The chemistry lab probably should have been neater. But as long as Miranda was in charge of it, certain corners of the place would never see the light of day.
His fingertips danced merrily as he played the last few energetic notes on his saxophone. The instrument had once been a dull bronze color back in its youth, but several years in the vicinity of some eccentric chemicals from time to time had played havoc with its skin tone. It now had a motley of blue and green shades that matched the colorful and uncoordinated personality of its owner.
With a final burst, he blew out the last note in the cover he was playing, and let it ring out as the melody came to an end. Then, still a little breathless from the take, he gently set the sax aside and started to review the recording on his cassette deck.
A bald-headed colleague popped his head in.
“That one sounded familiar, Miranda! Isn’t it that famous Guns N’ Roses number?”
“They have a bunch of those, you know,” said Miranda with a wink, his headphones askance so that one ear was still listening to the recording. “But yeah, you got the band right, Solomon.”
“I wasn’t sure at first, since you have to twist everything into a jazz number when you play it.” Solomon walked in like he’d definitely been there several times before. “Don’t get me wrong, that takes talent though, re-imagining a song like that.”
“Plus, everything sounds better when it’s jazz,” agreed Miranda. “Don’t you play an instrument too, though? I remember you bringing it up a couple of times.”
“Ha! I ‘play’ water glasses, Miranda.” Solomon chuckled. “Can’t do rock song covers with those, I’m afraid. Or any kind of jazz, as far as I know. Hmm, what’s that smell?”
Miranda’s heart jumped in panic.
“Shit, the Theta molecule!”
He rummaged around on his desk for what turned out to be a digital timer. He then sat back in his chair with some relief.
“There’s plenty of time left, whew!”
He started again when he saw Solomon’s questioning glance.
“Ah, right, it’s the research I’m currently running. You see that container on the shelf there?”
Solomon followed his finger to find a transparent cylindrical container, almost like a beaker, with a slowly crystallizing bluish structure immersed in an acidic green solution.
“Is that Fowler’s reagent? Well, that would explain the smell! So I take it the growth inside the container is…”
“…the Theta molecule, yeah.” Miranda continued as he walked over to check up on the container. “The idea is that once it has undergone a sufficient level of nucleation through a reaction with Fowler’s reagent in the presence of air, we should be able to see some very interesting polymorphic substructures formed inside it. I have to be careful though, if I leave the container open for too long, then the molecule might undergo an entirely different reaction and turn into something else. And Dr. Herrenschmidt wouldn’t be happy about that!”
“Right, so that explains the - ”
Solomon was cut off by a loud announcement that reverberated through the rooms.
“WARNING. SECTOR W IS EXPERIENCING A CODE GLASS EVENT. FOR YOUR SAFETY, RETURN TO YOUR WORKSTATIONS AND CLOSE ALL ACCESS POINTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
“Great, the Wall must be acting up again.” Solomon rolled his eyes. “I should get going. See you around, Miranda!”
Miranda waved him goodbye before locking down his workstation as instructed, the warning still ringing in his ears.
*
His fingertips were trembling as he packed up his saxophone, the red lights flashing ominously in the corridor outside his lab. That was the last of his belongings. Now he just had to wait for the go-ahead, in the shifting shadows of the lab.
Some of the creatures from the other side of the Wall had broken into their sector. The blaring warning had told all staff to prepare for evacuation once the immediate threat had been dealt with. Miranda wasn’t sure if the anxious waiting would kill him before the creatures did.
It didn’t help that his usual stress relief method, playing the sax, would probably make things worse right now –
CRASH!
The room was suddenly filled with a flickering torchlight as a woman in combat gear came to a rolling stop on the ground. Miranda yelped in alarm, drawing the soldier’s attention.
“Get behind cover! One of the bastards was just behind me! And don’t make a sound!”
Miranda nodded shakily as he scurried behind his desk.
He jammed his hands into his ears and slammed his eyes closed when he heard the unearthly screeching of the creature. It was quickly drowned out by a torrent of bombastic gunfire, with some backup ambiance provided by the screaming soldier. More glass shattered.
A too-brief silence, then another screech that made his hairs stand on end. More gunfire. More yelling. Miranda didn’t dare look.
Then –
“You can come out now. Do you know the way to exit C?”
Miranda managed to convince his legs to let him stand. He nodded.
“That path should be clear of hostiles. Go!”
He didn’t need to be told twice. But as he scrambled his way out in the unhelpful red light of the corridors, he couldn’t help thinking that he’d forgotten something…
*
Several hours later, in the stillness of the deserted lab, something crawled out of an uncovered container. No, not crawled. It didn’t have the limbs for it. Or did it?
It fell to the floor with a squelch. It wobbled, as though trying to sense where it was. Then it shuffled through the bullet casings and shards of glass that littered the ground towards the gaping opening in one of the room’s windows. It left a trail that was strangely clear of debris. It squelched even louder as it climbed up the side of the wall.
