Chapter 4
By Chris Gilman
Saber finishes eating before his big friend and gives him a wave, “I’ll meet you back at our cabin.”
Goliath’s response is a grunt as he keeps digging into the food before him. Saber casts a worried glance at the large cougar before he leaves the mess hall and walks down the corridor. “What happened to him today?” he thinks as he walks down the corridors, “He looks a little sick.”
He encounters few people in the corridors. Most are still in the mess hall or on duty so he is able to quickly reach his cabin without trouble. He places his hand on the reader and waits the few seconds it takes to scan his palm and open the door. Walking in, he starts stripping his sweat soaked clothing, making a beeline for the bathroom in the process.
“A good shower and some sleep, that’s what I need,” he thinks to himself as he reaches into the shower and sets the knobs for a nice relaxing warm temperature. Soon as he gets it to a temperature he likes he strips off his boxers and steps naked into the shower cabinet.
He lets the water run down his back as he rests his forehead against the wall in front of him. Slowly the warm water soaks into his fur and works its way down to his skin. There it washes away not only the dirt and sweat, but also the tension and soreness in his muscles. He looks around and finds a small bottle of shampoo in a recess on the wall. He opens it and sniffs cautiously, the fragrance isn’t as strong as he was afraid it would be and he dumps a glob of it into his hand. Slowly, he starts to work it into his fur. The rubbing helps massage the last of the pain and tension from him as he soaps himself up. He twirls under the showerhead to rinse out the soap, it takes a few minutes to rinse it all out, but soon the water coming off him is running clear again.
With a sigh of relief he reaches over and turns the knobs to the off position and the water stops. He instinctively shakes, almost like a dog, to get the worst of the water out of his fur but is still quite damp. “That shower was good, now to dry off. I wonder if they have something around here to do that with,” he thinks as he remembers that he hasn’t even got any towels.
Stepping out of the shower he looks around for some towels in the cupboard but doesn’t find any. He goes through the few cabinets trying to find something, even a blow dryer, but his search turns up nothing. Then he notices something that looks like a closet to one side of the shower. He walks over and opening the door sees a small control panel recessed into the wall and perforations in the floor, walls, and ceiling.
“Nah… Couldn’t be...” He steps in and closes the door. The control panel is simple, a temperature dial and a speed setting. “I’ll be damned, it’s a dryer cabinet, guess it’ll be better then a towel with all this fur.”
He plays with the dials and warm air starts to blow out of all the little holes and fluff up his fur. He runs his hands through his fur to let the air get all the way through to his skin. Within minutes he is completely dry, though he needs a severe grooming since his fur is in complete disarray.
Shutting off the air jets he steps out and picks up a brush from the counter beside the sink. Looking in the mirror he starts to brush out his fur with long strokes over his torso and limbs, and short ones over his face. A few strokes through his long hair and he ties it back out of the way. Soon he looks at himself in the mirror and nods, “As clean and groomed as I can get myself.”
As he steps out of the bathroom he checks the clock on the wall and sees it took him almost an hour to get cleaned up. Walking over to the door of Goliath’s room he gives a soft knock, figuring he is waiting to use the bathroom himself. But there is no response from his knocks. He checks the handle and finding it unlocked he opens the door. The big cat is nowhere to be seen.
Saber scratches his head in puzzlement, “Now where the blazes is he?”
***
On the other side of the base Goliath is wandering down the corridors without any thoughts of where he is going having gotten lost soon after he left the mess. But wherever he is, he can tell something is definitely wrong. In the deserted corridor though, no one sees his staggering into the walls, or his limp movements.
Suddenly he falls forward and lands with a heavy thud on the metal floor. He tries to pick himself up but finds his arms without the strength to move. Lying there on the cold metal floor he sees a pool of blood forming, slowly spreading out from his muzzle to pool around him. It’s slowly spreading, a dark stain on the floor as he watches his life ooze out of him.
