man broken by the pressure he imparted onto himself.
- You're right - Dan chuckled - He didn't tell me a single useful, or even coherent for that matter, sentence. However, I'd found this.
And Dan showed the carmine notebook to his companion.
- Where did you...? Ah, Mr. Medetre, I don't know what to expect of you. Digging out well-hidden, and important, relics.
- A deer is most resourceful when he's cornered, or so they say.
- Undoubtedly.... You had also told me that the letter was within the lab coat? Well, yes it was. I was the one who had put it there. Nevertheless, could you permit me access to the data imprinted in that notebook? Any unknown information in there, that I'm unaware of, might be of help for us to get out of here.
Dan, wanting to diminish any chances of future setbacks to the minimum, placed it on the scientist's hands, whom, without wasting a second, examined it carefully:
- I see it now - he quickly wiped his glasses' lenses clean, and adjusted it back on his nose - Sadha was able to compound it into a stable; yes, quite stable, injectable solution via combining it with an excipient. It's activated at the body's own basal temperature, though requiring another process as a catalyst. How he did it.... Expectable from a mad genius.... And it doesn't completely overwrite the host's genetic code.
- Yeah, as they say: Talent is, often, inversely.....
- ............proportional to one's character. - Sagi finished his sentence, abruptly.
posted by tensayoki @ 21:05
0 comments
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Répandant les haricots
Inside there was only silence to greet them.
A certain aseptic scent was rippling through the air; with a touch of an exotic, floral, even tropical aroma.
In the ceiling, a red dot of light an operational amplifier emitted a "bip" sound, and then the facility seemed to come to life.
The lighting went on, and noises of machines being put to motion reached their ears. Apparently, sensors, as they detected the movement of people on the room, automatically brought the systems online.
Dan's eyes took a couple of seconds getting used to the light, and in such a moment he was surprised. They were in a diagonal corridor, heading towards the earth, with the width of an subway station, complete with rolling stairs.
This sloped hallway was very much empty, excepting some spaced security cameras. At the other side, ending the corridor, there was another door. A bifold door. They went down the rolling stairs.
- You want answers, Mr...?
- Medetre. Yeah, I think that I'm entitled.
When he heard that name, Sagi wrinkled his eyebrow. «That...! So you're related to....!», was the thought that could be read in his expression.
- Yes, I'm the brother of one of your associates. Her name is Autumn. Autumn Medetre. Yesterday I received a notoriously distressed call from her, crying for help. I still haven't managed to find her. What I did find was a whole sort of creepy events and terrible situations to boot. I'm sure you know who I'm referring to. Is it not?
Dan realized they were heading underground -- and that his screams pretty much rebounded off the walls, echoing ad eternum. The complex seemed as deserted as every other place Dan had encountered that night.
- It seems, there isn't another way.... But. First I wasn't seeing any reason at all to disclose matters of this gravity to a stranger. Now I know..... who you are, in fact.
Down there, the fluorescent lit hallway was all shiny, due to the mirrors set at the whole length of the walls. There were books strewn on the floor, as well as dissertation dossiers and stickies.
Dan had his suspicions at an all time high.
He knew that the man knew he was unaware of everything that was going on.
-I want the truth of what happened to her. It must be painfully evident that something, or a lot of things, went wrong.
- This setting is the core of Biodine's investigations. Here is where everything began.
The same sensor devices opened the bifold door, allowing them to see the other side. Another corridor, totally unfurnished, also mirrored. This one having multiple doors and bifurcations, too. The aseptic feel was even more intense in there.
The rooms were messy and cluttered. Symbolizing the panic felt there, not long ago. Sagi headed them into a suite chamber in a left fork. On the tiled floor, a brass, very stretched and stately V was engraved.
Sagi placed his hand on a desktop scanner, which after confirming his identity, unlocked yet another heavy steel and tungsten door.
This room: it was positively the eeriest place Dan had ever had the mishap to witness. Barely lit with one of those fluorescent lights. It had a five boar-shaped Bunsen burners over one table. Lab coats scattered all over the floor, among other items like Petri glasses, labeled containers for acids and powders.... In a corner, a round table with short legs covered with papers.
Now, in all of the complex, the soft, smooth smell of... mango? Yes, a smell of mango was circulating, flowing amidst the unfettered environment.
They sat on the round table top drawing a secant to each other. Dan, who was carrying the shotgun all that time, handed it back to the scientist. Who, promptly dropped it on the top of the table.
- Look, I know that this project was to create something revolutionary. Making money is always a powerful motivation.
Dan took out the letter he'd discovered earlier and flaunted it in front of the scientist's eyes.
- I' m largely a layman when it comes to technical terms. But this Astraea holding is definitely up to nothing good. And my sister was wrapped in this.
Matters were serious.
- Alright, there isn't much reason to hide a thing at this state of things....
- So..... where did you came from? Did you just fall from the sky?
- I'm a reporter. And I got HERE via a drift way.... Passing by a really weird underground tunnel...... and the corpse of one scientist guarding it.
- I'm sorry.
Dan didn't follow:
- Hah...? Survival is needed, first. You didn't do anything?
- No, it wasn't for that that I was apologizing...... - the scientist released a bit of expectoration - So I see, through the mine.... As a really unimportant aside, I'll relay as an insight, that this whole region's subsoil possesses the petroleum in wealth. The tunnel you just crossed is a finished remain of a part of a closed, inoperative mine. The stone walls, were added later on, after the mine was shut down, in a pro bono effort. - again, more expectoration - That good man, still so young ... named Nathan... one of the molecular biologists... he never came to fully grasp what was happening... he was a great fan of the Twilight Zone series. And ended up being in the twilight zone himself.
[Thus, it went like that.
- This will be a relief, to let it all out - he closed his eyes, wistfully - This is a story of a lifetime.
&&&&& Sagi's tale: &&&&&&&
- I decided rather young, that the path which I was going to tread professionally, would be the way of sciences of biotechnology and biochemistry, and harness that power. I was a frail teen full of complexes. As I was a bit of a loner, I loved reading sci-fi noir stories as a pastime.
My imagination would simply fly away which indeed helped me get through some crisis. As I had stated, my body was feeble and constantly afflicted with ailments.
I used to have frequent fall, and my body would bruise easily. As I was a little boy, about thirteen years old, I was diagnosed idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, an autoimmune blood condition of unknown cause.
I vowed that I'd do everything in my power to use science to strengthen my body.
You see, when one endures such setbacks and frustrations earlier in life, in our own mind we chalk it up to our own defects and faults. From there on, I became obsessed with obtaining perfection. In college, I trained my intellect to reach the purity of perfection.
This was the beginning of my faults.
Henry David Thoreau, one of my elected authors, has a saying that is now very much meaningful -- "A wise mind isn't prone to resort to desperate actions", he once opinated.
