CHAPTER FOUR - BREEDEN AZALAZAR Breeden Azalazar, the top doctor here, lay sprawled in front of the four men, beaten down, and pathetic looking. As a matter of fact, it looked like it was a miracle that he was even up and walking around. Down the side of his shoulder and up the side of his head was bloody and mangled, cloth was wrapped around his head and covered one of his eyes, The side of his stomach had a huge bit mark in it; the shirt part had been torn away. Covered in sweat, grim, and most of all blood, he sat almost calm rubbing the good side of his head. His black hair was streaked with glossy red and was sticking out in all directions. He was in his early forties or late thirties, but now, sitting and bleeding, he looked much younger. He looked warily up at the men. Kevin tilted his head to the side as he looked at him, not quite sure what to believe. Howie was staying behind the computer consol looking down wide eyed, Nick was staying behind the side of the computer peering out at him, Brian blinked and slowly set down the glass he had been drinking out of, sliding out from behind the bar he quickly crept up behind Kevin to get a better look. The robot peaked out from the stairs, its fingers clicking. Azalazar didn’t notice it. A.J. walked up behind the man and glared down at him. “Say hi doc!” A.J. spat giving the psychian and swift kick to his back. Azalazar grunted and jerked a little, he gave A.J. a look that could have cut him in half, but he didn’t say anything. “A.J.!” Howie said surprised at that little action. “No Howie! After what this guy has to say, your gonna want to come down and give him a couple more of those!” A.J. said directing the last part to Azalazar, who ignored him. “Why?” Kevin asked. He paused and looked at A.J. closely. “Okay, I know I shouldn’t have to ask this, but tell me you didn’t do this to him!” Kevin said referring to the doctor’s wounds. “No way man! That thing out there did this! And it’s just what the little slime ball deserved!” A.J. added, even Kevin was surprised at the openly hostile attitude he displayed for the doctor. “I’m not a saint A.J., I do make mistakes.” Azalazar said warily. “Yeah, so did god putting you in this universe.” A.J. snorted, he directed his attention to the guys again. “As to answer your first question Major, why dose this man deserve what he got? I will tell you why my friends! You are not only looking at the head doctor and creator of this hellhole. You are looking at the creator who made that thing that is running around.” Absolute silence as everybody looked at Azalazar slowly, Kevin raised his eyebrows in surprise, he folded his arms in front of his chest. “Oh really?” He said sounding sweetly amused, A.J. grinned as Azalazar looked at Kevin. Kevin smiled a not so nice smile. “Is that true?” He asked in a very controlled voice. Azalazar stared at Kevin for a moment before nodding as he slowly looked back down. Everyone reacted differently; Howie leaned back and whistled as Nick let out a little laugh of disbelief. Brian was the only one who remained silent. “Why?” Kevin asked sounding like he was about to go into full-blown rage, his voice was furious. Azalazar brushed hair out of the side of his face and looked at Kevin with a mild and unreadable expression. “My only explanation Mr. Richardson is that in science, you need to make mistakes in order to go down the right road.” He said simply. Kevin’s eyes blazed at the man’s causal attitude at the situation, he glared at Azalazar furiously. “And what kind of road were you trying to go down doctor!?” Kevin demanded. “When you made this thing? What the hell is this thing anyway?” Azalazar shifted and looked away for a moment. “What’s the matter Mr. Richardson? Didn’t like what you saw?” He asked smugly. Kevin made a furious move to strangle the insolent man when Brian’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm stopping him. Azalazar rubbed his head again as A.J. slapped the back of it. “Knock it off moron!” He said as Azalazar glared at him. Kevin took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. “Alright,” He said slowly through gritted teeth. “Tell us everything.” “What do you want to hear?” Azalazar asked looking up at him, “How it was created? Why it was created? Or how I thought up to create such a beast?” He demanded. “Well would be a start!” Kevin snapped. Azalazar shook his head, “What else can I tell you? I’m a scientist; I search for things to study. Seficated to say, I found something.” “Oh yeah. It was a big something alright.” Howie called over sarcastically. “I didn’t know what would happen, another part of science is the factor of the unknown.” Azalazar said in a weary and blasé tone. Kevin bristled. “Do you even care at all what happened here?” He demanded, “Cause it sure as hell sounds like you don’t!” “Its cause he doesn’t!” A.J. interrupted also glaring down at Azalazar. “You want