by Leo Romero
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Vincent allowed Eddie to join him in following Linus down to the secret test labs. Not just anyone had access down to that area, it was high level clearance, where the nerdiest of the nerds congregated in an orgy of zeros and ones. Eddie always wanted a ticket down there, and now he finally had one. He didn’t know what he was more excited about: this Project 329 thing, or just getting to see the test labs.
They took the elevator down to the basement, Linus skipping along the corridors like an excited schoolgirl. He yapped on and on about something that to Eddie was incoherent nonsense and from the look on Vincent’s face, was mumbo jumbo to him too. For the moment, Rufus and his miracles were on the back burner and this Project 329 had taken center stage.
“You remember when you said you believed that the reason the sun causes them so much damage was a chemical reaction to venom?” Linus jabbered in Vincent’s face as the elevator moved down.
Vincent nodded. “Yes. It is the only logical explanation.”
“Well, you’re right.”
Vincent glanced at Eddie and gave him a nonchalant shrug.
“Kinda,” Linus added.
Vincent’s nonchalance melted like hot wax. He turned to Linus. “What do you mean ‘kinda’?”
The elevator pinged and the doors opened. “Follow me!”
Linus scampered out of the elevator.
Vincent sighed. “The youth of today,” he lamented. “Come on,” he said to Eddie. He led Eddie out into the test labs. Eddie gazed about him in starry eyed wonder. Technicians and scientists were busy all around him testing, inventing, keying things into computer terminals. Eddie always wondered what each individual working at Sun knew or didn’t know. They weren’t actually supposed to talk about what they knew. The whole thing was on a need to know basis, kind of like the army. There was a chain of command that went all the way up to Vincent.
He watched them all go about their daily business. There was an assortment of gadgets down here: guns, weapons, things that did stuff Eddie didn’t even understand. A need to know basis. There were robot arms moving things from A to B. A guy with some kind of silicon helmet strapped to his head was waving his hands on the air ahead of him while following them. A lady was mixing chemicals, some with smoke swirling off them, others weird shades of blue and green he’d never actually seen before.
Pings and bangs went off around them all like it was a warzone.
It was like a scene from a James Bond movie.
Eddie wanted to stop and ask what the hell was going on, but the other two were too preoccupied with whatever Linus had been on about back in the elevator. They both strode through the madness like it was nothing, while Eddie straggled behind, taking in everything like a kid at a chocolate factory.
Linus led them to a door and he poked his head inside before entering. He turned and hurried Vincent and Eddie inside. Curiosity suffused Eddie. He stepped into the small, windowless box room, which was more of a store room. A desk was pushed up against a wall with a cloth draped over it. There was a bulge under the cloth, indicating it was concealing something. Linus threw the door shut, blocking most of the outside noise. Eddie looked around at the empty room in confusion, wondering why they were even there.
Linus spun to face them both, his eyes wide, his cheeks trembling with excitement. “Now, as I was saying, a chemical reaction with the venom is only part of the issue. The sun emits a plethora of elements that flow through the solar system, affecting the surrounding planets in a multitude of ways. Particles, photons, radiation.”
“Yes yes, Linus. We know this already, why are we in this shoe box of a room?” Vincent asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
Linus held up a finger. “Just give me a moment, Mr. Beauchamp.”
Vincent looked at Eddie and rolled his eyes.
Linus clasped his hands together. “Now, with all this in mind, one has come to the conclusion that it is the UV rays emitted by the sun that has a fatal effect on our fanged friends. We go out in the sun and are bombarded with these rays. We tan, they burn.”
“Actually, I burn too,” Eddie interjected.
“That’s ’cause you’re a nerd that never goes outside.”
Eddie looked him up and down. The guy wore thick-rimmed specs and had goofy teeth. “You don’t do irony, do you, buddy?”
Vincent rubbed his eyes. “Can we please get to the point?”
Linus cleared his throat. “I was getting there. Okay, so we tried the UV based weapons and they didn’t do much for us. They only scratched the surface so to speak, causing burns to the outer skin portion of a vamp. So, we asked ourselves what’s up with that?”
“Indeed,” Vincent said in an impatient tone.