A few years ago, me and some associates from college, founded this small research laboratories company precisely named Biodine. The first times were difficult and we were always struggling to get out of tight spots and finding patrons.
We were short on liquidity; until, eventually, an insurance corporation multinational named Astraea, struck a deal with us, and agreed upon funding our projects.
We acquired state-of-the-art equipment and machines. And we were fully motivated.
Some time ago, during an Aurora Borealis, a well-preserved meteorite was found, out of pure randomness, during a routine exploration in the surface of the desert region of Nusura. It was settled in a crater with a radius of 5 meters [16 feet] and depth of about 20 meters [66 feet]. The exploring crew issued a warning and a task-force of researchers was dispatched to investigate the occurrence. What they came across into was the discovery of the century.
It was estimated that the meteorite had crashed on the Earth's surface some 1,5 to 2,0 millions of years ago. The loam, a rich soft soil cushioned the impact.
We had our hands on breakthrough material! A milestone for a deeper inception on the secrets of the unknown far reaches of the stars. A possible answer to our questions regarding our own identity.
In the interior of the derelict, it was found a crystallized proteic film, covered in resin and ice, which held inside the perfectly fossilized specimen of something that could be referred to as "an insect from the outer space". An alien organism, intact, allowing us to gather information of the highest caliber.
The finding in itself had uncanny resemblance with our own terrestrial household wasps.
The colossal creature (colossal, I say, in terms of novelty, not size), was thoroughly analyzed and dissected, and we proceeded to extract its cytoblasts to determine what was the making of the "insect".
Other parties ended up gathering intelligence of the existence of the project, even the government, and as they eventually found out, they became interested.
Here, is where the lab team of the V wing studied the inert alien genetic material. We analyzed its reaction to Earth's environment and conditions of normal pressure and temperature...
The first results were not encouraging. We never had the opportunity to carry back the mutated gene pool here... A side effect we weren't alerted to.
On the next day after we had obtained our first mutated specimen, somehow the other test subjects became also impregnated. We were shocked before the evidence.
Calamity had befallen our discoveries. We couldn't understand what was the cause, why it was happening. In time, scientists were too infected. The outbreak was becoming incontrollable.
I, finally, ended up comprehending the origin.
The mutated guinea pig, in unheard fashion, started producing a string of unicellular rod-shaped microorganisms, animated by long flagella, or helical coils, «vibrio».
These prokaryotes, carrying the RNA possessing characteristics of the same host to the other guinea pigs, spread throughout the walls in those facilities.
These prokaryotes, however had a life expectancy really short, of about a few hours. Reaping through the labs of the W wing, in no time we had a catastrophe on our hands.
This is, though, only part of the story.]
A certain aseptic scent was rippling through the air; with a touch of an exotic, floral, even tropical aroma.
In the ceiling, a red dot of light an operational amplifier emitted a "bip" sound, and then the facility seemed to come to life.
The lighting went on, and noises of machines being put to motion reached their ears. Apparently, sensors, as they detected the movement of people on the room, automatically brought the systems online.
Dan's eyes took a couple of seconds getting used to the light, and in such a moment he was surprised. They were in a diagonal corridor, heading towards the earth, with the width of an subway station, complete with rolling stairs.
This sloped hallway was very much empty, excepting some spaced security cameras. At the other side, ending the corridor, there was another door. A bifold door. They went down the rolling stairs.
- You want answers, Mr...?
- Medetre. Yeah, I think that I'm entitled.
When he heard that name, Sagi wrinkled his eyebrow. «That...! So you're related to....!», was the thought that could be read in his expression.
- Yes, I'm the brother of one of your associates. Her name is Autumn. Autumn Medetre. Yesterday I received a notoriously distressed call from her, crying for help. I still haven't managed to find her. What I did find was a whole sort of creepy events and terrible situations to boot. I'm sure you know who I'm referring to. Is it not?
Dan realized they were heading underground -- and that his screams pretty much rebounded off the walls, echoing ad eternum. The complex seemed as deserted as every other place Dan had encountered that night.
- It seems, there isn't another way.... But. First I wasn't seeing any reason at all to disclose matters of this gravity to a stranger. Now I know..... who you are, in fact.
Down there, the fluorescent lit hallway was all shiny, due to the mirrors set at the whole length of the walls. There were books strewn on the floor, as well as dissertation dossiers and stickies.
Dan had his suspicions at an all time high.
He knew that the man knew he was unaware of everything that was going on.
-I want the truth of what happened to her. It must be painfully evident that something, or a lot of things, went wrong.
- This setting is the core of Biodine's investigations. Here is where everything began.
The same sensor devices opened the bifold door, allowing them to see the other side. Another corridor, totally unfurnished, also mirrored. This one having multiple doors and bifurcations, too. The aseptic feel was even more intense in there.
The rooms were messy and cluttered. Symbolizing the panic felt there, not long ago. Sagi headed them into a suite chamber in a left fork. On the tiled floor, a brass, very stretched and stately V was engraved.
Sagi placed his hand on a desktop scanner, which after confirming his identity, unlocked yet another heavy steel and tungsten door.
This room: it was positively the eeriest place Dan had ever had the mishap to witness. Barely lit with one of those fluorescent lights. It had a five boar-shaped Bunsen burners over one table. Lab coats scattered all over the floor, among other items like Petri glasses, labeled containers for acids and powders.... In a corner, a round table with short legs covered with papers.
Now, in all of the complex, the soft, smooth smell of... mango? Yes, a smell of mango was circulating, flowing amidst the unfettered environment.
They sat on the round table top drawing a secant to each other. Dan, who was carrying the shotgun all that time, handed it back to the scientist. Who, promptly dropped it on the top of the table.
- Look, I know that this project was to create something revolutionary. Making money is always a powerful motivation.
Dan took out the letter he'd discovered earlier and flaunted it in front of the scientist's eyes.
- I' m largely a layman when it comes to technical terms. But this Astraea holding is definitely up to nothing good. And my sister was wrapped in this.
Matters were serious.
- Alright, there isn't much reason to hide a thing at this state of things....
- So..... where did you came from? Did you just fall from the sky?
- I'm a reporter. And I got HERE via a drift way.... Passing by a really weird underground tunnel...... and the corpse of one scientist guarding it.
- I'm sorry.
Dan didn't follow:
- Hah...? Survival is needed, first. You didn't do anything?
- No, it wasn't for that that I was apologizing...... - the scientist released a bit of expectoration - So I see, through the mine.... As a really unimportant aside, I'll relay as an insight, that this whole region's subsoil possesses the petroleum in wealth. The tunnel you just crossed is a finished remain of a part of a closed, inoperative mine. The stone walls, were added later on, after the mine was shut down, in a pro bono effort. - again, more expectoration - That good man, still so young ... named Nathan... one of the molecular biologists... he never came to fully grasp what was happening... he was a great fan of the Twilight Zone series. And ended up being in the twilight zone himself.
