Project Cyrano: A Genetic Engineering Technothriller (Genetic Engineering, TechnoThriller) Read Online Free Page B

footsteps barely made a sound.
     
    She stopped before she rounded the corner. “Has it moved?”
     
    “No.”
     
    Sosa crept into the corridor. She halted. There sat a man with his back to her, a regular looking man, with a bald head. He sat with his knees up towards his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. The creature rocked back and forth on his hipbones. His head snapped around to her direction. She froze in place, like a mouse in a corner, and almost shot him instinctively. Blood pounded in her ears.
     
    “Who are you?” The creature’s voice sounded like bells, clear and bright. It scooted around to face her, still sitting. “You sound new, like that other one sounded new. But he didn’t want to talk to me.”
     
    Sosa bit her lip. “My name is Sosa. What is your name?”
     
    His face brightened like a small child. “Will you talk with me? I love to talk, but the others didn’t want to talk with me. There are so few left now.”
     
    “What is your name?”
     
    “I don’t remember my name. It was so long ago. So long. It has been quiet for so long.” His mouth parted into what he wished was a smile. His teeth were not teeth, but fangs like those of a fox, and brown with rot.
     
    Something prickled the back of her neck. “Can you see me?”
     
    The creature rocked. “Oh no. No, I haven’t been able to do that for a long time. A long long time.” His eyelids were glued shut and the skin grown over.
     
    “How do you get around if you can’t see? I don’t understand.”
     
    It smiled again. “Oh, I can hear. I can hear everything. But it has been so quiet for so long. So quiet for so long. I heard the other new one and wanted to talk, but he didn’t want to talk with me, so I ate him. Then it was quiet again.”
     
    Sosa’s trigger finger itched. “How long have you been here?”
     
    “Such a long time. A long time. There used to be so many, but there’s so few left now. I don’t know where they are anymore. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them.”
     
    “Who is them ?”
     
    “The others. You don’t know the others?” It unfurled like a crab with long, emaciated limbs, and got to its feet. It stayed hunched over like an old man, though he looked young. His arms dangled from jagged shoulders. It wore no clothes. Any probably rotted away centuries ago. Even its man-parts were shriveled and barely discernible. “I’ve known the others for a long time. You must be really new. So new. So fun. Will you talk with me? The others don’t want to talk with me.”
     
    Sosa saw dried blood on its hands and chest. “Did the other new man want to talk with you?”
     
    “No.” It undulated its head from side to side. “No, no, the other new one didn’t want to talk. He was really loud, too loud, not like you. You’re soft. Easy on my ears.”
     
    “Do you remember who the first men were? From long ago?”
     
    “The first men?”
     
    “Yes. The ones in the white coats.”
     
    The creature stiffened. “White coats?
     
    “Many others wore the white coats. Did you wear a white coat?”
     
    “No, no.” It grabbed its head with its hands. “I didn’t wear a white coat.” Its head jerked up. “Do you wear a white coat?”
     
    Sosa wanted to run, to move, but knew the creature would hear it. “No, I don’t.”
     
    “What do you wear?”
     
    “I wear a blue suit.”
     
    The creature trembled. Its smiling face turned into a beastly snarl. Then Sosa remembered that the guards in the video wore blue suits. 
     
    “I’m not like those first ones. It’s not the same.” She lifted her beam rifle a little higher.
     
    One moment it was fifty yards away, the next flying through the air with a hawk-like screech, claws reaching for her throat. She dodged back, unable to get off a single shot, and felt her helmet ripping. The night vision crackled on and off. It landed behind her. Her rifle flew out of her hands, and she reached down for her knife as she