"The Real Deal" - Chapter 9
"The Real Deal"
(C) 2017 Sinclair Diavante
Chapter 9.
"Over there, on the table," Larry said. He and Mist were half-carrying, half-dragging Tony's limp body to a waiting metal examining table. He was still alive, though now unconscious, and death would approach fast without immediate intervention. Torn, twisted tentacles, like wet muscular vines of green and purple trailed out of Tony's mouth, and from between his legs, Source blood smeared the floor in their wake, dark and thick, like maple syrup and smelling just as sweet.
Mist was furious.
The Source was only supposed to have 'sited him, but instead, it had tried to do so much more. An apparent issue of timing, for it had tried claiming him as food, a meal that would have taken a year to digest, while it hijacked Tony's metabolism, forcing it to produce the energy and nutrients it needed. Its alien biology couldn't obtain that directly from this environment.
Over the past few months, Tony had been slowly shaped into someone who was almost perfect for Mist, and that was extensive work. So much had been invested into him, Mist would not let such become a mere waste of time and resources. Not a chance, failure of this type was simply not an option.
Together, they hurriedly heaved his body onto the table, placing him on his back, while harsh overhead lights snapped on to better reveal the portions of the Source that had torn free. The extraction process used had brutally evacuated Tony from the containment chamber, and what normally was a quiet, subtle, exit stage left had turned into a violent struggle. The aftermath was now a gruesome sight, with some of it still moving.
"You'd better... clear his airway, it'll be in his trach, and his stomach, here's the... antivenom..." Larry was nervously holding a hypospray, but his paw was shaking, and his eyes were wide with fear. Mist reached out and snatched it from him, he was angry at Larry for multiple reasons, certainly not the least of which because he'd resisted the idea of harming the Source. Larry had wanted to leave Tony out there.
"I'll take that. Maybe go stand in the corner, where you are more useful. Right now, you are only in my way." Larry nodded quickly and began backing away. Mist's paws were covered in viton spray-a-glove, he parted Tony's fur right above his heart, and held the hypospray firmly up against his chest, waiting while the unit built up enough pressure to inject through bone. It beeped twice, signaling readiness. Mist triggered it, and what sounded like a firecracker exploded in the room, Larry jumped, running his paws over each other, he was staring at medical displays at the head of the table. They showed various flashing red warnings, and while they were changing, they were not yet improving fast enough. Mist inspected them, calculating the time it would take to carry Tony to his autodoc, the one on his ship.
Too long, they needed to stabilize him here, first.
"That thing... that thing almost came in here! I've never seen it come after someone like that..." He was peering around the corner of the small observation window, the one leading into the tiny airlock that separated the main chamber from the room they were in, though the fog in it obscured almost everything beyond recognition. Still, it was moving in there, hungry and angry, both.
Mist had watched with disbelief as the events had rapidly transpired, particularly when the Source spotted both he and Larry through the open doorway, waiting in the airlock, but that was the distraction they needed, for the creature paused and began shifting from an offensive predatory form into that of defense and protection. The outer door of the chamber didn't have particularly sharp edges, but it did have an emergency close override, able to power the motor to the point of its destruction. The portions that had attached themselves to Tony had been severed by it, while the monster outside screamed in its rage and frustration. It didn't give up, and immediately began forcing the door open from the small aperture remaining from the gristle that couldn't be completely closed upon.
Acrid smoke smelling of burning rubber still filled the room they were in from the door's mechanism, when it traded its life for theirs in a shower of sparks.
The Source made it in eventually, but by then, the two of them had already disconnected Tony's harness and carried him past the inner door to safety.
It was pounding on that door now, and Larry visibly quaked with each squealing rake across its surface, the sound of claws across slate, but flesh held no sway over plasteel, or tritanium. The Source could change its shape into almost anything carbon-based, but that did not include metal nor diamond, in fact nothing harder than calcium or chitinous bones, for the most part.
It would hold.
Mist pried the outer mouth-like appendage off of Tony's muzzle, taking note of the fact that his eyes were half open. The displays showed blood pressure far too low to support consciousness, but when he came to, he was going to hurt. Perhaps only if... but no.
Not if.
He shined a light down into Tony's throat, using a molecular destabilizer to cut through some of the invading organism. Non-Rhenthar flesh seared, smoked, and tore free with wet crackling sounds. The rope-like appendage was anchored in the back of his mouth with an expanded ring, but Mist pulled hard. Wet, slimy entrails uncoiled from within Tony's gut, finally coming free, and Mist tossed them into a growing pile on the floor.
He turned to look at Larry, then the pile. The message was clear, but another ringing echo of assault came from outside, and Larry only stared at it like it might jump from the floor and attack him.
They couldn't call for help without the whole lab being exposed to public knowledge. This building was only classified as an organic bio-sciences research facility. Growing plants, yes, but not plants from another world, certainly not of the type that would consume every moving creature on the entire surface if it ever got free. Larry was officially little more than a night watch security guard, making large amounts of credits on the side, he provided access to a particular aspect of that plant...
