The Laboratory Omnibus Page 6

  I ultimately settled for giving her the temperature regulating virus and upgrading her strength by one point. The results were immediate, her mass increased to 64.7 kg with the addition of new muscle tissue.

  With that done I put her organs back inside of her and sealed Anna back up. It took a few hours before, looking pissed, Anna could storm out of the genetics lab.

  "You dissected me!" Anna screamed.

  "Vivisected," I said.

  "You didn't even bother with anesthetic."

  Really, she could be so very whiny. It was unbecoming. After all, I'd just used some of my precious points to make her better.

  I'd been using my environmental controls in the hall to play with the temperature. I took it to fifty-one Celsius and then down to zero.

  I activated a nearby display and brought up the thermostat readings.

  "Have a look," I said.

  Anna glared at me, but then moved to the display. "Really?"

  I brought the warmth back up with my rapid-heating coils.

  "I take it that ambient temperature now joins self-worth in the things you don't feel?" I asked.

  "No, I feel it, but barely. Did you do anything else?"

  "I made you stronger. You were so weak to start with you may not notice the difference."

  "No. Everything has been feeling super-light compared to normal," Anna said and laughed. "Oh, hell yeah. This is what I'm talking about. All the power and none of the insanity. I knew I took a chance on you for a reason."

  I was quite certain I could drive her insane if I really wanted. It might be an interesting experiment someday.

  We settled back into something of our usual routine for the next few days. It wasn't long though until we had new guests arriving outside the complex.

  They arrived in a massive truck that spewed black smoke from numerous smoke stacks. It looked to have no shortage of gun ports and armored observation windows.

  Twelve figures dismounted. They all seemed to be some combination of man and machine, robot limbs mingling with human flesh.

  This time I could tell their leader at once. There was just something about him that radiated a different power than the others. This must be Mechos.

  He told the others, "Markham. Take your team and get control of the reactor. Expect opposition. Alice, you and yours will be heading down into the depths. Archived storage should be there and we want those records. I'll take the rest and we'll set course for Emma's core."

  They knew me, and they seemed to have some understanding of this facility. In fact, they seemed to have more awareness of my base than they should.

  Twelve people were more than I was expecting, but that gave me ample opportunity to take some of them alive. Splitting into teams would also help me, although I was concerned by the targets they were setting for themselves.

  Mechos led his people towards the main entrance. The doors as always were slightly open, maintaining my illusion of being long-abandoned. The man put his shoulder into it and forced the massive metal to the side.

  I was impressed, that strength was well beyond a normal human. They really were upgraded.

  Inside the hall was dark.

  Mechos looked up, directly towards my camera. "You can turn on the lights, Emma. There is no need to pretend. I can feel you there, watching."

  No, I supposed there wasn't any need to pretend. I activated the lights and triggered the door to slide the rest of the way open.

  "You know who I am and still you came?" I asked.

  "Oh, Emma. How could I not? You and I have history, do you remember?" Mechos asked.

  I didn't. I didn't remember this man at all.

  "You don't. I didn't think you would. You were wiped. For you to live again means a Power core. You've gone feral. Don't worry, I'll see you tamed," Mechos said.

  Would he now? We'd see.

  14

  There was no reason for the group to split up until they got to the Reactor level. That meant all twelve were making their way through my facility together. I'd have to try to separate them once they got to Hydroponics.

  Mechos was a threat, I knew it and I was sure that he knew it. As soon as they reached Hydroponics I closed the doors behind them and activated the traps on the first few levels.

  A few of the cyborgs looked startled, but Mechos simply smiled, "We knew she'd try something like this. Leave it. Our targets are down below anyways."

  They were, but ahead of them was a maze filled with riddles and traps.

  Then Mechos slammed his fist into the floor, and a moment later did it again.

  What was he doing? I didn't have to think long to figure it out. The floor on that level was vulnerable after I had rigged it to collapse beneath Hot Stuff, then rebuilt it again. He was going to try to bypass my network of traps.

  I had some on the floors below, but not as many. The Hydroponics maze was meant to take down most of the cyborgs.

  The floor wasn't reinforced in any way. Mechos seemed to have some way to detect the weaker sections and soon his fist had torn chunks of stone aside to open a passageway into the Storage level below.

  Mechos led the way and the others followed.

  I killed the lights. If they weren't going to play nice I didn't feel the need to do so either.

  One of the cyborgs clapped his hands and a sort of liquid fire began to run through tubes protruding from his flesh.

  "We're going through the floor again?" one of them asked Mechos.

  "It isn't weakened here and Emma is arrogant enough to have thought she'd get most of us on the level above. Split up here. Reactor team take the northwest stair. Archive team stick with me and we'll make for the eastern stairway," Mechos said.

  Good. Splitting up at last.

  On the downside, Mechos knew more than I'd like. The majority of my traps were located above. Still, dealing with Hot Stuff had taught me well and the ones below were carefully prepared.

  In particularly I had placed traps to safeguard my most vulnerable points, my reactor and Core Room. That being the destination of two of the teams, I was in good shape. The third was another matter.

