Cybergut

BIOMASS

The boy sat glued to the monitor, his leg twitching while his hand and eyes were moving in rapid circles, his touch on the joymouse was almost sensual. The figures and diagrams that were flashing by on the screen were complex, they were changing at a rate that would be hard to follow by the average observer but the boy, age 13 had no problem swallowing up all the data. In the corner of the room there was a high bench table with a variety of scientific looking tools and devices scattered over it’s surface. Faxprints were posted on the walls with old fashioned pushpins, more diagrams and formulas like on the vidmon. There was a milk carton sized test tube beside the bench on a stool. Inside the tube there was a light grey chunk of some kind of biomatter, it appeared to be twitching ever so slightly, gradually turning in the amniotic like fluid that is was floating in.

The boy’s movements were increasing in frequency and intensity. He was leaning ever closer to the vidmon as a look of sheer glee came over his sharp- edged features. The reflection of the digital images in his pupils danced and flickered like fireflies as his retinas processed the incredible information the machine was feeding him. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the biothing in the tube and then back at the vidmon, jotting down some notes on a vidpad which hung on a spiral wire off his belt. He went over to the bench and abruptly swept the surface clear with his forearm, after which he carefully lifted the biotube and transferred it to the bench. He turned the tube slightly towards the glow of an amber desk lamp which was fixed to the wall above the bench. At the bottom of the tube there was a thin metal ring on the side of which an in socket could be seen. The boy withdrew a short datacord from his breast pocket and plugged one side into the socket on the biotube, the other end he stuck into a similar port on his vidpad. After tapping the vidpad several times with the lightpen the motion inside the tube could be seen to increase, slowly at first but within several minutes becoming a rapidly swirling mass, as if someone had just flushed a toilet inside. The boy stood transfixed, looking sporadically at he tube, then the vidmon, then the vidpad, and back slowly counting to himself. His mouth forming the voiceless words.

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five.....”

When he got to thirty he tapped a few times on the vidpad, and traced several circle like shapes as the data that was being transferred subsided. The commotion in the tube had slowed as well, quickly diminishing as the boy pulled the data cord out of the tube’s in socket He inspected the grey biostuff inside the tube for several seconds and then returned to the vidmon, keying some quick entries which started the data dancing once again. He stretched, yawned, and adjusted his rump into the groove that his ass had formed on his seat after many long hours seated just so, pouring over the data and images.


RUBBLE

The girl woke up with a start, a ray of outside sun had broken through the heavy venesians that shaded the window to her small room. Slightly in shock, she could have sworn she heard a loud thump that had woken her, there was nothing now. She looked around, it took her a few moments to remember where she was, She still often felt strange in the mornings from, when months ago, she had come here after parents had died while staging a revolt against their former slumlord. He had been jacking the rent every month trying to get them out. He had different plans for the dilapidated building the family had been calling home for 8 years. When the landlord decided to settle it and blow the building sky high, her parents had been inside, trying to coax some of the other tenants to stand their ground. Even if it was a shithole it was better than nothing which was what awaited them if they walked out the doors. Katja, the girl had been playing in a rubble heap outside, playing kiss the boys with some local youngsters when the foundation of the building suddenly exploded and the rest of the it came toppling down, tenants and all. She shed a few tears and went to pick through the destruction after the dust had settled. In amongst the smashed concrete she spotted her old dolly and began trying to tug it loose from under a precariously balanced pile of splintered furniture. This was how the relief workers found her, two days later, curled around the head and left side of the dolly, still mostly stuck in the pile. She had remarkably escaped any real physical damage which was why she was shipped off to the Institute by the workers who would have hated to see her go the way of most of the other street life in the neighborhood. They picked her up, managed to pry her dolly loose and walked her to their truck. After they gave her some food she fell asleep on the floor of the truck using her dolly as a crude pillow.


The girl got out of bed and made it, then she put on her coverall and checked her schedule for the day. Maths in the morning and Concert orchestra simulation in the afternoon (two of her favorite activities), it had now been almost a year since her parents had died and the institute had taken her in. The basics were provided for her but not much else, she was for all intents and purposes alone. At least she was able to go to sleep with a full belly. She looked around her tiny cubicle but could not see the cause of the loud crash that had woken her. The vidpanel on the wall said it was still sleep time but she didn’t feel like sleeping anymore. She must have dreamt the noise, she was often up early because of the terror she had of dreaming. She saw the building crashing down over and over. Sometimes she even saw what is was like for her parents inside when the building collapsed, that was what she thought she may have been dreaming of, but she couldn’t remember. Then she heard it again, a noise from the wall on her left, it was like a hard thud high up close to the ceiling and a smaller crashing of glass or something breakable. She decided to go out and look. She had talked to the boy who lived next door several times but didn’t see him often in class, he was in the older group. From what she heard about him he was a genius but very weird. He didn’t like to talk much to anyone and he nearly never left his cube, only for general assemblies or to go to the ATM for cash. His dead folks had apparently left him a small fortune in overseas stocks and he drew off of that occasionally. She got up the courage to go look and see if he was OK, that had been a really strange noise she had heard.

