Forgotten Past: Chapter Nineteen-Unauthorized Mutation

Something wasn’t right. She’d sensed something wrong since she’d
gotten her memory back. It hadn’t clicked, not before she’d known
herself. But now, she could tell something was wrong. Something was
very wrong.

Something was changing her, and in a very bad way.

~~~

“Watch your tail!” Dr. Martina growled as Sleke flicked him in the face
with her tail’s round end. He batted it away from his face impatiently.

The woman pushed impossibly long hair from her face and continued to
twist and whip her tail about. Dr. Martina went to insert a needle into
her arm and she wrapped her tail around his arm skillfully, pulling his
hand away from her.

Dr. Martina shot her an annoyed look, which she countered with a
warm purr and lazy orange eyes. “Ah, ah, ah,” she purred. “You know
I hate needles.”

Sleke’s lazy voice rolled from her throat playfully. Her tone wasn’t
appreciated and neither was her attitude. Martina told her so. “Let’s
not be that way,” she answered in that same lazy drawl.

Martina grabbed Sleke’s arm in a powerful grip, but quickly regretted
the rash action when a set of razor sharp, retractable claws were held to
his throat. His fingers were pulled away as Sleke grabbed the offending
arm with her tail. She kept her orange eyes locked on his as she pulled
his arm away, then drew her claws along his flesh.

A cold shiver crept up his spine as he watched the emotionally devoid
expression in her eyes flash threateningly. “I have to take a blood
sample,” he gritted out from clenched teeth.

His arm was immediately released and Sleke sheathed her claws,
drawing her hand away from his throat. “If you must,” she answered,
sounding bored, her eyes expressionless once more.

She turned her head away, her hair falling over her body like a blanket.
No expression marred her perfect, slightly feline features as Dr.
Martina inserted the needle into her arm, drawing blood into the
syringe.

He pasted a bandage over the tiny hole as he pulled the needle out then
patted her arm. “All done.”

Sleke yawned, stretching luxuriously before leaping gracefully off the
medical table. She turned bored eyes to him. “Is that all for this week,
Doctor?” she questioned sarcastically.

Martina raised the syringe of blood up for both of them to see, shaking
it teasingly. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

Sleke didn’t rise to the bait, instead opting to pull her hair over her
shoulder. The huge mass of silvery, black striped strands were twisted
together, then folded in half. She tied the hair with a strip of cloth
quickly so it now hung to the backs of her knees. Her tail whipped
about before she wrapped it around her waist twice. It hung low on her
hips like a thick furry belt and she sauntered lazily out of the room.

A hidden door opened in the wall as Sleke left. General Munroe stepped
out to stand next to Martina. “Is she stable?”

Martina shrugged. “Compared to what?”

Munroe turned annoyed eyes to Martina. “You know what I mean,
David.”

Once more, Martina held up the syringe. “I’ll test this,” he shook it
again, “and we’ll see if the mutation is complete. There hasn’t been any
change for some time now, so I think we’re safe.”

Munroe turned to Martina. “Make sure, David. And find out why she
took the mutation better than anyone else. We could make an army of
people like her with the right technology.”

“Is that wise?” Martina wondered.

“Wise? Of course it’s wise. We could beat the resistance easily if we
could figure out this technology.” Munroe answered, sounding
indignant.

Martina shrugged. “I’m on it, General.”

“You’d better be. This isn’t your job, this is your life.” With that
parting shot, General Munroe disappeared back through the hidden
door.

~~~

Carolyn smiled at Jack, trying to look bright. The girl was no longer a
child, but her excitement was palpable. The boy from the freighter, who
Jack had introduced as “Eddie,” was sitting next to Jack. The same
excitement was etched on his face.

“How’d you get off that planet, Fry?” Jack blurted and Carolyn’s
features clouded over slightly.

She shook her head, “It’s a long story, kiddo. Maybe some other time.”

Jack looked slightly disappointed, but didn’t push the subject.

