HOSTILE TAKEOVER - CHAPTER 10

Haines landed the helicopter hard. The impact jostled the two men inside. They never even noticed. Their thoughts were else were at the moment. Without saying a word, they stormed for the entrance of TOMAR, US OUTPOST #89. Haines arrived to the door mere seconds before MacReady did. Haines stood back as MacReady reached for the door handle. MacReady just touched the handle when Haines grabbed his forearm. MacReady looked to Haines with a look of anger.

"Wait, Mac. Let's use a little caution before entering. We don't know what to expect in there, do we?"

MacReady Looked at Haines through his dark goggles for a moment and then let go of the handle. He knew Haines was right and carefulness was called for before entering.

They walked through the two doors guardedly, watching their steps and every corner. The conference room that they were in was as empty as it was when they first came into it. It appeared as it did when they left. Haines walked over to the intercom system. He gave MacReady a 'get ready' look. When MacReady prepared himself for any possible situation Haines depressed the "TALK" button.

"All personnel, all personnel. This is Col. Haines. Please, report to the conference room. Repeat, please, report to the conference room."

Haines backed up to close to the entrance. He kept his eye on the open doorway seven feet in front of him. MacReady was tightly wound and ready to spring at any second. Both of the men were on edge, not knowing what was to happen next.

The personnel started to enter the room. They noticed that the two interlopers were considerably shaken and holding their flame-throwers nervously, despite the fact that they were trying to hide their apprehensions.

Commander Grant made his way through the crowd and stood in front of the group. He was visibly angry and tired of these games being played by the new arrivals.

"All right! This ends it! My crew and I are not jumping through any more hoops for you two and I want some answers from you right now!"

"Well, Commander, it seems that we have a potentially dangerous situation here and this camp is now under quarantine." Haines informed the group.

The crew of TOMAR exploded in an incredulous uproar. They verbally expressed their dislike and annoyance to the statement made by Haines.

"The hell you talking…Are you kidding…You've gotta be outta…You can kiss my…"

"Now, hold on, hold on. Quiet down!" Grant yelled over the protests. "Now, I have had it! You come in here, without notice, leave with no explanation, come back and then tell us that we are quarantined. Just what, in the hell, is going on here? I want some answers and I want them now!"

Haines took a step closer to Grant to address him. "Sir, I know that all of this has been difficult for all of you, but like I said, we have a very possible life threatening situation on our hand. Now, I will answer all of your questions but first, I must ask why you lied to us?"

"Just what in the hell are you talking…" Grant was cut off by the interruption of MacReady.

"You know exactly what we mean! The crash site, you asshole! You want to explain how that didn't find it’s way onto your, otherwise, pristine charts and notes of the ESD-1126 runs! Explain that!" MacReady glared at Grant with an anger that dwarfed the commanders.

Grant was stopped in his tracks. He didn't fully understand what was going on. How did they know about the site and his being there?

"You found it, huh? I can't believe it was there myself, but it is. Bigger than life." Said Haines.

Haines stepped a bit closer to Grant. He stood five feet in front of him and squared off.

"I'll tell you why we're here now. That…thing you found wiped out everyone years ago in two different camps and now it's here."

"But how is that possible? We speculate that it's been frozen for over two hundred thousand years. We could only get part of it, an arm of some kind…"

"Because it can! It's a freakin' alien, goddamit! It can do what it wants! A small part of it is enough to wipe out the friggin' world, if it gets out. I fought it years ago and I'm the only one left from two camps with over twenty men combined! It will kill us all!!!" Screamed MacReady. He was at his boiling point and was ready to blow and burn everyone here regardless if they were an imposter or not.

"Just what in the hell are you talking about?" Asked Scott Russo, the electrician.

"I'm R.J. MacReady. I fought this thing twenty years ago at US Outpost Thirty-one. It killed every, or at least brought them to their deaths at a Norwegian camp that originally found it. Then it made it's way to my camp. It killed everyone there too, except me."

