by Ben Hammott
“Oh, great. It knows we’re here.”
“It could be a good sign,” suggested Svetlana.
Alexei held the thin rod out like a sword, as if ready to stab and slice at anything that attacked. “If it is, it’s lost on me.”
“It could mean it’s frightened, or at least wary of us.”
“Not as much as I am of it. It’s a puddle, it could be anywhere.” Alexei poked the bottom of the monkey cage but found nothing black and dangerous.
Crouching, Alexei waved the rod under one of the metal cupboards the cages rested on. The clangs of rod striking against the legs rang through the room. He placed the extinguisher on the floor and taking a small flashlight from his pocket, aimed it along the gap beneath the cupboards running the length of the room.
Observing, Svetlana said, “You do know that if this was one of those American horror movies, something would lunge out and attack or pull you under.”
Alexei glared at her. “You’re not helping. Go search the end of the room.”
“In horror movies, splitting up is also a bad idea.”
Svetlana turned away from Alexei’s glare and began searching the animal food preparation area at the far end.
After Alexei had finished searching the gap beneath the cupboards, he turned his attention to the ceiling. The pipes that ran the length of the room and branched off through the walls were too high to reach, but he saw no evidence of the creature hiding there. After he had searched inside the cupboards, he returned to Svetlana.
“We’ve searched everywhere. It’s not here.”
Svetlana wasn’t convinced. “It has to be, the door was shut. It can’t get out.”
“It had to have gotten in here somehow, so it might have left the same way.” When Alexei’s eyes came to a halt on the air vent, he pointed the rod at it. “And that I believe is it.”
Svetlana focused on the vent. “If you’re right, it could be anywhere now.”
“I suppose we had better check inside or Stanislav will only make us come back.” Alexei dragged the empty cage below the vent off the table and let it crash to the floor. He then placed the extinguisher on the table and climbed up.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Svetlana.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing, but be ready with the container I guess.” I’ll remove the grill and see if it’s inside. If it is, I’ll give it a blast of CO2. Hopefully, that will subdue it. If it works, I’ll drag it out into the container, and we rush it downstairs and let the others deal with it.”
Svetlana nodded. The plan seemed simple enough. “And if it’s not inside?”
“We lock the room and make our report.” Alexei gripped the slatted grill, yanked it free and dropped it to the floor. He cautiously investigated the vent with the flashlight. Though it was empty, he noticed a faint oily residue on the bottom, similar to a slug trail, though less noticeable.
“What do you see?” asked Svetlana, gazing nervously around the room. She wasn’t certain the creature wasn’t concealed and watching them.
“Vent’s empty as far as I can see, but it has definitely been here.” Without thinking, he wiped a finger in the greasy slick and looked at his slightly blackened fingertip before showing Svetlana.
“Not sure that was a clever thing to do after seeing the melted remains of that monkey and what it did to Waldemar’s hand.”
“Shit!” Alexei frantically wiped the finger clean on his shirt.
“It’s probably its saliva, if it has saliva, that does the damage, so don’t French kiss it and you should be okay.”
“Not something I ever plan on doing.” Satisfied he had cleared the stain from his finger, Alexei stared along the vent weighing up their options before looking down at Svetlana. “You know we have to check it out to find out where it went?”
Svetlana glanced at the small opening and scoffed. “You’ll never fit in there.”
“I won’t but you will.”
STANISLAV AND KRISZTINA halted at the elevator that led to level 4. Unlike the upper three levels, the lowest level hadn’t seen use since the facility had been abandoned in the seventies. Luka, who had been down to power up the main generator, had been the first to walk its corridors in years.
While Stanislav unlocked and opened the hatch covering two red and green buttons, Krisztina engaged the lever on the power unit fixed to the wall. When it clunked loudly into the on-position, the green elevator call button glowed, and Stanislav pressed it.
Krisztina joined Stanislav at the door listening to the winch motor raise the elevator from the lower level and followed him inside when the doors slid open. A press of the button marked with a down arrow symbol closed the doors and set the elevator descending seventy feet. Both hesitated when the elevator glided to a halt and the doors slid open. They stared into the dark corridor lit only by the elevator’s single light. Separated from the air conditioning system of the upper levels to avoid contaminants spreading, the air they breathed was stale, musty, oppressive as if tainted with the suffering and deaths of those once experimented on down here.
Both were aware of some of what had gone on down here during Stalin’s era and later. This was Laboratory 12, where the Soviet secret police concocted exotic poisons used to kill dissidents in hideous and (mostly) untraceable ways. When it came to murdering your enemies for political power, both at home and abroad, poison had been Russia’s preferred weapon. To safeguard the anonymity of the assassin, and hence Russia’s involvement, the mission of Laboratory 12 had been to devise a poison that was tasteless, odorless, and undetectable in an autopsy. To test and refine the effectiveness of different powders, beverages, liquors, and diverse types of injection and dispersal apparatuses, toxins were administered to prisoners and persons subject to execution. When a target was identified, prisoners of similar age and build were tested to identify the correct killing dosage. It often took a few attempts and the lingering deaths of a few unfortunates before the correct dosage was determined. An autopsy would then be carried out to see if any detectable residue remained. If there was, the toxin would be refined and more suitable prisoners tested until a satisfactory result was attained.
Stanislav stepped into the corridor, crossed to a power panel beside the doors and turned the power lever with a loud clunk that echoed through the level. Lights flickered into life along the corridor and highlighted the lime green paint peeling from concrete walls and the rows of cell doors lining the opposite wall.
Though neither of them had ever set foot on this level before, Stanislav and Krisztina had consulted the blueprint of the facility stuck to the wall of the security office before coming down.
Stanislav glanced at Krisztina when she stepped from the elevator. “Let’s head straight for the laboratories located at the far end.”
Krisztina joined Stanislav walking along the corridor. She glanced in some of the open cell doors. Each was equipped with two simple metal beds furnished with thin mattresses and a single blanket. She could almost sense their past occupants’ fear and suffering. When she halted at a closed cell and moved her face to the small observation window, Stanislav’s hand on her shoulder halted her.
“It’s best you don’t look inside. When this place was abandoned, so were any prisoners locked in their cells.”
Visualizing the terrible fate of the prisoners left to die inside, Krisztina stepped back from the door. “That’s horrible.”
“Stalin and some of his subordinates were evil men. However, it’s poetic that Stalin was responsible for the existence of this place and one of the poisons created here was probably responsible for his death.”
Surprised by the news, Krisztina asked, “Is that true?”
Stanislav shrugged. “Allegedly a poison concocted here was administered to Stalin by one of his bodyguards, Ivan Khrustalev, acting on orders from Lavrenti Beria, the dreaded head of the Soviet secret police, when he feared Stalin was about to have him executed. That was the fate of previous secret police
chiefs when Stalin thought they were becoming too powerful. Also, apparently, on the day he died, Stalin planned to begin the mass deportation of Soviet Jews to Siberia and the Republic of Kazakhstan—an act calculated to provoke the West and start World War III. Though Stalin was confident he could win such a war and destroy capitalism, he had to move quickly before his half-ruined, half-starved country collapsed. Others in his administration weren’t so optimistic of the outcome and may have joined with Lavrenti to ensure Russia wasn’t obliterated in an all-out nuclear holocaust brought about by their country’s mad, paranoid dictator.”
“What a terrible time to have lived through, though due to Stalin’s strict and brutal regime, millions didn’t, of course.” Krisztina pointed at the cluster of glass-walled rooms on the far side of the hall they had entered. “Is that the infamous Laboratory 12?”
“It is. Laboratory 12 is the collective name for a group of twelve rooms containing laboratories, observation and control rooms, plus contaminant storage chambers for the storage of the chemicals and toxins. They were all cleared before being sealed and abandoned, so it’s perfectly safe.”
“I think I’ll avoid them all the same if possible,” said Krisztina, who lacked confidence in Russia’s track record of cleaning up contamination. She followed Stanislav into the first laboratory and glanced around the room.
