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Two German Scientists

Chapter 3

Dr Brandt had been pleasantly surprised at a job offer to work for the secret government organisation Omega. However, things take a turn when her boss decides she’s more of a nuisance than a valuable member of the group. How will Dr Brandt survive when thrust into a new world, one where the actions of four men will dictate the survival of the universe?

It’s been a few months since then. We’ve been testing the teleporters for weeks, every time something went wrong. Something about phasic misalignments, always resulting in numerous anatomical displacements. I’ve had to examine specimens so many times, arms attached to legs, multiple bodies fused, it's been awful. However today, March 19th, has marked our first successful teleportation test. After my thorough investigation I determined that Private Pashkov arrived with all parts intact. It's good we have finally managed to sort this out, maybe we can slow down on the amount of ‘Aethernauts’ we’ve been using. Poor souls either don’t come back, or return with physical and physiological symptoms including infection and amnesia… they’re not the only things that have been coming back through. Strange creatures have been reported being spotted within the Dark Aether. I asked Peck if I could get a hold of a specimen for dissection and he agreed surprisingly. It should take place tomorrow.

I walk into the lab where Dr Peck and Dr Kuhlklay are waiting. “Can you take any longer Brandt?” Peck asks sarcastically, standing over the specimen.

“Someone has to fill out the paperwork.” I mumble back in reply, donning my gloves before stepping over to the body of the creature. “So… specimen K7-1924 a very interesting creature… I reported that it has the ability to take form of many different objects.”

“You’re correct Alvarie. When I observed the creature I took note of five different objects the creature transformed into. Including a rifle and an aetherium containment canister.” I nod.

“Sadly that led to its termination as someone mistook the creature for a real rifle.” I tilt my head to the side, eyeing the guard gulping at the other side of the room.

“Enough of this chit chat, care to actually begin the autopsy, Doctor. Brandt?” Passive aggressive as ever, Peck.

“Of course… would you begin the recording Dimitri?” He nods, pressing the button on the recorder.

“This is Dr. Alvarie Brandt, 20th March 1984, beginning examination of specimen K7-1924. Proceeding with examination of upper abdomen.” I take a scalpel from the bench, slicing down a Y line from the creatures ‘chest’ “Dimitri, retractors please.”

“Placing retractors.” He pulls back the retractors, opening up the chest cavity.

“Seem normal to you, Brandt?” Peck asks.

“Well the organs appear…very similar to our own. But it's almost like everything’s merged, interlinked. Observe the lungs ,” I point them out, moving them to the side to see the connective tissue. “They’re in a similar location but it’s pleura extends and connects directly to the heart, passing through the endocardium.” Peck nods. “Wait, Dimitri, hold this open.” He moves the merged organs aside to get access to the back. “There appears to be…something engraved on the interior of the creature’s back. Wh-“

“что за черт. That- is a face.” I feel along the ridges.

“I mean, there does appear to be a warped, stretched pigmentation that resembles a human face.” I turn to peck in shock.

“Resembles!? Look, Peck it even has a bump where the nose should be.”

“Wait-“ Dimitri interrupts. “говно! It is Private Glaskov! We sent him to the other side last month, but he never came back. Is this…is this thing him?” I look at Kuhlklay with wide eyes.

“That explai-“

“That last remark is to be struck from the record! We have no proof that this creature is Private Glaskov. Continue your examination Dr. Brandt.” Shaking my head to clear my mind, I look back down at the creature, just as I pull down my scalpel on the mass of organs-

“Well-uh… I suppose that is a good place to terminate the session. Subject has turned itself into a cassette tape.” I throw down the scalpel, Peck pressing the ‘stop’ button on the recorder.

“I’ll go organise for a new specimen to be brought through.” Peck throws down his gloves into the bin before leaving.

I give a glance towards Kuhlklay before speaking. “I think that creature was Glaskov…” He turns to me, urging me to continue. “Before I came into the room, I was doing an analysis of the creature's DNA…that’s why I was late, I couldn’t understand-”

“What? What couldn’t you understand!?” He grabs my shoulders, shaking me.

