Page 42 of A Monster's Light
“You will be paid well. Better than you could ever get at Omnia Pictures. Don’t you want to be the first to announce to the galaxy all the new advances Dr. Kim and I will make in the coming years? We are going to change the course of humanity, and you can be there with us. You can help the commoners understand why we do what we do.”
“You just told me you’re going to use all those people as test subjects.”
Dr. Noble sighed. “I thought of all people you’d understand. Progressmustbe made. Science waits for no man. Sacrificing several lives can serve the greater good.”
“But some of them are children! What about choice? You can’t just take that away from them.”
She scoffed. “Choice and freedom are such selfish principles. They stifle progress. You have to think bigger. Think of humanity as one. What’s a few children now when the children of the future need not worry about sickness or death? We can make the cure for anything. Wouldn’t a treatment to make people heal as fast as the Kadrixans be great for society?”
“So you develop the cure, then what? Exotech would tag an addictive drug to it, then sell it as a monthly subscription. It won’t benefit anyone.”
She waved my concern away. “How they want to sell it is none of my business. My job is in the labs.” She gestured to the super soldier next to her. “Look at him! He is the perfect soldier. Obedient, strong, emotionless. Functions weeks without food and days without water. He can survive underwater long after everyone else is dead. They sent him into the void of space, and after a set of new skin to replace what was damaged by the cold, he was as good as new. We did that. Wemadehim.”
If this super soldier was anything like Igor, then he was not emotionless. They might’ve dampened his emotions, yes, but they weren’t lost. He was still human underneath.
“Given more time, we can make the perfectanything. Name it, and we can do it. The perfect worker. The perfect athlete. The perfect human. We could be gods!”
Okay, so Dr. Noble was batshit crazy. Got it. I had to tread carefully or I’d end up dead or worse.
A ruckus outside of the shuttle had Dr Noble cursing. “What now? Can’t anyone do anything right? Come,” she ordered the super soldier. “And bring her along.”
The super soldier gripped my upper arm. His hands were cold and unyielding, like a metal vise. He really did seem completely emotionless, almost robotic. Had Igor been like this? It was hard to imagine it.
When the attack started, Igor had immediately gone into action. Together with Fido and Kong, he held off the super soldiers they’d sent in. But he wasn’t able to stop the gas. He’d been the one to call out the alarm, telling everyone not to breathe it in.
With everyone on board, Penelope and I scrambled to get the transport door closed just in time. We were halfway to the stronghold when the transport took an unexpected turn. We tried to stop the transport, but it was unresponsive. We couldn’t even open the doors to get out.
When the transport finally stopped, we were greeted by several super soldiers and a band of mercenaries in fatigues. They had several shuttles and transports.
Outside, the situation was tense. The mercenaries had their weapons pointed skyward, their necks craned as they staredup into the clouds. The super soldiers were also looking at the nothingness above them, standing stock still like statues.
One of Macey’s boys, Clay or Canyon, I still didn’t know who was who, used the distraction to tackle a mercenary who was several times his size. The mercenary threw the kid off and was about to hit him with the butt of his weapon when there was a sudden flash of red in front of him. The merc was lifted up by invisible arms and thrown against a tree.
The other mercs fired, but all they managed to do was hit their own guys. Then, it was eerily silent again.
“Fucking demons!” one of the mercs spat. “Stop being cowards and show yourself.”
The Kadrixans! It must be their cloaking technology.
As the paid soldiers faced off against the invisible Kadrixans, the super soldier holding me started to move, dragging me back toward the shuttle. All the super soldiers were doing the same, like they were following unheard orders.
“Let me go!” I screamed when I realized they were going to take me with them.
But it was already too late. As the fight broke out, I was dragged into the shuttle. I struggled against the super soldier, but it was no use.
“Put up the cloak and get us out of here,” Dr. Noble ordered as the door slid shut behind us.
No! Rescue was so close. I bet Gnnar was out there!
But instead of leaving right away, Dr. Noble ordered the pilot to stop just within shooting distance of the melee. “All our shuttles are out of the radius. Hit them with the pulse. Take awaytheir cloaks. Let’s give those mercs a chance to tear up some demons.”
There was a moment of complete silence, and my hair stood on end like the moment before lightning struck. But there was no lightning. Then it was over.
“Ha! Yes! Shoot them down,” she cackled.
Worry for Gnnar had my heart pounding in my chest.
She grabbed a device and spoke into it. “Bring me back one of those aliens alive, and I’ll double your pay.” She slammed the device down, looking too smug and satisfied with herself. “Now, get us back to the lab.”
