Cloud Nine R&D Station

The Cloud Nine station is legendary. It's the dream of every scientist in the Galactic Commonwealth to one day work at this most prestigious place; As expansive as a small city and populated by hundreds of thousands, Cloud Nine is heralded as the largest, most advanced and most well funded laboratory in the known galaxy! It was here that the improbable was made possible, and the impossible was made probable...

"Hrrrnfff!!" A man's voice grunted, struggling and nearly spent.

"Almost...there..." A woman spoke, likewise pushing her body to it's limit.

They moved together, coming closer to their point of release...

"Right there!" The woman spoke.

"Yeah!" The man replied.

Finally, they came to the point of release!

THUNK!

The man and woman, assisted by another man, breathed heavily, glad to finally be finished. The large device they were moving was finally in it's designated spot.

The woman, Doctor Tia Greer, straightened her glasses. "Thanks again for helping us with this, Greg. I honestly thought Fred and I could move this on our own."

The man, Corporal Greg Stack, wiped sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his uniform. "Not a problem, Tia."

The security officer took a last look at the object they labored to move, a large energy projector that seemed to resemble a laser, mounted on what seemed to be a small crane. It was heavy to lift, but together the two of them, and Tia's lab assistant Fred Ryan, had pulled it off.

"Okay, I gotta get going, it's almost time for my shift." Greg smiled at Tia, "We still on for tonight?"

Tia smiled in return. "O'Toole's at eight. I'll be there." She kissed him on the cheek.

Fred gave a small wave. "Hey, thanks again! Take care, eh?"

Greg nodded. "Anytime." He walked off, leaving Tia and Fred to their work.

Now that the energy projector was in place, Tia moved behind it, to where the computer portion of the crane was connected.

"Any word on those grav-sliders, Fred? I really don't want to move that thing again!" Tia asked.

Fred pulled out a mobile device and checked it. After a minute
he shrugged. "Nothin'...they're sure takin' their sweet time."

On the screen of the crane's computer, Tia saw a real-time image of an empty space, where the tables that sat there prior had been moved. Via the touchscreen, she typed in the proper icons for initiating the sequence to activate the projector device. In response, the device hummed to life, casting what appeared to be a simple ray of light onto the empty floor.

She took in a deep breath before finally pushing the icon to initiate the sequence it was designed for...

Within seconds, the humming grew louder, the simple light growing more radiant and colorful! Tia was so excited! It was working perfectly!

Finally, the machine emitted a dimmer and more stable multicolored beam. Tia's expression went from excitement to a flush of embarrassment. Quickly she attempted to turn off the screen...

"WHOA!" Fred shouted, "Seriously, Tia? In the LAB??"

The projector device had, as it was designed to do, just taken an image of the empty space. The truly amazing part was that the image captured was of an activity that had taken place two days ago! However, Tia had intended to calibrate the settings for two WEEKS ago, and simply forgot to do so, leaving the default setting of 48 hours still active. Instead of an empty space, the image contained a table of equipment, much of which had been hastily shoved aside to make way for two people (Tia and Greg, to be precise) to engage in a rather intense sexual romp.

The screen went dark and Tia glared daggers at Fred. "Not. One. Word. To. ANYONE. Understand?"

Fred raised his hands, eyes wide. "Cross my heart, doc."

This is but one of the many stories to be found on Cloud Nine...

Dr. Nathan Lovecraft gazed out the window at the nebulae that Cloud 9 was located in. A multicolored mass of dust, gas, stars and planets that indeed looked like a cloud in space, though unlike any cloud found on Earth. The beauty and wonder of the cosmos never ceased to amaze and inspire him.

But he had work to do. So he reluctantly pulled himself away from the window, returning to the containment box that he had his latest experiment located in. In the box was a creature that looked a lot like an octopus. It had been discovered on an unnamed planet and transferred to the facility for examination and research. But this octopus didn't require water to move. It was able to stand up on it's tentacles, which were wider and stronger than that of the octopus found on Earth. That was possible because, according to x-rays, this creature had a skeleton, unlike Earth octopi. And it's tentacles were varied and seemed to have specialized functions.

There were the traditional tentacles with suction cups along their length, like found on Earth octopi. But then there were tentacles that were smooth, but with a retractable stinger at the end. Were they for venom of some kind? Those tentacles could be retraced into it's body, when not in use, increasing it's central mass, by doing so. The creature was incredibly strong for it's size, as Nathan had found out on more than one occasion. Like when he put his arms into the gloves built into the side of the box to examine the creature. It had grabbed his gloved hand with a grip he could not break, only releasing him when it decided to. Was it playing a game with him or warning him against getting too close? It was hard to tell.

Aiden Valcourt, one of Cloud Nine's many voluntary test subjects, was the first off of the shuttlecraft in the main docking bay. The cyborg blond man looked around, his cybernetic right eye scanning everything it stopped on.

