11:43 AM

Welcome to Aevitas Technologies Inc., home of the finest scientific minds and the most cutting edge genetic technology... as well as a few monsters... human or otherwise.

11:43 AM

“Dr. Kimble, what a pleasure to have you here,” said the man, smiling a broad smile and extending his hand. Kimble took it pleasantly, answering the man’s welcoming mien with a look of mixed amusement and curiosity. He could tell immediately from looking at him that this man was not one of science- he was a bureaucrat, a businessman, unaccustomed to a laboratory environment and enraptured by the whole experience like a small child set loose in a whole world of new toys. He was a relatively short, overweight man, with a long pointy nose and apples in his cheeks. His blue eyes sparkled with a gleeful mingling of carelessness and passion for whatever exactly it was they were working on. He was dressed not in a lab coat like most of the staff but a finely pressed grey suit, a violet tie secured around his neck. The name tag that adorned his pocket introduced him as simply “The Director”- a fact which Kimble noted with some interest.

 “You have no idea how grateful we are that you took the time to fly out here and look over our current project,” the man known as Director said, motioning for Kimble to follow him down the blisteringly white hallway and through a pair of swinging metal doors. “If you so choose, you could prove an extremely valuable addition to an already wonderful team. Just leave your things with the orderly here, and we can be off.”

Kimble stepped after the man, leaving his bags with a uniformed individual who was, Kimble assumed, not involved in any of the lab’s higher functions but simply there to perform such menial tasks as the one he was currently assigned. The Director moved surprisingly fast for one of such diminutive and pudgy size, and the doctor, who was coming somewhat along in the years, was forced to hold a quicker pace then he would have preferred in order to keep up. Looking at him, the doctor felt a slight twinge of familiarity- he knew this man from somewhere, had seen his face someplace, but couldn’t place it. He shrugged it off, figuring that he had probably simply made a visit to the Porcupine Facility at some point or another. Judging by the looks of respect he was garnering from the other employees they passed, he was an important enough figure within the company hierarchy that it wasn’t very far out of the question.

“So what exactly is all this about?” he asked, arching his back to try to ward off a sudden cramp, sighing in relief as it went away.

“The project, you mean?” the Director asked. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you right now. Most of the staff here don’t know, at least in this section of the facility. They know of its existence, of course, it’d be hard to keep something this huge completely under wraps, but the details are all very hush-hush.” He tipped Kimble a conspiratory wink. “Besides,” he added. “That would spoil the surprise.”

The two men walked in stride, winding their way through a network of monotonous hallways as they did so, passing endless swatches of eggshell white walls and countless lengths of linoleum, broken only by brushed chrome doors than branched out into other rooms and corridors within the mazelike place. They were, Kimble noticed, working their way slowly down at a slight incline, traveling deeper and deeper beneath the earth’s surface and away from the outside world. Kimble’s breath began to catch in his chest, a mild soreness worming its way into the soles of his feet. He made an instinctive glance at his wrist to see what time it was, only to remember his watch had been confiscated.

“This place goes down pretty deep,” he observed, offering a courteous smile to a pretty blonde doctor who was coming out of a pair of sliding glass doors. She reciprocated the gesture with one of cold sardonicism, as if to say “you wish”. Kimble shook his head, annoyed at how easily his simple representation of kindness had been misconstrued. 

“Sure does,” answered the Director, casting another one of those winks at the same blonde and receiving a cheeky grin in return. This did nothing to alleviate the doctor’s irritation, but he shrugged it aside.

“Place used to belong to the government back in the late fifties, when it was being used for the dual purpose of medicinal research and biological war-fair. Nice contrast, isn’t it.”

“So what happened?”

“Nothing particularly special- end of the Vietnam War came, the funding got chopped, and the place was shut down and abandoned until Aevitas picked it up a couple years later and renovated it for our own use. Almost all of our weapons testing and development goes on down here- isolated, deep underground. The place runs off a nuclear reactor core- the thing could blow and the place is secure enough that there’d be no adverse effects on the outside environment.”

Kimble nodded. “So we’re pretty far out in the desert, I assume?”

“Quite,” replied the Director.

“Do you always blindfold your guests when you have them choppered in?” Kimble inquired. He had not fought it when the security officer back at the airport had asked- it was unsurprising, really. Aevitas was a cooperation steeped in secrecy. How many facilities were spread across the world, where they were located, or what took place in each of them was entirely unknown to almost all of the company employees. What appeared to be on the surface a mere scientific research firm was in reality a sprawling empire spread across all seven continents, supplying the latest in technological advancements to countries across the globe.

“Oh, yes,” he replied. “Even I don’t know the exact location of the place, though I reckon I could make a pretty good gander at it if I had to. We have three pilots, all of whom live permanently within the facility. When one of them has to take out one of the copters, they aren’t permitted to leave the machine at any time. Convicts- no past, no future, nothing. As far as the government’s concerned, they don’t exist. The feds tend to turn a blind eye on that sort of thing. Nobody could care less about them being plucked off the face of the earth. Whenever one of ‘em dies, we just bring in a new one and have one of the others train him.

