Read Online Slimer by Harry Adam Knight - Free Book Online Page B

and raced the tape quickly through to its finish. Then he tried another one. It was the same as the first - a visual record of highly specialised scientific data that neither of them could follow.
        It wasn't until they tried the fifth tape that they got some-thing different.
        'Hey, that's Shelley,' cried Mark.
        It was Dr Shelley, looking much the same as he had the previous night. He was talking directly into the camera and from the background they could see that he had made the tape in this very room. Then Paul noticed, for the first time, a small video camera above the console which was almost directly facing him.
        'Turn it up,' urged Mark, 'Let's hear what he's saying.'
        Paul found the volume control. Suddenly Shelley's voice filled the room:
        '...and so I must admit that my initial confidence in our resuming control of the situation seems to have been misplaced. Subsequent events have proved correct the misgivings of Doctors Soames, Jameson and Englefields about our ability to subdue "Charlie". Or should we refer to it as Phoenix ?' He shook his head wearily. 'In a sense it is the Phoenix unit that is behind all this…'
        He paused and groaned as if in pain. Then he closed his eyes and began to rub the sides of his temples. Eventually he continued, 'I feel so tired. But then we all do. No one has dared to sleep fpr the last forty-eight hours now. It can move so fast… We've lost eleven more people since this morning alone. At this rate how much longer will it be before it gets all of us? Durkins, of course, still wants us to call for help but I definitely agree with the others on this - it must be kept isolated at all costs. We cannot risk offering it the means to reach the outside world. Though what will happen if it does destroy us all doesn't bear thinking about…
        'But so far everything we have tried has failed. It appears to be invulnerable, thanks to us. Fire, bullets, electricity, poison, acid, all have proved futile. We were too successful. We have created the ultimate survivor - and the ultimate destroyer. What was supposed to have been a boon to mankind has become a terrible threat. Possibly the most terrible threat it has ever faced. We must overcome it.'
        Then the screen went blank.
        Paul and Mark looked at each other. 'What do you make of that?' asked Mark.
        Paul said slowly, 'I think we can forget about bugs designed to eat oil-slicks. Whatever they made here was in a different league altogether.' He thumped his fist on the console top. 'If only he'd said what it was!'
        'Run the tape on further. There might be something else.'
        There was. Shelley reappeared on the screen. He seemed to have aged a great deal during the intervening period. His face was drawn and haggard and there was a bruise over his right eye. He now looked very different to the man they'd seen in the lab last night, which made Paul wonder again just how much time had elapsed since the events Shelley was describing had taken place.
        Shelley's voice was weaker too. 'This may be the last chance I get to use this machine. There are only a few of us left now. Dr Soames, Durkins, a couple of the guards, and it can only be a matter of time before it achieves complete victory. Durkins was right. We should have tried to send out a warning before it was too late but the transmitter has been destroyed. It is much more intelligent now but that's not surprising under the circumstances…'
        He stopped suddenly and looked away from the camera towards, presumably, the door. He had obviously heard something. As he turned they got a brief glimpse of a pistol he was holding.
        After a while he relaxed and faced the camera again. 'I'm determined it won't take me alive. I'll use this on myself first.. He brandished the gun at the camera. 'But even so I fear that being dead may not be protection against… against…' He swallowed