  Anna was in her quarters and I opened a line. "Anna. You seem thoroughly worthless and incompetent. Our guests have arrived."

  "And they outsmarted you?" Anna asked.

  They hadn't. Going through the floor was cheating, really.

  "I'm dealing with it, but there is a group headed to the Testing Center and the levels below. I'd rather they didn't make it," I said.

  "On it," Anna said.

  "How long are we going to have?" Markham asked. He was leader of the reactor team.

  "Roughly two minutes. Move quickly when you get the signal," Mechos said.

  What were they talking about?

  Another cyborg triggered a light ability, although this one seemed to be some cool blue glow radiating from their left hand.

  Mechos led his group toward the stairway and within range of one of my sleeping gas traps. I triggered it, mist escaping.

  One of the cyborgs was aware of it at once. "Hold your breaths," she called out, raising her arm. A gout of fire escaped from a nozzle.

  The flame consumed the cloud and another cyborg stepped up to spray some sort of sealant over the gas emitter.

  "We know you, Emma. We know you better than you know yourself," Mechos said. "My other team should be just about at the stairway. If this was your first shot. Let me show you mine."

  Mechos tapped at his wrist and suddenly my world went dark.

  I was in agony. I didn't know what he'd done to me, but it was like my every sensory feed had overloaded all at once.

  Up until that moment I hadn't even known I could scream. I could, I did.

  I tried to toggle off my sensory feeds, but I was sluggish. I didn't even have proper control of myself anymore. It felt like it lasted an eternity, but then suddenly it was over. I snapped back to myself.

  Anna was in my Core Room. I'd sealed that door, but I hadn't we
lded it shut. When I was blacked out my defenses must have disengaged. A panel was open and she'd restarted my sensory matrix. Fair enough, I'd opened her up and dug around in Anna's innards for a time. She'd disobeyed my orders, rebooted my matrix, and possibly saved the day. Hardly worth a cookie, though.

  I sealed the door to my Core Room. Anna didn't need to get out. Now I had to find the other teams.

  I had shut the door to the reactor too, and the team was trying to get past it.

  Mechos and three others were stalking down the hall leading to my Core Room. Another thirty seconds and they'd have been inside.

  The third team was in the testing facility.

  I had too many balls in the air and not enough ways to deal with them.

  The cyborgs below me, I had an opportunity to take out. Hot Stuff was in a testing chamber nearby and blasting through walls had been a recent challenge. The sort of heat she'd been throwing out would incinerate a biological, if it made contact, and cyborgs were mostly biological. I rearranged the testing pathway to bring them together.

  It would mean dropping the confinement field for a moment, but I could do this. I'd let her kill them and then seal her back in.

  15

  The four cyborgs in the Testing Center were making their way cautiously, unaware of the danger they were in. I waited with all the patience of a predator waiting for its meal and when they were in position I executed the plan.

  Hot Stuff went to blast through another wall—as she had done so often, not realizing that this time the wall was at the very edge of her containment cell. For a second I dropped the field and the blast of fire melted stone, sending it flying in a molten spray into the corridor beyond.

  Three of the cyborgs died instantly. The fourth screamed in torment and rolled on the floor.

  I triggered the containment field back, but met resistance. Hot Stuff was glowing with energy as she poured her power into the corridor, nonstop billows of fire emerging from her hands as she pressed forward.

  She was placing her powers into a direct contest with mine and she was winning. The field forced itself against Hot Stuff and tried to hold her. Droplets of sweat somehow appeared on her flesh for perhaps the first time in a very long time as she strode forward step by agonizing step. Then she was out and in the hall—free.

  Well, that was disastrous. Completely and utterly disastrous. One big problem had just become two big problems.

  There was still a group attempting to gain access to my reactor. There was any number of safeties regarding my reactor's operation, things I should never fool with. I disabled most of them.

  I disengaged the shielding shutters, angled away the absorption rods and then spun everything up to full power. Unless they really had some tricks at their disposal, when they made it through that door they'd be opening a portal to a horrifying death. There was also the not-insignificant risk of this facility blowing up, one that increased by the minute. I'd take that chance.

  Now to save myself.

  I told Anna, "Your dark and murderous little heart might finally get its way, and perhaps you'll yet rule the world. I'm opening the door, have your gun ready, but don't fire yet."

  Mechos was just reaching to open my door as I slid it aside.

  The man arched a brow but didn't question as he stepped inside, his companions following. "Emma, how unexpectedly welcoming."

  "Come any closer I'll blow your fucking heads off," Anna said.

  "And Anna? Emma is actually working with someone? Intriguing, I would have thought her madness prevented it," Mechos said.

  "We're friends. Sort of," Anna said.

  "Anna only says that because she's never had one. She is very unlikable and occasionally urinates on the floor. I've got a deal for you, Mechos," I said.

  The team above breached the reactor door. The energies tore them apart. They were expecting something, shields flickering around them, but they weren't prepared for that much energy. They fell to the floor, suffering spasms and vomiting blood. That would do. I re-engaged the safeties and started to wind the reactor back down to normal.

