"Welcome to the Repository gentlemen," Dr. Damon Carthy said as the corporate representatives strode off the docking bridge into the far-flung facility. "This is where we research all of your favorite genetic toys."
"I am aware of what this is," Jared Garrison said amiably. "If you could please just give me an overview of current projects, then perhaps we can get this over with as quickly as possible and we can both get back to our regular tasks."
"Right," the researcher said nervously. "Excuse me, I just get a little jumpy with these things."
"It's just a routine inspection, Carthy," Garrison said, looking about as they walked through the facility. "Believe me when I say that Weyland-Umbrella has no interest in shutting down what has proven to be a very profitable operation. Now take me through the projects, if you will."
"All right," Carthy said. "This way please."
The scraggly professor led the way down into the project centers of the Repository. Garrison paused a moment at the progression.
"Shouldn't we be getting a vaccination at least, Doctor?" the man asked in a not so amiable tone.
"No worry, sir," the doctor said, laughing a bit. "There's no chance of T Virus contamination in this facility. All the samples are kept in the test room, which is miles seperately from here and only unsealed to put in and remove test subjects. Now sir, if you please, I'll show you the first project, the one you're most familiar with."
He directed Garrison's attention to the holding pen and its display monitors showing a small pack of black-shelled warrior drones milling about and snapping at each other.
"I thought you didn't have a queen," Garrison said. "Where did you get all of these?"
"We have access to the DNA of two infected individuals from an incident in Tokyo, Japan in the late 20th century," Carthy said. "A rogue hunter sect decided that humans were too dangerous to their race and attempted to use the aliens to destroy us. The situation was contained and hushed up as a terrorist plot. Most of those involved in containing situation died, but DNA samples of two victims were collected and held in storage until we found the files. We use the DNA to clone the individuals regularly and surgically remove the alien."
"I see," Garrison said nodding. "And is that also how you introduce genetic mutations into these drones?"
"Yes," Carthy said. "We keep the ratio used for the eighth clone in the military experiments that failed a few years ago. We're hoping the extra human DNA will make the drones more malleable and controllable, but it's been an uphill battle. Every so often we get a hold of new DNA sources and we try to cross them into the host DNA in hopes that traits will be passed on to the aliens."
"And what do you do with the hosts?" Garrison asked pointedly.
"We dispose of them," Carthy said. "We're not making the same mistakes as the military. We keep the hosts around for a few days to mark the effects of the DNA on them, we keep them under sedation the whole time and then we incinerate them. The alien DNA allows the clones to recall the memories of the original individuals. If we let them free, they start to 'remember' things and then we have trouble."
"So I understand," Garrison said. "We're still attempting to track down Ripley for study. Or at least a DNA sample."
"It would have to be from the original Ripley," Carthy said. "Now, let me show you another project."
He led them down a further coorridor and stopped at a smaller holding pen, inside of which sat a morose seeming young woman. Carthy pointed toward her as she looked up from her knees toward the cameras she knew were there.
"This is the product of another abandoned project we found in 20th century American files," Carthy said. "Project SIL, I believe. It is a sort of biological weapon."
"This girl," Garrison said, indicating the harmless seeming woman on the screen.
"She has shape-changing capabilities, sir," Carthy said. "The creature's task is to breed and breed and breed and breed, eventually overwhelming anything else that lives on the planet it is sent to. We have the instructions for combining it with human DNA, that was sent as a trap to the scientists in the 1990s. What we are doing now is looking for ways to bond the SIL DNA with the DNA of other hostile species to accomplish the same purpose."
"Which hostile species in specific?" Garrison asked.
"A number," Carthy said. "But the hunter DNA certainly. We have a captive one here somewhere. How does go the war effort?"
"Intermittant," Garrison said. "There was a bit of fluctuation when the hunters realized we were fighting back and geared up for war rather than hunting, but it returned to a stand off rather quickly."
"Well, we're looking to change that," Carthy said. "Now, we only have two more major projects before we get to the incidentals like vaccines and such."
"Good, take me to them," Garrison said, unnerved by the way the sitting girl seemed to be watching him through the cameras.
Another long set of hallways led to a second holding pen.
"We have to keep this one locked almost as heavily as the warrior pen," Carthy said. "The subject possesses some sort of psychokinetic and pyrokinetic abilities."
"Who is that?" Garrison asked.
"Mr. Garrison," Carthy said. "Allow me to introduce you to Eve."
The creature inside was grotesque, a mockery of a human being, and it looked through the walls with a hideous anger and urge to conquer.
"She's a symbiotic organism," Carthy explained. "The host in this case was human. A lab technician that was unlucky. We barely contained her before the symbiote took control."
"What are you doing with her?" Garrison asked.
"Studying her," Carthy said. "Learning how to shield against her powers."
"How do you plan to do that?" Garrison asked.
Carthy raised a finger pointed to a display monitor behind him.
"We're keeping them in the test room I mentioned until we know more of their limits," Carthy said, calling up the image. "Sil and Eve had a brief meeting once, which is the probably the only reason that one or the other didn't kill us all. Sil seemed to be immune to the direct affects of Eve's powers and it gave us a bit of an idea."
"We've reproduced the two warrior hosts again," Carthy said. "With splices of Sil and Eve DNA added to their make up. We hope that they'll be resistant to Eve's psychokinetic abilities and mutation abilities, but, quite frankly, we've been hesitant about introducing the two to Eve. Three of the most hostile and aggressive species all mixed into those two drones, we have no idea what they're capable of."
"Four," Garrison said.
"Excuse me, sir?" Carthy said.
"Four of the most hostile and aggressive species," Garrison explained. To Carthy's uncomprehending glance, the man continued. "They're part human, too. Have you already incinerated the hosts you cloned?"
"Actually," Carthy said. "We plan on introducing them to Eve first. Better to start with the less dangerous set."
"Sir!" a technician said, running up to Carthy with an alarmed expression. "The hosts have woken up."
"Th..that's impossible!" Carthy said. "We keep them constantly under sedation!"
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(Posted Sat, 04 Sep 2004 20:45)
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