With great effort he limply reaches out a hand to the puddle. Dipping his hand in it he brings it up and stares at it in shock as it drips off his fingers. The coppery smell of blood is heavy in his nose as he coughs and tastes his own blood splatter from his mouth. “What has happened?” is his last thought as he passes out and his hand drops to the floor in his own blood.
***
After a brief search Saber finds the office with the plaque ‘Base Commander’ on the door. He knocks on the door and hears a muffled, “Come,” as the door opens. Inside Lupe is hunched over his desk going over some paperwork. He looks up briefly and smiles at Saber.
“Hi lad, what can I do for you?” He casually leans back in his seat. “I hear you two had a rough first day in the testing bays.”
Saber takes a step into the room and lets the door close behind him, just missing his tail that is whipping around in worried agitation. “Have you seen Goliath this evening?”
Lupe’s face shows puzzlement as he looks up at the silver cat. He raises his eyebrows in quandary, smelling the worry mixed with the feline’s scent, “Not since dinner. I think I saw him in the mess-hall, why do you ask?”
Saber relates the events of the evening to Lupe. “I left him in the mess-hall over an hour ago to return to our cabin and get cleaned up. When I got done I figured he would be back and want to use the facilities himself, but he wasn’t there. I checked the rec-room, the mess hall, even the sick bay. No one has seen or heard from him since he left the mess hall over forty minutes ago.”
Lupe sits up from his reclined position, “Have you checked with security?”
Saber shakes his head, “Not yet, no clue what I could tell them that would be of any help. But I know him, and this is not like him. He is that rare type of man.” At Lupe’s quizzical look he smirks, “The kind who asks for directions.”
Lupe nods in understanding as he reaches for the comm. unit on his desk. It beeps a few times before a familiar voice answers on the other side, “Security?”
“Deadeye, check the scanners for Goliath’s bio signature. Last seen forty minutes ago in the vicinity of the mess-hall.”
There is the sound of someone tapping on a keyboard over the speaker before the ferret’s voice comes back. “Sir, he’s in corridor six, near the storage rooms, no one would be there this time of the day.” There is a brief pause, “But… Sir, something is wrong.”
Lupe lowers his ears in concern, “Explain.”
“It looks as if he’s not moving, since I’ve been watching this screen he hasn’t moved an inch. He’s just there in the middle of the hall.”
“You said no one else is in the area?” asks Lupe as his face droops into a worried frown.
“No one within a hundred feet, sir,” replies Deadeye. “That’s a fairly remote hallway.”
“Thanks,” says Lupe as he shuts off the comm. and stands up from his chair. “Come on, let’s go get him and see what this is about.”
Saber nods as they exit the office and walk side-by-side down the hallways. Lupe seems to know exactly where he is going and soon they enter the hallway indicated by security. A strong smell tingles in their noses, and Lupe’s eyes go wide as Saber wrinkles his muzzle in disgust.
“What is that smell?” asks Saber.
Lupe’s ears go flat against his head as he breaks into a run closely followed by Saber. “Blood!” he shouts without waiting for the silver feline.
As they round a gentle bend in the corridor they see what Lupe was afraid they’d find. There, sprawled out on the floor in a pool of his own blood is the large cougar. The blood is pouring from his mouth and nose as they run up and kneel next to him.
Lupe checks his neck for a pulse and finds one, but it’s very weak. Looking up at Saber he smells the fear pouring out of every pore of the silver panther. “He’s alive, but no idea for how long.”
Grabbing his communicator off his belt his thumb smashes down on the red emergency button. “Medical emergency in corridor six, near storage room four.”
Saber sees his friend barely breathing and as he feels for the pulse to reassure himself. Finding it he notices something, “Lupe, better tell them to hurry, his pulse is fading.”
Lupe presses his hand against Goliath’s throat and feels the slight diminishing of the pulse. “Shit, what could have done this to him?”
A rush of pounding feet fills the corridor as two security personnel in full combat armor come rushing down the hall followed by three medics. The security team stops as they see their commander kneeling in a pool of blood next to the prone form of the massive cougar.