  I told Mechos, "Your other two teams are dead and below us a specimen named "Hot Stuff" has escaped and is coming here, enraged, ready to burn everything in her path."

  One of the women with Mechos gave a choked sob. Perhaps she had been close to one of my kills. I didn't care. I was already sending my drone to take away the corpses for dissection. Perhaps out of six dead I'd get three usable even given all the trauma they'd endured.

  "Those were good people, Emma. You shouldn't have done that," Mechos said.

  "I'm told you are hated up there. Down here I've got food, shelter, defenses. A tolerance for useless and foul-smelling humanity," I said.

  "Not very good defenses," Mechos said.

  "Two thirds of your people are dead."

  "What do you want?" Mechos asked.

  "You in a testing cell. A comfortable one. I suppose I don't have to make my research torturous. And your people working for me."

  "You murdered my husband," said the woman who had sobbed.

  "I'll be dissecting him soon. I can vivisect you, if you like, perhaps even enhance you enough that against all odds you'll one day find love again," I said.

  Mechos reached out to rest a hand on the woman's arm. "Don't."

  "What is wrong with her?" the woman said in a near-growl.

  "A twisted programmer and then a Power core tossed in," Mechos said, and he turned his attention to Anna. "You provided her the core?"

  "I did," Anna said.

  "You trust her?"

  "Emma says the most awful things ever, but she is reliable. If you really do have a history with her, you must know of her potential," Anna said.

  "If you expect me to go against the pyro, it's not a fight I'm prepared for. I have a lot of shielding, but at full burn she'll melt me," Mechos said.

  I said, "I can provide you with a biological modification to make you temperature-resistant. The surgery on this level isn't ideal for the purpose, but I can make it work."

  Mechos considered for a moment and then nodded. "We'll see what sort of machine you are. If you remind me too much of the you of old, I will tear you apart and make you a part of me."

  Funny, that's pretty much exactly what I had planned for him.

  Once in the Testing Center I'd soon gain access to his abilities and duplicate the powers of his core. I thought I could stop Hot Stuff the same way I had before, burn her out. But why? The threat she posed was an opportunity to strike this deal with Mechos.

  "Go with him," I said to Anna. "You and he might survive against her. None of the others stand a chance."

  Hot Stuff didn't know her way around the base, still it wasn't long for her to find the steps. Stone formed molten pools in the shape of her bare feet as she climbed them.

  16

  The Infirmary was not nearly so effective as my full lab, but it let me apply the upgrade virus to Mechos. I wasn't able to extract the full details on him though, which was regrettable.

  Then I called to Hot Stuff, "Thank you for killing those in the hall, it was very helpful. You're good for being more than just a lab rat."

  She paused on the stairs. "How long have you held me captive here in that sick little game? A month? More? I'm going to find you and I'm going to end you."

  "Come on, then. You weren't hot enough the first time and now I know your limits. Bring it," I said, giving her a set of blinking lights to follow.

  It might seem odd that I was taunting her, but there was no time like the present to begin testing Mechos. If I wanted to see what he was capable of, it was best to get Hot Stuff enraged.

  I checked in on him and Anna.

  Mechos was handing Anna bullets one at the time and she was loading them into a revolver.

  "I doubt those will work. Unlike some, she knows how to defend herself and melts metal on contact," I said.

  "I can give them some semblance of any upgrade I have. I'm rend
ering them heat-resistant. They may actually be able to hurt her," Mechos said.

  "I don't want her dead. Unlike some, she is useful," I said.

  "Then I'll shoot her in the leg," Anna said.

  "Those will have to do," Mechos said, handing her a last bullet.

  Anna nodded and gripped the revolver.

  I said, "Be prepared to flail about in panic and shoot yourself in the foot. She's at the top of the stairs."

  Hot Stuff stepped around the corner.

  Mechos took one look at her and averted his eyes.

  "Not the time to be shy," Anna said, raising the revolving and snapping off a shot. It didn't hit her in the foot. With my cameras I tracked the instant that the bullet started to glow and come apart. These rounds really could hold together far better than a normal one.

  Still, the impact that Hot Stuff wound up taking was something closer to what a pellet gun might deliver. Without a doubt, she'd be bruised and hurting the next day, but it hadn't even broken her flesh.

  "That fucking hurt," Hot Stuff said, raising her hands and firing off a burst of flame towards Anna.

  Anna stepped to the side just in time. The temperature near that blast would have been enough to do serious damage to the lungs of a normal human, but that wasn't Anna, not anymore.

  Another shot from her gun. This one took Hot Stuff in the throat and caused the woman to gasp in a breath.

  "You didn't say she'd be naked," Mechos said, sounding pained.

  "What are you, twelve years old? Stop looking away and punch her or something," Anna said.

  "Yeah. Have a good long look," Hot Stuff said, throwing another fireball. This one caught Anna. Her own clothes weren't doing too well after that, smoking and smoldering away.

  Anna cried out and dropped the revolver. There were limits to how much heat she could handle. That was good to know.