by Nathan Ward
Josh slowly approached the incubator window, his face full of deep sadness as he set his sights over the suffering woman. He placed his hand upon the glass and cast his eyes over her body, trying to make sense of what had been happening.
“I thought I asked you to wait outside the elevator, Captain Williams,” came a voice from behind the shadows, grasping the attention of Josh who wondered why that voice sounded so familiar...
“My apologies, Commander. I… seem to be experiencing a fault,” replied Williams hesitantly.
The shadowed figure still stood far out of sight as it spoke.
“I would agree and I strongly suggest you submit yourself for inspection, you have clearance to Level sixty five – thank you for your service.”
“It has been my honor,” Williams replied as she turned to head towards the elevator, unable to throw out the vision of the lifeless human ruins chained up inside the incubator capsules. Now she had begun to understand why she was never permitted to enter, that sight was enough to throw anyone off course and it had only just grazed the surface with Williams, who had now begun to silently form a web of question in her android mind as she wondered what awaited her on level sixty five...
The three prisoners had now been left alone with the mysterious shape in the shadows, Josh could feel something drawing him towards the unknown as he removed his hand from the incubator glass and took a few steps towards the centre of the room, catching a glimpse of Williams before the elevator doors clanked close once again.
“I know you, don’t I? The sound of your voice, it’s one I’ve heard before!” Josh claimed, peering towards the corner of the room, trying to make out the shape.
“Of course, we’re old friends.”
Josh fell in to a state of confusion.
“Old friends? I’m sorry, but I can’t recall you...”
“Perhaps casting some light on the situation might help?” Questioned the mysterious voice, followed by the sound of a ceiling light activating. Then a beam of light shone brightly down upon the figure, throwing off the cloak of shadow and revealing its identity. All three captives stared at the jaw dropping sight, it was a sight that had hit them hard – this was the very last person – if person was the right way to describe her - they had ever expected to see again...
“Commander Houghton!” Josh addressed, glaring in to her artificial eyes once more.
“Joshua Levett, it’s so good to be reacquainted, I hope you feel the same?” she asked with a sinister smile glued to her face, a face that held the exact same features as the one that was blown to atoms by Graham back at the Norwich Nuclear complex. Josh had no idea how to comprehend what he was seeing but one thing he knew for certain was that this time, it wasn’t going to end the same way as the last.
“How is this possible? How did you even survive that?” Josh raged, unable to contain his emotion.
“I rejoined with the network, the UNA hive mind. It was simple really, I had a new body reconstructed here within the tower of lights engineering compound, being reunited with the ability to walk and talk was one memory I will hold on to dearly, do you know how it feels to be completely immobile Mr. Levett?”
“What does it matter, if you can just print a brand new body and slap some false skin on it, but this hive mind you speak of… “
“We refer to it as, Astral. The soul and consciousness of the United Nations Alliance the creator, we all live as one, we are all astral, connected by one network, a hive operated mind…”
Josh suddenly had a thought, a realization that sparked within his mind.
“The beam of light, Astral is the energy beaming from the tower. That is the life and soul of the party?”
“Calm down, Josh!” said Steph in a frightened tone, clinging on to his arm unable to process anything that was being said as fear swamped her senses.
“Oh this just excites me a little bit; seen it done over and over in films and video games but when reality strikes, it’s a little bit more of a problem…those scripts are written to end well…”Josh exclaimed, peering up at the skies watching the pulsating glow of the energy above travelling the world, animating the UNA army. The tiniest of information had just painted a pretty little picture within Joshes mind, making it far easier to understand the state they were in - which didn’t seem to bother Houghton as she raised her hand to listen to an incoming transmission that had begun to flash through her receiver.
“Go ahead.”
Josh, Steph and Thomas stood in anticipation, waiting to find out what Houghton had planned for them, unable to map out an escape with no clearance to any of the UNA facilities it was all they could do, they were in the power of the Commander now who once again had a fierce grin materialize on to her face as she disconnected the transmission.
“I have some very good news which you will be proud to hear,” claimed Houghton, smiling brightly at the three prisoners stood in the centre of the room. “Your friend, Captain Murdock. He’s alive, could be in a better way but he made it and he’s under our watchful eye.”
Joshes expression was now one of pure dread as he sank to his knees with the realization that Murdock was their last hope. Now exhaustion was catching up with him, Josh no longer had the will to hold himself up, so Steph and Thomas had scrambled to his aid, holding on to him tightly glaring across at Houghton as tears flurried from Stephanie’s eyes.
“You’re Monsters! Why have you brought us here!? WHY!” she yelled as Houghton exchanged her abuse for a look of surprising delight, enhancing the intensity of her sinister inhuman smile until it almost seemed capable of ripping open the flesh of her cheeks as the others looked on in horror, realising the truth of the situation:
It seemed when Astral had created the UNA its intention had always been the same, to build an empire that could conquer the planet by any means, by whatever it took – Just in this instance, whatever it would take was going to be monstrous, something that would strike terror in to those who stood in their way, Astral had created itself…
Chapter 20: Supremacy secured
“Answer me! Why were we brought here? After so many years of fucking us around, WHY have you allowed us to step foot inside here?” Steph yelled, still clinging tightly to a weary Josh while being also assisted by Thomas who seemed to be in a state of remorse, glaring towards Houghton but his sights now seemed to extend beyond her as if she did not exist.