“What happened sir?” asks one of the security officers as he slips his pistol into back into its holster.
Lupe shakes his head as he and Saber step back to let the medics do their work. “No idea. Saber was worried when he didn’t return to their cabin, and he came to see me. I called Deadeye and he traced him to here. When we got here, he was like this.” Lupe looks down at the cougar hearing a weak cough leave his muzzle, spraying blood and mucus over the inside of an oxygen mask one of the medics is trying to place over his muzzle.
The lead medic looks at the two armored figures. “Can you guys give us a hand?” she asks as a male cheetah pulls out an expanding stretcher and deploys it with the press of a button. “We need to get him down to med bay quickly if we’re going to stabilize him.”
The two guards nod and bend down and pick him up. They grunt and strain, barely able to place him on the stretcher.
Saber and Lupe help by each taking a handle of the stretcher and with grunts the four of them lift him off the deck and start to carry him towards the med bay with the medics running along side them.
In the med bay they place him on a bed and a doctor rushes in seeing the bloody mess on the stretcher. The human doctor motions everyone else out of the room and pulls a curtain to block their view. Quiet talk can be heard along with the occasional explicative, but no specifics. Once in a while a medic will leave and come back with something, but there is no information being passed on to the two still watching and waiting for any news.
Lupe looks over at Saber and shakes his head sadly. “Our waiting here isn’t going to help any. In fact, we’re just in the way down here. Let’s go back to my office and wait for word on his condition.”
Saber gives him a heated glare but then relents, his shoulders slumping as he gives a slow nod. They quietly leave the med bay and walk to Lupe’s office. Inside Lupe offers him a seat in front of his desk and plops down in his own large chair.
Lupe grunts and opens a drawer of his desk. “I think it’s safe to say you’re off duty right now.” He pulls out a bottle of scotch and two glasses, raising an eyebrow inquisitively to Saber who nods.
“I think I can definitely use a drink right about now.” He takes the glass the older wolf offers and sips it. “Mmmm… Good stuff.”
Lupe nods as he takes a sip before putting the glass back down on his desk, “Should be; twenty year old scotch.” He starts to idly stroke the side of his muzzle in thought while Saber watches him closely.
“What’re you thinking Lupe?”
The wolf snaps out of his trance and looks at Saber with a worried expression. “I’ve got trouble on this base. I don’t think what happened to your friend was an accident. And whatever they did, it’s vicious to have left him in such a circumstance.”
Saber thinks as he takes another sip. “But how? There was no sign of any gunshots, and no one else has come down sick from eating in the mess hall with him. So how could they have poisoned him?”
Lupe shakes his head as he comes to a conclusion he doesn’t like, “No, but there is one thing he did that no one else did.” At a puzzled look from Saber he frowns as he reaches for the comm. unit again. “Test that power suit.”
Soon the buzzing stops and a sleepy voice answers, “Yes?”
“Moonless, get up, we got an emergency. I want all drug dispensers on that suit of yours checked. I want you to personally verify what was in each dispenser. I don’t want any of your techs in on this, just you.”
The voice from the other end seems puzzled. “Lupe? What’s this all about?”
Lupe shakes his head as if the fox on the other end could see him, “Your test pilot was found bleeding from mouth and nose, unconscious, and with no visible wounds. No one else is showing these signs, so it has to have been from something he alone did. The only thing that comes to mind is that armored suit of yours.”
“You think someone tampered with my suit?” There is a low growl from the speaker, “They had better not have. I’ll get the results for you soon as I can sir. Moonless out,” and with that the comm. goes dead with a click.
Saber casts a questioning glance at Lupe, “What drug dispensers?”
Lupe sits back in his chair and drums his fingers against his desk. “The battle suit has dispensers that feed adrenaline and other stimulants to the wearer. It also is supposed to give him nutrition for extended periods. They’re purpose is to allow the soldier to operate without support for long periods of time in the field. But if someone wanted to sabotage it, they could easily slip something else into the hopper for one of the drugs or nutrients.”
