She looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “Yes, Doctor Hinsin?”
“Why are you wearing that breather knowing you don’t need it? I’ve never seen you carry one, let alone wear one.”
U’ldanta looked at the others in the room, all of them breather-wearing humans. “I may be immune to the Black Cell, but this specimen could have something else in his blood that I don’t wish to experience.”
“Ha!” he scoffed. “Find me any pathogen in the elements that hurts an Auroran and I will write another book.”
“Please spare the students at Cambridge and New Haven a new book from Doctor Gregory Hinsin,” she said, smiling. “No disease on this planet may harm us, but that doesn’t make us naive, Doctor.”
“Very well, U’ldanta.” He smiled back. The two were close, their lives shrouded in research and work, and almost always side by side. They were bonded by countless hours of work. Hinsin was one of the top medical minds, holding the unofficial title of best transplant surgeon in the System, and responsible for the invention of the massively used suture-foam. U’ldanta came from the Auroran Military, serving as an Imperial Apothecary and Scientist for over a hundred years. Young for her species, she had already been responsible for many medical breakthroughs on her home planet when she traveled to Earth to tackle the Black Cell and other human diseases. Both doctors recognized each other’s skills and insights and often asking each other for assistance.
Now they approached the operating slab together, where a surgeon was dissecting areas of the chest on the body. The surgeon looked up and nodded at the two doctors.
“Doctors,” the surgeon said. The creature on the slab, while humanoid, was severely decayed, with patches of flesh rotting on its skin. Its eyes were pitch black and the hair on its scalp was thin and long. However, despite its ghastly features, everything else about the creature appeared human.
“Those Enforcers get a little trigger happy, don’t they?” Hinsin said as he looked at the numerous bullet holes on the body.
“They were justified, I think,” the surgeon said as he pulled mushroomed bullets out of the body. “The police report was descriptive: Multiple rounds fired. Final round to the cranium. I’ve pulled nine slugs out of this guy so far, and those are just ones embedded in the tissue. Six exit wounds from the cervicis all the way down to the lumborum, holes the size of golf balls.”
“Resilient for sure,” Veena said as she walked around the slab to view the body’s hand.
“My bet is willpower,” the surgeon said. “The dermis is soft, decayed. I’m surprised the meat doesn’t just fall right off the bones.” He pulled out yet another slug and placed it into a pan beside the slab, the metal clinking in the dish.
Hinsin moved to the body’s head to inspect another bullet wound. “They had to put him down with a headshot?” Hinsin said, picking up a probe from a small table of instruments beside the slab. Hinsin angled the probe to the wound, gauging the path of the bullet. “Entry into the left temple, passing through the frontal lobe, parietal, temporal… yeah, he was dead before he hit the ground. Exit wound right through the cerebellum,” Hinsin said as he rested the head back on the slab. “Enforcers don’t go for head shots, so it’s certain that he took a lot of rounds before giving up the ghost.”
The surgeon then looked back at Hinsin winking. “Like I said, justified,” the surgeon said.
U’ldanta picked up one of the slugs in the pan. The blood coating them was almost black and far too irregular. Meanwhile, Hinsin viewed the specimen’s hand, noting the long, thick, claw-like nails, then looked at the head and the thin, long hair. He walked to the counter behind him where several microscopes and other medical instruments were located.
“I need to run a biopsy of its tissue,” Hinsin said as he cut a piece a flesh and placed it into a Petri dish.
“I’ll run another blood sample,” Veena said. “I’d like to see this beast’s makeup.” She grabbed a microscope slide and looked to her left, seeing that one of the other doctors had already placed a vial of the specimen’s blood on a small rack. She prepared a slide for viewing under the microscope, where a small terminal was connected to the scope for external viewing.
Veena identified the Black Cell in the sample quickly. Its jagged circular body, tinted with black stains, were the obvious giveaways. Seeing an irregularity, however, she took a closer look. She increased the magnification and noted that a small section of the cell body had a portion missing. The discovery alarmed her.