"Welcome, welcome, all of you, to Cloud Nine!" an overly-cheerful greeter called out. Aiden turned to face the female as she delved into some spiel about the test program and how it was life-changing, yadda yadda yadda. It wasn't anything that he hadn't heard already, so he tuned her out, instead fiddling with a computer interface on his left arm.

When the greeter was finished, the subjects were allowed to go wherever they pleased. Aiden decided to go ahead and get the testing started. He followed the signs that directed towards the labs, glancing in each one as he passed them. He stopped when he reached the lab with a door tag reading "Dr. Tia Greer" and stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open. When it did, the cyborg blond entered the room, only then noticing the other man in the room, standing close to a woman, whom he presumed was Dr. Greer.

"Oh," he said, his voice sounding a little rough from lack of use. "I'll come back later." He started to walk out of the lab, slow enough that there would be time for him to stop of he was spoken to.

Tia and Fred looked at the newcomer for a moment before Fred suddenly spoke up, "Hey, hey! Hold up a sec!"

Fred looked to Tia and explained, "That's our VT! We got the cyber-test today, remember?"

Tia's eyes widened a bit in realization. "Right! Right!" She looked to the man in the doorway, "Sorry about that! Please come in, Mr...?"

"Valcourt." Fred chimed in, having quickly looked up the name of their volunteer on his mobile device.

"Mr. Valcourt." Tia continued, leading the cyborg over to where the machine stood. "I'm Doctor Tia Greer, and with me is my assistant, Fred Ryan."

Tia motioned to Fred, who gave a polite smile and nod.

The Doctor continued, "The reason why you're here, as you may know, is for a 'cyber-test,' to test the compatibility of our device with conventional cybernetics...specifically, occular-based cybernetics."

As Fred pulled up a chair for Aiden to sit in, Tia explained further, "This device utilizes sophisticated scanners to detect variations in the environment in relation to a specific time, which is then translated into imagery via rendering sof..."

"It takes pictures of the past." Fred simplified, "We're gonna connect it to your cyber-eye to find out if you're able to see what IT sees. Sounds like fun, right?"

For the second time today, Tia glared at Fred.

__________________________

"Doctor?"

Doctor Lovecraft's assistant, Claire Dunwich, had arrived to do her job, as usual. The two guards posted nearby allowed her through after a quick security scan. As a brand new Xenomorphic specimen, the octopoid creature was kept under level 3 security status, meaning not a full blown quarantine, but a sensible caution.

"Good morning, Doctor!" The diminutive young redhead continued, finally spotting Nathan as she arrived where he was located, "Sorry I'm late! They closed off some areas of my usual route here for maintenance."

As she spoke, Claire set to work preparing the equipment to extract samples from the xenomorph, for yet another series of tests.

As she worked, she realized that at least one more scientist was supposed to be here at this time. "Isn't Oscar supposed to be in right now?"

Aiden turned to face the scientists, listening to the details of his testing. As much as he distrusted doctors after his accident and recovery, this experiment appealed to him. Being able to have better modifications for his already hyper-advanced cybernetics sounded really interesting to the 21-year-old.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both, Dr. Greer, and Mr. Ryan." He allowed Tia to direct him to the machine, then held his hand out to the doctor. "Aiden Valcourt, though it appears you already knew that," he said, flashing a smile at the female the suggested he was quite the ladies' man.

"So, this test looks into how compatible my... enhancements are with the experiment overall?" he asked. "Sounds like I'll be having to go through a lot just to see if I can even start." He shrugged, looking over to Fred. "No biggie. I'm sure I'll pass with flying colors, right, Doc?" he said, again giving her that smile.

Nathan didn't immediately register Claire's comments, too engrossed in the creature he was examining. Her words filtered in rather slowly.

"Again!" he complained. Not because she was late. His lab assistant was rarely late. But because of the maintenance. "It's hard enough for me finding my way around this rat maze they've created without them constantly forcing me to change the route to my quarters."

He looked up and around the lab, noticing for the first time that Oscar wasn't there. Nathan Lovecraft had a habit of coming into the lab much earlier than needed. And immediately immersing himself so deeply in his work that when his assistants arrived, he didn't notice their arrival unless they spoke to him.

"I have no idea where Oscar is, Ms Claire. Perhaps called away by Dr. Greer for one of her projects that she seems to always need personnel from other sections for?" Dr. Lovecraft had admired Dr. Greer from afar, but noticed she was always surrounded by other men. Not that he blamed them. She was an attractive woman. And his own lack of social skills hadn't allowed him to get close to her.

Nathan jerked his hands out of the gloves, abruptly, as the creature had extended one of it's stingers out of the end of one of it's tentacles. He had no idea what that stinger would do. Or what kind of toxins the creature carried. And he didn't want to find out the hard way. Perhaps he would need heavier gloves installed into the containment box that would shield him from that stinger.

"Our friend here is looking a little agitated. So, keep your hands out of the containment box until I can find some heavier gloves, Ms. Claire. While I'm getting them, I'll keep my eye out for Oscar."

