Justice

[Frankychan]

This short story will tie into the 'Nemesis' short story that I have created. It's not quite finished yet so try not and be too critical until the end. It's probably going to be a couple of posts long but will likely NOT exceed 1 'page'. Hope whoever visits the AC Fiction forum likes it.

Original Nemesis story:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40464

Nemesis comment thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40468

Please direct all comments for both stories in the comment thread only please! Thank you and if you read the stories, thanks as well!

[Frankychan]

Prologue

Mendelev College
Sub-Basement D
Security Clearance: Alpha Omega 1

Zakharov's footsteps echoed throughout the white, sterile hallway as he and one of his aides headed toward their destination. Both wore bulky, oppressive hazardous-material suits and breathed through the University's technologically superior air filtration masks.

The Academician turned to his aide. "Are you sure that these are absolutely necessary, Zukov?"

The man walking behind him, a squat man, responded in a thick Russsian voice muffled by his mask. "Yes, sir. The final experiment is almost underway. Preliminary tests show that the agent is highly toxic and is 85 percent contagious."

Zakharov nodded absently. "Good. Very good."

The two University men continued down the hallway, their footsteps sounded just a little too loud this time.

* * *

Mendelev College
Dormitory A-Second Floor
Room 247: Assigned to Eric Nelson
Time: 20:45 Chironian Standard Time

Eric Nelson stepped out of the shower and toweled off his short, blond hair. Steam from the bathroom wafted into his dormitory room while he paced around. Recent events were going very badly for him.

Ever since he was approached by high-ranking University scientists asking if he wanted to work on a top secret experiment, things kept on bothering him. Sure, he was only a college student, but his scores clearly distinguished him from the rest of his class. He earned the highest scores on all of his tests and news of his achievements spread throughout all of the University's bases. Eric Nelson: The boy whose IQ was just under that of the Academician's. It was no wonder the University approached him for their experiment.

Eric finished drying himself off and dressed into his sleeping clothes. He plopped himself on his bed and turned off the room's lights. As he layed in bed, he couldn't help on what transpired this past afternoon...

* * *
Mendelev College
Sub-Basement D
Security Clearance: Alpha Omega 1
Time: 15:45 Chironian Standard Time

Zakharov stood on an observation railing with his aide Zukov stood just behind him on his right side. Zukov was busy punching information into his datapad as Zakharov watched the experiment down below.

In the middle of the room was a large, sealed glass-walled containment cell with two metal pipes connected to the roof. Inside was a University Drone, stumbling around inside the bare cell. Wearing nothing but his underpants, the Drone shivered from the cold, dampness of the lab. The Drone wandered around, bewildered at all the bright lights. Surrounding the cell were numerous scientists that paced around the cell and attended to their various duties.

Zukov leaned in to speak to the Academician. "Prokhor, everything is ready. All the experiment needs is your approval and then we can begin."

Zakharov raised his right hand and gestured with his finger.

"Go."

Zukov waved to the technicians near the cell and watched as they began the experiment.

Zakharov listened as the pumps began their duty. A rhythmic ticking reverberated throughout the lab and scientists began gathering data. Leaning closer, Zakharov watched as a sickly green vapor cloud entered into the drone's glass cell.

The drone, suddenly aware of the threatening cloud, backed away from it's approach and leaned up against the farthest wall...but it was too late.

All the University scientists watched in amazement as the Drone convulsed violently where he stood. His body began to thrash against the enclosure and made horrific thumping sounds.
They all watched as the drone vomited uncontrollably everywhere in his cell while he was still wrapped in uncontrollable convulsions and dropped to the floor. Suddenly, he ceased his violent seizure and slumped to the floor...dead.

The air filtration in the cell kicked in and sucked up the deadly, noxious fumes and scrubbed the air clean. Everyone in the room was silent and no one spoke for some time before Zakharov broke it.

"Good job everyone. Our data on the nerve gas we recovered from the Unity pod has proven quite valuable. This scientific data will prove quite useful and we all have gained valuable knowledge today. Let's clean this place up and run a few more tests so we can be sure that our data is correct."

Technicians and scientists began moving silently to erase the horror of what just happened.

But off in the corner, one scientist stood paralyzed by what he saw.

Someone has to do something about this, Eric thought.