"I've heard of you." Said Brian Mullins, the driver of the ESD-1126. "They said that you…"

"If you heard of me and the story then why didn’t you think it might have been true once you found the site?" Pondered an angered MacReady.

"He's telling the truth, folks. You saw the ship and the thing for yourself. You know he's telling the truth." Injected Haines.

"Now, waitaminnit! Just what, the hell are you guys babbling about? Whatdayamean, space ships and aliens? If this really happened why did we read about it in the papers or books?" Asked Jim Carr, the young, pudgy greasy kid. Carr was twenty-four. He signed up for this job just to say he did it. He was kind of an annoyance. His demeanor was flighty and immature but he would jump in with both hands and help out as best he could. He bothered the people there with his retelling of chapters of the fantasy/science-fiction/horror book he just completed. He would drone on for hours on them. People at TOMAR viewed Carr as a vaccination; once you had a dose of him, you didn't need it for quite a while afterwards. But, you could count on him to get his job done as soon as he could with results.

"It was covered up, swept under the table. No one wanted to claim responsibility for a creature that could wipe out the world quickly. The Norwegian government and the American government just put it to rest, covered it up and left it alone." Offered Haines.

"Maybe, so why weren’t we told about this? About finding the site?" asked Carr.

"You mean, you don't know?" Inquired Haines.

"No, no, he doesn't. Only the ESD-1126 team and the science group know about it. We kept it quite from everyone else." Grant informed the group.

"You mean, and help me if I get this wrong, you found a very old, crashed flying saucer and an alien Popsicle that could kill us all and YOU DIDN"T THINK TO TELL US ALL!" Screamed the young, black computer programmer, Duane Stephens, age, twenty- seven. Stephens was from Chicago, Illinois. Growing up in the Chicago projects, life was a constant struggle. Danger and peril were everywhere and death didn't discriminate and age race or gender. In his youth, he was gentle, quiet child. He avoided fighting or trouble of any sorts. He went to college to get away from the gang element that threatened to claim his future and life there. In college, he met, who would be come his best friend, Anthony Burton. Burton was the one who talked Stephens into coming down here, against Stephens' protests.

"We didn't think there would be any danger. We controlled it and it was on a need-to-now basis." Offered Grant.

"Well, I think we need to know now don't you, fearless leader? Said Anthony Burton, the other computer programmer. Burton was a young man from the Brooklyn, New York. A tough, little man who talked like Vinnie Barbarino though he wasn’t even Italian. When the offer came his way to come to Antarctica he took for the money, obviously, but more to impress the girls with his stories when he got back home. He thought of him self as a smooth operator in his own right but being at the South Pole would be something no other guy could top.

"This is a big find. It had to be treated quietly, even amongst all of us. We didn't tell you because we didn't want any of it to leak out. When were done with our tests we were going to let you all in on it." Offered Grant.

"Leak out to who, the goddamn snowdrifts?" Stephens asked with every ounce of sarcasm he could muster.

"Yeah, thanks for the trust, 'Dad'". Interjected Carr.

"Well, I don't know for certain, yet, but I'm betting that one or more of you know more about that thing than he or she is letting on to." Snapped MacReady.

"Just what are you getting at?" Asked meteorologist Debra Taylor.

"Who all had contact with the appendage?" Questioned Haines.

"Um, Myself, Larson, Mullins, Dr. Post, Profitt, and Dr. Zane." Responded Grant pointing out each of the personnel in question.

"Right. I'd like for you whose names have been mentioned to please stand over here away from everybody else." Haines requested.

"Why, what for?" Asked Dr. Zane.

"We have reason to believe that all of you might be in danger and we wish to perform some simple tests to prove if you are or not." Haines told the group.

"Just what kind of tests?" Inquired Grant.

"Nothing serious. Just a simple blood test on everyone here." Answered Haines.