Tia smiled in response to Aiden's charm. Adjusting her glasses slightly, she said, "It's really not that bad. The 'Temporal Camera,' as we call it, will do most of the work." She picked up a small device from a nearby table, showing it to Aiden.

She continued, "All we have to do is attach this receiver to the access port on the back of your neck. Once the wireless connection is made to the camera, we activate it, and you can then describe what you're seeing, and if you feel any adverse effects."

She then proceeded to walk behind Aiden, finding the access port and plugging in the receiver. Meanwhile, Fred had been calibrating the Temporal Camera for the proper two week setting. "Ready over here, doc." He said.

Tia nodded. "How's the connection?"

"Perfect signal, excellent reception." Fred reported.

"Good." Tia replied, "Mr. Valcourt, you should now be seeing a real-time image of an empty area of the lab. Please close one eye or both, and describe what you see whenever something different appears in your viewpoint."

With that, the camera was activated. Again, came the radiant beam, stabilizing into a multi-spectrum ray...

-----------------------------------------------

"Of course, Doctor." Claire replied, eyeing the specimen briefly before returning to work. A minute or so went by before a loud THUMP sound came from the containment box. Claire looked at the box briefly, then resumed her work...

THUMP!

Again, Claire's attention went to the containment box. This time, Ms. Dunwich went to check the box and the creature within. It did seem to move as though agitated, just as Nathan said. It walked and squirmed around the box...

THUMP!

Claire gasped, jumping at the creature suddenly throwing itself against the polymer portion of the container! Worse, this time the polymer now had a web of cracks in it from the impact!

Panic began to well up inside of Claire, Who began to back away from the container.

"D-Doctor! Doc-"

KRRRRSSSSHHH!!!

Claire screamed, falling backwards as the creature leapt out of it's cage! Now fully terrified, Claire Dunwich could only scramble backwards, as the octopoid menacingly skittered towards her at a frightening pace!

Indigo Steel said:

Tia smiled in response to Aiden's charm. Adjusting her glasses slightly, she said, "It's really not that bad. The 'Temporal Camera,' as we call it, will do most of the work." She picked up a small device from a nearby table, showing it to Aiden.

She continued, "All we have to do is attach this receiver to the access port on the back of your neck. Once the wireless connection is made to the camera, we activate it, and you can then describe what you're seeing, and if you feel any adverse effects."

She then proceeded to walk behind Aiden, finding the access port and plugging in the receiver. Meanwhile, Fred had been calibrating the Temporal Camera for the proper two week setting. "Ready over here, doc." He said.

Tia nodded. "How's the connection?"

"Perfect signal, excellent reception." Fred reported.

"Good." Tia replied, "Mr. Valcourt, you should now be seeing a real-time image of an empty area of the lab. Please close one eye or both, and describe what you see whenever something different appears in your viewpoint."

With that, the camera was activated. Again, came the radiant beam, stabilizing into a multi-spectrum ray...

Click to expand...

Aiden gasped as he closed his eyes, amazed that he was still able to see the empty portion of the lab. "Wow... I see it, all right," the cyborg breathed. His brow furrowed in concentration. There was something... moving... in the lab.

"Hey, I thought you said that this portionof the lab was empty?" he asked. "It's not! I can see a dark... thing... moving around in there!" His eyes flew open and he quickly turned to face Tia, who was still behind him. "Tia, there's some sort of alien in that part of the lab! And it I think it knows I saw it!"

At Claire's scream, Dr. Lovecraft ran back into the lab. Seeing the creature advancing toward his lab assistant, he grabbed a large bag made of fine-mesh steel. Approached the creature, he was hoping to recapture it in the bag. But it skittered sideways as he tried to scoop it up. And shot one of it's stinger tentacles his way, jabbing him in the leg.

"OUCH! DAMMIT!" he shouted, as he tried to change direction. Nathan's leg collapsed on him, but not before he'd thrown the bag on the creature, forcing it inside, and closing the bag.

Laying there, Nathan could feel a burning sensation creeping up his leg from the spot of the sting. Writhing with pain, he looked over at Claire. She didn't appear to have been stung by the creature. Time was of essence. So he gasped out some instructions to her.

"Ms. Dunwich, get out of the lab, seal it, and activate the containment breach alarm as soon as you do. But seal and stay in the outer lab in case they decide you need to be quarantined as well."

Tia and Fred watched the visual feed just as Aiden was seeing it. They were shocked at what they saw, and what it meant...

"Doc...?" Fred began.

"Go." Tia said with a nod. Fred moved to a terminal and activated it...

Tia finally spoke, "It wouldn't be seeing you, Aiden, you're looking at something that happened two weeks ago..or at least, I think you are. Just the same, however, the very fact that the creature you saw was in here at that time is...very bad."

After a moment's thought, she manipulated the movement control to pan around, taking new images as she went...

Fred, meanwhile, had contacted one of the seven different A.I.'s that assisted all station staff.

"Yes, Mr. Ryan?" A deep masculine voice spoke.

"Jacob, we got a Xeno on the loose! It looks like that weird one that Doctor Lovecraft's team was workin' on, we think it's been out for at least two weeks."

