| Chiemi's look of relief suddenly changed to one of rage as she slapped Recirn's hand away. "What are you talking about?" She cried. "Look around you! Our colleagues and friends are dead, and you want to make more of those creatures?!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Recirn gave Chiemi a withering look before replying; "Well, it will need some modifications..." Suddenly, he trailed off as the lights went out. Moments later, the emergency lighting came up, much dimmer to conserve power but needed in the darkness of space. Chiemi disregarded the director as she realised where the monster was. "It's in the power core, it could take out the whole ship from there... Somebody has to stop it!" Diving back into the O.R., Chiemi flipped open a wall panel and hit the alarms. Suddenly, loud claxons went off around her, before a calm male voice spoke over the PA systems. "Emergency in Operating Room 5, emergency..." The voice continued to drone as Chiemi stepped out, heading for the nearest teleporter. Passing by Recirn, she cooly informed him; "Stay here and brief security when they arrive, I'm going to go see what I can do down there." Her brisk footsteps echoed throughtout the hall, despite the voice-over. The sounds all seemed to bombard Chiemi as she wondered just what she was going to do, and her heart began to fill with fear. As she stepped into the light blue beam of the teleporter, guilt and her own conscience overrode her fear as she calmly requested to be taken to the power core. As the photons hummed around her, she noticed a large hole in the floor behind the teleporter. So that's how it got there so fast... She mused. As Recirn calmly watched Dr. Alisand de-materialise, he couldn't help but smirk triumphantly. He had created life, and not only that, but vibrant life! Intelligence! He would hate to see young, hot-headed Chiemi ruin that so soon... Suddenly, the hall was filled with thundering footsteps as the black suited security guards ran up, 5 in all, each weilding various nasty looking automatic weapons. "Come men, the real drama is unfolding in the power core of this ship..." So saying, Recirn headed for the transporter once more. The silence was deafening in the cold corridors of the power core. Chiemi walked along a simple steel catwalk, suspended above various machines, each pumping photon energy to other parts of the ship. Darkness filled these corridors as any imbalance of heat, even that caused by lighting could send the photon drives into overload. With this thought in mind, and constantly looking around feverishly, Chiemi searched for Nei. The slightest sounds made her jump, her hands shaking with fear. Considering that she had feared the creature when it was comatose on an operating table, fearing it now when it was so dangerous gave Chiemi no shame. Suddenly, a slight clicking sound sent chills down Chiemi's spine. It was the sound of a Locusta's claws striking steel as it moved along, at quite a rate of knots, as well. Steeling herself, Chiemi swallowed hard as she realised the sound was coming closer. She gripped the handrail of the catwalk to control her shaking. Suddenly, the piece of railing she had leant on snapped off from its supports, nearly causing Chiemi to tumble down into the machines, and conspiring to give her a mild heart attack at the same time. Catching her balance, Chiemi weighed the metal pipe in her hands and smiled; she now had a weapon. Stalking softly along the catwalk, she related to herself all she knew about this creature's genetic makeup, its strengths and weaknesses. Anything she could work out would be an advantage. I created the damn thing, after all, she reasoned to herself. Considering that currently the creature had two minds, and not one single stable form, the pipe in her hands seemed to become a more serious weapon as she talked to herself. Suddenly, she noticed that the clicking had stopped, and with it's cease Chiemi came to a dead stop as well. Listening intently, she wondered if the creature had just moved in a different direction, and perhaps that was why its footsteps could no longer be heard. That's when she heard the inhuman hiss from above... Charging down the catwalk, Recirn and his security troupe shouted to each other, Recirn various warnings about the creature and the troupe leader informing his men to spare no ammo; they were to take this creature down without any casualties or hesitation. Suddenly, Recirn skidded to a stop, the entire group of security guards nearly colliding with him in the process. Turning to the security guards, Recirn gave that same smirk and spoke. "Indeed, there will be no ammo spared; in fact, I want you to fire as soon as you see the creature. It is incredibly fast." The security group's leader looked at Recirn for a moment, but then replied. "We'll do as you say, Dr. Recirn, we know nothing about this creature; we're under your orders." The smirk permanently fixed on Recirn's face, he turned back and recommenced his run down the corridor. The security troupe soon followed. As the creature called Nei dropped to the catwalk, Chiemi began to sweat profusely, the steel bar beginning to get slippery in her palms. As Nei lashed out with a pincer, Chiemi ducked and rolled, adrenalin giving her a burst of energy. Seeing that the creature was now only on three legs, she swung the bar with all her force at Nei's other front leg. The bar bounced off with a loud clang, the pincer not budging an inch. Changing the direction of it's swing, Nei sent her pincer crashing into the catwalk, tearing a hole in it where Chiemi had rolled moments before. She clambered to her feet, sweating from the effort, when suddenly she heard a cry from behind her. "FIRE! DON'T LET THE CREATURE LIVE!!!" It was Recirn, backed by a group of security men. Time seemed to stand still for a moment, as Chiemi's eyes met with those of her killer. But she was no longer facing the Nei creature; she was staring straight into the cold, calculating eyes of the medical section's director. Recirn's white hair stirred for a moment as six streams of photon energy shot past him, piercing through the air, to pierce Chiemi, and then to tear Nei to pieces. The eviscerated creature and the dying woman seemed to fall to the floor in sync as Recirn turned away from the scene to explain to the security guards why Dr. Alisand had to die to keep everyone else safe. But as he made up excuses, he couldn't help smirking slightly, and letting his finger trail down to the vial of blood taken from the creature. Oh yes, the rest of the trip to the new planet will be an interesting one, he thought, smugly. And the doctor and her damned creation died. |