Ben Hammott - Siberia

“There’s nothing here suitable to contain the creature,” stated Stanislav. “Let’s try the other laboratories.”

A short walk farther along the corridor weaving between the glass-walled rooms brought them to another laboratory. Its door led to an air lock chamber with another door opposite, a safety feature to prevent any toxins from escaping into the main lab area. When Krisztina closed the first door behind her, air rushed into the chamber through a vent in the ceiling, causing her ears to pop as the pressure increased.

“Positive pressure to prevent anything from escaping when the lab is entered or exited,” explained Stanislav, unnecessarily.

Krisztina was surprised. She thought such precautions were only required when working with contagious substances, such as diseases, or chemical weapons. It made her suspect it wasn’t only poisons that had been concocted down here. She glanced through the glass door worriedly at the vast range of laboratory equipment and machines spaced around the room, which identified it as a chemical laboratory, and wondered if it was safe to enter.

It seemed Stanislav had no such concerns. When the rush of air had equalized, he promptly opened the door and stepped through. He crossed to a console and pressed a button, turning off the air pressure safety feature they didn’t need.

A glance around the room revealed exactly what they searched for. Stanislav strode to the far door and entered a room with a glass chamber positioned in the middle. Tubes and wires led off from the top, and two sets of gloved, corrugated arms were positioned on either of its longer sides.

“This is perfect,” he stated, running a hand along the top edge.

Krisztina walked to a side wall and into an adjoining room surrounded on two sides with metal, glass-fronted, cold-storage cupboards. A range of empty test tubes, glass flasks, measuring beakers and a plethora of other chemistry equipment was stored on shelves running the length of a third wall. She turned when Stanislav called to her.

“Give me a hand with this.”

She returned to the glass chamber and released the catches on the lid at the opposite end to Stanislav and together they raised it.

Stanislav looked at Krisztina with excitement in his eyes. “You do realize what a momentous occasion this is? If that thing did come from the Antarctica spaceship, though Stalin knows how it got here, we will be the first to examine an alien life-form. I—we, all of us—could became famous for what we are about to do. We are about to make history.”

“I understand that, but we need to take every precaution. It could have killed Waldemar if Luka hadn’t acted so quickly.”

Unconcerned, Stanislav ran his gaze over the inside of the lid and pointed out four nozzles. “Hopefully it won’t be necessary, but these will sprout jets of intense flame when activated if we need to destroy the life-form, and this is”—he tapped the side of the chamber—“armored glass. The creature, whatever it is, won’t be able to break it.”

Aware of Stanislav’s desire for advancement and public recognition, Krisztina experienced relief that Stanislav was willing to destroy the creature if the need arose. “As you said, hopefully it won’t come to that, though it’s comforting to have the option. However, first we have to capture it and get it inside.”

“I’ll check up on Alexei and Svetlana to see if they’ve caught it yet.” Stanislav crossed to the internal phone attached to the wall, lifted the receiver and pressed the facility-wide communication button. “Alexei, Svetlana, we are ready and waiting on Level 4. Report your progress.”

“No way am I squeezing in there,” stated Svetlana, backing away a step to reinforce her refusal.

“It won’t be so bad,” argued Alexei. “You can take the extinguisher, and if it’s in there, give it a good blast and scoop it up.”

“And how is that supposed to change my mind?”

“Well, someone has to do it. I won’t fit, so that leaves you.”

Svetlana shook her head. “Uh-uh! Not going to happen. It could be in there, waiting, ready to pounce.”

“I doubt it has the intelligence to set up an ambush or, lacking the limbs to do so, is able to pounce,” reassured Alexei. “It’s probably a simple organism with one thought—food.”

“Exactly! I don’t want to be its next snack.”

Alexei swept an arm around the room. “Based on the empty cages, it has probably sated its hunger and has crawled into the vent to sleep it off. It has no limbs, so it’s not like it’s a fast-moving creature that will rush you, is it? The most it can do is slither.”

“That’s speculation. We have no idea what it can do.” argued Svetlana.

“From Stanislav’s and Luka’s account of its attack against Waldemar, it only reacted when Waldemar poked it, probably a defensive response. If someone poked you, you wouldn’t just stand there and take it, would you?”

“Damn right I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t react by melting someone’s hand.”

“That’s because you have limbs to defend yourself. It doesn’t. It just used what it had. My point is, that if you don’t provoke it, it should leave you alone.”

“If spraying it with freezing CO 2isn’t provoking it, I don’t know what is.”

“You would be incapacitating it and it’s not like you’ll have to get close—a couple of meters will do.” Alexei glanced around the room and pointed at something in a corner. “Once you’ve frozen it, you can use that broom to drag it out to me and I’ll put it in the container.”

Svetlana glanced at the broom, the extinguisher and the vent. It seemed a recipe for disaster. She sighed. “I’m not promising I’ll get very far, but I’ll give it a try.”

“You’ll be fine.” Alexei jumped off the bench and handed Svetlana the flashlight. “Hop up, and when you’re in, I’ll pass you what you’ll need.”

As Svetlana climbed onto the bench, Stanislav’s voice came over the intercom.

“Alexei, Svetlana, we are ready and waiting on Level 4. Report your progress.”

Alexei crossed to the intercom and pressed the talk button. “We are still tracking the creature. It seems to have gone into the air duct. Svetlana is going in to find it.” He released his finger from the button.

“Understood,” replied Stanislav. “Keep me updated.”

Alexei turned to Svetlana. “You ready?”

“Not in the remotest, but I suppose I had better get this over with before I come to my senses.” She scrambled into the vent not much wider than her shoulders and gazed along the dark passage. The light she aimed ahead glinted off the creature’s slick trail. She couldn’t imagine a less welcoming scenario. She turned on her back and gazed at the entrance when the extinguisher Alexei passed in clanged against the side of the vent, sending an echo traveling along the air ducts. “That’s it, announce I’m coming.”

Alexei grinned. “It doesn’t have ears.”

“Perhaps not, but I felt the vibrations, so maybe it did also.” After shooting a nervous glance along the vent where she expected the creature to appear, Svetlana dragged the extinguisher up her body and placed it in front.

“Do you want the broom yet?”

“No, I’ll come back for it if it’s needed. It’s going to be awkward enough moving with the extinguisher.” Fear spread across her face when she noticed something appear behind Alexei. As the black, greasy mass stretched into view, two eyes formed in the substance. Though nothing more than rips in the Black, they were full of menace and seemed to be studying her.

Though Alexei had played down the danger Svetlana faced, he was surprised she had agreed to enter the tight confines of the vent that offered little chance to defend against an attack. Svetlana had been correct when she said they had no idea of the creature’s abilities, but how dangerous could a small black blob be? She would be fine.