by Ben Hammott
Stanislav’s irritated voice responded a few moments later. “What is it? I am rather busy here, and I don’t have time to waste sorting out Luka’s problems.”
Waldemar sighed as he pressed the talk button. “I really think you need to see this, Director.”
Stanislav groaned. “You had better not be wasting my time. I’m on my way.”
Waldemar looked at Luka. “You’re certain there’s no other way your animals could have escaped?”
Luka nodded. “Unless they were able to unlock their cage doors, climb out, refasten them again and somehow get out of this room that was locked from the outside, someone took them. It’s the only possible explanation.”
Waldemar teeth-stroked his bottom lip. “I agree.” He glanced at the rabbit cage when it rattled.
Hissing at something at the far side of their cage, the four rabbits began thumping their feet in agitation.
Boris jerked his head towards the sound. He pulled his gums back over his teeth as he started screaming and thumping Luka’s shoulders.
Perplexed by what could have caused Boris’s fear, Luka approached the rabbit cage.
Boris screeched when he leaped onto the cages and then jumped for the pipes that ran the length of the ceiling.
Waldemar glanced at the chimp. “What’s gotten into him?”
“He’s frightened,” stated Luka, peering into the rabbit cage at something moving beneath the thick layer of sawdust covering the cage floor.
Waldemar joined him looking at the shifting sawdust. “Could that be one of your missing rabbits?”
Luka rolled his eyes at the stupid remark. “Only if it has been squashed flat.” He straightened up and looked at Boris cowering on the pipes in the corner of the room. Whatever was in the cage, Boris feared it.
When Waldemar reached for the pin holding the rabbit cage door closed, Luka grabbed his hand. “I’m not sure that’s advisable.”
Waldemar shook his hand free. “Don’t be stupid. It might be your missing mice.”
Luka stepped back. “I doubt that. They’re not Houdini mice.”
Waldemar opened the cage door. He reached towards whatever was moving and brushed away the sawdust with his finger, revealing something black and greasy.
“What in Stalin’s name is that?” uttered Waldemar.
“Nothing I think we should be messing with,” replied Luka.
“It looks like thick oil or tar.” Waldemar glanced up at the ceiling to see if anything could have dripped into the cage, but the ceiling was clear.
Luka had a bad feeling about the black sludge. “Let me remove the rabbits, and then we can quarantine the cage and whatever that thing is.”
“Stop overreacting, Luka.” Waldemar put his hand back inside the cage and prodded the black blob. “It’s soft, spongy.”
“I really think you should leave it alone,” cautioned Luka.
“I’m the scientist. Fetch me something to put it in, and I’ll take it to the lab to examine.”
Luka shrugged. “If that’s what you want?”
“It is.”
While Luka searched for a container, Waldemar brushed aside more of the sawdust riddled with pungent rabbit droppings and urine. Whatever the substance was, it was about the size of a dinner plate. He froze when the blob pulsated, sending ripples out from its middle. Confused by the movement, he prodded it again. The edges of the thing snapped around his hand like a clamshell closing. Waldemar screamed and yanked his hand from the cage.
Every animal in the room became agitated and screeched, squealed, hissed, barked and grunted.
Luka spun and rushed to the man’s aid when he saw Waldemar attempting to shake the black substance from his hand.
“Get it off! Get it off!” screamed Waldemar. “It burns!”
Luka was at a loss as to what to do. He sure wasn’t going to touch the black burning stuff.
The door opened. Stanislav entered and froze on hearing Waldemar’s screams and stared at the black substance covering his colleague’s hand. “What the hell is happening here?”
Seizing his chance to escape from the black terror, Boris swung along the pipes, dropped to the floor in front of Stanislav and barged past him into the corridor.
In agony, Waldemar ran towards Stanislav waving his hand at him. “Help me! Get it off. It’s burning!”
Worried Waldemar was going to touch him with the burning black he waved in front of his face, Stanislav stepped back and kicked him in the stomach. Waldemar staggered back, crashed into the empty mice cage and toppled to the floor.
