Trigger Warning: Body Horror
Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.
While the scientists continued to argue over who was to blame for the latest commotion regarding Specimen ID-F86, the creature's eyes wandered until they locked onto a girl in a hospital gown. Strange, they never saw her before up until now. She didn't look like any of the scientists in the facility. Little did the scientists know, the creature had been able to slow down as much mental processing as possible, to ignore the passage of time, to make their stay in this lab more bearable, to wait for the day they could escape. Given the consistent soreness they felt, this method was effective, but not a long-term solution.
Still, they took note of the young woman's scrawny body and sickly face.
With a few scientists proceeding to check on Specimen ID-F86, Dr. Michal approached Vesa.
"Ok," he told her, "we're going to take that sample now. Hold still."
Vesa nodded and rested her arm on the chair's padded arm. The scientist dabbed the underside of her elbow with gauze which had medicine dripped into it. He took out a heavily sterilized needle and placed a finger on her arm, marking her vein. When he carefully pushed the needle in, she sharply inhaled.
"I know you're probably used to this," he continued, "but good job."
The needle slowly drew blood, the red fluid filling the clear syringe. When the container was full, Dr. Michal switched it out for another empty container, letting it fill with blood. By the time the second container finished filling, he removed the needle and placed a cotton ball on her arm. Vesa kept the cotton ball in place until Dr. Michal bandaged the area. When she stood back to her feet, she returned her gaze to Specimen ID-F86. To her bewilderment, the creature's eyes fixated on her. By then, the scientists near the tank barely managed to gather as many samples from the alien as possible. Vesa seemed to zone out, which caught Dr. Michal's attention.
"Miss Krasniki?"
Vesa blinked before turning her gaze to the scientist.
"Can I," Vesa requested, "can I have a closer look?"
Dr. Michal hesitated for a moment.
"Please be careful," Dr. Michal warned, "we don't know what it could do to you."
"Ok," Vesa nodded.
Dr. Michal allowed Vesa to place her arm over his shoulder as they approached the tank. As they got closer, Vesa could feel something peculiar in the back of her mind. The way Specimen ID-F86 gazed at her…she needed to get closer. It wanted to talk. It was like the alien's feelings were directed towards her, but what were they? Curiosity? Could this creature have been lonely or something? Stopping at the steps to the tank, the other scientists kept a watchful eye on her. She carefully climbed the steps until she was mere inches from the tank.
Staring in awe, Vesa pressed her palm on the glass of the tank. The creature tilted its head sideways, almost as if it wanted to get closer to her. When she noticed the grates on the floor, she realized there was no liquid in the tank. Slowly, the tank opened up and the creature plopped into a kneel. Vesa noticed the scientist who pulled a lever. The scientists near the tank kept a good distance, yet sent a small robot to examine ID-F86.
Vesa returned her gaze to the creature. She reached out her hand and gently placed it on the alien's head. It stiffened for a brief moment, unsure of how to respond. After a moment of silence, she stroked its head in a circular motion, reminiscing on the days she would pet the cats and dogs she encountered in her life. ID-F86 slowly closed its eyes, leaning into the touch. She let out a startled yelp as Dr. Michal grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
"P-Please don't touch the specimen," he ordered, his voice a bit shaky.
As the scientist led her down the steps, her face reddened in shame and embarrassment.
"I-I'm sorry," Vesa stammered.
"I-it just has many…abilities…that we don't understand," Dr. Michal tried to explain, seeming spooked, "the ones we do understand are terrifying to say the least."
Vesa glanced at ID-F86 for a moment.
"What…do you mean by that?" she paused.
"It has the power to assimilate other creatures into itself via touch," he clarified, "it's currently in a weak state, so if it assimilated you, it might have grown powerful enough to escape. It's why we use robots to examine it up close and make any kind of contact."
Vesa stiffened, eyes widening in disbelief.
"I know that's frightening," Dr. Michal added, "but it seems docile for now around you for some reason. It tried grabbing the other scientists a few times, though, and came pretty close."
Vesa lowered her head.
"Why don't we head back upstairs for now," Dr. Michal suggested, "ok?"
"A-All right," Vesa nodded.
Vesa followed Dr. Michal out of the lab and down the hallway. They stepped into the elevator and waited as it made its ascent. Once they returned to the oblong room, Dr. Michal ushered her into her guest room.
"Lunch will be ready in a couple hours," Dr. Michal told her.
Dr. Michal then reached for a box from the nearby cart.
"Anyways," he added, "here are those jigsaw puzzles you wanted. I think this is the one with all the pieces still."
Vesa plucked the puzzle box from his hand. The image on the lid resembled outer space. As far as she knew, the scientists long concluded space was strange. Parts of space contained absolutely nothing for light years, seemingly extending into forever in total darkness with stars in between. Other planets were said to have strange unnatural shapes which should not be possible by any understood laws of science.
"Thank you!" Vesa smiled.
"Take care, Miss Krasniki," Dr. Michal waved his hand.
Once the door slid closed, Vesa knelt to the floor and opened the box. She didn't hesitate as she began arranging the puzzle pieces. Examining the odd shapes of the planets, she assumed the puzzle was made recently and was taken with one of the most high power telescopes available with the new technology developed through…research. She started by rummaging through the pile for the edges, figuring out which of those pieces fit together. Checking the box for a brief moment, she noted the words "1000 Pieces" on the corner of the top of the lid. The top corner piece was part of the water droplet-shaped planet while the other corner seemed mostly to be dark space.