--------------------------------

Somehow, despite having yet another shock to her system in witnessing Nathan's heroics and subsequent injury, Claire forced herself to do as she was told, rushing out of the room and hitting a button to lock down the lab area where Nathan was. The guards responded to the alarm caused by the lockdown, and paramedics wouldn't be far behind...

------------------------------

"A lockdown was initiated in that laboratory approximately 1.7 seconds into your report Mr. Ryan." Jacob spoke, "All proper protocols are being followed at this time. If what you are saying is accurate, I request that you, too, initiate lockdown procedure immediately."

"Jacob..." Tia called out from the Temporal Camera, "I think I know how that xeno got in."

She stepped aside to allow one of Jacob's visual interfaces to view the Camera's latest picture from two weeks ago...

"Oscar Ferrell took it for a walk."

------------------------------------------

"Doctor Ferell!" A female security officer stationed outside of the lab spoke, "Please stay back, sir, we're under lockdown."

Oscar, an unassuming man in his forties, smiled. "Yes..I know."

A few minutes later, the door to where Nathan was opened, and Oscar walked in, a trail of unconscious bodies in his wake.

He walked over to let the creature out of the sack, who moved towards Dr. Lovecraft, wrapping itself around his chest.

"Don't worry, Nathan..." Oscar said with a smile and a pat on Nathan's shoulder. "You won't die. In fact, when you wake up, you'll feel better than you've ever felt before."

Oscar then lifted Nathan as if he weighed nothing, carrying him and the creature attached to the waiting paramedic grav-stretcher. Oscar had placed not only Nathan on the stretcher, but also an unconscious Claire and two other women: A security officer and a paramedic.

Oscar chuckled to himself. It was a comical sight to see so many people on one stretcher, but it would do until he got them to their destination.

Aiden wasn't usually the kind of person who got scared easily, but the thought of looking at an event that had happened two weeks prior shook the cyborg, as did the sight of the alien.

"Two weeks ago..." he murmured, looking again at the visual feed. There seemed to be no signs of any... xeno... now, just an empty lab room. He shuddered and turned away, facing the door. "Xenos are those experimental aliens, right?" he asked, not really directing it at either scientist. 'The kind that are grown in labs, usually for tests and stuff?"

Red lights flashing outside the lab drew his attention. Must be the lockdown, he mused. His left hand clenched into a fist, his usual reaction when a situation got tense. "Are we stuck in here?" he asked.

------------------------

In the midst of all the red lights flashing and chaos that a possible xenomorph on the loose brought, one woman calmly walked through Cloud Nine, assault rifle locked and loaded, ready for action.

The Head of Security, Captain Christine - Chris, as she liked to go by - Young, observed all motion in the turmoil surrounding her, settling on a path that led right through to where she needed to go. The tall brunette cut her way through, stopping directly in front of Dr. Greer's lab. She punched the intercom button. "Tia, Fred, is everything okay in there?"

"Oscar, you fool!" Dr. Lovecraft shouted at his assistant. Unfortunately, those were the last words out of him. The moment he'd opened his mouth, the creature shot a tentacle into it. A tentacle that seemed to grow longer and longer as it went down his throat and past his voice box, cutting off all speech except a gurgling sound. He tried to break free of the creature, but it was far stronger than he would have imagined. It had wrapped it's tentacles around him, pinning his arms to his side. He glared at Dr. Farell as his assistant picked him up and put him on the stretcher. If looks could have killed, Oscar would have been dead on the spot.

Nathan's struggles became weaker as it became harder to breath with his throat blocked by the tentacle. For awhile, it seemed as if the creature was playing with him, one of it's tentacles sliding down the front of his jeans to wrap around his manhood. Another tentacle slipped down the back of his jeans to probe his butt. As his eyes grew wider in horror, the creature finally decided to end the game by wrapping additional tentacles around his neck and squeezing, cutting off his air and rendering him unconscious.

Fred called out the door to Christina, "Hey there, Chris! Yeah, we're all fine here, how are you?"

Jacob spoke through the intercom, "The containment breach has been reported in this laboratory as well as laboratory 204, Captain Young. Evidence suggests that the breach occurred approximately two weeks prior within this laboratory, hence the lockdown here."

Meanwhile, Tia informed Aiden, "We're only here until medical and security teams sweep the lab. We'll be taken from here to a medical wing for decontamination."

------------------------------------------

Oscar stood back and admired his handiwork. Three more females had been added to his "collection" for a total of nine, all of them nude and restrained with wire, handcuffs, or whatever else he could scrounge. He would need more females, but this would do for now.

Currently, he and his captives were residing in a destroyed laboratory. It, and the surrounding area, was under reconstruction after a tragic explosion caused by "improper storage of volatile chemicals."

Oscar chuckled.

Just then, Nathan began to awaken. The xenomorph was no longer attached, but it had done it's work.

"Finally awake?" Oscar said, "Good! I apologize for the restraints, but I assure you, you won't need them for long...once you start to see things my way."

