7:15am, Friday

Gary once again found himself seated across from General Shaw for the third time in less than twenty-four hours. He frowned at himself in the mirror as General Shaw loaded the video on the HOL Gary had given him upon entry into the room. Early morning meetings were not to his taste—they made him look…old.

“What am I looking for, Gary?” General Shaw interrupted Gary’s attempts to fix his complection.

“Ah…” Gary strode over to the desk and pushed a few buttons. “This is the video you requested of the survivor, Jax, at a later date after the original interview.”

“Is this video public?” General Shaw asked as the video loaded.

“No. This is from my own workings.”

General Shaw nodded once and turned to the video as the image appeared. Jax was in the center of a large white room. He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t blinking. Wasn’t doing anything except staring straight into the camera. His eyes were red rimmed like he had pink eye, but it was his irises that were striking. Jax’s natural grey eyes were slowly turning bright red.

“What’s happening to his eyes?”

“It’s a condition where the eye over produces blood vessels, which you see taking over his irises. It happens in pigeons quite often.”

“…So he’s turning into whatever red eyed monster he was talking about?”

“He turned…Yes.”

“Jax.” A woman’s voice came on over a loudspeaker. “Nod your head if you can hear me.”

Jax nodded once.

“Good. I want you to stand up, pick up your chair and move it three feet.”

Jax stood up and did as he was told before turning to look at the camera again. He stood motionless like a doll.

General Shaw pushed the forward 2x button and sped through the recording. Jax performed various commands without hesitation and always returned to staring directly into the camera to await further orders. He never once opened his mouth to speak.

“Is that it?” General Shaw asked after the screen faded to black.

“Yes.” Gary reached for the HOL

“What of the skeletons? Have you managed to get those down yet?”

Gary paused.

“I want to that video as well.” General Shaw looked pointedly at the HOL that Gary was stuffing inside his jacket pocket.

“…As you wish…” Gary half nodded, half bowed his head as he flipped to the correct video and took placed the HOL back on the machine.

The room darkened again and an image appeared of a room with three skeletons laid out, each to its own individual table. The tables were encased in a thick glass covering with no air holes. Tiny robotic arms were resting along the sides of the tables awaiting instructions from the monad consol. Seven scientists entered the room.

“I studied technology and robotics in Duty school, not archeology.” One of them grumbled. “Why am I even here?”

“Because you are the best in your field—” One of the scientists spoke up. His countenance was nothing remarkable. Rather, he looked perfect for his profession with the thickly rimmed zoom lenses from DiMech Inc. on top of his head as if at any moment he may want to inspect the molecular composition of the objects around him.

“We all are.” A pristine woman said with a slight frown as she set down a stack of papers she had been carrying with a stern thwak.

“—And this is a very rare finding. Of course they would only want the best of the best working on it.”

“Of course I’m the best.” The first scientist grumbled as he slumped into a chair on the far wall. “But why am I here. I don’t need to be present while you poke and prod the dead ancient.”

“Oh stop being such a sour pot.” A bright bubbly woman with thick curly hair lightly punched the grumpy man. “We all have other projects we are working on so this was the only time we could do this…Aren’t you even a little bit curious what happened to these ancients?”

“Yeh…but the difference between me and you is that I can be asleep while you are curious. I don’t have to be awake in the wee hours of the morning scraping dead bones.” The man slumped down further into his chair and pretended to go to sleep.

The bubbly woman opened her mouth to retort.

“Warek, just leave him.” A fourth doctor spoke up with a deep voice that effortlessly commanded the well-sized room. He was a stocky man of medium height with absolutely no hair on his head, but he wore the dark blue lab coat that signified him as the group leader. “Now before we get started—”

“This isn’t very import—” Gary spoke up, his hand reaching for the move forward 2x button.

“Leave it.” General Shaw commanded without looking away from the image as the blue-coated scientist continued speaking.

“—I want to remind you all that we are the first team to look at these skeletons. That is a great privilege. However, the company is sending in three other teams to confirm or refute our findings, so let’s do our jobs and do them to the best of our ability. Agreed?”

“Yeh sir!” The bubbly woman was the only one who answered.

The leader nodded. “I want two to a station, with the exception being Fenro who has fallen asleep.”

The group chuckled.

“I’m not asleep, unfortunately.” Fenro called out from his slumped position on the chair. “These chairs are impossible to…get…comfortable in…” He grumbled as he tried to find a comfortable position.

The lead scientist just chuckled and turned back to the group. “We have been given three hours with these skeletons, so you will only have one hour with each of them to get what you need. After an hour passes, we will rotate stations so that everyone will get to see all three skeletons. Understood.”

The group nodded.

“Everyone agreed?”

The group nodded again.

“Good. Let’s get to work. I’m calling up the command boards for each table. Everyone please take two minutes to enter your fingerprints into the system so that you will be able to access the equipment you may need…”

A line formed in front of the head scientist as he pulled out the command board from its charger on the wall.

