CTFV-008

Chapter 2

Romelle looked into each of the rooms that were open with her light, laser blaster in her other hand ready to attack just in case. So far, yet again, she had come up empty. In one of the last rooms she saw a teddy bear lying on the ground. "…a childs toy? What is this doing here?" She picked it up and froze after hearing a noise down the hallway.

She quickly hid behind the door holding her breath, waiting for whatever it was to appear. It groaned and grunted sliding itself down the hallway ever so slowly reaching her room.

"W-Whose..t-there…?" The voice sounded weak, almost human but there was something else wrong with it.

She swallowed nervously, sweat beading down the side of her face as she clenched her blaster tighter in her hand. Romelle forced herself to move holding her gun up, "Freeze!" Whatever she was going to say next disappeared from her mind, her mouth hung open aghast with fear and curiosity at the same time.

A half human half creature all but crawled to her. It's legs looked like it was melting, the face barely recognizable. She stepped back only a few steps her fear not letting her go any further. The creature reached out for her with a gooey hand before it fell to the ground melting into a hissing of steam and chemicals.

Her mind was racing as she fought to keep herself from throwing up. She wretched a few times finally able to back away as far as she wanted. The puddle was still sizzling.

With shaking hands she lifted the radio, "S-Sven come in p-please.." She couldn't stop her voice from shaking.

"Sven here, what is it? Are you ok?" Romelle had to swallow again as tears streamed. "Romelle? Speak to me. Are you in trouble? Romelle!"

"S-Shh..I-I'm here Sven….." She fell leaning against the wall just a few feet away from the puddle of goop. "I-I don't know what I just saw ..but it approached me…a-and melted right in front of me."

"Do you need me to come get you?" His voice sounded worried, rightfully so.

She wanted to say yes but knew their mission was more important. She shook off her fear and shook her head, "N-No Sven…I think I'm ok. …J-Just be careful."

"Will do."

The radio then went silent. She forced herself to her feet and walked over again kneeling down to check out what had happened. There was an aluminum wrist band that had survived the disintegration process – etched in it was "CTVF- 03"

She backed up wiping tears from her eyes. "What is going on?"

He snuck swiftly around the corridor ready for any attack that might happen. His heart was still beating fast at hearing Romelle over the radio. What had she seen? A melting human? That was impossible. He shuddered knowing deep down that nothing was impossible with Zarcon.

The world he had seen after being caught was one he would never forget. It was a burden he was going to carry with him the rest of his life. He had somehow come to peace with it but sometimes the horror was just too much.

The horrors like what Romelle just described. People being used for Zarcon's evil purposes, their lives meaning nothing to the evil Alien Emperor. No amount of training from the Space Academy could have prepared him for the reality of what he was doing now.

He just hoped she was safe and ok. As he rounded the next corner a green light was seen coming from a room with an open door.

Sven entered the room quietly looking around, it looked like a lab of some sort. He walked over to the desk to see what he could find. He saw diagrams and journal entries detailing the process that went on here.

His eyes widened, "C-Cloning human beings? What for?" He looked around making sure he was still alone before pulling out a small square camera that was barely the size of his hand. He started to take as many pictures as quickly as he could of everything he saw.

"Subject 02 lasted four days, only to disengrate on impact of bumping into a solid object. Was unable to save."

"The ingredients aren't stable yet. Adults impossible to clone as of now. Trying new protocol."

He flicked to another stack of papers, his eyes moving as he skimmed quickly.

"Discussion of whether or not humans are strong enough for our purposes."

"CTVF-01 died with in minutes but making progress."

"Need DNA of already alive humans to start process." Sven read the last line eyes narrowing.

The crying of what sounded like a human child echoed down the hallway, the direction which Sven hadn't explored yet. He closed the folders and put them back exactly the way he found them before putting his camera back into his front pocket.

Quietly he started down the hallway to find out what was crying. He could only hope it was human.

Romelle entered a room down the left side of the corridor her own camera out as she took pictures of the facility and everything she could find. The Garrison had to know about this and if they couldn't be trusted, SOMEONE had to know.

Looking around she saw a file cabinet. Turning off her big flash light and turning on her smaller one she stuck it between her teeth and started to flick through the files. Her eyes widened as she saw files on all of the Voltron members. Her fingers stopped flipping at seeing Sven's file.

She quickly pulled it out and laid it out on the floor. "Why would they need all of this information on Sven? Or anyone?" She whispered to herself.

It had all of his information since he was born: where he was born, what blood type he was, what vaccinations he was given, etc. Then a small unlabeled vial in a tiny clear envelope could be seen attached to the file. She picked it up and looked at it under her flash light. There was a clear liquid, maybe a drop, but that was it. She stuck it in her pocket and quickly closed the file putting it back. She pulled her sleeve back looking at her watch. Just enough time to get back to the ship for their meet up.

Sven poked his head into the room where the crying was coming from and looked around. Once again there was no one. He lowered his gun and walked towards the rows of cribs. They were all empty except one.

Still on his guard, he walked over and looked down into it. Eyes widening at what he saw. There was a baby boy.