Day 10
I had been in City 17 for a little over a week, and I had found almost all of the Black Mesa survivors. (That I knew about.) I had talked with Eli Vance and the new woman (Judith Mossman), had an undercover job with Civil Protection and killed, nay, slaughtered five people. Wow.
The last four days had been so routine, a robot could have done the work. Nothing noteworthy happened. I was at the train station for my entire work shift these days. (ten to six). I had let fifteen people onto the Nova Prospekt train, only after inspecting them, pulling up their history on the security panel screen via their citizen I.D, radioing the S20 THACO and train station commandants for clearance, and finally sending the citizen down the hall, out the door leading to the security rooms, and turning them over to a metrocop who would load them on the train. That was when I actually had something to do.
At least I could talk with the doc when I was extremely bored. I would shut off the cameras in the room, radio the lab, and talk. Today, the doc said he was going to test the portal. He had found a cat (somehow) and was going to teleport it to Eli's lab, and Eli would send it back.
"When you are done with your shift, Barney, come back to the lab and you will experience this breakthrough first hand!"
"All right, doc, but I have a baaaaad feeling about this. I'm not that comfortable around portals anymore. Don't kill the cat!"
"Oh, Barney. You are so cynical when it comes to science."
"Not true! I like beer! You need some kinda science to make beer, right? You know, fermenting it and stuff like that?"
The doc sighed, seeing as the conversation was going absolutely no where. "Well, Barney, make sure you are at my lab once your shift is done."
"Will do."
I ended the transmission, turned the cameras in the room back on, and returned back to my duties. At six, I took an APC to S20, signed out, and left for the lab, leaving my weapons in the station.
As I stepped into the lab, I saw Dr. Kleiner crawling around on all fours.
"What thehell are you doing?"
"That cat has hidden somewhere in the lab. I have Eli on the radio. His side of the teleport is ready. Oh, I just fear the worst for Lamarr. I think it makes sense that a cat is higher on the food chain than a headcrab. Cats seem more agile as well."
"So who are you looking for? The cat or the headhumper?"
"It really does not matter. One should be chasing the other."
Suddenly, I heard a crash as Lamarr jumped out of the air duct, knocking down the grate protecting the duct. There was also a screeching meow, a hiss, and I felt something hop on my head. The cat's claws dug into my head. Too bad I wasn't wearing the mask.
"OW!" I grabbed the cat and held it as far away from me as I could. It was an ugly cat, with patches of greasy grey fur missing, and a scar across his/her eye. It was trying to slash me into ribbons, but my suit protected against cat claws. I didn't feel a thing.
The doc then came to the rescue with a big fat needle of clear liquid. He gave the cat a shot, and it fell limp in my hands.
"Yeeuch. I hate cats." And I did. I had always been a dog person.
(A/N I love cats! And not dogs but they're okay)
The doc held the tranquilized cat in one arm, and he scanned his eyes to gain access into teleport room. I saw a screen on one wall in the teleport room, displaying Eli and Judith's faces. The hidden door to the teleport room slid shut behind me.
"There you are, Izzy. Found the cat?"
"Indeed, yes. I will send it to you in a matter of moments." He gave the unconscious cat to me. Then, he stepped on a lift, which took him up to a platform with some computer equipment. The metal bars over portal's platform cleared, and I put the cat on the platform.
The cat started to regain consciousness, but it was still drowsy.
Once the portal had been warmed up, I had to pull a switch to send the cat on the way. There was a brilliant flash of light, and then the cat was gone. I held my breath as Eli spoke.
"It came through all right." Eli smiled, and Mossman held the cat. It hadn't changed in any way.
"Okay, Doctor. We're sending it back." Mossman said. She left the view of the screen.
"You ready, Izzy?"
"Ready, willing, and fully enabled!" The doc was obviously proud of what he had done.
There was another flash of light, and "HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL?!" The poor thing was inside out. Literally.
Blood and guts splashed onto the floor around the portal. The cat's inside of the skin was now out! The thing flopped over as if it was a pancake.
"AAAUUUUGHH!! LEMME OUT OF HERE!" I banged on the door of the teleport room frantically.
Dr, Kleiner was also screaming. He pushed a button on a panel, vaulted over the edge of the platform, and ran out the door that had just opened. I was right behind him.
He grabbed his shotgun and cocked it, carefully edging back towards the door that had slid closed behind us. I wish I had taken my SMG. I knew the thing was dead, but damn! I felt more protected with a gun.
He scanned his eyes again, lifted his shotgun, and walked into the room.
The remnants of the cat were still there, of course. Nothing had changed except the size of the pool of blood.
"IZZY! IZZY! What the hell went on in there?"
Before the doc could speak, I cut in. "I'll tell you what the hell went on in there. That cat was frigging MESSED UP is what! Screw barnacles, that thing might as well have come from Zen!"
"Y-yes, Eli. The cat seemed to have... inverted. Here, take a look for yourself. The doc rotated the camera to the thing that used to be a cat.
"Oh, god Izzy, turn the camera away!"
"Dear god!" Judith gasped.
"Barney, you can report back to the station. I will clean the mess myself, and talk the problem over with Judith and Eli." Eli had lost his leg at Black Mesa, because he was walking too close to a tank of water, and an icthyosaur chomped off his leg from the knee down. He had a prosthetic to help him walk.
I ran back to the station and put my SMG, pistol, and stunstick under my bed. I then went to get some dinner, but the soup may as well have been made of cat blood. I took one sip of soup and threw the rest away.
That night, I had a nightmare that I was drowning in, you guessed it, cat blood.
End day 10
Yeesh. That was quite a gory chapter. As a cat lover, I did not especially enjoy writing this last part. But, I had to provide an answer to Barney's ailurophobia. Oooh, fancy word! I like. And ailurophobia is apparently misspelled, according to the spell checker. Shut up, spell checker! You don't know st!