BioShock: The Fall of Rapture

Chapter 7 Goodbye Doctor Alexander

Rapture, Fontaine Futuristics, 1968

Michael hurried across the laboratory, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds. He knew the cell doors were locked, but doubted they could withstand much punishment.
Running over to a cupboard, he pulled it open and began grabbing cans of food from within. They were years old and most of their contents had become a tasteless mush, but at this point, he had little choice.
What a fool he had been, trusting Sophia Lamb and her 'Rapture Family'. After everything he had been through, everything he had heard about Atlas actually being Fontaine, he was once again faced with the fact that he had learnt nothing.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

He was furiously stuffing cans into his satchel, when an inhuman roar shook the room.
Michael spun around, revolver drawn. He knew if the Alpha Series broke free of their cells, the gun would do nothing to stop them from killing everything in their path, but it was all he had right now.
The roar subsided, and he carried on grabbing the tins until the satchel was full. He then closed the bag and hurried up a flight of stairs, his footfalls creating splashes all the way.
After eight years of neglect, the city was a shadow of its former self. Water leaked from every crack in the walls and ceiling, pooling here and there amongst the rubble.

As Michael reached the top of the stairs, he paused, wondering where to go. Normally if he needed to leave the laboratories and scavenge in the main city, he could just use the secondary entrance in Persephone, but that was impossible now. Lamb had her loyal splicers guarding the whole route, no doubt with orders to have him shot on sight by now.
Michael smacked his face and groaned. He should not have disagreed with Lamb so publicly, but after he found out that she intended to experiment on Eleanor with ADAM, it had been impossible to remain silent.
"That poor girl, and you're too much of a coward to help her."
But what could he do? Sophia Lamb had made sure her daughter was kept under lock and key at all times now, and even if he could save her, what then? There was nowhere to run but the ruins of Rapture, where the splicers would find them before long.

A crackling from his radio brought him out of his sulk.
"Michael," a soft voice sounded through the static, "Michael can you hear me?"
It was Gilbert.
Michael wondered if he should ignore the message. After what had happened to the scientist, there was no way of knowing if he was even sane anymore.
"Michael... please, are you there...? please."
He sighed. Gilbert Alexander had always done right by him. It would be an insult if he ignored him now of all times.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said, speaking into his radio and listening closely to the static.
"Michael, I need to talk with you. I need you to do something for me."
"What is it?"
"I can't talk here, you'll need to meet me in the deep sea laboratory."
"I'll be there in a moment."

Michael placed the radio back onto his belt and headed toward the laboratory. He had not seen Gilbert since before the ADAM experiment, so he tried to prepare himself for what he might see. Lamb had refused to tell him anything about the results and he had not seen Eleanor since.
When he opened the laboratory's security door however, he saw nothing, as the whole room was saturated in darkness. He tried one of the switches on the wall, but nothing happened.
"Sorry Michael," Gilbert's voice said from his radio, "I should have told you, the lights sting my eyes something terrible and have to stay off, you'll have to use a torch."

"Okay Gilbert," he said, retrieving a torch from his tool belt and shining it around the darkened space. Most of the floor was covered in seaweed and rubble, while the windows of the vast water tank on the far wall dimly reflected the torches' beam. Keeping his revolver raised, Michael crept across the room, ears pricked for any sounds in the darkness. There was no telling if a splicer was lurking nearby, just waiting to strike.
"Head up the stairs to the control panel," Gilbert said through the radio. "I'll tell you more when you get there."
Following the scientist's instructions, he climbed the stairs to the room's central control panel, keeping the torch held high. There was no sign of Gilbert when he arrived, but there were a number of audio diaries stacked neatly on a desk. He picked up the top one and pressed play.

"Agnus Dei," the diary said in Gilbert's voice. Michael waited for a moment but the diary remained silent.
You found the recordings, good," Gilbert's voice said through the radio once again, "I need you to put them in the places I've marked around the laboratories. They're all numbered, so you'll know where."
"What are they for?" Michael asked, now wondering where Gilbert was. He did not like standing in the middle of a darkened room.

"Hopefully they'll help anyone else who turns up here after today," the scientist replied, "Now, you'd better be off, it isn't safe here for you anymore."
"I know Gil," Michael began, "But where are you?"
"It's best that you don't know."
There was a faint sound from the large water tank at the front of the room. Michael opened his mouth to say something, when there was an almighty crash from below.
"It's the Alpha Series!" Gilbert cried, "They've broken free! Get out of here, now! Use the airlock!"

Michael did not wait to be told twice. He grabbed the audio diaries from the control panel and ran for the exit behind him, just as the sound of heavy diving boots thundered into the room. The security door opened with the sound of grinding metal and he dashed through before hastily pulling the emergency lock, causing it to slam shut with a deafening boom.
"Michael?" Gilbert's panicked voice crackled from the radio, "Michael, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, he answered, still getting his breath back, "But I'm trapped in the airlock. I can't get back to the lab."
"That doesn't matter. The tapes you have only need to be placed in the public areas."

"Right," Michael said, looking around the derelict room, "Is the airlock still working?"
"It should be," Gilbert replied, but the tone of his voice betrayed uncertainty, "And there are diving suits you can use."
"Well, it doesn't look like I have a lot of choice."
He went over to a rusty locker set against the wall and prized it open. Inside was a bulky wet smelling diving suit, hanging from a hook.

