《Open Source》Chapter 4
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There was, of course, a part of me that had hoped for a miracle. There was some small slice of my soul, separate from logic and reason, that still believed the whole mess would prove some crazy accumulation of coincidences and everyone would be just fine, or, failing that, that the destruction might be less than total, and at least a few of the technicians – some of which I knew personally prior to their assignment – would be able to salvage something of a life after we came in and fixed whatever had gone wrong. But the larger portion of my mind was prepared for what we saw. The airlock stood wide open and, as expected, the lab within held three, maybe four of the five Participants I had sent to live down here while they conducted their research. None of them appeared alive.
Ramsay and the others were already inside confirming this. Ramsay started with the lab itself while Banks and Bergman moved deeper into the bunker, back towards the living quarters. I strolled along in Ramsay’s wake, and started taking inventory as he covered all the corners (Charles, a lifer hardware ace twenty-two years out of Cal Tech, married well, four-bedroom house in the country, two kids, both in school, one playing first chair piccolo in the orchestra, one hoping to make first squad on the pitch next spring…Britt, one of my closest friends, up-and-comer middle management, confirmed bachelor in a condo downtown, amateur poker enthusiast who never met an insight strait he didn’t like…Rauch, high school whiz kid and my former intern, and my personal recommendation for appointment to this project despite his getting my coffee order mixed up with my director’s half the time) and that’s when things started to seem a little…off. They didn’t show any of the horror-movie symptoms that had haunted my dreams for the past three nights – the sores, the legions, the violent emptiness of limbs riddled with bacteria eating their flesh clear down to the sockets, or, in one instance, a single fungus-like mutation that had absorbed the bodies and assimilated the minds of everyone inside the bunker. Instead, they all appeared to have died of…trauma. Charles lay on his side, shoved into a bloodstained corner, his chest riddled with stab wounds from the screwdriver stuck in the final one. Rauch slumped over his desk, head twisted, eyes bulging out of their sockets, swollen to the size of plums. The whites were splotched with blooms of crimson from a smattering of ruptured veins. His face was purple down to his shirt, where an angry bruise circled his neck from the dimeteroid cable that was used to strangle him. Britt still sat in his chair, blood dripping (dripping?) from a slit on his wrist onto the fragment of old champagne bottle he had used to open it. Each of them had a holoscreen still hovering over them, and…
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Wait, why dripping?
It took a moment to register. I stood there watching, too engrossed to move, as Britt’s face paled and colored as the lights of the screens brightened and dimmed.
It’s funny how the mind reacts in a crisis. Sometimes it springs into action, injecting shots of adrenaline into the body in an attempt to spur a reaction, any reaction, to try and somehow solve the issue. Sometimes it grows cold, and analytical, its sense of awareness heightened well beyond its normal levels so crucial details aren’t missed. Sometimes it shuts down entirely, leaving the body to fend for itself, its only concern protecting itself from whatever danger it perceives. And sometimes it zeroes in on one specific aspect of the situation, meaningful or not, that it can’t quite seem to process, and uses it as a mental anchor, a rallying point for its scattered wits. This time, mine chose the last. It focused on the dripping from Britt’s wrist, and insisted on cataloguing each drop as it oozed out of the opened artery, gathered on the scab-encrusted edge of the wound, spilled over onto his skin, ran down his hand, formed a pregnant bead on the tip of his middle finger, and fell, splattering onto the pool on the floor, and soaking into the congealing mass.
Drip…
Drip…
Drip…
Twenty seconds per drop, give or take a couple. Barely relevant, of course, but that’s how long it took for me to grasp the real significance of the scene. That dripping…it meant Britt couldn’t have been dead going on four days. That dripping put his time of death at a couple hours gone at most.
Ramsay was busy calling orders to the others, so I inspected him more closely. I’m no medic, and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, but I figured it was better than standing around doing nothing while I waited for the techy stuff. I picked up his arm and traced my finger over the wound, feeling for the skin and flesh through the sterine of my bio-suit. Another squirt of arterial red dribbled through the gap. It danced and sheeted off my gloves before splashing into the puddle on the floor. Everything felt normal as far as I could tell. Definitely not someone that had been dead for the better part of a week. And definitely exsanguinated.
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Britt…
My throat closed up, and I felt the searing pinch behind my eyes of tears not allowed to flow. He’s really gone…
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Until death? (Old Version)
This is the dated Version. Please search for the rewrite. Ever been a god? Well I was! Until I died.... and got judged by the other gods! Apparently they didn't like the whole idea that my Faith is the only true one! Oh and for the record: The Apocalypse wasn't intentional, ok? Though, I admit that ultimatively, I caused it. Seems like I got sent onto a vacation as punishment! Or so I hope? ——————————————————————————————— Reading Order of the Multiverse-Books ——————————————————————————————— Author's Comment: I was asked about reading my work on other sites. The answer is simple: Currently I am not active in any other networks than royalroadl.com. Only here, I correct mistakes and errors. If you read it anywhere else and have to pay for it, or have to deal with an annoying amount of advertisement, You Are Being Betrayed. You would do good if you make other people in that network aware of it. This is a free project of mine for the purpose of having fun. And if people try to make money with it you shouldn't bother visiting their website. The only one whom I actually allowed to have my work on his website is Armaell who invested the time to compile them into pdf. (http://armaell-library.net/author/andur)
8 197Parasitical
Follow the wonderful colorful life of a parasite, and see how the Parasite and his host, will have fun and, well, have fun really. There isn't much else to do. Right?And... Here is the link to the cover, because I have to add that in:https://psdpetblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/flea-larvae.jpg?w=200&h=300Yeah, I just wanted something for a cover...But I don't actually like the cover...
8 166Reborn as Kurama: applying scientific method
Reborn in Narutoverse as Kurama, reincarnated scientist wants 2 things - power to keep himself free from enslavement and to built liberal oligarchy, will he get what he wants?)
8 120A Bard's Song: Lore
When all the songs left in the world are hunted out of fear, You stand up high and sing out loud so everyone can hear. When all the people that you see have eyes to give you pain, You hold your tune and understand, A Bard's Song will Remain Magic is moulded in many ways, be it the intricate knowledge and study of the Wizards, the sworn pacts of the Warlocks, or the pious faith of the Clerics. The Bards however, manipulate magic through their passion, be it through music, gladatorial combat, or stealing the secrets of others for copious wealth. These factors combine to make them one of the most universally enjoyed, yet at the same time, reviled people in history. When tensions boil over, and the world chooses sides, and Jonatan is caught squarely in the middle, he is pulled in every direction against his will, and must decide which side he must join.
8 387(Suddenly a) Dungeon Master
Quint was helping his master Woggins the Wise with something only the most powerful wizards attempt : Binding a dungeon core and becoming a dungeon master. Unfortunately, an accident causes it to go terribly wrong and Quint suddenly finds himself the youngest dungeon master in history, thrown into a position of great power, responsibility, and enemies that come with it. With occasional advice from the ghost of his master, now bound to the dungeon core, Quint attempts to ‘do the right thing’ as a budding dungeon master. Wait… are there mice in his dungeon?
8 161RE: DIVINE
(Mature story with language, with possible sexual situations and gore later on) Partially a parody for people who complain of the influx of op reincarnated mc's. The main character died and won a prize for doing so. The prize? Divinity! Follow our main character in a realm where he is absolute!
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