Descent Into Madness

by Daniel Peyton

  Snow cleared her throat and asked, “What sort of grade did we get?”

  The General looked at her report again. “Let’s see. Both of you risked your lives to protect the city and stop an unknown, dangerous attacker. You maintained your mission, and returned without having harmed anyone, other than the assailant. I would say that you both get a passing grade.”

  “Thanks.” Snow smiled brightly. “Am I dismissed?”

  The General nodded. “Yes. You are dismissed for the day. I'm sure that you and your companion have plans for tonight, so go and get ready.” He slowly started to smile, knowing that Bark was considering a proposal tonight.

  Snow stuck one eyebrow up. How did he know they had a date tonight? Why was he smiling like that? Why did it matter? She softly asked, “What sort of mission did Bark have after ours was over?”

  The General continued to smile. “A classified mission.”

  She didn’t quite know how to take that. Bark was a good hero, and a great student, but he wasn’t really the type for a classified mission yet. What could they be up to? She shrugged it off and then left without another word.

  ***

  The shuttle approached the station and entered the open docking bay for a perfect landing. The station’s pilots were specially trained members of the work staff of the UCH. The work staff were mostly normal humans that had special UCH security clearance to help run the place. Most of them had experience with the military, so they knew about taking orders and keeping secrets when needed.

  Bark wasn’t worried about such things right now. He was quietly waiting for the pilot to announce disembarkation. He opened the small, hinged case to look at the very expensive ring again. One moment he would be worried sick about what was wrong with him. The next he would be worried sick about finally popping the question.

  “We've landed. You may exit the shuttle, sir,” the pilot announced kindly to Bark.

  Bark was staring down at the blue-stoned ring in his hands, thinking long and hard about this. Was he ready to be a husband? Would both of them being heroes be a problem? What if she wanted children? Could he even produce children now that he wasn’t really human anymore? Why is he starting to act more like a dog at times?

  “Sir?”

  Bark jolted and quickly closed the ring case, snapping his finger in it. He pulled it out and half-smiled at the pilot. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” He got up and left the shuttle.

  “Inu-chan,” a tiny voice announced from outside the shuttle. Toshi Sensei approached and embraced Bark in a big bear hug. Since the Green Scream incident, Toshi has grown closer to Bark like a parent as well as a teacher.

  Bark closed his hand around the ring case, not wishing to show it to her yet. “Toshi Sensei.” He hugged her back, as he was genuinely happy to see her.

  Toshi let go of her student and started walking him back into the station. “The General tells me you were on a mission today. How did it go?”

  Bark’s eyes widened and he smiled. “Uh…the mission. Well, I just had something to do.” He didn’t want to tell her that he was thinking about a proposal.

  Toshi cocked her head. “I thought that you and the others were attacked by some kind of robot thing…or did they say he was covered in robotic armor?”

  “Oh, that mission. Sure, yeah, that went fine. They still have to figure out what to do next.”

  “What other mission did you think I was talking about?”

  “Nothing, just…what is that?” He started sniffing the air, much like a dog who has picked up something good to smell.

  Toshi frowned and looked at him with a sideways glance. “What are you doing?”

  Bark had not noticed that he was leaning over and sticking his nose out as far as he could to smell the air. “I…I don’t know. But, I think I found something I want.” He followed his nose all the way over to a barrel of trash that was being moved to the waste incineration tanks. The worker gave Bark a very quizzical look, while Bark seemed to be sniffing hard at the can full of food trash from the mess hall.

  “Can I help you,” the portly, mustachioed man asked.

  Bark did not answer. He dove head-first into the trash and pulled out a large bone from a steak that had been eaten and then thrown out. Bark stuck the bone in his mouth and gnawed on it.

  Toshi watched all this happen, but did not quite believe what she was seeing. “Inu-chan, what in heaven’s name are you doing?”

  Bark stopped. His eyes widened again, the bone still in his teeth, his tail wagging, and everyone looking at him like they were about to either run or burst out laughing. His collar answered, “I have no idea. I couldn’t help myself.”