Regaining consciousness, Nathan looked around, trying to take stock of the situation. Claire seemed to be alive and unhurt. But she was nude and restrained. As were 8 other females. Some he knew. Some he'd never met. Looking down at himself, he seemed to be in one piece as well, though his clothing was torn up a bit. His wrists and ankles were restrained by zip ties. He shivered in disgust, recalling that the last thing he remembered was the creature on the verge of violating his ass. Had it done so? Somehow, he didn't want to know.

So many on the station referred to the creature as a xenomorph. Using a term from an old science fiction movie of a creature of a similar nature. But he refused to do so. A xenomorph was a geological term, not a biological one. And Dr. Lovecraft was all about correct terminology. Perhaps he should have given it a name, like some on the station had. Larry being the favorite name of some. But that would humanize it too much. So he continued to call it "the creature".

The creature, for the moment, was nowhere to be seen. But there was Oscar, standing there with an arrogant smile on his face. Laughing at everyone else's predicament. Which brought the worst out in Nathan. Straining hard against the zip ties, he growled his rage at Oscar. He would have preferred to shout. But his voice came out hoarse, probably from the tentacle rubbing the inside of his throat earlier.

"What is going on in that diseased little mind of yours, Oscar? Do you have any idea of what you've done? Or what you're doing?"

Aiden stared almost blankly at the doctor. "Decontamination? Is that really necessary? I mean, we weren't anywhere near the xeno, so..." He put his hand up to his neck and disconnected the feed, restoring his "normal" vision. "Doesn't that seem a little extreme?"

------------------------

Chris smiled at Fred's response, the intercom camera showing the cheery lab assistant's face. "Just checking on you guys, Fred. The medical team should be here soon." She turned to look behind her at the sound of many footsteps. "Scratch that, they're here now. Hold on, we're coming in. Stand clear of the door."

The security chief swiped a key card through a slot on the door control panel, allowing the lockdown to be overridden for the moment. The medical team went in first, with Chris following close behind. A few security guards followed her lead and physically searched the entire room for the xenomorph while the medics scanned the trio for any sort of alien contaminants.

"All clear, Captain. No sign of any xenos here," came the report from one of the guards. Chris heaved a sigh of relief.

The med team's scan also turned up with nothing, except some confusion about Aiden's cybernetics. They packed their gear up and quickly left after giving the all-clear.

Chris's security team exited to stand guard outside while the captain herself stayed in. "Okay, Jacob, you can remove the lockdown on this lab."

A feline creature with white fur was sleeping in its cage while a robot was transporting it to one of the labs when it got stopped by the closed doors.
"Great, another lockdown..." said the delivery boy when the door didn't open in front of him. He had to deliver his cargo, but now he had to wait until the escaped test subject, whatever it was, got recaptured. Sure, there were a lot of guards, robots and security systems on the Cloud Nine R&D Station, but the door to the bay got still closed to prevent anyone from escaping. Not all test subjects were here on their own will, but they needed to be studied to understand them better. The door opened after a while and the robot continued to move the cage with the sleeping creature inside it and followed its owner into a decontamination chamber.

Two guards guided the young man to one of the many laboratories where a scientist was waiting for him. "I need a signature here and here," said the delivery boy and pulled a clipboard with papers and a pencil out of his jacket. He took a last look at the sleeping creature in the cage before he talked again. "Be careful or you could lose an eye." The feline mutant looked like a neko alien, but it was a human before it changed. No security camera footage nor any reports on what happened were found so nobody knew how the anonymous volunteer turned into what it was right now.

A DNA test didn't give any clues on the mutant either except that it wasn't human nor an alien. Many scientists had tried to interogate the feline creature, but it had no memory of anything that happened before the accident. And everyone who got too close to it got his eyes scratched out which was the reason why there was a straight jacket put on the creature. The delivery boy took the signed papers and left to get the rest of the cargo, supplies for the Cloud Nine R&D Station, out of his ship.

**Lab 352**

Dr. Isaac Vomisa danced to blaring "Hyperdub Metal" (a music genre that the kids called the "latest pop culture music phenomenon," while the adults called it "noise") as he worked on his latest project. A mostly finished android lay upon a table, parts strewn about in what would be best described as "ordered chaos."

The song stopped suddenly, an alarm going off. Isaac stopped what he was doing, putting down an arm. It was now 11:30 on the dot, time for a break. He stood up, and walked over to another machine of his creation...a tall box-like device with a platform on top, wired to an interface in the front. Isaac pulled up a screen and pushed a picture on the touch-screen; A can of soda.

The platform lit up, and strange sounds came from the box portion of the device. A hologram of the selected soda appeared...which solidified into an actual soda!

Isaac picked up the newly created can of soda, popped the top and drank as if he'd gotten it from a simple vending machine. His matter conversion device still had a few kinks to work out, but once it was more practical, it would change everything!

Having an IQ of 304 and 23 doctorates at the age of 19, Isaac was a rare breed of genius. He had amassed enough grants, awards and prizes that he was guaranteed a lab in Cloud Nine and total freedom to work on whatever projects he desired.

A male child's voice spoke over an intercom. "Issac?"

"Hi, Seth." Isaac responded, "What's the word?"

Seth, another AI aboard Cloud Nine, was the most advanced of the AI's in the station network, having been programmed by Isaac himself. "You told me to tell you when that cat lady arrived."

Isaac grinned, excited. He had heard about the "Cat Girl," and was fascinated to no end by her shroud of mystery surrounding her! Upon hearing about her impending arrival to C9, he asked Seth to notify him of her arrival. Draining his soda and tossing the can into a receptacle, he quickly made his way to Lab 76.

Once there, he walked in nonchalantly past the guards, having called ahead on his Mobile. When he saw the girl in the flesh, he couldn't contain his smile.

"Doctor Vomisa!" A middle-aged man spoke, walking up to him. The man appeared to be in his 30's, of Indian descent. "I'm Doctor Kajal. It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you!"

"Both are all mine, sir!" Isaac replied, shaking the Doctor 's proffered hand, then gazing through the glass into the room where the cat girl was being kept.

"Is that her?" Isaac asked, "Amazing..."

Doctor Kajal nodded. "We won't actually start testing until tomorrow. She's been on a long trip to get here, after all. Today, we're just observing."

"Fine by me." Isaac said. He was convinced he could watch her all day.

-------------------------------

**LAB 188**

Oscar made an expression of mock hurt. "Diseased mind? And here I thought we were friends." His smile returned. "Rest assured, I know exactly what I'm doing, and soon, so will you. You see, you've been chosen...as I have."

He knelt beside Nathan. "Their species never had any name, really...what does a name matter as far as survival is concerned? Still, we've agreed on the title "Phoboids." The individual creature is "Deimos."

He stood up an removed his lab coat. "It was stronger than I gave it credit for. It woke from the anesthetic before I could finish taking samples. I tried to get rid of whatever it did to me, like you no doubt want to do, I'm sure; But later, I came to realize that this creature, like all lifeforms, simply seek to grow, evolve...and propagate."

At Nathan's look of horror, Oscar chuckled. "No, no, not you! Though Deimos was...curious about it for a moment. No, my friend, these lovely ladies here..." He motioned to the women, "Will be playing that role quite soon." He unbuttoned and removed his shirt next, "We, on the other hand...will represent evolution."

Oscar knelt down next to Dr. Lovecraft once more, showing him his arm. Something...very unfamiliar moved he means rippled beneath the skin and muscles. The same effect occurred in his bared midsection and chest.

"I'm almost there..." He mused, "Another few hours should do it, I think...then you'll see me...and what you'll become...in it's full glory. You'll understand when your change begins."

-----------------------------------------

**Lab 205**

"Affirmative, Captain Young. Lockdown for Laboratory 205 released. I must also report that neither security nor medical personel sent to Lab 204 have given status reports or replied to communication attempts."

Tia gasped. She knew that Greg was on duty at Dr. Lovecraft's lab and was worried when the lockdown was initiated, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind to focus on addressing the situation at hand. Jacob's report brought her fears for Greg's well being roaring back.

Fred was silent for a moment, then a sound went off on his mobile device. He looked at the notification, and smiled.

"Hey, Chris, I might be able to help you out here." He showed her the message he got. "The grav sliders for the Temporal Camera are finally on their way...and this baby's overdue for a field test. If something's wrong, the camera will tell you exactly what happened and save you hours of investigation! You only need me to work the thing...whaddaya say?"

Shocked, Tia spoke up, "Are you serious?? You can't do that!"

Fred explained, "The faster they know what happened, the better, you know that, Doc!"

Tia fumed a moment, then said, "At least let me come with you!"

Fred replied, "Doc, it only takes one of us, and security'll have enough of a distraction just watchin' out for me."

Tia continued, her emotions rising. "Then let me go instead! I can't let you do this by yourself! And Greg's at that lab! I need to..."

Fred lightly gripped his friend's shoulders, speaking in a calm, level voice, "Doc...it'll be okay. If Greg were here, he'd tell you to stay outta danger. I'll be fine, and Greg's gonna be fine too...you'll see."

Fred sighed, then added, "Besides, you know I can take care of myself, right? I'm from the Bronx! Fuggedaboudit! Bring it on!"

In spite of herself, Tia tried not to laugh at Fred's bravado. "Just...If Chris lets you do this, just be careful, okay? You, her, everybody...please?"

Fred smiled. "Cross my heart, Doc."

With that, he turned back to Chris. "So? You, me, the TC, and a shit-ton o' guards...we got a date or what?

The security chief gave Fred a small smile. "Of course we can test it. It's just a matter of getting it over there, and I know that thing weighs a ton." Her smile widened as she remembered the techs' complaints. She pulled out a small blaster and handed it to the lab assistant. "Keep this on you at all times. We don't know what's out there, and I don't want to have to cover your ass as well as my own."

Chris turned to Tia and placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "If Greg's there, we'll make sure he's okay and let you know."

