Sa'lok

by Elin Wyn

  Clearing my throat, I looked away from him. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Submit this order to the lab administration,” he quickly replied, typing up a list of chemicals and their dosages on the keyboard. “See if they have what we need in stock. I want to get started right away.”

  “Aye, aye, captain,” I teased him, but did as I was told. Ten minutes later, a young lab assistant was wheeling a sealed cart inside the room.

  I hung back as Sa'lok worked his magic, pacing back and forth between the various computers and machinery as he tried to mix the right dosage of the chemicals, and did my best to help whenever he asked me to.

  I wasn’t exactly feeling useful—there were only so many utensils I could pass him—but I didn’t mind it; it felt comfortable to be around him.

  The night slipped away faster than I was expecting, and it was already early morning when Sa'lok jumped to his feet and grinned wildly. “It’s done,” he announced, hands on his hips as he looked at the small vial in front of him, a clear liquid resting inside it. “I have no idea if this is going to work, or what effects it’ll produce, but I think we’re onto something.”

  “What now?” I asked, looking toward the corner of the lab where the unconscious scientist still lay sedated and restrained.

  Even though I didn’t like it, the fact that he had been infected by the Gorgo meant that we had to take some precautions. “Can we use it on him?”

  “Not while he’s unconscious,” Sa'lok whispered, a slight frown showing on his face. He only seemed to be considering it now, and his disappointment was almost palpable. “I don’t know if he’d receive the memory in a dream or not. It’s too many variables to account for.”

  For a guy that always accused me of being in a hurry, he sure didn’t look like he was willing to wait for the poor guy to wake up.

  But I hated to see him so disappointed.

  “How are you going to administer it, anyway?”

  “Just a few drops under the tongue should do it,” he replied. “That’s the quickest way to get it into his system. I guess we’ll have to wait until he’s awake, and then we’ll try.”

  Walking past him, I grabbed the small vial as carefully as I could, pinching it between my index finger and thumb, and narrowed my eyes at the sloshing liquid inside. “This looks like water,” I said. “Or acid. Are you sure this is safe?”

  “Yes. Worst case scenario, it won’t do a thing. Maybe provoke some mild euphoria.”

  “That doesn’t sound too bad,” I whispered, an idea suddenly bursting into my mind. “Why don’t I give it a try?”

  “What are you saying?” he asked me, disbelief all over his face.

  “I’m saying that I want to test it on myself,” I announced, looking away from the vial and into Sa'lok’s eyes. “You don’t want to wait, and I don’t want to wait. So let’s just get this over with.”

  Sa'lok

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  “What?” Taking a step back, Teisha raised both eyebrows and clutched the vial against her chest. “You said it’s harmless. So what’s the harm in trying it on me? The way I see it, there’s no downside.”

  She had me there.

  Still, even though I believed that my chemical cocktail was perfectly safe, there were a lot of unforeseen complications that could arise.

  By testing it on the Gorgo-infected scientist, I would be taking a controlled risk.

  But with Teisha...no, I couldn’t risk it, even if there was virtually zero danger to what she wanted to do.

  “Please, Teisha, give me the serum,” I asked her, holding my hand out. “As sure as I am, I don’t want to take unnecessary risks. You’re not infected, and—”

  Before I could continue, Teisha popped the cap off the vial with her thumb. A small smile spread across her lips and, as a response, I frowned. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Like what?” she laughed, sticking her tongue out in a playful manner.

  By the ancestors! How could she be acting like this? “You didn’t lie to me, did you? This thing won’t kill me, will it?”

  “No, I don’t think so, but—”

  “And then we can find out if it works for more than one person, right? Progress.” Holding the vial up, she brought it to her lips and carefully allowed some of the liquid to touch them.

  Once she was sure there were a few drops under her tongue, she placed the cap back on the vial and finally surrendered it to me.

  “You’re insane.”

  “Thank you,” she smiled.

  “That wasn’t meant as a compliment.”

  “I know.” Turning around, she placed both hands on her hips and looked down at her body. “What happens now? Am I supposed to be feeling something? Because I feel perfectly normal.”

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted. Never having tried the serum before, I had no idea what its effects would be.

  Even though I was worried about Teisha, it was slightly disappointing to see that the serum wasn’t doing anything at all.

  I was already tweaking the formula in my head when Teisha staggered back.

  “Hang on,” she muttered, her voice mellowing out. Placing one hand on the desk beside her for support, she closed her eyes and a lazy smile dawned on her lips. “I think I might need a seat,” she continued, and I could already see her knees starting to buckle.

  Moving fast, I grabbed a chair and placed it behind her. “Much better now,” she said as she sank into it.

  “What’s going on?” I was trying to hide any excitement from my voice, but it was impossible. Something was happening. “Talk to me, Teisha, what are you feeling?”

  “Have you ever taken any drugs?” Draping both arms over the armrests, she leaned back and sighed. “I haven’t. I guess you haven’t either. You’re too much of a by-the-rules kind of guy. But if I had to guess, this feels like a drug. It’s as if I’m floating.”

  I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not, but I reached for her and laid one hand on her knee to anchor her.

  “You feel good, then?”

  “Are you kidding? I feel more than just good.” Suddenly, she sat straight in the chair, and her eyelids fluttered open. “I feel...oh, God, I feel just like I felt when the twins were born.” Looking straight into my eyes, she laid her hand on top of mine, her tiny, delicate fingers wrapping around and squeezing mine, and her voice dropped into a gentle whisper. “I feel happy.”

  I said nothing at that. I just took in every detail of her perfect face, stray wisps of hair falling over her forehead.

  Her cherry lips were slightly parted, and each breath she drew was gentle and smooth. She looked relaxed...and beautiful.

  “I can smell it, you know?” she whispered, closing her eyes again. “The scent of their tiny blankets as I held them for the first time. And I can see it, too. Syra, with her disheveled hair and tired smile, lying on the hospital bed. Lyrie and Lyle, too. God, they were so tiny.”

  “That’s a good memory, right?” The answer was an obvious one, but I still needed to hear her say it.

  “The best memory,” she replied in that sleepy tone. Lazily, she opened her eyes and reached for my face, gently cupping it with the open palm of her hand. “Thank you, Sa'lok.”

  “What for?”

  “For making me remember.” Taking a deep, soft breath, she continued. “It’s hard to explain, but the way I’m remembering it...it’s all so vivid. It’s almost as if I’m back there again.” She paused for a moment, then ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. “Can you get me some water? My throat feels dry.”

  Grabbing some bottled water from the small refrigeration unit in the breakroom, I returned to her side as fast as I could. “Here,” I said, pushing the bottle into her hands after unscrewing the cap. “Drink up.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice regaining some strength. “I feel so goddamn thirsty.”

  I made a mental note of that, and then held one hand out.

&n
bsp; She looked at it for a moment, confused, and then grabbed it.

  “I just want to see if you can stand up,” I explained as I pulled her up to her feet. As she did, I smiled as I saw her standing straight, with no noticeable swaying or staggering. “Good, it looks like the serum’s wearing off.”

  “Yeah, I can feel it,” she nodded. “That was like going from sober to drunk, then sober again, in just a couple of minutes. I just hope this stuff won’t leave me nursing a hangover.”

  “I can’t promise you that.” Laying one hand on her shoulder, I smiled. “But even if it does, it was worth it.”

  “It was?” she blinked slowly, still a bit confused.

  “Yes. What happened to you means that we don’t need to target specific memories for every single person. There’s no need to customize the serum, at least as far as I can tell.” My mind flew ahead, making notes to send to the main lab.

  “Right now, it seems like the formula is enough to trigger general feelings of happiness, love, and excitement...and those feelings are what will circle someone’s mind to the happiest memories they have. I thought I’d have to tweak the formula for each person, as every person has different triggers, but it seems like the serum has a blanket effect. That’s the theory, anyway.”

  “You did it,” Teisha cried out, “you really did!”

  “Hold on, we don’t know that for—”

  Before I had the chance to finish my sentence, she closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around my torso.

  My heart kicked and punched against my ribcage as I felt her delicate body pressed against mine and, reacting on instinct alone, I cradled her head with one hand as I held her close.

  We lingered in each other’s arms for a long moment, then Teisha pulled slightly back and looked into my eyes.

  “We make a great team, don’t we?” she asked me, her words soft.

  “Yes, we do,” I found myself saying, my voice nothing but a whisper. Slowly, my eyes were drawn to her parted lips.

  For a moment, I wondered how they’d taste, how it’d feel to pull her in and simply go for it.

  With one hand resting on the nape of her neck, I kept my eyes on hers and leaned in, my instincts somehow bypassing my rational mind.

  Our lips were mere inches apart when a loud crash broke the moment.

  “What the hell?” Teisha cried out, turning around fast.

  I did the same, just in time to see a vine slithering away from the spot on the floor where the vial with the serum lay shattered.

  “You broke it?” I shook my head, confused, instinctively reaching for one of the vines that snaked up a pipe that ran across the wall. “Puppet Master, why would you do that?”

  I expected to feel the warmth of the Puppet Master’s presence, but it simply wasn’t there.

  There was a kind of brittle coldness in its place, one that I didn’t exactly care for. “Why would you do such a thing?” I insisted, anger getting the best of me.

  Wrapping my fingers around the vine in my hand, I did my best not to crush it in anger. When I didn’t get an answer, I raised my voice. “Answer me!”

  “They’re here,” came a faint whisper, and all of a sudden, the vines inside the lab started thrashing around haphazardly.

  I felt the vine in my hand squeezing my fingers back, and I saw Teisha grimace as the one wrapped around her ankle started tightening up. “They’re here.”

  “Who’s here?” I asked, looking around the lab to see it completely deserted.

  Aside from Teisha, all the other scientists were still in their quarters, and it’d be an hour or two before they’d start marching back into the lab. “I don’t understand.”

  “They’re here,” the Puppet Master repeated one last time, and then the vines grew limp.

  They fell onto the floor as if dead.

  The only thoughts inside my head were my own.

  I tried to close my eyes, just to see if I could focus and hear the Puppet Master’s voice, but it was useless.

  The Puppet Master was gone.

  Teisha

  “What the hell just happened? What did the Puppet Master mean by ‘they’re here’?” My voice sounded more panicky than I expected it to be, but that was to be expected, given the circumstances.

  One of our long-standing allies had just gone berserk, and we had no idea why.

  “You heard it too?” Sa'lok asked me, his eyes wide with confusion. Hesitantly, he reached for the vine wrapped around his wrist and peeled it off. Its color was still bright green, but it was limp and lifeless otherwise.

  The moment Sa'lok opened his hand, the vine just fell to the floor, offering no resistance.

  “Yeah, I heard it,” I replied, looking around the lab as I wrapped my arms around my body.

  The Puppet Master’s last words had been ominous ones, and a feeling of dread and anxiety was starting to take over me.

  What exactly had he meant? Was someone coming our way?

  Had the Gorgos managed to find out about the Glymna lab?

  When I told Sa'lok about my fears, he pursed his lips tightly and reached for the comms unit on his belt.

  “This is Sa'lok speaking,” he started to say, “I’m currently in lab 06. I need a perimeter update. Any breaches or suspicious activity to report?”

  “Nothing at all, sir,” a voice crackled past the static of the comm. “Everything’s quiet. Nothing to report in the lab perimeter, or even in the city.” There was a slight pause then, and when Sa'lok didn’t say anything, whoever was on the other end of the line decided to continue, although somewhat hesitantly. “Do we have any reasons for concern?”

  “No, not right now,” Sa'lok replied, but I noticed the way his fingers tightened around the comms unit, his knuckles turning white. “Just keep your guard up.”

  “Will do, sir.”

  “I’m so confused,” I admitted, raking one hand over my face as I said it. “If there’s no one trying to break into the labs, then what the hell was the Puppet Master talking about? And why did he knock over the serum? None of this makes any sense.”

  Gritting his teeth, Sa'lok pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he always did whenever he wanted to focus.

  He took a couple of deep breaths, and then exhaled sharply through his nose. “Maybe he wasn’t talking about the labs,” he finally said. “Maybe he was talking about something else.”

  “Something else? Like what?” Then, before he could reply, it dawned on me. I knew that the Puppet Master’s core—or brain or heart or whatever it was—was hidden under a complex system of underground tunnels out in the desert.

  The teams under General Rouhr’s command made regular trips there and, as Sa'lok had once told me, even anti-alien militants had attacked it once.

  “Someone’s there with the Puppet Master.” I swallowed hard. “Someone he doesn’t like.”

  “That’s the most likely scenario,” Sa'lok breathed out through gritted teeth. He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, and I could tell he wasn’t sure of what he should do next. “That probably explains why he tried to destroy the serum. It was, after all, the first potentially working cure we had for pushing the Gorgos out of their host bodies.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said. “You think the Puppet Master has been infected?”

  “I’m not sure. But that would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?”

  “God, what a mess,” I sighed, sinking back down onto the chair.

  While earlier I had sat because I was feeling happy and drowsy, now I sat down because I didn’t know what else to do.

  Sa'lok didn’t say a word for about a minute, but when he finally spoke up, there was no indecision in his voice. He had looked at the facts we had from every angle, like a true engineer, and he had reached a decision.

  “Come on.” Taking my hand, he pulled me up to my feet. I came up so fast that the chair I had been sitting on toppled to the floor. “We’re going there.”

  “To the Puppet Ma
ster’s lair?” I asked him, even though I already knew what the answer would be. “I’ve never been there.”

  “I’ve been there before a couple of times,” he continued as he dragged me out of the lab and into the partially lit corridor. “I’ll guide you.” We made our way toward the sealed door with quick strides and, once it swung back to let us out, it took all we had not to break into a run.

  “Wait.” I stopped all of a sudden and, before Sa'lok could protest, I grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. He spun around, not looking too happy, but he waited for me to continue. “The scientist. We left him back at the lab.”

  “Rek,” he growled, and grabbed his comms unit. “This is Sa'lok speaking.”

  “Officer Mitchell here,” the voice from before replied. “If you want to know about the perimeter, everything’s the same as it—”

  “I need you to pay close attention to what I’m going to say,” Sa'lok cut him short. Grabbing my hand, he started walking again, leading the way through the maze of underground corridors. “I want you to call whoever you need to and give the hovercraft I flew in on clearance for a flight out of the city.”

  “That’s done, sir. Ships transporting government officials are free from—”

  “Then I want you to head into the scientists’ quarters and wake up whoever’s doing the morning shift in lab 06.”

  “They won’t be too happy about—”

  “Just do it,” Sa'lok growled. “By now they’re probably aware that one of them has been infected by the Gorgos. Tell them they’ll find him bound inside the lab, and that they’re to keep him safe, unharmed, and to monitor him.”

  “Alright,” the officer said. “May I ask what this is all—”

  Before officer Mitchell could finish his sentence, Sa'lok pressed a button on his comms unit and severed the connection. Placing it back on his belt, he then started walking faster.

  I was almost having to run just so I could keep up with him.