Tin Universe Monthly #1

by Brian C. Williams

  Dr. Stray left. He had always been worried about Colin. Always thought he cared more about power than making the world better. Now he was walking out into the world thinking differently about the son of one of his best friends.

  A few minutes after Dr. Stray exited Colin stood and walked out of the meeting room, ‘Father, we do have one thing in common. We aren’t afraid to leap.’

  Chapter

  Forty-Five

  When Colin Ryan was a teenager he went through a phase rich boys often do of wanting to hang out with the poor kids. One of those kids was someone he called his best friend until he got bored and moved on to collecting stamps. This young man’s name was Ted Hunter. Colin’s nickname for Ted was Nebbish which was something he picked up on a trip to London once with a distant relative that the family had basically hired to be family for him for a few months.

  After his time being friends and romping with the rich Ted finished high school and earned a scholarship playing baseball at a local university. An injury destroyed his dreams of playing professional ball. After losing his scholarship because of his injury and being completely unable to play baseball Ted fell back in with some old friends from the neighborhood and became a bodyguard for a group of small time drug dealers. After multiple arrests and almost going to prison for a murder committed by one of his employers Ted decided to get a job at a local restaurant and leave his past behind. His dreams were gone, his chance at a good life was gone, and now he just wanted to live.

  And that is all he wanted to do.

  So when someone knocked on his apartment door Ted never expected to find Colin Ryan standing outside on the other side dressed in an eight thousand dollar suit and holding his arms out like Christ for one of his sheep.

  Later in the day in the laboratories of Colin Ryan Industries Dr. Stray was boxing up everything involving Project Gene Throw. He agreed with his boss 100% on the decision to halt the project cold.

  They could use what they learned from Project Gene Throw and implement it in other projects that would benefit the world and not add more suffering to it.

  Colin walked into the lab startling Dr. Stray who was not expecting to see him.

  ‘Mr. Ryan we’re almost finished with the cleanup operation. I have only a couple more boxes of files to shred and one box of sphere units left to destroy.’ Colin walked over, took his gloves off, and opened a box sitting on a lab table.

  ‘Those are the units sir. They are activated by keys and have three minute adjustable timers. I'm so happy to know they won’t be doing anyone any harm.’

  Colin looked at the sphere he was holding in his hand. Looking it over seeing the sunlight from the lab windows reflected off its shiny surface and he thought about how much now was needed for a step in the right direction.

  Dr. Stray was returning from an adjoining room. ‘Sir, I just destroyed the last of the files. Only the units remain.’

  Colin looked at the sphere he was still holding. Then he looked up and smiled at Dr. Stray, ‘Could you get me some water? The moment has me dry mouthed.’

  Dr. Stray smiled, nodded, and walked over to the lab’s food refrigerator, thinking that even if Colin had changed from the over privileged rich boy who only cared about profits, he was still a spoiled brat in a lot of ways. He reached into the back of the refrigerator for a bottle of water and pulled it out.

  The impact of the bullet wiped away, well blew away, half of Dr. William Stray’s face and splattered it against the white refrigerator behind him. He fell to the floor with a thud. He was dead before his impact against the cold tiles that lined the floor of the lab sounded out.

  Envision slowly entered the room and picked the bottle of water off the floor. He wiped some blood spots and brain bits off of it and handed it to his boss.

  Colin unscrewed the top off the bottle and downed it in one try. He replaced the screw cap and handed the bottle back to Envision who was putting away his pistol. ‘Make sure this goes into a recycling bin.’ He put his gloves back on and picked up the box of gene spheres. ‘I have another appointment. Handle the rest of this.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  Chapter

  Forty-Six

  Scott and Siders have come to find themselves in the smallest airport in Florida. Well, not the smallest, which would be the one in Palm Bay, but that one is only used for the most part by some rich asshole that lives in Chicago as the local community likes to say.

  Sitting in an expensive airport restaurant the two former military men are now awaiting the announcement of the next plane to Chicago. Their flight was canceled and they were supposed to be in Vancouver in a day.

  Scott was digging into a huge plate of French Fries while Siders was trying to enjoy a salad that had passed its prime date long before it was served to him.

  ‘What do you think they’ll have us doing next?’

  ‘Hopefully I get assigned to be a janitor somewhere because I’m tired of all of this super secret information diving.’

  ‘Come on. You don’t get off a little on this secret shit?’

  ‘You Americans do.’

  ‘Fuck you Brit.’

  They smiled at each other and started laughing quietly to avoid attracting attention.

  ‘Maybe they’ll send us to London.’

  ‘I hope not. My ex-wife lives there.’

  Sitting behind Scott and Siders were Sabrena and Ken. They actually got on Siders and Scott’s nerves so much with their loud arguing that our two newly christened black ops agents got up and left without finishing their meals.

  Chapter

  Forty-Seven

  Humans are the only beings who can go out to synthesize an elixir of immortality and end up with gunpowder.

  I think I read that in a dream once on the back of trading card wrapper.