Aiden stepped up to the security chief. "Um... I know that I'm just a volunteer, but... Aw, hell, I'll just show you." He held out his left arm and clenched his fist, which then disappeared into his bionic arm and was replaced with a mini blaster cannon. He smiled nervously, trying hard not to think about a video game from the 1980s as he showed his arm off. "I think I can help."

Chris looked at the cyborg, her steel gray eyes studying him. "Well, it's really not my place to say whether you can come or not. Dr. Greer has to release you from your testing."

Nathan had always had his doubts about Oscar. He was way too reckless and impetuous when it came to handling the experiments. If there was a containment breach, he'd always assumed Oscar would be a part of it. But this giving over control of himself to this creature, this Deimos..........that went beyond what even Dr. Lovecraft would have suspected of him.

As for the changes in Oscar's body, Nathan could already feel them in his as well. An unpleasant burning sensation all over his body. Looking at his skin, it was like looking at the surface of a planet being terraformed. His molecular structure was being torn apart and reformed. But into what?

Whatever he was being changed into, it was sapping his strength, making his efforts to break free of his bonds even more futile. Glaring at Oscar, he tried to reason with him.

"And what right have you to decide for those ladies what their future should be, Oscar? You're a human being, not a ................."phoboid". So why don't you start acting like a human and not that creature's puppet!"

In the back of Nathan's mind, he sensed a certain hypocrisy in his words, but now was not the time to talk of ethics, but survival. Whatever that creature was turning him into, he doubted it was going to be human.

**Lab 205**

Everyone was impressed at Aiden's cybernetics in action, Tia the most by far. "Wow..." She said, taking his arm in her hands to examine it. "Is that a pulse blaster? Is it plasma or laser? How far does your prosthesis go?"

With a mild blush, the scientist let go of the arm. "Sorry...scientist...curiosity comes with the territory. Oh, and yes, you're free to do what you want, I'd say cyber-testing's pretty much over at this point."

"Don't sweat it, Chris!" Fred reassured the Captain, "When the grav-sliders get here..."

"Ma'am?" A soldier called out, "I've got a delivery guy here, claims he's got a shipment for this lab?"

Fred gestured to the door. "Perfect timing!"

Once the delivery was authorized and signed, Fred set to work installing the grav-sliders with Tia's help. Aiden and a couple of other tech-inclined troops chipped in as well to expedite the process. Within fifteen minutes, the work was finished.

"All righty, then..." Fred mused, activating the controller for the grav-sliders, "Watch this."

With the grav-sliders activated, there was a mild humming and whirring, and the entire machine lifted ever so slightly from the ground. With a grin, Fred pushed the machine with a finger, and it started drifting away from him slowly. "Much better!"

Controls in hand, he steered the TC to follow the security officers. "Let's ro...eh, float!"

**Lab 188**

"PAH!!" Oscar spat, his good humor suddenly gone. "What's so great about being human? Before Deimos uplifted me, I was weak, soft, pathetic! I had my mind, but what else did I have?"

He moved closer to Nathan. "Didn't you notice the trail of bodies in my wake? Hefting your dead weight as if it were a bag of Styrofoam packing? Such feats would be quite difficult, if not impossible for an average man, wouldn't you say?"

He straightened up again, only to cringe in discomfort, his body shifting and quivering beneath the skin, the skin itself taking on a gray tone, some portions of the skin hardening into black scales, particularly along his spine, arms, and chest. When he opened his eyes again, they resembled two jet black orbs. Slowly, from his back...tentacles emerged.

He laughed with a voice that sounded like multiple throats. He then looked at Nathan, grinning with a row of sharp teeth. "Humanity is overrated, Nathan...and, in time...extinct."

He walked over to where the women now lay. As he got closer, he spoke, "There's not enough women as it is, but it's all right, we'll only need one for this little 'exercise.' Besides...I can always get more; Though I'll need to wear something more concealing."

He lifted a woman that appeared to be coming around to consciousness, cradling her in his arms easily. He brought her over to near where Nathan sat.

"I need not convince you...your new nature and desires will do it for me." He spoke.

He held the woman up, keeping her body in full view. Coming to full cognizance and seeing Oscar's new form caused her to scream into her gag in absolute horror, struggling and fighting against both her bonds and Oscar's far superior strength. Five of his six new tentacles snaked around her, while another one pulled up a chair.

The woman's pure panic and subsequent struggles came to naught, as one tentacle slid between her legs, forcing its way inside her vagina. Another one secreted some kind of ooze before it worked its way into her anus. Finally, two other tentacles began to wrap around her breasts, the tips brushing and teasing her nipples.

Oscar sat in the chair, lowering the woman to his lap. Already, her struggles were waning, her cries of protest being slowly replaced by muffled moans of arousal.

"Watch carefully now, Nathan..." Oscar teased, "A good scientist observes every detail!"

