The Split Read online

  Doctor Crawford turns his attention to me now. “And you, Mandi? What’s your excuse?”

  I sit up in my chair almost immediately, trying to look as professional as possible. “My keycard isn’t working for some reason. I was standing right outside the front door forever this morning trying to get in.”

  Doctor Crawford’s eyes brim with annoyance and disappointment. “You didn’t read the email about security being updated around here? Project Chimera is at an incredibly important phase, we need to step everything up at this point.”

  “I know.” I tell him, desperately trying to explain. “It’s not that I didn’t read the email, I didn’t even get it.”

  Doctor Crawford sighs loudly.

  I can’t help but notice some of the other scientist around the table exchanging quick glances, reveling in the fact that I’m about to be taken to task by our boss.

  “Just…” Doctor Crawford starts, clearly upset. He pauses for a moment and then tries again. “I’m sorry. We’re all under a lot of stress right now, myself included. Just go see Hank in lab seventeen, he’ll set up with a new keycard.”

  “Thank you.” I say with a nod, then stand up and quickly exit the conference room.

  As the door closes behind me I can’t help but hear Jamie add. “Well, I got the email!”

  I start making my way deeper into the facility, seething, but trying my best to hurry back for the rest of the meeting. Time to suck it up, I tell myself. This has become my daily mantra.

  The farther I get, however, the more my frustration evolves into a genuine lack of care. I feel like I am up against a wall and, at this point, any more effort from my end is just going to go to waist. As the token frumpy, celibate girl around here, I could probably show back up in the conference room a week from now and people would barely notice.

  By now, my pace has evolved into what could only be described as a mosey; sauntering down the halls and peering into the windows of various laboratories that are well beyond my clearance level. I’ve still got a lot of area to cover before I reach lab seventeen, so I might as well see if I can scope out something interesting while I’m at it.

  I suddenly realize that this is the emptiest I’ve seen the lab here since I started working at Allencorp; all of the head scientists in conference with Doctor Crawford while the lower level technicians are at home for the day, waiting for the new security protocols to be implemented. The whole time that I’ve been walking, I haven’t run across a single other living soul.

  Having not seen the most recent developments in Project Chimera for myself, all of this precaution seems a little unnecessary, but I suppose that if it’s anything like they say it is, we have reason to be fearful.

  Project Chimera is the first stage of a technology that Allencorp has been contracted to develop for the United States military, specifically the Special Operations Taskforce. It’s not the first work we’ve done for the military, but it’s certainly the most secretive and well guarded; with all of our employees signing gag orders almost immediately after locking down the official bid for the job.

  The basic premise of this project is a practical application of the nanotechnogly that I helped create here at Allencorp when I first arrived two years ago.

  For those you don’t spend your lives buried in thick computer science textbooks, Nanotechnology is an exciting, and frankly horrifying, new field of robotics.

  The basic premise is simple enough. Take a robot and make it smaller, then smaller, and then smaller still; until the robot itself is the size of a cell.

  We are all made of building blocks that are fused together in just the right way to create the shape of a human being, billions upon billions of atoms stacked in a pile that can eventually walk and talk and grow. Some people find this method of looking at the universe as sad and lonely, breaking everything down to a scale that’s so analytical and scientific that it leaves no room for those incredible moments of magic that life is all about.

  I, on the other hand, think that this is where the magic truly lies, right down here at the base level of all existence. It’s why I became a computer scientist in the first place.

  Once you have robots this small, there is no telling what you can do. Stack enough cell sized nanobots in the right arrangement and you’ve got yourself a bowl of ice cream, with absolutely no difference in taste or sensation when compared to the real thing. Even living creatures are made up of cells that can be replicated with nanobot programming; a tiny insect, a playful dog, or even a human being.

  When people talk about scientists going too far and playing god, this is exactly the type of thing they are talking about. It’s a dangerous game, but if we don’t harness this technology then someone else will.

  Project Chimera is Allencorp’s first attempt at combining nanobots with a human’s natural biology, allowing the tiny machines to fuse with the cellular structure of a willing host through the means of a simple injection. Once this is done, the applications are endless, but we are starting simple enough.

  Our first goal is to program our nanobots with the ability to change a person’s physical appearance at will.

  Essentially, we’re on the verge of creating real world shape shifting.

  The process is still a long ways off for human beings, but we’ve tested it on rats and already received astonishing results. In one study, the rodents were put into a tank with a portion of food located on the other side of a clear glass panel. Rats can certainly fit into small places, but the hole between the two partitions was much too small and much too high up for the rodents to fit.

  After their injection, however, It only took ten minutes for the rats to shift into rail thin creatures with necks long enough to extend up to the hole. Soon after, they were able to pull themselves through to the side with the food.

  It was incredible to watch, and had I not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed in a million years that this kind of technology was even possible.

  Of course, all of the rats died only hours later, their bodies eventually changing into shapes not meant to support biological life. We’ve tried everything that we could to revise our nanobot code into a stable program, but all of the trails have been failures.

  At this point we’ve narrowed the programming down into four distinct nanobot codes; but without more testing, we’re not quite sure which one is going to remain stable, if any.

  I finally reach laboratory seventeen and try swiping my keycard, only to find that the entire card scanner doesn’t exist. Instead, there is a gaping hole where the machine used to be, the lock left wide open. I must have arrived here at the precise moment of transformation, the building itself changing right before my very eyes as we upgrade security systems.

  I slowly push the door to the lab open and peer into the darkness. The overhead lights are off but the room is abuzz with all sorts of flickering displays, running at full speed in the dark as they process data. I’ve never been in here before, so I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m damn near positive that this isn’t the right place for me to receive my new keycard.

  “Hello?” I call out into the void, stepping through the threshold of the doorway. There has definitely been a mistake, and I realize almost immediately that, in his rush, Doctor Crawford had told me to go to lab seventeen instead of lab seven. This room was way beyond my security clearance.

  The second that I realize my mistake I hear footsteps approaching down the long hallway behind me, and my heart skips a beat. I’m already on thin ice as it is and, based on my experience in the conference room this morning, I have no doubt that Doctor Crawford will have little patience to hear out my explanation for being in a restricted area, even if it’s his own damn fault.

  If there’s one thing powerful men hate doing, it’s admitting that they were wrong.

  With only a few seconds to spare, I decide to duck back into the darkness, hiding away under what I assume is a large desk. I try to remain as silent as possible.

/>   From here I can see two figures talking briefly in the hallway. Soon, they get back to work installing the laboratory door’s new card reader.

  I try my best to breathe quietly, scooting as far back into the corner as I can while the unassuming man and woman work on their installation.

  “Did you see what was in that last room?” The woman asks, her voice trembling.

  “We’re not here to judge.” Says her coworker, solemnly.

  “Those poor little mice, they were all stretched out and…” the woman trails off, clearly upset. “Warped. I don’t’ know.”

  “They were rats.” Says the man. “Not mice.”

  “I don’t give a fuck what they were.” The woman replies. “They were living things.” Suddenly, she bursts into a fit of tears, unable to control herself.

  “Jessica!” The man shouts. “You need to get a hold of yourself! We’ve got a job to do!”

  Jessica can barely speak through the tears. “I install fucking security systems, Dan! I didn’t sign up to work for some mad scientist.”

  The two of them fight for a while, with Dan struggling to keep Jessica together while she throws professionalism out the window for the sake of a few rat corpses.

  To be fair, though, when the experiments don’t go as planned and the nanobot programs become corrupted, the results can be pretty horrific. I’ve gotten used to it at this point, but for someone who’s never seen such a thing I’m not all that surprised by her reaction.

  Eventually, Jessica loses control completely and devolves into a blubbering mess, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Alright, you need to go.” Dan finally says. “You can’t come in here and lose it like this over someone else’s job!”

  “I know! I know!” Jessica repeats. “I’m sorry.”

  Dan lets out a long sigh. “Okay, just… you need to get out of here. Why don’t you head home for the day?”

  Jessica stops for a moment, sniffling loudly. It would appear that she likes this idea. “You sure?” She asks.

  “Yeah, just don’t let them see you crying on the way out.” Dan says.

  Through a small window in the door, I can see Jessica’s silhouette stand up and wipe the tears away from her eyes. She seems young and slightly too fragile to be spending her time in a place like this. From where I sit, crouched here in the darkness, I can also see that she has an average face and mousy brown hair like mine, and suddenly I’m sympathizing with her even more.

  “I’m a mess.” Jessica moans. “They’re gonna see me like this.”

  Dan tosses her his jacket. “Just put that over your head and head straight for the door. I don’t care if it looks weird, I don’t want anyone to see that you’ve been crying. Got that? Be professional.”

  “Got it.” Jessica confirms.

  “Good.” Dan says. “Now get out of here, go straight for the car.”

  The woman leaves quickly as Dan continues to work on the door’s new security panel. I get the feeling that these two wouldn’t have cared about finding me in here, or wouldn’t have even known that I shouldn’t be hanging around. Now that I’ve been hiding in the dark for a while, though, coming out and surprising him just seems incredibly creepy and weird.

  It doesn’t take long for Dan to finish working though, and just as quickly as he began the man is gone once more, moving off down the hall towards the next installation on his list.

  I let out a long sigh of relief and begin to climb out from under wherever I’ve found myself hidden beneath, but my movement is abruptly stopped when I accidentally kick a long metal beam and hear a deafening metallic slam from all around me.

  Immediately, my entire field of vision is assaulted with blinding white light, and I quickly realize that I’m now trapped within some just of large, coffin-like metallic box. My brain in a complete panic, I start pounding my firsts against the walls, screaming as loud as I can for someone to rescue me from this strange contraption. Seconds later, the box begins to fill with a bizarre, sweet smelling smoke, which causes me to choke and cough wildly.

  I have no idea what I’m inhaling, but the fear that comes along with this foreign invasion of my body kicks my panic into overdrive, clawing at the walls of my airtight chamber with more ferocity than I’ve ever known.