Stanislav turned to Luka and demanded an explanation. “What is that black stuff and where did it come from?”
Luka shrugged. “It was in the rabbit cage. Some mice went missing, and when we looked for them we found that...stuff, in with the rabbits. Two of them are also missing.”
Ignoring Waldemar’s screams and pain-wracked writhing on the floor, Stanislav continued questioning Luka. “Missing? How could your animals go missing?”
“That’s what Waldemar and I were trying to discover when we found that thing.” Luka looked at the black substance that seemed to be stretching up the man’s arm and noticed his arm seemed too short. His hand was missing. Shocked by the revelation, he looked at Stanislav. “I think that thing ate them. Look, Waldemar’s hand is gone.”
Stanislav took a cautious step nearer the screaming man and studied Waldemar’s arm. Luka was right, his hand was gone. “We need to seal this room, now!”
“What about Waldemar?”
“Fuck him.” Stanislav turned and strode from the room.
Luka looked at Waldemar guiltily. They weren’t friends, but he couldn’t let the man suffer. He quickly followed Stanislav though the door. He returned a few moments later with a fire axe and stood over Waldemar.
Through pain-filled eyes, Waldemar looked at the axe and laid his rapidly diminishing arm on the floor. “Do it!”
Luka raised the axe and brought it down just above Waldemar’s elbow. Waldemar screamed before passing out. Luka knocked the severed arm away with the axe before dropping it. He quickly took off the man’s belt and tied it tightly around the arm to halt the blood flow. Unable to lift the man on his own, he grabbed his ankles and dragged him from the room.
Stanislav glanced at Waldemar’s severed limb and then at Luka. “Now will you seal the room?”
“And how do you propose I do that? The most I can do is lock the door. The only rooms that can be sealed completely are on Level 4.”
Stanislav glanced anxiously into the room. “Well, shut the damn door then before that thing gets out.”
Luka closed the door and turned the key in the lock. He looked at Stanislav. “Now what?”
“We need to find a way to contain that thing. Come with me.”
“What about Waldemar?” asked Luka.
Stanislav turned, looked at his unconscious co-worker, and sighed. “You grab him under the arms and I’ll grab his ankles.”
Luka glanced at the door through which he could hear the agitated sounds of his animals. Though reluctant to leave them at the mercy of the black blob, Luka was afraid to go back in. Hopefully, the scientists would work out how to kill it, and everything would return to normal.
Carrying Waldemar between them, they headed along the corridor.
CHAPTER 4
dEV1Lish
After Waldemar had been taken to the infirmary and Pechka, the elected first-aid official was contacted to come to the infirmary, Stanislav and Luka left him to have his wound tended to while they headed for the laboratory. After informing the others of what had taken place, the scientists were shocked by what they had just heard.
“But what is it and where did it come from?” asked Vadim, finding it difficult to picture the organism just described.
“We have no idea,” replied Stanislav. “But we can worry about that when we’ve neutralized it as a threat.”
Krisztina, like the others who hadn’t seen it,
found it hard to believe such a thing existed, let alone here in the facility, but she trusted Stanislav’s observations. The man had his faults, but he wasn’t prone to exaggeration. Frowning, she asked, “How big is it?”
Luka held his hands about ten inches apart. “It was about the size of a dinner plate and flat, like a pool of thick, oily liquid.”
“Then it doesn’t have eyes, limbs or anything?” enquired Svetlana, trying to visualize the strange entity.
Luka shook his head. “It’s just a blob. It wrapped itself around Waldemar’s hand when he prodded it. I told him not to, but...”
“Then it should be easy to catch if it can’t see, hear or smell,” offered Alexei. “It probably reacted in defense when Waldemar poked it. If we avoid touching or aggravating it, we should be okay.”
“If we can’t touch it, how will we catch it?” said Svetlana.
“We could place a container over it, slide something underneath, turn it over and put the lid on, job done,” suggested Vadim.
“We should destroy it,” stated Luka. “Burn it or something.”
“Let’s not be too hasty,” argued Stanislav, wondering if it would be advisable to contact his superiors to find out how to proceed. However, if he did, they might send people to catch the thing, whatever it was, and claim the glory. He thought it strange it had appeared so shortly after the arrival of the alien technology and too much of a coincidence for the two not to be connected. If the thing was an alien lifeform that somehow got here from the spaceship in Antarctica, there was only one person who was going to claim the victory for proving alien lifeforms existed—him. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with yet or the benefits it might have for the Motherland, so no one will be destroying it.”
Luka glared at Stanislav. “Exactly what benefits did Waldemar get from it? The damn thing took his hand and would have taken more if I hadn’t acted.”
“He shouldn’t have poked it,” stated Stanislav. “As Alexei just said, the thing probably thought it was being attacked and defended itself.”
He turned to his colleagues.
“We capture it like Vadim suggested and take it below to one of the sealed experimental chambers to observe and examine. Once we have it safely contained and have more of an idea what it is, I will contact the Kremlin to find out what they want done with it.”
“What about our work on the alien weapons?” asked Krisztina.
“As far as I’m concerned, this thing, creature, or whatever it is, takes priority over the weapons. I’m certain those at the Kremlin will agree when I inform them. Vadim, I understand you are about to cut through the outer shell to get at the inner workings.”
Vadim nodded. “I’m about ready. I’m all set up on Level 2.”
“Then you continue with that and the rest of us will concentrate on catching this thing.”
“I still think you should destroy it,” said Luka. He pointed at the alien pistols resting on one of the tables. “They might do the job.”
Stanislav stepped to the side to block Luka’s view of the weapons. “Luckily for the scientific community and Russia, that decision is not yours to make.” He turned his back on Luka. “Okay, Comrades, Vadim, take one of the weapons to work on, and I’ll lock the other in my office. Alexei and Svetlana, you will capture the thing and bring it below to Level 4 where Krisztina and I will have a chamber prepared to receive it.”
“Good luck if you think that thing will placidly sit there while it’s captured,” scoffed Luka. “It reacted damn quick when Waldemar got near it.”
“As this thing seems to be liquid, we could use CO2 fire extinguishers,” suggested Krisztina. “CO2 gas has a temperature of minus 66C so maybe the cold will incapacitate it long enough for it to be captured.”
Alexei nodded at Krisztina. “Great idea, Krisz. From the descriptions, scant though they are, it seems to be a glutinous liquid, so it should work.”
“What about me,” enquired Luka. “What shall I do?”
“You can catch that damn monkey you let escape,” ordered Stanislav. “When the thing has been captured, you can return to your animals. Until then, keep out of our way.”
As the others left the room, Luka approached Krisztina. “I don’t like this.”
“Me neither. I don’t understand where this thing could have come from, but it can’t be a coincidence it only appeared after we received the alien weapons.”
Luka raised his eyebrows. “Alien pistols? As in UFO alien?”
Krisztina shot a worried glance at Vadim who was collecting a few tools across the room. “Shush. Forget what you’ve just heard, or at the very least don’t let on that you know.”
“I won’t, but where did they come from?”
“It’s all extremely top secret, but the weapons came from an alien spaceship found buried in the ice in Antarctica. Don’t ask me anymore because that’s all I know.”
Luka shrugged. “I thought they looked strange but didn’t for one moment imagine they came from a UFO.”
“Technically it wasn’t a UFO as it wasn’t flying, but that’s enough about that. We need to concern ourselves with catching this thing, alien or otherwise. Hopefully, we’ll soon have it contained. Then maybe we’ll find out what it is.”
Glancing at Vadim across the room to make sure they weren’t being observed, Luka held Krisztina’s hand. “Be careful and don’t get near it, even if it looks dead. And whatever you do, don’t let it touch you. I’ve chopped off enough limbs for one day.”
“I’m inquisitive, not stupid. I’ll be careful.”
