Chapter 4 - Chapter 3

"High command doesn't ever give up, do they?" Kronos asks of Wright.

"They don't like anything resembling a threat. I try not to lead them on, but they seem to know more about our operations than I expected" replies the Director.

They eventually came to the doors leading to the testing area, sliding apart as the pair walked through. The spacious lab held walls of black coloured plating, a shining touch-sensitive control station stretched across the far side of the room in front of a reinforced viewing screen. The specialists synchronize their experiment preparations with portal scientists on the moon of Phobos.

Behind the view screen was the shining grey teleporter. A ramp leads up to the gate, a shining dish was fitted to the back and emitters line the circular wall. Sloping shoulders housed the delicate reverse-engineered technology set around the gate. Specialists in environment suits were stationed at the base of the ramp, occasionally stepping over thick cables that snaked through the area.

Behind the control station was a small audience composed of stone faced UAC executives and project investors in business attire. Several subspace transmitters lined the back wall like old phone booths, a holo-monitor played a muted news broadcast about an explosion at a Moxim corporate facility. The people seated seemed to be taking interest in the incident as they exclaimed their suspicions in hushed whispers.

Dr. Susan Carmichael and Dr. Allen Mason were seated in luxurious chairs around the control station coordinating with Alpha labs on Phobos and maintaining system optimization, Kronos takes his seat among them. The Director was standing behind, proudly examining the positive results from equipment checks.

William speaks into his PDA, "We're showing green across the board. Are you ready to proceed, Alpha?"

"Affirmative, awaiting final authorization" came the reply.

"Good, standby" he says, turning to face the seated audience.

"Greetings everyone, I am Director Wright, he says as he jabs the PDA into his pocket, I'm pleased that you have all made the long trip to witness this historic moment with us. In just a few moments, the destinies of future generations will be realized when we put this revolutionary technology to the test, he proclaims, Dr. Carmichael, are we ready to proceed?"

The centre throne turned to face the Director, Dr. Carmichael's image broke like a dark sunrise. Her chair turns, she faced the Director and lifted her dark seductive eyes. Her apparent psychic nature was an open secret among intellectual circles.

"We are linked with Alpha Labs, systems are stable and energy levels are more than adequate. We are ready to proceed" she replies.

"Excellent, may I have Alpha's authorization?"

She reaches for a thin slice of translucent material, it glows as she picks it up. She flicks the data sheet and hands it to the Director, the device flashes as it changes hands when it detects a new user and loads his access privileges. He examines the authorization command and then uses a stylus to sign it with a flourish, then handing it back to Susan. She placed the flashing sheet upon the spacious armrest as she turns to face her controls.

"Alarm, experimentation is about to commence" announces the voice of the computer.

"Alpha has activated the resonance stream, I am stabilizing the upper energy bands" Kronos explains

"We are receiving Alpha's quantum signatures" says Dr. Mason

"Now energizing the transport coils" reports Dr. Carmichael.

A rising vibration consumes the teleportation area.

"Analysis complete, I am transferring Alpha's transmission to the data core" says Carmichael, her delicate hands nimbly adjusted energy levels and narrowed chaotic wave bands.

On the other side of the control room, the build-up had reached a deafening pitch, all eyes were on the circular gate.

"Portal activation in three, two, one" Mason relays.

A bright flash beamed through the area. The portal came to life with beautiful sparkling light, rays of energy reached out from the gate.

"All systems are stable, Alpha labs is ready" says Carmichael.

"Proceed, Alpha labs" the Director says into his PDA.

In the Phobos colony within Alpha labs, a test subject in a sealed environment suit walks closer to the portal. He steps into the gate and is engulfed by light. Brightness consumes his sight, he felt energy swim all around him. He passed into the dazzling portal and disappears.

On Deimos, the test subject appeared almost instantly from the blazing portal. The men in the teleport area flank the bottom of the ramp. The test subject stood motionless, then slowly looking from one side to the other.

"Roger, are you okay?"

The test subject jerks his head toward the query, bright red eyes stared back at them from inside the hood of the environment suit. The possessed human begins thrashing, the hood's view port is fogged by fast breathing.

The Director approaches the control station.

"What's this?" he asks.

"The medical diagnostic can't identify any definite cause" Kronos says staring at the thrashing figure.

The environment suit is ripped apart, the top hooded section dangled above the floor. The Director studies the diagnostic monitor, the program was already looping through its database as it restlessly looks for the cause of the apparent infliction.

"Oh, dear. Susan, alert medical personnel" he says.

She notifies the medical team standing by, the station alert could be heard in the adjacent halls. The test subject's face was changing before their eyes, he could barely be recognized anymore as he steps down the ramp.

"Roger, stay right there. Help is coming" they instruct.

The test subject screeches loudly in reply. The medical team rush into the teleport area sealed inside environment suits followed by a Security Marine. One pushed a gurney, others carried shining medical cases. A doctor led the team, indicated by blue stripes on the suit. They stopped at the ramp, looking up at the possessed test subject framed by portal energy.

The former-human jumped from the top of the ramp, flying down head first. They slam into one of the suited personnel, he's thrown to the ground and slid across the floor.

"What are you waiting for? Sedate him!" the Doctoryells.

The dart gun is assembled from a case, the Doctor grabs it out of the underling's hands. The former-human raised its arms high as it delivered repeated blows to its victim. The Doctor squeezed the trigger and the tranquilizing dart hit its mark. The former-human flinched but continued scratching the environment suit's hood, it began leaking air.

"Get this freak off'a me!"

"Shouldn't he be out by now?" the doctor is asked.

"You're right, let's collar him" came the reply.

Short poles were grabbed from under the gurney, they were extended and fitted with shining collars hanging open.

"Delicately, now. Stay calm" the Doctor commands.

Moving like professional athletes as they crept up from behind, they clamped the collar on the former-human's neck and limbs then pull him away from the personnel they were attacking. More poles are clamped to the collars, the wounded personnel escapes through the sealed doors. The former-human stumbles as it fights against them, with some difficulty they strap the test subject to the gurney.

The Doctor opens a case and removes a syringe, approaching the test subject with it threaded through gloved fingers. He examines the syringe, removes the cap, then pressing the point into the test subject's arm. They gently draw the plunger back, blood begins flooding into the clear barrel. The former-human squirms against the restraints and snaps it's jaw in protest.

"Escort the subject to a padded cell" says the Doctor, examining the fluid in the syringe, then capping it and placing it into a bag.

The emergency personnel were filing out of the lab as the Doctor approached the window to the control room, pulls out a sliding bin and drops the bagged syringe inside. Dr. Kronos leans to the side and retrieves the blood sample from the bin. He attaches a digital module to the syringe and plugs it into his terminal. He begins a full analysis. The computer's digital gauges fluctuate as it studies the genetic information.

"Substantial genetic anomalies detected" the computer reports.

Kronos found the appropriate diagnostic tools and began isolating a unique genetic sequence, the details of the profile began to piece itself together on the holo-monitor like a giant puzzle. The small audience watched in silence, the Director was closely monitoring from behind.

"Do we have his genetic profile in our records?" he asks.

"Yes, I have it" Susan replies.

She selected an active window on the panel and flicked it away from her, the genetic information appeared on the large holo-monitor.

"I've isolated a severe mutation, examine this chromosome" Kronos relays.

The trained eyes of the Director could see remnants of the original profile within the mutated genes, but it had been drastically reformed.

"Well... Scott says chuckling, this is certainly unexpected"

"Genetic anomaly isolated" Victor flicks the data onto the far part of the monitor, everyone looked up and examined the data.

"If we deconstruct the mutated genes and run a level seven analysis, we should be able to reconstruct the source of this mutation" Susan suggests.

The Director examines the data for a silent moment.

"Proceed" he says.

Susan taps the control panel a few times and the process soon begins.

"This will take a moment" she says.

"I need three encrypted copies of the computer logs" the Director informs.

"Yes, sir"

Another moment of silence passed.

"Analysis complete" reports the computer.

A twisted and foreign genome appeared on the holo-monitor. Muted gasps and a commotion of shocked voices overtook the quiet lab.