Chapter 7 as the smoke clears

"We are getting reports from every group that the entrances were filled with gas and sealed tight. There were no signs that anything had even made it close to getting out." The major reported.

"Are the scans complete?" the general asked.

The major took a step forward and said, "Yes Sir."

"How Long till we open it back up and go and find it?" The major asked nervously.

The general studied him closely and said, "What is the problem here?"

The major hesitated because he didn't want to say the wrong thing. Especially with all the things that had happened and all the others that were still going on.

The general saw that there was something eating at him. So, he said, "Go ahead and speak freely."

The major looked up nervously. He had never been one to question any order. In fact, he usually preferred to follow them on blind faith. Knowing that the ones that were making the decisions were more informed. But he had gotten bad feelings deep inside when he was on the wrong track or something bad was going to happen. This time it was like a warning that something very bad was going to happen, and this time it was far worse than it ever had been before. So now he was torn all he wanted to do was simply do his job just like always, but his gut was telling him to run, run fast, and far as he can get.

Now all he had to do was convince the general it was a good idea and make it seem that it was his. He thought to himself he was going to make it happen. "Well, Sir. You know I would never question your orders. and I am not doing that now, but I am hoping that you might rethink them, sir."

At hearing this the general's face changed into a stern look and he thought for a moment about just how to handle it. His face lightened up just a little. He said, "I realize that you have never questioned any of my orders in the past. You must realize what an emergency situation this is, and we must do everything to destroy it at all costs including the destruction of the town. In fact, everything on the base and every man is expendable to ensure the death of that thing. It must not be allowed to escape. I won't see things come to that. All because those morons can't contain things properly. This whole system will be reevaluated once this is all done."

The major stopped and opened his mouth to say more then stopped short knowing that the general's mind had already been set. There would be no changing his direction now, all he could do is follow along and watch what happens and hope it doesn't get too bad.

The general's face went cold, and he said, "You have your orders. Now go and see that everything is dealt with."

The major quickly replied, "Yes Sir." Then left in a hurry to attend to everything.

This did make the general doublethink himself even if he could not show it ever it still brought the thoughts to his mind, but they were fleeting after all just what other option did, they have?

There was nothing to do but wait since all the gas was pumped and everything had been sealed. There were teams of men going around looking for any kind of leak. Even though every available man was being used they needed to search every building and every place along the way. They eventually found a few spots where the gas was leaking out, but it was easy to find them everything surrounding the leak was killed and turned black. Since the gas was so heavy once out it stayed near the ground and flowed to the lowest spots. They made sure to seal the hole and marked it for testing and collection. There was only one close call when the soldier tripped and fell and cracked the visor on his suit. He was quickly removed and thoroughly checked over.

Time slowly passed while they were waiting for the poison gas to settle. After an hour the command went out to open the first cover that was big enough to insert a robot that had a scanner mounted into it. As they looked in through the camera on the robot the thick haze seemed to be everywhere and to be covering everything. The lights on the robot worked even though they were not able to penetrate the dense haze that lingered. The tracking system could track it to the inch the first scan went out from it and quickly gathered the details of the surroundings in a 365-degree array for 1000 foot circle. It was sent to a computer and the scan was turned into a 3d map with the robot in the center, and since the scanner was left on the area filled in as it moved. It was quickly positioned at the entrance of the storm drain where the last scan had picked up the lifeform. Once the scanner was engaged to pick it up everywhere that the roach had touched had a bright glow and with a little tuning, it presented the path and image of the roach.

The general watched carefully as they worked to get the best image that they could get. Once it cleared the general said, "That is good enough. Record everything. Now get it moving."

Liam said, "Yes sir" and moved the joystick forward following the image as it seemed to scurry out in front of the robot. As the robot moved the image moved and adjusted so it was like watching the insect move live.

The general has to admit he was impressed with the technology and the skills that they had. But it did not take too long for that to all change as he watched this normal-looking cockroach change shape into a spiked and armored insect not to mention the size that it was becoming. He watched in horror as it mutated then as it chased off the spider or what had appeared to be a spider based on the web. He knew that it was hostile or at least could be. He noticed something else, that was every time that it gained size the speed at which it moved increased as well. He reminded himself that the only real benefit was that it at least could be killed. The general did what he did best and that was to study his opponent and he carefully watched its every movement not letting anything go.

He had to admit that once it started fighting the rat, he was glad for two reasons first he knew that anything that would slow it down would be in his favor because that would give the gas time to reach it. The second was even better, he didn't think that there was any way that a roach could defeat the rat.