  On top of one of the tallest buildings in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago Ted Hunter stood beside an air circulation system where minutes before he placed a box labeled Colin Ryan Industries.

  He had been slowly finishing off one bottle of gin and was ready to start another. He took a big swig from a fresh bottle and without putting down the bottle he opens the box he was standing beside. He takes out one of the spheres from the box. He took another long drink and set it down next to the box.

  Pulling a key from his pants pocket he inserted it into the sphere and a timing clock readout clicked on and started a countdown. Ted turned and slung the sphere off the roof and watched it sail through the air.

  It descended toward the street below.

  The minutes before destruction are always poetry.

  Scott and Siders really loathed airlines now. Doesn’t help really that they were stuck in one spot for a very long time and when they get out and about it seems like nothing is going right in their traveling.

  It doesn’t take much travel to put a hate on for airlines thought in most people’s heads though.

  When they finally arrived in Chicago the airport was shut down because of a terrorist threat or some idiot left a bag filled with duty free crap at the airport unattended; which is normally the case.

  Now both of them were standing in another line but this time the line was for a restaurant called Sidewalk Dogs which an airline magazine said was the most popular hot dog joint in all of Chicago.

  Both of them were tired of airports and had to get away from them for at least a little while. Their flight was canceled for at least a day so they had nothing better to do anyways so a little food exploring was called for.

  ‘Hot dogs are more of an American thing really. I grew up on bangers & mash.’ Siders commented.

  ‘You my friend are a stereotype of your people. Though to be honest I like bangers & mash too. But there is nothing like a Chicago dog.’

  ‘So you keep saying over and over.’

  ‘Not like we have anything el…’

  Scott’s words were cut short by a sudden explosion from across the street. The explosion put a bomb sized crater in the
street and killed anyone within five yards of it. Take how big a bomb sized crater actually is and see the force of the blast sent Scott, Siders, and others who were standing in line for Sidewalk Dogs flying through the window of the restaurant.

  The whole outlook had already turned into a chaos blurred scene of human perception. Very few people have what it takes inside to control their minds and hearts from a chaos such as this to actually doing something in a situation like this.

  Scott regained consciousness first and slowly got to his feet. All around him people were unconscious or dead and the restaurant was filled with glass, blood, and debris. And here and there body chunks.

  He turned to one side and saw Siders starting to move. His partner took more of the explosion than he did. Scott moved slowly over still dizzy himself and started helping his partner to his feet.

  Siders was a little weak in the legs but after a few minutes regained his firm footing, ‘What happened?’

  ‘Some sort o…’

  But again before Scott could finish his thought another blast shook everything on the street.

  Siders and Scott hit the glass covered floor instantly without any thoughts of the glass now pressing into their chest and hands.

  ‘That sounded like it came from down the street.’

  ‘Terrorist, maybe beyond human?’

  ‘Isn’t everyone these days? That or someone just really pissed. Either way we need to see about the people in here and then check on the ones outside.’

  Siders gave his partner a- Are You Insane, look.

  Scott sighed, ‘Listen. You know as well as I do that in a terrorist situation, sniper situation, or whatever this is, that the police won’t allow ambulances into the scene until they know the location is secure. We might be these people’s only hope for survival.’

  ‘Poor fuckers.’

  For an hour that seemed like a day more explosions rang out through the streets of Chicago causing death and destruction.

  Ted picked up the last of the gene grenades, staggered a little, and almost fell off the roof of the building. He steadied himself and pulled up to stand straight on the edge of the roof. He took another drink from the bottle and a police sniper rifle bullet went straight through his neck. Slowly the grenade rolled out from Ted’s hand and off his fingertips.

  Down Ted and the grenade fell off the roof toward the street below. About halfway down the grenade exploded blowing one hand off of Ted’s body. Ted watched almost in slow motion in horror as the last bit of life drifted out of him the sight of a few of his fingers flying away.

  Bones from his hand traveled through a window of the building across the street and landed in the trash in a telecommunications office. The rest of his body hit on the street below along with glass and debris and particles from the grenade explosion. Everything except Ted’s left hand rained down on a group of police officers on the empty street below.

  The images continued to flood the television channels as Colin watched from his office, ‘We all need to grow stronger.’

  Scott and Siders were helping emergency crews load the injured and dying into vehicles to get them to local hospitals for treatment. The explosions have stopped with a sniper taking out the attacker but everyone was still on the edge of knowing that in these situations sometimes a calm period is a set up for more destruction.

  Scott got into a police car to catch a ride to get checked out also. The ambulances were so filled with the very injured so police and fire where loading up on the merely injured.

  Siders was ready to get into the other side of the car when Pulpy came down from the sky and landed beside him. Siders looked at him and moved to continue getting in the car but then he stopped, got back out, and stepped right in front of Pulpy. Scott and the police officer got out of the car also wondering what was going to happen.

  Pulpy looked at the man who was nowhere as potent as he was in presence, appearance, or power, and Siders moved a little closer to his face to make sure the what he had to say would be heard, ‘Just because you can fly does not mean you can’t walk among us. Maybe if you did you would have been here to help. Just about the only thing you would be good for now is if you grabbed a broom.’