“Well, the answer is UV on its own isn’t what makes vamps vulnerable to sunlight. It hurts em, yeah, but it doesn’t kill em. Now, after years of researching, we’ve got the answer. We’ve managed to identify a particular particle the sun emits, which we’ve named SL2.”
Vincent glanced at Eddie, who shrugged, nonplussed.
Linus continued, “SL2 is a mystery particle that accelerates decay in nature, but is like kryptonite to vamps. Now, when combined with UV rays it’s devastating. The UV rays open up the pathway for SL2 to penetrate the vamp, where a reaction with vampire blood is triggered, which causes it to heat up and boil. This explains the microwave effect.”
“Microwave effect?” Eddie echoed.
Linus gave him a sideways stare. “Never watched Gremlins before, huh?”
Eddie turned his mouth downward and shook his head.
“He’s referring to the way a vamp will tend to cook from the inside out,” Vincent informed him.
“Usually ending up in a big, fiery, gooey mess,” Linus added, his eyes big, his head nodding.
“Okay, Linus,” Vincent said, patting his hand on the air. “We get the picture.”
“Once absorbed by the vamp, SL2 reacts with the marrow in the bones too, which is why they melt from the inside out.”
“But why not the fangs?” asked Vincent, intrigued.
Linus grinned. “Interesting isn’t it? The fangs contain no marrow or nerves. They are just hollow tusks for sucking up blood and injecting venom. Ergo, they survive the absorption of SL2. Quite an amazing phenomena.”
“Hmm, well that explains that then.”
Eddie nodded in agreement.
“You see, this is where your theory about the venom being the catalyst for the reaction with SL2 being only partly correct. It’s not the venom itself, but the mutation in the DNA the venom causes that prompts the fatal effects of sunlight. It works like this: the venom gets in the blood of the victim. Over time, the venom totally alters the DNA of the victim, turning them vamp. On full transmutation, the blood is completely altered, and develops a vulnerability to SL2. SL2, when combined with UV, literally zaps the blood cells, frying them till they obliterate. Hence, death by sunlight.” A big grin spread across Linus’ face, which was now tilted to the ceiling.
Vincent patted Linus on the shoulder. “Very good work, young man. Very good. That’s finally explained a great mystery for myself especially.”
Linus came back down to Earth. “But, that’s not the good part, Mr. Beauchamp,” he said with a knowing gleam in his eye.
Vincent’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh no?”
Linus bit his bottom lip and shook his head, his arms crossed tight against his chest. Eddie could tell he was bursting to spill the beans on something. He was almost shaking with excitement like a kid on Christmas Eve.
“Come on then,” Vincent said. “Tell us what else you’ve discovered.”
“Not what we’ve discovered, Mr. Beauchamp. What we’ve created.”
“Well, what is it?” Eddie asked.
“Yes, the suspense is killing us,” Vincent added.
Linus blurted out suppressed laughter, spittle flying from his mouth and landing on Eddie’s lab coat. Linus wiped his lips with the back o
f his hand and bit his bottom lip. “We’ve synthesized it,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, twisting his body from side-to-side in a coy manner, his gaze fixed on Vincent and Eddie.
“You’ve what?” asked Vincent.
Linus couldn’t contain himself any longer. He burst into a brief spasm of OTT laughter, clapping his hands like a demented seal. “SL2!” he blurted. “We’ve synthesized it!”
“The mystery particle?” asked Eddie.
“The thing the sun emits?” Vincent added. “What you say when combined with UV rays kills vampires?”
“You’ve synthesized it?” Eddie asked, his brow furrowed.
“Is there an echo in here?” Linus said and burst into a fit of cackles, his neck stretching out to snapping point.
Eddie and Vincent glanced at one another.
Linus calmed. He pulled off his glasses and wiped down his forehead with the sleeve of his lab coat. “Ah! You two!” He shook his head while wiping the lenses on his glasses. “Yes, we’ve ID’d it and synthed it. And you know what that means, don’t you?”
“Er...” Eddie glanced at Vincent. Vincent shrugged.