The comm. on Lupe’s desk buzzes before Saber can say anything and Lupe answers it, “Lupe here.”
“Sir, this is Doctor Stine.”
“Yes doctor?”
“We have some test results back on the big cougar that was brought in. He was poisoned, but we can’t tell by what. It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before. And I fear if we can’t find out soon, he may die.”
Lupe sighs, “I got someone working on it. How long does he have without knowing the true drug or poison used?”
“Sir, I don’t know how he has held on this long. He appears to be stable, but there is no telling how long that will be. We’re pumping plasma into him to keep him alive. We haven’t even been able stopped the bleeding yet. The sooner you get me that info, the sooner we can find out how to save him.”
Lupe slams his fist hard into his desk, “I’ll get it for you doc. Lupe out,” he says as he hits the disconnect button.
He looks at Saber as he stands. “You should go back to your room son. Things are going to get dicey around here in the next few hours. I promise I’ll keep you informed.”
Saber gives him a hard glare, his ears laid back in anger. “Sir, with all due respect, fuck that! My best friend is dying. I want to know why, and I want to know who, and I want to know now!”
Lupe comes around his desk as Saber stands and grabs the younger feline by his shoulders. “Look son, I know how you feel. But there is nothing you can do for him right now. I’m going to get to the bottom of this, but you still have a job to do. Now go get some sleep before I have you tranquilized and tied to your bed.”
Saber is about to protest when Lupe stands up straight. “That was an order soldier, dismissed,” he snaps out.
Saber’s training kicks in and he salutes the wolf and turning around walks out of the office. He heads straight for his cabin, but deep down he knows there must be something he can do to help.
He reaches his cabin and palms the door open. The cabin seems so quiet now, too quiet. With a soft sigh he starts to walk towards his room but stops noticing something out of place. A small white card rests on the floor near the door. Bending down he picks it up and reads, ‘You’re next! Kitty litter!’
Saber stares at the card in shock as he reads it again. “It was no accident. Someone tried to kill my friend,” he says quietly as he lets this thought sink into his head. Suddenly it’s as if something clicks in his head, he rears back his head and let’s out a roar that causes heads to stick out of cabins all up and down the hallway. Someone calls security, afraid of what’s happened.
When a security team arrives they find a very pissed off Saber punching the solid steel wall screaming, “No! No! No!” Each word accompanied by another punch that dents the wall even more and leaves a smear of blood from his bloody knuckles.
The personnel try to calm him down with words, but the words have no effect. They try to restrain him, but the silver panther is quicker and lashes out at anyone who gets close. Not pursuing anyone to actually cause harm, but definitely not in a mindset to be calmed or held against his will.
Lupe is called and appears at the doorway within minutes. He takes a rifle from one of the armored guards and ejects the clip. He holds out his hand to receive a green clip from the officer whose rifle it is and slams it home. Raising the rifle to his shoulder he grimaces at Saber. “Sorry lad,” he whispers.
Seeing the gun pointed at him he launches himself towards the door as Lupe pulls the trigger and the rifle kicks. A feathered dart appears in Saber’s back and he quickly falls to the ground asleep within seconds.
Lupe sighs as he lowers the rifle and hands it back to its owner. “This isn’t what I need right now.” He turns to the security captain at the scene and gives him a steely gaze. “Take him to medical and have a guard kept on him. Tell them to restrain him if they have to but I don’t want him harmed.”
The captain salutes and two of the squad moves in slinging their weapons to pick up the unconscious cat. Lupe shakes his head as he walks back to the command wing. “This is turning into pure chaos,” he mumbles as he stomps back to his office, the onlookers in the hallway jumping out of his way when they see his face.
***
Moonless is in the battle suit lab and shaking his head at what he has just found in one of the hoppers. Lupe comes up behind him and taps him on the shoulder, “What did you find?”
The black fox jumps at the touch then calms as he realizes it’s just the Commander. “Well, someone fooled with the suit alright.” He scrubs his face and frowns, “There was something else in one of the hoppers.”
