As Babbette watched and listened to him rage replaced her fear as her mind retained some information that he had told her about his experiment. A surge of energy that she had never before experienced surged through her body and she attacked him trying to claw off the grin on his face.
He laughed while grabbing her by the arms and pushing her back onto the cot.
Babbette my sweet he began.
Theatrics will do you no good at this point in time so try not to upset yourself.
You are doing nothing more than wasting precious energy.
Must I remind you that you are responsible for everything that has happened as well as everything that will transpire?
As you sit here I want you to think about the part you have played in this state of affairs and also enjoy the time that you have left.
Stephon glanced at the woman who had remained unmoved on her cot and started to the door.
With his back facing them he paused just for a second speaking very exact.
It is useless for you to try to escape so do not waste your precious time entertaining the thought he said and left out of the cubicle leaving each to their own thoughts.
Babbette sat quietly watching his every move and when the door had closed the enormity of what he had said began to sink deeper into her brain.
Even now she could not believe that he would be that much of a monster.
She was going to somehow have to reach him, make him understand that what he was proposing was ludicrous.
I cannot let anything happen to her she thought looking over at Sianna. She is innocent and has nothing to do with this.
Sianna she called softly.
The woman looked up at her as though she had no idea as to who she was.
Sianna, honey she repeated.
We are going to have to find a way to get out of this place.
There continued to be no response from the woman and Babbette went over to her.
Did you hear me she said?
We have to find a way to get out of here while we still have a chance.
We are going to die Screamed Sianna.
Don’t you understand that he is going to kill us and there is nothing that we can do about it but wait until he is ready?
Do not give up, there has to be a way for get out of here.
We at least have to try.
Shut the hell up yelled Sianna her mouth contorted.
Accept this as I am.
We have no way of fighting him.
There is no way that we can possibly get away from him now.
Just look at how we are locked in this room and we have no idea as to what might be on the other side of the door if we did get out.
I am not just going to sit here and let him kill us said Babbette shaking her.
You have to help me.
I cannot do this alone.
I am too tired to even care what happens anymore said the woman almost whispering.
Don’t give up Babbette pleaded.
Please do not give up.
Sianna curled up on the bed turning her head away from her friend closing her eyes and ears to Babbetts pleads.
What has happened to you demanded Babbette. You have always been the one to never give up on anything; someone that would be willing to fight to the finish and now all you want to do is give up.
What the hell has happened to you?
Her friend uttered not one word and Babbette stricken at her friend’s reaction could only stare at her and began to sob.
CHAPTER 16
S
tephon only made a few visits to the women’s quarters during the next few weeks and could see that they both had become more withdrawn and detached. On his last visit he received no response whatsoever from either of them.
Babbette only looked at him with a loathing that pierced his heart and Sianna remained on her cot seemingly to have withdrawn from the world.
He looked at them knowing that he could do nothing to reverse this decision that he had made even if he chose to. They were now a vital part for the success of his project and obliterating this woman had been something he had dreamed about daily after she had left him.
He still could not comprehend how she could have been so stupid as to reject him and all that he offered had her.
And knowing that she thought him to be crazed only showed him that she would have never been able to accept and share in his life and work.
Someone with that kind of thinking does not need to be around to hinder progress he thought as he stood looking at her.
He went over to the counter and banged his fist on it in frustration before giving his staff charge of the women.
From that day forward he never returned to their quarters.
He busied himself the next few months with his staff reviewing their work of the past few years. The data had been compiled from the files on the women and had to be incorporated and analyzed with the previous recommendations. It took weeks just to compare the notes that each member would submit.
Days turned into nights lasting into the wee hours of the morning with discussions of all possibilities for failure. The staff was oftentimes so exhausted from the hours that they kept that they began to doubt their own work.
Tempers were short and arguments flared which was a first among the staff. Several members of the staff questioned the feasibility of the project and considered abandoning it once and for all. However late one evening after an exceptionally long day everything miraculously came together.
They all agreed that the problem was just a simple matter of changing the time period for administering the various procedures that were to be preformed.
At last they were ready for the last stage of the experiment and everything was set into motion ensuring the success that they were hoping for. The date could now be set to begin.
Stephon decided that he would be the one to start the initial process as he wanted to be the instrument that would began the annihilation of Babbette.