Linus crossed his arms over his chest. “It means our vampire hunting arsenal has just become even more badass!” He reached out toward the desk and grabbed hold of the cloth. He whipped it away. “Voila!” What was lying beneath it came into view. It was a bulky assault rifle with a thick, square barrel, much bigger and wider than a regular gun. Linus grabbed hold of it. “Gentlemen, I give you...” He put a hand under the barrel and his other on the grip. He aimed at Eddie. “The sun cannon,” he finished.
Eddie’s mouth became an O. “What does it do?” he asked, his eyes fixed on it.
“It kills vamps!” Linus answered. “Mr. Beauchamp. If you’d kindly shut out the lights.”
Vincent darted over to the light switch, while Linus kept the sun cannon aimed at Eddie.
“Okay, Mr. Beauchamp. Kill the light!”
Vincent flicked off the lights, dumping the box room into darkness. A second later, the room lit up in a purple-indigo neon glow.
Eddie’s eyes widened. “Wow,” he gasped, his gaze on his own chest. A square beam of UV light shone on his lab coat, spreading outward. He followed the thick beam back to the muzzle of the sun cannon. Linus was pulling the trigger, causing the beam to fire out and hit Eddie in the chest.
“That’s very impressive, Linus,” said Vincent.
“Artificial UV and SL2 beams, baby!” Linus said. “If you were a vamp right now, you’d be toast.”
“You sure about that?” Eddie retorted. Just ’cause this guy said so, didn’t make it so.
“Well, let’s test it out” said Linus. “Mr. Beauchamp, the lights please.”
Vincent flicked the lights back on. Linus released the trigger. The beam cut out. He pointed the muzzle skyward. “Follow me.” He turned and scurried out of the room like he had a rocket up his butt.
Eddie and Vincent followed up. They were back in the craziness again. Bangs and pops and weird alarm sounds rang out all around them.
Linus moved past it all like it was just a normal day in the office. Eddie supposed for him it would be.
“So, we’ve bagged us a bunch of those vampire snakes from the army cleanup operation we’re assisting with.”
“Cleanup?” Eddie echoed, meeting Vincent’s gaze.
Vincent cleared his throat. “It’s a... special under the radar operation,” he said, flipping his hand on the air. “No questions asked. We’ve supplied a small black ops team with holy water to dispose of the last of the snakes. We can’t have those things running riot around town.”
Eddie nodded his head. Made sense.
“Yeah, and we’ve been using them for experimenting on,” Linus said, marching through the labs with the sun cannon held aloft like he was a soldier on the battlefield. He entered a white-tiled room with no windows. In the corner was a small mass of dead snakes, all coiled around one another. Even from the other side of the room, the smell of death emanating from them was strong on the air.
Vincent’s nose twitched.
Eddie turned away, covering his nose with his sleeve. “Man, that’s nasty!”
Linus placed pair of goggles over his glasses. “Don’t worry, we’ll be taking care of that smell soon enough!” He stood ahead of the cluster of snakes. “Stand back,” he said over his shoulder, taking aim.
Vincent placed a hand on Edie’s forearm, ushering him back. Eddie turned to the side, his eyes fixed on Linus, the sun cannon, and the dead snakes on the floor beyond.
“Ready? One, two, three!” Linus pulled the trigger. With the overhead lights on, the purple-indigo beam was faintly visible. Eddie just about made it out as it hit the snakes. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened and Eddie thought it was just a load of bull. But, without warning, a sizzle began filling the air. At first, Eddie thought it was snakes coming back to life, but the hiss was the scaly skin heating up and scorching. Linus kept the beam going on them, and fire erupted out from the mass of snakes with a whump! They began burning like a bonfire.
“Whoo!” shouted Linus.
Eddie flinched back at the sight of the flames. In seconds, the corner of the room was ablaze. The heat hit his face, mixed with the stench of cooked rotten snake meat. He pinched his nose closed tight.
Meanwhile, Linus kept showering the snakes with sun cannon beams. “Wahoo! Burn em, baby!” he shouted, leaning into the sun cannon like he was firing an AK-47. The blaze intensified, a series of crackles and pops playing out from the inferno. Eddie watched on with a grin on his face. This was so cool. A real life sun weapon! And it was actually working.