Well, she's handled difficult puzzles like this one before.
Vesa continued on with assembling the puzzle pieces until she heard a knock on the door a couple hours later. She stopped what she was doing and stood up, making her way to the door. Outside, a staff member was waiting for her.
"Lunch is here," she told Vesa.
"Thank you, ma'am!" Vesa chirped.
Vesa grabbed her crutches and made her way out of her room. The cart, or rather several carts, stood lined up in the middle of the oblong room. The other guests formed a line waiting to grab their trays. Well, only one of the guests appeared to be missing. When it was her turn, she picked up a tray and browsed the food available in the display. After a moment, she grabbed some pierogies and pispili. After serving herself some ice water, Vesa ambled over to a table before she started eating.
Part of her mind held onto the image of the creature she saw in the underground lab. Still, her hunger pangs were enough for her to brush off the thoughts for now.
Little did she know, this creature kept her committed to memory themselves. Or rather, none of the scientists could know what went on in ID-F86's mind.
Specimen ID-F86 knew they barely managed to mark the girl with their psychic powers by now, even before she left.
They could understand everyone here just fine, even though they never assimilated a human. As far as they knew, language was universal, at least for a majority of species like theirs. They had heard of a species that didn't have a mouth and yet could still speak as well. That was actually why they were here now, they were searching for this place and stopped to rest on this planet. The planet wasn't at the point where they would offer to assimilate them. Normally, they only did that for worlds that were on the brink of collapse or species that had hiveminds. They typically jumped at the chance to expand that even further. ID-F86 would just take a sample of one individual who was either dying or lacked moral character and then use that DNA as a baseline for making further copies for repopulation on a new planet. They nearly cried a little at the idea of so many species dying out while they were here…trapped…unable to fulfill their purpose.
They heard the scientists would be doing additional experiments with them soon, and they were likely to be…uncomfortable. They intended to manipulate their magical abilities in some way; unfortunately for them, that was unlikely to end in any way but poorly. Likely, with an explosion of some kind as they meddled with forces, they cannot understand at this moment with their current technological level. If ID-F86 died, then who will preserve life in the universe? They were meant to be a solution to Dark Matter, to replace the dead species on the worlds it consumed and seed them somewhere else. They supposed they might be able to survive melting in such a way, but they would need to quickly assimilate one of the scientists here, their body needing the biomass to stay solid.
It wasn't long before the researchers were taking samples again. They were starting to notice that the alien's continued lifespan wasn't likely to be long if they kept this up, and were discussing the viability of giving them small animals like mice and rats to assimilate, or if that would be too big of a risk. Most of the scientists seemed to say 'yes that's too big a risk'. They seemed to be under the impression that ID-F86 would destroy the planet or assimilate their species if they were able to escape. Really, all the alien wanted was to continue their mission. If they escaped, they would probably try to assimilate one of any creature they could find to preserve their DNA and then leave…moving on to find Dreamland and attempt to suppress the memories of this incident for as long as they could.
Before long, the alien was hoisted back into their tank. They noticed they started to…drip. They almost second guessed themselves, wondering if they should have taken the chance the girl unintentionally offered, but they knew that they did the right thing. It went against their own morals to assimilate an unwilling and sapient creature that hasn't harmed them.
They didn't do much as the scientists filled the tank with fluid, their fur starting to shed slightly, not enough to be visibly noticeable, but parts of it were turning into fluid as they slowly came apart a little. At this rate, parts of the alien were likely to be drained every time they replaced the fluid in the tank. That might not be the worst thing. Maybe those parts of them that were drained out can make contact with some other creature? Though, communication with this rudimentary copy would be difficult. It wouldn't be large either. No, they shouldn't risk it, not now. Who knows what could happen?
ID-F86 glared at a scientist fiddling with a jar of their biomass, running small tests on it. Before long, he pulled out a syringe and filled it with their cyan, red and purple fluid. Before long, a man who seemed to be unconscious was wheeled into the room.
"Test number 1," he spoke into an audio recorder on his lab coat, "we will be injecting this man with raw material taken from Specimen ID-F86, nicknamed Forgo for now by members of staff in the know."
ID-F86 knew where this was going and they dreaded the outcome.
The scientist injected the man with their raw material. Not surprisingly, he rapidly melted, shocking the scientist who promptly vomited at the sight.
"T-t-test 1 is a failure," he reported, shivering at the sight, "do not repeat on future human subjects. R-results are conclusive. Upon injection of raw material from Specimen ID-F86, t-the subject's atomic structure became unstable and caused them to melt. Also off the record, I'd like to request a raise."
For now, ID-F86 used whatever power they still had to check on the girl psychically, surprised she had been thinking about them for only a while. Still, that was what they needed to strengthen the psychic bond they had with her. The creature made a brief glance at the few scientists conversing over something relevant to earlier, related to her.
"They are moving up the tests? Now? But the specimen is— "
"We need to do it if we want to keep our jobs. Apparently, earlier was too close a call for them. They figure it will either die and won't be a risk anymore, or we will learn something new and it might stick around," a tall more callous scientist insisted, "on the plus side, if it survives the test, we have been cleared to let the girl try and interact with it more, as long as someone keeps a gun trained on her…just in case."
They shuddered, assuming they were mentioning a weapon. They weren't sure if they were strong enough to speak to the girl yet, as all they wanted to do was warn her of the potential danger she might be in.
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