“We should of just followed Murdock, then at least we would still have a fighting chance of getting back to our people!” Thomas added, casting his mind back over the choices they had made.
Steph turned to Thomas with wetness still covering her tired face.
“I don’t think anyone has a chance of hope any more, Thomas. You heard what she said, it’s only a matter of time before he’s also dragged in - but I suspect he will be more of a challenge to detain, Houghton!” she said, weary but with a flicker or defiance in her tone, a defiance that refused to die even now in the face of exhaustion and opposition.
“Something we both agree on, Mrs. Levett,” replied Houghton, still standing at the corner of the room with all three prisoners in her sights, “We are ready for you now, but don’t waste any of that precious energy,” she added.
Then two heavy blast doors began to spring open behind her, they seemed at least a foot in thickness and took quite the mechanical force to push aside as the hydraulics released a furious blaze of cloud vapour that engulfed itself around Houghton and lurked its way like creeping mist around the oval room.
Then came the sound of boots hastily advancing into the room, four UNA android soldiers stormed out from the vapour cloud and plunged their hands on to the prisoners’ shoulders, they pulled them to their feet and assisted them towards the new opening that had revealed itself.
Josh, Steph and Thomas had no energy left inside them to put up any form of resistance, not even a faint struggle. They allowed the soldiers to tug them towards Houghton, who slowly turned her head with a returned look of
sinister blankness as the prisoners passed by, stumbling and trembling after every step with only the steel strength of the robotic soldiers upholding their body weight.
Josh had been assigned two soldiers to assist him who had been the heaviest of the three but equally a healthy heavy, which could only be looked upon as an advantage, being able to stand his ground like a stone wall being assaulted by insects, but a stone wall was no difficulty to the UNA soldiers who had been designed to deal with much more troublesome creatures, none of which had even been proven to exist.
Josh attempted to lift his head as he felt his body dragging on the ground behind him, listening to the sound of heavy stomping footsteps and a distinctive clatter of high heels that could only be the footwear of Houghton as it echoed around the cylindrical bright tunnel that they were all being drawn down.
Joshes vision had begun to blur again just as something began to enter his line of sight - a dark piece of machinery pushed up against the side of the curved and sparkling walls. Thomas luckily still had enough strength to take his own steps, but was still being held on to by one of the soldiers who was moving at a steady pace. Now the captives had all started to notice the out of place row of machines that became clearer and clearer with every passing step, until finally they began to pass them, a segmented row of dirty grey incubator machines, each housing what seemed like a human occupant that was once again penetrated by multiple wires and hung into position and these specimens seemed to be conscious, at least one was for certain... Thomas noticed every terrible detail as he turned his gaze to the sight of human suffering that was inside the incubator in a frozen state of motion, analysing every inch of the poor soul:
He was a thin, grey haired man whose expression was one of furious thunder, as if his anger almost over took the pain he was suffering, and there in his eyes burned the absolute will to survive despite the torture that screamed into his flesh... What also stood out prominently from the quick glance Thomas had taken was the black ink the prisoner had inscribed on his chest, a UNA logo surrounded by much artistic patterning, like a rose rising out of a forest of vines.
Why would they do this to their own? That thought remained heavy on his mind as Thomas found himself unable to clear his head of the sight as he passed on by many more captive humans.
Steph couldn’t help but notice and point out to Thomas a giant glass tube running over their heads filled to the brim what seemed to be blood, leading straight in the direction they were headed towards, perhaps another vast room - or something even worse? The thought of something worse conjured up images of hell inside Steph's head as an icy chill crawled over her flesh. As fear clawed cold at her silent thoughts, Thomas pinned a gaze of worry towards the suspended artery, as the crimson continued to flow on its way down the corridor.
Finally they arrived at their destination - another large oval room with a long, wide window like the previous room although looking out at a different angle of London, but prominently stood at the centre of this room was something quite extraordinary, a glistening glass tank of thick crimson being stirred and projected up to a higher level of the tower where Williams had been sent.
Surrounding the room were more incubator capsules but these were unoccupied, almost as if waiting silently for their next victims. Houghton passed by finding her way to the front of the group and addressing them personally.
“Joshua, Stephanie and Thomas. You have arrived at your final destination, I am so glad you like the view, Thomas” she said, retaining a stern look of authority.
“What…the…fuck have you been doing?” Josh heaved, twisting his head and turning his eyes to bring Houghton into his sights as he hung there weakly, being held up by the arms with his legs laid behind him.
“For centuries the human race have thwarted our plans, evolved and overcome every viral and physical threat, even the most recent and you three are all great specimens, proof of your ability to survive,”
Houghton began, almost as if lecturing them on their very own history.
“The chaos, the pain, the will to survive was all a test of strength and the nuclear detonations was the final challenge which all of you did very well to handle, may I add…You’ve allowed us to select the very best to help us,” she added, sensing the rage of her captives as a look of satisfaction glowed in her gaze, much like the tiger who held its prey in plain sight in the knowledge that the strongest had absolute dominion.
“You mean, we fought…for nothing?” Josh said, his voice shaken by the realisation.
“You fought for us to find you, among a world populated by the corrupt, the innocent. Quite frankly too many, it was near impossible for us to analyse your species. By fighting, being stripped bare and using your survival instinct you have all shown us exactly who would fit perfectly in to our experiment”
“An experiment? For what?” he demanded.
“If we cannot dominate this planet ourselves, we will take from you the most powerful beings and strip them of this survival instinct to better ourselves, to destroy every last human who stands in our way. With this game changing instinct it will allow the UNA to evolve and Astral will have his supremacy!” Houghton concluded in a tone of absolute victory.
Then she signaled the soldiers who forcefully began to escort Josh, Steph and Thomas towards the incubators positioned along the walls of the room.
“Get off us! This is absurd, this will not work!” Josh raged, struggling against the grasp of the soldiers while being pulled towards an incubator capsule.
“I am afraid that is incorrect, the experiment is active, it has already begun to take effect,” Houghton replied calmly as the prisoners were pulled in opposite directions across the oval room.
All of the capsules sprung in to action, withdrawing their thick glass lids and launching a flurry of tentacles from within the pod and wrapping themselves around the three captives. Josh was first to be consumed, pulled within the capsule with the glass lid closing behind him and sealing him inside. Steph and Thomas fearfully watched on as Josh disappeared, almost numb with the horror of the sight of it as their own incubators grasped on, taking them prisoner within.
Knowing he couldn’t escape, Josh forced his instinct for survival to switch from struggle to forced calm as his body relaxed – and so did the grip of the tentacles. This allowed him to turn to face the transparent lid, having a view in to the room from which he came, watching Houghton slowly approach him, flanked by her four robotic soldiers.
Josh took this dying second to cast his mind back:
What if Williams was the creation of this experiment? The humanity she was feeling, the changes that were happening, perhaps this was one good thing to come of it, after all it had always seemed that those seeking more power eventually ripped themselves apart...
But this was something Josh could only think silently, as he held that thought knowing even if it was his last, he would die holding on to something that defied death – he was holding on to hope for a better future, a way forward, even if he would not be there to see it...
Houghton came to a halt just outside of the capsule, her gaze fallen on to Joshes exhausted body.
“For centuries, we have thrived for this day. We always anticipated it would take time, something we have plenty of, that is where we are far superior to you, we do not grow old, we never tire and we never give up!”
“The last one makes us more alike than you think…”
“Affirmative, but now you will be forced to give up. You have no choice beside it. Your fight is now over, Mr. Levett.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Josh claimed, meeting Houghton’s gaze with an expression of absolute defiance as the tentacles released themselves from around his stomach and began to inspect him all over, the feel of it was cold and sickening like a thousand crawling slugs but at least he now had room to breathe once more.
“Lets begin, shall we?” said Houghton.
And the tentacles punctured their way with brute force inside of Jos
hes body, propelling a splatter of crimson on to the gleaming glass window, sealing the capsule. Josh let out a cry of pain, then a shriek as the tentacles ploughed their way deeper.
His cries were followed by others, the cries of Thomas and Steph who had also been penetrated by the tentacle-like tubes. They immediately began to drain the thick, syrupy crimson from their bodies and then pulled them high off the ground, suspended within, making it easy for the soldiers to check up on proceedings. A fragile milky whiteness had already begun to set in as their fragile skin started to suffocate from the lack of blood, their lips turned a shade of blue and in a strange illogical way, it occurred to Houghton they almost looked beautiful in this predicament.
Houghton found the sight of the humans pain thrilling, knowing she had waited for the right time to call it, she was enjoying it far more than she should, not having a concept of enjoyment programmed within her cybernetic mind, to her this was new, as new as their lives would be equally short as she signaled for phase two and then exited the room.
Meanwhile, three levels above the horror that went on inside the incubation facility, an elevator came to a soft halt and quickly sprung open its gleaming white doors revealing the feminine sleek figure of Williams who had been summoned to level sixty five - the highest level of the tower - Here it was filled with atmospheric blue light in contrast with the unusual black walls that surrounded her. She took a few careful steps inside the chamber unknowing of what awaited her around the corner, as something glimmered and pulsated in pure neon blue energy.
She swiftly turned the corner and began to walk down the thin, illuminated corridor with her own glowing eyes glistening under the mix of dark and bright shades of colour pulsating overhead, it was quite a sight but nothing in comparison to what awaited her as she exited the tunnel-like corridor, she then cast her eyes from one side of the room to the other, in here the area was more like a chamber with a bridge leading in the direction to where she had been summoned:
