|
|
John Carpenter's
 |
|
|
BIOMASK ZERO - CHAPTER 1
Colonel Wash scratched his face in an attempt to avoid sleep. He
thumbed the record tablet and spoke, "Haven't had a chance to rest in
days. Those Snouts are hiding in the ink somewhere. Our scans aren't
picking them up, but we know they're there. Glik says they're carrying
pods, but I'm sure we destroyed all of them on Platanik. Those
crawling beasts still populate my nightmares, and the massive
creatures they spawn keep me awake."
Something shone on his desktop, like spilled water. It glistened and
rippled in the light, as if it were moving. Still talking into his
recorder, Wash searched for a cloth from his desk panels to mop it up.
"Less than forty clicks to the outer rim, away from sentient systems.
There, we can safely send out a pulse. That should expose those
Snouts. Then we can make our final stand. I hope this works."
He pressed the cloth onto the puddle. Immediately he felt sharp
pinpricks in his palm.
"Hmmm," he mused. "Strange."
When Lin entered the lab, Dr. Glik looked panicked.
"What's the problem?" he asked.
Dr. Glik didn't answer at first. He continued to rummage through
things. He also came dangerously close to toppling the cybervat of
Epiline. Lin readied his muscles to lunge forward, but Glik mindlessly
reached out and steadied the structure.
Lin crossed the room in two strides and grabbed the old man by the
shoulders. "Stop it."
Glik blinked at him as if aware of his presence for the first time.
"What is going on?" Lin heard himself shout.
"The Epiline levels are lower. I . . . I think some has run off."
"Did you say there's been run-off? Or that some has . . ." Lin's mind
raced. How could the stuff be alive yet? "Did you use the vishi rays?"
"Not yet."
Lin relaxed. "Then there's no reason to panic. Part couldn't have
crawled away." Lin nodded as his mind absorbed the concept further.
"It would have been the whole vat or nothing, Doctor. Part can't
change. The vishi rays would blast the whole vat. Still, after that,
the Epiline would just sit there until we fed it DNA patterns. So,
that's two steps that need to be taken before we worry."
"One," Doctor Glik said. "The DNA patterns are warrior aids. It could
easily take one of our own patterns. All it would need was for one of
us to reach over and touch it."
Lin gazed at the cybervat. "Do you mean that if I touch the Epiline
now . . ."
The doctor shook his head. "The vishi rays haven't penetrated that
batch. But I believe someone took a small amount, thinking I wouldn't
notice, and could have exposed that to the rays."
"Are you saying we have a traitor in our midst?"
"It's a possibility."
Went to lab. Lin
Maltaband folded the note and pocketed it. If he had gone to the lab,
why was the door to his suite wide open? She stepped through the
threshold and scanned the area. Her infrareds detected nothing.
"Lin?" she asked the room, although she knew he wasn't there. One of
his desk panels was ajar. She looked closer to note that the area
behind the panel lay empty. Wasn't that the place where he kept the
promissory vials of inactive Epiline? She wondered where Lin had taken
them.
Something moved in the darkness near Lin's bunk and she switched on
her eyes again. Still nothing. She blinked over to ultraviolet.
Something in the darkness pulsed once.
"Who goes there?" she whispered.
Hekt attempted to squirm in the dentist's chair, but the webbing
held him perfectly still. Even being the physically strongest one on
the ship, he couldn't budge it a microm. Dr. Aliam turned back from
his instrument table and grinned.
"This is going to hurt slightly, my friend, but it will be over soon."
"I hope so," Hekt hissed.
With a single device, Aliam quickly yanked one of Hekt's molars and
inserted a receptor tooth.
"Congratulations on your promotion, Hekt," Aliam told him.
"Taks . . ." Hekt drooled. Aliam pulled the instrument out of his
mouth and turned back to the hovering table. Hekt could hear the
clinking of metal on metal. "What now, Doc?" he asked.
"Now, I give you a spider for your ear. Not as painful a procedure,
but you'll feel quite uncomfortable for a few weeks, until you get
used to the fluttering." He turned back with a bottle of cyberspray
and a mirror probe. "Almost done."
The door to the office opened. Someone stepped through, just inside
Hekt's peripheral vision. Aliam's eyes squinted with annoyance before
he turned away from Hekt's face again.
"Could you please wait outside?" he growled angrily. "I'm almost done
he-"
Aliam's words suddenly choked off as Hekt watched his body shudder.
The white labcoat spasmed into the air, where it bulged slightly then
burst apart. Several streams of dark red fluid poured from the
doctor's body, in multiple directions, then bounced back to Aliam's
head, engulfing it.
Hekt tried with all his might to break the webbing that confined him.
It wouldn't budge. He began screaming.
The white labcoat fell to the floor, revealing a wall of human hands
that caressed each other. Then the fingertips grew tiny mouths and
began to eat at their own flesh. Hekt felt pure fear rise in his
chest. He couldn't breathe.
A smooth version of Aliam's face suddenly peered out from between the
hands. He was screaming, too, but the sound was inhuman, like a
distant, howling wind. Hekt's stomach lurched and regurgitated its
contents. He began to choke.
The hairless face's tongue lashed out and struck Hekt in the jaw. His
new tooth sent a bolt of pain straight through his head. Something
thick trickled down his throat and burst into peaceful warmth in his
belly. His fear left him.
Continued in
Chapter 2
|
|