Surrounded on all sides by glass walls looking into the surrounding rooms, unfortunate prisoners brought here to be experimented on could see the stages of their demise. First, they would be prepped here and strapped to one of the three metal trollies parked along one wall. When ready, they would be wheeled into the test chamber where they would be administered the poison and observed as the toxin took effect. If they survived, they would be taken to the adjoining recovery room to recuperate until they were ready for the next round of tests. If they died, they would be taken to the last room, the morgue, and dissected to study the effects of the poison and if any residue remained.
“There’s nothing here suitable to contain the creature,” stated Stanislav. “Let’s try the other laboratories.”
A short walk farther along the corridor weaving between the glass-walled rooms brought them to another laboratory. Its door led to an airlock chamber with another door opposite, a safety feature to prevent any toxins from escaping into the main lab area. When Krisztina closed the first door behind her, air rushed into the chamber through a vent in the ceiling, causing her ears to pop as the pressure increased.
“Positive pressure to prevent anything from escaping when the lab is entered or exited,” explained Stanislav, unnecessarily.
Krisztina was surprised. She thought such precautions were only required when working with contagious substances, such as diseases, or chemical weapons. It made her suspect it wasn’t only poisons that had been concocted down here. She glanced through the glass door worriedly at the vast range of laboratory equipment and machines spaced around the room, which identified it as a chemical laboratory, and wondered if it was safe to enter.
It seemed Stanislav had no such concerns. When the rush of air had equalized, he promptly opened the door and stepped through. He crossed to a console and pressed a button, turning off the air pressure safety feature they didn’t need.
A glance around the room revealed exactly what they searched for. Stanislav strode to the far door and entered a room with a glass chamber positioned in the middle. Tubes and wires led off from the top, and two sets of gloved, corrugated arms were positioned on either of its longer sides.
“This is perfect,” he stated, running a hand along the top edge.
Krisztina walked to a side wall and into an adjoining room surrounded on two sides with metal, glass-fronted, cold-storage cupboards. A range of empty test tubes, glass flasks, measuring beakers and a plethora of other chemistry equipment was stored on shelves running the length of a third wall. She turned when Stanislav called to her.
“Give me a hand with this.”
She returned to the glass chamber and released the catches on the lid at the opposite end to Stanislav and together they raised it.
Stanislav looked at Krisztina with excitement in his eyes. “You do realize what a momentous occasion this is? If that thing did come from the Antarctica spaceship, though Stalin knows how it got here, we will be the first to examine an alien life-form. I—we, all of us—could become famous for what we are about to do. We are about to make history.”
“I understand that, but we need to take every precaution. It could have killed Waldemar if Luka hadn’t acted so quickly.”
Unconcerned, Stanislav ran his gaze over the inside of the lid and pointed out four nozzles. “Hopefully it won’t be necessary, but these will sprout jets of intense flame when activated if we need to destroy the life-form, and this is”—he tapped the side of the chamber—“armored glass. The creature, whatever it is, won’t be able to break it.”
Aware of Stanislav’s desire for advancement and public recognition, Krisztina experienced relief that Stanislav was willing to destroy the creature if the need arose. “As you said, hopefully, it won’t come to that, though it’s comforting to have the option. However, first, we have to capture it and get it inside.”
“I’ll check up on Alexei and Svetlana to see if they’ve caught it yet.” Stanislav crossed to the internal phone attached to the wall, lifted the receiver and pressed the facility-wide communication button. “Alexei, Svetlana, we are ready and waiting on Level 4. Report your progress.”
CHAPTER 6
dEV1Lize
“No way am I squeezing in there,” stated Svetlana, backing away a step to reinforce her refusal.
“It won’t be so bad,” argued Alexei. “You can take the extinguisher, and if it’s in there, give it a good blast and scoop it up.”
“And how is that supposed to change my mind?”
“Well, someone has to do it. I won’t fit, so that leaves you.”
