Read I Am Phantom (Novella): Subject Number One Online
Authors: Sean Fletcher
Tags: #Science Fiction | Superhero | Supervillain
I Am Phantom (Novella): Subject Number One
Subject Number One
Other
Books By Sean Fletcher
The I Am Phantom Series:
We
Who Remain (August 2016)
The In the Depths of Darkness Series:
In
the Depths of Darkness (December 2016)
Subject Number One
Sean Fletcher
The setting, characters and story used in this
book are completely fictitious and come from the author’s imagination. Any
similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and are not
intended by the author.
© 2016 Sean Fletcher
All rights reserved
First edition published August 2016
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in
the context of reviews.
Cover Design: Audrey Mackaman
Editing thanks: DeLaine Fletcher,
Sierra Pandy, Sarah Sanborn
Table of Contents:
The tests were doomed to fail. Lucius Sykes
could see that from the charts projected at the front of the small conference
room. Clayton Carlyle, the other lead scientist on the project, had put up the
graph showing the latest round of test results on the serum. They started off
well enough, but by the end…
“So as you can see,” Carlyle was saying, glaring
at the chart as though it was its fault they had failed again, “we need a more
stable base compound. The serum breaks apart within seconds of contact with red
blood cells. Ruptures them. That’s in a controlled test, though the human body
is infinitely more complex, so there’s a chance it’d be different in a live
subject. If we were to move ahead with subject testing as proposed—”
“No,” Lucius said. The ten other scientists in
the room turned to him.
Clayton narrowed his eyes at Lucius. “No, Dr.
Sykes?”
Lucius tapped roughly on the printed test
results in front of him. “We already talked about this. We can’t release it for
live subject testing, regardless of the benefits you
think
it might have. We can all see where this is going. Not just this test. The
project as a whole.” He took a breath. The rest of the room waited. Lucius
allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction. Despite his age, he was one of
the two lead scientists on this project. They would listen to what he had to
say, whether they liked it or not. “Right now, with the results, the superhuman
serum may just have to be put on hold.”
There was a general murmur around the room. Not
as many dissents as Lucius had thought there’d be. But then, he hadn’t expected
too many. This had been the fifth failed strain in the last year, and they
still hadn’t come any closer to stabilizing the serum or bestowing super human
abilities on live subjects.
Dr.
Van swiveled in his chair to face Lucius. He fixed him with an oily smile. “Dr.
Sykes, forgive me, but it sounded like you want to shut this project down. The
operation’s had its ups and down, I’ll grant you that, but you and
your—ah—vast experience hardly have the last say on whether we
continue or not. The Defense Department didn’t pay us millions to return empty
handed.”
“Dr. Sykes and Dr. Carlyle are lead scientists
on this project,” Dr. Lin said. “So whether you like it or not, he
does
have a say. A big one.”
Dr.
Van settled back in his seat with a frustrated grunt.
Dr. Lin gave satisfied smirk, and Lucius
resisted staring at her. She was beautiful; almond-shaped eyes with long lashes
and a black veil of glossy hair; glasses perched just at the tip of her short
nose.
Lucius wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t the
only one on their project with a crush on her. Though—and he could have
been completely biased—he always suspected she favored him more. She had
stuck up for him, after all.
She flashed him an encouraging smile and a wink.
Lucius’ mouth went dry.
His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll take another look at the data and consider it
again. But I’m not encouraged. Dr. Carlyle and I can speak after that and see
if we go forward with this.”
“Dr. Sykes,” Van said, “be reasonable. We’ve all
put so much into this.”
“As have I, Dr. Van. More than most. You think I
want to throw all that away? But this is the fifth time we’ve sat here and come
up with nothing. The people out there,” he pointed to where the open room of
their underground work facility held dozens of other scientists, all hard at
work on the same serum, “they expect us to know what we’re doing. They expect
progress. And we don’t have it.”
Dr. Van uncurled his fingers and dug them into
the pockets of his lab coat. He seemed to fumble with something. “And that’s
your final say?”
Lucius didn’t drop his gaze from Van’s
tight-lipped face. “It is.”
Van nodded like that had decided something
Lucius wasn’t aware of.
Carlyle had sat down. “Maybe if we move ahead on
the chimp tests we could see some of the progress you want.”
“Absolutely not,” Dr. Lin snapped.
Carlyle fixed her with a cool stare. “Excuse
me?”