  “Help!” I scream, trying now to kick out the floor below me. “I’m trapped!”

  Suddenly, a low hum starts to shake the entire chamber, rumbling up through my body and vibrating me faster and faster until my eyes hurt and my teeth chatter loudly. The bright white light shifts into a strange green hue and then begins to flicker, completely disorienting me and causing me to let out a sickly moan.

  My entire body feels blazing hot now, as if I’ve suddenly been hit with a powerful fever. It tingles and burns across my entirety, spreading from the top of my head all the way down to my feet as I contort spastically with discomfort. I feel as though my skin is painfully expanding and contracting with every breath that I take, the heat growing and growing until finally it shifts into a pleasant numbness.

  3

  Moments later, the vibration below me slows and soon enough I find myself whole again, the lights within the chamber flickering off and the lid above me popping open with a loud hiss.

  I crawl out into the darkness coughing, trying to collect my bearings on the lab floor.

  It takes a while, but eventually I’m able to climb to my feet and stagger over to the room’s main light switch, which I flick on immediately and then spin around.

  What I see makes me gasp in astonishment.

  There before me is a stack of four strange chambers, inlaid inro the back wall of the lab from floor to ceiling and surrounded by a plethora of strange, scientific equipment.

  It takes me a moment to put everything together, but the second that I see the familiar nanobots containment system, I know exactly what this is. Allencorp has been secretly developing an airborne delivery system for the Project Chimera, and each chamber represents a different version of the code.

  Even more terrifying, though, is the realization that I’ve now been exposed.

  Suddenly, I feel as though the floor is falling out from under me. I grab onto the wall and try to stable myself, reeling from the news that my very existence could be snuffed out any second from now.

  The nanobot code is still incredibly unstable. Not only could these be my very last breaths of life, but there is a very, very good chance that they will be.

  However, I’m smart enough to understand that, at this point, any amount of panicking will only add to the instability of the program, and looking down at my hand I can already see the results of this hypothesis. My fingers have started to jut off in strange directions, contorting and pulling themselves well beyond the limits of any normal human being. It’s not painful really, but it certainly is terrifying, especially because I know what will happen if the program becomes too unstable.

  “Oh fuck, oh fuck.” I start to mutter to myself, holding my hand up to my face as it twists into even stranger shapes. “Stay calm, Mandi. Get it together.”

  The word ‘calm’ comes out all slurred and weird, and I glance down to see that part of my lip is drifting out away from my body.

  Suddenly, my thoughts jump to all of the mental work I’ve put in throughout the years with my meetings. The way that I’ve managed to master my thoughts and feelings, cultivating a system of tranquility that has kept me stable and sane, without a single relapse. I may be literally calling apart, but my mind is trained and stable as a rock.

  Instead of screaming out in fear, I remain silent and I turn my thoughts inward, focusing on my breathing as I attempt to lower my heart rate.

  Shockingly, it works, and before I know it my fingers are slowly but surely returning to their original form. The program is stabilizing.

  Once everything is back where it belongs, I breathe out a thankful sigh of relief. The code now imbedded within my cells could, and probably will, still corrupt over time, but at least t
hat time is not right now.

  Quickly collecting myself, both literally and figuratively, I turn around and try to open the laboratory door, finding it to be firmly locked from both the inside and the out. Without a new keycard there’s no hope for me, and even if I did have one I still wouldn’t possess the security clearance to get in here. In other words, I’m fucked.

  Of course, someone will eventually come by and find me in here, but what happens then? Best-case scenario, they will see that the forth chamber has been triggered and I’ll be quarantined indefinitely (They can do this, I’ve read the fine print in my employment contract top to bottom). I don’t even want to think about the worst-case scenario, especially now that the United States government is involved.

  Flashes of tiny, cold isolation cells and military tribunals flash through my head. Sure, I still have my rights, but now that the nanobots have completely fused with the structure of my body, I’m technically a piece of Allencorp, and government, property. They have every right to do with me whatever they want.

  I’ll admit it, maybe I’m just being paranoid about the whole thing. But I’d rather not have to find out the hard way.

  I have to get out of here.

  Suddenly, it feels as if a switch has been flipped in my brain and I go into full-on problem solver mode. I’m focused and sharp, scanning my surroundings for anything that could help me escape this lab before someone returns. The meeting should be ending any moment now, giving me very little time to make my move.

  Using the keypad is a dead end, encrypted well beyond anything I could hope to decipher even if I had my laptop handy. The door itself is made of solid steel and it’s not going anywhere.

  My gaze finally stops on a small air duct, located up in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. It’s too high to reach, and the tables in this lab appear to be bolted firmly to the floor and are far from helpful.

  That didn’t stop the rats, though, I think to myself.

  I close my eyes and try my best to focus on the rhythm of my body, the way that it feels to simply exist within my own shell. I take it all in; the sensation of my lungs expanding and contracting, my heart thumping, my veins pushing blood throughout my entire being.