The Pharos Problematique (AoU Spin-Off)
(N.B. These Slitheen stories are set between the events of the main Aliens of UNIT (AoU) storyline. They focus on newer characters featuring in standalone tales as well as stories that will tie in with the main narrative arc.).
(N.B. This is a Slitheen story with mature and adult themes. Not for underage readers. Please read at your own discretion).
(This story is set after the events of: Aliens of UNIT Part Two).
…
(Somewhere in England)
The Pharos Institute was a highly prestigious organisation that dedicated itself to teaching and studying the most advanced scientific knowledge that could be found in Britain. Being a staunch signifier of globalisation, it was also unique in how it only recruited youngsters - child geniuses - from all over the world, between the ages of 14-16, and enabled them to lead human progress in these fields. Although presented to the public eye as an innocent civilian organisation, Pharos always had strong links to UNIT which saw this Institute as the ideal recruiting ground for the next generation of scientists dedicated to protecting Planet Earth's sovereignty and security. The most brilliant minds on the planet could slowly be co-opted to work for the greatest military security defence against extraterrestrial threats. Meanwhile the leadership team at Pharos, also handpicked by UNIT, was only too happy to comply, seeking to secure patronage, prestige and much-needed finance.
In recent times, UNIT had come under new management - Star Slitheen management, although this was not made public to humankind. This Family of ruthless and highly intelligent predators were always expanding their business operations. They analysed in detail everyone and everything linked to this organisation that prided itself on defending Planet Earth. Upon assessing the deep links that UNIT had with civil human society, the Slitheen set their eyes on taking over the Pharos Institute early on. Earth's brightest minds could be employed to serve the needs of the Family. The building was composed of three interlinked blocks; Western, Central and Eastern. The latter block was undergoing a massive expansion.
One early spring morning, two authority figureheads, a male and a female, roamed around the corridors of the Institute together, holding a mutual conversation. The rotund man in his forties wore glasses, grey trousers and a thin white shirt which just about covered his excess flab. Conversely, the large, curvaceous and youthful blonde woman was dressed in a highly immaculate military outfit. Her insignia designated her as a Brigadier General. This was Penelope Warrington, the leader of UNIT Britain and the director of all UNIT operations globally. At least that was how she was presented to the ignorant public anyways. The Pharos Institute was a highly impressive modern building, surrounded by acres of unused green land and located near a forest in the middle of nowhere, away from human civilisation. It was 8am. The Institute would not open for another hour yet.
"I hope you have enjoyed the tour, Mrs Warrington.". The man who went by the name of Daniel Rudd spoke aloud courteously. In the most fortuitous circumstances, he found himself appointed by the leader of UNIT as the new Director of the Pharos Institute. Seventeen years of hard labour had finally been noted, he thought to himself gleefully when he woke up that morning. Finally, he felt important and relevant to his fellow human beings. No longer a grown up nerd ignored by the world around him. Prior to his sudden appointment, he simply served as an ignored tutor in theoretical kinetic physics.
"I certainly have, Daniel. And please, call me Penny." the tall woman replied back in a like minded manner albeit with a highly posh intonation, reflecting her class and educational background. Behind the skin lay hidden the leader of all Star Slitheen Family operations on Earth, Saba Mahmood, an ex-human and one of the most effective converts. She was the one who had engineered Dan's seemingly random and rapid rise to the top for very specific reasons, having taken care of the previous Director a week earlier.
"Very well…Penny. You can call me Dan by the way."
"Dan the Man!" Penelope shouted out playfully, displaying a burst of emotion as she moved her hands about. It also caused her male human counterpart to laugh with her. Saba was softening up his defences and gaining his trust in the process. Another sibling had been promised a new outfit this morning. It was her job to make sure the special delivery was to be made suitably on time.
"That's what they all like to call me, I guess. Hahaha." Dan tried to play along. He mistakenly assumed that his beautiful counterpart was flirting with him.
"Hahaha. Seriously though, this is an incredible institute that you will now be able to run after the rather unfortunate and mysterious death of your unfortunate predecessor… Ahem. Pharos takes in only the best and most talented younglings from across this rock…Erm, I mean, our planet. We develop and nurture them here. Our children are our most prized assets. They represent the future. Our future. We must never lose them, Dan." Penelope warned her counterpart sternly. They looked at the walls collectively, decorated with impressive portraits of leading human geniuses who had successfully graduated from the Institute and gone on to serve in UNIT. Pharos played a crucial role in facilitating this journey, Saba noted keenly.