Lin seemed to realize what she’d done and backed
up. “I mean, we should make sure everything is stable before doing that.”
“Not your call,” Carlyle said. “Not even Dr.
Sykes’, though I’m sure he’d like it to be. I will run it by the board
personally and get back to everyone.” He sighed. “Why don’t we talk about what
we
have
accomplished?”
An hour passed. Then two, as they looked through
the rest of the test results. Lucius found his attention drifting from the
slides, to his doodles, to Dr. Lin. Dr. Lin caught his eye and gave him an
encouraging thumbs-up. Dr. Van saw this and scowled deeper. Lucius didn’t care.
It was as Carlyle was finishing up the second
round of slides that the rear door flew open and Kenneth Ryans, the head of
security, practically ran in.
Lucius had heard a little about Ryans
since he’d been hired. Possibly rumors, possibly not. Fantastic military
service in some of the roughest war-torn countries, including some jobs that
were strictly off-the-books. The man was skilled. However, he was still young
(not that Lucius could talk) and this was his first security detail. He was
still getting used to dealing with ‘civilians’. Like how the best way to break
news was not to burst breathlessly into a room like the building was on fire.
“Dr. Sykes—”
“Ryans!” Carlyle barked. Ryans’ steps faltered.
“This is a private meeting. Whatever it is can wait until after.”
Ryans quickly assessed the situation and stood
up straight. He didn’t look embarrassed, maybe only slightly annoyed that his
objective had been hampered. “I apologize, sir, but it can’t. I need Dr.
Sykes.”
“He can join you
after
.”
“It’s urgent, sir.”
A sense of foreboding flared deep in Lucius’
gut. Nothing good ever followed a line like that. Had his mother died? She
hadn’t been feeling particularly well lately, but then, she never was. Maybe something
had happened to someone he knew. That’d be a short list. Being the only
sixteen-year-old at his college meant it hadn’t exactly been easy to make
friends. Even now, at twenty, making friends still wasn’t his strong suit.
“It’s all right, Carlyle,” Lucius said,
gathering his papers and standing. “I’m sure Ryans wouldn’t waste my time
unless it was really important. Catch me up when I get back, okay?”
Carlyle merely nodded. As he left, Lucius swore
he saw a triumphant look on Dr. Van’s face just as he stepped out into the
hallway and shut the door behind him.
“Now, what’s so urgent that you had to save me
from being bored to death?” Sykes said, trying to lighten the mood and stave
off his own dread.
Ryans didn’t crack a smile. “You’d better just
come see, Dr. Sykes.”
He led the way down the hall lined with conference
rooms and out into the open area that acted as the main research and production
floor of the project.
It was as big as a gymnasium, with screens a
dozen feet wide at the front like they were set up for the world’s greatest
Super Bowl party. Rows of computer-crowded desks ringed around the front. Just
behind them, the benches were lined with test tubes, centrifuges, distilling
materials.
To maintain the secrecy of the operation, the
funding for the project had been used to create an underground bunker,
stretching beneath the streets of Queensbury, North Carolina. Not even the
sewer maintenance workers knew they were here. The techs and other doctors wore
long white lab coats. It was cold this far underground, and it worked to their
advantage. Most of the things they worked with required cooler temperatures to
operate.
“The suspense is killing me, Ryans,” Lucius
said, giving a warm laugh.
“Sir, I don’t know who—they must have
known all the doctors were in a meeting or somebody would have heard. But I promise
I will double patrols around here from now on. I’ll do them personally if I
have to.”
Ryans led him back towards the hallways
containing the doctor’s personal offices. Back towards Lucius’.
Even from a distance Lucius could tell there was
something wrong with his office door. And then he knew why the second Ryans
grimly pushed it open. It should have been locked. It would have been, if the
lock and handle hadn’t been smashed in.
“It’s bad, sir,” Ryans said, stepping aside.
Destruction. Bookshelves flipped over, their
contents a shredded mass, like someone had taken scissors to them. Papers
tossed like confetti; the framed degrees and pictures on his walls smashed in,
littering glass across the floor.
Anger, white hot, bubbled under his skin. He clenched
his hands into fists so hard he swore his fingers would break. And then, with a
willpower honed over years of practice, he let it all go. Almost.
“Sir?” Ryans said.
“I’m fine, Ryans.” He stepped over broken glass
from a picture frame. “Let’s see what the damage is.”
