faster… as if it were memorized. All three could do it at the same rate. It was as if the first one had taught the other two. The same for a fourth and a fifth. Each one showed only the most temporary sign of aggression to any non-bitten mouse and each time it seemed the knowledge of the maze passed from one mouse to the next.”
“What are you implying?” Gomes asks.
“It means they learned in tandem,” she says. “It means whatever was in that sample allowed them to communicate as if telepathically. When one mouse learned something, they all learned it. This was very exciting, I began to plan many experiments and papers. I explained my observations to Jacob. I was curious if we would be able to get another sample, however that’s when things became concerning.”
“How did things become concerning, Jodi?” Gomes asks.
“The third mouse died within the week,” she explains matter-of-factly. “A perfectly healthy mouse had deteriorated incredibly quickly. In fact, every mouse bitten after the third mouse seemed to suffer some sort of mental breakdown. They turned feral. They became hostile and they forgot the maze shortly thereafter. Essentially, the blood sample, when introduced to the mice appeared to create a chain. So long as the links in that chain remained unbroken, the mice were smarter, stronger, faster and more agile than normal mice. If a link was removed. If a mouse died. The opposite became true.”
“This is all very interesting, Jodi,” Gomes finishes toying with her. He pauses before asking one final question. “And whom else did you report these findings to?”
She shakes her head, “Nobody.”
Chapter 10
The planetarium reeked of bleach. In spite of the recent vandalism , the door remained unlocked and there were no heightened security measures in place. As much as I could tell, the only thing anyone had done in response to the incident was steam clean the floor and expand the cordoned area to include the hallway and bathroom.
A sign announcing the theater’s imminent opening had been taken down from a stanchion in the lobby.
I pushed open the door to the theater. The carpeted stairs squished beneath my feet. Eat’em left a trail of foamy footsteps as he ran to the projector stand. The prints looked a cross between the fossilized feet of a small dinosaur and a humanoid primate. No matter how vivid they appeared to me, I knew nobody else could see them, and I wondered, as I often did, if they were just a hallucination. I wondered if my little demon were some elaborate rouse. Did I imagine the old man? Did I imagine the young woman? If I imagined them, what really happened here?
Eat’em climbed atop the projector stand as my mind wondered.
“It’s gone!” Eat’em grabbed his tail in his tiny hands. He squeezed and twisted it in frustration. “It’s still gone! What cruel joke is this? We come all this way so you may be redeemed for your destructive behavior and present me with this! Nothing, yes! What is this?”
I sloshed down the stairwell. “We’re not here for you, buddy.”
I expected for someone to have gone through great lengths to pick up all the pieces of projector. Most of the fragments still clung to the carpet. But there was no blood. The floor reeked of bleach.
“Why are we here then?” Eat’em sank onto the stand. His body slouched.
“I’m looking for something.”
“YAWN…” He rolled onto his belly and swept his tail back and forth. “I’m already bored, yes. Let’s get ice cream.”
I knelt over the chair the old man collided with days earlier. One of the bolts holding it to the inclined floor was loose. The seat was noticeably looser than the two connected to it. Nothing else had ever been used and still looked pristine.
We headed for the bathroom and I snuck a peak in an industrial trashcan, which held the door open. No splintered mop. The tiled floor squeaked as I ventured into the bathroom.
The urinal no longer leaked, but an
“What are you implying?” Gomes asks.
“It means they learned in tandem,” she says. “It means whatever was in that sample allowed them to communicate as if telepathically. When one mouse learned something, they all learned it. This was very exciting, I began to plan many experiments and papers. I explained my observations to Jacob. I was curious if we would be able to get another sample, however that’s when things became concerning.”
“How did things become concerning, Jodi?” Gomes asks.
“The third mouse died within the week,” she explains matter-of-factly. “A perfectly healthy mouse had deteriorated incredibly quickly. In fact, every mouse bitten after the third mouse seemed to suffer some sort of mental breakdown. They turned feral. They became hostile and they forgot the maze shortly thereafter. Essentially, the blood sample, when introduced to the mice appeared to create a chain. So long as the links in that chain remained unbroken, the mice were smarter, stronger, faster and more agile than normal mice. If a link was removed. If a mouse died. The opposite became true.”
“This is all very interesting, Jodi,” Gomes finishes toying with her. He pauses before asking one final question. “And whom else did you report these findings to?”
She shakes her head, “Nobody.”
Chapter 10
The planetarium reeked of bleach. In spite of the recent vandalism , the door remained unlocked and there were no heightened security measures in place. As much as I could tell, the only thing anyone had done in response to the incident was steam clean the floor and expand the cordoned area to include the hallway and bathroom.
A sign announcing the theater’s imminent opening had been taken down from a stanchion in the lobby.
I pushed open the door to the theater. The carpeted stairs squished beneath my feet. Eat’em left a trail of foamy footsteps as he ran to the projector stand. The prints looked a cross between the fossilized feet of a small dinosaur and a humanoid primate. No matter how vivid they appeared to me, I knew nobody else could see them, and I wondered, as I often did, if they were just a hallucination. I wondered if my little demon were some elaborate rouse. Did I imagine the old man? Did I imagine the young woman? If I imagined them, what really happened here?
Eat’em climbed atop the projector stand as my mind wondered.
“It’s gone!” Eat’em grabbed his tail in his tiny hands. He squeezed and twisted it in frustration. “It’s still gone! What cruel joke is this? We come all this way so you may be redeemed for your destructive behavior and present me with this! Nothing, yes! What is this?”
I sloshed down the stairwell. “We’re not here for you, buddy.”
I expected for someone to have gone through great lengths to pick up all the pieces of projector. Most of the fragments still clung to the carpet. But there was no blood. The floor reeked of bleach.
“Why are we here then?” Eat’em sank onto the stand. His body slouched.
“I’m looking for something.”
“YAWN…” He rolled onto his belly and swept his tail back and forth. “I’m already bored, yes. Let’s get ice cream.”
I knelt over the chair the old man collided with days earlier. One of the bolts holding it to the inclined floor was loose. The seat was noticeably looser than the two connected to it. Nothing else had ever been used and still looked pristine.
We headed for the bathroom and I snuck a peak in an industrial trashcan, which held the door open. No splintered mop. The tiled floor squeaked as I ventured into the bathroom.
The urinal no longer leaked, but an
Similar Books