"Why? What would that be for?" Asked Dr. Post in a rather curt tone.

"To find out who is…" MacReady started to answer the doctor. Haines gave him a stern glare. MacReady paused to rethink his wording. "… Who might be having any illnesses that might have came from the crash site." It wasn't the greatest of cover-ups. MacReady wasn't used to switching gears in mid sentence. He was a man who acted, not danced around a subject. He then realized that just what he had to do to get an edge on combating this alien threat.

"Bullshit! Dude, Do you expect us to believe that they or maybe all of us might have caught some space flu that came from some broken down starship that has been frozen forever? Whadda think this is? A cheesy Michael Crichton novel or a messed up John Carpenter movie?" Laughed Carr incredulously.

MacReady marched up to Carr. He stood toe to toe with the young man and looked him dead in the eyes.

"This ain't no game, punk. This is the most real thing you've ever been through." Hissed MacReady.

Carr cowered down to MacReady's remark. He felt embarrassed being put in his place for a little comment. He really didn't mean it. It was just Carr's way of trying to get through a tense moment.

"I have a few more questions; First, when did you first find the site and dig up the part of the creature?" Queried Haines.

"Two days ago." Offered Second-in-Command Paul Larson. Larson was ex- military like Grant. A man in his mid-forties, Larson took this job to explore the last continent he had yet to venture to. With the pay from this job, he could retire and spend time with his family that he missed in the years before. One last adventure with Grant and he would be the family man he promised to be.

"Three days ago Wayne had word sent to you to stay away from the area of the crash site. So, why did you go there?"

"We got word from WAYNETECH. They instructed us to go to the area." Answered Lori Garner. "We got word directly from Mr. Reynolds, himself. It came over via vid-con."

"He TOLD you to go there!?" Asked an incredulous MacReady.

"Do you still have a hardcopy of the vid-con message?" Probed Haines.

"Err, yeah, it's still in my 'old message' file in my lap top."

"Get it. Mac, go with her." Commanded Haines.

MacReady and the communication specialist left for the computer room. Haines peered at everyone left in the cramped room. They could tell in his eyes that he was serious about this.

Nobody spoke. Everyone was unsure and uneasy with the events that were unfolding. Some didn't trust the science group because they were left out with the findings at the crash site. Others were starting to get a slight grasp of what was happening and didn't trust anybody for fear of possibly contracting an alien disease from the ones who had secretly brought it here. It was boiling down to one group against the other. The only thing that stopped them from blowing up at each other was Haines standing there silently with a flame-thrower in hand. The silence was deafening.

MacReady and Garner returned to the room with a portable laptop computer in hand. Garner opened the computer up on the table next to Haines and turned it on. After the preliminary runnings were done, Larson accessed her messages from satellite link ups.

"Here it is." She said after searching here folder.

Garner commanded the computer to replay the message.

"Now, the message was blurry. It came over during one hell of a snowstorm. It took a while but I cleared it up as best I could." Garner informed Haines.

The message played on the small screen. On it was an image of Mr. Reynolds. The image blurred and snowed over periodically.

"This is of hi…ZZZT… ninety miles north-east… ZZZT…site of alien…ZZZT… attempt to go there… ZZZT… I repeat…ZZZT… go ther…ZZZT… very import… ZZZZZTTTTT!!!" The message had ended.

"See for your self, it was much worse than that. I cleaned up as best I could. I tried to reach Mr. Reynolds to confirm his message but had no luck since then." Explained Garner.

"If you tried to clear up the message any better, you might have found out that they wanted you to STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THERE!!! You should have sent a message to them to repeat what they said." Screamed MacReady.

"MacReady! Now, Miss Garner, is it 'Miss', 'Mrs.' Or 'Ms.'?" Asked a concerned Haines.

"It's 'Miss', but ‘Lori’ will do."