His fingertips danced merrily as he played the last few energetic notes on his saxophone. The instrument had once been a dull bronze color back in its youth, but several years in the vicinity of some eccentric chemicals from time to time had played havoc with its skin tone. It now had a motley of blue and green shades that matched the colorful and uncoordinated personality of its owner.
With a final burst, he blew out the last note in the cover he was playing, and let it ring out as the melody came to an end. Then, still a little breathless from the take, he gently set the sax aside and started to review the recording on his cassette deck.
A bald-headed colleague popped his head in.
“That one sounded familiar, Miranda! Isn’t it that famous Guns N’ Roses number?”
“They have a bunch of those, you know,” said Miranda with a wink, his headphones askance so that one ear was still listening to the recording. “But yeah, you got the band right, Solomon.”
“I wasn’t sure at first, since you have to twist everything into a jazz number when you play it.” Solomon walked in like he’d definitely been there several times before. “Don’t get me wrong, that takes talent though, re-imagining a song like that.”
“Plus, everything sounds better when it’s jazz,” agreed Miranda. “Don’t you play an instrument too, though? I remember you bringing it up a couple of times.”
“Ha! I ‘play’ water glasses, Miranda.” Solomon chuckled. “Can’t do rock song covers with those, I’m afraid. Or any kind of jazz, as far as I know. Hmm, what’s that smell?”
Miranda’s heart jumped in panic.
“Shit, the Theta molecule!”
He rummaged around on his desk for what turned out to be a digital timer. He then sat back in his chair with some relief.
“There’s plenty of time left, whew!”
He started again when he saw Solomon’s questioning glance.
“Ah, right, it’s the research I’m currently running. You see that container on the shelf there?”
Solomon followed his finger to find a transparent cylindrical container, almost like a beaker, with a slowly crystallizing bluish structure immersed in an acidic green solution.
“Is that Fowler’s reagent? Well, that would explain the smell! So I take it the growth inside the container is…”
“…the Theta molecule, yeah.” Miranda continued as he walked over to check up on the container. “The idea is that once it has undergone a sufficient level of nucleation through a reaction with Fowler’s reagent in the presence of air, we should be able to see some very interesting polymorphic substructures formed inside it. I have to be careful though, if I leave the container open for too long, then the molecule might undergo an entirely different reaction and turn into something else. And Dr. Herrenschmidt wouldn’t be happy about that!”
“Right, so that explains the - ”
Solomon was cut off by a loud announcement that reverberated through the rooms.
“WARNING. SECTOR W IS EXPERIENCING A CODE GLASS EVENT. FOR YOUR SAFETY, RETURN TO YOUR WORKSTATIONS AND CLOSE ALL ACCESS POINTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
“Great, the Wall must be acting up again.” Solomon rolled his eyes. “I should get going. See you around, Miranda!”
Miranda waved him goodbye before locking down his workstation as instructed, the warning still ringing in his ears.
*
His fingertips were trembling as he packed up his saxophone, the red lights flashing ominously in the corridor outside his lab. That was the last of his belongings. Now he just had to wait for the go-ahead, in the shifting shadows of the lab.
Some of the creatures from the other side of the Wall had broken into their sector. The blaring warning had told all staff to prepare for evacuation once the immediate threat had been dealt with. Miranda wasn’t sure if the anxious waiting would kill him before the creatures did.
It didn’t help that his usual stress relief method, playing the sax, would probably make things worse right now –
CRASH!
The room was suddenly filled with a flickering torchlight as a woman in combat gear came to a rolling stop on the ground. Miranda yelped in alarm, drawing the soldier’s attention.
“Get behind cover! One of the bastards was just behind me! And don’t make a sound!”
Miranda nodded shakily as he scurried behind his desk.
He jammed his hands into his ears and slammed his eyes closed when he heard the unearthly screeching of the creature. It was quickly drowned out by a torrent of bombastic gunfire, with some backup ambiance provided by the screaming soldier. More glass shattered.
A too-brief silence, then another screech that made his hairs stand on end. More gunfire. More yelling. Miranda didn’t dare look.
Then –
“You can come out now. Do you know the way to exit C?”
Miranda managed to convince his legs to let him stand. He nodded.
“That path should be clear of hostiles. Go!”
He didn’t need to be told twice. But as he scrambled his way out in the unhelpful red light of the corridors, he couldn’t help thinking that he’d forgotten something…
*
Several hours later, in the stillness of the deserted lab, something crawled out of an uncovered container. No, not crawled. It didn’t have the limbs for it. Or did it?
It fell to the floor with a squelch. It wobbled, as though trying to sense where it was. Then it shuffled through the bullet casings and shards of glass that littered the ground towards the gaping opening in one of the room’s windows. It left a trail that was strangely clear of debris. It squelched even louder as it climbed up the side of the wall.
And then it was gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment