ESUN Outpost 21

Chapter 3: The Mystery Deepens.

Relena stood at the door of the kennel supervising Duo and Catherine, both wearing heaving aprons and gloves as they lifted the charred remains of the creature onto a stretcher. She still could not believe the previous night's events. Where did this thing come from? What it was it? Those were just a few of the questions that filled her head in regards to the revolting spectacle she witnessed.

"Well that does it," Duo said as they placed it on the stretcher.

'Good. Remove the gear you are wearing and wash you hands thoroughly. Later we'll disinfect this place." With that Relena walked out of the kennel.

"What the hell is this thing?" Catherine said starring at the remains.

"I haven't a clue," Duo said and began to push the stretcher out of the kennel.

In the mess hall Heero, Trowa, and Wufei were sitting at one of the tables discussing what they saw. "Geez. How many dogs did it get?" Wufei asked sipping a cup of coffee.

"Three. Dorothy is not going to like that news," said Trowa.

"Bullets didn't phase that thing. Fortunately the flamethrower did. Maybe we need to get out the incendiary shells," Heero said as he leaned back in the chair.

"Good thing you told me to get it. Well thank God its dead now."

"Relena's going to have a field day with this one, right Heero?"

"Trowa, I believe I speak for Heero as well when I say let the bitch do whatever she wants."

"You know it's surprising you have a hard time finding women. You have such a charming personality Wufei."

"Can it Barton!"

"Both of you shut up!" Heero said as he slammed his fist on the table.

"Man. No sleep really does a number to you Heero."

"Its an injustice I say. That we were forced to deal with that freak last night."

"Sorry that it ruined the little stoner party you and Duo have every other night."

"Screw you Barton!"

"Enough! I have a headache and your bickering is only making it worse."

"A headache? Don't you mean a hangover?"

"No. I only had two glasses before the whole mess with the dogs began. Besides it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Catherine finished the last of the scotch as we watched the video. Hm."

"Yuy! What did you do with my sister?!" Trowa inquired angrily.

"Go Heero! You're moving up the ladder now. Catherine is much sexier than Relena."

"Wufei. Stay the hell out of this!" The physicist shouted.

"It wasn't like that." Heero said and was lost in thought. "That scene in the video."

"You don't have to hide it Heero. I dream of Trowa's sister as well."

"You what?"

"That red head has a great…"

"Chang. If you say another word I'll…"

"Ooo. This sounds interesting," Hilde said as she entered the room. "Now you were saying."

"Heero and Catherine were alone together last night."

"Really. Duo owes me fifty bucks. He bet Heero could never get another girl and this proves him wrong."

"All of you shut up! Nothing happened last night. We sat on the couch and watched the video on the DVR. Then the dogs started barking and you all know the rest. Now as I was saying prior to being interrupted there was something on the video we saw last night that I think all of you should see."

Meanwhile in the lab Relena and Zechs began the autopsy of the thing that was in the kennel. "Weight 120 kilos, presumably the combined weight of three dogs and whatever that thing was. Height approximately 1meter." Relena dictated as Zechs recorded the data in the computer.

She then proceeded with an incision into the charred flesh. "Lets see here." She cut deep into the rubbery flesh and started to peel it away. She noticed what appeared to be a leg. "My God." She cut deeper and found what appeared to be the contorted face of dog stripped of skin. "What…the…hell is this?"

Zechs looked at it as well. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Looks like it. Start analyzing its chemical make up. I'm going to call Treize and let him know."

In the small infirmary next to the lab Dorothy was lying on a bed with Quatre and Sally watching over her. She opened her eyes and looked around. "Where am I?"

"Relax you're safe," Quatre replied.

"Are the dogs?"

"It got three of them." Tears formed in Dorothy's eyes. "I'm sorry. Its dead now if that makes you fell any better."

"Who killed it?"

"Heero, Treize, and Lady Une hit it with about fifty rounds and Wufei torched it."

She got up and stumbled. "Take it easy. That thing threw you pretty hard," Sally said as she helped her up.

Before noon everyone assemble in the lab around the table where the remains where kept. Dorothy tried to keep her anger inside.

"I am going to be honest with you. What I am about to say is going to sound far fetched but bear with me." Relena said as she approached the table. "This organism is remarkable being in that it can assume the form of any living creature that it assimilates into itself. Whatever it ingests it can assume the form of. A shape changer is probably the best way to describe it. Last night it attacked our dogs and in attempted to absorb them into it's being and as a result become three dogs."

"Now wait a minute Darlian. I know you said it would sound far fetched but that is impossible." Sally said in disbelief.

"Yet if you look at this beast you can see three dogs, can you not? It was even factoring in the weight of them as well as the combined weight of this mass of hideous tissue is 120 kilos and that includes the extra tissue it used to capture the dogs." She pointed out a piece that resembled a dog's face complete with fur. "This is not dog but a copy. Yet it appears to us to be a dog from the kennel."

"But how does it do that?" Treize asked scratching his head.

"I'm glad you asked that," she replied. "The body Heero and Sally brought back yesterday actually provided a clue. During the autopsy I noticed that the organs were exactly as they would be in a human body. Yet the cell structure was not human. It appeared human but was actually quite different. Organelles were absent and in their place structures I had never seen before. In a chemical analysis we found nothing though. However this body has exactly the same cell structure except it is made to appear as if it were a dog's cell. But since we caught it in the act of transforming it didn't get to complete its assimilation and we got a surprise when we analyzed the chemical make up. Carbon and silicon were present but some other elements completely unknown to us were prevalent as well. Somehow it can even change its chemical make up, which must aid it in transformation. The unknown elements were found in the part which resembles an insect so I believe it was actually trying to absorb and fight at the same time."

"What do you mean?" Wufei asked confused.

"The insect creature was obviously a form it assumed in order to attack to the dogs," Relena replied as she turned towards the crowd. "In fact I am willing to bet it was also another creature it absorbed in the past. Somehow it can call on any form it wishes whenever it needs to. Probably due to something in its genetic make up which is to say the least the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen."

"Why is that?" asked Lady Une.

"First it is not a helix structure. Second the number of base pairs is incalculable."

"Well thank God its dead," Duo said as he stared at it.

"Yeah," Relena said as she stared it.

In the kennel Dorothy was rubbing one of the dogs in an attempt to keep it calm as Relena drew blood. "Good boy its all over now." She turned to Relena. "So the pen is clean?"

"Yes. Zechs and Duo washed it down with an industrial strength disinfectant after the body was removed," the biologist replied. Relena put the blood samples in a case and stood up. "Dorothy."

"Yes?"

"Did the dog display any aberrant behavior?"

"No. It acted just like any other dog."

"How long were you alone with it?"

"About two hours."

"When did you lock it up?"

"Last night."

"Hm."

"What are getting at?"

"Nothing. Just some silly thought." She then left the kennel.

In the rec room Heero and the others were watching the video. Relena and Dorothy enter and to find all eyes glued to the screen. "So what did you find?"

"Its up ahead," Catherine said as she turned towards them.

"There!" Heero shouted and pointed at the object in the ice.

"Well I'll be." Treize said as he went for a closer look. "Now they're planting explosives."

"Looks like they used too much," Duo laughed.

"What's that in the ice?" Lady Une asked and pointed at the lower section of the screen.

"That's the block of ice Heero and I found at Station 14," Sally replied.

"Well that settles it. We need to go have a look at that location," Heero said zipping up his jacket.

"Heero the winds are pretty nasty out there around 30 knots," Noin said as she read the equipment.

"That ain't stopping me!" Heero then took off with Duo, Trowa, and Lady Une not far behind him.

In the VTOL Heero and the small expeditionary group looked down at the arctic wasteland looking for the location in the video. They soon found it and descended. It appeared as if a massive crater was in the ice and at the bottom some metallic object. Trowa and Heero climbed down while Lady Une and Duo waited up top.

"I'll be damned. A flying saucer," Heero laughed.

"Definitely not any shuttle or battleship I've seen." Trowa said as he walked closer. "Hm. Its about 150,00 years old or even twice as old."

"You're kidding right?"

"Sorry Heero this thing has been frozen for quite a while."

Duo soon motioned them over about ten meters away where Lady Une was staring at something. "Look at this." She said and pointed at a large hole in the ice.

"Well we now know where it came from."

"Great an alien," Heero grumbled.

Back at the station the group with the exception of Quatre and Dorothy were in the rec room examining the pieces of the craft Heero and the others brought back.

"So this thing is an alien huh? Heero have you been in the stash of weed Duo and Wufei keep?" Treize said as he picked up a chunk of metal.

"There's the evidence you be the jury," Heero replied downing a drink.

"But Heero what you are saying is impossible. In cryogenics the longer something is frozen the greater the risk of cell damage as ice forms in the cells rupturing them. A few hours is fine but for millennia… That's impossible." Zechs protested.

"Yet this thing is biological anomaly isn't it."

Zechs sighed.

Wufei turned towards Heero. "You have been hanging around Relena to much lately. You're starting to sound like her."

"Wufei, this isn't a normal situation to begin with so why can't you accept what you have seen with your own eyes," Hilde said angrily.

"Yeah Wu-man! I mean aliens have been coming to earth since prehistoric times so its not some bad trip or drug induce hallucination," Duo said lighting up a joint.

"Hey Relena you can come in now and talk some sense into these guys" Wufei said in an attempt to restore rationality to the conversation.

"Why should I? They are right," she said putting down the picture of the Station 14 workers. "This creature does not seem to be bound by our concept of natural laws. Trowa is it not correct to say that life forms living in different environments can adapt to survive in anyway possible? Its just happens that this thing mimics other life forms in such a way it is nearly impossible to tell the difference."

"I see your point." Trowa Barton said as he put down a piece of the metal they brought back. "Different environments affect organisms in different ways, that's evolution. We just happened to find one that may have found a way to survive nearly anywhere."

"Well its dead so we don't need to worry about anymore, right?" Treize said as exited.

Relena stared at notes slightly twitching.

"Something wrong?" Heero asked.

"Oh nothing."

Dorothy then rushed into the room. "They're gone!"

"What is it you pain in the ass?" Wufei asked angrily.

"The dogs. They ran off."

"What?" Trowa said surprised.

"They broke out of the pen and ran off."

"Oh shit." Heero said as he put his glass down. "Wufei are the snowmobiles useable?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Noin I'm going to write a list of supplies when I finish get them out of storage for me." He pulled out a pad and quickly wrote down a list of items, which he then handed to Noin.

"Are you serious?" she said as she perused the list.

"Go and get them."

"Right." Noin then took off.

"Of all the times," Lady Une said angrily. "Wufei you go with him."

"Yes ma'am."

Relena then walked out of the room.

In the lab Relena sat in front of a computer screen and began to analyze the cell tissue from the creature they found in Station 14. "No way" she said.

Outside Heero, Wufei, and Noin were dressed in arctic clothing and began to supplies onto the snowmobiles. "Three carbines with incendiary shells, a flamethrower, and a few thermite bombs. All here."

"Well hop on! We have only four hours of daylight left!" the pilot shouted and they took off. Heero and Wufei on one and Noin and the supplies on the other.

They soon found dog tracks in the snow and followed them to a large snow bank but did not see any dogs.

"Where the hell did they go?" Heero said as he pulled out a carbine. He then heard whimpering. "Huh?"

The three crewmembers rushed towards a pile of snow and began to dig away. Under the snow lay a dog torn missing its lower abdomen. "What the hell?" Noin said as she jumped back.

"They're infected. Or rather they were." Wufei said as he ignited the flamethrower. He torched the remains and they headed back to the snowmobiles.

"Dorothy is going to be in shock when she hears this." Noin said as she walked up to her snowmobile.

"Yeah."

Just then a tremor shook the area sending the three to the ground.

"Damn." Wufei said as he got up. He looked around and noticed Heero eying the ground cautiously. "What is it?"

"Its under the ground."

Another tremor hit and this time Noin was grabbed by something. She grabbed her carbine and fired into the snow. Heero and Wufei rushed to her and grabbed her arms and tried to pull her away. As they pulled her out they saw a tentacle wrapped around her leg tearing through her pants. Heero fired a couple shots into the ground severing the appendage. Using the carbine's stock he removed the piece of tentacle from Noin's leg. Then from behind them a large explosion threw snow into the air revealing a large creature with what appeared to have the remains of a dog attached to it. It swung a large tentacle up from under the snow sending Noin head first into a snow mobile.

"Wufei burn it!" Heero shouted.

Wufei unleashed a stream of flame on the monstrosity, which dove back under the snow. Wasting no time Heero grabbed a thermite bomb from Noin's snowmobile and hurled it at the creature as it tried to escape. An explosion followed by a piercing scream indicating the creature's demise. They then rushed to the unconscious Noin. "It knocked her out cold." Wufei said as he and Heero lifted her onto the snowmobile. "Heero you ride with her I'll take the other one." They then proceeded back to camp.

Relena walked into the radio room to find Treize and Hilde discussing the problems with the radio. "Commander I need to speak with you outside," She said.

"Can it wait we're trying to get a hold of somebody to come down here and figure out what to do with the dead men from Station 14 and the mess with the dogs." Treize said as eh and Hilde continued working.

"That's why I'm here sir. I need to discuss that with you. Outside in the hallway please."

Treize noticed she was a little nervous and walked out into the hallway. "Okay what is it?"

"I don't think it is wise to request someone to come here right now."

"Why not. The thing is dead, right?"

"Well yes but there still is a threat of contamination."

"What are you implying? That the creature had some alien germ on it?"

"I'm not sure but since it is of extraterrestrial origin do you think it would be wiser to quarantine the facility just to be safe. I found no trace of bacteria but that still does not rule the possibility of a virus. Then again fossils of nanobacteria have been found in meteorites so that is another possibility."

"Do you have any proof?"

"Well no. But I still believe discretion is the better part of valor."

"That may be true but this situation is already getting pretty ugly since there are six dead men from another outpost involved two of whom died in our camp, one by my hands."

"Commander I still think the best course of action is to…"

"Relena when you show me evidence then I'll consider it. Until then there is no reason as to why the authorities cannot come here and help us with this matter."

"Well that's just brilliant! If there is a pathogen more people will get it and it will spread. Think for just one…"

"RELENA DARLIAN!" Treize shouted. "I am the command of this station and my decisions are final. If you can prove to me a threat exists then I shall deal with it until then I have to follow protocol. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." With that she walked away.

In the lab Relena began to run a simulation. She timed how long it took for the organism to assimilate one cell. "Barely 10 seconds." She then repeated the test with one cell from the organism and skin tissue. "Complete assimilation in 10 seconds. Hm. It spreads faster when more cells are present." She then began another simulation.

POSSIBILITY 1 OR MORE TEAM MEMBERS MAY BE INFECTED

75-80

PROJECTED TIME FOR ORGANISM TO ASSIMILATE ALL TEAM MEMBERS IF IT IS NOT CONTAINED.

72 HOURS

POSSIBLE SPREAD PATTERN IF ORGANISM MAKES IT TO MAIN LAND.

2000 KILOMETERS A DAY IN TIGHTLY PACKED AREAS

150 KILOMETERS A DAY IN LESS DENSE REGIONS

PROJECTED TIME FOR ORGANISM TO INFECT ALL LIFE ON EARTH

24,000 HOURS FROM FIRST CONTACT.

Relena stared at the screen in a daze. "Its all up to me know." She opened her desk drawer and removed a pistol.

Wufei and Heero arrived carrying the unconscious Noin inside. They rushed her to the infirmary. When they entered Sally was dashed towards them. "My God. What happened?"

They laid Noin down on one of the tables.

"The dogs are dead. That damn thing got them," Heero said softly. "It attacked us and grabbed Noin's leg. We got it off but it shot out of the ground and knocked her into one of the snowmobiles. We managed kill it though"

"Lucrezia can you hear me. Lucrezia Noin can you hear me!" Sally shouted. "She's getting cold. Bring me those blankets Wufei." He grabbed the blankets and handed them to Sally who placed them on Noin. "She's still breathing." Sally took out a small flashlight and opened Noin's eyes. "Fortunately no hematoma but it looks like she got a pretty nasty concussion." Noin then woke up. "Oh good she's awake."

"What the hell happened?" Noin asked in pain.

"You were thrown into a snow mobile," Wufei replied.

"I'm having trouble seeing."

"That might be internal bleeding. Hold on I'm going to talk to Treize about arranging for you to be taken to Morganville Station. They have a well-equipped hospital staff. Watch her." With that the doctor dashed out of the infirmary and into the hallway. As she searched for Treize she came across a detached looking Relena.

"Sally I need to talk to you."

"Sorry Relena I'm kind of busy. You haven't seen Treize anywhere have you?"

"He didn't believe me."

"About what?"

"About the risk of contamination."

"What are you talking about?"

"We need to quarantine the whole station. Please you have to listen to me."

Sally noticed a crazed look in Relena's eyes. "I got to go." She ran down the hall leaving Relena there talking to herself.

"Nobody believes me. The fools! They have no idea what they're dealing with." Relena then began to walk down the hall.

Sally soon found Treize and Lady Une in the radio room. "Thank goodness. Commander there's been an accident."

"Huh?" Treize said as he turned towards the haggard doctor.

"Its Noin. When they went after the dogs they were attacked and one of those things knocked her into a snowmobile. There's a possibility of internal bleeding so I am requesting permission to have one of our pilots take her to Morganville for treatment."

"Permission granted. I'll have Heero or Duo take her first thing in the morning.'

"Thanks."

"Wait did you say one of those things attacked them?" asked Lady Une.

"That's what Heero and Wufei said"

"Then theres more one?"

"Heero said it got to the dogs. Maybe it contaminated them somehow."

"Relena." Treize said quietly.

"What about Relena?"

"She said something about contamination."

"She mentioned it to me too sir," Sally said concerned. "What was she talking about?"

"What happened to the creature that attacked Noin?"

"Heero said they killed it."

"Well at least the risk is gone."

Zechs walked into the lab and noticed a simulation running on the computer. "Relena you need to stop leaving this on when your done with it." He went to turn it off but he noticed the results of the screen. "What the hell?" He then found his sister's notebook and began to skim through it. "Oh my God." He grabbed the book and ran out.