As he watched the interactions between them, he was pleased that when it tried to fly off it was stopped. He was even more pleased when the rat ate it. At least at first and as he watched to his horror the rat started changing. It took on characteristics of not only the cockroach but the other organism. The rat stretched and lengthened and grew the spike blades and quickly doubled in size. Now it seemed that the robot was not able to keep up with the movement. So, the rat seemed to hang in mid-air as the robot kept moving. There was a definite trail at this point like all rats it had been peeing and leaving a scent trail behind it. This made tracking it very easy, at least the general thought.

As the scanners displayed the images it amazed the general just how agile it seemed to be as it moved and jumped over everything in its path. It was a good thing that there were arms and a small cutting laser equipped on the robot so that it could cut its way through.

The general found it curious that it made a more or less straight line away from the base he was sure that the natural pattern was that mice and rats stayed close to walls and followed them. If this was true it was showing higher intelligence and higher awareness. Both of those traits are things he did not want this thing to have.

The robot got stuck twice but they were finally able to get it moving again then they reached the place where Scurvy dove into the water at first, they thought they had lost it there were no images. At first, the general started to panic and started yelling and shouting orders. Everyone was relieved when Liam finally got some kind of image and with a little more tuning was able to force it into something they could still track.

This took the pressure off but still left them with a problem they could not submerge the robot. The solution, for now, was to keep it on the water's edge. It could go into the water just not too deep. So, it took a little extra manipulating to get it where they wanted it to go. Since the scanner range was big enough, they were able to keep it going it was at least a benefit that the water was not moving at all so the residue stayed on the surface of the water. As they scanned it was dead silent. They were mostly holding their breaths each one was scared to be the one making noise and drawing the general's attention and the anger that would follow.

They started the robot moving along the edge of the water carefully making sure to move on solid ground. The scanners were working perfectly, and every object showed on the screen which was a good thing since the optic sensor was very cloudy the lights just reflected in the haze. Looking through the camera they could only see 2 inches in front of the camera. They kept the robot moving forward and the general was glad the rat had left a trail for them to follow. There were a lot of twists and turns that it made. He realized that if they didn't have the trail this would have taken days for them to find it.

Before long they came across the body of Scurvy, at least that was how it started in life but now looking at it there was not much that looked like a rat. It was still glowing, but the glow was dull and lifeless. It was just floating in the murky water of the sewer. No matter what they tried the rat was out of reach of the robot. This pissed the general off and he started making demands that another robot be refitted with the things that it would need to be able to retrieve the rat.

The command went out and the crew quickly refitted the next robot with a retractable extension arm that was watertight in case it got wet. There was no need for all the sensors that the other had so it was assembled quickly and sent in. Since they knew where it was and had a complete layout of everything from the scans that the other robot had made it was simple to pick an entrance that was close and put it in that one.

As they opened the other entrance the poison gas bellowed out at first and crept along the ground. the grass and vegetation instantly blackened. Even though the men were in protective suits they still backed away as the gas got close to them. It was unnerving to see the vapors killing everything as they reached them. As soon as the gas thinned out the robot was placed at the entrance and was quickly piloted in. It took another 5 minutes for the robot to get into place. Once in place the net and scooper that had been added made quick and easy work of collecting the rat. Once it was collected it was put in a sealed container.

The robots were quickly removed, and they started opening all the sealed entrances putting everything back in place. A neutralizer was sprayed everywhere that the gas touched they wanted everything safe for the civilians to return to. The general didn't want the truth to come out.

All in all, the general had to admit that everyone performed well. It only took 4 hours for them to clean up and get ready for the townspeople to return. Everything was tested and all the tests came back clear and by midnight the people were cleared and allowed to return to their homes.

This was a big relief to everyone, it left most of them asking questions and the general had to hold a few press conferences. He was able to sidestep the issue and only allow a few of the true details to be given. There was no mention of the lifeform or the poison gas that was used. That was all completely buried never to be heard of.

By the third day of questions, the general found that things were getting back to normal. At least as far as the base and the running of it had gotten. All the reporters and their crews came up empty as to why and what truly happened, and it was all explained as a natural gas leak that was supported by top experts in their field.

After a press conference, the general was called to a meeting room to come and check out a monitor that was set up with a private link. The camera was of the lab and on the lab table was a sealed glass cage. When he looked into the cage, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was Scurvy but it was not looking as dead as they had told him it was supposed to be. The general started to ask when he was cut off and was told it was indeed dead even though it was still moving. They informed him that it was still for 2 days before it showed any signs of life. It was clear that it was not alive it was in a sealed container that was filled with fluid it was not swimming or trying to get to the surface to get air. They had prepared it for an autopsy, they wanted to see just how it had changed when it started moving.