Read Online Slimer by Harry Adam Knight - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Harry Adam Knight
Ads: Link
something wrong with you.'
He laughed again. 'You can say that again. But don't worry. I know what it is. I can handle it. But don't ask me to explain. There's nothing you can do to help. Okay?'
'Okay,' said Paul reluctantly. 'At least you're looking better today than you were yesterday. You looked awful.'
'I feel better. And I've stopped seeing things too. For a time there I thought I was going crazy.'
Paul frowned. 'What do you mean?'
'You remember I told you about the stuff I found in the overalls up on the crane. The black slime?'
'Yeah.'
'Well, I never finished telling you the whole story. It moved, Paul. It poured out of one of the sleeves, ran across the floor of the cabin and went out through an air vent in the back. It actually crawled up the back wall of the cabin to reach the vent, like a kind of liquid worm…'
Paul stared at him. 'Are you having me on?'
'No, I swear it Paul. That's what I saw. Or that's what I thought I saw. Of course it must have been a hallucination. I know that now but it really shook me at the time.'
'Yeah,' said Paul, remembering how shaken he'd looked when he'd come down from the crane. 'But why should you be having hallucinations? Or is that part of what you can't tell me about?'
Mark nodded. 'I'm afraid so.'
'Okay, have it your way,' said Paul, a little stiffly. He turned his attention back to the monitors. The girls were still playing cards but Alex was now watching the TV set, obviously having found something he liked among the video cassettes. And knowing him it's probably pornographic, thought Paul sourly.
But this served to remind him of the racks of video tapes he'd noticed in the control room the day before. He got up and examined them again. 'We might as well start checking this stuff,' he told Mark. 'I just wish they weren't labelled in code.'
'Take one tape at random from each rack,' suggested Mark. 'We might have some luck.'
Paul picked out a total of ten tapes and put the first one into the VCR unit that had been built into the console. After some trial-and-error pushing of buttons one of the monitor screens went momentarily blank then began dis-playing the words 'The Phoenix Project - Data File 22/AX/G89812'. This was followed by a visual read-out of technical information most of which Paul couldn't make head nor tail of. There were terms he recognised, however, such as 'recombinant DNA', and 'nucleotides' which confirmed what he had already felt certain was the purpose behind the concealed labs.
'This proves they were doing genetic engineering experiments here,' he said to Mark.
'Yes, but it still doesn't tell us what kind of experiment. I mean, for all we know they might have been trying to come up with a new sort of oil-slick eating bug. This place is owned by an oil company, after all.'
'But if it was all innocent and above board then why did they go to so much trouble to camouflage these labs?' asked Paul.
'Perhaps they didn't want their competitors to know about it,' suggested Mark. 'They were afraid of industrial espionage or something. There's big money in this game, you know. They patent these artificial bugs the same way they patent new inventions. And that might explain those armed security guards too...'
'Yes,' said Paul doubtfully, still staring at the screen. Then he pointed at it. 'There's that word again - Phoenix. That's definitely the code name for whatever it was they were trying to make…'
'Phoenix. The mythical bird of fire that was reborn from its own ashes,' said Mark, and suddenly grinned. 'You think maybe they were trying to create a new line in poultry? A chicken that lays square eggs? A chicken that comes automatically covered in a crisp golden batter and in its own cardboard box?'
'Very funny,' said Paul, scowling. He pressed the 'Fast Forward' button
He laughed again. 'You can say that again. But don't worry. I know what it is. I can handle it. But don't ask me to explain. There's nothing you can do to help. Okay?'
'Okay,' said Paul reluctantly. 'At least you're looking better today than you were yesterday. You looked awful.'
'I feel better. And I've stopped seeing things too. For a time there I thought I was going crazy.'
Paul frowned. 'What do you mean?'
'You remember I told you about the stuff I found in the overalls up on the crane. The black slime?'
'Yeah.'
'Well, I never finished telling you the whole story. It moved, Paul. It poured out of one of the sleeves, ran across the floor of the cabin and went out through an air vent in the back. It actually crawled up the back wall of the cabin to reach the vent, like a kind of liquid worm…'
Paul stared at him. 'Are you having me on?'
'No, I swear it Paul. That's what I saw. Or that's what I thought I saw. Of course it must have been a hallucination. I know that now but it really shook me at the time.'
'Yeah,' said Paul, remembering how shaken he'd looked when he'd come down from the crane. 'But why should you be having hallucinations? Or is that part of what you can't tell me about?'
Mark nodded. 'I'm afraid so.'
'Okay, have it your way,' said Paul, a little stiffly. He turned his attention back to the monitors. The girls were still playing cards but Alex was now watching the TV set, obviously having found something he liked among the video cassettes. And knowing him it's probably pornographic, thought Paul sourly.
But this served to remind him of the racks of video tapes he'd noticed in the control room the day before. He got up and examined them again. 'We might as well start checking this stuff,' he told Mark. 'I just wish they weren't labelled in code.'
'Take one tape at random from each rack,' suggested Mark. 'We might have some luck.'
Paul picked out a total of ten tapes and put the first one into the VCR unit that had been built into the console. After some trial-and-error pushing of buttons one of the monitor screens went momentarily blank then began dis-playing the words 'The Phoenix Project - Data File 22/AX/G89812'. This was followed by a visual read-out of technical information most of which Paul couldn't make head nor tail of. There were terms he recognised, however, such as 'recombinant DNA', and 'nucleotides' which confirmed what he had already felt certain was the purpose behind the concealed labs.
'This proves they were doing genetic engineering experiments here,' he said to Mark.
'Yes, but it still doesn't tell us what kind of experiment. I mean, for all we know they might have been trying to come up with a new sort of oil-slick eating bug. This place is owned by an oil company, after all.'
'But if it was all innocent and above board then why did they go to so much trouble to camouflage these labs?' asked Paul.
'Perhaps they didn't want their competitors to know about it,' suggested Mark. 'They were afraid of industrial espionage or something. There's big money in this game, you know. They patent these artificial bugs the same way they patent new inventions. And that might explain those armed security guards too...'
'Yes,' said Paul doubtfully, still staring at the screen. Then he pointed at it. 'There's that word again - Phoenix. That's definitely the code name for whatever it was they were trying to make…'
'Phoenix. The mythical bird of fire that was reborn from its own ashes,' said Mark, and suddenly grinned. 'You think maybe they were trying to create a new line in poultry? A chicken that lays square eggs? A chicken that comes automatically covered in a crisp golden batter and in its own cardboard box?'
'Very funny,' said Paul, scowling. He pressed the 'Fast Forward' button
Similar Books
