Main Story: Chapter Six - And Man
Here in the end chapter of that triplet of chapters. It starts with the decendants of Innsmouth finding out about their biological origins "Daughters of Hydra", moves to discovering the mechanism "Of Mouse" and finishes with this one "And Man"
The Deep Ones Project
By David Reichen
Chapter Six: And Man.
I 1eave you cold and in disgust.
Don't try to tame me. You'll eat my dust.
I know that you know not what you do.
That's why you'll never know why,
Oh no, you'll never know why,
We ROCK!
{ Never Know Why, by Ozzy Osbourne, from The Ultimate Sin }
"So that's where they got the big idea to make a mouse that could live underwater, an experiment in reverse genetic engineering. No wonder there was such a flurry of news reports about their experiment." I say, when Lief paused in his narration of the events leading to my parents' disappearance from the Miskatonic University. Out of my life too.
"Kevin, I had hoped that word would not get out, especially since people might try to find out where your family was from. As I said, Innsmouth still is not a popular place to be associated with. Even if things did improve after the incident in 1928."
"You mean the one where they went and almost burnt down the town because of a plage outbreak."
"That's the one and that is where we are heading to," Lief says. He then continues his tale of what happened at the university after the news leaked out.
When I finally convinced them to come to my office, a very eventful week was already transpiring. I doubt that they were prepared for the public's outcry, once word of the results of their experiment in activating ancient genetic traits in mammals got out. They wrote a very convincing article for the scientific journals; however, the tabloids drew it all out of proportion. Most of their stories were centered along the lines of being able to create a master race using their methods of genetic manipulation.
They had a press conference on Wednesday, two days after they were besieged by the News Weasels, when news of Aquina was announced, but most of it was drowned out by the shouts of the angry mob that gathered in protest.
I had so far managed to stay away from the circus that their life had become. On Friday, my patients wore out and I demanded that they come to my office immediately. Things that I was looking out for were happening and they needed to be warned about them.
"Please, sit down and pay attention to what I have to tell you. I need to leave soon and you should do so as well. We are finished here." I said, making them realize that this was not one of our social gatherings but something serious. "You may be wondering why I insisted that you come to me, in person, instead of telling you over the phone or E-mail. Bare with me and I will try to make things clear to you that you may not be aware of."
"Yea, right!" said Elliot. "Just what is so important anyway? We have a lot of damage control to take care of before things can get back to normal in our lab."
"You would not believe some of the things that they are saying about us," cried Marsha. "It seems like the whole world is against us."
"Conditions will not be returning to normal. And Marsha, in a way, you are quite right, the world or at the least a dangerous subsection of it has been trying to wipe out your kind for a couple of centuries now," I said.
They first looked at me with puzzled expressions, as if I had just turned into a prophetic newt or something because of what I had told them. They then both said in hushed voices, at the same time, "You can't be serious?"
"Oh, but I am.
"Do you remember when we went through that one report and it listed 1846 and 1918 for being particularly bad years for your town? Those years correspond to a couple of nasty epidemics. The first one, in 1846, was an outbreak of cholera, supposedly brought over by Irish immigrants that fled during the Potato Famine. The other one, in 1918, was the Spanish Influenza. I had an analysis done on what these two deceases would do to the survivors and found some unexpected results.
"I was able to have your developing child's DNA profiled. I then added the effects of the two deceases, to find out what areas would be effected. Here are the results," I said, swiveling a nearby monitor so that they could get a better view of what I was going to show them.
As I pointed to various areas of the display, I told them about what information was displayed there. "On this side, is the DNA profile of a normal female human, I took that one from the International G-Nome Project's files. On the other side of the screen is the one for your daughter to be. Notice all of the extra bits and pieces attached to some of the genes. I still do not know what they are there for but we do know that they matched parts of the enzymes that were in your Granny's potion, Marsha.
"Here is where it gets interesting. The two viruses that caused those outbreaks that I mentioned were very nasty variants. It attacked both regular and sex cells. In the sex cell, it caused mutations that affected the extra areas I just mentioned."
"Someone has been doing genetic warfare!" Elliot bursted out in anger.
