Read Online Aneka Jansen 3: Steel Heart by Niall Teasdale - Free Book Online
Authors: Niall Teasdale
Tags: Science-Fiction, adventure, Artificial intelligence, Alien, Robots, Aliens, cyborg, Aneka Jansen, robot
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her work today, tomorrow at the latest.’
Nayland hand-waved that away. ‘Miss Narrows is going to come down with a fever in a day or so. Quite a bad one, inducing delirium. She’s already been taking the drugs in her food. She’ll remember nothing and we’ll have free rein to examine her little friends while she’s out.’
Corazon smiled. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
11.12.525 FSC.
‘As you can see,’ the voiceover said, ‘Subject Thirty-nine remains in the same crystalline state she has been in for the last seventy-two hours.’
Ella could not see that, exactly, but she could see the cocoon of glassy material which had grown around the body. The material was not exactly opaque, but the body within was more or less invisible, little more than a shadow. She had seen Subject Thirty-nine prior to her entombment; she had been a fit, attractive young woman who had started out banging on the window of her isolation chamber before sinking into a coma.
‘Scanning has shown continued biological activity within the cocoon,’ the voice continued. Ella had come to hate that voice. It was always the same one, a man, and he seemed far too excited by his work. ‘We believe that we have finally got a strain which functions correctly. Strain M-Nine-Sixty is going to be our greatest triumph yet.’
‘Bastard,’ Ella muttered, typing out the transcript. She had been feeling off all afternoon. The lab felt even warmer than usual and she was developing a headache. Turning to the list of material, she realised the next one was the last one. Relieved, she cued it up and started it playing.
The image showed a man’s face far too close to the camera. He was older than she had expected from his voice because when he started speaking she realised that this was the bastard she had been listening to for so many hours. His hair was greying at the temples, his skin sallow, and he looked scared.
‘Strain M-Nine-Sixty has…’ He glanced quickly to the side as though he had heard something. ‘It’s been more successful than we thought. It kills anyone exposed to it. We can’t stop them. They just keep…’ He looked away again and when he looked back his face had changed entirely. The fear was gone, replaced by an unnatural calm. ‘They’ve found me. I did this. I deserve this. God, I hope no one ever sees this recording.’ Something flashed in from the left of the screen and the face vanished, and then the image turned to snow before cutting out entirely.
Ella frowned, reaching out to the controls and rewinding the video. Even in slow motion the thing that had attacked the researcher was nothing much more than a blur. She backed it up again and went through it frame by frame, stopping at a point just as the man’s head was leaving the picture on the right. Was that a head? It looked like hair. What was it he had said? It kills anyone exposed to it. We can’t stop them. It did not make sense.
Re-cuing the video she started it again to get the transcript down. ‘Strain M-Nine-Sixty has… It’s been more successful than we thought.’ Ella typed that in and then stopped as the image blurred.
‘What…?’ she said, her voice sounding thick in her ears. The video played on as Ella keeled over, falling unconscious on the floor of the lab.
~~~
‘Get her on intravenous nutrients and fluids,’ Nayland said as he followed the cart carrying Ella deeper into the labs. ‘We need to make sure she looks healthy enough when she leaves. Don’t forget to set the dosage of the memory inhibitors and sedatives.’
‘It’s all prepared,’ Corazon told him. ‘I don’t think she completed the final transcript.’
‘Possibly, but I saw what she did get down. We do have that strain of virus, don’t we?’
‘I’ll check the records, but I seem to remember seeing vials labelled with that number.’
‘Good. I want it located in storage and prepared for analysis by tomorrow.’
‘If it’s as good as they thought,
Nayland hand-waved that away. ‘Miss Narrows is going to come down with a fever in a day or so. Quite a bad one, inducing delirium. She’s already been taking the drugs in her food. She’ll remember nothing and we’ll have free rein to examine her little friends while she’s out.’
Corazon smiled. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
11.12.525 FSC.
‘As you can see,’ the voiceover said, ‘Subject Thirty-nine remains in the same crystalline state she has been in for the last seventy-two hours.’
Ella could not see that, exactly, but she could see the cocoon of glassy material which had grown around the body. The material was not exactly opaque, but the body within was more or less invisible, little more than a shadow. She had seen Subject Thirty-nine prior to her entombment; she had been a fit, attractive young woman who had started out banging on the window of her isolation chamber before sinking into a coma.
‘Scanning has shown continued biological activity within the cocoon,’ the voice continued. Ella had come to hate that voice. It was always the same one, a man, and he seemed far too excited by his work. ‘We believe that we have finally got a strain which functions correctly. Strain M-Nine-Sixty is going to be our greatest triumph yet.’
‘Bastard,’ Ella muttered, typing out the transcript. She had been feeling off all afternoon. The lab felt even warmer than usual and she was developing a headache. Turning to the list of material, she realised the next one was the last one. Relieved, she cued it up and started it playing.
The image showed a man’s face far too close to the camera. He was older than she had expected from his voice because when he started speaking she realised that this was the bastard she had been listening to for so many hours. His hair was greying at the temples, his skin sallow, and he looked scared.
‘Strain M-Nine-Sixty has…’ He glanced quickly to the side as though he had heard something. ‘It’s been more successful than we thought. It kills anyone exposed to it. We can’t stop them. They just keep…’ He looked away again and when he looked back his face had changed entirely. The fear was gone, replaced by an unnatural calm. ‘They’ve found me. I did this. I deserve this. God, I hope no one ever sees this recording.’ Something flashed in from the left of the screen and the face vanished, and then the image turned to snow before cutting out entirely.
Ella frowned, reaching out to the controls and rewinding the video. Even in slow motion the thing that had attacked the researcher was nothing much more than a blur. She backed it up again and went through it frame by frame, stopping at a point just as the man’s head was leaving the picture on the right. Was that a head? It looked like hair. What was it he had said? It kills anyone exposed to it. We can’t stop them. It did not make sense.
Re-cuing the video she started it again to get the transcript down. ‘Strain M-Nine-Sixty has… It’s been more successful than we thought.’ Ella typed that in and then stopped as the image blurred.
‘What…?’ she said, her voice sounding thick in her ears. The video played on as Ella keeled over, falling unconscious on the floor of the lab.
~~~
‘Get her on intravenous nutrients and fluids,’ Nayland said as he followed the cart carrying Ella deeper into the labs. ‘We need to make sure she looks healthy enough when she leaves. Don’t forget to set the dosage of the memory inhibitors and sedatives.’
‘It’s all prepared,’ Corazon told him. ‘I don’t think she completed the final transcript.’
‘Possibly, but I saw what she did get down. We do have that strain of virus, don’t we?’
‘I’ll check the records, but I seem to remember seeing vials labelled with that number.’
‘Good. I want it located in storage and prepared for analysis by tomorrow.’
‘If it’s as good as they thought,
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