He was about to whoop and holler alongside Linus, when the snakes exploded outward with a massive bang. Bits of snake hit the tiles where they continued to burn. Eddie recoiled, shielding his face with his forearm. He looked back at the snakes. Linus was still beaming them. What was left was melting and twitching and burning and disintegrating into nothing at a crazy fast pace. The sun cannon beam was devastating. It was awesome.
Linus decided he’d had enough fun. He let up on the trigger, pulling the barrel up, the muzzle facing the ceiling. He gazed over the remains of the snakes, admiring his work. “Man, that felt good!” he said with a satisfied sigh. He turned to face them both, the barrel of the sun cannon resting on his shoulder. It was almost bigger than him. He leaned back, oozing nonchalance, the remnants of the snakes burning and melting behind him. “Well, what d’ya think?” he asked, making his voice an octave or two deeper.
Vincent clapped his hands. “Wonderful, young man!” he said with a beaming grin. “I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful team on my side,” he added, hands on hips.
Linus stepped up to them both, his chest puffed out.
“Such clever, clever people,” Vincent said, pinching both Eddie’s cheek and Linus’ at the same time. There was a big grin on his face that was borderline creepy.
Eddie and Linus rolled their eyes to meet one another. “Er, yeah, we’re lucky too, Mr. Beauchamp...” said Linus.
“Yeah,” Eddie agreed, trying to put on a grin while having his cheek pinched. “We’re the lucky ones!”
Vincent had enough and let them both go. “This will make an excellent addition to our arsenal.”
“So, what does that thing run on?” Eddie asked.
“Sunlight,” Linus answered. “It’s solar powered. Kinda ironic.” He pointed at the solar-power strips running along the barrel. He then clicked a button and a magazine fell out into his hand. “This contains the cartridges of synthed SL2.” He clipped the magazine back into the gun. “They can be replaced as and when needed. The UV bulbs are inside the barrel, and they last like forever. They just need to be charged up by the internal batteries that run on solar power. When you pull the trigger, the SL2 is released into the barrel where it combines with the UV light, and that’s when it’s party time.”
Eddie turned his mouth downward. “Pret
ty impressive.”
“It sure is.”
Vincent pulled back and clapped his hands. “Ah, what joy.” He gazed at the ceiling for a second before coming back to life. “Now, Linus. I take it that’s a prototype, right?”
“Yes, it is, Mr. Beauchamp.”
“Okay, put that thing away somewhere safe until we get an assembly line of them going. Until then, mum’s the word. Okay?” He pointed a stern finger at them both.
Eddie mimicked zipping up his lips. “I never saw that thing before,” he said. “Sun cannon? What’s a sun cannon?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The rain was coming down again when Eddie decided to do a little overtime. The rest of the staff had left; only the cleaners and skeleton crews were still hanging around. Eddie wanted to hang around with them; he had work to do. Not the kind of work Sun Enterprise paid him for, or what Vincent expected of him, but the kind of thing he needed to do for his own peace of mind.
Rufus had gone back to the mansion in tip top form. Even with all the explanations given to him, Eddie still wasn’t satisfied that everything was normal. It was very far from normal. Nothing made sense. Eddie’s logical brain couldn’t come to terms with it. Whenever he thought about it, an error message kept flashing in his mind.
In other words; it does not compute.
He ghosted down the empty corridor toward the medical unit. The reception area was dark now that the lights and computers were switched off. All the beds were empty, so no one needed care or attention. It meant it was safe to shut down the unit for the night.
Eddie snuck behind the reception counter and looked around. The desk was ordered neatly; no files hanging around. He turned in a semi-circle, laying eyes on the filing cabinet over in the corner. He spotted Rhonda putting away patient files in there a few days before. And that was where he headed. He had a final look around him to make sure the coast was clear, then pulled the top drawer open. It didn’t budge an inch. Locked. Eddie thumped the cabinet in frustration; a hollow thud rang out. The blow caused the potted cacti sitting atop to vibrate. Eddie squinted his eyes, staring at that cactus. He took an intuitive guess. He grabbed the pot and lifted it up. Sitting beneath it was a small key. Eddie’s eyes lit up. So much for security.