  Toshi softly took the bone from him and tossed it back into the trash. She waved along the worker and took her student by the arm. “Is there something wrong?”

  Bark didn’t know how to answer her question. He looked around and searched himself for any explanation. “I…I don’t know. I've been acting more and more like a dog today. I tried to ignore it, or fight it, but when it happens, it’s like some kind of instinct is taking over.”

  Toshi frowned and shook her head. “Only a fool ignores a problem. You need to see the doctor.”

  Bark stepped back. “But…but, I don’t want to…you see…I –”

  Toshi gave her student a stern, motherly stare.. “Inu-chan, what is going on? Why would you not want to see the doctor?”

  Bark slowly opened his hand and handed her the ring case. “I have plans. And being a dog might mess them up.”

  Toshi took the little box and slowly opened it. Her eyes lit up and she smiled broadly. “Oh, this is magnificent. Is it what I think it is?’’

  Bark nodded. “Yes, it is an engagement ring. I think I’m ready to ask Snow to marry me. But…”

  Toshi closed the box and handed it back to him. “But, you're afraid if you find out something that you do not want to know, then it will put a stop to those plans.”

  He slowly nodded again. “Yes.”

  “A wise man knows better than to ignore a problem. That is never a solution. You'll go see Dr. Stone, and you'll find out what is wrong.”

  Bark slumped his shoulders and he nodded slowly. “Yes, sensei.”

  Toshi smiled at him and took his arm to escort him to the doctor. “Besides, if you had said no, I would have brought you anyway. By any means necessary.”

  Bark shuddered at that thought; she had a lot of “means” at her disposal.

  ***

  Dr. Stone sat in front of his computer with Dr. Ogle’s head on the desk beside him. Both men were staring at the computer screen, analyzing some equations for the energy beam. Behind them were two of the security bots, assigned to keep an eye on Dr. Ogle and assist in his transportation when necessary.

  Dr. Ogle looked at his old friend. “Okay, if you look at the sensor data your team brought back, you'll see that the flight system on the armor uses a similar energy to this one. Not only will the computer’s base programming shut down, but its flight should be stunted briefly, which will ground it quickly for capture.”

  Josiah rubbed his chin and nodded. “Good point. I must say, William, this is impressive work. The genetic structuring of the body is almost perfect.”

  Dr. Ogle cleared his throat. “Almost?”

  Josiah smiled. “The nervous system has a lag in the design that could prove to be a problem.”

  Dr. Ogle looked at the screen with a furrowed brow. “The nervous system is fine. I made sure to take into account…wait…I see it too. Crud. I thought I fixed that already.”

  Josiah laughed. “No one has gotten the cloning process perfect yet. Hell, I haven’t seen any cloning techniques that are ten percent as good as this.”

  “Aw shucks, doctor. Thanks,” William joked.

  Josiah shook his head and returned to their work at hand. “What we need is a delivery system.”

  William nodded. “That is one of the reasons why I co
ntacted you. Not only do I not have all the components to build the ray, but I certainly don’t have the equipment to build a gun to fire it with. Half the technology in this design is banned from public use, and the last thing I would want is to be put into federal prison.”

  Josiah smirked. “I can only imagine how difficult it would be for just a head to live in prison.”

  “Oh, ha ha,” William retorted sarcastically.

  Josiah gave William a quizzical look. “Tell me, what on earth prompted you to remove your own head?”

  Dr. Ogle continued to look at an image of the perfect body he designed, its reflection lighting up his glasses. “It really wasn’t that much of a stretch. Since I couldn’t use my body below the neck, not having the body really didn’t change my life all that much.”

  “True. But, to decapitate yourself is still extreme. You were always such a cautious, quiet person. One of the smartest men I know. But to do this is…more than I expected from you.”

  William smiled. “I got tired of being cautious. Teaching and theorizing is one thing, but actually being a part of society is more than I could really ever hope for. I wanted to be a man that people looked up to, not just pitied for his condition.”

  Josiah shook his head. “We didn’t pity you. Your scientific work with genetic research and cloning is by far one of the most impressive pieces of work in human history. Your book on energy waves is legendary. Heck, most homes have the coffee table version sitting right in the middle of their living room.”

  Dr. Ogle shook his head. “You don’t understand. When they read my work, they were fascinated, intrigued, and wanted to know more. But, when they came face to face with me, I saw that look in their eyes. They didn’t want to know more about my theories or studies. They just wondered how horrible it would be to be me.”

  Dr. Stone said. “You have classrooms full of students that respect you and want to learn from you every day.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “What do you mean?”

  William looked at the computer screen, at the body and armor he created. “I retired after last semester. I'm no longer a professor.”

  Josiah sat back. “So, you retired young, cloned a new body, built a powerful suit of armor, and cut your head off. Something is missing here. Why?”

  While Dr. Ogle gazed at the monitor, his thoughts drifted off into memories. “One of my students was in a car wreck. She was pinned under another car for too long. The emergency team fought hard to free her and get her help, but it was too late. She is fighting for her life in the hospital right now, in a coma that will probably end in death. And, even if she survives, she will likely lose the use of her body from the neck down.”

  Josiah frowned in sympathy. “I'm so sorry to hear that.”

  Dr. Ogle looked at Josiah with bitterness, “She is brilliant, pretty, wise, and just the best of the class. This world needs people like her and she will likely not live to see her twentieth birthday.” William returned his gaze to the computer screen. “I started considering cloning a new body for myself a lot of years ago. But, it was just in the theory stage. But, after my student was injured, I knew that I wanted to put those theories into practice. Not only would I find a way to give people back their bodies in cases like these, I would also craft a suit of armor to protect mine from the possibility of damage. I would do everything in my power – my newfound power – to save people like her. If I had been there with my new body and armor, I could have lifted that car off of her long before it did all that damage.”

  Dr. Stone softly answered, “One of the lessons all students here at the UCH must learn is that we aren’t gods. We can save lives and stop villains, but we cannot always be there when needed. Tragic things will happen, and we cannot punish ourselves for not always being there. You might save one life, but you will be too late for ten others.”

  Dr. Ogle nodded. “I understand that. I know that I cannot solve the world’s problems with one suit of armor. But, if I can just save one life, it would be one less tragedy we all have to suffer.”

  Josiah nodded, happy to hear his friend say this. He returned to his work. “Well, unfortunately for us all, your hope for mankind is terrorizing a city and we need to stop it.”

  “Sorry for getting so glum there. Thinking about what that poor girl is going through brings back a lot of painful memories for me. Now, where were we?”

  Dr. Stone changed the read-outs to the theoretical energy weapon that Dr. Ogle had designed in his lab. “We are looking for a way to put this into practical use.”

  “The ray should work with just about any ray gun you have,” Dr. William said confidently.

  “I think that Red Fury can help us. I'll send these energy schematics to him and let him take a look at them.”

  “Wow, what a cool name. Red Fury. If I get to be a hero, what name should I use? The Doctor? No, sounds too British. Steel Man….nah, too comic book.”

  Josiah laughed. “Let’s just figure out the current problem first, then we can ponder on these other enigmas.”

  “OH, OH! How about Super Science Man?” William answered his question before Josiah had a chance to respond. “No, that’s just stupid.”

  While Josiah was sending the specs for the energy beam to Red Fury, the doors to the infirmary opened. Toshi and Bark walked in, Bark looking more nervous than ever to be visiting the doctor.

  Toshi retained a cool and composed outward appearance, but inwardly she just about jumped out of her skin at the sight of the human head smiling at her. “Oh my. What an interesting…thing?”

  Josiah chuckled. “I’ll explain later. Can I help either of you?”

  Toshi took Bark by the hand and pulled him along. “Tell him.”

  Bark frowned. “I don’t think it’s anything to tell,” he retorted like an obstinate child.

  Toshi sighed and told Josiah, “He's not well.”

  Josiah got up and looked at Bark, who was not willing to look him in the eye. “What's wrong?”

  Bark did not make eye contact. “It’s nothing. I'm…well…I'm just having some dog things happen to me.”

  Josiah frowned. “Huh?”

  Toshi was tired of this. She dragged Bark over to one of the biobeds and made Bark get up on it. Then she looked at Josiah. “He's acting more like a dog than a man lately. There might be something wrong. Please give him a thorough check-up. Do not let him leave until you are finished.” She turned to her student and held out her hand. “I'll take the ring for now. It'll be safe in the dojo. You behave for the doctor.”

  Bark slumped his whole body, but knew better than to argue with a mother figure. He handed her the ring box and said, “Yes, sensei.”

  Toshi gave the doctor a commanding nod and promptly left the infirmary.

  Dr. Stone retrieved a scanner from the wall to examine Bark. “Explain the symptoms.”

  Bark groaned as his voice box explained, “Well, I've been reacting to situations more like a dog. I bark without meaning to, I have been sniffing around everything. I was licking my arm where it got hurt, and didn’t even notice it until Snow said something. Then, when I returned to the station, I ran right for the trash, pulled out a T-bone, and started gnawing on it.”

  Josiah stopped scanning for a second and gave Bark a surprised look. “And you think this is nothing?”

  Bark smiled ashamedly. “Well, I was hoping it would just go away.”

  Josiah looked at his sensor readings and then looked at Bark. “As far as I can tell with this, you're fine. But, I'd better do a deep genetic scan of you. Now, where did I put that trolodyne sensor rod?” He left Bark for the back room of the infirmary, where he kept his more sensitive equipment.

  Dr. Ogle looked at the security bot assigned to him. “Plug me in, please.” The bot did what was asked of it. It reached over to its side, pulled out a cord, and stuck the jack end of the cord into a small plug on Dr. Ogle’s head case. This gave the doctor limited use
of the robot as his transportation. He couldn’t order it to do any damage or hack into something, but at least it gave him feet. The two arms reached down, picked up the case, and carried it over to Bark.

  “Sir, you are Bark, right?” Dr. Ogle was grinning like a fan.

  Bark looked up, a little grossed out by the sight of the head in the box. “Yes, my name is Bark. We sort of already met in your lab on Earth.”

  Dr. Ogle looked at Bark’s face and then down to his voice box. “Wow, a brainwave voice translator. Can you speak without that?”

  Bark shook his head. “I'm unable to use my normal voice, every time I do it comes out with a ‘woof.’ That’s why everyone called me Bark when I first arrived. Snow was the first to see me as something more than just a wild human-animal hybrid on the loose, and Dr. Stone was the first to read my thoughts and find out that I was able to speak, if my voice box had not been too altered.”

  “Intriguing. I wonder if I could use some genetic cells to craft a cloned vocal box, and graft it to your system in the hopes of transplant. That way I could see if vocal box transplant is possible.” William was sort of lost in his own world of genetic science.

  Bark shrugged. “If you could, that would be great. For now, this is my mouth.” He pointed to the collar.

  Dr. Ogle smiled at Bark with a funny grin. “You said that Snow found you?”

  “Yeah. Back when I was first mutated, I was lost and people thought I was some kind of monster. I couldn’t talk and looked like this. But, Snow found me and realized I was more human than the exaggerated reports. She brought me here.”

  “That is so cool.” Dr. Ogle cleared his throat and almost mumbled as he asked, “Uh, do you know Snow well?”

  Bark laughed. “I should. She's my girlfriend.”

  Dr. Ogle was in awe. “Wow, what a hot girlfriend. You're sooo lucky. Can I ask you a favor…if that is okay. I mean, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t such a fan…you know.”

  Bark was frowning, trying to follow where the doctor was headed. “What kind of favor?”

  “You know Snow and Spark, and even The General. Could you, possibly, maybe, get me their autographs?” Dr. Ogle’s voice trailed off as he asked this; he was a little shy at making such a request.