The room was dimly lit, but still bright enough that almost everyone
with shined eyes were wearing darkened eye-wear of some sort. A few
less sensitive sets of eyes glowed in the room, and Jack was curious
about the multiple shine jobs.

“How come so many people here have shine jobs?” she questioned
Carolyn.

This was an easy question, Carolyn thought. I can answer this. “We cut
the power when we board another ship, so it makes things easier if your
eyes are shined to get around while we raid.”

Jack nodded. “Makes sense. Can I join your crew?”

Riddick was sitting next to Carolyn and she shot him a sharp look. He’d
been pensive since they’d interrogated frog/man. He shrugged. “Your
call, Creed.”

Carolyn noticed he was using her other name, and wondered at it. Was
he helping her keep her old identity from her crew? Or was there
something else?

Riddick took another bite of his meal and didn’t say anything else.

Jack was looking at her hopefully, and Carolyn nodded. “Sure, kid.
How ‘bout you?” she asked Eddie.

“I got a crew, but thanks anyways,” Eddie answered.

Carolyn eyed him cautiously. She didn’t know what the kid had been
doing on the freighter, and not knowing the facts made her nervous.
“What were you doin’ on the freighter? Jack said you work for a
resistance organization. Which one?”

Eddie chewed his food thoughtfully. “Nylorac. Bruce Levake is the
leader. Ever heard of it?”

Recognition rang through Carolyn. “Yeah. I know him, and the group.
He tried to get me to hook up with him about three years ago.” She
shook her head, as if to clear it. “Old memories,” she murmured.

The meal that night was some sort of meat and some vegetables.
Carolyn reached for her knife so she could cut her meat, not really
paying attention, and grabbed the sharp blade. It slid along the length
of her finger and she let out a pained hiss, jerking the hand close. She
was about to put the cut to her mouth when she froze.

Her blood was a mix of the normal red and a strange bright blue.
Carolyn’s hand shook as she stared at the blood, which was beginning
to drip down her finger to splatter on her pant leg.

Riddick’s nostrils flared and he turned his head to look at her. Carolyn
stuffed her hand in her lap then wrapped a cloth around it from the
table. Riddick’s eyes narrowed and he glanced at her hand.

Carolyn raised her eyes to his. “I cut myself,” she muttered, wrapping
the cloth tight.

“I can smell it,” he growled. He wasn’t lying. Riddick had smelled it,
and it had smelled strangely familiar. It was a smell that made his gut
twist painfully, made his heart race, made his instincts scream, “RUN!
SURVIVE!” He knew that smell.

~~~

Martina stared at the gruesome corpse then checked for the
identification mark. There was none. “This isn’t one of ours,” he stated
matter-of-factly. “Where’d you pick him up?”

“We know, Doc. That’s the problem. Ya see, this was a convict from
Slam. He was supposed to get the aluthium spray then dropped off on
some moon around here somewhere. When we went to pick him up, he
ran for it and we sent a dog after him. We were told to spray him
anyways and stuff started to happen.”

Martina eyed the Ranger in front of him. “Why’s he dead?” he
demanded.

“When we got out of cryo he looked like this and he fought back. Had to
shoot him,” the Ranger answered.

“Okay, then. Well, I think I know what happened. You can go.”

The Ranger turned on his heal and left, going wherever it was Rangers
go during their time off duty.

Martina was sure he knew what had happened. The dog probably tore
his gums when he bit the guy, causing his mouth to bleed. So when the
dog bit the convict their DNA was mixed. When they sprayed the guy,
the cross of the aluthium and the dog’s DNA caused him to start
mutating.

Now there was only one question. How long did the blood of another
creature stay in a human’s system? Because if it were long enough,
there could be any number of unauthorized mutants running around,
or changing still.

~~~

There was no doubt now. It was taking over. It had been taking over
from the start.

Carolyn looked in the tiny mirror and watched her eyes flicker from
their normal silver to solid black, then back again. It was inside of her,
becoming her. And she didn’t know how to stop it.

***

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