Svetlana shook her head. “Uh-uh! Not going to happen. It could be in there, waiting, ready to pounce.”
“I doubt it has the intelligence to set up an ambush or, lacking the limbs to do so, is able to pounce,” reassured Alexei. “It’s probably a simple organism with one thought—food.”
“Exactly! I don’t want to be its next snack.”
Alexei swept an arm around the room. “Based on the empty cages, it has probably sated its hunger and has crawled into the vent to sleep it off. It has no limbs, so it’s not like it’s a fast-moving creature that will rush you, is it? The most it can do is slither.”
“That’s speculation. We have no idea what it can do,” argued Svetlana.
“From Stanislav’s and Luka’s account of its attack against Waldemar, it only reacted when Waldemar poked it, probably a defensive response. If someone poked you, you wouldn’t just stand there and take it, would you?”
“Damn right I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t react by melting someone’s hand.”
“That’s because you have limbs to defend yourself. It doesn’t. It just used what it had. My point is, that if you don’t provoke it, it should leave you alone.”
“If spraying it with freezing CO2 isn’t provoking it, I don’t know what is.”
“You would be incapacitating it and it’s not like you’ll have to get close—a couple of meters will do.” Alexei glanced around the room and pointed at something in a corner. “Once you’ve frozen it, you can use that broom to drag it out to me and I’ll put it in the container.”
Svetlana glanced at the broom, the extinguisher, and the vent. It seemed a recipe for disaster. She sighed. “I’m not promising I’ll get very far, but I’ll give it a try.”
“You’ll be fine.” Alexei jumped off the bench and handed Svetlana the flashlight. “Hop up, and when you’re in, I’ll pass you what you’ll need.”
As Svetlana climbed onto the bench, Stanislav’s voice came over the intercom.
“Alexei, Svetlana, we are ready and waiting on Level 4. Report your progress
.”
Alexei crossed to the intercom and pressed the talk button. “We are still tracking the creature. It seems to have gone into the air duct. Svetlana is going in to find it.” He released his finger from the button.
“Understood,” replied Stanislav. “Keep me updated.”
Alexei turned to Svetlana. “You ready?”
“Not in the remotest, but I suppose I had better get this over with before I come to my senses.” She scrambled into the vent not much wider than her shoulders and gazed along the dark passage. The light she aimed ahead glinted off the creature’s slick trail. She couldn’t imagine a less welcoming scenario. She turned on her back and gazed at the entrance when the extinguisher Alexei passed in clanged against the side of the vent, sending an echo traveling along the air ducts. “That’s it, announce I’m coming.”
Alexei grinned. “It doesn’t have ears.”
“Perhaps not, but I felt the vibrations, so maybe it did also.” After shooting a nervous glance along the vent where she expected the creature to appear, Svetlana dragged the extinguisher up her body and placed it in front.
“Do you want the broom yet?”
“No, I’ll come back for it if it’s needed. It’s going to be awkward enough moving with the extinguisher.” Fear spread across her face when she noticed something appear behind Alexei. As the black, greasy mass stretched into view, two eyes formed in the substance. Though nothing more than rips in the Black, they were full of menace and seemed to be studying her.
Though Alexei had played down the danger Svetlana faced, he was surprised she had agreed to enter the tight confines of the vent that offered little chance to defend against an attack. Svetlana had been correct when she said they had no idea of the creature’s abilities, but how dangerous could a small black blob be? She would be fine.
At first, Alexei was confused by the terrified expression that appeared on Svetlana’s face. When she raised an arm and pointed behind him, a bad feeling edged with fear washed over him. He spun and froze in terror when he came face-to-face with the black substance hanging from the ceiling like an oily bat with wings extended. Its eyes radiated a menace he had never experienced before. Piss dribbled down his wobbling legs when the Black moved its wings towards him. Instinctively he stuck out his hands to hold them back and screamed. It was like touching liquid fire. His vision was smothered with excruciating, burning pain when the creature released its grip on the ceiling and wrapped its black wings around him in an embrace of agony and death.