“Gage Hastov. Osteologist. Group leader. Confirmed. Please enter your project.”

“Team one data collection for DimMech Inc.”

“Please enter test subjects now.”

“DiMech subject 20076, 30071, and 89890.”

“Subjects confirmed.”

“Please enter team data now to access equipment.”

Gage motioned for the first person in line to step forward and place her forefinger on the open interface of the small, portable machine.

“Dara Warek. DiMech Molecular Anthropologist. Confirmed.” An automated voice came from the finger pad device.

“Shelsha Vi. DiMech Molecular Anthropologist. Confirmed.”

“Steve Mayta. DiMech Molecular and Bacterial Biologist. Confirmed.”

“…You too Fenro.” Gage called out. “Come put in your fingerprints.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yeh.”

“…Fine…jus.t when I finally got comfortable too” Fenro huffed as he laboriously stood and shuffled over to wait his turn. While he waited for the two people in front of his to go, he absently looked over at the skeleton on the table just next to him.

“Caz Winno. DiMech Molecular and Bacterial Biologist. Confirmed.”

Fenro reached over and tapped on the glass casing.

“Stupid humans all in a row, stupid humans with nowhere to go.” The skeleton lunged forward as if jerked by strings and smashed into the glass before falling back onto the table.

“Whoa!” Fenro jumped back.

“Belmont Elcine. Osteologist. Confirmed.” The computer voice announced, but no one was listening.

“Fenro, what did you do?” Gage hastily put the command board on the table behind him before taking three large steps to Fenro and the encased skeleton.

“I-I just tapped on the glass.”

“Dara and Shelsha, check to see if any damage was done to the skeleton. Fenro…just don’t touch anything and come put your fingerprints into the system so that we can get started.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Fenro muttered as he followed Gage to the command pad and offered up his finger to be read.

“Fenro Taz. Organic Robotics. Confirmed.”

“Now go back to your chair and don’t move or touch anything until you’re needed.” Gage commanded.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Fenro snorted and hurried back to his chair, giving the skeleton cages a wide berth.

“Dara, Shelsha any damages?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any obvious damages sir.” Dara said as she finished circling the container.

“I am bringing up the probing arm now…” Shelsha said as the robotic arm that was attached to the side of the table unfurled and hovered above the skeleton. A second arm appeared on the other side of the skeleton as well. Dara turned on the monitor just above the casing as the arms gently touched the skeleton’s head. A skeletal reading was displayed on the holographic monitor. “No damages to the—”

“Stupid humans all in a row, stupid humans with nowhere to go.” The skeleton lunged forward and smashed into the glass casing again before falling back onto the table.

Shelsha jumped backwards. Her lips pinched into a thin line.

“Interesting…Caz, check out table number two to see if you get the same result. First tap the glass, then have the robotic arm touch the head of the skeleton.”

The group of scientists gathered around the second table. Even Fenro approached and watched from the safety of the wall. The same thing happened, but the message was different: “Sleep, sleep, together we sleep. Awake, awake, all we will take.”

“Amazing. Whoever made these must have implanted a recording system implanted within the bones.” Vi said in a mixture of awe and respect.

“See?” Fenro waved his finer around, pointing to nothing in particular. “I-I told you it wasn’t me.” He turned to the camera above the table. “It wasn’t me, just so we’re clear. I don’t want a bill on my door tomorrow morning. Understand?”

“Fenro stop talking to the camera and get over here.” Gage rolled his eyes. “Internal robotics is your specialty.”

“No way I’m not getting within ten meters of that thing until it’s tied down.” Fenro paced back and forth along the wall.

Gage just sighed and nodded to Caz to punch in the command for the straps. Thick bands suddenly grabbed onto the skeleton’s wrists, arms, legs, feet, and forehead causing the skeleton to wiggle furiously about. Its bones beat against the metal table with ominous booming noises, adding a dimension of eeriness to its message.

“That’s creepy.” Fenro shivered.

“Aw, c’mon. They aren’t that bad. Just think of them as puppets.” Gage tried to laugh away the nervous tension that suddenly filled the room as the skeleton continued to thrash on the table. Suddenly, a loud crunch filled the air and everything went silent.

Gage jerked around. “What happened?”

“It…A finger broke off.” Caz pointed to the left hand where the forefinger metatarsal was lying detached from the rest of the hand. Black liquid started to ooze from the broken appendage. It pooled on the table and started to move about, as if searching for a way out of the container.

“Fenro, get over here.”

“No..no way I’m—”

“Listen,” Gage cut him off in a stern voice. “The skeleton is strapped down now, but this black stuff is moving. Definitely internal robotics, which is your specialty.”