After the grav-sliders were installed, Chris hefted her rifle. "Everyone ready?" she asked. A chorus of affirmative responses from her team came through her headset. Her gray eyes settled on Fred. She gave him a quirky smile. "Ready, Freddie?" she asked, her amusement clear in her voice. "Let's go." She led the way towards Lab 204.

Aiden made sure his arm blaster was primed and ready to go before following the main group out of the lab. He stopped at the door and turned back to Tia.

"I... ah... Maybe... maybe I should stay here, just in case there's another xeno on the loose...?" he said, wanting to help, but at the same time nervous and scared.

"Leave the girl alone," Dr. Lovecraft wanted to yell at Oscar. Followed by a few choice obscenities. But all that came out of his throat was a raspy whisper. It wasn't entirely due to the tentacle that the creature had slipped down his throat, either. While the tentacle had rubbed his throat raw, more likely his loss of voice was due to a reshaping of his body as a result of the toxins from the creature's sting.

"A good scientist retains his objectivity, rather than giving in to his baser urges," Nathan retorted to Oscar's comment. Whether Oscar heard his comment above the groans of the girl was debatable, however.

Watching the thing that had been Oscar abusing the girl, Nathan fought the primitive urges that erupted in himself as a result. Struggling against the changes to his body, while trying to hold onto his humanity.

Perhaps he was fighting too hard. The creature apparently thought so, as it scurried over and wrapped itself around his upper body, running multiple tentacles down his throat. One tentacle tapped into his brain stem, shutting down his higher functions, while the other slithered down his throat, towards his lungs, taking over his breathing. Necessary, since part of the creature then enclosed his head within it's body. Not unlike that creature in the early part of that old movie, "Alien". Though on a larger scale, since this creature was large enough to also wrap up Nathan's arms and torso.

From that point on, Dr. Lovecraft ceased to be aware of anything happening around him.

**Lab 205**

Aiden turned and walked back into the lab, letting the door close behind him. He gave Tia a nervous smile. "I'm just gonna stay here. I don't want to get in their way." He returned his cybernetic arm to its normal state. "Maybe we could talk about my prosthetics? It's not just my arm, or my eye."

**En route to Lab 204**

Chris led the way down the corridor, making sure that Fred and the TC were close behind. She double-checked her wrist monitor to see if there had been any response from the team supposed to be guarding Lab 204. "Dammit, still nothing," she muttered. The security chief looked up at the intercom grid built into the ceiling of the station. "Leon, can you locate the team stationed at Lab 204?"

The AI's response came quickly. "Sorry, Captain Young, there appears to be an error in the system," the British voice replied. "I can't seem to find the team's communication gear, but their biometrics are indicating that some are near Lab 188."

Christine paused for a moment, holding up her hand to signal the rest of the team. "Lab 188? Isn't that where Doctor Farell is?" she asked as she turned to Fred.

As Dr. Lovecraft lay there in the darkness the creature had formed around him, his mind was trying to form a thought. Which became increasingly hard to do, because the creature's voice was in his head. Or maybe it was the creature's thoughts instead. All he could hear was a soft sibilant voice telling him to cease resistance. Telling him that life would be better under the guidance of the Phoboids. Though the creature seemed to laugh at the term, finding it amusing. A made-up name to satisfy Oscar's need for a name.

Every time Nathan tried to form a thought, Deimos would give him sort of a mental punch, silencing that thought and forcing him to listen to the creature's thoughts. Deimos. The creature. It was all getting jumbled in Nathan's brain. He didn't want to humanize the creature by giving it a name, but he was being nudged in that direction by the creature, until he just started thinking of him as simply Deimos. Was that another made up name chosen just to satisfy Oscar?

As Deimos seemed to be reformatting Nathan's brain, it's grip on his upper body was relentless. Squeezing the air out of his body, and then forcing its own air in to replace it. He would have been disgusted at the process, if he'd still had access to his emotions. And in spite of all the tentacles it was using to cocoon his upper body, Deimos still found a limb or two to reach down and toy with his privates. Teasing him over his helplessness.

(Sorry for my late reply...)

The feline mutant growled when the cage got moved into one of the labs. There was a necklace with a name tag around the former humans neck which identified him/her as Sasha. A few tranquilizers were needed to keep the neko from attacking everyone who took the straight jacket off for inspections and tests. Sasha couldn't remember what happened before the accident nor what or who he was anymore. His slim body figure gave him a feminine appearance and made him look like a girl with a small perky breasts. He didn't know why he was brought here and wanted only to live in peace. Maybe finding a mate for the rest of his life would be good too, but right now he only wanted to leave. Sasha was faster than any human and had better reflexes too. He wasn't the strongest, but he could still tear a robot apart by using his sharp claws. Not to forget that he had all the senses a cat had which included enhanced hearing, seeing in the dark and landing on his feet after falling down. Sasha was a little bit hungry and thirsty, but he didn't trust anyone who got too close to him. He attacked all invaders of his personal space no matter whether they were made out of metal, flesh or something else. He feared fire like any wild animal and was unable to swim, but he liked water despite the fact that he prefered to clean himself like any house cat did.