12 Days of Fiction, Day Four: Opportunity
Alleyn couldn’t help but feel excited. Her mom had always told her she could get anywhere, but she had always thought that was the kind of thing your mom told you. A part of her supposed she’d use it, in turn, when her time arrived. But right now it looked like the saying had become true.
BioMechLabs. BioMechLabs had accepted her. Yes, she knew her qualifications were excellent -hell, Mark had told her she was the best in her field, hands down, and they were idiots if they didn’t take her-, but there had been a host of other tests, some of them really strange. Such as the technological security scan, that had made her empty all her devices of dubious downloads and stay out of online porn for a month, just in case.
But finally she was here.
The BioMechLabs building was not impressive, however. In fact, all she could think of was a giant Lego brick, painted white with the signature light blue double band that had become common in all BioMechLabs products.
A man in a grey suit stepped out of the building and marched towards her. He extended his hand.
“Dr Burke,” he said, “I’m Zachary López. Pleased to welcome you to BioMechLabs.”
She shook his hand. Firmly, as she always did. Her large frame helped with first impressions.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr López.” López started walking towards the glass doors and Alleyn walked alongside him.
“Do you have the I.D. we sent you with you, Dr Burke?” Gómez asked.
“Yes, Mr López,” she said, and produced it from her pocket.
“Excellent. Just wear it and it’ll be fine.”
“That’s it? No retinal scan or anything?” she couldn’t refrain from asking.
The door swooshed open and López entered the building by her side.
“No need, Dr Burke. You I.D. tag is already tagged to your DNA, and we’ve got you scanned. Nobody else could use it.”
Alleyn fell silent. Well, she had already agreed to that much (and a number of other items too, she thought) when she had signed the papers BioMechLabs had sent her. She noticed they were crossing a large, aseptic hall. A young assistant sat at a desk and nodded to López, who simply proceeded towards the lifts.
One of the lifts pinged and they went in. Alleyn didn’t see López hit any button or hear him say anything, but the lift car immediately started descending. As she tended to do, she started counting mentally.
She reached one hundred and twenty. López was not much of a talker.
The lift door opened to a white corridor, brightly illuminated with white overhead led strips. Alley saw doors along both sides. López motioned her forward, and she followed him. They walked down the length of the corridor, and the last door opened by itself once again as they reached it.
Alleyn found herself in a dressing room. But beyond it, she recognized a decontamination chamber.
“You can use this locker, Dr Burke,” López said. “Please undress and proceed to the decontamination room. You’ll find clean clothes your size on locker number 3 on the other side.”
With that, López left. Alleyn heard the door click. She decided that her situation was beyond any concern now, and she just shrugged. She was pretty sure there were security cameras, even here, so she just undressed, stored her things in her locker, and put on the mini socks she found there.
Naked, she entered the decontamination room. Nothing seemed to happen, but she knew bacteria were being removed from her skin, and she emerged as clean as could be. By the door she took off her mini-socks and threw them in a bin (she thought that must be the bin) that opened on the wall, and stepped on the decontaminator strip. The floor in the second dressing room beyond was pristinely clean. Locker number three, unsurprisingly, unlocked and opened as soon as she got close enough. She found underwear that fitted her better than any of her own, a unitard and a cleanroom coveralls, complete with hood and boots, and goggles. She put it all on.
A door opened.
A similarly dressed person was waiting for her.
“Dr Burke, pleased to meet you,” a female voice said. “I’m Dr Sumabat.”
“Dr Sumabat?” Alleyn almost choked. “I… I didn’t know I was going to work with you! I’m… I’m honoured!”
Alleyn could hear the other woman chuckle.
“Dr Burke, your qualifications speak for yourself. You’ll feel at home here with us. Come with me, I’ll show you.”
They stepped through yet another door and reached a laboratory that looke rather like the med deck of the Enterprise. The E-model, to be precise. Alleyn felt overwhelmed.
And then she discovered the rest of the team. Two more persons, also uniformed for cleanroom work, were waiting for her.
“Dr Burke, let me introduce you to Dr Drive and Dr Eliana,” Sumabat was saying. Each of the men nodded in turn. Shaking hands was something not done in cleanroom garments.
But Alleyn didn’t answer. All she could see was the large tank in the middle of the room, containing a blue bubbling liquid. The tank, and the creature inside. It was humanoid, but at least two and a half metres tall; It’s extremities were thin and bony, with almost no muscular tissue visible. The hip bone protruded visibly on both sides, and Alleyn was shocked by how thin it was at its waist level, because its shoulders were as broad as she was tall, and she was indeed tall, and a small, flat head connected to the abdomen via an almost non-existent neck. She saw no visible mouth or eyes. Its skin was ivory-coloured, and made of large plaques that did not overlap but matched like pieces of a puzzle. Tubes and cables were connected to various points in its skin.
“Ah, and that is One.”
Alleyn was thankful for the cleanroom hood, because the other three doctors could not see her open mouth. She silently walked around the tank, taking it in.
“BioMechLabs… You… You have created this… this creature?” she stumbled.
Alleyn didn’t expect another chuckle from Sumabat.
“Create, Dr Burke?” Sumabat said. “I’m afraid not. You see, One was found inside its ship. Hybernated.”
~~~~
The illustration that inspired this story is (c) Joe Petersen, found via Concept Art World. I’ve used without permission, and I’ll remove it if requested.