She pushed the large circular button that controlled her door and it hissed open, she walked into the hallway. When she got to the door for the boy next door’s cube she heard some more noises, it sounded like something really big was bouncing around. Tentatively she reached for the door button but before she could push it the door cracked and partially split up the middle. The whole side of the corridor bulged out violently and she heard a loud scream that cut off quickly. The door fell forward and she couldn’t get out of the way in time and was knocked down and her foot was pinned underneath it, the ceiling partially collapsing on her. She couldn’t move but she could see sideways down the corridor where more kids were coming out with terrified looks on their faces some pointing, some turning and running down the hall at top speed. She looked the other way back into the room, she had just enough room to twist her head that way. She saw a huge foot, grey color with a sticky pinkish muck dripping on the floor. The leg was extremely muscled looking, the bulges contracted and the creature sprung forward. It lunged at the first kid Tommy who lived directly across the hall. The child, too stunned to do anything, was almost instantly consumed by the blobbish creature. It’s mass was an odd jelly like substance, liquid but it held itself together somehow, it was in the rough shape of a human but more squat and grossly bloated. The kid, now inside was still squirming and beating at the interior, the beast’s flesh was translucent so you could see right into the huge stomach of the thing. When the creature moved on to the next kid, who had turned and was running away Katja started to slip into unconsciousness. The creature had stepped off the door under which she had been pinned. The last thing she remembered hearing were screams and the heavy thudding of the creature as it made it’s gory way down the hallway.



Biocops

“You’ve got an urgent incoming message Cole” This message was repeating as Cole Bentworth came into his pad. It was Monday morning, the sky was still mostly dark outside the window, the horizon in the distance a rough silhouette as the sun started to rise from behind the buildings. Cole had been on a two day binge and was not too happy about having an urgent right when he got in. He was hoping to have been able to sleep off the hangover he knew he would be having when the last traces of drunk wore off this morning. He popped a few pills out of some miscellaneous bottle and swallowed with a gulp of the stale water that was left over in a glass on the desk. Then he went to the large vidmon on the wall and shut off the urgent flashing. After pressing a few spots on the vidmon lightly the Biocops homesite came up. He entered his special codes and was into the incident profile system in seconds. As he was examining the tables he got a chat request from his boss, Moby which he answered vid off, he thought he was probably looking pretty rough this morning and didn’t need to share it with his boss.

Moby was all prim and proper, his collars were pressed to such sharp points that they stuck out and cried salesman. Moby was the head Pr man for the outfit. How much time the guy spent on personal hygiene was inconsequential for Cole but he wondered just the same, 1, 2 hours each morning?

“What do you want Moby, if it’s about this last urgent I’m on it By the way you sure look slick today, what is it a barmistvah? Or maybe a funeral.”

“Actually Cole, yes a funeral. I guess you haven’t gotten far enough through the write up to notice the location of this latest case? It was over in the institute on 49th. Apparently some whiz kid there was tinkering in biotech and it got out of hand.”

“The institute, there’s hundreds of kids in there, what was the kid trying to do?”

“He had gotten a hold of some biomass and was trying to animate it using a c-7 program.”

“A c-7? Where the hell would a kid get something like that? I thought that was a high security military project.”

“The boy was a genius apparently, he got into the system and had been hiding for close to a year, no telling what he managed to pull out. The system experts are working on it right now. They think he might have had access to key locations.”

“In any case Cole, the thing he made is loose. Check the profile for the details, but I’m calling to let you know I’ve reserved your passage to the Biomech labs. They’re the ones who sold him the Biomass and some of the interface. It’s a good a start as any. I’ve got teams going over the Institute, I’m afraid we can’t let you go in until they clear and make sure the premises are secure. The thing ate thirty five kids Cole. This seems to be the biggest and badest yet, I’ll keep in touch. Take a few aspirins and get your ass over to Biomech Cole, you ticket’s in your in e-box”

Cole touched the endcom icon on the vidmon and the picture and sound window shrunk and disappeared. He flipped back to the profile he had been reading when Moby interrupted him. It described the incident in detail, with schematics of the building, possible explanations and lab reports. The piece that stuck out however was a name, Katja Smith. The only survivor who had been there when the creature broke loose was a girl of eight years old, orphaned back in the rent revolts of a couple years ago. She was under close supervision over in county general suffering from broken ribs and internal bleeding. The tickets to the biotech labs were for this afternoon. They were for himself and an assistant, unspecified whom he was supposed to be meeting at the airport. He had just enough time to go see the girl, although she was listed as non responsive he had a feeling about her. Maybe her situation reminded him of himself, left to scratch out a meager existence in the alleys until he was picked up by a youth organization like the Institute. On the vidmon he touched the taxi icon. Within 10 minutes an aircab would be ready for him outside the lobby. He went over to the fridge and cracked the cap off a cool tangeraide and guzzled it in 3 gulps then picked up his jacket and toolpack and jumped down the descent tube out side his pad.