“Hinsin,” Veena said. “Look at this.”
“It better be more interesting than mine, this is remarkable,” Hinsin said, busily looking at his own tissue sample.
“Just come here,” she said insistently. Hinsin walked over to her and looked at the screen, which showed a clear image of the blackened cell. Veena peered at the screen to make sure the sample was clear for Hinsin.
“The Black Cell,” Hinsin said. “We’ve confirmed it already, Veena.”
“Look closer,” she said. Hinsin examined the Black Cell. No two doctors in the System were more familiar with the Black Cell than Hinsin and U’ldanta, and he soon noticed the small irregularity on the cell body.
“What is that?” Hinsin said as he squinted at the missing piece.
“Mutation…” Veena said, still looking at the screen. She smiled in fascination. The horrors of the mutation were briefly put aside as she viewed the discovery.
“Incredible,” Hinsin said in amazement. “After four hundred years it’s evolving?”
Veena nodded as butterflies began swirling in her stomach. “The biopsy?” Veena asked.
“Well if this got you going, you should look at that, too.”
The two walked a few steps to another microscope. Hinsin touched a button on the terminal beside him, bringing up a large screen with the microscope image. “The tissue cells were dead when I viewed them, but...” He pressed a switch below the scope, sending a small current through the tissue, reanimating it briefly. The cells on screen began to move erratically, the damaged cells morphing to healthy cells.
“The dead tissue repairs itself?” Veena asked.
“Keep watching,” Hinsin mumbled. Some cells began to decay again, but others retained their healthy state.
“Spirit…” Veena gasped.
“A fresher sample would have been better, but some cells appear to be able to regenerate far faster than others.”
“What is this thing…?” Veena said under her breath as she looked back at the slab.
“I’ll have to spend more hours analyzing this, but it looks like these regenerative cells are both killing and keeping themselves alive. If this ghoul hadn’t taken a lights-out shot to the head, I’d guess he’d be still be very capable about now.”
“This mutation is extraordinary,” Veena said.
“One thing is certain. This mutation didn’t kill him. It kept him alive from The Black Cell, the original strain.” Hinsin placed his hand on Veena’s shoulder. “Vee, are we looking at a possible here?”
Veena looked at Hinsin, the spark in his eyes. This new mutation meant a high chance to create a cure, what scientists had been trying to achieve for centuries.
“I almost can’t believe this,” Veena said. Hinsin couldn’t hold his joy anymore and was quick to embrace her. She still wasn’t used to such human gestures, or at least partaking in them, but she smiled at the grand news.
Hinsin turned back at the body on the table. “Maybe this is the one, the Fierce Spirit or whatever,” he said excitedly.
Veena shook her head. “What?” She smiled.
“Ya’ know, that thing you told me about, what the little Aurorans on your planet are taught. Creature of evil? Brings death in time of peace, dies, then rises again to do good in times of turmoil? All in the Spirit’s plan, right?”
Veena fluttered her eyes and smiled. “You’ve simplified it,” she laughed. “But this thing is hardly what I’d expect of a Revente deity. Even you must see th
at,” she said, pointing to the hideous mutant on the slab.
“You told me it can take any form! You said that!”
“Well, technically, the scriptures never specified if Yardant-Raz was actually Revente but…” She only saw him smile more, always having been fascinated with the Auroran culture. “Hey, don’t poke fun of my religion just because you’re an atheist, Hinsin.” He shrugged. “And it’s the Fierce Soul, not Spirit,” she reminded him. Veena smiled as she opened her OPIaA.
“So, what do you say?” Hinsin said.
“I need to inform the council. And then, we’ll get to work. But less talk of gods!”
Hinsin also smiled at the reminder that they never stopped working, except now that’s all he wanted to do. The two split off as Hinsin began to brief the other doctors in the room, every one of them ecstatic to be part of the team that might possibly cure the Black Cell. For his part, Hinsin could only repeat in his head that nothing would ruin this moment for him.