“It’s human! It’s human DNA, mutated but almost entirely human…I didn’t understand it either, but now it makes sense. Human organs, miners coming back distorted and now…a human face. These creatures, they are people Dimitri.” He lets go of me, pacing around the room.

“The miners! How many men have we condemned to this fate!?” I shake my head.

“It’s not our fault Dimitri…and we can’t do anything about it, Peck will never admit the truth.”

At least now I have a lot of specimens to dissect. Actually having work to do is a lot better than pretending that I knew what was going on with those portals. Looking down at the decomposing body laid down on the bench beneath me, I think ‘I wonder who this was…’. Peck has been trying to get me to keep a ‘live’ specimen to test his truth serum on, see if they can tell us anything about the Dark Aether. I’ve been telling him that it won’t work. Even if their vocal chords and tongues weren’t destroyed, their brains are mush, there’s no way we could salvage any information. Now where is my bone saw? I look down on the metal bench by my side, picking up the long serrated blade before holding it to the specimen’s sternum.

“Have you found anything useful yet, Dr. Brandt?” I jump in shock, thinking I was completely alone in the room. Holding up the bone saw, I turn around, nearly cutting the man who had decided to stand directly behind me.

“Dr. Peck! I didn’t know you were in here!” He pushes the saw away from his face.

“Well this is my lab. I don’t need permission to come in.” He replies sarcastically.

“What are you looking at here, or do you just like making a mess and wasting resources?” Still after the months I’ve been working here, doing good research, he has no respect for me.

“I was just doing a thorough examination…I wanted to have a good look at the creature's bone structure before I examine the brain, as you requested.” He pushes me out of the way slightly, to have a better look.

“What’s up with its bone structure then?”

“Well-“ I start, moving to the other side of the body. “It’s similar to the organs, all fused together. Look here, the creature only has about 4 ribs. Thicker than normal, as if a human's ribs have been fused together.”

“Hmm, and this is important for me, how?” I look down, discouraged.

“I thought you would just like a better understanding of them?”

“I understand them enough, Brandt. I want you to look at the brain.” Biting the inside of my cheek, I nod firmly.

“Of course, Doctor.”

I turn around to search the bench for my skull chisel. I move my hand over the tools when suddenly I hear a crash. “AHhgh!” I whip back around to see that the creature had woken up! Moving from its position towards peck. I freeze. Peck looks at me, before grabbing the chisel from the bench and stabbing it through the creature’s skull.

“I-I’m-”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Brandt!? You nearly got me killed!” Peck storms over to me, pushing me back into the corner of the room.

“I’m sorry Dr, I-“

“You will be fucking sorry! You stupid little incompetent girl! Why didn’t you tie the restraints down on the creature!?” I flinch as he continues to shout, spitting in my face.

“I didn’t think-”

“You never fucking think do you, bitch!” He slaps me across the face, I still remain frozen, unable to even reach my hand up to cup my now reddened cheek. “Clean up this mess.” He spits before storming off. Sinking down to the floor, my head falls into my hands. I hold back tears as I take a moment to calm down…I never expected this would be my career. I never wanted this.

An hour later, some other scientist come in and take care of the mess. They tell me to just leave, promising not to say anything to Peck. I thank them, straightening my coat before leaving the room. I decide to go to one of my very few ‘safe’ places in this facility, Dimitri’s lab. As I approach the door, I begin to hear shouting.

“Fucking stupid Peck! ‘Dimitri do this, Dimitri do that. Shame on you, Dimitri. I will have you turned into soup! I’m Dr Peck, I’m a big smart real scientist!’” Is he- drunk? I open the door, looking down at Kuhlklay slumped into his chair, glass of what appears to be vodka in hand. “Fffffuck you. How about that, Pecker-man? Fuuuuuuck you.” Still he hasn’t noticed me, I walk over to him, laying a hand on his arm.

“Are you okay, Dimitri?” He jumps slightly at the contact.

“Oh! Alvarie, I didn’t see you there! Are you okay- your face..?” Reaching a cold hand up to my cheek, he looks at me with worried eyes.