COUNTY GENERAL


Katja woke to a dull pain in her chest, and a tube sticking out of her arm. She could hardly move and the light from the window hurt her eyes. When she was able to force them open and look around she saw she was in a very typical hospital type room with the electric bed she was lying on, a vinyl covered armchair in the corner beside a small dresser. A variety of medical machines were fixed to the wall or standing on rolling posts. One or two of them had cord or tubes that plugged into her or into the bed and were beeping at regular intervals. She guessed she was still alive and wondered how it was possible. She recalled the immense weight that was crushing her, and the sideways view of the mucky foot that she saw before the other kids were attacked. By the time the monster had advanced down the hall she passed out. The last thing she remembered seeing was the monster with a kid beating at it’s insides. The stomach bulging and wiggling for a while but then subsiding quickly before the creature moved onto the next doorway.

The next time she woke there were several people in her room waiting for her. Two were common soldier types with sidearms slung from their shiny patent leather belts, the third was obviously in charge and wore street clothing, although his pants were not as ripped up as she was used to seeing. It was this third man who tried to speak with her, but as much as she tried she couldn’t respond.

“See, she’s just some street kid, must have blown out her brains on cracksmack or something” said one of the uniformed men.

“No, wait, she’s trying to talk. Get her some water.”

The water helped and she was able to get out a few words.

“Where am I?” she croaked.

“You are in county general,” Replied the man in the street clothes. “You had an accident, do you remember? At the institute.”

“Yes I remember.” She looked down and started to shake slightly as if she was going start sobbing, “are they...dead?”

“Yes I’m afraid they are, you’re a very lucky girl. After you’ve recovered we can talk about what happened, if that’s OK. I know it must have been hard for you.”

“I’m OK,” she said. “I didn’t really know any of the kids, except for the boy in the cube beside me. He was really smart. Do you know if he is dead?”

“We don’t know, they aren’t saying much. Never did find his body. Hey honey, here come the nurses, when you’re ready give me a page, here’s my vidcom ID number. I’m going to be out of town for a while but feel free to call anytime, My name is Cole. Anything you need OK?” The man in the Street clothes touched her hand and then left. He put a vidcard with a few credit chips in her jacket that was hanging on the door as he walked out.



SLEDPORT

Cole got out of the air cab at the gate. He took his bag out of the back seat and scanned the crowd. Moby had said there would be someone here to meet him, his tickets were for two after all. He looked around for the Biocops logo on anyone’s jacket but couldn’t spot it. Moby hadn’t been too specific, Cole had thought it would be someone he worked with before, like Marty Shoals or Devin Pindar, but he didn’t see either. As he was moving through the security line a young female port worker came up to him.

“Are You Cole Bentworth?” asked the girl, he uniform was slightly too big for her and it gave the impression that she was part of a little girl’s dress up party wearing mommy’s work clothes.

“Yes, can I help you?” Cole asked.

“I have a message from a Mr. Moby. Your sonic sled is waiting in dock b243. We can bypass this line if you like. A Miss...Fernvale is waiting for you on the sled.” The girl finished her message and turned away expecting Cole to follow which he did.

“Fernvale?” thought Cole to himself following the girl absentmindedly sidestepping a group of foreign tourists being hassled by custom cops, “Jessica Fernvale... The vidstar? Why would she be involved with this. This case has just taken a turn for the unusual. I’m surprised Moby would agree to this but what the hell, she should be pretty good company and from what I’ve seen on the trailer network she has quite the figure.”



DARK ALLEYS

The boy, who’s name was Myron had been running for at least two hours. His pulse was hammering behind his eyes and his lungs were burning, expelling mucous and saliva uncontrollably. Even though he was now stopped, his mind was still racing. Back to the events of the last few days, the last few hours, the last few steps. He couldn’t remember the last several hours and his brain was running circles around the hole there. What had happened after the final data sets had been fed into the biomass tube? Had his experiment worked? Why was he in this dark alley, plas-crates and plastic bags piled in loose heaps around him? Where was he for that matter? He didn’t recognize the alley, nor did he recognize the 4 shadows that were slowly advancing towards him.

As the first of the figures came out into the light Myron saw the glint of a cerosteel blade emerging from under the cuff of the sour looking street thug who grinned as he raised his arm poised to attack.

“Where’s this boy-boy comin from? Sure don look like he from around here, hehehe.” said one of the thugs, instigating a round of low chuckles from his crew.

“Come here boy-boy, you gonna make this easy for us, I don feel like runnin after your little ass.”



Myron looked down at his left hand which had begun to throb slightly. From under the nails a transparent gel was forming and spreading quickly over the rest of his hand. He suddenly remembered what had taken place back at the institute and he got scared. He vaguely recalled witnessing the other kids being eaten, as if he was at a distance unable to stop it, or help them from being consumed. After he broke the security door and got outside the institute he began running, the next thing he remembered was ‘waking up’ in this alley. When he looked back down at his hand he saw the gooey gel had grown to cover his entire forearm. When the thug saw this he took a step back.

“What the hell? What kind of freak are you boy-boy? Come on lads, let’s thump this kiddo!”

The thugs circled around Myron who has now crouched cradling his hand. When he stood and raised his forearm in defense the leader of the thugs sidestepped and made a lunge for his throat. A sudden rage swelled through Myron. His arm, first raised to protect himself was jutted straight out pointing at one of the thugs who was lingering back, watching the entrance to the alley for any observers. As fast as the eye could see a stream of volatile goo shot from the outstretched arm of the boy, traveling in a slithery line and coming into contact with the thug right in the middle of his chest. Without any apparent movement form the boy, it caught hold of the man who was now struggling to get free and picked him up bodily and as if he were made of mere twigs and bashed him repeatedly against the side of the adjacent building crushing his skull in the first blow, and snapping the spine so the whole body flopped around like a rag doll. It then threw the body up and towards the group of thugs and Myron. It landed with a dull thud right in front of the head thug just after which the gooey snake recoiled and reintegrated into Myron’s arm.

“Get out of here gang! This kid’s biobugged!” And the thugs went barreling out though the alley, leaving their dead friend to be picked up by some even lower form of street life.

Myron was continuing to stare at his hand, the gel was receeding and creeping back under his nails, within a few seconds it was as if the whole thing had never happened. The only evidence was the badly disjointed corpse laying in front of him bleeding slowly.

Hi Tech Suit

“Hello Miss Fernvale, My name is Cole Bentworth with the Bio Cops. May I sit down?”

The vid star looked up at Cole over a pair of dark heavy looking sunglasses. Her hair and makeup were dislodged from what seemed to be crying, she had black streaks running down her cheeks from excess mascara mixed with tears. A wide circular sun hat was on the seat beside her which she moved to make way for Cole.

“Hello Mr. Bentworth, my good friend Moby told me you would be meeting me, but I thought you weren’t going to make it. Please excuse my appearance, I haven’t had time to clean up since I heard about...” Here the sobs began to lurch up from her stomach, racking her body for a few breaths before she could quell them down again. She was obviously having a hard time keeping things together.

“It’s OK Miss Fernvale, I was just visiting our little survivor from the incident at the institute. How much has Moby filled you in, and pardon me for asking, but why are you involved in this mess?” Asked Cole

“I’ve read the press releases”, she said pulling a smoke out of the plastic bag hung over the seat in front of her. “Mr. Bentworth, I have a secret, which won’t be a secret for long if the tabloids get wind of what I’m about to tell you.” She lit her smoke and slowly brought it up to her lips with a shaky hand. After she had taken a few pulls she visibly calmed down, “Would you like a hit Mr. Bentworth?” she offered the spliff to Cole who took a few quick tokes and gave it back.

“That’s sweet, biokind?”

“Only the best Mr. Bentworth, now let me tell my story, maybe you will understand why I’m here. I know it must seem odd, maybe you’re not used to associating with the vid crowd.” She said, butting out the smoke in the ashtray on the sidearm of the seat. She took off her shades to reveal the turquoise eyes that had become her trademark and straightened her tousled hair. “Let me start by showing you something,” she reached into her bag to pull out a hand held vidmon and a biochip from her pocket. Cole took the vidmon and inserted the chip patiently waiting as the circuits warmed up. When the film began Cole lifted the vid mon so both himself and Ms. Fernvale could see.

The scene began with a distance shot of a hospital, the tall trees surrounding it swaying from the force of the wind which was rising in front of the storm that was silhouetted in the background. The huge thunderhead was dropping buckets and periodically a flash of sheet lightning lit the sky. The view changed to look back inside the car that was approaching the hospital. There, propped up on a rolled up celo blanket sat Jessica, her abdomen swollen, obviously pregnant with child. She was breathing hard and there was a patch of moisture between her legs, it seemed as if the birth was imminent.

“Get that thing out of my face!” The Jessica in the vidmon said to the as yet anonymous person behind the camera. The picture jiggled and faded only to reappear with a shot from inside the hospital. There was a doctor type waving to the Jessica and the anonymous videographer directing them towards a section of private rooms within the complex. “Right this way please, we’ve prepared a room for you Miss Fernvale, how are you feeling?” there the video stopped again. The next shot was not until much later after the birth when Jessica was planning on leaving the hospital and returning to her apartment. She was packing slowly, cuddling the bundle that she held against her chest, singing softly.

