Chapter 39: The Man who saw the stars
The alarms had become part of the building’s heartbeat.
Every few hours, another siren wailed through the corridors. Another report arrived on Merit’s desk. Another technician requested a transfer.
No one wanted to enter Containment Zone anymore. Not after the latest incident.
Merit skimmed another report with visible irritation.
SUBJECT DISPLAYING INCREASED AGITATION.
SUBJECT REFUSES VERBAL COMMANDS.
SUBJECT HAS CEASED VOLUNTARY COMMUNICATION.
ENERGY DETECTED FROM RING OUTPUT CONTINUES TO RISE.
"...Pathetic."
He tossed the data pad onto the desk.
"You’ve been working with one specimen for months and you still can’t obtain meaningful results."
One of the senior researchers swallowed.
"Sir... she’s changed."
"That’s not excuse."
"She barely speaks anymore."
"That isn’t my concern."
"She doesn’t react to food. She doesn’t sleep for long periods. She just..." He hesitated. "...sits there."
Merit looked through the observation glass.
Sasha sat exactly where she’d been the night before.
One hand rested over the gentle swell of her stomach.
The other hung limply by her side.
The floating rings around her body barely glowed.
She looked...
Smaller somehow.
"...Increase today’s evaluation."
"Sir?"
"If she’s conserving strength, I want to know why."
Hours later...
The containment chamber was unusually crowded.
Scientists lined the observation deck while security personnel waited behind reinforced blast doors.
Daniel stood among them, unable to hide the unease on his face.
"Hello."
She slowly lifted her head.
"...Daniel."
"I’m..." His voice caught. "...I’m sorry."
She blinked once. She didn’t understand what he was apologizing for.
The heavy door sealed behind the last technician.
Merit folded his arms.
"Let’s begin."
The chamber lights dimmed.
One by one, mechanical barriers rose from the floor, dividing the room into narrow lanes.
Daniel frowned.
"...Sir?"
"I’d like to observe her response under pressure."
"Pressure?"
Merit ignored him. Several automated drones descended from the ceiling.
They hovered above them.
Awaiting instructions.
The alien looked up. Her rings brightened faintly in slight anticipation.
The first drone darted forward, she sidestepped it without effort.
The second one lunged, she twisted.
The third, her rings burned brightly as it approached.
Fwoom!
The drone exploded into fragments before touching her.
Murmurs spread through the observation room.
Merit’s eyes narrowed at the scene.
"There."
He pointed at the lanes.
"Again."
More drones descended.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen.
The chamber filled with mechanical movement. Metal scraped and engines whined.
They rushed at her from every direction.
Tuk’Ina continued avoiding them.
Never attacking unless one came too close.
Her other never leaving her stomach, protecting her abdomen and moving away instead of toward them.
"Kha’sei sha’var vek na?"( why won’t you leave me be?)
Daniel noticed first.
"...She’s not fighting."
"No."
Merit’s voice remained calm.
"...She’s restraining herself."
Minutes passed.
The drones became faster.
Louder and closer.
One clipped her shoulder.
Another grazed her leg.
A third slammed into one of the glowing rings around her wrist.
Its light flickered.
For the first time,she staggered.
Her breathing grew heavier, rings began rotating faster.
Daniel felt his stomach knot.
"...Stop."
Nobody answered.
"Sir."
Still nothing.
He stepped toward Merit.
"This is enough. You’re hurting her."
Merit didn’t even look at him.
"I haven’t seen what she’s capable of."
Inside the chamber...
Another drone charged.
Another.
Another.
The noise became unbearable.
Metal.
Lights.
Alarms.
Shouting.
For one impossible second...
None of it sounded like the laboratory anymore.
Her vision blurred. The white walls disappeared. She saw burning trees. Ash drifting through crimson skies.
She heard her child crying somewhere beyond the smoke.
"Ama!"(Mother!)
His voice echoed inside her head. "Ama!"(Mother!)
Her eyes snapped open.
Everything returned.
The white walls and machines.
The humans.
The drones rushed again.
Something inside her finally snapped.
The room exploded with blue light, every ring surrounding her ignited at once sending a massive shockwave across the chamber.
Observation windows shattered, their ate barriers folded inward like paper. The nearest drones simply ceased to exist.
Scientists screamed and ducked for cover.
Emergency lights died instantly.
Daniel hit the floor as shattered glass rained over him.
"Oh God, Hena!"
She wasn’t listening.
She just stood motionless in the center of the ruined chamber.
Her breathing was slow.
Shallow.
Her blue bioluminescence dulled to a low shade of red.
"...Run."
Someone whispered,
Nobody argued, they didn’t even wait to see who said it.
