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Chapter 10: Dirty Little Secrets

Fear is a natural part of life. Every living thing can feel the emotion of terror and dread, not just humans. It's what triggers the coined "fight or flight" mindset that living organisms feel. Even artificial humans had these emotions programmed into them; the legal ones anyway. Michael, the engineering synthetic, was no exception to this rule of nature.

Tower C held an entire section dedicated to the security of the civilian zones of the colony. Many officers were busy at work monitoring the whole colony, making sure no one decided to take advantage of the occasional blackouts the storm caused. But something different was happening in one of the offices within this sector.

A rather cozy looking office room with a patterned rug and nice, wooden furniture, and pulled down window shades, was occupied by two men. One of which was Michael. The engineer was sitting in the seat on the other end of the occupied desk and he was wearing his usual work jumpsuit. A human wearing an all-black dress suit with the company's logo on the breast pocket was sitting at the desk. This man had slanted eyes, combed back hair, and a look of age.

Both of them were completely silent. The synthetic patiently watched as the human typed into his computer. He couldn't see it, but the well-dressed man was sending private messages to a woman in Tower D, Doctor O'Connell. He had been informing her on what the engineer had just reported and the incident with the other two divers. But every time he tried to gather information from the woman, she would refuse to answer. Feeling frustrated, he sent her another message.

Chief Onlan: What should I do with the AP?

Doctor O'Connell: Tell it that everything it's seen is classified.

Chief Onlan: And the two victims?

Doctor O'Connell: Their cause of death is also classified.

Chief Onlan, the man in the black suit, felt his hands clench into fists from these responses. All this cloak and dagger wasn't why he signed up for this job. But orders were orders. The smallest of sighs escaped his lips as he rested his elbows on the table and he looked at the seemingly unemotional synthetic. If things were up to either of them, they'd warn everyone of the possible danger out there in the ocean.

"I'm sorry, Michael, but I've been told that we need to keep this little incident between us." the chief stated with some regret in his voice.

This wasn't really surprising to the artificial person, but it was frustrating all the same. And it wasn't like he could disobey the company that created him. He stared at the chief with a blank expression and simply nodded.

"I understand." he stated blankly.

"Good." Chief Onlan said before he stood up.

The human rubbed the back of his neck as he stretched his back, which caused the bones to pop. It felt good to stretch, especially since he's been sitting in that damned seat for the whole day. A sudden tremor from the hurricane outside nearly caused him to fall over however, but he quickly caught himself by resting a hand against a nearby coat hanger.

"Are you alright, sir?" Michael asked and he quickly stood up, to which the human held up his hand.

"I'm fine." he assured and he was able to stand normally again once the shaking ceased. "Now, I want you to keep this little incident to yourself. You can take the rest of the day off, but-"

"I won't tell anyone about the attack. I just hope you write a letter to the families of the deceased." the android replied.

"You may go now." Chief Onlan stated quickly, if not a bit awkwardly.

Michael didn't reply to this. He quietly turned around and made his way out of the room. It was disgusting to him that two highly dangerous creatures were out there and nothing was being done to stop them. Those monsters could pierce the diving suits he and the others wore, which both impressed and terrified him.

At first, the synthetic considered making his way to hydroponics to visit Angela, but then something important occurred to him. The two monsters that attacked his group during the dive greatly resembled the dragons from Robert Morse's work, Space Beast. But the creature in the book was dog-like and seemed to be a land-based predator. The creature that attacked him outside was obviously aquatic. This was troubling in the android's mind. Was it possible that the dog creatures could be here too?

The engineer took a sharp right suddenly and sped up his walking speed a little. It was true that he had to keep everything quiet about the incident, but he, like all synthetics, were programmed to do everything they could to protect humans and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Passing through a few hallways and down some stairs, Michael found his way to one of the many bridges that led to Tower B, which was where he and Angela worked. Like the bridges to the forbidden Tower D, this bridge had a spherical outline to it. The walls and ceiling were transparent while bright lights shone from beneath the floor grating. Others were making their way down the bridge too as he walked, but Michael constantly looked out into the blue ocean outside, keeping his eyes sharp and alert. He never once thought this before today, but being out and exposed on this bridge made him feel so uneasy. A few times, he thought he saw the creatures moving around out there, but it was just the occasional fish or other similar sea creature. Nothing like what he saw before.

Eventually, the synthetic made it to the other side of the bridge, which felt like forever. Only when he actually entered Tower B did he feel at least somewhat safe. But there was still more to do and, in his mind, no time to waste. With a quickened step in his pace, he walked to the elevator and took it down to the engineering deck, where he worked. Now, he knew he was given the day off, but there was something he needed to do.

A few of the engineers who recognized the artificial person greeted him as he walked by. He was polite and greeted them back, but he didn't stop to chat with them. Soon, he found his way to one of the many storerooms and opened the metal door. To his relief, no one was inside. He stepped in and the door slid shut. The lights automatically turned on once the sensors picked up movement and he slowly looked around the room.