“Yeah I’m fine, just had a little incident with Peck…” at this news, he shots down the rest of the drink in his glass.

“Stupid fucking Peck. Alvarie I’ll tell you something. You know that new invention I was working on, a new rifle that would make Kalashnikov weep? Well I show it to Dr. Peck and he LAUGHS! He calls it a child’s toy! ‘Stop being so small-brained, Dimitri.’ Small-brained? I will show you, Peck.” Throwing down his glass, he grabs my hand. “He thinks he is the only smart man in this facility. He wants me to give up, probably because Peck wants to steal my design for himself. But he can never assemble it! Alvarie, when we leave this place together, I will take it with me and sell it to the highest bidder. ‘Maybe I underestimated you, Doctor Kuhlklay.’ Of course you did Peck. You see, Alvarie, I have always had a keen eye for opportunity.” He looks back at me, a mischievous grin pulled on his face. I smile awkwardly in return, he’s quite scary when he’s drunk.

“What do you mean ‘when we leave’, Mitya?” I sit down in the chair next to him, to be on his level.

“I've been talking to Dr. Valentina, she’s going to send me to a new facility, said I could bring you, милый.” He leans towards me but I pull back, choosing to ignore his terms of endearment.

“You mean we can get away from Dr. Peck?” He nods excitedly.

“Yes I can get you away from here Alvarie, just leave it to me.” He gently kisses my hand, I stand up.

“Keep me updated then Dimitri, I’m uh…gonna head over to get some food. I’ll see you later.” I turn, leaving through the door.

God I’ve got myself into a bit of a pickle here. 1. Peck hates me even more than he already did. He’s going to fire me if he doesn’t kill me first. 2. Kuhlklay’s got me involved in some secret situation, kinda sounds risky. So either I can try and convince Peck that I’m not worthless or leave this place and potentially betray my boss. I enter the kitchen and pull out some rye bread crisps from the cupboard before sitting down on the metal chair. Munching on the crisps, I look down at my slightly bloodied lab coat. No clue how I’m gonna get these stains out… I’m pulled out of my thoughts as I hear the kitchen door open.

“Ah, Dr Brandt.” Peck. “Just the person I wanted to see.” As he approaches, I move back in my chair, the man scares the shit out of me. “Sorry, I’m not gonna hurt you. I wanted to apologise for earlier.” Is this the same Peck? Has he been replaced. My eyebrows furrow in confusion. “I shouldn’t have hurt you like that, it wasn’t professional of me, I’m sorry.” I can’t even speak, what’s going on? “I understand if you don’t forgive me, but I wanted to make it up to you. I was about to do some tests of the new teleporter but I thought you might want to see it first?”

“I- uh, sure?” He gestures me to follow him, we head over to the teleporter room outside mission control.

“This is it.” We walk inside, the large metal contraption in the centre of the room. “This is the largest one yet, still not sure where exactly it goes, changes every time.” He walks over to the control panel, pressing a few buttons and switches before the machine comes to life. Purple and blue lights flash along the edges before stabilising into a large circle. “We still don’t know what’ll happen if we throw a person in this one.”

“Wouldn’t you want to send through some inanimate objects first, or animals? I have some spare monkeys if they would be of any use.” I suggest. He lets out a low chuckle.

“No, I’ve thought of a better idea. Guards!” Suddenly my arms are grabbed behind my back. I try to turn frantically, pulling at the men restraining me.

“Hey! Let me go!” I turn back to peck, eyes pleading.

“Throw her in.”

“NO!” I scream as they drag me over to the anomaly. My feet scrape against the floor, trying to find any friction that might allow me to fight against their hold. “Peck! Don’t do this!” He laughs again.

“First you try to get me killed, then you betray me along with Dimitri, yeah I heard the little conversation you had with your boyfriend. Now you’re finally gonna be useful, kid. Throw her in.” Before I can even scream again in protest, I am thrown into the teleporter. Lights flash around me as I feel myself move through space. My body feels numb, my brain mush, forces of such great velocity bashing against me as the light assaults my eyes.

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