Chapter 200: The Fallen (1/2)
I turned towards the others, ”Guys, we have a problem.”
Torix glanced at the tubes, ”That much is obvious.”
”No, we've got one of them out on the loose.”
The others skulked up to us, even Chrona and Krog able to fit in the high ceilings here. I pointed at the shattered container, ”This is one of those life signatures. If what you guessed is correct Torix, it's probably even stronger than the last Hybrid.”
Torix stayed silent, his expression clouded with thought. After a few moments, he grabbed the side of his skull,
”We're in some sort of conspiracy here. There are galactic forces at work, and we're unequipped to handle this line of work. We'll need to visit the Overseer and request assistance. Considering the sheer scope of this project's success, he'll be forced to give some support.”
”Why would they do that?” Althea said. ”They wouldn't do that for Yawm's research, and it was almost exactly this.”
”The difference between them is twofold.” Torix raised his finger, ”This research has produced tenable results. Yawm's own studies resulted in deformed abominations, nothing unusual as far as mad scientists are concerned. This...this is a working Hybrid of some sort. That alone warrants attention.”
Torix raised another finger, pointing at it, ”The second reason is that Yawm was underfunded and understaffed. Maintaining a compound the size of a small city under a dense ocean is nearly impossible, yet here it is in its full glory. Based on the number of vats here, there's an enormous amount of time put into this project as well, decades likely.”
”Funding that kind of bullshit would require treasuries worth of funding,” I murmured.
”Precisely. We'll likely find more, but in order to uncover the depths of this sedition against Schema, we must press on,” Torix said.
Krog glared at the line of subjects, ”What of these monstrosities? They must be culled. From what you've spoken off, they might lead to an apocalypse of our world and many others.” He whipped his tail behind himself, ”I'd be happy to do it.”
Althea raised her hands and shouted, ”Wait. Don't.” The Skyburner tilted his head to her. Althea continued,
”Smashing them won't kill them. We need to disintegrate them from the inside and kill every piece of them. Otherwise, a tiny clump of them might survive.” She turned to me,
”Daniel has this weird aura.”
Krog and Chrona shivered, their eyes widening. Chrona hissed, ”We both felt it. It's like melting into soup.”
Althea nodded, ”Yeah, I know the feeling. The thing is, that aura only kills organic things. It doesn't hurt nonliving stuff.” She turned to me, ”Right?”
I pointed at her, ”Ahhh, that's right. I can just mold my aura over these tubes and kill them in stasis. It won't remove the liquid nitrogen, letting them escape.”
Torix leaned back, ”That's an exemplary solution, Althea.”
She grinned, ”Thank you.”
”We need evidence though,” I waved a hand around. ”Otherwise no one will trust us.”
A fly zoomed into the room, its little buzz notable among this asylum's silence.
”Worry not,” Torix said while reaching a finger up for the fly to land on. ”I've been using these controlled flies as mapping tools. They've accessed this facility in detail, giving us all we need as far as footage is concerned.”
I pointed at a fly, ”Why make us walk through this entire building then?”
”These creatures are limited in their intelligence. They can hold only a few images in their minds before overloading utterly. Due to those constraints, they work best at mental snapshots. Considering the importance of detail regarding this mission, I believed a more comprehensive viewpoint was necessary.”
I nodded before turning to a vat of liquid, ”Then it's time I killed these things?”
”Yes. Do try one of the hybrids at a time, however. If they happen to awaken, fighting more than one of them at once will prove itself to be a deathtrap,” Torix contemplated aloud.
Heeding his advice, I created a cloud of my Event Horizon, the aura bending to my will. After pacing back to the entrance of the lab room, I shifted the draining haze over the first vat of liquid nitrogen. The half silver died in an instant, overwhelmed by Event Horizon's damage. I continued this on the lab's experiments, holding my aura over the bodies until the corpses disintegrated into black blots.
It was a potent method for executing the creatures. Torix himself admitted these things weren't even fully alive to begin with, the limitations of life sensing apparent. They showed next to no signs of maintaining a grip to this realm, yet Event Horizon affected them all the same. To me, it verified that these things would come to life if they escaped.
Either way, I killed them all over the next hour and a half. A few of the last experiments took over ten minutes to kill apiece, but none of them shifted in their tubes. We noted their apparent weakness to cold before moving on to the research logs stored here. After tearing through the terminals and putting them in storage, we moved on.
With most rooms found, we investigated the rest of the facility near the plume of toxic sludge at its center. Something was making it, though we didn't know what exactly. With no other clues to go off of, we split up and scrutinized the many passages near the center of the rooms. Torix left two of his spy-flies on them, letting us find them. Two hours into the process, Althea sent Torix and me a message.
Althea Tolstoy, the Shapeless Arbiter(lvl 7,031 | Class: Breaker | Giess: 4:41 P.M. 4/1/26) - Found it. The passageway was hidden behind a wall. It's beside the cafeteria on the northern side of the facility. Meet me there, and I'll take you guys to it.
After reading it, I followed the messages recommendation using a copy of Torix's map. As I arrived, the others were ready to go. Althea took us through a few winding corridors before we reached one of the terminal rooms again. With wires jutting out of the ground from dozens of missing terminals, we arrived. Althea led us to a back wall, a plate of steel sliced through already.
Behind is, a series of gears exposed a vault door. Althea pointed at it, ”I couldn't figure out how it worked, but cutting through worked.”
Torix pinched the bridge of his nose, ”Gah, I was so distracted with the terminal work that I never anticipated they'd hide it here.”
