Story #244 - GenSet

GenSet

This was it. The shining metal doors, the long, darkly tiled roofs and soft whir of machinery spoke to the mystery of what was hidden inside the GenSet compound. Hell, it had taken Ras Ophan twelve years just to find the place, and another three to convince Grellsy it was worth taking a look.

“You ready?” He said, and Grellsy nodded. The man was ready for anything, anytime, but it was still worth asking before he did something ridiculously stupid like blow the doors off a secret facility. After long hours of study, he'd decided that an all-out attack was preferable to trying to sneak in – or at least, that was what he was going to make it look like.

Recon here two nights ago had gotten him a glimpse of what lay beyond the doors. That included a number of boxes, crates, and most importantly, seven or eight barrels of highly flammable material. With the right combination of skill and luck, Ras would be able to blow the doors open, get inside, and have any guards on duty think that it was the fault of poor wiring and the proximity of exploding barrels that had done the job.

A quick turn of his wrist and the GlueBomb was activated. Both of them made for the cover of a metal box on the east side of the concrete pad that served as the facility's only delivery entrance and waited for the fireworks to start.

“Let's hope this works,” Ras said, but Grellsy kept his eyes on the door, not even bothering to acknowledge the sentiment. The man was a professional, through and through – the trouble was that Ras had no idea what that profession actually was. He'd seen Grellsy kill a man as easily as walk, but had also watched as the bald man talked his way out of what looked like a sure capture. It was a safe bet that Grellsy had training from an elite military force, and it was a safer bet to shut up and not ask him about it. Ras had enough on his mind without worrying about his companion.

GenSet had taken something from him – he was sure of it. The very mention of their name set his blood boiling, and seeing their logo in public made him physically ill. They had stolen something valuable, ripped something precious away. Try though he might, he couldn't remember what.

That made him even more sure. The company was known for memory modification among other designer consumer products, and he knew he must have somehow been altered, changed in such a way that he would never come after the company, but whatever they'd done to him had been too horrible, too scarring for his mind to completely erase.

There was a thundering detonation as the charge finally went off, blowing the bottom half of the door out and across the pad. Inside, the could hear the explosive barrels going off in rapid succession. This was their chance.

“Now!” He hissed, and Grellsy doused them both in Firafoam. Expensive and hard to come by, the foam would protect them from fire for exactly five minutes before dissipating, providing them more than enough time to get through the doors and into the compound itself.

Rushing forward, guns drawn, they leapt through the fire that now marked the entrance. Inside, he found one guard, eyes wide and jaw slack. Ras lashed out with the butt of his pistol and sent the man to the ground, then shoved him into the fire. Evidence of their entry could not be left behind.

A look at Grellsy told him they were otherwise alone, and he moved to the small door on the north side of the delivery bay. The few plans he'd been able to dredge up about the compound told him this was his best chance of finding anything useful, and the timing of their attack – a weekend night – meant only a skeleton crew would be working.

The hallway beyond the door was disappointing in just how ordinary it seemed. Gray walls and evenly spaced lights could have been from any moderately successful research corporation, and Ras couldn't hear the screams of any tortured souls, or immediately see a gateway into a demonic realm. GenSet was not so obvious.

Each of the first four doors they came to was locked, but Grellsy easily broke them down, revealing four equally uninteresting storage closets. It was the fifth door that piqued his attention – behind it, he could hear at least one voice, talking softly.

Setting up on the side of the door he nodded to his friend, who stepped back, crouched, and then slammed hard into the doorway, sending it flying open. Gunshots sounded, and Ras followed Grellsy inside, eyes searching. A pain in his neck told him he'd been hit, and he turned to see a thin man in a lab coat holding a small dart gun. Reaching up, he pulled the missile from his throat and threw it to the ground as he advanced on the other man. Grellsy was there first, slamming the scientist into the wall until he went limp.

Ras smiled. He'd been sure to take several high-powered stimulants before the job – there was no way he was going to be put to sleep by some lab-jockey. Turning, he got a good look at the room and drew in a sharp breath. It stretched off into the darkness, consoles and terminals and lab equipment as far as his eyes could see. This was exactly what he'd been looking for. It was going to take some time, but he was finally going to get some answers.

***

“How long will they be out?” Doctor Lyan's voice was quiet.

“Until we choose to wake them.” Assistant Talbot had been smart enough to dart the intruders with a super-stimulant, sending their mental processes into overdrive. Now, both were bound to metal experiment tables, ready to contribute to the cause of science.

He could see the smaller one's eyes twitching; he could only imagine what the fool thought he saw.

- D