“Who’s the guy?” Asked Cole

“He was my former producer and, well father of the kid. He left shortly after that day, said he couldn’t be tied down I didn’t blame him at the time. I thought my career as a vid star was over, I looked at my stretched body, and the worn look in my eyes and I nearly did the right thing and gave up the business right there in the hospital. As it hapenned when I got back to the city my agents convinced me to give the child to the institute. I was in pretty rough shape at the time, with my well career in riuns after my rehab, as you may know. I agreed in the end as a final act of self reproach that I could not master my weaknesses enough to raise a child in good health. It couldn’t be leaked that I had a child, I didn't resurface for months and had plastic biosurgury done within the week so no-one would ever know. I had been out of circulation for over a year but had recently gotten an offer from the big picture studio for ‘Spandex Spunk’ you may have seen it. I set up a trust fund for the boy and when the people from the institute came to get him I hardly shed a tear I was so high on something at the time. Believe me Mr. Bentworth I cried hard for years after that day!”
“Myron is your boy?” Asked Cole.

“Yes, and now I feel some responsibility to him, and to the rest of those kids. He thinks I am a friend of his real parents, but I’ve never had the guts to tell him the truth, but now I’m starting not to care what comes out. So that’s why I’m here.” concluded Jessica, her chest was heaving by the end of her spiel and she was beginning to get agitated as the soothing effects of the smoke wore off. “Now how about you Mr. Bentworth?, where do you fit in to all of this?”

“I’m not quite sure.” He replied.




201 TAVERN WAY

Myron stumbled up the street, bumping into other people who were out wandering at this late hour. He was focused on his hand so intently that the gruff complaints from the people he hit were ignored same as if they had fallen on deaf ears. The boy had a maniacal look that frightened most of them off. His hand was swelling and convulsing uncontrollably. The jelly like substance would come out from around his finger nails and start to bleed up his arm. He squeezed his arm just below the elbow to try to stop the flow of goo while hiding it in his jacket, skirting groups of tourist types that were walking in tight bunches along the causeway by the river. When he rounded a corner into the relative seclusion of Tavern way his control over the goo in his arm gave out. The goo immediately covered his hand and began oozing it’s way up the forearm, at the same time the other hand started to ooze goo. The goo slowly but steadily grew to encompass Myron’s entire body. It expanded over his face and covered his eyes with a semi transparent film, as if he were wearing rose-colored sunglasses. As the goo gradually intruded into his nostrils and made it’s way up the brain where it latched on a microscopic level making the metamorphosis complete. Both the goo thing and Myron, indistinguishable from each other at this point, were tired. For the goo thing it was the end of it’s first day on earth, for Myron the end of the strangest day of his life. Both goo and boy lay down under a arching elm tree in the park and slept.


BIOLABS

Cole and Jessica got off the aircab in front of a glassy sky tower. High above flags were flapping briskly in the wind. They passed under a chrome arch and felt the tingle of an ultra scan pass through their hair follicles. When they approached the door it opened, swinging outwards revealing an amber-lit lobby with plush couches and leather covered desks, behind one of which sat an attractive female with glasses and a white labcoat.

“Can I help you?” she said as Cole and Jessica approached.

“Yes, I’m Cole Bentworth with the National BioPolice Service, this is Jessica Fernvale, an accomplished vidstar you may have seen her.”

“No I’m afraid I haven’t Mr.... Bentworth.”

“We are here to meet a Dr. Villhamer in your Biomatter department, is he available?”

“Wait please, I’ll check. Yes she is available. Wait over here please,” she said indicating one of the squarish sofas, “She will be out shortly.”

They moved towards the couch, examining a large aquarium that was built into the wall. Inside there were several fishlike creatures, one had the distinct eyes and nose of a cat, whiskers included. It’s tail was long and narrow and covered in scales that looked like mother of pearl. One of the other ‘fish’ had what appeared to be a human hand as a tail, each finger moving rapidly to produce the thrust the thing needed to jet around the tank. The third ‘fish’ was really a fish, or at least it appeared to be until the hand like one brushed it slightly as it sped by. It started to turn counterclockwise slowly at first but building up to a fervor that churned the water in the tank, making it bubble as if the water was boiling, eventually creating a small whirlpool current in the tank. The ‘hand’ fish got too close to the whirlpool and it was sucked in and down. Suddenly the swirling stopped and the fish open it’s mouth to an impossible size and engulfed the ‘hand’ fish with one gulp. The fish then sank back down towards the gravelly bottom of the tank.

“Disgusting!” muttered Jessica, she was covering her mouth with a clean white handkerchief which she had pulled from her bag.

“Survival of the fittest I guess, with a little help from Dr. Science.” remarked Cole as the doctor came through the security door leading further into the complex. She was a stunning woman, all the more so because she was obviously brilliant. Her eyes had a look that would in most cases be seen as aggressiveness but as Cole knew better hid a confidence that most men would find unsettling. Even Jessica seemed unable to look her straight in the eyes as she approached.

“Mr Bentworth, and Ms. Jessica Fernvale, I’ve seen some of you’re vids, very entertaining I must say. Now what can I do for you two today?”

“Dr. Villhammer,” Began Jessica

“Please call me by my first name, Sasha” cut in the doctor,

“Sure, Sasha. We came here to discuss some bio matter and equipment that was sold to a boy by the name of Myron Cross, about three or four months ago.” Jessica stated.

“As you must know, Ms. Fernvale we do not sell bio matter to unauthorized groups, especially not to children, It’s commonly thought that the Bio matter can be very unstable and dangerous, although that isn’t my contention. It is however the lab’s policy.”

“OK let’s cut to the chase here Dr. Villhammer, or should I say Sasha, we know the bio matter came from this lab, you must have seen the vids on the disaster at the institute, Myron was the boy who created that thing. We’re not interested in pressing charges or finding your people at fault right at this point. If you cooperate we may find a way of avoiding damage for you and your labs, surely you can see how this incident could put a huge damper on the whole bio development program. We need to know what he got, how he could have been able to animate it, and most of all how to stop it. Are you going to help us or should I call the commissioner and see that a formal investigation begin, with your lab on the top of the list.?”

“I get your point, Mr. Bentworth, please come this way. Don’t be alarmed if you feel an odd sensation as we enter through here, there is a molecular cleansing unit installed in the door frame, your clothes will never feel as clean as when you step through our door. We cannot have any random DNA mixing with our splices.”

They walked into a large room with scientists and technicians in various colors of lab coats milling around, there must have been close to a hundred people all working, transporting samples or tinkering with jars of chemicals. They walked down the central aisle and came to another door in an immense glass wall that stretched from floor to ceiling. There were blue dots stuck on every few feet so careless or shortsighted technicians wouldn’t walk into it. They went through the door and Cole felt the same tingling sensation as they emerged into the next room. This room was smaller and held several hundred vats, some filled with biomatter and some empty. A few of them were hooked up to computer outlets suspended above the vats by thin wires attached to the ceiling. There was a faint hum coming from behind the walls, like there was a great machine at work there.

Cole leaned over a vat on the left, one that had several wires emerging from it. The gelatinous material shifted in the vat as if it was trying to break over the lid and make contact with Cole’s outstretched hand.

“Don’t touch that!” shouted Sasha, crossing the room in two quick strides to come parallel with Cole. “You don’t realize how volatile that stuff is in this state.”

Cole moved away from the vat “Sorry Sasha, You’re the boss around here, I’ll keep my hands to myself like a good boy.” Cole put his hand into his pocket, vaguely noticing some of the gelatinous goo had jumped onto his little finger. He was subconsciously wiping it on his trousers as they walked into the next room.

“Here we are!” declared Sasha, raising her arm and waving it in a circle like a game show hostess revealing what’s behind door number 2. She was obviously very proud of what was going on in this room although to Cole it looked no different than the other rooms, with the exception that the technicians were wearing orange outfits. Sasha had an office adjacent to this larger room and that was where they were headed.

“Now, Mr. Bentworth, let me start by asking you one thing, why us? Do you have any proof that it was our biomatter that was involved in that incident?”

“I told you already, you’re not under direct suspicion, a friend informed me that your lab was on the forefront of this kind of Bio engineering and that you were an expert. My contact did mention that you were a man, so you must be Dr. Villhammer’s daughter?, Wife? Daughter I suspect, you just get to sense these things after a while.”

“Yes Irwin Villhammer was my father, he left the operations of the lab to me when he went into the hospital.”

“Why aren’t there any records of his death? He is still listed as the main benefactor of this place.”

“He is being kept alive by machines and constant care. He had a very serious accident and is now no more than a vegetable. His accountants keep his affairs going in trust, but the real decisions surrounding the labs have been mine for several years now.” Replied Sasha, she was obviously getting a little defensive, Cole had hit a sore spot.

Her formerly confident attitude was being edged away by Cole’s questioning. “What I’m interested in is doing some research of my own, with your expert assistance of course, to try and determine what this boy Myron has done exactly. Would you agree to cooperating with me to try and get to the bottom of this? Like I mentioned I do have the authority to start a formal investigation but I don’t wish to do that, given the urgent nature of the problem, we all know how getting tied up in bureaucratic red tape can slow things down. Will you and your team help me?” Asked Cole, his cards now fully laid on the table.

“I’ll bite Mr. Bentworth, you leave me no choice do you?” replied Sasha, her confident demeanor now slipping

“It’s the job Ms. Villhammer, like on that old TV show Columbo where the detective keeps saying, ‘Oh and just one more thing...just one more thing’”. Cole was feeling a little bit dizzy and was rubbing his hand on his pant leg trying to be discreet. “Excuse me please Ladies, I think I’m feeling a little bit of Jet lag, is the washroom through here?” asked Cole as he was getting up from the comfy leather couch where he and Jessica had sat upon entering the room. He took three steps and collapsed several feet short of the washroom.

“Mr Bentworth!” cried Jessica as he hit the ground.