“But—”

“DiMech is paying you for your specialty.” Shelsha broke in with a very peeved voice. “However, if you feel you aren’t the best in your field, please leave and let someone else do it for you.”

Fenro pulled his head back as if he had been slapped. “Fine…” He muttered. “Everyone move. You’re all in my way.”

Everyone gave him space, but crowded along the other side of the case to watch.

“Don’t you all have work to do?” Fenro looked up annoyed at them all.

The others looked at Gage. “…He’s right, everyone back to work. Gather as much data as possible without touching the skeletons. I want Dara and Steve on table one.” Gage pointed to the table opposite of where he stood. “And Belmont and Caz on table three.” He turned and pointed to the table that Fenro had first touched. “Vi and I will watch Fenro, since this will be our skeleton. Be careful, everyone.”

The others slowly shuffled to their work stations, muttering between themselves and looking over their shoulders periodically to see what was happening. Fenro tapped the glass casing and General Shaw could see a faint holographic command box appear. Fenro tapped the glass a few times before placing wide test tube onto the glass. It slowly phased through the glass and was caught on the other side by a robotic hand that smoothly appeared from its resting position on the side of the table.

As soon as the robotic arm started to move, the ooze suddenly shifted its movement and crawled all over the arm. It wound its way up and into the test tube as if feeling it out. Fenro punched in a command on the glass and another arm appeared to unscrew the test tube cap. But the black liquid suddenly launched itself at the glass, completely phasing through the section that Fenro had just used.

Fenro screamed as the black liquid splattered onto his face, a sickening hiss filled the air.

“Shelsha close the phase door on the casing.” Gage shouted as he grabbed Fenro who was rushing for the door. He pushed the man’s head into the sink and turned on the eyewash station. Two streams of water came out like a jet stream, but the black goo wouldn’t wash off. A sickening crunch filled the air, and Fenro screamed louder.

“Belmont, Steve get the quarantine door open.” Gage barked. “Dara—”

Suddenly Shelsha grabbed her face as well. “Caz get Shelsha into quarantine. Dara close the phase door on that crypt. Stop the black liquid from getting through. Now!”

“Gage, there isn’t any more black liquid in the—”

The skeleton jerked bolt upright and turned its head to look at Dara. It reached out its hand and it started phasing through the glass. Dara quickly finished the command that Shelsha had been entering, stopping the hand midway through. Only the very tip was peeking out into the air. With a grinning face, the skeleton lay back down slowly, its arm splitting off with a crunch. More black liquid started to drip out of the break point.

“S-sir, the phase door is—” Dara turned and froze. All the other skeletons were also sitting bolt upright, their heads turned as if they were watching the four other scientists try to contain the two that had been infected by the goo. The problem was, however, that one by one, the scientists crumpled in screams except for Gage. Dara rushed over to help drag the four withering scientists into the quarantine room before she and Gage escaped.

“What’s happening?” General Lakes asked as the tape continued. “Why are they all screaming?”

“We think the black ooze somehow transferred to the other scientists upon direct skin-to-skin contact… They never knew what happened.” Gary commented. He pushed fast-forward and the time stamp zoomed through the first hour, the second hour, the third hour and the fourth hour of just watching the scientists twitch on the floor. Finally, on the eighth hour, he hit play again.

Silence filled the room as the twitching scientists started to move again—they started to stand with their broken bodies. Slowly. Laboriously. Painfully. They stood up and shuffled with their heads down until they were right in front of the camera. Then they all looked up, their faces scratched, their jaws unhinged. A faint whisper could be heard as if it was wind rustling through the trees.

“What is that noise?” The General asked as he leaned in to hear, but it only sounded like static coming through the speakers.

“Just watch.” Gary commanded.

The noise grew louder and louder until the words could be heard: “The humans have returned. The experiments can begin again, and we are thirsty for blood.”

With the last word, the scientists took the camera and smashed it on the floor, ending the recording.

“What happened to the infected scientists?”

“…They…are no longer with us.”

General Shaw raised his eyebrow slightly, but then shrugged. “What of the other two teams? What did they learn from these skeletons?”

“…They are all no longer with us.”

General Shaw breathed in deeply. “You mean in the ten years that you have had these things, you haven’t learned anything from them?”

“Oh, we’ve learned a great deal from them, sir.”

“Show me the results?” General Shaw held out his hand expectantly.

“The results…” Gary paused. “The results will be evident when the first FEEL movie comes out, for better or for worse.”

General Shaw leaned back in his chair. A smile twitched at his mouth. “Fine. I remove myself from that knowledge for the sake of plausible deniability.” He paused, cracking his knuckles in thought. “What of the survivors then? Gage Hastov and…Dara Warek?”

“They have been placed into a special program to ensure their secrecy, of course.”

“Special program?”

Gary grinned, his white teeth glowing against his pasty skin. “Yes.”

“What special program?”

“All in due time, sir. All in due time.”