"One of three things: the appearance of large skin spawn groups, unilateral movement of skin spawns converging on a specific location, or many spawns disappearing within a short period."
"And if those conditions are met, what are your concerns?"
"If you compare it to enemy troop movements, you will understand what my concern might be."
"I see where you are coming from. I'll contact the facilities and request that any available scouts and qualified agents, including unassigned security, deploy into the field within twelve hours."
"Thank you, Colonel."
"Yes, sir. Colonel Kaliber out."
Mr. Nix closes the communication console and continues to study the grid map given him by Nemolopolus.
A Gentleman Caller
Chapter 17
Dr. Black's Personal Room, Colorado Mountain Facility.
Dr. Black, wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt, tosses in her bed in a small room built for comfort. Plush fluffy chairs bookend a lounge style couch. A very feminine classical mirrored vanity sits in a corner. On the side is a small carved desk with a laptop open on the surface.
Unexpectedly, the laptop powers up and the monitor turns on, waking her. Dr. Black crawls out of bed and moves to her small desk. Once boot-up has completed, Dr. Black moves the mouse to power it off. Captain Nemolopolus' image appears on the screen's background.
"Dr. Black, I am Captain Nemolopolus. I wish to speak to you."
"What?"
"Dr. Black?"
"Yes."
"I am Captain Nemolopolus."
"Who? What's going on? Why are you on my computer? How?"
"I took control of your computer for the moment. Your computer isn't completely off while the power is connected. I just turned it on so we can speak."
"But I disconnected the camera and microphone on this computer. This is a dream. It isn't real."
"Dr. Black, this is real. Computer speakers can also be used as microphones. I'm using the infrared on your computer to detect your presence and location in the room. You're right, I cannot see your face at the moment, but I want to have a quick conversation and introduce myself."
"Tell me what's going on because I don't have the patience for you and I need to report this to command."
"You can. I just finished speaking with Mr. Nix. Granted, I did not tell him I was contacting you; our conversation is not for him. Walter is aware. I wouldn't approach a Committee scientist without notifying your Head of Personnel. I want to make you a proposal."
"Ok, this is weird. I was in bed. You force yourself onto my computer. If you could see me, I would think you are a perv spying on me."
"I'm so sorry, Dr. Black. Your service schedule in the system has you not sleeping at this moment. As for contacting you, I am with the Barge. You may not know of the Barge, but we are the only place more secretive than the Committee."
"Not so secret. Nix and our senior staff discussed the Barge. It sounds like a self-serving research facility that overcharges for high tech and makes lots of money, with no care for overall humanity."
Nemolopolus laughs.
"That is not true, but those who want our tech paint us in that color. Decades ago, a scientific consortium built the Barge for a sole purpose: to pursue science and research without financial, political, ethical, or moral limitations. The Barge itself resides in international waters where no country can claim domain or take responsibility for our actions. US Government Dark Projects initially funded the Barge as an off-shore contractor for our first five years, but they wanted to discontinue for political reasons. We refused, became independent and self-funded, governed by the residing captain. I am the third captain of this vessel and been so for thirty years. Every country hires us or pays us for research, including the US. Research that they cannot achieve on their own."
"Why pay you? You sound expensive and they lose control. We have amazing scientists. Nix doesn't need your research."
"We have the absolute best scientists and Nix does need our research. Would it surprise you that your research came from us?"
"Go ahead. Surprise me."
"When the Committee brought you aboard over eight years ago, it was to combine human specimens with skin spawn flesh and organs. Correct?"
"Go on..."
"What did they give you as a starting point? A map of the hybrid DNA. That allowed you to compare to Sapiens DNA, make them compatible, and conclude that humans could accept the range of abilities that came with the hybrid organs. Correct?"
"Go on..."
"The Barge supplied that genome map. It was the crucial starting point for the operations you are performing now. Walter figured out how the hybrid micro-transmitter chips worked, but didn't have the resources to create a dampener to prevent their tracking. The Committee paid us to do it and Nix installed it in your mountain home. Computer systems in the world are built by various countries and are hackable at both the software and device level. We build computers which are much faster, no country or company has the schematics to them, and are flawless because we are not limited by cost or time. We built your computers."
"Guess they aren't completely hack resistant, cause here you are."
Nemolopolus laughs.
"You sound like Nix. But he knows we have no malicious intent to hack you. We are beyond political, security, or financial interests."
"Okay, you impress me. I wondered where that DNA research came from since I couldn't ask anyone with the Committee how they mapped it. But I get back to my original question: why are you talking to me?"
"I want to extend to you a formal invitation to join our team. I said we staff the best in the world. You are the best in your field. You took our research and put it into application. We need someone to focus on our biophysical research of Greys, hybrids and humans at the moment. We need you. An urgent need for you."
"Considering you barged into my bedroom and propositioned me, I say no."