"Absolutely agree with what you are saying, Penny. We here at Pharos are proud to play our part in protecting and augmenting the intellectual power of our noble human race. Enhancing the security of our otherwise vulnerable planet, especially against hostile alien threats." Dan spoke proudly. He then leaned in his face towards his interlocutor, carefully selecting his next choice of words.
"Between you and me, I don't really like foreigners. Never have and I never will." Dan whispered these sentences slowly, feeling that he could trust the leader of UNIT to share his deeply-rooted sentiments. Even though there was nobody else about, he was still cautious that no one could hear his discriminatory remarks. He feared the sack and lawsuits that might come his way. Saba the Slitheen listened to this pathetic human and decided to play along.
"Me neither! Our planet is only for our human race to prosper upon. I hope that one day we will no longer need to hide our true selves. After all, we are supposed to be living in a free society. A free society must include freedom of speech, freedom to be who we want to be, without shame. Without repression." Penelope declared emphatically with a grinning face, knowing that it would stroke the ego of her male human counterpart. Deep down, Saba deplored these nasty homo sapiens. They provided her with additional motivation to bring this planet under ecumenical and egalitarian Slitheen Family rule at some point.
"Yes, too right!" Dan was excited by what he was hearing, content that the leadership team at UNIT also held the same views and values as he did. He felt that the time would not be far off when he would no longer have to repress his deep hatreds for 'aliens' any longer.
"Paaaarp! Whoopsie daisy! I beg pardon. The gas exchange in this tight body tends to act up when I am having fun. Some of my Family say that I am long overdue for a new outfit update but I am not so sure." Saba remarked candidly after she was compelled to release some flatulence. The Slitheen woman that masqueraded as Penelope knew that the human male before her eyes would not have the faintest clue as to what she was on about. She was correct.
"Erm, right. Err, yes." Dan was perplexed as to why his female human counterpart farted publicly, breaking cultural taboos, but because he was mesmerised by her beauty and the mutual outlook that they shared, the newly-appointed Pharos Director was willing to excuse her unconditionally.
"Pardon me, Dan. As you can imagine, I have a highly stressful job. It can cause the buildup of a lot of tension within me…Pzaaap! Ohhhh…" Penelope explained before she began to stretch herself openly before the male who could do nothing but stare at her magnificently tight body.
"Sure. Erm, is that everything then? I have shown you pretty much all that we have here at our fantastic Institute, sponsored generously by your organisation. There's nothing else, I'm afraid to say." Dan was keen to get on with his new duties, stamping his newfound authority over his fellow staff members and over the students. He had suffered years of abuse. Time for revenge, he planned in his mind all possible scenarios.
"Yes, you have very kindly. One last thing though: an associate of mine from UNIT wants to meet you personally." Penelope revealed suddenly.
"Oh, okay. When are they coming here?" Dan wondered who this person was.
"He is already here." the UNIT general announced casually.
"He is? Nobody informed me about that." Dan was astonished to learn about this new development. The Pharos Institute was officially shut until 9am. Penelope had arrived all alone. Nobody else had accompanied her arrival.
"UNIT does not have to tell you anything. Your job is to follow our orders, silly!" Penelope appeared to snap at the human before she smiled again innocently. Dan silently accepted this fact. The duo walked in the direction of the Eastern block of the Institute; Penelope instinctively seemed to know where to go exactly. Dan noticed that the UNIT leader was sniffing the air every now and again, as if being guided by scent traces. The Eastern Block was undergoing a massive building extension. UNIT had ordered more labs and research centres to be built. This section is where the duo found themselves traversing.
"Before I became the new Director, I was not aware about how fast the new construction work had started…" Dan said aloud as he witnessed all the construction equipment lying about. The new Block extension would not be ready for at least another several months. It was officially out-of-bounds for non-workers.
"We have to be quick. Time is of the essence. Besides, our children deserve the best facilities. That is why I am directing millions to be invested here" Penelope replied as she opened a newly-installed corridor door for the duo to pass through.
"Anything to help the cause of our great planet and our noble species, eh?" Dan once more appealed to a common outlook. Although she found it pathetically risible, Saba continued to play along. It would help distract the human from becoming suspicious.
"You have a great attitude, and a large body, if I might say. We need more humans like you around. It would benefit UNIT greatly."
"Err, yes, I do. Thanks…Erm, so where are we going? I have a staff meeting before 9." Dan was previously showing Penelople around the campus. Now it felt like the polar reverse. He was wondering who would be in this construction zone. It hardly seemed ideal for a meeting place.
