To kane: Just because you can talk, doesn't make you a Marine. Besides, the guy had several very good reasons to be suspicious of who might be on the other side…

Chapter 27: Weapons of Mass Destruction

Omega

Karla walked into what seemed to be a data-room. Old computers lined the walls, while several Marines stood guard around and inside the room. She looked over and saw Williams, leaning against a computer console, playing what seemed to be a crude version of Pong. Karla shook her head at the thought of one of her Marines wasting time like this.

"Williams!"

Startled, Williams bolted out of his chair and hastily saluted. "Captain!"

Karla narrowed her eyes and asked, "I suppose you didn't called me over to show me your new high score."

"Ummm, no ma'am." Williams stammered. "We found something that looked like a journal or data log. Jacobs is going over it right now, says that there's some interesting stuff you ought to know about this place." He motioned over to an adjacent room, where Private Jacobs was reading through lines of text on another computer.

Karla walked over to the other room and walked up behind Jacobs. The private turned and saluted her. Karla returned the salute and said, "Report, private."

"Yes, ma'am." Jacobs turned back to the screen and began scrolling through text again. "Well, this place was built as a research lab, with a lot of black projects going on down here."

"Obviously."

"Anyways," continued Jacobs, "about 50 years ago, the scientists here were working on some sort of project, based on even earlier research dating back to the 20th century. Something called the T-Virus or whatever."

"T-virus?" Karla pondered. Bio-warefare was not an impossibility, especially in these war-torn times.

"Yeah, really weird stuff. Originally, it they were trying to use it as a medical application. You know, before bio-foam was invented, and when flash-cloning wasn't perfect. Anyways, they tried to make it work, but found some 'unexpected' side effects."

"Side effects?"

"Well, the stuff they were making, they called it Project U, showed remarkable cell regeneration, so they moved straight to testing on live subjects."

"And?"

"Well…" Jacobs paused for a second, "all of the subjects, rather than regenerating their wounds, died."

Karla raised an eyebrow. Now that little fact was interesting in itself. "Anything else?"

"Oddly, the side effects didn't show until after the subjects were dead, and well, I think it'll be better if you see for yourself." Jacobs tapped some keys and brought up another screen.

Karla looked at it, and saw the image was time-stamped fifty years ago. The image showed several lab mice laying on the ground, apparently dead. The image then fast forwarded half and hour, and soon Karla saw the mice get back up again, though their movements were stiff, and instead of showing the characteristic hyperactivity of normal rats, these rats appeared to be suffering from some sort of malaise that kept them from moving fast. Suddenly, the image fast forwarded again, and showed a scientist lowering a healthy rat into the cage, The instant it hit the floor, the other rats immediately pounced on it and started tearing the healthy rat to shreds, and the image blacked out. Karla winced at the sight. "Pretty nasty stuff."

"Yeah." Jacobs tapped several more keys, and the text began scrolling again. "The army saw what this stuff could do, and they immediately switched the project from a civilian joint-venture to a full-scale black military project, and was renamed Project V. I mean, it would be seriously cool to have an Army of the Dead for future wars, right? No worry about casualties, since the soldiers are already dead."

"And the fact that the more people killed, the bigger that army gets."

"Yeah, but not in the way that you would expect. Following the specifications of the T-Virus, its pure form can be transmitted by air, but it is mostly spread through fluid or physical contact. If you get bitten or scratched, or somehow exchange bodily fluids with an infected person, you basically eventually become one."

Now that was an extremely disturbing thought.

"Moving on, though, the military eventually cancelled the project. Dismantled all of the equipment, filed away all of the data, split up the scientists, and switched the base's assets to other projects. Most of the personnel running Project V just packed up and left, and left a skeleton crew to keep watch over the place."

Karla snorted. "Cost overruns, I assume"

"Actually, they got scared of their own project." Jacobs grinned sarcastically. "They couldn't find a way to control their specimens. I mean, the dead don't really have much reason to follow the living, right?'

Karla stayed silent.

"Also, like you said, the project didn't seem to be practical to use. The project had its own problems from the get-go. They couldn't find a way to stabilize their specimens. Even though they were reanimated, the zombie-things were still susceptible to death and decay. You know, things like rigor mortis and decomposition. They wouldn't last more than a week or so before falling apart."

Karla looked around the room and said, "Obviously they found a way around that, if they revived the project."

"Yeah, that's the strange thing." Jacobs frowned. "There's only one line of text, and then, the entire thing just cuts off." He motioned towards the screen.

Karla turned to look at the screen and at the bottom, and, like Jacobs said, was one mere line of text.

Problem solved! Flood DNA strings are the trick! T-2 is a go.