"I understand. But consider it. You may forget how the Committee recruited you by force, drafting you involuntarily. You follow hierarchy there and take orders. We are not an organization. I am asking you if you want to join. Here, you will be supplied everything you need and ask for without questions. We even organize vacation leaves for staff, so you can still enjoy what the world has to offer, instead of being locked away and always monitored. Plus, you control your research here, no one else. Money or ethics is not a consideration. Only your imagination and desires are your limits. I placed an icon on your desktop. If you ever want to contact me, just activate it. Goodbye, Dr. Black."
Nemolopolus disappears from the computer screen. Dr. Black shuts off her computer. Then unplugs it. And shoves it in a drawer. She curls up in a chair, not returning to bed.
She takes her computer back out of the drawer, plugs it in and reactivates it. While it boots up, she pulls out a small duffle back hidden behind her bed. She reaches in and pulls out one of the telepathic implant headsets from the lab, and places it on the bed. She inserts connectors from the headset into the computer. Using the keyboard, she searches through computer files and opens the physics archives. She grabs multiple documents on particles physics and molecular physics, drags the folder over to an icon representing the telepathic implant device, and drops the folders on the icon. The headset activates.
Seated on the bed's edge, she grabs the implant headset and stares at it.
"Well, Captain of the Barge, you are right about one thing. My imagination and desires should be my only limits, not my knowledge."
She puts on the headset, then gently lays back on her bed. After a moment, her mouth opens, her face stresses, and her head jerks left or right, reacting to things she sees and hears in her head.
Examining Eighteen
Chapter 18
Dr. Black's Lab, Colorado Mountain Facility.
Dr. Black watches a surveillance camera transmission displaying Eighteen's hybrid spy training sessions. A timer showing minutes and seconds
spools at the top right corner of the screen. A large industrial pipe extends from the ceiling to the floor. At the base of the pipe is an open steel hatch. Next to the opening is Dr. Lost holding a digital pad, and two security guards. While watching, Dr. Black goes around the room cleaning the patient table, checking first aid boxes, restocking cabinets of bandages and medicine, calibrating a scale, performing prep for standard emergency patient care.
She stops to sip a coffee and watch the monitor.
On the transmission, a hand extends out of the pipe's hatch and waves. Then, Eighteen's torso appears as he pulls himself out of the opening. After jumping to his feet, he dramatically extents his arm up and nods his head in a victory sign. Eighteen turns to the water pipe and holds his hands to it in a presentation pose. Seconds later, water rushes out, flushing over the floor. He turns to Dr. Lost and the guards and holds up his fist to the guards for a bump and doesn't lower it until he gets one. Eighteen and the guards then leave.
Dr. Black's communication device buzzes.
She grabs and answers it, "Dr. Black."
Mr. Nix's voice comes over the comm.
"Doctor, I'm sending Eighteen by for an examination. He just finished his last physical test."
"Any reason in particular? Is he injured or do you want me to check for something unseen?"
"No. He should be fine. No injuries sustained during training. Just a standard post-activity procedural exam. I want to make sure he has a clean bill of health before I put him out in the field."
"Will do."
"Eighteen has turned out to be an exceptional agent. He has surpassed Seventeen's test and training results. If he excels in the field as much as he excelled here, we should be able to locate and eliminate another Grey colony, making the Greys too weak to attack. If Nineteen performs as well as Eighteen, we might be able to end the Grey situation permanently."
"Seventeen was the first one to make it through after the previous sixteen agents failed. Eighteen had it easy knowing he could complete the training. Seventeen made it through being told he'd probably die before he finished. Let's not forget that."
"I don't forget Seventeen. He meant a lot to you. But living in the present does not downplay Seventeen's contribution. I knew hundreds of Committee personnel who died over the years and acknowledge their efforts. In my position, I cannot afford to carry their fallen spirits with me. It is not fair to those who step up to push the fight forward by making them live in the shadows of those who came before. Seventeen will always be with you, but you are doing yourself no favors pining every time someone betters Seventeen."
"I'll be expecting Eighteen's arrival soon."
Dr. Black ends the communication, closes the video feed on her monitor, then moves to the examination table and pulls a paper sheet across the surface. She gets her stethoscope, a digital thermometer and other basic medical examination tools.
Eighteen arrives at the door with two guards as his escort.
"Dr. Black, I'm here for my routine bill of health."
Dr. Black points and turns her back to him, "Sit on the examination table, please."
The two soldiers leave.
Eighteen takes off his jumpsuit, leaving himself naked. He jumps onto the examination table and, though trying to appear causal and relaxed, has his trim muscular body flexed. Dr. Black turns around to look at him and sees he is naked. She hides her surprise.
"You did not need to get naked, Eighteen."
"I did not not need to get naked, either."
"Your use of a double negative shows difficulty with grammar. Did you experience any impact to your head or experience any dizziness? Confusion?"
"No, no, I was trying to be...cute...which...didn't work."
"You decided that an examination was the time to be cute and naked?"
"No, I'm always cute. The naked is just to help with your examination of me...my mission-ready body."
"I see..." says Dr. Black as she writes something on her digital notepad. She then walks around to his back and places a stethoscope on it. "Breathe deep, please."
While he breathes, she listens.
"Again."
He takes more breaths as she moves the stethoscope around his back listening to his lungs. She then moves to his side and places the stethoscope on his chest center to listen to his heart. Finished, she grabs the sphygmomanometer to check his blood pressure, wraps it around his arm, and pumps it up, timing the pulses as it deflates. She removes the sphygmomanometer.
"Blood pressure is fine. Everything is normal."
"Aren't you going to test for a hernia?"
She gives him a glare. Turning, Dr. Black removes rubber gloves from a dispenser.
"Are you experiencing any abdominal pains? Groin pains? Lower abdomen discomfort?"
"No."
She reaches in and squeezes his balls hard, "How about now?"
Eighteen winces in pain, "Ow...what the fuck? Yes!"
Dr. Black releases, then removes her gloves. "No hernial problems."
Eighteen is miffed, "What is your problem?"
"No problems. You passed your physical exam and are healthy."
"Your problem with me. You are totally despondent and unresponsive to me. Examination, training, doesn't matter. You won't even make causal conservation with me. Everyone else does. I get along with everyone great, except you. Which surprises me. Word around is you had a thing for the last agent to undergo this change, so you are obviously not repulsed by my looks. Hell, you made me this way. I'm funny, charming, polite..."
"Charming isn't getting naked for a simple physical."
"I was trying to stir the pot. Get things going. Not that you haven't seen me naked dozens of times."
"You are not just naked; you are being sexual and provocative. Skin spawns, which you are training to be, are not sexual."
"I can deal with long periods of no sex. I remember I was an astronaut waiting for an open mission when Mr. Nix drafted me into this place. Doesn't mean I can't get a little something-something before going cold turkey."
"And you see me as something-something?"
"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds crude. But you were attracted to another hybrid agent, and you made me look this way. You should be into this."
"First, that other agent's moniker was Seventeen. He was a very different person."
"Come on now. How different could we be?"
"Seventeen is a prime number. Eighteen is a composite."
"You are avoiding the question. Is that because you are shy or playful?"
"Fine, you want this conversation. You are a cocky hotshot overachieving astronaut who believes he can overcome any goal, beat any record, because no one is better than you. I watch you train. You find out what Seventeen did each step of the way, and try to beat it, and you do, because you set a marker to beat. You don't worry that you will make it through, because Seventeen made it, so you figure you can and do better.
"Seventeen had no markers to reach. The Committee killed his predecessors for failing. His motivator was to not die. He didn't want to do this. Seventeen didn't see himself as better than other men, a hero or a warrior. He was flawed, torn, and questioned his life, his existence, what he was being asked to do. He was apathetic because he knew his feelings were irrelevant to the Committee. Seventeen accepted he may not survive, and if he did, he would never get recognition. And yet, Tomas Seventeen changed our destinies. Yours included."
Eighteen responds full of pride, "When I was an astronaut, death was part of the job. I didn't deaden myself inside with apathy to deal with the dangers. You are upset because I am doing better at everything than he did. Look, it's been months since his passing, and the two of you weren't together long, so I thought you might now be available. But if you need more time..."
"You don't get it. It's not about him. Seventeen and I understood each other. That is the extent of it. The problem with you isn't him. It is you not realizing what you've become. This isn't a hotshot te
st pilot job where your ego laughs at the chance of death. When you get out there, you can't impress or outperform the Greys or the skin spawns. They might kill you just because they decide they need a few less skin spawns, and you are one of those they choose. And if that knowledge doesn't humble you enough to become more introspective and less self-gratifying, then you either choose not to accept it, or are afraid to accept it. You are less prepared and more likely to die than Seventeen."
"I don't need your text book psychology. You have your way, and I have mine. When I return from my first mission, unlike Seventeen, you can apologize to me then."
"If you return from your first mission, I'll give you what you want. I'll screw your brains out. I'll rock your world and be your little sex toy. Because if you are that lucky, I want that luck to rub off on me. I'll rub your luck all over me. How's that?"
"That's what I want to hear!" says Eighteen, excited and smiling.
"And now think about how likely your chances of survival for me to make such a promise to someone I dislike. You can go now."
He loses his smile, stunned by the realization she presents him. He stands up off the table.
"Get dressed before you leave," orders Dr. Black.
He slips on his jump suit and heads out of the examination room. Once he is gone, Dr. Black throws her stethoscope and leans against the counter, frustrated and upset.
The Pilgrimages
Chapter 19
Mr. Nix's Private Biodome, Colorado Mountain Facility.
Mr. Nix sits on a short classical concrete bench. Thick patches of common and exotic plants line green carpets of grass spotted with walking stones laying out paths. The surrounding dome illuminates with ultraviolet light simulating the even glow of a cloudy day. Bird chirps reflect off the dome walls, amplifying their presence. At the end of one path, a transparent glass wall shows his office on the other side.
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