Mosa
Chapter 49
The Dark Secret
After arriving at her base, Nina burst into the building with Stein. She looked angry; the soldiers who were there looked at her nervously. Nina bellowed at them to bring the prisoners. They moved swiftly. When the Veron’s generals arrived, Nina looked at them furiously and asked them about what is Alice’s experiment.
“The experiment? Ms. Polchinski, I don’t know what you are talking about,” said one of Veron’s military generals, chuckling.
“The very reason my whole family was slaughtered is because my grandfather worked on the project concerning the bio weaponry. Veron is not using orphans to make his secret agents for a reason. Now tell me, what project Veron pursued?” said Nina.
“Ms. Polchinski, I already told you I…”
Nina pulled out her gun and shot his knee. He screamed; the blood scorched out. Nina grabbed his collar and knocked him on the floor. He groaned in agony, looking at her, his red eyeballs bulging out.
“What is your name, my friend?” said Nina, chocking him.
“Ro… Roy...” he muttered.
“Now Roy, I’m going to ask you a very simple question, so don’t piss me off. What was Veron working on for past ten years?” threatened Nina, pushing the pistol against his face. The general coughed and struggled to breathe. Nina loosened him up his collar but continued to fix her gun.
“It… is called Ephemera,” he shuddered; coughing, his eyes were filled with horror as if he is remembering some disturbing memory. “Those creatures were… born artificially by modifying genes with other various insects and beasts… I didn’t think they could pull this off but they... they’ve managed to retain the cell structure from collapsing down by massively reproducing the cells…”
Stein silently gestured one of the soldiers to bring Dr. Berman as the man is going pale. One soldier went out the room hurriedly.
“Only problem was that they lacked brain function and didn’t know what food is and what feces are. And they were close to blind, although… other sensory systems were more superior compared to humans,” the general grabbed his knee, trembling, tried to stop the bleeding. His face was turning blue due to the shock. “I don’t know much about the details but I know they modified the DNAs with other creatures. It is a disgusting topic. They’ve tried worms, serpents, fleas and roosters, cockroach… When we finally made the creatures, well they… to train them for a military use… we fed them humans, mostly orphans, and the byproduct of the experiments… teaching them that this is their food.”
Nina frowned; Stein looked at him with detestation. Roy continued,
“So, not so much the brutal training for super soldiers anymore, that’s the old time. Veron contracted with a lot of bioengineers for his precious little project. For twenty years they’ve artificially produced and killed millions of infants they’ve grown in intro-fertilization dishes, those hidden in the underground facility. No one really knows what is truly going on there, and initially it was mainly focus on not the full scale war but… well, to prevent people like you, Ms. Polchinski. But the thing changed as we have made the progress. We’ve received some transmission regarding the certain outbreaks inside due to some unknown diseases, but they kept it in a level that is manageable... Nevertheless, few years ago, they’ve moved the location of the facilities to the Island of Riddles. There were too many outbreaks it was becoming unbearable…”
“Is those creatures not in Cassandra?” questioned Nina.
“No… no….” Roy shook his head. “They are enough creatures here, Ms. Polchinski… and now in the rest of the world too… Veron made them too much than he could handle… It was made to conquer the whole world…”
“How many are they?” demanded Nina.
“Many… I do not know the exact numbers, not even the people working there know, because they reproduce themselves. And if there are no orphans, they eat each others. It is a monstrous and horrible cycle,” muttered the general; he stopped talking and looked down on the floor, moaning and wimping. Nina and Stein just stood there.
“They see, because they do not see,” whispered Nina, her body trembling. She remembered this phrase from the strange letter she got from Alvin Caravel.
“Admiral?” said Stein.
“Get all the men out. Gather them into the main base,” ordered Nina to the soldiers and walked out of the room. Stein stared at the general for a moment and got out of there too. On the hallway, Nina was walking fast, Stein followed her.
“Contact James, I need to get on the chopper!” shouted Nina.
“Where are you going admiral?” asked Stein.
“Veron’s institution,” said Nina.
“But, admiral, why?” asked Stein.
“We will have to drop from the sky,” said Nina, frantically, not listening to Stein. Stein realized that she is reaching, she looked muddled and shaky.
“If you are going to the underground lab, I’m coming with you, admiral,” muttered Stein.
“No captain, bolster the defense. That’s an order. And go back to the cell and bring one of the military general who knows the way to the underground lab. I’ll be waiting at the roof,” said Nina.
“… Admiral, the chopper is far away from here, they are all supporting battles they are having now... And you haven’t even slept for days,” said Stein.
“…”
“Admiral, it can wait; wait until everyone is safe inside the base, and then we will gather and go to the underground lab with you. At this state, it is more likely that you will be taken by those creatures. I don’t think those cloaking device would be much of a help. You’ll need a suit,” said Stein, calmly.
Nina listened, her breathing became slower.
“All right captain.” said Nina, sighing. Stein smiled, little relieved. She grabbed her forehead and leaned on the wall, she had a throbbing headache, and she was extremely tired.
“… Contact Alvin Caravel,” muttered Nina.
“… Yes admiral,” said Stein. The soldiers were moving hurriedly in the hallway, passing Stein and Nina.
“I need a shower,” murmured Nina.