to know what he thought when that thing broke out? He thought is was fascinating and didn’t bother to set up any security measures to contain it, he didn’t even bother to warn anybody because he wanted to study its reactions!” Everyone stared at the doctor horrified, muttering under his breath, Azalazar looked down and rubbed his arm. “And it doesn’t end there!” A.J. added, “Do you know why he didn’t contact anyone? And why I couldn’t access some systems or access the power unit? This son of a bitch perpously sabotaged the station where we were when he found that you and Howie had survived!” “Why?” Brian asked horrified that this doctor had been that stupid. But that wasn’t it, Azalazar wasn’t stupid, he was very, very smart, but had lost all his care for others in his search for things in science. A.J. waved his hands, “You won’t believe this, but when he found that Kevin and Howie were going around and trying to leave, this intrigued him and he has been studying how we react, what will do in desperate situations, if we will rescue others even if it means dying ourselves. To him, this was just another spontaneous experiment from him to learn from!” Now Kevin understood why A.J. had been so furious with the man, cause now he was to. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!” Kevin shouted in fury. No one made an attempt to help the doctor, but Azalazar didn’t even flinch. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand Mr. Richardson.” He said simply. “Stop calling me that!” Kevin growled, his hands clenching into fists, A.J. leaned back satisfied at the reaction, if Kevin wanted to beat the hell out of the man, more power to him. Azalazar’s head snapped up. “It was for a good cause.” He offered. “And what good cause is that?” Brian demanded. “Your out of your mind! Not only that but your also stupid!” “I am not!” Azalazar snapped with the first time, showing more emotion then he had before. “I am brilliant! My studies here have and will continue to help millions and millions of people!” “What could benefit people out there by sticking us in here with a walking nightmare and studying what we do!?” Howie asked, he was the humanitarian of the group and even he wanted to leave this guy out for that creature. Azalazar sighed and looked back down. “My experiments are unconventional, but the reasoning behind them is good. I had to fight to built this station, no one would help me. I had no funds, no scholarships and no references, but I still was firm in my resolve to do what I wanted. It was a dream come true, one in a million when The Corporation came along and liked my ideas, they weren’t afraid to go where people were afraid to even glimpse at, they were willing to push past the boundaries that human kind had set up and had limited them, if we pushed past those boundaries, if we broke through them with my ideas, the possibilities and knowledge we could gain from it were endless!” Azalazar said the word with relish, “Remember that old saying? There’s nothing to fear, but fear itself? We’ll that’s what humans were afraid of when they rejected my ideas, they were afraid of the unknown, afraid of the fear they would feel for themselves if they just tried to do what I did.” “What you did doctor,” Kevin said furiously, “Was perform your little experiments on humans! That one boundary that you shouldn’t cross was just that! That limited boundary as you call it, wasn’t limiting humans, is was preventing them from turning into monsters, and surprise of all surprises! You crossed it and became one!” “I am not a monster!” Azalazar said carefully, “I am a scientist and a doctor, to be both you can’t form an emotional attachment to people, the job and knowledge you gain must always come first, that was all I was doing. My job and searching for answers, and that makes me a monster to some people? No, I don’t think so. What I did, was do what people were afraid to do, and learned what people could have learned hundreds of years ago if they had only just pushed back their stupid innovations and had done it!” “And what the hell did you learn?” Howie demanded, “What could you possibly gain from making that creature and doing all these experiments here? All you did was torture people here!” Azalazar frowned. “I did not torture people! All the experiments here were preformed for very valid reasons, and very logical reasons.” “Oh yeah?” Kevin asked annoyed, “What was so valid about locking people up in a labyrinth with some goddamn mutant that would kill them? What was so logical about putting a person in a sensory deprovation chamber until they went insane? What was so freakin important that you had to test one of your drugs on someone and completely destroyed their memory? What was the point!?” Kevin said in a dangerous voice. Azalazar looked up looking like he wanted to be someplace else, and Kevin was more then willing to stick him right in front of that creatures mouth. Azalazar rubbed his head and looked down. “I need a drink.” He muttered. “You’ll be damn lucky if we don’t kill you right now, start talking.” A.J. commanded annoyed. Azalazar didn’t say anything, after a few seconds Brian relented. “I’ll get something.” He said turning and walking towards the bar, Azalazar looked back up and looked Kevin straight in his eyes. “Those experiments were important Mr. Richardson. The one Mr. Dorugh was in, the sense test; I specifically singled him just as I did the rest of you. He was the one who lasted the longest in the sense project, the original intent of the project was to see how long it would take before a person would break under such pressure, we figured that there was a special reason behind the people who would last the longest. We wanted to see how long a person could last under such-“ “Torture?” Kevin asked smugly, Azalazar glared at him, he had just unwittingly given away the true nature of the projects affects. “Effects,” Azalazar said, side stepping Kevin’s phrase. “Mr. Dorugh was the first person to last so long in the project, I latter figured out that he had adapted.” Howie looked at him surprised. “I thought you never knew!” He whined. Azalazar shook his head, “I knew, I found it outstanding that you had adapted, that opened a whole new idea. What if there was a special biological reason why you adapted? Do you have any idea how important that was? You can adapt to any envierment much easily then any other person, if we could figure out how you do that, weather it be biological or mind over matter, it would be incredibly valuable to soldiers who are captured in wars. They could adapt to the hostile environments that they are put in and live, they could bring us back information, Mr. Dorugh was a very special subject.” Howie rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks, that makes me feel a lot better!” He said sarcastically. “Don’t you understand?” Azalazar asked sounding frustrated that no one saw his point. “You could save thousands of lives, adapting to an environment is essential to the preservation of human kind!” “News flash doc,” Kevin interrupted. “There are no more wars, haven’t been for quite a while, probably even since before you were born!” “Oh there will be more wars Mr. Richardson,” Azalazar said knowingly, “Humans are born into violence, they can’t agree on anything for long, before you know it, someone will insult someone, and they will retaleate with force. Pushes always turn to shoves and it just progresses on from there. This time though, with my research, we could have a bigger advantage.” “You need special help.” A.J. advised as Brian returned with a glass of clear water, Kevin couldn’t tell if it was vodka or just water, Brian held out the glass and Azalazar took it with a shaky hand. “What the hell was the point in the project I was put in?” Kevin demanded. “What knowledge could you possibly gain from killing dozens of people at a time?” “The survival project was something I personally developed myself.” Big surprise. “I noticed along the years here, that some people, even under the most extreme of circumstances, would let themselves die for others they just met, they would sacrifice themselves even for people they didn’t love, while others would sell out there own families just to get out of here or out of prison or something. I wanted to see if it was something genetic.” “That’s stupid!” Kevin exploded. “Is it? Even if someone would come from a broken down or bad home, and were treated no better then a stray dog, where no one would give them the time of day, they would still get in the labyrinth and try to help people. But it wasn’t just that I was experimenting with, it was also fear. Fear in survival could be your enemy or your allies. Fear can make people see things that they normally wouldn’t if they weren’t in a situation like that, it seemed to either dull the senses of sharpen them, you could become smarter. That was the case with Mr. Littrell.” Brian straightened up. “ When he was put in the labyrinth, he tried to help as many people as he could, even the first time he was put in there. Even if people would abandon him and ran away leaving him for dead, he still tried to help. And he came up with some very creative ways to hide from the creature, they were brilliant ways, his survival instinct was one of the best I had ever seen. And when I found about you,” Azalazar said looking at Kevin. “I knew you were the perfect subject that I could test.” “Why?” Kevin asked puzzled. “I have used Neoshian’s in my experiments before, I have noticed that they are a very calm species, very mellow even in the most extreme circumstances. There not as panicked, and do not fear death as much as we do. After testing Mr. Littrell and saw how smart he could be, I knew you would perfect. You are very smart and as half Neoshian you are very calm in