Cleaning Up The Future

"The most traveled areas of Cinalia are fought over by the Savages, the scavengers, and the...rest of the animals that have survived. The Savages are resilient but seem to avoid the more frigid regions of the country. Most exhibit abnormal strength, speed, and healing abilities- clear advantages in the current climate. With Charles's current standing with the Savages, no group can step within Washington City without his say so. It gives us protection."

"The rest of Project 5S.Q are scattered among that group. They don't come back for scraps? No break-ins have occurred, no unusual deaths have been reported. Currently, it seems everything has been going swell until this radio broadcast popped up." Royal's laid-back position in her chair reveals close-fitting black jeans. She crosses her legs, the blank look on her face is disconcerting as her gaze moves from Mitchell to Adams and back. Adams appears to be transfixed by the data on his display screen. 'Or is that what I should believe?'

"The rest believe ExplorerTech to be a graveyard. Charles is loyal. We give him and his people supplies and continue to enhance him when needed. He has not given up our position in all of sixteen years, he can be trusted," Dr. Lee regains Royal's attention.

"But not the other?" Royal uncrosses her legs and pushes back on her chair to rise. She picks up her information packet and notepad.

The scientists remain silent.

"I'll need you to contact Mr. Williams and find out what he might know about Sia Chen. What's being muttered up and down the gr.a.p.evine out there?" Royal pushes in her chair and leans against the backrest until the elbow rests collide with the side of the conference table. "Is there a reason you haven't requested an aerial retrieval?"

"The last air retrieval unit dispatched resulted in the death of several assets whose presence have been sorely missed," Dr. Adams timidly speaks up and glances at one of the empty chairs at the other end of the conference table.

"We won't be making a mistake like that this far into the operation," Dr. Lee adds.

Dr. Royal grabs hold of the cold metal doorknob, turns the curved handle downward, and yanks the door open. She aligns herself with the heavy door and leans back against it before looking back at her new colleague. 'Shall we?'

Dr. Lee sighs and examines each of his subordinates. The other doctors rise from their seats, but Dr. Lee shakes his head as he stands, "I'll take it from here."

Dr. Plum releases a loud sigh of relief as she collapses back in her chair, her coworkers exchange a glance while Dr. Lee exits the room with the new employee right on his heels. The moment the door shuts behind them, Dr. Royal begins speaking again. "How long until we renew contact with Shrell's Syndicate?"

The hallways are wide, and cement is the key element in the decor. The smooth cement walls are identical if one ignored the strip of color that bisects each wall, a clear indicator of which part of the underground facility a person is in. A number is engraved into the wall and highlighted in black beside each door they pass, and no sound emits from any of them, no matter how close you stand to the entrance. No keypads or locks are needed on this floor. The extensive security on the upper levels makes entering this floor without the proper clearance an impossibility.

"The agents have not shown up at any of the well-known outposts," He leads the consultant down an empty hallway without looking back to see if she is following, her steps are almost silent compared to his own, but her voice is loud and confident right behind his right shoulder.

"You said they were notified of our success in waking the subject and retrieving the information they needed?" She looks up at the back of his head as he navigates them through the halls. She doesn't pay any mind to which turns they take, this transfer was a long time coming and she'd had time to memorize the most important areas of their blueprints, especially the room they were approaching.

"Yes."

"I don't think this is the course we should be taking. How long before they arrive, and we have to display our findings to those freaks? They aren't blind, Doctor. They'll understand that we have nothing."

"It'll break. They all do."

"It hasn't. Its limits might be beyond our reach. The other subjects aren't sufficient comparisons for a creature of his stature. Evolutionary, its people have withstood events that we can only guess at. An Underling wouldn't expire under the same conditions as a human, why would it succ.u.mb to the same level of torture?"

"When was the last time you reviewed the subject's condition?" Dr. Lee stops walking and looks down at the notepad in her hand.

"Not as of yet, but I can't imagine it's much different from its comatose readings. It didn't exhibit many signs of life even after it was first transferred here."

Dr. Lee presses a button on the wall to call an elevator, "Well, our colleagues have definitely upped the ante. You are correct, nothing we could do to a human could ever elicit the same reaction from an Underling. They are superb creatures. We've had to exhaust our imaginations to find reactions from it. Some of the methods may seem unorthodox, but we've gotten positive results ever since it's awakened."

The elevator arrives and they descend three more floors down within the earth. The ride is silent between the two, but the silver cage creaks as it stops at the lowest level in the facility, the purple sector. After a final shutter, they exit the elevator, but cannot go on more than a step before Dr. Lee shoots out a hand to impede Dr. Royal's progress forward.