I guessed that he must have finally realized why I wanted them to keep secret where their family was from.
Marsha said, "Who's been doing this to us and why. We are going to make them pay for this!"
"The why, I don't know yet but there is only one group of people that I know of who would dare do such a thing. A group that I have sworn to take down, Les Luminous, an organization formed during Torquemada's Inquisition. While most of the Inquisition's efforts were placed on converting everyone's religion to their form of Christianity, Les Luminous was charged with the duty of fighting the supposed forces of darkness and spread the Light throughout the world. A worthy pursuit but they have been known to go a little overboard in doing so. On many occasions, they have upset the delicate balance that exists and has made us come close to the end of everything on numerous occasions. An example of their handiwork was in convincing the United States government to destroy the town of Innsmouth, instead of just putting the town under quarantine."
Judging by their quizzical looks at me, I probably lost what little credibility I had with them so I decided to tell them a little about my past encounters with the Les Luminous, "You do not want to get caught by these people, you will not survive. One of their more perverse forms of torture is to infect the eyes of their victims with a tailored virus that makes the eyes extremely sensitive to light. They then shine bright lights at you and force you to confess your sins before the Light of the Lord.Trust me, once this happens, you will beg them to shut up so that you can tell them everything they want to know.
"Once they are finished, most of their victims gladly gouge out their eye, in the hopes of being free of the pain. This unfortunately does not work as well as it should, it affects more than just the eyes. The optic nerves are also infected by the time that the eyes are removed. I barely was able to resist their constant urgings by calling on a force that I do not care to speak of. I have had to result to drastic measures to retain my eyesight. The virus is still active within me and will eventually make its way through the optic nerves into by brain. When this happens, no one knows what will become of me."
I remove the my glasses, which I use to hide my eyes and let them see what I was talking about. They say that the eyes are the windows into the soul. Where my eyes are, only black, glistening orbs can be seen. I barely remember what my own eyes used to look like. Both of them are covered in a film of polarized Mylar, cutting out most of the ambient light that would make it impossible for me to live the semi-normal life that I have left.
They left after this but came back, in a rush, in less than a half hour. They must have run back from their lab since they were both out of breath. I knew that they would be back as soon as they found out what was laying in wait for them when they returned to their lab.
I had used the meantime to finish what few preparations that I needed to complete before leaving the Miskatonic University. When they stepped back into my office, I raised my hand to forestall any of their outbursts and said, "Yes. I know that your lab has been trashed and that Aquina is dead. This had to be done so that it would appear that all traces of the work that you were doing were destroyed. Hopefully, in time, people will forget that you came close to reconciling the differences between our two peoples and that things could return to the blissful status quo that existed in ancient times.
"I am leaving now and I suggest that you do so too. It's either that or jeopardize everything that you have accomplished and the war between our races will wipe each other off the face of the Earth, just like what happened to the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, when they were struck down by wrath of the Elder Gods.
"Here is a disc that has all of your work and some of what I was working on stored on it. May it be useful to you when you have the time to continue your research?
"It is important that you do not delay, not even by going to pick up your son, he is being watch by those responsible for the mess in your lab and you would only become captured, if you were stupid enough to try. I will do my best to keep him safe but you two need to flee to the one place of refuge set up for your people."
"And where in the Hell is this place you're talking about, Shangrila or something?" Elliot screamed out in rage.
"Definitely not there. I have been to Shambhala and it is no place of safety, especial one of the monasteries there, named Leng. What I am talking about is where this whole story started, Innsmouth."
"Like I said, where is it?"
"It's not on any map, at least not anymore, just take Jefferies Neck Road North once you have reached Ipswitch, it will get you close to where the town is supposed to be."
I flipped the switch mounted on the monitor next to me and showed them the screen. On it was displayed a countdown timer, "this place is going to blow up soon, I suggest that you leave by the faculty hallway since our pursuers have just entered this building by the main entrance and are on their way here."
I pointed to the way out that I wanted them to take, turned from them and ran to meet our approaching foes.
I conclude my story of the events leading to the point of when Kevin's parents and I parted company. I then recall a report that the Walmarth Foundation made about what happened when I left that night.
The following is a transcription of what a security camera recorded at the time of the explosion at the Advanced Computational Research Facility at the Miskatonic University, in Arkham, Mass:
The two suspects, who destroyed the laboratory of Elliot and Marsha Gilman in the Biology Department, neared the door leading to the office that was occupied by Lief Chancey at the time. They drew weapons. One of the suspects made ready to open the door while the other took a defensive position beside the door.
When the door was opened, the one standing beside the door stepped into the opening. At that moment a person, dressed in black or a dark blue, flew through the doorway, feet first, hitting the suspect standing in the doorway, in the chest. The one kicked in the chest collapsed to the floor. The other suspect, who was still holding the door at the time, released the door and took aim at their attacker. He fired a shot but missed both the attacker and his partner. The attacker was in a crouched position, on one leg, when he landed on the floor. He pivoted around and used the other leg to sweep the legs out from under the suspect still standing.
As their attacker stood up, there came an explosion from within the office. Smoke billowed into the hallway from the office. As the smoke cleared, only the two suspects could be seen, laying on the floor. No trace of their attacker could be seen. How the disappearance of their attacker happened is unknown; however, upon closer examination of the video recording, a door at the far end of the hallway could be seen opening and closing, as if someone passed that way.
When the suspects were found by the security personnel sent to investigate the explosion, one of the suspects was dead. The other was rushed to Arkham Medical Center.
In view of the circumstances surrounding this event, the Wilmarth Foundation has taken steps to suppress this information. It is to be considered secret and confidential, not to be made public. It is in our view that the general public is not ready at this time for the knowledge that there is another race of intelligent beings living on this planet. May we aviod the awful confrotation that occord after 1928, when the Deep Ones reminded us of our obligation to their pact, the Covenent of Rayleh.
Don't be afraid of the future
It doesn't include you, it only excludes you
It's the only way out of the past
Out of the now, out of the anything.
Another day, another battle
Another cage for me to rattle
And what is gone is never new
So let your mind explode into
The shape of things to come has just begun, ALRIGHT!
{The Shape of Things to come, by Powerman 5000, from Transform}
The Deep Ones Project
By David Reichen
Chapter Six: And Man.
I 1eave you cold and in disgust.
Don't try to tame me. You'll eat my dust.
I know that you know not what you do.
That's why you'll never know why,
Oh no, you'll never know why,
We ROCK!
{ Never Know Why, by Ozzy Osbourne, from The Ultimate Sin }
"So that's where they got the big idea to make a mouse that could live underwater, an experiment in reverse genetic engineering. No wonder there was such a flurry of news reports about their experiment." I say, when Lief paused in his narration of the events leading to my parents' disappearance from the Miskatonic University. Out of my life too.
"Kevin, I had hoped that word would not get out, especially since people might try to find out where your family was from. As I said, Innsmouth still is not a popular place to be associated with. Even if things did improve after the incident in 1928."
"You mean the one where they went and almost burnt down the town because of a plage outbreak."
"That's the one and that is where we are heading to," Lief says. He then continues his tale of what happened at the university after the news leaked out.
When I finally convinced them to come to my office, a very eventful week was already transpiring. I doubt that they were prepared for the public's outcry, once word of the results of their experiment in activating ancient genetic traits in mammals got out. They wrote a very convincing article for the scientific journals; however, the tabloids drew it all out of proportion. Most of their stories were centered along the lines of being able to create a master race using their methods of genetic manipulation.
They had a press conference on Wednesday, two days after they were besieged by the News Weasels, when news of Aquina was announced, but most of it was drowned out by the shouts of the angry mob that gathered in protest.
I had so far managed to stay away from the circus that their life had become. On Friday, my patients wore out and I demanded that they come to my office immediately. Things that I was looking out for were happening and they needed to be warned about them.
"Please, sit down and pay attention to what I have to tell you. I need to leave soon and you should do so as well. We are finished here." I said, making them realize that this was not one of our social gatherings but something serious. "You may be wondering why I insisted that you come to me, in person, instead of telling you over the phone or E-mail. Bare with me and I will try to make things clear to you that you may not be aware of."