There were various different tools spread out in the storeroom, hence its name. This was actually the same room where he got his cement gun from earlier and he could see it lazily leaning against a wall, outside of its storage box. For now though, the synthetic ignored the tool. He glanced at the wall of various power tools, but decided against grabbing any. Instead, he noticed an open crate in the corner of the room. The crate wasn't too large, just barely reaching his knees.

When he looked inside, he saw quite a few plasma torches that were still in their packaging. The tools appeared to be cylinders with one end slightly bent, which was were the flame came out of, These must've been the new shipment he was informed of. The colony was large and it often required various repairs, which was why these tools were needed.

Michael reached into the crate and pulled out two plasma torches before he tucked them under his left arm. Next, he walked over to the power tools and glanced at the table under them. A few saws were resting on the plastic surface, but an empty paint gun, about the size of a large pistol, was also left abandoned. Carefully, the synthetic pushed the various saws off the table, which made them clang against the tiled floor as they fell. Once there was more space, he set the two torches down on the table, next to the paint gun.

'I think this will work.' he thought to himself and he easily tore the tools out of their packages, also tossing them aside.

This was the synthetic's first time doing something like this, but he didn't think it'd be too hard. Hell, if the danger wasn't so real, he might've actually had fun doing this. Holding the paint gun up, he grabbed one of the torches and held it up to the device's nozzle, however he was unsatisfied by how far the torch was from the nozzle. Mentally cursing to himself, he set down the tools and walked over to a drawer to his right. He grabbed the drawer's metal handle and pulled it outwards to show some metal pipes of various sizes. His finger traced through the pipes until he found one about thirty centimeters in length.

Michael didn't bother closing the drawer again and he walked over to the table once more. He wasn't sure how much time alone he had, for he knew he'd draw suspicion if anyone saw what he was doing. Taking one of the diamond coated power saws, he sawed the pipe, causing sparks to fly out in all directions, to about half its length before he set the saw down again.

Now that he was satisfied with the length of the pipe, the dark haired android put on some tinted safety goggles and lit one of the two handheld plasma torches. He was thankful that everyone was so busy because of the storm. Otherwise, someone probably would've investigated the noises he was making. He pushed the thoughts of being discovered away and he slid the pipe over the paint gun's nozzle before he held the blue flame up to the end of the pipe. More sparks flew out as the metals welded together, effectively elongating the barrel. Once that was done he grabbed the other plasma torch and pressed it against the underside of the other end of the pipe before welding it in place.

Satisfied with his work so far, the engineer deactivated the torch. Carefully, he set down the Frankenstein's monster of a paint gun on the table. There was one last thing he needed to do. These paint guns needed to be loaded with small tanks filled with paint. In the back of the room, there were several of these tanks that were empty at the moment. Not only that, but there was also a large propane tank to the side of the room, which was used to power several tools.

Michael chose to fill three of these cans with propane instead of paint. He also used their safety tops to plug two of the tanks so none of the fuel could be released. Once done, he brought the tanks back over to the table and he twisted the unplugged tank into place on the paint gun. The tank was located just in front of the bright red trigger. With a straight face, the engineer held up his creation and looked it over, checking for any faults in his design.

'And there we have it. A flamethrower. Prolonged release of fire may melt the metal at the end of the barrel, so I should stick to small bursts if I can.' the synthetic thought to himself.

With his task complete, the engineer carried the makeshift flamethrower and the two backup tanks to one of the seating benches in the center of the room, which were near a few lockers. He set the items down on the bench and opened a rusty locker with his name in bold on the door. Inside, there were a few extra jumpsuits and a gray duffel bag that he sometimes used to carry tools.

'Perfect.' he thought to himself upon pulling the bag out into the open.

The bag was about the length of his arm and it had an adjustable strap stitched onto it. Quickly, Michael unzipped the back and opened it. At the moment, it only had a few t-shirts inside, but that was fine to him. Without taking the clothes out, he quickly stuffed the two tanks and the flamethrower into the bag before zipping the bag closed. He had little faith in the company keeping whatever might've been out there in the ocean under control. The probability of those things attacking more innocents was high, so he wanted to be armed to defend any humans in case that happened, especially Angela. He wasn't even sure if fire could hurt these creatures, but at the very least, he hoped that they were afraid of fire.

Slinging the duffel bag over his shoulder, Michael made his way to the room's exit and manually turned the lights off as the door opened. He took one last glance into the room before he walked out and the door slammed shut.

A manhunt was taking place in Tower D. All of the security officers within the massive science facility were given full briefings of the current situation. The two escaped subjects had been spotted outside in a form that no one was familiar with. It was rather troubling, but there was still the fact that one of the prisoners from Hades V was on the loose somewhere. Everyone was told to look out for a middle aged Caucasian male wearing a blue prison jumpsuit.

Being the loyal soldiers they were, security searched up and down the tower for the elusive man. This was the first time any host has escaped confinement. It was crucial that this host was found before anything bad were to happen. If he somehow escaped to another tower or somehow off world, then the results would look very bad on the colony. And in turn, the company itself.