A group of scientists pass by holding folders and pushing a tray of syringes down the hallway followed by five assistants pushing wheelchairs the opposite direction toward the designated holding cell area. The subjects strapped into the wheelchairs are bound by magnetic cuffs around their ankles and wrists, muzzled, and always blindfolded. The test subjects are no concern for Dr. Royal, they aren't the reason she is here, and her eyes pass through their forms as if they are a few overgrown shrubs that need to be avoided before continuing down her path to the hallway on the left.

Finally, they approach an examination room with two identical doors beside one another. They choose the second and enter into a small dim room with two swivel chairs and a control panel lit up against a two-way mirror that provides a good view of the occupants and their prized subject. Dr. Royal promptly steps inside the room and ignores the chairs to stand in front of the two-way mirror. She has to stop herself from colliding nose first into the chilled glass. The remarkable creature inside appears to be convulsing against the chair as high-pressure hoses blast water into its scaled body. She can see a long dark appendage writhing along the tiled floor in a puddle of viscous, green fluid.

"Tell them to turn it off," she gestures at the control panel while she drinks in the incredible sight. 'A real, honest to god Underling right before my very eyes and these fools are going to drive it to an early grave. God, it's bigger than I thought.'

She barely notices the annoying noise that blares into the examination room before the hoses stop and the other scientists enter the back room.

"What exactly have you been--" She ignores the head scientist as he questions his subordinates. The back of her head itches with the interest one of the scientists pays to her as she tilts her head to the side to get a better look at the lower extremities of the creature.

"A consultant has told us the psychological significance of showing a victim their flesh after removal. Something about confirming reality. We don't know how important Underlings hold organic material that they can regenerate, but we have an opportunity to acquire that knowledge, no matter how irksome the process is. Anything that helps it from dissociation and locking away into its mind again," the scientist standing the closest to Dr. Lee has her brown hair gathered into a bun and is wearing tight fitting safety goggles.

"How long has it taken for those nubs to grow out of its abdomen?" Dr. Royal raises a hand to the glass, keeping her index finger pressed against it while turning to the three scientists.

"We're not sure. We'll have to review the video footage, but not as quickly as other specimens have exhibited in the past. Around ten days after the self-induced coma ended, we began to see outward signs of healing," the younger scientist is delighted to share his thoughts on the subject and untucks a folder from under his arm to open it. "The newly separated appendages will give us a better idea of how rapid this particular breed heals while under distress. None of our past specimens have had such a thick pseudo-metal casing to the back of the occipital lobe. It's definitely not --" he is gesturing to a diagram and chemical formula when the folder is snatched from his hands.

"Wasn't it made clear that neither of you are to touch the device?" the sheets within the folder jut out around Dr. Lee's large palm before he tosses it down on a chair and looks down his nose at the young man.

"Of course, sir. We kept our attention on other things but printed out information on the device to know what may negatively react with the compounds used to--" the female scientist tries to clarify the situation.

"Forward me all of your current findings. Send over word to transport, so it is moved to its original holding area. You're dismissed," the two scientists leave the room without protest.

Once again the head scientist is left alone with the consultant, and she wordlessly walks over to the thrown folder to look through the pages until she pulls out the diagram of the well-known, yet mysterious Underling device. "They still haven't been able to remove that device on the back of his head."

Dr. Lee's sigh is almost silent, he pressed his lips together until they are thin, pink lines on his pale face. Dr. Royal looks up from the diagram and he reluctantly begins, "We've lost the replicated version that was given to us by Shrell's syndicate during his transfer to our River City branch. Nothing could be retrieved from that, but if we can extract that piece of tech from its cranium...I think that might be one of the keys to getting back into Shrell's good graces. They've given us the key to enter the heavens, all we need to do is show them we aren't afraid to work for our reward."

His black eyes harden as he approaches the two-way mirror. Lasers fed through a diamond would be far less intense than the gaze the man focuses on the unmoving life form in the next room. "Isn't it overdue? They were the ones that cut off contact after the bombings. We've always made good on our side of the deal."

Dr. Royal turns her eyes away from the enigmatic smile that spreads over the wrinkled, sickly face of the head scientist. "They don't understand. We've been given a chance to redeem ourselves after all of our failings. The Underling is the key. Trust me."

She slips the diagram into her own folder and sets the research folder back down to the cushioned chair beside her leg. "I'm not the one you need to convince; the main branch is. That's why they sent me. When the review period is over, I will deliver all the intel to Halling and the Branch, who will send someone else along with their response."

She steps around the head scientist and doesn't wait for his reply before exiting the room. After turning down a different hallway, she abruptly stops at a corner and rests her back on the cool cement wall before releasing a deep sigh and blinking a few times. When she shuts her eyes, she can still see the creature's wounds oozing green fluid. The scientists' words ring once more in her mind. 'The key...hmm...that's a thought.'

After gathering her wits, she rolls her shoulders and resumes her journey to another part of the underground facility. 'Only 182 days to go.'