“What should have been in there?”
The fox looks up at him with a worried look on his face. “Should have been a simple nutrient solution, but the liquid is a very slow acting poison according to my tests. It actually causes the person to bleed from the inside out by slowly rupturing the capillaries throughout the victim’s body. It would be a very painful way to die.”
“Well, is there a way to counter it?”
Moonless holds up a small data disk, “I’m not a doctor. My specialties are in robotics, not biology. But if we get this to medical they should be able to figure something out.”
Lupe puts out his hand, “I’ll take it down to them.”
The black fox places it in the outstretched hand and gives the wolf a worried look. “Sir, I hope that lad survives. I see a lot of potential in him.”
Lupe places the disk in his pocket, “So do I.” And with that he turns and walks quickly towards the medical wing.
***
Lupe reaches the med bay and looks around for Doctor Stine. Seeing him at his desk he walks over and hands the disk over, “Here’s what it looks like he was given.”
The human doctor takes it and inserts it into his data pad. “Hmmm… I don’t like the looks of this. He was given this for a sustained period of time. I hope there is something to counter it in our records.”
Lupe nods, “But doc, where would someone on this base get such a thing?”
The human shakes his head, “Not sure, maybe one of the labs. I know we don’t have anything like it here in medical.”
Lupe gives him a nod, “I’ll leave you to it doc, and I’m going to try to search for this chemical on base.”
He leaves the med bay and shakes his head in thought, “This is a nightmare coming true. There is a saboteur on my base, and I have no idea who.”
***
Lupe and Deadeye are going over inventory lists for an hour before they finally strike gold. “Hey, look at this,” says the ferret as he points to a list on his screen. “That’s the stuff. And it’s the only location that has it.”
Lupe goes pale under his fur as his ears droop, “Research lab two. I should have guessed.” Hanging his head he starts to shake it, “Get a team together. I want every person who works in that lab located and questioned. I want to know who did this, and I want to know now.”
Deadeye snaps a salute as he stands up. Pulling a com unit off his belt he starts barking orders as he walks towards the weapons locker. Soon he comes back through the office wearing full armor and carrying an assault rifle. He looks at the wolf still sitting at the desk, “You going to wait here Lupe?”
He shakes his head and walks out into the hall, “Call me when you’ve got who did this in custody. I want to know who it is as soon as you find out.”
The armored ferret gives him a nod and takes off in the opposite direction at a jog. He stops briefly at the security team’s ready room and pounds on the door. Several more armored figures come out and at a nod from Deadeye follow him as he runs down the hall, their booted feet thumping on the deck as they run.
***
Lupe enters the med bay again and looks around. It’s much quieter then the last time he was in here as it is now deep into the night hours. Walking over to the open door to Doctor Stine’s office he knocks politely on the doorjamb. The doctor looks up at him and waves him in as he rubs his neck.
“Come in Commander.” He gives him a worried look as the wolf steps in and takes the chair in front of the doc’s desk. “I guess you’re here to find out how your men are doing?”
Lupe nods as he continues, “Well, the panther is doing well. We’ve kept him sedated but even unconscious he has been struggling. We’ve had to tie him to his bed to keep him on it.”
Lupe sighs heavily, “Did he just have a nervous breakdown?”
The human behind the desk nods and picks up a piece of paper, “With what happened to his friend, I can’t blame him. And this probably didn’t help any.”
Lupe takes the paper and reads, “You’re next! Kitty litter!” He looks up at the doctor, “Is this some kind of a sick joke?”
Sadly he shakes his head, “Afraid not sir. It was found clutched in the cat’s hand when he was brought in.”
Lupe brings his hand up to massage his temples. “What about the cougar, Goliath?”
“He’s showing signs of recovery. And I’m not sure how the hell he’s doing it.”
Lupe slowly lowers his hand and looks at the doctor. “Wait, what do you mean you don’t know how?”
He brings something up on his pad then hands it to Lupe. “Read the highlighted part.”