Luka nodded and released her hand. “Good to hear.”
“I have to go. Maybe I’ll be able to see you later, but with all that’s going on...”
“I know. And I have a chimp to catch.”
He followed Krisztina out of the laboratory.
CHAPTER 5
dEV1Lry
Because EV1L still wasn’t strong enough to reveal its presence to the humans, it had hidden when two of them had entered the animal room, interrupting its feeding. However, when they had discovered its hiding place and poked it, its defensive instincts had prompted its attack.
Having finished consuming the flesh, muscle, and sinew from the human arm, EV1L slithered off the bones in search of additional nourishment. It needed to grow stronger quickly to survive now the humans were aware of its presence. It climbed up the side of the metal cupboards the cages rested on and headed for the first of the small four-limbed creatures that barked at its approach. Whimpering from fear of its strangeness when it entered their cage, they cowered into a corner. It would devour them all.
Having devoured the beagles, EV1L moved along to the next items on its menu. The spider monkeys screeched, hooted and displayed their teeth at the approaching menace. EV1L melted through the gaps in the wire mesh and reformed on the other side.
One of the spider monkeys attacked. Its hands grabbed at the black blob, stretching out glutinous lumps that wrapped around its small paws. Failing to break free from the rubbery restraints it tried biting through them. EV1L attacked and wrapped around its face. The monkey’s terrified features were revealed in the substance covering its contours. The creature’s muffled screams continued until lack of air released it from its pain. The remaining spider monkeys pressed themselves into the far corner of the cage and huddling together, trembling while they awaited their fate.
ALEXEI AND SVETLANA cautiously entered the animal room and closed the door. The first thing they noticed was the lack of sounds or movement coming from the cages. Always expecting they were going to be fed, the animals normally reacted when anyone entered the room, but now there was only ominous silence.
Spying the remains of Waldemar’s arm bone, Alexei pointed it out to Svetlana, who wished he hadn’t. They crossed to it cautiously and discovered it was absent any Black.
Svetlana gazed into a nearby cage and stepped nearer to investigate. It was empty, and so was the next and the next. All the animal
s were gone.
Adjusting his hold on the heavy fire extinguisher under one arm, Alexei’s head swiveled anxiously as he searched for the black blob Luka had described.
Spying no sign of it, he glanced back at Svetlana following closely and raised the thin metal rod gripped in his free hand. “Use this to search the cages and let me know if you find it.”
“Have no fear on that as it’s not something I’m planning on keeping secret. When you hear me scream, you’ll know I’ve found it.”
Svetlana glanced worriedly at the plastic container she held and wondered if it would be strong enough to contain the creature. It had melted Waldemar’s flesh, maybe it could do the same to plastic. She opened the first cage and poked the sawdust covering the bottom with the metal pointer. Finding nothing but mouse droppings, she moved along to the next.
Alexei was searching the third cage on his side of the room when the rod snagged on something concealed beneath the sawdust littered with pungent rabbit droppings and urine. A bead of sweat dripped from his forehead as he slowly raised the object. He relaxed when part of a rabbit’s ribcage lifted clear of the sawdust. He shook it off and continued along the line of cages. He paused at one of the two large primate cages at the end of the row and stared at the half-eaten corpse of a spider monkey. Flesh-cleaned bones of its cellmates lay scattered around the cage. He focused on the monkey’s face. Normally they wore a cute, slightly mischievous expression, but now, abject terror was frozen on its face. He turned and clicked his fingers to attract his comrade.
Svetlana crossed to the cage and glanced inside. Moving her gaze away from the poor creature’s dead, fear-filled face, she examined the wounds. There was hardly any blood and the flesh seemed to have been melted from the bones that also showed signs of being dissolved, digested. She turned to Alexei. “I wonder why it didn’t finish it off?”
Alexei shrugged worriedly as he gazed around the room. “Probably full from gorging itself on all the other animals.”
“Or we disturbed it when we entered,” offered Svetlana ominously.