R-Evolution: 7: Discovery
#7 of R-Evolution
R-Evolution:
7: Discovery
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Author's Notes
I'm sorry for the LONG delay between chapter 6 and chapter 7. I began writing this chapter 2 years ago when my life literally began to fall apart. I then wrote more about a year ago, and realized I just wan't ready to start writing again. I never forgot about this story though, and always intended on returning to it one day. I had a dream about it a couple nights ago and I scrounged up all the fragments I'd written before and tried to make a cohesive whole from it. Because there are literally year wide gaps between writing phases, this chapter seems a bit choppy to me, but because I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow morning I'm not going to allow myself to edit and re-edit it into the middle hours of the night. So here it is, flaws and all, the long awaited chapter 7. If there are any fans of the series still out there and I get enough positive feedback from all of you, I will continue the development of this story.
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Allen placed his hand firmly on the door marked "Security," his claws making a slight clicking sound as they made contact with the white-painted metal. The door had no latch, so it swung open with one easy push. He helped Jack, who limped through the doorway as Tom (still cradling the egg within his stained lab coat) held it open for them. The smell of blood still clung to Jacks fur and Allen had to fight back a strange and powerful urge to lick him.
This "security room" wasn't remarkably different from the rest of the facility. The walls ceiling, and floors were all hospital white with the occasional stain or splotch here and there. The main area they were standing in, displayed something of around a dozen very large TV screens mounted on the walls. Each was hazy from age and neglect but were functional, a company logo bounced around on the screens lazily in some form of standby mode. Below these were extensive control panels and work stations with hundreds of buttons and knobs, each work station contained it's own small screen displaying the same screen saver (a 3D rendering of a stylized DNA strand). There was also a workstation-island in the middle of the room with a similar setup as the wall-workstations. The room was roughly 15x20 with a hallway located in the middle of the far wall that looked as if it lead back to several smaller rooms.
Aside from the film of dust covering everything, the whole place was strangely tidy. Other than the masses of neatly organized wires coming out of the control panels and up into the ceiling, the room was pretty devoid of usual office clutter. There were no clocks, lamps, radios, portable communication and/or music devices, or even pens, paper, or staplers. Nothing to suggest that the room had been used by anyone, ever. That would explain the dust, Allen figured.
As Allen finished his visual sweep over the room, one large monitor in particular captured his attention. The closest right-hand side monitor of the island workstation had been dismounted from it's original location above it's desk and had been rotated to face the door. There was a small metallic box that looked like it had been hastily assembled glued to the bottom of screen with what appeared to be pink bubblegum. A pulsating green light next to what looked like a nightlight sensor glowed brightly from the box. And attacked to the metallic box with another piece of gum was a small note. Apparently someone was expecting them.
"Are those scratch marks?" Jack asked, pointing to the ground.
Tom was looking at them too.
Allen released the door from his grip as he looked down at the floor tiles. There were fresh scratches on the floor, the film of dust was streaked and splotchy around them. They looked like they had been made by animal claws, and Allen had an image flash through his mind of black scaly feet violently digging their claws into the tile. The thought sent a chill down his spine, and his fur bristled in response.
Allen sniffed the air tentatively, and was immediately flooded with sickening memories of the she-dragon as her aroma filled his nostrils. That, he thought, would explain why she wanted them to come here. She was probably the one who prepared the room for them. He cringed when he thought of the effects this might have on Jack once he caught her scent.
"I think she was here." Tom said.
He saw Jack nod. "Yeah," Jack said. "I can smell her."
Allen caressed Jack's cheek softly with his paw. "Are you alright love?" He asked.
"It's a little unsettling." Jack said with an undertone of unease. "But I'm fine Allen, I'm still blocking the worst of it I think."
Tom took Jack's paw in his hand and gave it a squeeze. Allen could see that Jack appreciated the moral support. Jack squeezed Tom's hand back in return. The corner of Tom's lips rose in a half smile. He appreciated the moral support too.
The dragoness had done a terrible thing to them, but she must have been a person. He had to keep reminding himself of this. Possibly one with some tech training... He couldn't help but wonder just how much more to this story Tom knew about that he'd yet to tell them about.
"Tom," Allen asked. "Can you hold onto Jack while I check this out?"
"Why not let Tom go?" Jack asked
"Because I don't want him to." Allen said point-of-factly. "I want to make sure it's safe, it feels like the right thing to do."
Jack lowered his ears halfway in protest. "But wasn't he the one that just killed a dragon with his mind!"
Tom's eyes widened and Allen saw his fingers loosen from around Jacks, but Jack still had a tight grip on Tom's hand so they didn't part. Jack was staring at Allen and didn't seem to notice.
"Love, please just stay with Tom." he whispered into Jacks ear. He lowered his voice to where it was barely audible: "I don't know how this is possible, but you mean more than the world to me, and should there be any danger Tom will be able to provide better immediate protection for you than I could."
"It's not me I'm worried about." Jack whined.
"I know," Jack said. "But I'm not giving you any choice in the matter."
Jack lowered his ears and whined sadly and then blushed as Tom looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "I guess I'm staying here with you." Jack half sighed half whined as he steadied he weight against Tom's shoulder.
Tom nodded up at Jack while he watched passively from the doorway while Allen headed towards the detached monitor.
Tom turned around to get a better view and grunted under the added weight from Jack. "That's interesting." he said curiously, pointing at the box with the glowing light with one hand while massaging his temples with the other.
Jack pointed towards the screen as Allen approached it. "Is that a note?" He asked.
Allen smiled. He must have just noticed it.
"Wait!" Tom said in a strange uneasy tone that made Allen freeze mid-step.
"What?" Allen asked, glancing around at him."
"Something doesn't seem right about this?" He said in the same uneasy tone.
Allen sniffed at the air, but didn't discover anything he didn't already know. He saw Jack sniffed a few times too, but he didn't seemed to pick up on anything else either. Allen decided to looked around the room again though, more cautiously this time. More paranoid too, he thought, thanks Tom.
Computer monitors, workstations, painfully featureless walls, the workstation island and...
It was about that time the box mounted to the bottom of the monitor issued a faint chirp, and the green light decorating it changed from green, to yellow, to red.
"Shit!" Tom said, he'd seen the color change too.
"What happened?" Jack asked.
"Subject signatures detected." A polite female voice announced from everywhere. The out of place monitor changed from the company's screen saver to an event log on an excel spreadsheet. The most recent entry, highlighted in yellow, indicating that subject signatures were detected in Security Station 1B.
"Uh oh, that would be us" Jack said, pointing at the screen. He thought for a quick second and then looked at Tom. "Tom, push on the door."
"What are we locked in?" Allen asked, suddenly panicked at the thought of being locked inside the office with the overly polite sounding computer voice. Scenes from a dozen sci-fi horror movies flashed through his mind depicting similar scenarios.
Tom pushed on the door, and it didn't budge. "It won't open," he said, his voice growing more tense, "and there isn't a handle."
"Scanning." The very polite voice announced.
"Wait, what's scanning us?" Allen asked, looking at Jack."
Jack's eyes raced around the room. "I... don't think I know..."
Tom stared questioningly at Jack. "You expected something like this?"
Jack squinted his eyes and tilted his ears back. "I figured the computers were monitoring us, but... no I really wasn't expecting this... technology has changed since I worked here... among other things."
The polite voice continued. "Subject G1-012, subject G1-019, subject G3-936. Please stand bye." The screen's event log updated it's displayed with everything that the voice had just announced. A couple seconds later the screen went blank.
Tom spoke quietly to Jack, from the look of it he was beginning to get heavy to the human. "Do you know what were 'standing by' for?" Allen walked back over to them and yoked himself under Jack's arm.
Jack shook his head and smile as Allen returned to his side.
Before anyone could say anything else the room crackled and a familiar face appeared on the screen. Allen stared at the screen, and then quickly looked over at Tom just as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Tom," The she dragon said with affection in her eyes, "or whoever else who may be watching this... I'm probably dead by now..."
Jack's mouth dropped open. "Oh, my god!" He whispered.
"I'm sorry for whatever trouble I may have caused," she continued, "I know I only have a short time left before... I'm not me anymore. I don't know what's happened here, everything was abandoned when I awoke."
"Damn." Allen muttered.
"I guess I should start from the beginning." The dragoness continued, as she shook her head and sighed. "I can't remember my name for some reason, or where I grew up or who my parents were, but I remember my last year of college.
"I joined this company, R-Evolution, and enlisted in their 'Genesis' project just out of college. I'm not sure how many years I attended, but I'm assuming it was the full 7 years required. The pay was... more than I could have ever imagined at my age, and I quickly lost myself in my work." A momentary tone of pride filled her voice. "We put the geep experiment to shame." Her eyes fluttered momentarily, Allen assumed she was deciding if she needed to elaborate, and to his relief she did. "For the old sheep-goat chimeras, each set of germ lines keeps their own species identity instead of meshing perfectly together. The subject would have 4 parents instead of two, and would have a calico-like appearance.
"That's not the case anymore.
"Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I would have done what I did under my own will. At least, that's what I would like to think anyway. Tom, I'm so sorry for what they've done to you... for what I helped them do to you, as well as the others.
"So... anyway... At least you don't have scales!" Here words were dark as they reached for humor as she forced a momentary grin then shook her head with anger. "Everything fell apart after we entered phase 6, though I think most of the trouble started early on. The company had some very powerful people, other corporations against them. I don't know exactly what they did, but I know several people wound up forced into the project against their will. Most of them didn't have anything to do with the companies political skirmishes, they were just, collateral damage.
"The company had always been secretive, but during phase 6 things got really weird. Rumors of what we were doing hit the news, and it upset a lot more people. After that, the company went further underground, whoever was pulling the strings wanted to make sure no one would be able to trace it back to them. That's about the time they turned on their own employees, that's what happened to me.
"I was persuaded to find a suitable companion, someone with specific genetic qualities whom I would be able to bond with should I survive the genetic modifications. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling exactly cooperative, so instead I chose someone who wouldn't be inclined on a cellular level to accept the mutations... in hope that I wouldn't ruin someone else's life... completely anyway.
"You know about as much as I do after our meeting each other that night.
"Now, back to the situation at hand." She rubbed her face with her shimmering black, scaly, hand. "I've awoken you, and two others who are completely transformed, they won't be like you, but I hope it's enough for you to bond with. Please, don't attempt to awaken the others, the world isn't ready for them yet, and who knows what would happen if whoever is running this operation found out about these complications.
"I've hacked the mainframe, and covered our tracks, nobody should know I, nor you have awaken. A lot has changed since I was human, so hopefully I've been able to provide you with an adequate amount of time to escape and make a life for yourself somewhere in secret... or better yet... If I would have lived to meet you, I would have seen to the investigation myself. Ah well.
"Everything but the perimeter security systems are offline, so if you decide to leave the complex, I suggest you find a creative way out, unless you're better at hacking super computers than I am.
"I wish I could give you more information than that." She chuckled a little but then quickly snapped back to seriousness. "Actually I think I may have something. Our child, please find my body and remove the egg from it. I don't know how long it has before it hatches, I don't even know when the pregnancy was induced. The child won't be human, but deserves life just as much as any other child does.
"Good luck, and... I love you."
The screen went blank and the room crackled again. Allen pressed on the door behind them lightly with his footpad and it swung freely.
"I get the impression that was more for Tom than for us." Jack said.
Allen nodded in reply and looked over at Tom. He was staring blankly at the screen, his eyes reminding him of the glossy eyed stares he would get from the other residents when he would visit his grandmother in the old folks home. And what was that about calico chimeras? Was that really the definition of what they all now were?
Jack's gaze also drifted over to Tom, and as if he were reading Allen's mind, began: "I remember reading about those geep experiments from the 70's. But... like she said, the sheep and the goat never blended perfectly together, two legs could be sheep legs and two could be goat legs. Parts of the geep would be covered in wool while other parts would be covered in hair. And I think they sometimes went blind after a while."
"That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence." Allen mumbled.
Tom finally realized he was being stared at and blinked rapidly a few times.
"I'm not sure how much good that video actually was..." and struggling for something else to say lamely added: "didn't really answer any questions."
"It did a few," Allen said, "but it does put an interesting spin on things doesn't it... especially for you."
In what seemed to Allen like an attempt to avoid any conversation about himself, Tom glanced over at Jack and nudged his arm. "What's 'phase 6?'"
Jack rolled his eyes, he clearly didn't want to discuss this right now. "Public advertising. That's what we were all told anyway."
Allen was just about to ask him to explain a little more when Jack decided to continue, in the same almost annoyed tone as before. "Up until phase 6 we had gotten most of our clients from word of mouth recommendation and a couple hard to find internet sites. Public advertising was going to be the next big thing for the company."
"They were going to sell this chimera technology to the public?" Allen asked appalled.
Tom chuckled sarcastically to himself while he rubbed his head and wondered momentarily if perhaps he had a headache. "From the sound of it though that wasn't really a necessary step." Tom said.
"No," Jack said looking at Allen. Allen could tell he was forcing the exhaustion out of his voice. "Not exactly anyway. It was something they were going to offer expecting parents I think. Some sort of immune system boost. I really can't remember."
"So yes," Jack focused his gaze on Tom again, "the advertising did serve it's purpose, but it probably wasn't were the company was going to make most of it's money. You know how it is for people who run businesses like this, enough is just never enough. Take Bill Gates for example!"