situations, you stop to think things through when most people would run panicked. You are also half human, which means your survival instinct was just as over powering as any normal human. Plus the fact that you were in the Squad Force meant you had trained at the academy, that meant that you had special training. I wanted to see how you handled everything.” Kevin was ready to kill him, as was everyone else. Azalazar wasn’t scoring any points with them at all, and he didn’t look as if he particularly cared, he was just telling it like it was. “What about me and Brian?” Nick suddenly asked from where he stood, finding it impossible to be any closer to such a horrid person, everyone looked aver at him, they had forgot he was even there. “What about you?” Azalazar asked. Kevin quickly waved his hand at A.J. when he drew back his foot to kick the insolent man, if he didn’t answer right away, then A.J. could kick him. “What did you do to them?” Kevin asked, “And what was the point in those experiments?” “You already know the point to Mr. Carters experiment, do you realize what could happen if we could develop a drug that would allow a person to tap into the hidden psychic part of their brain? We would be able to tell the enemies plan in a war, and they wouldn’t even know it!” “Didn’t they do something like that in the gulf war?” Howie asked. “Where they used psychics to find things?” “Yes! That’s exactly what we could have done! And much more! If a person were able to become psychic imagine the possibilities! We could prevent assignations! Terriosts attacks! Mr. Carter was the first success in the project, though there were some drawbacks, but it was just the beginning! He was a success! It proved the drug worked! All we need to do was……. Work out the kinks.” “Work out the kinks?” Nick asked slowly and furiously. I think its unamomiously decided, that Mr. Carter gets the chance to kill him first. A.J. thought as Nick stared at him, his eyes blazing. “I can’t remember a goddamn thing about my past! I don’t know who I am! Where I come from! That’s torture you bastard! What the hell gave you the right to do that!?” Nick said slowly getting louder with every word. Azalazar looked at him, his face a mask. “In science sacrifices have to be made, your past had to be one of them.” He said. Howie quickly threw himself halfway over the consol to grab Nick as he lunged in fury, letting out a shrill scream his fingers curling into claws. Kevin was staring at Azalazar appalled. “You son of a bitch!” He whispered staring at him, anger beyond words burning in his eyes. “In science the scientist is the one who makes sacrifices! And if so the people who willingly do so for you! Not people that you kidnap and use in one of your twisted experiments!” “Isn’t it worth it if you save thousands of lives?” Azalazar asked coolly, not at all fazed by their reactions. “Isn’t that for us to decide?” Brian asked. “Would you have volunteered if I asked you to participate?” Azalazar threw back. Brian wavered under that, cause he knew he wouldn’t have. But Kevin wasn’t about to let that Azalazar use that to justify what he had been doing here. “If you all want to take turns beating the crap out of him, I’ll hold him for ya!” A.J. volunteered. “Hold onto that thought for a moment.” Kevin advised looking back down at Azalazar. “What about me?” Brian asked in a voice that said he wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. “What sacrifices did I have to make? What did you do to me?” Azalazar looked at him with the same blank look, Kevin slowly knelt in front of him with a look of barely controlled rage. “If you don’t tell us,” Kevin reached over and pinched the cloth over Azalazar’s eye, he lifted it away as the doctor flinched. His eye was swollen shut; blood was dried up around his lid. Kevin smiled with looked more like he was baring his teeth. “Then I will take your other eye.” He pointed to Azalazar’s bright green one. “And be damn sure that you can’t observe anything. Kay?” He said sweetly. Azalazar looked at Kevin furiously, but knew he would do it, he frowned and pulled away. “When Mr. Littrell went in to correct the heart defect, I preformed another surgery as well, to hide something.” “Excuse me?” Howie asked still holding Nick back. “What did you hide? And why?” Kevin asked semi calm now. Azalazar was quite for a moment, he looked down. “A nova.” He muttered. “You hid a what!?” A.J. and Howie both said shocked. Kevin looked confused as well as Brian. “What’s a nova?” Brian asked puzzled. “A nova, is one of the most powerful sources of energy, people use it to energize power plants, and it’s supposed to be safer. But in order to use it you have to contain it in something that could with stand such power.” A.J. explained. “Like a diamond!” Howie jumped in, “It’s the hardest substance in the world and could contain it, people use it do directly focus the energy on