Mist scanned around with the light in tight-beam mode, feeling satisfied he was leaving behind nothing inside his throat. Only about two minutes had passed since the Source lost its ability to breathe for him, and Mist was pleased upon seeing the autovent transducer resting on Tony's stomach, just below his diaphragm, it was making his chest rise and fall without obstruction now.
He turned his attention to Tony's crotch, peering closely at what had latched onto his sheath. Also mouth-like, but this one had... teeth.
Mist grimaced, at first trying to pry it open, but without puncturing his gloves... that wasn't going to work.
"I need a spanner, something metal to split this apart. There's teeth, so there's venom, right?"
"Uh... yeah... usually. Um, there, in the cabinet, there should be a couple of spreaders..."
Mist turned to inspect the tall supplies locker behind him, it was open. He started fishing through it, but the problem was, with all the sterile plastic paper wrappers, he couldn't tell what was what. They entirely obscured their contents. There was probably enough equipment in here to perform an abortion on an Elephant, Mist decided.
The interior door had everything labelled by position for inventory, shelf 1, section C2, gastric lavage blah blah... technical terms for overpriced items. Reverse pliers, that was all he needed. He started picking things up and judging the contents by shape and weight.
"On the bottom shelf, I think..."
Mist paused a moment to glance at the medical displays, several had transitioned into yellow and green. Tony's body was responding well to the antivenom, with no allergic reactions, that was very good. The Source's venom was primarily a paralytic and disassociative, but not a sedative. That meant he would be awake as soon as his physiology could support consciousness, but he'd be unable to move nor would he understand much of what was going on. He might be quietly panicking even now.
Mist approached his head and peered down into his vacant yellow gaze, his pupils were fully dilated now, and Mist reached up to swivel one of the overhead lights away, feeling a pang of compassion. He really did like Tony.
"You're going to live," he quietly spoke to him, wrestling with his own emotions, trying to think of what to say to make him feel better. Sympathy was as alien to Mist as the Source was to this world.
"You've been such a good boy, you are going to be fine," he said. "But that thing out there, might not." Mist narrowed his eyes. Anger was always useful.
"I have not yet decided what I am going to do about it."
"Hey, man," Larry interrupted. "This wasn't part of the deal! I'm going to be in deep shit over this. You can't fuck with it any more, I won't let you."
"Larry," Mist sighed. "Hear my words, hear them well. I am tempted to feed you to it. If not now, then later, so don't bother trying to run, I see you edging towards the exit. I will stalk you in the night, weeks or months from now, and I'll make sure you wake up in that chamber, alone. If that is what you want, continue your current line of thought. Or, if you value your life," Mist smiled. "Shut up."
"Alright, alright," Larry said. "Fuck! I just need to... think of how to fix this... I could just say it went crazy and tried escaping. Managed to pull the door open..."
Mist turned his attention back to the supplies locker. Leaning down, he saw packages of about the right size, and tore them open one by one.
Finally, chrome pliers, but of reverse design, he used them to carefully pry apart the 'mouth' surrounding Tony's sheath, hooking it on some of the harder areas of the appendage.
Dark, bloodstained teeth slid free from Tony's flesh, dozens of them, tiny like needles. Blood oozed out of the resulting holes, but only slowly, they hadn't pierced deeply, and none seemed to have gone through his penis. Mist pulled the appendage free, but it caught, part of it went inside Tony's sheath. He pulled, harder and harder, and tissue tore from within the mouth, when he lifted it away, a shiny black tip was all that remained, covering his dick, poking out of his sheath. It looked unlike the parts of the Source, this was a separate organism entirely, a parasite that lived inside it. No one could figure out how or why, it was too purpose-built to be natural, but Source plant's were definitely not a natural product of nature.
"Ah. Look at that. Someone got a 'site after all. Except..." Mist looked closer, noticing something unusual about it. A pair of thick, black tendrils exited the tip of his sheath, curving backwards to run alongside it and his testicles...
"The... fuck?" Mist pulled Tony's tail out of the way and looked closely. The two tendrils entered his ass, Mist grabbed them both and pulled.
One of Tony's legs jerked and he let out a soft whimper. Mist cocked his head sideways.
"Hunh." He let go and turned to look at Larry. "What is this?" He pointed at the tendrils.
"What's what?" Larry had been staring out the window, he turned to look close.
"The fucking thing in his ass. It 'sited him, so all this wasn't for nothing. But that isn't normal, what's it doing in his rectum?
Larry seemed clueless.
"I have no idea, never seen a 'site like that before."
Mist looked around at what equipment was available, disappointed to note a lack of resonance imaging scanner, what he needed to determine those tendril's placement and function.
But his autodoc had one.
It was time to leave.
Without further thought, Mist gently picked Tony up, lifting him almost like he weighed nothing, he held him in a fireman's carry, and nodded to Larry.
"I'll be in touch."
He left.