"It's just straight ahead. We won't be too long. This member of UNIT has been dying to meet you. Literally." Penelope replied responsively. She seemed highly confident in her estimations. The duo came to a room at the end of a cul-de-sac corridor.
"This is the place. Shall we?". With that infectious smile of hers, Penelope kindly opened the door for the ignorant homo sapien. Dan walked in, only to realise that it was a poorly lit space. The back of the room was pitch black, whilst light green lighting pervaded the centre.
"There's no proper lighting." Dan discovered this reality on behalf of the couple. Saba did not bother responding, ignoring the human who only had minutes left to live. It did not look as though anybody had been in here nor would be in here. Extremely odd, he thought to himself.
"Now Dan, if you would like to stand right there in the middle and stay perfectly still for a few moments, that would be wonderful. Oh, and I'll be needing these." Penelope swiftly took away the human's glasses without his express consent. The Slitheen had him where they wanted him.
"Any particular reason?" A long time sufferer of weak eyesight, Dan was struggling to see anything in the poorly-lit room. His vision was fuzzy and blurry though he could still recognise that the blonde leader of UNIT stood before him.
"Oh yes, very particular. Prrrrp!" Penelope replied with a beaming smile before her gas exchange kicked into effect. The woman did say it became more frequent as she enjoyed herself, the human recalled.
"Happens to us all." Dan once more excused his counterpart's abnormal behaviour. He was beginning to find the situation extremely bizarre and even unnecessary. Meanwhile, a large biped predator emerged slowly from the abyss at the back. It tapped the human a few times on his shoulder from behind. Dan turned around quickly, wondering who was touching his body without his permission. It could not have been Penelope. His poor vision could not make out who it was exactly although whoever it was had a green-coloured pigmentation. All he heard were subtle indicators of growling. It sounded aggressive. Hostile. Not letting his sight turn away from his prey at any moment, the colossus naked Slitheen walked around over to where Penelope was standing tall.
"This is my brother, George. You have something that he needs - a new suit." Saba announced ominously. Squinting intensely as he focused his vision, Dan was personally horrified to see a human woman standing beside a massive green 'alien', stroking his massive arms with her soft hands as if they were close partners. It was the ultimate scenario.
"You told me earlier that you did not like foreigners. Well, the feeling on this occasion is entirely mutual. He is all yours." Saba proclaimed excitedly. That remark was the cue for the George Slitheen to act. He quickly moved forwards and magnificently raised a claw to the ceiling.
"Aaaargh!" the human cried out before he was silenced for eternity. Saba even squirmed a little herself but she approved the aggression that informed the brutal kill. The Star Slitheen were the dominant predators occupying the food chain on Planet Earth these days. The George Slitheen screeched out a victory cry.
"Savage!" Saba exclaimed as she examined the corpse. Although the strike had been aggressive, it had not damaged the human skin that awaited extraction.
"He's not that big… you promised me a larger body, Saba!" George the Star Slitheen remarked with an air of disappointment as he too examined his slain counterpart. Dan was the only human deemed large enough on the staff roster for her sibling to enter. Everyone else was either too skinny or was a female.
"He is big! Never judge a skin by its cover. You haven't even gone inside of him yet!" Saba retorted, disagreeing with her sibling's sense of perception. She looked up at the clock. It was 8.30am. The clock was ticking objectively.
"I can tell that I'm going to struggle inside of that already. Not good, Saba.". Although a recent convert, George had been inside a few other skins. None of them were as small as what he was perceiving. He was to be proved correct in his assumptions.
"Oh quit complaining and get inside at once. The Institute opens soon. You need to be in position and I need to leave pronto. Come on.". Whilst the Slitheen predator alone squatted and slipped his sharp claws into his victims forehead, carefully peeling away the skin from head to toe, Saba called some siblings on her mobile phone, discussing that evening's plans for a night out together. Twenty minutes later, Dan stood up again, reanimated by virtue of the Slitheen who now inhabited him indefinitely.
""Gotta go, Husna - George has finally got a new skin… Yeah, I'll catch up with you for dinner later… How are you holding up?" Saba politely asked her convert brother as she switched off her phone and placed it back in her pocket. George had managed to fit his humongous form inside the new human skin but he felt much immediate discomfort.
"Pzaaaap! God!" he shouted aloud spontaneously as his gas exchange began aggressively. The Slitheen knew that he would have little control over it. He was destined to suffer indefinitely.
"Early days. Nothing to worry about." Saba remarked with a smile as she scanned the body to assess the situation for herself. She hoped her sibling's large body would eventually settle into an uneasy truce with the new outfit.
"Paaaaaap! This is insufferable!" George protested loudly as he adjusted certain areas of the new disguise himself.
"Here, let me tuck in your shirt at the back… It will take time to adjust, I can tell for myself." Saba tacitly knew that it was a tight fitting for her brother but did not want to admit to there being a problem.
"No, you promised me he was big enough, Sabs. I am already chaffing inside this! Was there really nobody else? I wouldn't have minded dressing up as one of their females, if it meant I would not be suffering like this!… Pzzzzp! Oh God…"
"You know the plan, brother. The larger ones have been reserved. You will pose as Dan whilst you lead this Institute. No one else, and no skin-swapping with anyone either. We need consistency." Saba cautioned.
"Seriously, I might die of this wretched gas exchange! Pzaaaaaap!...Prrrrp!". It felt like he was being electrocuted internally.
"Don't be so pedantic." Saba began to become more irritated. A Slitheen was supposed to be a patient being, able to bear all sorts of pain for the Family. George came off as a whining wimp. Unfit for communal service.
"What if this skin rips and leaves me all exposed, hmm? What then?!" George asked hysterically as he imagined a plethora of plausible scenarios where his true naked form became exposed before humankind.
"Silence! George Hollingbrock El Bul Fashfar Star Slitheen, I will no longer listen to your pathetic complaints any longer!" Saba bellowed at her disguised sibling, grabbing his throat impressively with her soft human hands, asserting her authoritative leadership authority over him. The Slitheen Families were highly egalitarian, enabling both the females and males to work productively together anywhere. In the Star Slitheen Family, the females tended to be quite dominant in most activities, as the males found out personally. Saba let go of his throat once she became convinced that George would silently listen to what she was going to say.
"That's much better… Wherever we infiltrate, we have to start with what already exists. Bear with any trials. Etcetera. If I hear anymore moaning from your ungrateful mouth, I will unzip from this skin and slaughter you on the spot; replacing you with another brother, someone more understanding, more compliant with the demands of our Family business - do I make myself clear?!" Saba asked intensely. Her aggression and rapid change in tone seemed to have scared her counterpart into submission.
"Prrrp!" The unruly gas exchange acted up once more.
"I'll take that as a yes." Saba said conclusively before she smiled at her newly-disguised sibling. The Slitheen duo left the room together silently before walking back to the Central block. 9am. They could see vehicles arriving on campus, dropping off staff and students for the day ahead.
"How many of them will I have to babysit?" George wondered as he watched the homo sapiens stream into the block to begin another day of intensive research and learning. The incoming students were diverse in all aspects as expected; race, gender, class, size. Although they were young, the intelligence and maturity levels of the younglings made the space feel more like a university than a secondary school. The atmosphere felt very informal between staff and pupils.
"Over three hundred children." Saba revealed. A decently-sized pool to take from.
"Three hundred younglings who have just about made it to their pubescent stages. Great. Why are we doing this again?" Although entrusted with a high profile role, George lacked motivation for the moment. Saba only gave him this job in particular because the Family had not converted enough males yet.
"For the last time, we need to secure the smartest children from humankind, make them serve our worthwhile causes instead. Save them from growing up amongst such a mediocre species that only knows eating chicken nuggets and salty crisp packets and watching crappy television entertainment. Reward their intelligence with all the privileges associated with Slitheenhood. That, and there have been unexpected complications with the conversion process. Some of our respected siblings are unable to have children of their own. It is making them upset. Until a cure can be found, I have authorised the conversions of young homo sapiens who will then be adopted into the Family. We also need child Slitheen for some other missions where we adults are unable to perform because of physical constraints and what not. Ultimately, Planet Earth must be made safe for our entire Family to inhabit in peace." Saba and George giggled together at the thought of making Earth a secured zone for their cunning Family. The children were going to be a centrepiece in this ongoing, long term project.
"On that, we can agree, Saba." George said with some satisfaction, happy to go down this direction. The duo then walked over to the exit point. Swiping her visitor card at the barrier, the leader of UNIT left the building.
"Have a lovely time here at Pharos. I'll be in touch. Remember, you will never be alone. And don't do anything too silly! I will know about it." Saba said before she left the premises, smiling at any innocent human she saw on the way to her pickup escort team in the carpark.
"Paaaap!... Oh fuck me, I better not be doing this for long…" George whispered a curse to himself as he lumbered his exceptionally tight body over to the staffroom. He was running late already in his new job.