something if they’re using it to cut something. There’s something in the mineral that reflects the power so it will stay in to.” “A diamond heart,” Kevin said thinking back to what Nick had said, A.J. raised his eyebrows thinking back to the same thing. “Why?” Kevin asked focusing back on Azalazar. The doctor didn’t answer so A.J. reached down and sank his fingers into his bloody shoulder, Azalazar didn’t yell out in pain but he did let out a hiss of pain and tried to squirm away. “I believe the major asked you a question!” A.J. said sweetly enjoying every moment of this. Kevin grinned as Azalazar glared at him. “What I did, was put the nova inside Brian’s heart!” He growled. “I reformed the energy to a special kind, that energy will open up The Library!” Silence as A.J. let go, Kevin looked from one another confused. “Okay,” He said slowly, “What’s The Library?” “The Library!” A.J. said answering for Azalazar, “Is the place where he has recorded all of his findings, it holds files on all the people here and on the experiment and the findings.” Everyone stared at Azalazar as he looked down mumbling. “Power to opened up doors man!” Howie called over as Brian looked down and touched the spot on his shirt where the incision was still open. He slowly looked up. “What’s wrong with it?” He asked in a dead voice. Azalazar looked at him with a not so happy expression. Kevin stared at him expectantly. “As I said, I had to reform the energy, so it would be the only kind to open The Library. Unfortunately…………” Azalazar trailed off almost embarrassed. “Yes?” Kevin prodded waiting. “The energy is a different kind, the diamond it was encased in…………broke.” “What the hell do you mean it broke!?” Brian demanded. “Within three days of the surgery, the diamond……….split. It couldn’t handle the new type of energy. That’s why you were placed back into the cryogenic pod.” That explains the robot, Kevin thought, he programmed it to take care of Brian because he’s the key that opens up The Library, casting a quick glance at the bar mirror over Brian’s shoulder, Nick’s words went through his mind Energy is gone, it cracked. It’s leaking out now. “In essence it’s leaking out this new energy.” Kevin said. Azalazar nodded, “The cryogenic pod was supposed to put a stop to that, all it did was slow it down.” He said. “What will happen to me!?” Brian asked shrilly. “Well?” He demanded when the doctor didn’t answer right away. Azalazar looked at him. “If the diamond isn’t removed within two weeks, then the energy will completely burn through.” “Killing me!” Brian shouted knowing that was what Azalazar was going to say. Brian looked terrified as Kevin stood back up. “What the hell am I supposed to do!?” He yelled, fear very obvious on his face. He pulled at his shirt wildly, “This things gonna burn me alive!” “Calm down! Clam down!” Kevin advised quickly. “Yeah, we’ll probably be eaten before that happens!” A.J. piped up. “A.J.!” Kevin snapped. “What? I was trying to help!” He claimed. “Well stop it!” Kevin growled, A.J. shrugged and folded his arms in front of his chest. Kevin turned back to Brain, who looked a little white. “Now just calm down,” He said carefully, “We’ll get out of here and get that out before that happens.” “How?” Azalazar suddenly asked. “Even if you managed to get the A.I. to get past the automated signaling a report still had to be sent out in a before this days out. The Corporation will be here before anyone else if they don’t get it.” Kevin glared at the doctor who was looking at him simply, he has been watching ever since then? He wondered then quickly brushed the thought away, no time to think about that. “Well were in a survival situation aren’t we doctor? And a pretty damn frightening one, lets see what we can think of.” Kevin shot back sarcastically. “It will get you first Mr. Richardson,” Azalazar said with certainty. “It’s not like the creature in the Labyrinth, it’s intelligent, even more so then A.J. or even I.” “Well then what is it doctor!?” Kevin snapped seriously irritated by this point. “Cause your talking about everything else but this thing, so what is it, and why did you create it!?” “Its called what it dose best!” Nick suddenly growled, everyone looked at him; Nick snapped his fingers at Azalazar. “It laughs at you! Imagine all your smarts yet your still so stupid! You’re so pathetic! It hates you and is going to eat you, but it likes to play with you first, but it’s getting hungry! The Eater needs to eat!” He hissed. “It’s going to eat your mind!” Azalazar was spooked by what Nick had said, though he didn’t say it or show it. Howie grinned and leaned back. “Hey, his power may have draw backs, but the kids pretty damn useful!” He said laughing at the doctor; the robot clicked its fingers. Kevin was glaring down at Azalazar. “The Eater?” He asked in a deadly calm voice. “Suites it nicely.” A.J. muttered. BACK NEXT |
| Science And Madness |