MUTATIONS



Myron was not Myron anymore, he looked down at his hands and feet and saw only the goo, It was now more a part of him than he was of himself. He was Myrosaur, his brain was indulging in the childhood fantasies of sleepless nights on the net, flipping from site to site looking for entertainment. Myrosaur was a construct built from figments of these night’s wanderings intermixed with his childhood idols and fleeting impressions of the giant historic beasts whom he felt similar to in power and presence. The goo was gradually solidifying , it was still transparent in certain areas and he could see through to the tiny boy who was locked inside the rolling mass of the Myrosaur. In many places the goo was hard and dark like obsidian glass but with more flexibility. The biggest thing on the Myrosaur’s mind was food, it had been too long since it had a meal. A stray dog was sniffing at some garbage in the alley adjacent to the street where the Myrosaur was laying curled up. A thin tendril of hard obsidian jutted out, coming to a point just before it contacted the dog, it’s slight touch cutting a thin slice through the dog so quickly the mutt barely had time to turn and look away from it’s garbage picking. The messy guts of the mutt fell to the ground but the dog was not killed instantly. It dragged it’s dangling entrails in a vain attempt to escape but the glass swordlike appendage from the Myrosaur stopped any further progress with a smooth swipe, severing the head off the dog and flinging it up at the same time to be engulfed by the giant mouth-like hole of the Myrosaur. The body of the dog followed the head, batted by the obsidian appendage which had now changed to look more like a baseball bat.


PAGE IN THE NIGHT

“Bzzzt, Bzzzt, Bzzzt....”

“What the hell is that?” Asked Jessica to no one in particular. She had been taking care of Cole who was still incapacitated but had been moved from the floor to the leather couch in Sasha’s office. She rummaged through his loose jacket and pulled out the Pager. When she pressed the activate button a small holo of a girl flickered into existence, it’s message following it by several seconds.

“Mr Bentworth, is that you?” The quiet voice was broken like the little girl was having difficulty catching her breath. “Hello, you said to page you if anything came up....well it has.”

“Hello, my name is Jessica, I’m a friend of Cole’s, he is... indisposed at the moment.”

“Is he OK?” the girl asked.

“We don’t know, he just collapsed, but he’s breathing and his heart is normal.” replied Jessica, she was in no mood to make up lies about Cole for the sake of the girl, besides, she seemed old enough to understand.

“I’ve got to talk to him, something is happening to me, like the boy at the institute. At first I thought it was a dream, but I woke up and this jelly was all over me. By the time I got up and turned on the lights it was mostly gone, just a little bit left on my toes.” the girl explained.

“What’s your name honey?” Sasha cut in. She had become suddenly interested in the girl’s story.

“My name is Katja, can you help me, Ms...”

“Call me Sasha, Katja. Listen I think you may have contracted a type of infection. I want you to stay where you are and don’t touch anything. I’m going to send an air cab to pick you up so stay put. When Cole wakes up I’ll let him know that you’re on the way.”

“Where am I going?” asked Katja.

“I’m sorry honey I can’t tell you that over these insecure pagelines. I’ll explain everything when you get here. Just believe me it’s very important to everyone that you get here safely, and quickly. See you soon OK?”

“Ok, yeah I’ll wait here, and say Hi to Cole when he gets up.”

The Holo pager made a few clicking sounds before the image popped out of existence. Jessica put the unit back into Cole’s pocket. He still didn’t stir.

SECOND DOWN, ONE TO GO

The air cab driver was pounding at her cubicle door. She had fallen asleep immediately after she had paged Cole and was not expecting the cab to arrive so quickly, she wasn’t packed or anything. Come to think of it, she didn’t have much to pack. Her four pairs of lycra underwear, her night clothes, her hairbrush and her sonic tooth cleanser. A few vidpics of her parents and their old apartment and a plascase with her money and papers in it. All of the above would fit into the small backpack which was hung over the small chair in the room. She gathered her things while calling to the cabby,

“Just wait please, I’ll be ready in a moment!”

Just before she left her old cubicle she looked back as if to affix the sight of the small room into her memory. She looked at her bed, the vid wall and the desk where the doodlings of the previous student were still visible, even though she had washed it a thousand times since she had been there. She knew at that moment that she would never be coming back. She gave silent thanks to the institute as she walked down it’s meandering corridors. She hadn’t been particularly well known or liked around, but she hadn’t been treated that badly. She had her space and her life which was more than some had these days. Now she had friends, or were they? Cole was nice and the ladies she had spoken too seemed concerned for her. The boy next door was gone, she suspected he was involved somehow, in fact she knew it because somehow the jelly monster which she had seen eat the other kids looked the same as the jelly she had seen on her feet last night. This thought terrified her immensely but she was able to keep it under control.