Removing the suit from the locker, Michael checked it over for damages and pulled it on. He then placed the audio diaries and his satchel of canned food against his chest and closed the suit over them. Now walking very awkwardly, he went over to a bench next to the lockers where several diving helmets lay. Selecting the one with the least amount of rust, he gingerly lowered it over his head and locked it in place.
Now straining to stay upright under the weight of the suit, Michael made his way into the airlock and pulled a brass lever on the wall. The door behind him slid closed and the room began to flood with freezing sea water, passing his knees, chest and finally his head in a matter of seconds.

"Just breathe," he told himself as the water passed the helmet's viewing port.
There was a rumble of metal and a doorway in front of him slid down, revealing the sand-covered floor of the ocean.
With a feeling of trepidation, Michael took a deep breath and walked through the opening.
The seabed was criss-crossed with rubble that had fallen from the city over the years, so he chose his footing carefully. The diving suit was designed to withstand the immense pressure of the deep sea, but any damage could prove fatal.
Alongside the rubble and twisted metal were tall glowing corals, no doubt the result of ADAM exposure, but he did not have time to stay and admire them.

Ahead, the main building for the Fontaine Futuristics public laboratories appeared through the gloom, its airlock no more than a few metres away.
A shadow crossed the sandy floor ahead of Michael. He glanced up, but there was nothing, not even a clump of seaweed.
Then something darted out from one of the buildings above him and disappeared behind another. He started to run as fast as the bulky suit would allow. The shadow darted out again, passing in front of a lit window. It was a tall figure wearing a slender diving suit, the port hole of its spherical helmet glowing a deep red.

A Big Sister.
In the years since the civil war, those Little Sisters who had survived had fallen under the leadership of Sophia Lamb, becoming fearsome fighters for her 'Rapture Family'. Worse still, many of them had learnt how to master the combat plasmids they had helped create.
Knowing there was no way he could fight the creature, Michael ran at the second airlock, but still he moved with painful slowness. The shadow passed over him, bigger than before. It was ten metres to the door. The shadow grew closer. The door was only five metres away when the Big Sister swam across his path, leaving a trail of bubbles in her wake. He lunged forward and his foot made contact with the door frame.
WHAM!
The Big Sister struck the side of his helmet, sending shock waves through his head. Disoriented, his other foot caught on the edge of the door frame, sending him into a slow-motion fall.

He hit the metal floor of the airlock hard, causing pain to shoot up his arm and shoulder. Trying to ignore the stabs of agony, he twisted around and saw the Big Sister swimming toward him, blade at the ready.
With only seconds to spare, Michael looked around wildly for the drainage lever, spotting it a few centimetres from his helmet. The Big Sister was now swimming at full pelt.
Mustering all his strength, he pushed himself up and closed his fingers around the switch. He yanked it down and the airlock door slammed shut, causing a muffled thud as the Big Sister crashed against the heavy sheet of steel.

A few seconds later, the pumps grumbled into life and the water quickly drained away.
Once the room was empty, Michael unlocked the brass bolts that held the helmet to the suit and pulled it loose. He was cold, clammy, and shaking like a leaf, but alive. His left side stung from where it had struck the floor, but luckily nothing seemed to be broken.
"Gil?" he said into his radio."
"I hear you Michael," Gilbert replied.
"I made it through to the public labs. One of Lamb's Big Sisters tried to get the drop on me, but I think your recordings escaped without damage."
"A Big Sister? She must not want anyone to leave. You'll have to work fast.
"You don't need to tell me twice."
Removing the rest of the diving suit, Michael piled Gilbert's audio diaries into the crook of his arm and unlocked the second door, setting off into the depts of the complex.

For the next hour, Michael made his way through the laboratories, placing the diaries where Gilbert had specified. Eventually he made it to the lobby, leaving the last tape for the next passerby, whoever that may be, and closed the security door behind him.
"It's done," he radioed through to Gilbert.
"Thank you Michael," he replied, "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Don't mention it, but what will you do now? There's no way back past the Alphas."
"Don't worry about me, just find a way out of this city."
A sad smile played across Michael's face.
"I had a chance at escape before Gil, and I failed. Rapture will never give me a second one."

"You'll find a way Michael," Gilbert said, his voice suddenly filled with determination, "You always do."
"Maybe. Thanks for everything Gil."
"Thank you as well. Goodbye Michael."
"Goodbye Doctor Alexander.
The radio went silent and Michael began his journey into the darkness ahead.
He was trying to work out if it was possible for him to slip unnoticed back to Pauper's Drop, when the radio crackled into life. This time however, it was not Gilbert Alexander who spoke.

"Michael? It's me, Eleanor, are you there?"
He stared in disbelief at the small device. Was this a trap by Sophia? A means to track him?
"Michael please, I need your help."
Slowly he unclipped the radio from his belt and depressed the speak button. Trap or not, he could not leave her twisting in the wind.
"Eleanor? How did you get a radio? Last I heard your mother had you locked up."
"She... she does, but one of the Little Sisters was able to smuggle this to me."
"Eleanor... If Lamb finds out..."
"What else can my mother do?" she said, her kind voice suddenly full of poison, "She's locked me away from everyone, and driven away you and Doctor Alexander."
"You... you heard about the experiment?"
"I hear more than you think, and I know what Mother's planning to do to me next."

Michael felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. Eleanor was one of the few people in Rapture he cared about, and now he was abandoning her to Lamb's twisted experiments.
"Michael..." said Eleanor, the gentleness returning to her voice, "I know I would be asking too much, but I need your help, one last time."
He looked blankly at the radio for a minute.
"Eleanor... I want to... but I don't know if I can."
"Please Michael, this is the only way any of us can be free again," came Eleanor's voice.
He sighed. Regardless of his fate, he could not abandon her now.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked.