Epilogue 1 - Trauma

"Dr Rodrigues, Dr Rodrigues!" A young lab technician came rushing into the office. Anthony looked up.

"What is it?"

"It's Lab 13, there's something strange."

"Strange?" Anthony stood from behind his desk and started striding towards the room in question. "Elaborate please."

"Well, no-one was working in the lab but a few of us were in No 12 and we heard a loud noise and saw light coming through the glass window. I rushed in and there are people in there."

"People? I presume you refer to non-Cadmus personnel, otherwise you would not be displaying such disquiet." Anthony turned to look at the technician.

"Er ... Yes, Dr Rodriques."

They rushed onwards and when Anthony burst through the doors into Lab 13 he was stunned speechless. A rare occasion for someone once nicknamed "Big Words." The floor was a terrible mess. Paper, broken glass, material from experiments were all strew across the floor, almost like a sudden strong wind had rushed through the room. But, more confusing, was the sight of a group of men huddling in the far corner; eight of them. Anthony approached them tentatively. They looked confused, terrified, in fact.

"I'm Dr Rodriques. You are in the government facility Cadmus. Can you enlighten me as to the means of your ingress into this area?" he said carefully.

"Free," mumbled one of the men crouched down.

"Free freed us," said another.

"They are not making sense, sir," said another lab technician.

"Free," Anthony mused, "is it conceivable you were held captive and have been freed from that incarceration?"

"Yes, Free, he freed us," came the reply from the first man.

"You were captive? Where, to whom?" asked Anthony.

"No.." moaned another of the men.

"Dark ... demons ..." warbled another. Then all eight men seemed to degenerate into moaning.

"They do not wish to remember their captivity," Anthony murmured. "But how did they materialise in this room. What manner of transport allowed them past all our security measures?"

"Boom," came a random answer and then all of the men started to mutter the word. "Boom ... boom"

"Let us vacate this laboratory and facilitate these gentlemen in a more suitable room." Anthony spoke with authority and started to assist one man to his feet. After a few minutes all eight men were seated in a staff room far down the corridor. A hot drink and some plain biscuits later each man seemed to have calmed down a little but it was obvious they had been greatly disturbed by some experience. Anthony looked at each face carefully and as his eyes passed over one man they widened in recognition.

"Dr Donovan?" Anthony asked. "You are Dr Dabney Donovan are you not," he stated. "How did you come to be kidnapped and who are the rest of your companions?" Anthony had been looking into Dr Donovan's research and considering asking him to head up a DNA project but had not yet got round to contacting him.

"The Equation, the equation ... the equation," Dr Donovan mumbled away and his words faded into nothing.

Anthony furrowed his brow in confusion. These poor men had been traumatised, radically. Were they strong enough to deal with whatever had happened or would their minds be affected permanently? Only time would tell.