Ryan flicked the light switch at the foot of the stairs. He was stopped in his tracks by what faced him.
"Holy shit! Way to go dad." As Lexi pushed past him a smile broke out across her face. "Ryan. This is incredible. I knew briefly from one of our last conversations together that dad was working on some serious tech but he never said anything about this place. Can you make anything of it?"
He scanned the room. On the wall opposite him was located the Computer Mainframe. He'd seen similar at BioTech but why did Mike need this hardware here? Used mainly by government institutions and large companies for tasks such as census, industry and consumer statistics, this didn't make sense. To the rear of the room, a myriad of tv screens. As Ryan moved towards them, they all simultaneously switched on. CCTV footage. His eyes darted from one scene to another. Live feeds from the local area. Ryan noticed the top three screens covered Mike's house; front entrance, rear entrance and a view from the church at the street corner. Further along he saw BioChem, the car park, reception, the lab, the Boardroom! Other screens tracked the movements of the New Jersey State Police, local hospitals and then there at the bottom; it was his place! His and Michelle's. Mike was watching everybody: Ryan and Michelle. Lexi at University. The ins and outs at BioChem. Police movements across town.
"Lex. Who was Mike Johnson?! Cos this ain't the type of place an Associate Professor resides in. I thought your old man was a legend. But this! This is next level shit!"
Lexi laughed hysterically. Her eyes misted over as she stared back at Ryan, unable to respond.
Ryan laughed back. "It was kinda rhetorical. Of course I knew your dad was a next level badass. This is impressive."
He moved away from the monitors, passed by the mainframe and headed towards the far end of the lab. He checked the cabinet and in amongst the multitude of glass bottles he saw it. The cause of his affliction. MRG-241! On the bench he saw a stack of papers. He grabbed the first article, 'Maintenance Information Message MI 10-040 "Camouflaging Specific Small Arms." It was pretty mundane. Your bog standard , Army issued, idiots guide to all things military. He skimmed the text. Mike's scrawl all over it. Like a spider's crawled over this shit! The final note though. It was important. Mike had written,
'don't use true black. silhouette too visible. blend in and disrupt - dark grey, blue or green!!'
Ryan threw the papers back on the desk. He sensed Lexi behind him.
"So you gonna paint yourself green then? Like the bogeyman?" She chuckled.
"No!", answered Ryan looking at his 'reflection' in the glass, his face partially visible in areas. "Dark blue. Less distinguishable. Like a ghost."
"A ghost? Hmm. I like it. It suits you."
YOU ARE READING
The Ghost
Science FictionA cure to save millions. Or a tool to create devastation. If only Junior Researcher Ryan Elliot could have known what dangers he would place all of those around him in upon revealing his big breakthrough, maybe he'd have thought twice about it. But...