[Thus, it went like that.
- This will be a relief, to let it all out - he closed his eyes, wistfully - This is a story of a lifetime.
&&&&& Sagi's tale: &&&&&&&
- I decided rather young, that the path which I was going to tread professionally, would be the way of sciences of biotechnology and biochemistry, and harness that power. I was a frail teen full of complexes. As I was a bit of a loner, I loved reading sci-fi noir stories as a pastime.
My imagination would simply fly away which indeed helped me get through some crisis. As I had stated, my body was feeble and constantly afflicted with ailments.
I used to have frequent fall, and my body would bruise easily. As I was a little boy, about thirteen years old, I was diagnosed idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, an autoimmune blood condition of unknown cause.
I vowed that I'd do everything in my power to use science to strengthen my body.
You see, when one endures such setbacks and frustrations earlier in life, in our own mind we chalk it up to our own defects and faults. From there on, I became obsessed with obtaining perfection. In college, I trained my intellect to reach the purity of perfection.
This was the beginning of my faults.
Henry David Thoreau, one of my elected authors, has a saying that is now very much meaningful -- "A wise mind isn't prone to resort to desperate actions", he once opinated.
A few years ago, me and some associates from college, founded this small research laboratories company precisely named Biodine. The first times were difficult and we were always struggling to get out of tight spots and finding patrons.
We were short on liquidity; until, eventually, an insurance corporation multinational named Astraea, struck a deal with us, and agreed upon funding our projects.
We acquired state-of-the-art equipment and machines. And we were fully motivated.
Some time ago, during an Aurora Borealis, a well-preserved meteorite was found, out of pure randomness, during a routine exploration in the surface of the desert region of Nusura. It was settled in a crater with a radius of 5 meters [16 feet] and depth of about 20 meters [66 feet]. The exploring crew issued a warning and a task-force of researchers was dispatched to investigate the occurrence. What they came across into was the discovery of the century.
It was estimated that the meteorite had crashed on the Earth's surface some 1,5 to 2,0 millions of years ago. The loam, a rich soft soil cushioned the impact.
We had our hands on breakthrough material! A milestone for a deeper inception on the secrets of the unknown far reaches of the stars. A possible answer to our questions regarding our own identity.
In the interior of the derelict, it was found a crystallized proteic film, covered in resin and ice, which held inside the perfectly fossilized specimen of something that could be referred to as "an insect from the outer space". An alien organism, intact, allowing us to gather information of the highest caliber.
The finding in itself had uncanny resemblance with our own terrestrial household wasps.
The colossal creature (colossal, I say, in terms of novelty, not size), was thoroughly analyzed and dissected, and we proceeded to extract its cytoblasts to determine what was the making of the "insect".
Other parties ended up gathering intelligence of the existence of the project, even the government, and as they eventually found out, they became interested.
Here, is where the lab team of the V wing studied the inert alien genetic material. We analyzed its reaction to Earth's environment and conditions of normal pressure and temperature...
The first results were not encouraging. We never had the opportunity to carry back the mutated gene pool here... A side effect we weren't alerted to.
On the next day after we had obtained our first mutated specimen, somehow the other test subjects became also impregnated. We were shocked before the evidence.
Calamity had befallen our discoveries. We couldn't understand what was the cause, why it was happening. In time, scientists were too infected. The outbreak was becoming incontrollable.
I, finally, ended up comprehending the origin.
The mutated guinea pig, in unheard fashion, started producing a string of unicellular rod-shaped microorganisms, animated by long flagella, or helical coils, «vibrio».
These prokaryotes, carrying the RNA possessing characteristics of the same host to the other guinea pigs, spread throughout the walls in those facilities.
These prokaryotes, however had a life expectancy really short, of about a few hours. Reaping through the labs of the W wing, in no time we had a catastrophe on our hands.
This is, though, only part of the story.]
posted by tensayoki @ 00:49
0 comments
Friday, October 03, 2008
Eulalia Grass
Arching upwards, to stand up soaring these horned forms with large, long, really bulky arms and thin cylindric torsos.
The legs, small and bovine, ending in folded webbed toes, in the account of three, as the number of fingers in the arms; protruding, the tiny shiny orifices distanced apart, each in one side of the cephalic mass, presumably the eyes, vermilion-coloured; a wide beak, or rather a snout, through which an odd uttering, sounding like "nork!" was emitted.
They showed some traces of fur, on that sallow skin. Gruesome as they were, they were about as tall as a grown woman, and no less menacing.
The old man was paralyzed cold in the sight of those grotesque beings. Dan with his heart racing.
Mowing down the pampa's vegetation as they reduced the distance, within seconds they were upon themselves, the undone pair.
Suddenly, the monster in the lead, at body's length, with one swift backhand, almost cleaved Sagi's (yet petrified) head off, grazing him and causing him to be thrown backwards, to the plain. As he fell, the weapon he was holding flew right off his hands, falling too to the vegetation.
Dan's pulse was off the charts, but he HAD to react. No time to think, only to react.
Snapping from his dread, he immediately threw himself down, and as fast as he could, grabbed the shotgun.
In continuing motion, he pointed it to the nearest moving shape and shot. A strong discharge of sparkles and sound spread, followed by the screech of the creature in the lead.
Dan had torn a hole open into the creature's abdominal area.
The recoil of the blast almost ripped off his left arm. The stock had hit his shoulder hard; and the creature kneeled in pain, suffering from the disperse fire.
The other monsters hesitated, as if daunted by the lead's hurting downfall and moans, and subtly backed down. It was, however, only for an instant. Dan raised to his knees, and kept firing, ignoring his shoulder. The beast on its knees took the direct his of two more shots and collapsed, inert. The others monsters attacked savagely, but Dan, without stopping to breath, aimed and fired in all directions, severing limbs and cephaluses.
The creatures were dropping, with serious wounds. With genuine relief, he still kept firing, accustoming himself to the recoil.
It was heartfelt his notion of satisfaction as he was verifying any remaining activity. They were out of commission for good. Thankfully, this kind of litter hadn't teleported.
A vile stench came out of nowhere. It began emanating from the carcasses. The surrounding air getting disturbingly foetid. Sagi, finally coming to himself, lifted himself up, with some deal of effort:
- Well done. Very nice reflexes - Dan lent him a hand, to even out the favours, as himself couldn't shake the notion that that rotten smell wasn't all that unfamiliar - I could never thank you enough for these heroics. Thank you, Mr. Outsider.
- Are you kidding? If these creatures were a little bit faster we'd be dog food by now.
Sagi also had noticed the smell.