He needed her to understand that he endorsed all that would happen to her. He had lived and dreamed these past months of watching the superior look on her face turn into nothingness as she transformed into his creation.
Then and only then would he be able to put her out of his mind once and for all.
Many weeks had passed since the women had been abducted to this place and Babbette had come to accept that they would never leave this place alive.
She now realized more than ever before that Stephon was someone that she had never known.
There was nothing about this man that s he could identify with the man that she once thought that she loved. Having watched him derive pleasure from their fear made her understand just how evil and sinister his person was.
Thinking about this she went over to Sianna taking her in her arms and cradling her.
I am so sorry to have gotten you involved in this. You should not have to die because of me she told her.
Sianna did not respond to anything that was being said and had not spoken a word in weeks. She went days at a time without eating, her hair was matted and the flesh was dropping from her body.
She only lay on the cot with her eyes wide open staring at the ceiling.
Why don’t you say something cried Babbette, tears now streaming from her eyes?
Where is all of that fight that you once had?
You are supposed to be the one that could handle everything.
Sianna still did not respond by word or movement.
Her tears had all been spent and her world had ceased to exist.
The day had come when Stephon ordered that the women be removed from their quarters and taken to the laboratory. They had been given an injection to render the
m calm yet they would remain conscious and would be fully aware of all that would take place yet unable to resist any procedure.
The staff stood around listening and watching as he explained what was taking place as he worked.
He began by hooking apparatus that extended from poles over the tables where the women lay. He then arranged long plastic tubing that extended from a metal cylinder placing a needle into the end of it and inserting it into their arm. An attached pump would then begin removing calcium, phosphorous and vitamin d from their blood thus producing a condition called osteomalia.
He explained that the vertebral column consisting of twenty four single bones and two composite or fixed bones provide a flexible curved structure and once their bones began to soften they would then be taken to another part of the laboratory for the second stage.
The atmosphere in the lab was hushed with the humming of the pump the only sound being heard.
Stephon made the final adjustments on the machines removed his mask and rubber gloves and motioned the staff outside.
Everyone was excited as this was the beginning of their years of long and tedious labor.
Stephon gazed fondly at his team.
Thank you all he began.
You have all been very loyal and have worked very hard.
We will take this one step at a time and I promise you all that no one here will ever be sorry that they chose to work with this project
When this work is complete you all will be famous beyond your wildest dreams.
When that day comes we will celebrate with the champagne that we brought through the door the day we entered these premise.
Everyone laughed and hugged each other.
Two weeks later the women were taken to an operating room to initiate the second stage. The surgeon was waiting and inspecting the instruments that lay on a tray.
Stephon entered the room dressed in sterile garb and signaled to the surgeon to begin what would take several hours of detailed skill.
He first removed the phalanges and metatarsals from the feet and phalanges from the hands of the women. He then went on to defuse the sacrum and coccyx.
The staff, a select group of scientist felt no guilt as they watched with interest the surgery that was being preformed for they understood that concessions of all kinds were necessary for the good of mankind.
Stephon on the other had enjoyed observing the systematic destruction of the woman that he had once loved. He requested that Babbetts extremities be preserved that he may keep them as a memento.
After completion of the surgery intravenous feedings of antibiotics, steroids and another cocktail of nutrients to cleanse and strengthen their systems would be given for the remainder of the transformation.
They were then transported to their final quarters and placed inside a special built sterile bubble where the totality of the transformation would take place.
He then left instructions with the staff before leaving the laboratory and driving into the city making rounds of some of the places that he and Babbette had once frequented.
His favorite had been one where they had spent half the night planning their future before she betrayed him.
He went over taking a seat at their special table, touching the seat where she had sat and visualized her sitting there.
She had been so vital, so full of living.
Her laughter would seem to hang in the air.
Everything was so different now from when they had been together. The magic that had been present when she was on his arm had now vanished.
Perhaps it was never there at all he thought. Maybe he just wanted and needed it to be.
He had to get out of there, leave the past behind. He drove with no particular destination in mind and stopping only when he came upon a liquor store. He purchased a bottle of scotch opening it and sat drinking from the bottle as soon as he entered his car.
At that moment he did not want to go home, he did not want to see anyone, he only wanted release.
CHAPTER 17
S
tephon kept in contact with his staff via telephone and after two months a meeting was called to bring him up to date on the specimens. He arrived rested and refreshed and was pleased with what he read in the reports.
