Kingdom of Monsters by John Schneider (microsoft ebook reader .TXT) 📗

it just so happens a pack of flying monsters took out our transport chopper.  Right now, we're hoping someone's alive to be rescued.  And we aren't even sure where they are yet.”

He returned Shriver's meaningful eye.

“You may have to go forward on your own.  Like it or not.”

“Unfortunately,” Shriver replied, “the blooms themselves are only the symptom, not the problem.”

“A weapon,” he said, “be it chemical or explosive, is just the tool, not the enemy.”

Now he turned to the small cage sitting on his desk.

“Which brings us to this,” he said.

The little lizard inside perked at the sudden attention.

“This is our problem,” Shriver said.  “Meet Otto.”

Sally eyed the little creature uncomfortably.  Besides their ghoulish taste for human carrion, they were known for their myna-birdlike imitations – often human voices, sometimes even screams.

“Why do you call it Otto?” Sally asked.

“It's what he calls himself.”  Shriver tapped on the cage.  Inside, the little lizard perked to attention.

Then in a clear, human voice said, “My name is Otto.”

“Whose voice is that?” Rhodes asked.

“I believe,” Shriver said, “that is the voice of Professor Nolan Hinkle.”

“And they all do this?  In the same voice?”

Shriver nodded.

“This creature is not like the other beasts out there,” he said.  “In more ways than are readily apparent.  First and foremost, they are non-viable.  This animal here is a clone.  Created right here in this lab.  And they're all clones.  Duplicates of the same parent.

“More significantly,” Shriver added, “they are not an extinct species.  They were genetically designed.”

“For what?” Rhodes asked.

“For intelligence.  Modifications have been made, expanding areas of the brain nature had not yet evolved.  The experiment was actually deemed more or less a failure.  One problem was how neighboring areas of the brain responded to modification.  Who knew what perceptions might be expanded, absent a mammalian-style cerebellum?  All translated through the simple alligator instinct of the medulla oblongata?  It was rather like trying to program modern coding into an eighties-era program.  The basic unit was simply not equipped to process the data.”

Rhodes leaned in, studying the little creature, which blinked back, absorbing what it saw, without apparent inflection.

“So how smart are they?” Rhodes asked.  “It just sits there, like a lizard or a bird.”

“Individually,” Shriver said, “I don't think they're much more than that.”

Now Shriver frowned, uncomfortable speaking outside the area of numbers into realm of speculation.

“You see, I don't believe they're actually smart.  They're more like a blank memory chip.  And the more of them there are, the larger the memory bank.  And when a lot of them get together...”  Shriver shrugged.  “Who knows?

“One thing we do know,” he said, “what one imitates, they all do.”

Rhodes frowned.  The implications were not encouraging.

“Think about it for a moment,” Shriver said.  “What if you could infiltrate your enemy like a rat in the walls? How many mice are in this compound right now?  What if every one of them was a bug, recording voices, phrases, codes?  What could you even do about it?”

“I've been receiving direct briefings from Area 51 for years,” Rhodes said.  “Why was this Otto never mentioned?”

“For the same reason we never consulted you about changing a beaker.  They were an early experiment.  In the Monster Island project, these were like hamsters – even kept as mascots.  And once KT-day hit, there was no reason to focus on this one little lizard when two-thousand-foot sauropods were tearing down skyscrapers.

“That is,” he said, “until you looked at the flocks of them riding the giants' backs.  Just like birds on the backs of elephants on the Savannah.”

The little lizard cocked its head, blinking back at them over the seemingly empty mirrors of its eyes.

Sally was beginning to get the creeps.

She jumped as a loud beep sounded – more droid-language from the security-box, and then there was a voice over the speakers, young and female.

“Doctor?  I have your lunch.”

Shriver tapped the intercom.  “Thank you, Lily.”

The security door slid open.  Lily stood there with her food-cart and attached janitorial supplies.  At her shoulder was an armed escort, a young soldier, whose badge identified as Corporal Stevens.

Lily's eyes widened as she saw Sally and the General in the lab.

“I'm sorry,” she said doubtfully. “Should I come back?”

“It's fine,” Shriver said.  “Just leave the trays.  No clean-up today.”

In the cage, Otto perked up at Lily's presence.  Its mouth opened, speaking in a clear imitation of Lily's voice.

“Aren't you a cutie?”

And then a moment later.

“Polly want a cracker?”

Setting out her trays, Lily blushed furiously.

The girl seemed nervous.  Her eyes were oddly shy as they flitted sideways in Sally's direction – even as they batted, just perfectly over her shoulder at Corporal Stevens, who was obviously smitten.

“I'm sorry, Doctor,” Lily said.  “It was just a couple of soda crackers.”

“It's alright, Lily,” Shriver said, nodding to Rhodes.  “But I think that illustrates my point.”

Dishes rattled as Lily pushed her cart to the door and Shriver buzzed her out.

Otto, denied his cracker, hissed in his cage, watching her go.

Chapter 10

As the elevator shut behind them, locking them in the compressed space together, Lily glanced over her shoulder, with just the right touch of shyness, at young Corporal Stevens.  As a girl who had been going on forty since she was fourteen, she knew how to smile at men.  Stevens smiled right back.

In a way, it was too easy – the Coven wielded many forms of witchery.

The last group of menfolk they'd run with had learned that hard lesson.  This one would too.

Still, Lily was nervous.  She had not expected to see Rhodes in Shrinker's lab – or Sally.  Lily wondered if she should tell Ginger.

She was reluctant.  She desperately did not want there to be any problems.  Her big sister/mother-figures would frown darkly upon her if anything should go wrong this time.

As much as anything, she coveted their approval – belief in their teachings was almost presumption.

Lily sometimes didn't quite remember who she had been before the world ended.

She had been seventeen on KT-day – already rebellious enough to have been kicked out of