  The three non-beyond human men got into the car and it pulled away leaving Pulpy standing in the street that had seen so much death on that day. The only signs remaining were debris, blood splatters, and smoke from formerly burning wreckage.

  What Siders did not know was that Pulpy hadn’t just been flying around but was in fact fighting the good fight somewhere else. A fight created to distract him. And it did distract him from other things not of its design.

  Pulpy flew back up into the sky and soared above the city knowing he could never do enough. He flew above some clouds so he did not have to see the cities of humanity and floated in the air there for a time thinking.

  Colin had spent the whole day watching television and he caught a report describing Pulpy arriving after the crisis was over, ‘Too bad you do not live here hero. This city is about to get a whole lot more interesting. We have had mobsters, the Cubs, and Ozzie Gullien. They haven’t seen anything yet. This city knows how to survive. Now it will learn how to grow from survival to strength.’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Yes, Envision.’

  ‘Were you saying something to me, sir?’

  ‘No, just talking to myself.’

  Chapter

  Forty-Eight

  Neil Brown Hospital is where most of those injured by the grenade attacks were rushed. It is the best hospital in Chicago and also the largest. It was named after the first person to be killed by a beyond human serial killer named ISO.

  Neil Brown was a member of one of the richest families in Chicago. He died on the streets of New York. ISO almost ripped his head off his shoulders while strangling him to death. His killer was brought to justice by Pulpy a week later but only after seven more people died.

  When Pulpy fought ISO he flew them both up into the skies above New York City and ISO was never seen again. Officially the government said he was being held in an undisclosed location for the benefit of the rest of society.

  Remind me to tell you about what really happened some other time because that’s some fucked up shit son.

  Scott and Siders were sitting in the ER waiting room drinking a couple of sodas bought for them by hospital staff members who were grateful to them for helping with the other victims. Every so often so one walks by and pats one of them on the back.

  They actually treated each other’s minor injuries with the hospital staff having more severe cases to focus on. They had offered their services as both have EMT level training but the hospital staff thought they looked whipped enough.

  Right now they were just trying to rest while wondering where this sudden burst of heroism they had showed came from. The phone the black ops officer gave Scott and Siders had been in Siders’s back pocket so long they had both forgotten about it and it scared the shit out of them when it started to ring.

  Both men snapped to attention.

  That’s training there.

  Siders tried to give Scott the phone, ‘You answer it.’

  Scott waved him off holding his hands in the air, ‘You have it. You answer it.’

  Siders pushed the green button and put the phone to his ear. He did not say a word out of total abstract fear and just listened for over an hour to the other side of the phone until he said, ‘Yes sir.’ He hit the red button and put the phone back into his pocket.

  ‘What did they say?’

  ‘Wrong number,’ Siders said. Then he took a drink of his soda and turned to Scott, ‘Actually, they’re curious to know why we’re sitting here drinking Pepsi in a waiting room when we should be on our way. I, on the other hand, am curious to know how they know that’s what we’re doing. Know what I’m saying?’

  Both men started looking around as if they would see something with a sign saying- Big Brother Is Watching.

  ‘So I
guess we’d better get on the road again?’

  ‘You guess right. And you will never believe where they’re sending us now.’

  Our two favorite career military men slowly left the hospital after saying a few goodbyes to hospital staff. As they went through the main double doors to the emergency room Scott turned back and said to his friend, ‘Well, at least those people will get a couple of good night’s sleep even if we won’t.’

  Chapter

  Forty-Nine

  Two nights later as most of Neil Brown Hospital slept stuff of destiny was ready to unfold.

  Down deep below the other floors of the building, past the places of healing and even the dark places of billing, you find where the bodies of the dead inside the morgue.

  In a section of the morgue that has been set aside for quarantined corpses a sort of military waiting room set up for military agents arriving to examine the bodies that died by the grenade attacks.

  The bodies from the attacks were laying on twelve old black marble slabs that dated back to when the lower levels of the hospital were actually the lower levels of a slaughterhouse.

  The media was going full tilt and without many questions with the military’s story reporting that the grenade attacks were the action of a lone crazy man who had stolen a box of grenades from a military reserve base nearby.

  Not totally a lie but a significant part of the puzzle was unknown to any living soul. That is with the exceptions being Colin Ryan and his personal servant. The grenades were spheres of gene altering chemicals and all of it was a plan of purposeful chaos.

  On one of the marble slaughter tables a hand twitched.

  In a movie that would have been much better bit. The camera would have zoomed in slowly on the hand and then a quick twitch would hopefully get the viewers heart beating.

  Chapter Fifty

  Usef was itching to put Lindsey and Julie to hard work. He was old and frankly he had a good healthy hate for the young but before he could crack the whip, so to speak, and not just so to speak, because he does actually have a whip, by orders from his master he had to introduce them first to the others Death employees to keep his home running smoothly.