Radioactive Evolution

by Richard Hummel

  Jared praised himself for having the forethought to bring the medical supplies and boosters with him on his first trek underground. They’d patched everyone up from the explosion at the lake and subsequent rat attack. He’d even found some ointment to apply to the nasty burns on their bodies.

  Once things settled down and they learned more about each other, Jared could dole out boosters to everyone.

  Jared paused, his mind grinding to a halt.

  Wait. Boosters. Why—

  Scarlet! Jared shouted.

  Scarlet snapped her eyes open, rising to her feet in a crouch, ready to defend him.

  Oops. Jared grinned sheepishly. Sorry! I’m fine. I didn’t mean to alarm you, but I just had an epiphany. How were these people able to survive for nine years without boosters?

  Scarlet didn’t respond, but Jared watched the wheels turn behind her intelligent gaze.

  I cannot believe it. Ah, I see it now. Jared, do you know what this means?

  I have an inkling of an idea, but I don’t know how. Care to enlighten me?

  Oh, right. Sorry. I figured out how he did it! Well, mostly. Razael created a virus he injected into the host’s body. Scarlet paused to collect her thoughts.

  Virus might not be the right word. It was like a virus, but instead of infecting or changing the nanites, it encapsulated them. In doing so, it created a shield around them, effectively isolating the coding and thereby protecting them from corruption. From what Vanessa told us, these folks became Razael’s prisoners right after Igor distributed the nanites around the world. The work I am doing will start the timer again.

  Okay, so you remove Razael’s virus. Is there a way to recreate the effect of isolating the coding without exerting control like Razael? Wait. What about enhancements and augments? Won’t the isolation prevent those changes?

  Honestly, I am unsure. I am not even sure how Razael created his virus in the first place, but he did it and successfully neutralized the technovirus. It gives me hope I can find a solution. At this point, these are only theories, and I will need time to work on an effective solution.

  Definitely take your time to find a solution. We’ve got plenty of boosters for them when the time comes, and I’d rather you have a better grasp on it before we start human experimentation, which will happen with me first. I won’t subject these people to any more mental invasions unless absolutely certain it’ll work and that it won’t have any negative side effects.

  After spending some time with these people, I can say with confidence that I believe all those I’ve worked with are sincere and loyal to a fault. By the time I finish the process of eliminating Razael’s influence, I’ll know them well, if not better than they know themselves. You should also know that they hold Vanessa in such high esteem, they practically worship her. It is her resolve and strength of will that carried them through the years. I believe madness would have taken hold long ago if not for her stabilizing presence.

  Thank you, Scarlet. If you find anything to doubt their loyalty, or any reasons you think I should withhold information from them, let me know. Also, please assess their mental capability to handle the truths we have to share. They’ve already been through so much, I fear driving them to insanity with what we need to tell them.

  I will.

  One more thing. If Damien and George let you work with them, I really want to know what’s going on in their heads.

  I think if Vanessa pressured them, they would listen to her.

  Scarlet went back to sleep while he kept watch throughout the night. Once she woke, Jared asked how she wanted to allocate her free nanites. Jared pulled up her screen.

  Wow, you’ve got ninety percent available!

  He shuddered, thinking about knocking her out of the water. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he hadn’t broken her contact. It was hard to believe that only ten percent were assigned. She already stood over twenty feet tall, and if she kept with her same enhancement path, she had a lot of mass to put on next time she grew.

  I have not put as much thought into it as I should. Continuing my current progression path makes sense, but I want to wait a while longer before deciding.

  Let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll get it taken care of. In the meantime, please keep working with everyone here. I’m going to head out for the tunnels.

  Jared looked across the room and found Vanessa staring at him. He waved and beckoned her over. Smiling, she rose to her feet and joined them. “Vanessa, I’m going out today to get some equipment, and maybe some clothing for everyone.”

  Fear flashed in her eyes and she grabbed his arm.

  Please don’t go out there, she pleaded.

  “I’ll be fine Vanessa,” he reassured her. “There may be a lot of creatures roaming about, but I saw nothing I can’t handle, and nothing I couldn’t outrun should the need arise. We’ve fought much stronger creatures and in much larger numbers at once.”

  Vanessa didn’t want to let go of his arm, but Scarlet nuzzled her side and spoke.

  It will be okay, Vanessa. Jared and I can speak over long distances. When he explores, he keeps in constant communication with me, and it will let me know if he needs help.

  Vanessa relaxed her grip, but it was obvious she was still scared. Jared didn’t know if she was scared for him or scared of being left with Scarlet.

  “I’ll be careful,” Jared promised. “I’ve experienced far too many close calls to take unnecessary risks.”

  Scrambling up the ladder, Jared retrieved his pack and walked to the barn door.

  Hey, Scarlet, I know we both want to trust these people, and they’ve done nothing to show us otherwise, but please watch this gear and don’t let anyone come up. The munitions in this crate are much too volatile for them to be rummaging through it.

  I will watch it.

  Jared exited the building and made his way toward the ruined cellar. When he reached the now exposed storage room, he spent time clearing debris from the entrance so he could get to the door of the tunnel. With all the extra creatures in the area, he wanted to close the door and make sure nothing creeped up on him.