***
Parker walked past two High Science security officers before he reached Manetti’s desk. The two Interpol Enforcers were waiting on the far side of the hard-light shield that separated them from the checkpoint where Manetti stood.
“What’s up, Manetti?” Parker said.
“Here’s the two Interpol Enforcers I was talking about,” Manetti said. Parker looked through the transparent shield and saw that the Enforcers were looking long past impatient. He hit a button on Manetti’s terminal, opening an intercom channel to the Enforcers on the other side, checking the camera feed to see their faces as he spoke.
“Evening, what can we do for you guys?” Parker said into a microphone on the desk. The Enforcers stood up and spoke into the camera.
“Interpol Enforcers, Yellow Sec, Fifth Precinct, it’s about damn time!” one Enforcer said.
“What do you guys want?” Parker said.
“You had a delivery earlier. A fresh John Doe.”
“Nothing without a warrant.”
“Our own guys dropped him off, pal. We need to know who did!”
Parker looked at Manetti, confused about the Enforcers’ enraged state and their strange questions. Manetti shrugged. Parker searched the recent check-ins on the terminal, then scrolled to the two Enforcers who were present during the body’s check in.
“Yeah, two of your guys were already here. Checked in, monitored and checked out.”
“What were their badge numbers and names?” asked the other, much calmer, Enforcer in a Far Eastern accent.
Parker shook his head. “I’ve given you enough through good grace, now is there some sort of problem here?”
“Was it Albertson 92011 and Danilov 78819?” the calm enforcer asked.
Parker indulged them as he looked at the badge numbers and names. The names matched up with the Enforcer’s words, arousing Parker’s curiosity. He moved around the desk and approached the shield to view the Enforcers face to face. The Enforcers stopped staring into the camera and shifted their attention to Parker. He was able to get a good look at their faces. Both of them clean-cut cops, one with a small scar over his eye, disfiguring it.
“The names match,” Parker said. “What the hell is this about?”
“Us!” the first Enforcer snapped. “We’re Albertson and Danilov, and we never set foot in this building tonight!”
“Christ…” Parker mumbled, a cold sweat forming on the edge of his brow. “Manetti, yellow breach to all units.” Manetti got on his OPIaA to radio all the units in the facility of the recent breach.
“You need to show us where they went, and this ‘body’ they brought in,” said Albertson, the angry Enforcer.
Parker, despite the situation, stuck to protocol. “I’ll need to see some badge, guys,” he said.
“Are you serious, guard? We’re Interpol!” Albertson barked out.
“Hey, enough,” Danilov said. Both Enforcers presented their badges, and Parker scanned them with his OPIaA. The ID pictures were different than the ones on the terminal, furthering the likelihood of a possible breach.
Parker motioned to Manetti to disable the shield. Once the shield deactivated, the Enforcers walked through and stood between the pair of security officers. “I can’t let you see the body without the approval of one of the Executive Medical Officers, even if you are Interpol, so just sit tight for a little, okay?”
“Christ, this is going to be one hell of a day,” Albertson said. “You know what this means for your security chief right? Just be glad you’re not him tonight.”
Parker scrolled through his facility contacts on his OPIaA, searching for Hinsin or U’ldanta. Just as he was relaying his message, Manetti’s desk radio barked out an alert.
“All units, all units! This is Senior Officer Marks. A Security Breach is in effect. Two deceased Interpol Enforcers found on Level Two, gear and weapons stripped. All units on high alert!”
Parker turned to stare at the two Enforcers. His heart began to beat uncontrollably. Manetti slowly began to reach under his desk for the concealed shotgun. Parker stared straight into the Enforcer’s eyes, which now appeared cold as ice.
The security officer overheard the security alert loud and clear and turned to the pair of Enforcers beside him. He blinked first and raised his assault rifle point blank, but “Danilov” quickly grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and shoved it towards the security desk in a flash. The rifle roared in the small hallway as several bullets smashed up the desk. A few rounds struck Manetti in the chest, causing him to writhe and groan unnaturally on the floor.
Parker dove to the ground, barely avoiding the wild shots. Still grasping the rifle’s muzzle, Danilov drew his sidearm. He jammed it into the officer’s neck, pulling the trigger as he did so. Blood sprayed on Danilov’s face as the officer dropped to the ground. The man grabbed at his throat out of instinct, already choking on his own blood.
Meanwhile, “Albertson” aimed his handgun at the other security officer and fired two rounds into his head, killing him instantly as blood splattered the pure white wall behind him. Parker picked up his assault rifle as the Enforcers were engaged. He flipped the safety, bringing the rifle to his hip and opening fire on the Enforcer to his left. Bullets burst from the barrel, piercing straight through Albertson’s armor. Albertson screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
Parker remained on the floor and tried to bring his rifle further to his right, only to realize the other Enforcer was already training his pistol on him. Before Parker could squeeze the trigger, two bullets pierced just below his larynx. His throat throbbed pain, but it was also the flow of blood pumping from his neck. His rifle dropped out of his hands as he began coughing up blood. Danilov walked up to him slowly, the room falling silent.
Parker stared up at the man’s dead eyes and got one last, good look at the man, at the hideous scar over his glazed right eye. One final shot and Parker was gone.
The remaining Enforcer looked at the bodies in the area. The other security officer was still writhing in pain, making a hissing noise through his throat as he tried to breathe through his damaged airway. The Enforcer put another bullet in his brain, silencing him. Not wanting to waste any more time, he immediately spoke into his earpiece.
“All teams, this is Hood,” he said. “This operation is now loud. Execute.” Hood then took off in a run towards the operating theater one floor above him.
***
U’ldanta walked over to Hinsin, who was still running reports. It looked like the discovery had caught the Council off-guard.
“I’ve just notified Nina,” U’ldanta said. “The Council was just as pleased as us, that’s for certain. They gave us all the funding we’ll need.”
“Great,” Hinsin said. “What a night, am I right?”
Suddenly a powerful quake shook the room. “What the hell was that?” Hinsin said as he grabbed the countertop. The room rumbled more violently a second time, right before the room’s lights went dark and the power failed, killing everything
electronic in the room.
“Stay close, Vee,” Hinsin said quietly. Many of the other doctors in the room were whispering in fear, but Hinsin thought he heard shuffling in the viewing rooms above them. “Everyone quiet!” he whispered. Silence followed, as did the shuffling overhead. Soon all he heard was his own heartbeat. A moment later, multiple automatic muzzle flashes erupted from each room above, shattering the glass and illuminating the room with muzzle flashes. Multiple shooters from above began killing the scientists below.
Hinsin wasted no time. He grabbed U’ldanta’s arm and ran towards the airlock, leaving the screaming behind them. “We have to get out of here!” he shouted, trying to overcome the loud gunshots.
The two ran as fast as they could to the airlock. Hinsin slammed the button to open the lock, which ran off an auxiliary power system. The door hissed open, and he shoved Veena inside and went in after her. They both took cover for a moment as Hinsin closed the door and airlock cycled. Hinsin found the opportunity to take a breath, although the Auroran was barely out of it.
“What the hell…” he said.
“Who were those people?” U’ldanta said. “Where’s security?”
“Send out a broadcast to all security personnel,” Hinsin said, his voice trembling. He was terrified, and the shock finally began to hit him. “God, they’re all dead…!”
U’ldanta had to be scared too, but she handled it well. She opened her OPIaA to send out a message. “This is Executive U’ldanta to all personnel. There has been a security breach. Staff on level three, operating theater, including myself and Executive Hinsin. Any security in the area please respond!” The radio remained silent. “Damn it!”
The airlock finished cycling. The two took off their breathers now that the air was clean. Hinsin finally caught his breath, taking in gallons of air.
The Black Cell Page 2