Bill, the security officer within Security Room C7, was watching the various security monitors. This room's security was focused primarily on non-human subjects however, except on very rare occasions. His task was specifically to make sure that no other subject escaped containment. To him, this job was much more important than chasing some felon throughout the facility.

The overweight officer had his elbow on his desk with his chin resting on the palm of his hand. Despite his laid back appearance, he did take his job very seriously. His eyes constantly darted from monitor to monitor. Even with the brewing storm outside, all the subjects seemed rather calm, like usual.

The hum of the door opening drew his attention. The bright lights from outside the door beamed into the rather dark room and he quickly glanced over to see who had come to bother him. He raised an eyebrow however when there was no one at the doorway. He waited a few moments before he let out a scoff and stood up.

"Damn wiring actin' up again." Bill mumbled to himself.

The security officer walked over to the door and pressed his palm against the button on the panel nearby. This caused the door to gently slide shut again. Shaking his head, he walked back over to his chair and sat down. A small sigh escaped his nose as he looked over the monitors again.

There wasn't much time to get back to work however. The door hummed open again once more not two seconds after sitting down. Bill cursed in annoyance and stood up once again to close the damn thing. He could only reason that the storm somehow knocked some wires loose or something. He wasn't a technician, he didn't know.

Once he approached the doorway, he raised his hand to press the button again. A blue and tan blur rushed forward suddenly and an excruciating pain enveloped his left eye. But before he could scream, something strong pressed against his mouth. He tried to scream through the obstruction, but it was muffled and he felt himself being pushed onto the ground with something heavy on top of him. Whatever had pierced his eye was forced deeper. He tried screaming for help and even bit whatever was covering his mouth, but it wouldn't budge. Eventually, his vision darkened and he went still.

Aaron Makov looked down at Bill's corpse with a straight face. His hand was pressed over the dead man's lips, even with his palm bleeding from being bitten. The convict saw no point in pulling his plastic shiv out of the corpse's eye socket, so he released the weapon and calmly stood up.

The Russian American wordlessly closed the door behind him and stepped over the dead body to inspect the room. He noticed the various security monitors and the computer on the desk. The bloodied hand he used to cover Bill's mouth raised up to his chin as he watched a few shadowy creatures with tails and long heads being held in some holding cells. The screens were too fuzzy to see clearly however, which was a minor annoyance, but something else caught his attention. His green eyes were locked on a screen that displayed a lone man restrained to a medical bed. Even with the bad quality, he could still tell that that the man in that room was Linwood.

'Perhaps I should help you out, friend.' he thought to himself.

Aaron sat down at that moment and cracked his knuckles before he brought up the computer's command prompt. Each monitor was labeled with a number or letter, so he began to type in some codes at a fast pace. the keys clicked with each typed letter and number. Once by one, the codes were entered in on the computer.

Xenomorph Holding Cell B1 released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Xenomorph Holding Cell B2 released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Xenomorph Holding Cell B3 released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Xenomorph Holding Cell B4 released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Egg Holding Chamber D released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Egg Holding Chamber E released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

Patient Holding Room released… …EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!

A small, slight second smile rose from Aaron's lips before he stood up again. He doubted he'd have long before whatever these things were became active. Without a moment to waste, the convict stepped over the dead body on the floor and exited the room. Alarms began blaring as soon as the cells were released and bright yellow lights flashed throughout the area, but they were ignored.

Aaron walked at a fast pace down the hall and took a left, then another left. Gunfire could be heard in the distance, which just quickened the man's step. Eventually, he found the a room marked as Patient Holding Room. Upon opening the door and stepping inside, the escapee found himself in a small observation room with a massive window covering most of the wall. On the other side of the window, Linwood was unconscious and strapped to the same bed from the monitor. And right next to the window, there was a metal door that led inside.

Soft snoring caught Aaron's attention. To his left, a young security officer was sitting at the computer desk with his head resting on his crossed arms. Despite the blaring alarms, this man was still sleeping.

'Where does the company find these people?' Makov thought to himself and he shook his head.

Without even attempting to be quiet, Aaron approached the officer and reached for his holster. Without much effort, he pulled the revolver out of the leather pouch and pointed it at the man's head before squeezing the trigger. The flash of the gun briefly lit the room as the bullet left a hole in the side of the officer's head, which left a large blood splatter against the wall and on the computer monitor.

Aaron felt no pity for the officer. Still holding the handgun, he made his way to the closed door and with the press of a button, it hummed open. Unlike the rest of the level they were on, this room had no flashing lights or alarms. It was possible that the room was soundproof, the convict thought to himself. But there was no time to think about that.

Linwood was still asleep, possibly drugged. Unlike the unfortunate officer into the other room, Makov had no intention of executing him. Instead, he set the revolver down on the bed and undid the tight bonds that kept the bald man in place. Once the restraints were unbuckled, Aaron smiled at his work and picked up his new revolver again.

"Good luck, Mr. Stevenson. May we meet again." he said politely before he simply turned and left, leaving the unconscious man on the bed.