  Debris cleared, Jared entered the tunnel, his sight automatically switching to Night Vision. He walked through the tunnels, pistol drawn in the event something had already made its way down here, but thankfully saw no signs of life.

  Jared spent a little time re-examining the places he’d already explored. If there was anything down here with him, he wanted to know, plus his priorities had changed. He wasn’t just exploring for the sake of finding valuable items. Now, he needed to find a whole laundry list of items for everyone.

  Retracing his steps from the weeks prior, his added scrutiny proved pointless. There was nothing he, or the waterfolk, needed through the portions of the facility he’d already explored.

  He reached the execution chamber where dozens of dead vines littered the ground. Just in case they could still infect him, he stepped over them, giving the thorns a wide berth. Halfway through the room, Jared heard something shift and whipped his head around. The room was empty, but Jared swore he’d heard something. Maybe it was his imagination because of his experience here.

  Cautiously, Jared stepped over some vines, gently nudging a few out of the way so he could move past. The moment he moved the vine, he heard the noise again, confirming it wasn’t his imagination. Jared brought his pistol up, looking around the room for whatever was in there with him.

  “Show yourself,” Jared whispered under his breath.

  Unable to pinpoint the source of the noise, Jared took another tentative step toward the rooms exit. The moment he did, a vine crashed down on his head, and a large, crimson-colored thorn pierced into his shoulder.

  Jared screamed in pain.

  “No!” He panicked, ripping the vine free and sprinting back the way he’d come. The vine tore away, ign
iting another wave of pain across his shoulder. All Jared could think about was the unending torture from the past few weeks. Tears streamed down his face.

  He couldn’t endure another experience like that. Nearly back to the cellar, Jared opened his mind about to reach out to Scarlet, but paused. He hadn’t felt any dizziness. His mind was still his own, and he felt in absolute control of his body. Jared skidded to a halt, several paces from the cellar and assessed himself.

  His shoulder hurt, and blood trickled down his arm, but other than the normal pain associated with getting stabbed, there was nothing else. The symptoms from Razael’s influence was gone.

  Slumping to the ground, head between his knees, Jared spent several minutes calming himself. His heart raced so fast, he feared it would explode from his chest. The pounding of his blood throbbed at his temples. He’d really thought it was all over for him. Though, now that the threat was gone, the rational part of his mind chided himself for not thinking things through.

  Razael was dead. There was no reason to think the effects of his mind control lingered, but in that instant, he’d panicked, throwing all rationality to the wind.

  Picking himself up off the floor, Jared found a bandage in his pack and wrapped the wound. The thorn had pierced deep enough to penetrate his muscle, but it didn’t hinder his movement. Flexing, the wound pulled taut and he winced. He needed to be careful with the next few hours until his Regeneration kicked in and sealed off the injury.

  Making his way back to the chamber, Jared carefully picked his way across the room yet again but remained vigilant of errant vines clinging to the ceiling. He’d likely disturbed them before causing one to fall haphazardly across his shoulders. The vines were all dead, lifeless.

  Jared almost left the room but stooped to touch a vine. He wanted to make sure there were no nanites to absorb here before moving on. After a full minute, Jared moved on, realizing there was nothing left in them worth taking.

  His first stop after the chamber was the armory. He spent a lot more time going through all of the equipment in the room, opening boxes, crates, cages, and cabinets. The contents of the room were now captured in his mind, and he could reference them at will to see what was available.

  On his way out, he examined the door to figure out how it locked. Unfortunately, it was a combination lock and he didn’t know the code, nor was it wasn’t written anywhere within view. Curiously, a ring of keys next to the door seemed out of place. If the main door used a combination, why have a ring of keys?

  Then he remembered smashing open all the locks on the cages the last time he was here and smacked his forehead.

  Idiot.

  If only he’d spent an extra minute looking for the keys, he’d have the ability to lock up all the gear. There was nothing he could do about it now and decided it was best if he left the door open. There was no telling if he’d ever find the combination to the door and didn’t know if it was possible to reset it.

  Retracing his steps, Jared took one of two paths he had yet to travel. Keeping his promise to be cautious, Jared kept his pistol at the ready. The tunnel sloped downward as it neared the water, and he found the walls slick with moisture. The tunnel leveled off and ran straight toward the water for over a mile.

  Wow, this must go straight to the lake’s edge, thought Jared. Just to confirm his suspicious, he pulled up his mental map and compared his location to the surface. Sure enough, it led directly to the shore. Coincidentally, right in line with where they’d set off the explosion and killed Razael.

  Scarlet, I found a tunnel here that seems to go directly to the water’s edge. The tunnel aligns with Razael’s location.

  Be careful. We do not know if any part of him survived.

  Actually, about that, I can confirm he is definitely dead and his influence no longer present.

  How do you know?

  One of the vines in the execution chamber fell from the ceiling, and a thorn stabbed me.

  Jared! Why didn’t you tell me?

  I didn’t want you to panic and leave everyone there if it was nothing. It happened an hour ago, so there’s really nothing to worry about. I put a bandage on it, and the bleeding already stopped.

  Jared, please let me know if anything else happens, pleaded Scarlet. Even if he is completely gone, please be careful. There is no telling what you may run into if the people that used to live here were willing to experiment on a dragon.

  Trust me, you don’t have to tell me. I feel like a halfling about to enter a dragon’s den filled with treasure to steal from him.

  Halfling? Treasure? What are you talking about?

  It’s called humor. Clearly Scarlet needed some lessons in human entertainment from the past few thousand years. Shaking his head, Jared continued. I’m just trying to add some levity. It’s freaking creepy down here. Especially after finding out about all the experimentation on Razael. If I see anything that explains how they imprisoned him, I’ll let you know.

  Thank you.

  Jared walked forward and encountered a blank wall.

  A dead end? This can’t be a dead end. Why would they create a tunnel like this and just block it off?

  Jared saw scrapes and furrows where someone had tried to dig through, but it was obvious they hadn’t succeeded.

  “There’s no way this is a dead end,” Jared said, frustrated at the impassable object.

  It wasn’t until his third pass thoroughly examining the tunnel he noticed a slight variation in the stone. Peering closer, he realized it was a small hole. It was obviously man-made, as the sides were symmetrical, forming an octagon. Jared tried shoving a rod from his weapons cleaning kit into the hole, but nothing happened.

  “Maybe I need a key?” wondered Jared. “The armory! Was there a key that would fit this?”

  Jared’s mind went into overdrive, activating Hyper-Cognition. Starting with where he’d first entered via the cellar, Jared raced through the images in his head, making sure he hadn’t come across another set of keys. Pulling up the image from the armory, Jared zoomed in to the keyring on the way. Amongst normal looking keys, a wrought iron key in the shape of an octagon sat on the key ring.

  “Bingo!” Jared exclaimed, deactivating his ability.

  Racing back the way he’d come, he rounded the corner of the armory, snatched the key off the wall, and sprinted back toward the dead end.

  Crossing his fingers, Jared inserted the key, hearing a satisfying click as it settled into place. Although it clicked, nothing happened until he twisted it, causing a soft rumble to shake the floor. The barrier remained in place, and he thought it was a bust until he tried pushing it. The wall swung inward with little effort, softly scraping against the floor.

  Just beyond the door, the tunnel rounded a corner into what he guessed was another large chamber. Creeping forward, he held his pistol in front of him.

  Peeking around the bend, Jared found a massive room, the edges lost to shadow. Quickly flipping through Heat Sight and Night Vision, he determined it was empty and holstered his weapon.

  Methodically, he examined everything in his immediate vicinity. It didn’t take a genius to see he’d found the laboratory they’d speculated about. Tables in orderly rows held rusting implements used for dissection. He recognized some of them because the scientists back in his home colony used them on creatures they killed. He’d never watched a live dissection, but they’d had to learn about it growing up.

  Banks of lights, long since dead, adorned the ceiling. Some lay in pieces on the floor. Cages and glass enclosures lined one wall; dozens of skeletal remains littered their bottoms. Even those in the sealed glass were nothing more than bones, which told Jared this place hadn’t seen use in many years, long before the colony existed. The row of glass enclosures gave way to a row of cages, which ended at a massive floor to ceiling viewport into the lake beyond.

  He saw no ev
idence of cracks on the glass and wondered what material it was to survive so many years. Walking closer, Jared’s heart leapt in his throat at the sight before him.

  “Holy—what the—”

  Transfixed, he stared through the glass, looking at a huge cage. Thick bars enclosed a massive sea serpent. It wasn’t like the water dragons he’d seen in Alestrialia’s memories. No, this dragon resembled a great serpent, as it had no arms, legs, or wings. Small nubs covered in hardened skin marked where his limbs and wings had been attached. Outside the cage, equipment with sharp implements glinted from the sunlight above, and a bank of consoles sat in front of the viewport.

  Jared’s shoulders slumped, and he slammed his mental barriers in place to shield Scarlet from the emotions rampaging through his mind.

  Scarlet, I’m so sorry. I can’t show this to her. These people were barbarians! What did they do to you?

  Jared placed his hand against the viewport, staring despondently at the dead form of Razael. They’d dissected him. Removed his body parts. His freedom. They poked and prodded him with machines.

  Jared collapsed to the floor, his back to the console. A hollow pit formed in his stomach. This once-magnificent creature reduced to a spectacle. An experiment. A test subject.

  “What did they do to you?” Jared’s voice forlornly echoed across the vacant space.

  His mind flipped back to the images Alestrialia showed him of the once-great water dragons and the sense of deep remorse and sadness as one by one they’d descended into the ocean, never to be seen again…until now.

  How could they do this to you? How could anyone do this to a dragon?

  With the close proximity of the massive underwater cage, Razael no doubt had spoken into the minds of those here. Did he question their actions? Did he plead for mercy? Maybe he asked for death? Jared’s mind was a place of turmoil as he tried to come to grips with the horrific display next to him. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t rationalize why anyone would do this. If they’d known what Razael would become, they should have killed him.