THE MYRONATOR

What am I? Was the main thought that kept rattling around Myron’s head (if it still was Myron’s head) What am I capable of nowadays? Killing and maiming were easy, especially when he considered that the flesh of his victims was only flesh, these people had no souls, at least not like the soul he had. His soul was big and it reached out for meters beyond his physical body. As he was walking along the sea-wall now in the little boy form he had started this adventure in, his soul touched the waves below and glided along the crests effortlessly, and washed back in towards the sandy beach. In his mind’s eye he could see the sand in very fine detail, he knew that if he wanted to he could examine it even closer with his soul and count every grain from here to eternity but he didn’t want to do that right now. As his body ambled along the sea wall his soul touched a couple who were lying close to each other on a beach blanket. It was dusk and Myron’s body-eyes couldn’t make much out but when his soul-eye hit them he saw more than he could have imagined. He saw the male touching the upper leg of the female, the female returning the pressure and rolling slightly so he could get better access to her pants zipper. Myron’s soul was getting exited by this encounter, always eager to learn new things it lingered, forcing Myron to stop and wait out his soul’s curiosity over this new scene. Myron’s soul was getting very close to the mind of the female when the mail gingerly unzipped her pants and pulled them down to her knees. His hand was lightly brushing her thigh and was starting to grasp her panties when Myron felt a wave of pleasure trickle down his spine echoing what his soul felt in the woman. When the male touched that wet spot ever so gently, Myron felt the longing ache that the woman felt. She threw back her head and must have got a sight of Myron or perhaps she felt his soul close to her and she quickly sat up, the male complaining and asking what’s wrong. With his soul’s ears Myron heard the words clearly which he could only make out as a wind distorted mumble from his own true ears,

“There’s someone watching us,” she said, pointing in Myron’s general direction.

“There’s nobody there, you’re seeing things!” responded the male, eager to get back to his fiddling.

“I could have sworn I heard heard somebody.” She said as she reclined once again in the sand, digging in her but to make herself more comfortable and lifting her hair out behind her so when she lay down it was spread like a circle around her head. “Now where were we?” she said, grabbing the crotch of the male. Myron’s soul could feel the rise in the pants of the male as if it was it’s own hand doing the grabbing. It startled Myron slightly, he was not accustomed to these types of adult games. He wasn’t completely ignorant but before he got his soul he wasn’t much interested in this kind of thing. Now his soul was deep inside the woman, he could feel it, almost as if he were to run his hands over his chest he could feel the pointy breasts that the woman was now bearing to her partner. When the woman again grabbed for the male’s crotch, this time a little more forcibly the man uttered:

“Ouch Alexa, what are you doing? That hurt. What’s gotten into you?”

The girl paused for a moment and reached between her thighs, “I don’t know, but I like it!” she said drawing her hand out and rubbing on the male’s face.

“My god you’re wet!” He said while unbuttoning his jeans.

When the man rolled over and crouched over the girl Myron’s soul struck. It grabbed the male and forced his manhood into her. At first the male was lost in pleasure but he soon realized that the pace of the ordeal was unrelenting and he couldn’t hold off any longer. He began to mumble.

“I’m going to…” before he could get the last word out the female cut in,

“No you’re not!” she said and savagely grabbed his sack again and squeezed hard. Myron could feel the pops and squishes of the male’s parts as the male’s moans of pleasure turned into screams of pure agony. She then moved her grip to the shaft squeezing as not to let the hardness out

“Alexa, what the Fuck!!! What the fuck!! Let go!!” but the girl would not let go, she kept pumping and pumping and driving his prick deep inside herself. Myron’s soul could feel the pain from between both of their legs but did not relent in the pounding. After several long minutes of screaming the man passed out, evidently through loss of blood to the head and the female, very close to her climax shouted out in a mangled expression of grief and pleasure,

“OH GOD!!!”, then she too collapsed, exhausted and examining her parts, fingering it lightly so as to keep the juices flowing. The male lay exhausted and moaning on the beach, he was obviously in pain as he crept around slowly gathering his clothes, a trickle of blood staining the sand around in a dark line .

“What the fuck?” he was muttering.

At this point Myron’s soul tore itself free of the woman and wandered back over the beach to sit around Myron’s head and shoulders where it settled contently. Myron continued down the seawall.


Little Girl Bio

Katja got out of the aircab in front of the giant chrome archway of the biolab, she tipped the cab flyer and proceeded up the graveled pathway through some shrubbery and up to the great wooden door.

She felt a tingle go through her from head to toe and she new she was being bioscanned. The big door opened slowly to a crack she could squeeze through. When she stepped into the relative darkness of the lobby the door clicked softly shut behind her. She looked around, expecting someone to greet her but found no one. She wandered over to some oddly shaped fish tanks on one side of the lobby but there were no fish inside, only rocks, water plants, and some stringy bits if something unidentifiable floating.

“No fish!” she exclaimed quietly to herself.

“SHHH!” Katja heard the muffled sound coming from a closet adjacent to the lobby waiting room. She saw a head peep out and then a hand motioning her over. She had two choices, one: Turn 180 degrees and high tail it out the way she came, or two: follow the hand. She followed the hand. When she came around the corner she saw a woman hunched over another person who was laying half propped up against the closet door.