"’Lori’, then. Lori, did they ever send any types of E-mail to you or just vid-con messages?" Probed Haines.

"No, just video-conferences. E-mails can be hacked into. We used WAYNETECH satellites to send the vid-cons. They were safer than anything else. They’re sent on special secured feeds." Explained Garner.

"MacReady is right, since the message came over so bad, did any of you think that they might have instructed you to stay away." Asked Haines.

"We thought that the message was what it stated. I told you, I tried to re-contact them to send the message again but I couldn't reach them. We went with what we thought was right. We were following orders." Bellowed Larson.

Haines sat silent letting all of he had heard sink in. He sorted out all of the information to formulate a game plan.

"Well, the damage is done, no use in debating it. Now, I need to see the appendage. Where is it located?" Queried Hanes.

Profitt, the lab assistant spoke up. "We have it sealed in a secured container in the lab."

"Take us to it." Commanded Haines. "All of us."

Proffit walked ahead of everyone with Haines right behind. The rest of the team followed with MacReady at the rear. They all marched through the heavily cluttered corridors. Through the twists and turns this odd serpentine train made it's way. Within a few minutes they reached the entrance of the lab. The lab area was sealed with a proximity lock. Proffit stepped up to the card-reader mounted next to the door and held up his I.D. key. The red light on the panel changed to green to allow access for the group.

The lab was a vast room with the latest equipment for scientific study. Many notepads littered the tables and diagrams and equations were scrawled on a large blackboard. Some tests that were being run were still in process. Sounds of beakers bubbling and computers whirring filled the air.

"Did you take any samples of the appendage for studying?" Asked Haines.

"Well, yes. It's standard procedure. We have some tissue samples and what we think are blood samples set up for study under the microscope. Some are in test tubes and others in petri dishes in cold storage. We were fortunate in that it didn't take long for the appendage to thaw out, even in a slow, controlled environment. Of course, it had to be slow so as that we wouldn’t damage the delicate tissue that has been frozen for countless millennium. Amazingly we found cellular activity after all of that time. Look, I heard the stories about you and #31 and what happened. I didn’t believe them, but after we found the ship and the frozen corpse, we were curious as hell to find out what we could." Confessed Grant.

"Now you know! Now, get the samples!" Barked MacReady.

Proffitt and Zane stared at MacReady for a second and half-heartedly obeyed his command. They gathered all of the samples and placed them on the lab bench in front of MacReady. There were a few glass slides some test tubes and petri dishes set in front of him.

"Now, I'm going to show you what I learned twenty years ago." MacReady took one test tube that was filled with a vile liquid and poured it's contents into a tall, glass beaker.

"Looks pretty harmless, huh?" Macready asked his confused audience. He then picked up a Bunsen burner, lit it and set it on high to get a long, blue column of fire. He then walked over to a set of shelves that held many diverse bottles of chemicals. He searched the shelves for a few seconds before he found exactly what he wanted. He snatched up a bottle and walked back over to where he originated. He twisted off the lid of the bottle and set it just in reach away from the beaker.

"Now, watch."

He set the beaker up on a tripod. He slid the lit burner underneath it. Everyone was glued on the beaker not knowing what to expect to happen. The liquid inside started to bubble slowly. Then the liquid did something no one expected. It screamed. It screamed in an unnerving, unearthly voice. The liquid tried to climb up the sides of the beaker. The liquid shifted and swirled in the beaker. The people closest to it jumped back in shock. Everyone could not believe what they just seen and heard. Some could have sworn it sprouted grotesque claws to aid itself in its attempt to escape the blazing heat.

MacReady quickly grabbed the opened bottle and poured it's contents into the beaker. The liquid inside writhed and bubbled. Smoke rolled out of the top of the beaker with a hiss as the alien liquid dissolved into nothingness.

"Sulfuric acid. Take no chances. Now, that is just a small part of what you have been fartin' with. That much was just enough to take you over and you were playing with a lot more than that." MacReady said as he turned off the burner.

"MacReady emptied the rest of the samples into the beaker. Again, screams of agony were heard as the samples boiled down and disappeared in the acid. Some of the group held their ears so as to muffle the sound. Some got dry heaves at the prospect of the alien organism that was being killed in their presence. Others were in too much shock to move.

"That's all?" Asked Haines.

"Yeah. That's it." Replied Zane.

"Are you sure?" Haines inquired.

"Yes, Goddammit." Zane snapped back.

"Good, now lets get that appendage and give it a bath also." Stated MacReady.

"Proffitt walked over to a small, metal door situated in the middle of the far wall. Once again he held up his I.D. card to be read by a sensor.

"We keep the appendage safe in this secure freezer." Proffitt offered as he opened the door.

Proffitt reached inside to freezer. Horror came over his face in a flood. His eyes stared wide in disbelief.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Asked Haines.

"Oh, dear God. Oh, God." Screamed Proffitt.

"What the hell is it?" Yelled MacReady running over to Proffitt while drawing his flame-thrower.

"I can't believe it." Added Proffitt.

Everyone started to close in on Proffitt. Despite of what they had just witnessed with the samples. They rushed over to Proffitt. Some out of concern, some out of morbid curiosity.

Haines reached Proffitt. "What is it?"

Proffitt stared at Haines. He looked as helpless as a child. He tried to form words.

"It's…it's g-gone." He sobbed.

"What do you mean 'It's gone?" Yelled Burton. "Just what the hell did you let get loose among us? You may have killed us all!"

"Oh, for Christ sake, I didn't do it!" Screamed Proffitt.

"Bullshit! You bastards brought this here and didn't tell us. Now, it might be too late. We may as well just kill ourselves now and get it over with!" Cried Burton.

Burton grabbed an empty beaker and broke it. He brandished it in font of him in protest.

"Now, I'll kill the first sonofabitch who tries to touch me."

"Tony, ' the hell the matter with you?" Asked his best friend Duane Stephens.

"Stay back, goddammit! I mean it!" Hissed Burton.

"Tony, no ones going to hurt you. Put down that bottle. Now." Ordered Mullins, the head driver ex-marine.

"Kiss my ass, Gy-rine."

"Put the bottle down now or I'll make you eat it." Added Mullins.

Mullins took a step towards Burton. Burton grabbed out to the left with his left hand and pulled Lori Garner close. He wrapped his forearm around her throat and held the broken bottle up to her neck.

"Now, I dare you to mess with me, Jar head. Go a head, take on step and well find out if Garner here is who she says she is."

MacReady took a quick step in the direction of Burton. Before he could take another, Haines arm jutted out and grabbed him by the shoulder. MacReady was pulled back quickly and fell backwards on the floor. As Haines stood over him he looked up to ask Haines why he did that only to see some thing fall from Haines’ face. MacReady blocked what ever it was sending it falling on the floor in front of him. MacReady looked at the object. It was Haines’…nose!?! Something else fell next to the nose. It was Haines' hair and…face!!! Before MacReady could react. Haines clothes fell on the floor next the rest of what was once Haines. Something swept next MacReady's face. Something black and long.

"Oh Jesus! Oh, Christ! It's Haines! It got Haines. It must of got Haines in the ship!" Thought MacReady.

MacReady looked to the "Haines-thing" to aim his flame-thrower. MacReady could not believe what was standing there were Haines was. It wasn't Haines. It was a tall, black mass shifting and billowing.

"Die, you mother fu..." Yelled MacReady pointing his flame-thrower at the mass.

The mass turned it's head towards MacReady. MacReady could see that it was no longer Haines. He realized what it was as the shape strode towards Mullins and Burton. As incredible and unlikely as it may have seemed, it wasn't neither Haines nor a thing. It was the last thing MacReady would have expected. It was...

…The Batman.