Then he, covering his nose with his hands, warned:
- We must be very careful. This odour not only is rather foul, but it's also noxious. This breeding of creatures release concentrated hydrogen sulfide, once they decease. The gas itself is colourless and easily liquefied under pressure, and is a natural process in decay. However, the altered speed and concentration makes it a particular aspect of danger.
By that time Dan had figured out the similarity of it with another smell: the smell of brimstone.
- Rapidly. We better run to the S.C.R.A.P.. These genomorphs are spreading and populating the area at an uncanny rate. To think that they are in these vicinities.
Dan couldn't agree more:
- Yes, we're out here for too long. As sitting ducks. And you're welcome. This is quite a gun you have. - as Dan was wording, he examined the weapon, with the letters «F O W L» displayed on the stock, encrusted in steel. "Fowl": what a dissonant epithet for such a potency.
After some fast steps, they abandoned the cesspool and, in two minutes they were at the gate of the, presumably, best (or only) escape route.
A saturnine tower, rectangular, with false doors on the sides, as tall as two men perched on each other, with no windows or openings, except for the pocket door. S.C.R.A.P.. On the tops of their heads, there was a flag with the inscription:
«SHELTERED CAMP to RESEARCH of ADVANCED POLYNUCLEOTIDES»
Sagi typed some secret password on the door's code mechanism and with an electronic buzzes, it opened, letting them in. Once inside they were were quick to close it.
It was a reinforced heavy titanium alloy gate.
- We're quite sound in here.
The system seemed to promise safety; and yet not even so, Dan couldn't relax:
- What's this place...!?
- A nigh-secure installation designed, deliberately for emergency situations akin to the one presented.
Dan couldn't hold on any longer:
- Clearly, what the hell is going on in here?
The legs, small and bovine, ending in folded webbed toes, in the account of three, as the number of fingers in the arms; protruding, the tiny shiny orifices distanced apart, each in one side of the cephalic mass, presumably the eyes, vermilion-coloured; a wide beak, or rather a snout, through which an odd uttering, sounding like "nork!" was emitted.
They showed some traces of fur, on that sallow skin. Gruesome as they were, they were about as tall as a grown woman, and no less menacing.
The old man was paralyzed cold in the sight of those grotesque beings. Dan with his heart racing.
Mowing down the pampa's vegetation as they reduced the distance, within seconds they were upon themselves, the undone pair.
Suddenly, the monster in the lead, at body's length, with one swift backhand, almost cleaved Sagi's (yet petrified) head off, grazing him and causing him to be thrown backwards, to the plain. As he fell, the weapon he was holding flew right off his hands, falling too to the vegetation.
Dan's pulse was off the charts, but he HAD to react. No time to think, only to react.
Snapping from his dread, he immediately threw himself down, and as fast as he could, grabbed the shotgun.
In continuing motion, he pointed it to the nearest moving shape and shot. A strong discharge of sparkles and sound spread, followed by the screech of the creature in the lead.
Dan had torn a hole open into the creature's abdominal area.
The recoil of the blast almost ripped off his left arm. The stock had hit his shoulder hard; and the creature kneeled in pain, suffering from the disperse fire.
The other monsters hesitated, as if daunted by the lead's hurting downfall and moans, and subtly backed down. It was, however, only for an instant. Dan raised to his knees, and kept firing, ignoring his shoulder. The beast on its knees took the direct his of two more shots and collapsed, inert. The others monsters attacked savagely, but Dan, without stopping to breath, aimed and fired in all directions, severing limbs and cephaluses.
The creatures were dropping, with serious wounds. With genuine relief, he still kept firing, accustoming himself to the recoil.
It was heartfelt his notion of satisfaction as he was verifying any remaining activity. They were out of commission for good. Thankfully, this kind of litter hadn't teleported.
A vile stench came out of nowhere. It began emanating from the carcasses. The surrounding air getting disturbingly foetid. Sagi, finally coming to himself, lifted himself up, with some deal of effort:
- Well done. Very nice reflexes - Dan lent him a hand, to even out the favours, as himself couldn't shake the notion that that rotten smell wasn't all that unfamiliar - I could never thank you enough for these heroics. Thank you, Mr. Outsider.
- Are you kidding? If these creatures were a little bit faster we'd be dog food by now.
Sagi also had noticed the smell.
Then he, covering his nose with his hands, warned:
- We must be very careful. This odour not only is rather foul, but it's also noxious. This breeding of creatures release concentrated hydrogen sulfide, once they decease. The gas itself is colourless and easily liquefied under pressure, and is a natural process in decay. However, the altered speed and concentration makes it a particular aspect of danger.
By that time Dan had figured out the similarity of it with another smell: the smell of brimstone.
- Rapidly. We better run to the S.C.R.A.P.. These genomorphs are spreading and populating the area at an uncanny rate. To think that they are in these vicinities.
Dan couldn't agree more:
- Yes, we're out here for too long. As sitting ducks. And you're welcome. This is quite a gun you have. - as Dan was wording, he examined the weapon, with the letters «F O W L» displayed on the stock, encrusted in steel. "Fowl": what a dissonant epithet for such a potency.
After some fast steps, they abandoned the cesspool and, in two minutes they were at the gate of the, presumably, best (or only) escape route.
A saturnine tower, rectangular, with false doors on the sides, as tall as two men perched on each other, with no windows or openings, except for the pocket door. S.C.R.A.P.. On the tops of their heads, there was a flag with the inscription:
«SHELTERED CAMP to RESEARCH of ADVANCED POLYNUCLEOTIDES»
Sagi typed some secret password on the door's code mechanism and with an electronic buzzes, it opened, letting them in. Once inside they were were quick to close it.
It was a reinforced heavy titanium alloy gate.
- We're quite sound in here.
The system seemed to promise safety; and yet not even so, Dan couldn't relax:
- What's this place...!?
- A nigh-secure installation designed, deliberately for emergency situations akin to the one presented.
Dan couldn't hold on any longer:
- Clearly, what the hell is going on in here?
posted by tensayoki @ 14:29
0 comments
Friday, September 26, 2008
Introducing
******
Matt Dalvin was, spiritedly, at the wheel of his metalized green sedan, going fast across the speedway. He was making 80 an hour, and at that speed, in such a well-preserved road, he should be there in a few minutes. He had just gone past Coupland, some 3,5 miles (5,7 Km) behind, and was approaching Uhra Town via the Northwest InterState 110.
The boring view was nothing more than woods and more woods, although he had noticed the stranded truck on the right side of the route a while back. Nevertheless, it definitely wasn't the landscape which had brought him to this remote region of the country.
He could already make out the contour of buildings, at far. Perfect.
After heading by the next pass, driving through the spur... he'd reach the 'rendezvous' point.
His light grey business suit, with its matching tie, his favourite, coupled with his smoothy movements and his rugged southern accent concealed his cold anxiety. And the heat was of no help whatsoever. He could never owe too much to his state-of-the-art automobile's air-conditioning system.
And the radio; the soothing power ballads playing on helped him keep focused. As a prominent corporate officer of «ZoarMadim -- Genetic Engineering», he was about to strike a checkmate on the competing companies' future aspirations.
With such a move, he could finally get the investors to trust him, and topple the Head of the corporation. Under his grip..... the first thing to do would be to rename the company. He had always been dissentive of such a disparaging name.
He certainly was an ambitious man, and his mid-late thirties snarl could attest to that. An assertive ego in an average man, with a swarthy complexion and a thin beard growing.
His blond hair cut short, perfectly trimmed, soaked in gel.
The almond eyes, with little expression and a small mouth, with smaller teeth.
A short nose.
It wasn't much a matter of luck as it was confidence. Confidence and anticipation. That was his motto. All that was needed was intent and desire to win. At all costs.
But he had to be careful.
This transaction was illegal -- something that had never stopped him before.
The mole was quite efficient. The informations allowed him to undertake strategic planning. Soon, his biggest competitor in the market, Mikusu and his operative, would fall within his mercy.
And the merge with the Astraea could become a reality.
The plan was to get Mikusu slated by his own peers, for incompetence.
In business, luck has to be made.
He went on, stepping up to full throttle.
******
- So, do you know a way out of here? - Dan finally broke the silence, right from offhand.
He suspected that the man somehow thought of him as a fellow scientist, and he could use such to an advantage.
They had departed from the lot filled with crates, and unused equipment and were now treading a field of sorts, naturally an extension of the mound Dan had explored earlier.
This field, though, provided a camouflage to indiscreet eyes, in the form grass the was growing to the height of Dan's waist.
This grass, with stripes inserted on the leaves, was covering the whole terrain in clumps, however, a bit ahead Dan could now make out a sort of tower, like the one of a lighthouse, but smaller.
Sagi took out, from a pocket in his waistcoat, a pack of cigarettes and, using his mouth, pulled one of the few cylinders remaining. He put the pack back in the pocket and removed now a lighter. At his third try, he finally managed to light the cigarrete, and a thin puff of smoke began rising vertically. Then he, without stopping progressing on, asked Dan:
- Are you sure you're alright? - he threw the cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, extinguishing it - The fall you had was quite nasty; I can never repent enough for your sores.
Dan could be better:
- This town, all of this region.... what's happening here is positively dantesque, demented beyond anything that could come from human imagination! All the people...what took place... what's happening.... it's just so sordid...
Sagi made a comprehending expression. He could do nothing but agree: all of this horror scenery was nothing short of unnatural.
The old man quietly slowed down his pace and observed his companion. Attentively, he faced Dan:
- In fact; and what about Dr. Fox, from same W wing? And any of the other people? Did you meet anyone? Any good news?
Dan didn't answer right away. Tricky questions.
- No, nothing.....- jittery, he coughed smoothly and immediately inquired trying to convey a casual interest - and what about the V wing?
The doctor turned, facing away, and, ridden with anxiety, but always walking he talked:
- Who are you? I realize I've never posited the question previously... And you aren't who I thought you were at first.
Dan got surprised by the sudden insight of the man:
- What... what do you mean?
Sagi, without warning, stopped in the middle of the grass and, composing a wistful countenance, he again faced Dan:
- To begin with, the mere fact that you're alive. And every fellow geneticist, biomolecular engineer and others affiliated with the project know that the SCRAP is the emergency stronghold. And, also that, although I was rather more embraced with the V wing due to some specifics, my competences obliged me to have a, even if superficial, knowledge of everyone involved. Not to comment the total disregard of my mention about your phenotypic changes. Also, there isn't any Dr. Fox working in the project, specially in that wing. I do not know who you are, but it's certain that that lab coat isn't your belonging.
Dan grimaced in dismay.
- No, young fellow, there's no need to be awkward...!
Dan's stuttering reaction was:
- Behind... behind you!!!
The man faced back to see shadows rising from the grass. These four creatures were different from the 'centaurs', with a lighter tone in the skin, resembling wheat, and seemingly a mix between a platypus and a small buffalo.
Matt Dalvin was, spiritedly, at the wheel of his metalized green sedan, going fast across the speedway. He was making 80 an hour, and at that speed, in such a well-preserved road, he should be there in a few minutes. He had just gone past Coupland, some 3,5 miles (5,7 Km) behind, and was approaching Uhra Town via the Northwest InterState 110.
The boring view was nothing more than woods and more woods, although he had noticed the stranded truck on the right side of the route a while back. Nevertheless, it definitely wasn't the landscape which had brought him to this remote region of the country.
He could already make out the contour of buildings, at far. Perfect.
After heading by the next pass, driving through the spur... he'd reach the 'rendezvous' point.
His light grey business suit, with its matching tie, his favourite, coupled with his smoothy movements and his rugged southern accent concealed his cold anxiety. And the heat was of no help whatsoever. He could never owe too much to his state-of-the-art automobile's air-conditioning system.
And the radio; the soothing power ballads playing on helped him keep focused. As a prominent corporate officer of «ZoarMadim -- Genetic Engineering», he was about to strike a checkmate on the competing companies' future aspirations.
With such a move, he could finally get the investors to trust him, and topple the Head of the corporation. Under his grip..... the first thing to do would be to rename the company. He had always been dissentive of such a disparaging name.
He certainly was an ambitious man, and his mid-late thirties snarl could attest to that. An assertive ego in an average man, with a swarthy complexion and a thin beard growing.
His blond hair cut short, perfectly trimmed, soaked in gel.
The almond eyes, with little expression and a small mouth, with smaller teeth.
A short nose.
It wasn't much a matter of luck as it was confidence. Confidence and anticipation. That was his motto. All that was needed was intent and desire to win. At all costs.
But he had to be careful.
This transaction was illegal -- something that had never stopped him before.
The mole was quite efficient. The informations allowed him to undertake strategic planning. Soon, his biggest competitor in the market, Mikusu and his operative, would fall within his mercy.
And the merge with the Astraea could become a reality.
The plan was to get Mikusu slated by his own peers, for incompetence.
In business, luck has to be made.
He went on, stepping up to full throttle.
******
- So, do you know a way out of here? - Dan finally broke the silence, right from offhand.
He suspected that the man somehow thought of him as a fellow scientist, and he could use such to an advantage.
They had departed from the lot filled with crates, and unused equipment and were now treading a field of sorts, naturally an extension of the mound Dan had explored earlier.
This field, though, provided a camouflage to indiscreet eyes, in the form grass the was growing to the height of Dan's waist.
This grass, with stripes inserted on the leaves, was covering the whole terrain in clumps, however, a bit ahead Dan could now make out a sort of tower, like the one of a lighthouse, but smaller.
Sagi took out, from a pocket in his waistcoat, a pack of cigarettes and, using his mouth, pulled one of the few cylinders remaining. He put the pack back in the pocket and removed now a lighter. At his third try, he finally managed to light the cigarrete, and a thin puff of smoke began rising vertically. Then he, without stopping progressing on, asked Dan:
- Are you sure you're alright? - he threw the cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, extinguishing it - The fall you had was quite nasty; I can never repent enough for your sores.
Dan could be better:
- This town, all of this region.... what's happening here is positively dantesque, demented beyond anything that could come from human imagination! All the people...what took place... what's happening.... it's just so sordid...
Sagi made a comprehending expression. He could do nothing but agree: all of this horror scenery was nothing short of unnatural.
The old man quietly slowed down his pace and observed his companion. Attentively, he faced Dan:
- In fact; and what about Dr. Fox, from same W wing? And any of the other people? Did you meet anyone? Any good news?
Dan didn't answer right away. Tricky questions.
- No, nothing.....- jittery, he coughed smoothly and immediately inquired trying to convey a casual interest - and what about the V wing?
The doctor turned, facing away, and, ridden with anxiety, but always walking he talked:
- Who are you? I realize I've never posited the question previously... And you aren't who I thought you were at first.
Dan got surprised by the sudden insight of the man:
- What... what do you mean?
Sagi, without warning, stopped in the middle of the grass and, composing a wistful countenance, he again faced Dan:
- To begin with, the mere fact that you're alive. And every fellow geneticist, biomolecular engineer and others affiliated with the project know that the SCRAP is the emergency stronghold. And, also that, although I was rather more embraced with the V wing due to some specifics, my competences obliged me to have a, even if superficial, knowledge of everyone involved. Not to comment the total disregard of my mention about your phenotypic changes. Also, there isn't any Dr. Fox working in the project, specially in that wing. I do not know who you are, but it's certain that that lab coat isn't your belonging.
Dan grimaced in dismay.
- No, young fellow, there's no need to be awkward...!
Dan's stuttering reaction was:
- Behind... behind you!!!
The man faced back to see shadows rising from the grass. These four creatures were different from the 'centaurs', with a lighter tone in the skin, resembling wheat, and seemingly a mix between a platypus and a small buffalo.
posted by tensayoki @ 13:52
0 comments
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ointment on a wisdom tooth
Dan could barely react. Clumsily tottering a few steps forward, he ended collapsing flat on the ground. Roundly half-conscious.
At such an happy hour, it was customary for Dan to meet with his good buddy, Germa Nicman, that crazy curly haired fellow, to grab a getaway grubby meal to dine, at a 24/7 small restaurant. Other times, they'd just hang out in bars. It was always entertaining, and full of an offbeat humour.
These seemed, now, the reminiscences of another life, hallucinations disjointed in pieces of a whole another past lifetime.......
Wet gravel. Bit by bit, Dan was coming to his senses. and beginning to notice his own lethargy, as his body seemed like it didn't belong to him.
A strange, and nasty, taste discomforting as an offense in his mouth. An acute ache swelling on the back of his head, as it was arching around from the occiput to the temporal lobes and the front. What was that?
What a struck down....
It felt as if it was some punishment act for any wanton less-than-gracious actions Dan had carried over the years.
His eyes, so heavy!
- You're..... not one of them - a trembling, cackling old man's voice gasped - Oh, thank goodness!
The last sentence was followed by a relieved sigh. Then, in a more hesitating tone, the voice resumed:
- My, I'm most sorry - Dan felt a hand touching his right arm, and then his back - What I've done is unbearable.
It was then that Dan turned his head with effort, trying to get a grasp of who (or what) was this entity that had struck him down such in a kabbalistic manner. Only a blur, for now.
The man helped Dan getting on to his feet, and in doing so, he keenly observed his features, right down to the small magenta italicized "w", engraved on the lab coat's left chest, over the heart area.
- Here you are - the stranger hoarsed, pleasantly - back on your feet.
As soon as Dan found himself standing, he gazed on the little man from top to bottom. This was a man in, most likely, his early 60's, short (about 1,64 m [5,3 feet]), carrying an impertinent nose and small eyes, muffled with his spectacles of rectangular lenses and transparent frames, and with a certain melancholic bearing. He was glaringly bald (almost shiny), although with quite some tufts of clear grey hair protruding from the sides of the head.
Head, which, by the way, was very much oval-shaped -- in fact it had almost the perfect form of an egg. Kind of like an aged Hercule Poirot.
Completing the attire was his pleated trousers, with a matching lounge waistcoat with an handkerchief on the left pocket located in the abdominal area, all in burgundy tweed, and a long sleeve dress shirt in a prussian blue.
His shoes were moccasins, made of some animal skin. On his hands, something so unnatural for a person with such appearance, he was totting, sportingly, a weapon -- with a small smoothbore barrel of aluminum alloy, seemed a sawed off shotgun designed for short range. Its stock was the likely responsible for Dan's headache.
- A survivor of the W wing... - speaking in a wistful tone (which, as Dan'd learn, was pretty much his trademark), the man continued, never taking his eyes off the «w» in Dan's chest - And you don't exhibit any visible signs of pleiotropic changes, or any epistatic movements, to offset. Also, no immediate effects indicating the catalytic presence of telomerase.
So, this was the man who had knocked Dan out, by accident.
- For me it's more like the hangover effect - Dan clutched his head - Look, I'm......
The man interrupted him:
- It's not good if we stay here for too long; this area is practically reeking of activity - he said - it's better for we to move along discreetly to more secure lodgings, until everything works out.
He started walking at a fast pace:
- Come, we can find some painkillers for your needs along - the man informed - we'll go through the scrap.
And Dan darted behind him, perplexed:
- Works out? - Dan was now astonished - I don't think that's possible anymore.
- They did say that all should be eventually taken care soon. In a few hours, in fact. - then his expression altered slightly - But they're also after my head, so... Regardless, Shunya Sagi won't sink down with such an ease! - he protested, indignant.
Dan held his breath for an instant. That man was him.
At such an happy hour, it was customary for Dan to meet with his good buddy, Germa Nicman, that crazy curly haired fellow, to grab a getaway grubby meal to dine, at a 24/7 small restaurant. Other times, they'd just hang out in bars. It was always entertaining, and full of an offbeat humour.
These seemed, now, the reminiscences of another life, hallucinations disjointed in pieces of a whole another past lifetime.......
Wet gravel. Bit by bit, Dan was coming to his senses. and beginning to notice his own lethargy, as his body seemed like it didn't belong to him.