”Eh, it makes sense,” I said with a shrug. ”Whatever it is at the bottom of this facility, they must be taking notes on it. Having the terminals nearby makes it convenient.” I glanced at the vault door, ”Well...as convenient as a giant safe door can be.”
Althea put her hands on her hips and stood up straight, ”It'll be pretty convenient for us. I was just waiting for you guys to get here in case something crazy popped out.”
Althea polymorphed her hand into a claw of bone. With a swift slice, she cleaved through feet of steel like a dolphin diving through water. I reached out a hand, grabbing the giant plate with a gravity well. After setting it down, we proceeded down a staircase. As we did, Torix muttered,
”They disguised this stairwell as a slanted support for the room above it. Clever.”
After pacing down the steps, we reached a series of glass rooms. They looked like quarantine facilities, yet they were empty outside of beds, nightstands, and a bathroom. It looked like someone opened the door and pulled everyone out of their cells. That assumption was a bit too optimistic for what I expected of their fates; they'd been food and little else in the end.
We searched the rooms in great detail though, and we found several journals that logged their stay here in their glass prisons. Torix read them as we went on.
After pacing past the quarantine facility, we reached a series of vaults. Althea cleaved through the doorways, letting us inspect the insides. As we opened the rooms, Chrona described what was in them.
”These are sacred relics of gialgathen ancestry. It is as if the researchers scoured all of Giess for any details of our origin.”
Althea picked up a skull with primitive paint marks spread across it, ”What for, exactly?”
”That is what I struggle to understand. This place is like a museum, but it lacks any respect for the keepsakes it carries. It's as if they attempted to find something and failed,” Chrona thought out aloud.
I tossed an unusual looking rock onto a pile of junk, ”Well, I don't think there's much of value here. All this is way too old to be useful. If anything, it all looks like it's about to fall apart.”
Krog grumbled, ”Perhaps that is fitting. We too will fall apart if that, er, the hybrid is not found.”
”Quite.” Torix said. ”I believe I've found something of note on that topic, however.”
I raised an eyebrow, ”Like what?”
”The journal of a researcher,” Torix held up one of the journals in his hand. ”It contains the account of a scientist stored here after being exposed to a sample of the hybrid. His stay was not brief either, and his account is thorough. All the other accounts are by prisoners with no knowledge of the facility itself.”
I raised a fist, ”Alright, we'll finally get some explanations about this place.”
Torix sighed, ”They're not pleasant, mind you. If anything, these pages dive into the depths of sentient psychology and how it can go astray when isolated.”
”Can you read it out loud? It would be tough for us to all read it at once,” Althea chimed.
”Of course.” Torix raised a hand and lifted up some imaginary glasses,
”This is the account of Fredrick Monostaria, a researcher of facility A-04. My specialty is in the biomechanical containment of the hybrids. It was and still would be my great honor in studying here, though I'll lose my mind if contained in this glass cage much longer. Writing may provide me with a sense of respite, however.”
Torix nodded, ”I enjoy his style.”
I rolled my eyes, ”Yeah, real prim and proper. Come on, we're on a schedule.”
”Of course.” Torix turned a page,
”I suppose I'll explain what trapped me here. I was exposed to a variation of our hybridization project. A sample of the liquid hydrogen that stored it was shattered as I carried it into the quarantined study room. Unwilling to take a risk, they trapped me here until further notice. All of my living arrangements have been provided via portals, giving me a comfortable way of life, albeit boring.”
Torix adjusted the book in his hand,
”Even after a week of isolation and no chemical reaction to the hybrid, they've kept me here, ensnared by their fears. I can relate as I would no doubt do the same should the situation be reversed. This gives me no solace. It is lonely and cold here. Perhaps I can have a guard stationed here, one I may discuss matters of pertinence with Time will tell.”
Torix turned the page, the handwriting more jagged,
”It has been some time since I last wrote in my journal. The powers that be deemed my writing a danger unto myself and those around me. I believe they've become paranoid as of late. Time will tell how deeply set their sense of mania had sunken into their minds.”
Torix glanced at us, ”This is where the journal takes a decisive turn in its contents.”
He continued reading.
”Another scientist was exposed to the hybrid and stored beside me. He did not seem even somewhat afflicted by a blight of any sort. In fact, he seemed saner than the researcher that brought me meals every day. After a bit of discussion, I discovered the cause - the team leader had begun silencing voices of discontent.”
Torix flipped the page,
”After many discussions with my fellow prisoner, I weened many facts of life had changed since my imprisonment. Several scientists had begun losing their sanity, locked deep under the depths here. The lead scientist isn't isolating these incidents by sending them back to the surface. This is to maintain the secrecy of this project. Considering our goals, that is understandable.”
Torix waved a hand,
”What is not reasonable is his sentencing of researchers here. He deems those that disagree with his leadership as infected with the newly branded mental disorder: Depth Sickness. That is why my fellow prisoner was sentenced here. He was exposed to nothing. He spoke an utterance against the authority here, and he paid the price for it. I'll write more as we discover further details.”
Torix flipped another page,
”It's been many days since my last writing. They sentenced a guard to us, preventing my cellmate and me from speaking with one another. Other researchers were added as well, many of the quarantine researcher rooms filled with political prisoners. They began reducing the frequency and size of our meals as well. As if tubes of liquid food weren't appalling enough, they've limited us to three a day. It is enough to survive, but it's not enough to live.”
Torix shook his head as he continued,