"True," said Tom, "but Bill Gates doesn't have corporate and political enemies... not the kind that Rebecca was talking about."
Allan and Jack both stared at him surprise marking both their faces.
"That was her name..." Tom said half dreamily to himself. "How did I know that was her name?"
"Are you sure?" Allen asked.
"Yeah, definitely." Tom said. "Rebecca Winston, or Wilson. Maybe Windson, the last name is foggy to me."
Allen could tell that he was telling the truth, Tom was clearly as befuddled as the rest of them with this most recent revelation. He wondered if he had had an exchange of mental information with the dragoness... with Rebecca, and may have untangled this bit of information from it.
He thought about asking him, but quickly decided against it. Tom was far to vulnerable right now.
"Anyway." Tom continued his voice wavering. "Corporate machines never take uncalculated risks, and usually only because there is an overcompensating reward in line after."
Jack nodded in agreement.
The three fell silent for a while, but Allen's instinct to keep the pack strong kicked in. He couldn't let Tom slip back into depression if he could help it. So he was the first to break the silence.
"What do you think the chances are, that there was something else going on, like an ultimate goal that no one but the higher-ups would know about?" Allen asked.
"Well isn't that obvious!" Jack exclaimed holding out his arms.
"No, I meant before they decided to turn on their employees."
Jack reached over and flicked Allen's ear, making a strange popping sound. "That's what I was talking about."
"Oh," Allen coddled his ear and flashed him a toothy grin. "Then yes."
Tom looked confused for a moment, then rolled his eyes at them. Allen normally wouldn't have noticed something insignificant like that, but it was becoming more and more important for him to pay attention to the details of his companions. It was mostly instinctual he figured, just another part of becoming pack leader.
"Don't worry Allen, I'm not going to get depressed again." Tom said. "I am a wreck, but I'm not..." He searched for the right word. "...overly saddened by all of this anymore."
Allen tried not to let it bother him, but it did creep him out how intuitive Tom had just consistently been. Guessing Rebecca's name was one thing, knowing that he was worried, not get generally but specifically about a relapse into depression... That was really creepy.
"I'm sorry I'm creeping you out." Tom said apologetically.
"And that's not helping!" Allen yelped.
Tom chuckled uncomfortably. "I'm not reading your mind or anything, I think I might finally be bonding with you. I could feel some anxiety and a part of my mind connected it with my memory of sitting with the egg in the medical quarters just before I found the meds for Jack."
Allen relaxed a little as Tom explained himself. A part of him wondered if Tom was just saying that to make him stop worrying, and if he was then Allen was grateful for it. He also didn't want to think of the violation of privacy that could also be taking place in his thoughts if what Tom was saying wasn't true. So he allowed himself to accept it as fact, and his gut seemed to have agreed with him on that decision.
"So do we have a plan of action yet my Alpha?" Jack asked dreamily looking sideways at Allen.
"Oh, I like that!" Tom said. "I might start calling you that."
"Please don't." Allen said only half meaning it. He may not have the same sort of intuition that Tom did, but he knew Tom was making light of a situation that still bothered him. Because of that, he was more than willing to take on an annoying new nickname, if it helped. At least for the time being anyway.
"Yes sir, Mr. Alpha, sir!" Tom gave him a sloppy salute. The corers of his eyes were still wet, but there was a smile on his face, and for a moment Allen thought he heard Tom's voice in his head. It had been a single word, one that he suddenly felt would symbolize their relationship from this point forward: Brother.
That was fitting, Allen thought. He'd managed to find and bond with Jack first, who against his own original inclinations had become his mate. Their bond let them know each other intimately in a way only lovers should know one another. Now he'd begun to bond with Tom, but it was a different bond. A bond not of lovers, but of brothers, and suddenly with that thought, he began to feel sleepy.
It was as if his instincts had been waiting for him to make this discovery from the beginning. They had been patient with him as he and Jack had toyed with him when they first met him, which really wasn't that long after he'd met Jack. His instincts were remembering it differently though, to them he and Jack had always been together, and they always would be.
What exactly they had tried to tell him when he first met Tom, he really wasn't sure now. There were so many layers to work though, and each one as unfamiliar as the last. What he felt then didn't matter now. Tom was his brother, and while they may not always be together, they would always remain connected, and would always be family.
"I'm sorry love." Jack said to Allen, a smile also on his muzzle. "But do you have a plan of action for us yet?"
"We might have one." He answered.
Jack laughed. God it was good to hear him laugh. "Does your plan involve finding a toilet?" He asked. "I've really got to piss, and It's taking all my willpower to keep from hiking my leg on this doorframe."