He questioned everyone regarding their individual observations and after listening to all he was eager to see the changes for himself.
They entered the glass enclosure wearing a rubberized suits and special rubber booties covering their shoes. Their entire heads were covered with openings only for their eyes as it was crucial for no germs to enter the enclosure.
He went over to the specimens now on specially designed barrow shaped narrow structures. The insets held their bodies as their framework underwent change.
Upon examining them he could see that their arms and legs bound with a metal band had taken on the form of the trunk of a small tree.
The once perpendicular spine now resembled a bow shaped curve.
He then rotated the table to examine what were once their hands and feet and could see the beginning of a thick pad on the stumps of the limbs and short thick hair was protruding their entire bodies.
He at last went around and looked at their faces and saw that their structures had become narrower and longer with dull sunken eyes revealing no sign of intelligence.
The chemicals that had been administered had transmuted the progression in their brain preventing pain or emotion.
He reexamined them and after noticing that the transformation was more pronounced in Sianna than Babbette he picked up the charts flipping through the pages of notes determining that the variance was due to the dosages of drugs.
He increased the dosages of the injections to expedite the molecular changes that were taking place in the cells knowing that very soon that there would be nothing left that would give any indication that they had once been very beautiful women.
He was elated and felt no remorse in his decision to use them in this project. So far everything was going as scheduled.
In fact, it was gratifying to him knowing that his decision was only justice for Babbette’s betrayal. After all, it was the only thing he could do to keep one of the most extraordinary contributions to the country from being foiled.
She had forced him to take this stand and no one would condemn him for his decision even if they knew the truth.
CHAPTER 18
F
ive months and three weeks from the day of the initial meeting of the staff the team again assembled to view the progress of their work. The nine of them were already outside the chamber waiting when Stephon arrived. He approached them going directly inside with everyone following.
When their eyes beheld the wonder of their labor before them they all cheered.
Their tenacity and perseverance had paid off.
They could not have hoped for more looking at what stood before them. So astounding was the sight that they could not move from the spot where they stood.
In the beginning it had been something that they all had envisioned taking place in some far off future.
But this was now the future and this was not a dream.
The majestic creatures stood there in all their splendor.
Their height could be estimated at approximately six feet an inch or less. Their wait was evenly distributed at about three hundred firm pounds and the reddish brown hair that covered their bodies was now long with a soft wooly texture.
From the sides of the puny elongated heads tips of cartilage tissue protruded for ears. Their noses were two holes, one and a half inch in circumference and their mouths were small showing rounded teeth set in chunky gums.
The creature’s sunken eyes followed the movement of the staff yet remained docile and seemingly undisturbed. They eve
n permitted examining and touching by the members of the staff. Everyone was in agreement that they were perfect in every way.
Stephon eased back wanting to observe his team. This was a good day for him, a day of completion in many areas of his life.
Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew that this would be his last experiment of any kind.
A large part of him had died in that laboratory this past year and now that the project was safe, was completed all that he wanted to do was to go away for a while.
May I have the attention of you all he spoke out as they were still so engrossed in examining their work that they had become unaware of his presence.
They turned at the sound of his voice.
Well, what do you think he asked?
They all looked at first one to the other and yelled; we did it, we did it.
Yes you did and a damn good job you all did together. You should all be very proud of yourselves.
No other team that I know of could accomplish what you have here before you.
You have made a monumental contribution to science.
Come all, let us get out the champagne before you go and get some much needed rest. It has been quite a day.
ONE YEAR LATER
S
tephon had taken a trip around the country to promote his discovery and this was the first chance he had had to spend some time with his staff. It was the fourth of July and a barbeque was being sponsored by one of the local millionaires to raise money for one of the charities that he endorsed. It was being held on his estate for people in the community and others that chose to travel from other counties around in the state.
White puffs of clouds hung low in the blue skies and the grounds were filled with small children running around happily flying their kites, tossing balls or playing tag. The older boys and girls were playing tennis or soft ball and the adults sat around in tents sipping sipped iced tea and cold lemonade chatting while others strolled around the beautiful garden on this sunny afternoon.
The tables were filled with an assortment of salads, baked beans, corn on the cob, fruits, potato chips, relishes other condiments and other picnic favorites and the sweet aroma of meat on the barbeque grill filled the air.
A Taste Of Revenge Page 9