"Yea, right!" said Elliot. "Just what is so important anyway? We have a lot of damage control to take care of before things can get back to normal in our lab."
"You would not believe some of the things that they are saying about us," cried Marsha. "It seems like the whole world is against us."
"Conditions will not be returning to normal. And Marsha, in a way, you are quite right, the world or at the least a dangerous subsection of it has been trying to wipe out your kind for a couple of centuries now," I said.
They first looked at me with puzzled expressions, as if I had just turned into a prophetic newt or something because of what I had told them. They then both said in hushed voices, at the same time, "You can't be serious?"
"Oh, but I am.
"Do you remember when we went through that one report and it listed 1846 and 1918 for being particularly bad years for your town? Those years correspond to a couple of nasty epidemics. The first one, in 1846, was an outbreak of cholera, supposedly brought over by Irish immigrants that fled during the Potato Famine. The other one, in 1918, was the Spanish Influenza. I had an analysis done on what these two deceases would do to the survivors and found some unexpected results.
"I was able to have your developing child's DNA profiled. I then added the effects of the two deceases, to find out what areas would be effected. Here are the results," I said, swiveling a nearby monitor so that they could get a better view of what I was going to show them.
As I pointed to various areas of the display, I told them about what information was displayed there. "On this side, is the DNA profile of a normal female human, I took that one from the International G-Nome Project's files. On the other side of the screen is the one for your daughter to be. Notice all of the extra bits and pieces attached to some of the genes. I still do not know what they are there for but we do know that they matched parts of the enzymes that were in your Granny's potion, Marsha.
"Here is where it gets interesting. The two viruses that caused those outbreaks that I mentioned were very nasty variants. It attacked both regular and sex cells. In the sex cell, it caused mutations that affected the extra areas I just mentioned."
"Someone has been doing genetic warfare!" Elliot bursted out in anger.
I guessed that he must have finally realized why I wanted them to keep secret where their family was from.
Marsha said, "Who's been doing this to us and why. We are going to make them pay for this!"
"The why, I don't know yet but there is only one group of people that I know of who would dare do such a thing. A group that I have sworn to take down, Les Luminous, an organization formed during Torquemada's Inquisition. While most of the Inquisition's efforts were placed on converting everyone's religion to their form of Christianity, Les Luminous was charged with the duty of fighting the supposed forces of darkness and spread the Light throughout the world. A worthy pursuit but they have been known to go a little overboard in doing so. On many occasions, they have upset the delicate balance that exists and has made us come close to the end of everything on numerous occasions. An example of their handiwork was in convincing the United States government to destroy the town of Innsmouth, instead of just putting the town under quarantine."
Judging by their quizzical looks at me, I probably lost what little credibility I had with them so I decided to tell them a little about my past encounters with the Les Luminous, "You do not want to get caught by these people, you will not survive. One of their more perverse forms of torture is to infect the eyes of their victims with a tailored virus that makes the eyes extremely sensitive to light. They then shine bright lights at you and force you to confess your sins before the Light of the Lord.Trust me, once this happens, you will beg them to shut up so that you can tell them everything they want to know.
"Once they are finished, most of their victims gladly gouge out their eye, in the hopes of being free of the pain. This unfortunately does not work as well as it should, it affects more than just the eyes. The optic nerves are also infected by the time that the eyes are removed. I barely was able to resist their constant urgings by calling on a force that I do not care to speak of. I have had to result to drastic measures to retain my eyesight. The virus is still active within me and will eventually make its way through the optic nerves into by brain. When this happens, no one knows what will become of me."
I remove the my glasses, which I use to hide my eyes and let them see what I was talking about. They say that the eyes are the windows into the soul. Where my eyes are, only black, glistening orbs can be seen. I barely remember what my own eyes used to look like. Both of them are covered in a film of polarized Mylar, cutting out most of the ambient light that would make it impossible for me to live the semi-normal life that I have left.
They left after this but came back, in a rush, in less than a half hour. They must have run back from their lab since they were both out of breath. I knew that they would be back as soon as they found out what was laying in wait for them when they returned to their lab.
I had used the meantime to finish what few preparations that I needed to complete before leaving the Miskatonic University. When they stepped back into my office, I raised my hand to forestall any of their outbursts and said, "Yes. I know that your lab has been trashed and that Aquina is dead. This had to be done so that it would appear that all traces of the work that you were doing were destroyed. Hopefully, in time, people will forget that you came close to reconciling the differences between our two peoples and that things could return to the blissful status quo that existed in ancient times.
"I am leaving now and I suggest that you do so too. It's either that or jeopardize everything that you have accomplished and the war between our races will wipe each other off the face of the Earth, just like what happened to the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, when they were struck down by wrath of the Elder Gods.
"Here is a disc that has all of your work and some of what I was working on stored on it. May it be useful to you when you have the time to continue your research?
"It is important that you do not delay, not even by going to pick up your son, he is being watch by those responsible for the mess in your lab and you would only become captured, if you were stupid enough to try. I will do my best to keep him safe but you two need to flee to the one place of refuge set up for your people."
"And where in the Hell is this place you're talking about, Shangrila or something?" Elliot screamed out in rage.
"Definitely not there. I have been to Shambhala and it is no place of safety, especial one of the monasteries there, named Leng. What I am talking about is where this whole story started, Innsmouth."
"Like I said, where is it?"
"It's not on any map, at least not anymore, just take Jefferies Neck Road North once you have reached Ipswitch, it will get you close to where the town is supposed to be."
I flipped the switch mounted on the monitor next to me and showed them the screen. On it was displayed a countdown timer, "this place is going to blow up soon, I suggest that you leave by the faculty hallway since our pursuers have just entered this building by the main entrance and are on their way here."
I pointed to the way out that I wanted them to take, turned from them and ran to meet our approaching foes.
I conclude my story of the events leading to the point of when Kevin's parents and I parted company. I then recall a report that the Walmarth Foundation made about what happened when I left that night.
The following is a transcription of what a security camera recorded at the time of the explosion at the Advanced Computational Research Facility at the Miskatonic University, in Arkham, Mass:
The two suspects, who destroyed the laboratory of Elliot and Marsha Gilman in the Biology Department, neared the door leading to the office that was occupied by Lief Chancey at the time. They drew weapons. One of the suspects made ready to open the door while the other took a defensive position beside the door.
When the door was opened, the one standing beside the door stepped into the opening. At that moment a person, dressed in black or a dark blue, flew through the doorway, feet first, hitting the suspect standing in the doorway, in the chest. The one kicked in the chest collapsed to the floor. The other suspect, who was still holding the door at the time, released the door and took aim at their attacker. He fired a shot but missed both the attacker and his partner. The attacker was in a crouched position, on one leg, when he landed on the floor. He pivoted around and used the other leg to sweep the legs out from under the suspect still standing.
As their attacker stood up, there came an explosion from within the office. Smoke billowed into the hallway from the office. As the smoke cleared, only the two suspects could be seen, laying on the floor. No trace of their attacker could be seen. How the disappearance of their attacker happened is unknown; however, upon closer examination of the video recording, a door at the far end of the hallway could be seen opening and closing, as if someone passed that way.
When the suspects were found by the security personnel sent to investigate the explosion, one of the suspects was dead. The other was rushed to Arkham Medical Center.
In view of the circumstances surrounding this event, the Wilmarth Foundation has taken steps to suppress this information. It is to be considered secret and confidential, not to be made public. It is in our view that the general public is not ready at this time for the knowledge that there is another race of intelligent beings living on this planet. May we aviod the awful confrotation that occord after 1928, when the Deep Ones reminded us of our obligation to their pact, the Covenent of Rayleh.
Don't be afraid of the future
It doesn't include you, it only excludes you
It's the only way out of the past
Out of the now, out of the anything.
Another day, another battle
Another cage for me to rattle
And what is gone is never new
So let your mind explode into
The shape of things to come has just begun, ALRIGHT!
{The Shape of Things to come, by Powerman 5000, from Transform}
posted by Unknown at 6:21 AM
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