Blood Obsidian

Issue 18

A nest of hornets - Part 6

Inside the Ald-Tech facility ...

Rayna stared at her father within the sealed chamber, medical monitors beeping in staccato rhythm. The sounds telling her that her father's heart was racing, acting wrong, missing beats. She didn't care that the procedure wasn't tested, she only wanted her father to live and if that meant breaking laws to do it, so be it. They had their differences, argued as often as showed affection, but she couldn't let him die. Not when there was the slightest chance he could live.

The devices hooked up to her father's veins looked like something from a science fiction movie and the liquid, that black, pulsing liquid contained within the reinforced glass tubes was her father's only hope. The cadre of technicians, scientists, doctors, within this observation area bustled around, talking in urgent whispers, tracking data, adjusting dials and switches. Rayna only had passing knowledge of the procedure, but she had hope.

She grabbed for something to steady herself as the entire facility shuddered, alarms beginning to sound, and she whipped her head around to look to security monitors set upon the walls. Something had happened. Something explosive that had everyone in the observation room looking to each other for answers. Cracks had appeared in the walls, the floor, even in the reinforced glass between herself and the chamber.

"We need to abort the procedure!" One man rushed past Rayna, his hands and fingers moving in a blur upon a keyboard. "We've lost connection with the infusion device. Get a hazmat team in there and pull Mr Alden out!"

"No! Finish the procedure!" Another rumble hit the building and Rayna almost stumbled into the man, gripping his arm. "This is his last chance!"

"We can't! Ms Alden, I'm sorry, but the possibility of infection is too high." The man's forehead held a dozen creases, but his eyes told Rayna everything she needed to know. "There's nothing more we can do. Containment is fluctuating. Maybe if the hazmat team got here in time, they could begin the infusion manually, but ..."

"I'll do it." She had already started to move toward the sealed door, gripping her security card in her hand, but the white-coated scientist grabbed her, about to protest. "He's my father!"

She pulled her arm away from the scientist and swiped her card in the lock. Giving the man one last look, she dragged the door open, the air equalising in a sharp hiss, and closed it behind her. It felt cold inside the chamber and it caught in her throat as she moved toward her father's side. Unconscious, deathly pale, her father looked so old, so vulnerable. Nothing like the man he truly was. Strong, noble, caring if a little stifling. She touched his hand and it felt stiff, frigid.

There was no time for sentimentality. Her head turned toward the device that held the liquid and saw the substance roil within the tube, as though searching for an escape. As though it had a mind of its own. The device was supposed to infuse the liquid in short, controlled doses, so as not to overwhelm her father's body and she soon saw the controls needed to begin the infusion.

She didn't even hesitate, pressing the green button on the screen and stepping back. Another hiss of tiny pneumatic pistons coming to life heralded the first infusion. A small amount of the black liquid travelling into the saline drip line, passing along the thin tube and entering her father's body. Then, a few seconds later, another dose.

Something smashed through the wall, sending Rayna tumbling to the side as two figures emerged from the dust created by the collapsing concrete. A strange energy lashed out from one of them, striking the equipment dosing her father with the liquid and she screamed in frustration, trying to lift herself to rush to her father's side.