The only people who know the location and are granted access to the outside world are ten members of the security staff. They live in the facility as well, but are required to accompany the pilots on their excursions. We make it abundantly clear that when they join up, their lives are forfeit. When they do visit the outside, they’re bugged at all times.”

Kimble listened with interest. Security at the Porcupine Facility was tight, but it looked like a public park in comparison with what this man was talking about. Whatever went on down here must far outweigh his own projects in terms of mandatory secrecy.

The director tapped his cheek with one index finger, then the nape of his neck. “We sow a tiny microphone into their cheek-flap and install a minute tracking chip into the top of their spine. If one of them ever makes a break for it…we’ll find them.”

A dark shadow that Kimble didn’t like at all stole over the man’s face. “That seems rather extreme…” he began.

“One can never be too cautious when dealing with human beings” the Director asserted. The cloud of darkness was abruptly banished from his features as the turned a corner and approached a large pair of heavy duty sliding iron doors, preceded by a desk manned by a grey shirted security guard, leaning back with his feet propped up against the desk and reading a copy of Playboy. When he saw the two approaching, he stretched, popping his back, removed his feet from the desk, and tossed the magazine onto it.

“Morning, Director,” he said, then turned his attention to the visiting doctor. “You must be Dr. Kimble, am I right? Pleasure.”

Looking at the man, Kimble noticed a small red line running along his cheek. So what the Director said was true. He cast a disparaging glance at the magazine, where a woman of considerable attractiveness was enjoying an ice cream cone in a bikini that was barely there.

The guard flashed a grin at Kimble before punching a few keys into the computer terminal before him. “Hey, there ain’t much action this far down, if you catch my drift. Gotta make do with what I have. You’re lucky if you can get any of the ladies here to even glance at you, let alone-”

He was interrupted by a sharp output of air as the doors opened, sliding into the walls and granting Kimble and the Director access into a small airlock.

The guard- Finch, according to his nametag- swiveled in his chair to face the portal. “See ya round, Doc,” he said, winking at Kimble as they stepped into the space beyond.

Kimble was grateful to be rid of him when the doors shut behind them, and he looked forward to see another pair of doors- reinforced black glass framed by white metal girders. The Director stepped up to the optical scanner set into the wall next to it. The device cleared his eye, and he spoke in a clear, sharp voice. “Director, Clearance Code Zeta-Zeta 38970.”

Kimble looked up as a view screen set into the wall above came to life, displaying the face of a man with jet black hair and a crooked smile. His eyes danced with a mad sort of glee, and Kimble noticed that he was smoking a cigarette.

“Stand back, Director, we’re gonna let you through now,” he said. “Pleasure to have you, Dr. Kimble.”

 The man took a puff on his cigarette before removing it from his lips, flicking it off to the side, and pressing a button on the console behind him.

There was a sharp whine of machinery as the doors slid slowly open, granting Kimble and the Director access to yet another white corridor, virtually indistinguishable from what they had encountered insofar.

The black-haired man was coming towards them as the doors opened, lighting up another cigarette as he walked before poking it into the corner of his mouth.

He gave a smirk that Kimble wasn’t particularly sure he liked before saying, with notable over-dramatization, “My fine doctor and esteemed colleague: welcome to the Theseus Project.”

 

 

            

Author's Note

The character of Richard Kallhand actually belongs my friend Max, who kicks ass. He gave me permission to use him for whatever I want, so... yeah. I thought he fit this story, so I wrote him in.

Reviews

[Pauline Ramsey]

Wow! This was a great opening chapter for an interesting project! I really hope that you continue on with this story as I am now wanting to know more about what happens inside Aevitas! I did notice a few things that were a bit confusing. I have them outlined below.

Kimble didn’t know what to say. What Kallahand was saying was that the government- his government, that, despite certain disagreements in policy, he had always respected and trusted when it came to the running of America.(This seems like an incomplete thought. What ABOUT his government? The way it's phrased is confusing to the reader.)

He could only look silently between the demon inside the large white room and the demon inside, one a brute monstrosity of sheer destruction and the other a savage genius of the cold and venomous scientific mind, dedicated only to the next great technological breakthrough, regardless of ethics or petty morality. (When it comes to the second “the demon inside”, I understand you're talking about the scientist, but I don't get that fact until later in the sentence and it almost sounds as though you're repeating yourself. Perhaps stating the demon inside the room and the demon outside?)

“They sunk a lot of money into this s**t,” Kallahand continued, acutely aware of his fellow doctor’s disgust and discomfort and reveling in it. “When this goes into action, those friends of Allah’s over in the Middle East’ll pissin’ in their f****n’burqas.” (I would had “be” before pissin'.)

[Tala]

Seriously loving this. the psycho kallahan is such a great character and nice one using him in comparison with the beast. the whole god topic is actually quiet a good angle cos it's like they are god making that thing (although i guess you realised that when you wrote it). keep writing this, im really excited to see what happens next