Merit was already halfway down the corridor. He snatched a walkie from a soldier who had been killed by the shattered glass. A large piece lodged in his neck.
"Seal every exit after evacuation!"
Emergency bulkheads slammed shut throughout the facility.
"Containment Team Six!"
His voice echoed through the intercom.
"Shut her down immediately! Tranquilizers, gas! Anything!"
The lights flickered then went out.
Every monitor in sight turned black.
Static crackled through the speakers then soft hummings filled the building.
Merit froze.
His walkie-talkie crackled and went dead.
"...fuck."
One by one,
Blue rings appeared in the darkness. They danced in the air for some moments before whizzing past him.
Around every communications antenna inside the facility, the ring settled.
The energy pulsed once.
Every transmission stopped.
No radio.
No satellite.
No emergency beacon.
Nothing.
Just pure radio noise.
"...shit! She’s jammed the signal."
The realization struck him like ice water.
He was alone.
Bare feet padded silently across polished floors.
She wasn’t running anymore.
She was searching.
Every overturned chair.
Every open doorway.
Her rings floated silently around her.
One technician stumbled backward into view.
She walked past him.
Another security officer raised his weapon.
She never even looked at him.
He collapsed unconscious before pulling the trigger.
She kept walking.
Only one face mattered.
...
..
.
Merit burst into another corridor.
"Open!"
A security door refused.
ACCESS DENIED.
"No, no, no!"
He slammed his badge against the scanner again.
ACCESS GRANTED.
He stumbled into the office and burst through the exit leading to a connected cubicle.
A quiet voice drifted down the hallway behind him.
"...Kha’sei vek na?"(why do you run?)
Merit’s blood ran cold.
He turned slowly.
Sasha stood at the opposite end of the corridor.
"...Kha’sei?"(why?)
She took one step.
Another.
The lights above her flickered on and off with each footfall.
"Sha... vek..."(you...)
Her layered voice echoed unnaturally through the empty hall.
Merit forced himself backward.
"I did what was necessary."
She continued walking.
"...Edith."
Another step.
"Na’Khel." ( Home.)
Another.
"...Aon."
Each word struck harder than the last.
"I know you can speak English! Say something I can fucking understand!"
He reached for the emergency alarm beside the wall.
Nothing.
Dead.
She had silenced everything.
There would be no rescue.
Not this time.
And so he chose the best option. He ran.
The corridor opened into the central security wing. Rows of surveillance monitors lined the walls. Backup generators hummed beneath reinforced flooring.
Merit sprinted toward the weapon locker. The biometric scanner flashed green as he frantically pressed his thumb against it.
A compartment slid open.
Inside rested a military plasma blaster. A wasp.
He grabbed it.
Behind him, the automatic doors exploded inward. Metal twisted violently before crashing across the floor.
Sasha stepped through the smoke.
"...No more."
Merit fired.
The bolt streaked toward her.
A glowing ring intercepted it.
The plasma dispersed harmlessly into blue sparks.
The ground beneath her creaked as she burst towards him. She reached him before he could react.
Merit barely raised his arm before she struck. The impact hurled him across the room sending him crashing into a control console.
Pain exploded through his ribs. He coughed blood, struggling to breathe.
The alien woman closed the distance. One hand reached toward him.
Instinctively, Merit’s elbow drove forward. It wasn’t aimed properly, it was out of desperation.
His arm slammed into the curve of her abdomen.
Time seemed to stop.
Sasha’s eyes widened.
A sharp cry escaped her lips. Every glowing ring around her body flickered violently. She stumbled backward, clutching her stomach with both hands.
"Kha’sei sha’khar..."( how dare you!)
The word broke into a pained gasp.
Her composition wasn’t just rage anymore.
It was something far worse.
Pain mixed with...fury.
A mother protecting her child.
He scrambled backward, snatched up the fallen blaster, and aimed it with shaking hands.
Tuk’Ina slowly lifted her head. Thick liquid gushed beneath her.
"Sha vek’ri kha’vok!"(You foul creature!)
Her voice cracked as though she were speaking to memories instead of the man before her.
Merit swallowed hard.
"You did this!" he shouted, trying to drown out the fear rising in his chest. "You’ve forced my hand!"
"Don’t make me do it! You want to see Edith, don’t you?"
Her rings brightened.
"...Kha’sei sha’khar..."
How dare you.
The words reverberated through the corridor.
For the first time since meeting her, Merit saw no curiosity in the way her head tilted.
Only grief.
Only loss.
Only anger.
Only the fierce resolve of a mother protecting the life within her.
She took one final step, lunging at the trembling man beneath her. Her bioluminescence burned brightly as she approached.
The blaster discharged.
The corridor erupted in blinding blue-white light.