Lupe accepts the pad and starts to read. Suddenly a look of pure hatred crosses his face, “There is no cure for this poison. The person who did this wanted to kill, and in a cruel way.”
The human nods at Lupe’s statement. “And I don’t know how, but somehow, your man is alive still. It’s almost as if he just healed himself.”
Lupe sets the pad down and thinks for a few moments. Suddenly a look of realization crosses his face, and his ears perk up.
Cocking his head to the side, the doctor asks, “Something wrong sir?”
Lupe slowly shakes his head, “No nothing’s wrong. But tell me, from your knowledge, how are we ani-morphs made?”
Doctor Stine shrugs as he sits back in his chair, “Well… Nanites are used to restructure your human DNA into what you have now, in laymen’s terms at least.”
Lupe snaps his fingers, “Right, and what happens to those nanites when the transformation is complete?”
“They remain in the…” suddenly the doctor realizes what he’s saying. “My god, you know what this means?”
Lupe nods, “We’re tougher to kill then most would think. It’s a good thing too.”
***
In a small storage room, a huddled figure hides in the darkness. The lone human looks at the pad in front of him. Reading about the little surprise he had been working on for the last six months.
“Surely that big moron of a mountain cat is dead by now,” he chuckles to himself happily. He knows they are looking for him since he’s missing from the scanners and didn’t show up for his last shift in the labs. He fears what will happen when those animals find him. Maybe other humans will help him. But those morphs will kill him outright if they get their claws on him.
“Stupid animals,” he thinks to himself, “You think you’re the perfect soldiers, scientists, commanders. You think you’re the best at whatever you do. Well I got you guys back this time. I’ve killed the biggest and strongest of you freaks ever. Soon, the rest of the humans here will side with me and we will teach you your places, as our slaves!”
Suddenly the door to his hideaway bursts open and several armored figures storm in through the smoke. One of them raises a pistol and fires. A dart appears in the guy’s arm and he drops to the floor like a rag-doll.
Slowly his world darkens as he sees the one who shot him remove his helmet. “How… How could a fellow human betray me for those freaks?” he thinks seeing the man who shot him.
He looses the last of consciousness as the human guard bends down to make sure he’s still alive. He looks over his shoulder to the armored ferret and nods, “He’s alive, sir.”
Deadeye takes off his helmet and nods his head, “Good, take him down to lockup. I want full security on him every second; don’t want anyone to take their eyes off of him for any reason. Full suicide watch, I don’t want anyone to say we let something happen to him before he can stand trial.”
Another guard steps forward and helps pickup the unconscious man. Soon they are dragging him out of the storage room and down the hall. Deadeye turns and starts jogging off towards Lupe’s office to report in.
***
Lupe turns his head towards the door to his office at the sound of a hard knock. “Come.”
The door opens and Deadeye walks in still wearing his body armor and carrying his rifle. Stepping up to the desk he snaps a crisp salute, “Sir, we got him.”
Lupe gives him a salute and motions towards a chair. “Who was it?”
The ferret relaxes as he takes the offered seat and leans the rifle against the edge of the desk, “One of the lab techs from the lab where the stuff was made. The same man who tried to take a swing at the big guy the other day.”
Lupe leans forward and laces his fingers together on top of his desk. “Why was he loose to do this?”
Deadeye hangs his head in shame, “He was held for a cooling off period sir, and then released as normal. We were in the process of filling charges, but he’s now facing some worse ones then just assault.”
Lupe gives a sharp nod, “Damn right, the little bastard tried to kill someone. We may not be human anymore, but by god, we’re still people, and we got rights.”
“I know sir, but some people still want to think of us as inferior.”
Lupe slams his fist down on his desk making things on the desk bounce, “Damn it, I know that! But soon, things are going to have to change. And they are going to have to change for the better.”
Deadeye leans forward and rests his hands on the desk. “Sir, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Lupe shakes his head, “I don’t even know what I’m saying. But things are going to change. There is a storm coming, and it’s not going to be a pretty one.”