A strange, and nasty, taste discomforting as an offense in his mouth. An acute ache swelling on the back of his head, as it was arching around from the occiput to the temporal lobes and the front. What was that?
What a struck down....
It felt as if it was some punishment act for any wanton less-than-gracious actions Dan had carried over the years.
His eyes, so heavy!
- You're..... not one of them - a trembling, cackling old man's voice gasped - Oh, thank goodness!
The last sentence was followed by a relieved sigh. Then, in a more hesitating tone, the voice resumed:
- My, I'm most sorry - Dan felt a hand touching his right arm, and then his back - What I've done is unbearable.
It was then that Dan turned his head with effort, trying to get a grasp of who (or what) was this entity that had struck him down such in a kabbalistic manner. Only a blur, for now.
The man helped Dan getting on to his feet, and in doing so, he keenly observed his features, right down to the small magenta italicized "w", engraved on the lab coat's left chest, over the heart area.
- Here you are - the stranger hoarsed, pleasantly - back on your feet.
As soon as Dan found himself standing, he gazed on the little man from top to bottom. This was a man in, most likely, his early 60's, short (about 1,64 m [5,3 feet]), carrying an impertinent nose and small eyes, muffled with his spectacles of rectangular lenses and transparent frames, and with a certain melancholic bearing. He was glaringly bald (almost shiny), although with quite some tufts of clear grey hair protruding from the sides of the head.
Head, which, by the way, was very much oval-shaped -- in fact it had almost the perfect form of an egg. Kind of like an aged Hercule Poirot.
Completing the attire was his pleated trousers, with a matching lounge waistcoat with an handkerchief on the left pocket located in the abdominal area, all in burgundy tweed, and a long sleeve dress shirt in a prussian blue.
His shoes were moccasins, made of some animal skin. On his hands, something so unnatural for a person with such appearance, he was totting, sportingly, a weapon -- with a small smoothbore barrel of aluminum alloy, seemed a sawed off shotgun designed for short range. Its stock was the likely responsible for Dan's headache.
- A survivor of the W wing... - speaking in a wistful tone (which, as Dan'd learn, was pretty much his trademark), the man continued, never taking his eyes off the «w» in Dan's chest - And you don't exhibit any visible signs of pleiotropic changes, or any epistatic movements, to offset. Also, no immediate effects indicating the catalytic presence of telomerase.
So, this was the man who had knocked Dan out, by accident.
- For me it's more like the hangover effect - Dan clutched his head - Look, I'm......
The man interrupted him:
- It's not good if we stay here for too long; this area is practically reeking of activity - he said - it's better for we to move along discreetly to more secure lodgings, until everything works out.
He started walking at a fast pace:
- Come, we can find some painkillers for your needs along - the man informed - we'll go through the scrap.
And Dan darted behind him, perplexed:
- Works out? - Dan was now astonished - I don't think that's possible anymore.
- They did say that all should be eventually taken care soon. In a few hours, in fact. - then his expression altered slightly - But they're also after my head, so... Regardless, Shunya Sagi won't sink down with such an ease! - he protested, indignant.
Dan held his breath for an instant. That man was him.
posted by tensayoki @ 23:39
0 comments
Friday, September 12, 2008
The stones of will
Act V - Chaotic
About 00:38 PM.The air inside the tunnel was surely fresh and moist. Maybe caused by the rain that had been falling, there were constant trickles of water dropping of the ceiling; on the floor there were some tiles that had disjointed from the walls and the top, and were now tricky obstacles to Dan's progress. There also was moss growing on the floor.
And that passage was quite slim; in that claustrophobic duct he was very much like a mouse in a trap, about to get caught..... A gush of wind disrupted Dan of his considerations. He wasn't very far from the exit. It was great. More so, since he was fearing, that due to the length of the wormhole, he'd get lost; in regular gaps, there were placed some detours that would head to dead-ends. In some of these, he found shells of a heavy firearm, hunting weapon, capable of dealing large damage.
In fact, some forty meters [131 feet] ahead, and a few bad turns later, Dan finally saw, in the final section of the pit, again vertical and pointing upwards, the opening he was looking for. He hurried. He could already glimpse rustling branches of trees and the starlit sky.
And climbing by the same kind of spikes he had seen before, he came to an outlet similar to the entrance of the passage.
More deafening silence. Well, not completely.
Clearly audible was the loud cricketing sound, coming from somewhere Dan couldn't quite place, and yet felt so close. Crickets in the field. Where he was, he couldn't say, the tunnel had led him to a field of sorts with few trees, near a harvested hillock, as wide as two swimming pools, side by side, used for unknown crops.
The mound was stately and strategic, he felt.
The rain had totally subsided by now; the clouds had cleared the sky. And the moon was perfectly visible again. A waning crescent.
In one swift move, Dan perched out of the hole, and scanned the whereabouts.
Now he could see a drive way somewhat at far, beyond the mound. He decided to go along it, short cutting by the hillock and try to determinate its destination. And so he did.
As he followed it, he began to notice how the drive was, surprisingly and distastefully, ornamented with what in other occasion would seem elegant, however now it was just spooky.
On both sides of it, there were domineering, fearless, vivid, and even pedantic, pillars resembling the outlook of Byzantine columns, carved out of a silver rock.
Eventually, he caught sight of the finishing line: the road stopped by a declivity, or more adequately, a valley such was its extension, with more facilities, perhaps the real bioengineering facilities. Another lab complex....
As soon as Dan saw the unleveled ground, he had to duck as quickly as he could. Walking near the end of the road, there were two more of THOSE things! -- the centaur creatures that almost dissected him in the plaza. He, who was saved only by a hair's breadth!
Lying there, rigid, observing the monster, he began apprehending a certain pattern these presented. They didn't, properly speaking, "walk" around.
Rather, they now displaced positions with small hops, which looked like their default movement. Good, though, as he was still much far away to be detected by the pair.
Slowly, he doubled back.
It was extremely dangerous to be in that place. He'd go down the mound and go around, or something.
Or maybe return to the tunnel altogether, and risk it.
Perhaps the dogs would be friendlier.
At the base of the hillock, he turned right, and headed to a space filled with containers and voluminous skips. A loading and unloading zone. As he was advancing, passing by garbage, he was deep down in thought.
Those monsters could teleport. What if there were humans with the ability to do the same? Namely Vincent. It'd explain how he had disappeared, despite being to tied up.
Lost in disturbing thoughts, a surprising blow of something solid hit the back of his head. Just over the nape. Instant pain. Helpless, knocked out to the outburst of such stroke, he fell to the ground face first.
posted by tensayoki @ 23:51
0 comments
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Bottom of the pit
Those shackled shapes....
Suspicion arose in Dan as he approached the crude object, resting over a platform. Neat forms in a package of the size of a sleeping bag, denouncing..... Dan already knew in a way what he was about to see...
Hypnotized by the weird volume, Dan missed to notice the tidy stack of salami lying inside the air-tight plastic wrappings, just at his feet. The pile instantly spilled over the ceramic floor, and Dan, startled, almost fell over himself.
Luckily he had found support in the refrigerator (and that seemed like the last thing he'd find in that inhospitable place) and managed to regain his balance. With all his careful measures he made his way to the object. Repulse invaded him as his hand touched slightly the surface.
So smooth, even delicate.
How to cut it open? Dan gave a quick glance over the place to see if he could find a cutting object. Nothing at plain sight. Anyhow, he hadn't much time to lose. Since he couldn't shake that feeling of 'sitting duck' which had became his paranoia. A solution presented itself.
Without commiseration, he lifted his right hand and broke the bottle of cider against the granite wall. Antsy bits of glass immediately spread in all directions. He then used the biggest shards, which comprised the pointy neck of the broken bottle, as a sharp cutting tool to open the folding.
What he saw was utterly terrifying, loathing and nauseous.
Inside, in accelerated putrefaction, there was a corpse of a small person. The decomposing body still had skin attached to it, as well as several remaining cloths, in a strange mixture of the brown and white colours and a reasonable amount of humus.
As if the world was crumbling down on his shoulders, -- a world that changed so drastically in the last hours --, a trembling Dan immediately turned his eyes the other way.
The body's right arm moved from its resting position, on the chest and, slipping, sagged towards the floor, dropping a paper flyer.
Dan, however, was recovering his composure. The former circumstances were lessons to harden his spirit for these ubiquitous, unpleasant perils, he reformed rapidly his quick-thinking. His nervous energy could be used for more productive ends.
With no stop for qualms, he picked the paper. It was greased with wax (glittering when the flashlight lighted it), which apparently prevented it from being further decayed.
He could read: «To a wish that never came to be, upon a wish that was never fulfilled, such is the course downwards!» More riddles to disturb him. Did no one ever liked to discourse plain and simple in those lands?
But, effectively, as Dan looked down, he noticed that the floor there, under the decaying mummy, the floor had..... a different pattern. Instead of ceramic there were slabs, with the look of saffron flagstones.
Dan kicked the platform with the person away, and it went collapsing to the wall. He touched the flagstones. As he pressured them, the slabs shuddered, giving away their fragility. Perhaps.... Dan got up, seized the table in the room, and smashed it on what looked like an hollow floor .
The cracked myriad of pieces gave way to yet another thrill.
Concealed under the hut's fake floor, apparently there was a passage way constructed in the same manner as the hut, in granite blocks, of unrefined edges, clipped primitively.
It was quite narrow, although having enough space for a grown-up to pass through. The lighting was inexistent.
Of course, Dan wouldn't expect anything different. Where would this tunnel lead to? It was the rightful question in his mind at this time. What... would be down there? Another rightful question. Yet... he couldn't get much farther away from there, with those hounds in the vicinity and all.... he could never dispatch them all single-handedly before they could jump on him.
He bent down and listened quietly. No sound coming from below.
As peaceful as Uhra town was when he first walked into there.
With the flashlight he noticed a few spikes, posing as stairs.
He lowered himself and proceeded across the tunnel. It went vertically downwards to a certain height, and then it changed of direction in right angle.
Suspicion arose in Dan as he approached the crude object, resting over a platform. Neat forms in a package of the size of a sleeping bag, denouncing..... Dan already knew in a way what he was about to see...
Hypnotized by the weird volume, Dan missed to notice the tidy stack of salami lying inside the air-tight plastic wrappings, just at his feet. The pile instantly spilled over the ceramic floor, and Dan, startled, almost fell over himself.
Luckily he had found support in the refrigerator (and that seemed like the last thing he'd find in that inhospitable place) and managed to regain his balance. With all his careful measures he made his way to the object. Repulse invaded him as his hand touched slightly the surface.
So smooth, even delicate.
How to cut it open? Dan gave a quick glance over the place to see if he could find a cutting object. Nothing at plain sight. Anyhow, he hadn't much time to lose. Since he couldn't shake that feeling of 'sitting duck' which had became his paranoia. A solution presented itself.
Without commiseration, he lifted his right hand and broke the bottle of cider against the granite wall. Antsy bits of glass immediately spread in all directions. He then used the biggest shards, which comprised the pointy neck of the broken bottle, as a sharp cutting tool to open the folding.
What he saw was utterly terrifying, loathing and nauseous.
Inside, in accelerated putrefaction, there was a corpse of a small person. The decomposing body still had skin attached to it, as well as several remaining cloths, in a strange mixture of the brown and white colours and a reasonable amount of humus.
As if the world was crumbling down on his shoulders, -- a world that changed so drastically in the last hours --, a trembling Dan immediately turned his eyes the other way.
The body's right arm moved from its resting position, on the chest and, slipping, sagged towards the floor, dropping a paper flyer.
Dan, however, was recovering his composure. The former circumstances were lessons to harden his spirit for these ubiquitous, unpleasant perils, he reformed rapidly his quick-thinking. His nervous energy could be used for more productive ends.
With no stop for qualms, he picked the paper. It was greased with wax (glittering when the flashlight lighted it), which apparently prevented it from being further decayed.
He could read: «To a wish that never came to be, upon a wish that was never fulfilled, such is the course downwards!» More riddles to disturb him. Did no one ever liked to discourse plain and simple in those lands?
But, effectively, as Dan looked down, he noticed that the floor there, under the decaying mummy, the floor had..... a different pattern. Instead of ceramic there were slabs, with the look of saffron flagstones.
Dan kicked the platform with the person away, and it went collapsing to the wall. He touched the flagstones. As he pressured them, the slabs shuddered, giving away their fragility. Perhaps.... Dan got up, seized the table in the room, and smashed it on what looked like an hollow floor .
The cracked myriad of pieces gave way to yet another thrill.
Concealed under the hut's fake floor, apparently there was a passage way constructed in the same manner as the hut, in granite blocks, of unrefined edges, clipped primitively.
It was quite narrow, although having enough space for a grown-up to pass through. The lighting was inexistent.
Of course, Dan wouldn't expect anything different. Where would this tunnel lead to? It was the rightful question in his mind at this time. What... would be down there? Another rightful question. Yet... he couldn't get much farther away from there, with those hounds in the vicinity and all.... he could never dispatch them all single-handedly before they could jump on him.
He bent down and listened quietly. No sound coming from below.
As peaceful as Uhra town was when he first walked into there.
With the flashlight he noticed a few spikes, posing as stairs.
He lowered himself and proceeded across the tunnel. It went vertically downwards to a certain height, and then it changed of direction in right angle.
posted by tensayoki @ 19:49
0 comments
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