Eve of Destruction ©
Chapter One
By Fiction Writer #13
Edited by Tajod
(nosex, sci-fi, paranormal)

"Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say
And can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save
With the whole world in a grave.
Take a look around you boy,
It's bound to scare you boy
And you tell me over, and over, and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction."
- Lyrics by P.F. Stone

Dr. Allen Reed moved swiftly down the well lit corridor fighting the urge to run.  He was late for a briefing, again.  All around him other scientists busied themselves with the duties of setting up the new lab.  Boxes of equipment still lay unopened and lined the hallways.

'Jesus... ', he thought to himself while dodging a forklift moving in the opposite direction, 'almost a year gone and we're still setting up.'

The new facility was huge; nearly ten times the size of the old labs.  Reed was still getting used to the grand scale of things here.  Everything was bigger, better, more state of the art.  As a newly promoted department head, the task of setting up the Neurological Project had fallen to him, and he was a bit overwhelmed.

This morning he was broad-sided by a shipment of lab animals that had arrived two weeks ahead of schedule.  It was all hands on deck for nearly four hours, trying to get all of the cages built to house them.  Though he enjoyed his new job as task master, he wished he could actually get back to the science.

The layout of the new facility was shaped like a Trivial Pursuit pie piece, each slice a different area of scientific research.  The center of the pie was known simply as the 'hub'.  The hub was where all of the project heads could meet and exchange ideas, and that was where Reed was rushing to now, if he could only find his way there.

"Excuse me?" Reed stopped at a busy intersection and addressed one of the many security personnel, all of them armed with the newest weapons and armor. "Can you tell me how to get to conference room 26C?"

The guard stopped writing on his clip board and turned to face Reed. "That area is restricted, do you have clearance?"

Reed held up the badge attached to his white lab coat so the guard could read that, yes, he indeed did have the proper clearance.

"Down the hall, elevator five, floor two, make a left, the room is marked 26C." The man rattled off the directions as he got back to writing.

Reed was off again as soon as he was put on the right path.  The elevator required a palm print ID, and as he waited for the doors to open he stole a glance at his watch.

"Damn it!" He hoped they hadn't started without him.  Jonathan Reynolds was going to be there for sure, and he'd been giving Reed shit ever since that fucker Chase was discovered as the security leak.

Dr. David Chase had been a member of Reed's team.  He should have known that Chase was smuggling top secret documents out.  Because of him, Reynolds had been keeping a close eye on everything Reed did, and made sure that he knew that he was being watched.  If it hadn't been for Mal, Reed most likely would have been left behind to close down the old facility, and then killed.  Instead of that fate, Dr. Malcolm Whelan had promoted him to department head, a move that raised more than one eyebrow around the labs.

Malcolm and Reed had been friends for close to three decades.  Mal had been his recruiter into this strange and fantastic world of science, something that Reed would be forever indebted to the man, but their relationship went deeper than that.  They were both men with a common goal, the advancement of science, all science, for the defense of the American way of life.  It was a job they both took very seriously, sacrificing everything in order to succeed.

Once inside the circular lift he spoke his destination, "Level two," and he began moving upwards at incredible speed.  The elevators worked by voice recognition, another security measure that had slowed things down to a crawl when they first came to this place.

The elevator stopped with a hiss and the twin doors slid silently open revealing level two.  Reed exited and turned left, moving quickly down the hall.  To his left and right several doors opened into different sections of the immense structure.  The walls were painted white and everything was well lit, unlike the older labs they had left behind.

A number of technological developments had been incorporated into the new design, the most significant being a substance they called Clear Steel.  This new substance had the strength and resilience of normal steel, but its molecular composition was altered to make it transparent.  Originally it was developed for use in combat vehicles, allowing soldiers to have an unimpeded view of their surroundings, but the protection of full armor.  The expense of creating Clear Steel had made wide use of it impossible.  Now the only place it was in use was within this underground building.

Even the lighting was a new development.  After years of studying bioluminescence in animals and plants, scientist had created a substance called Bio-Lumin.  Bio-Lumin is a clear jelly that emits light when agitated.  Depending on the wavelength of the vibration a full spectrum of visible light could be attained.  Rapid variations in the vibration produced white light similar to that of natural sunlight.  The whole process required a fraction of the energy of standard lighting.  The energy expended in powering a single sixty watt light bulb for one month could illuminate the entire building for a year, thanks to Bio-Lumin.

Finding the door marked 26C Dr. Allen Reed pressed his palm against the grey security pad.  The surface of the pad flashed red twice before finally changing to green, and the door slid upwards into the ceiling.

The room was set up like a small lecture hall, and nearly every seat was currently occupied.  Ten rows of black leather seats, ten seats per row, descended down at a steep angle to a grey podium below.  The wall behind the podium held a large plasma screen displaying a logo familiar to Reed.  It was a plain graphical representation of a long-feathered bird rising out of a fire with its upswept wings wrapping around the world.  The seldom seen symbol of Project Phoenix.

Reed entered the room apprehensively as conversations stopped and all eyes turned on him.  Down below, standing by the front row of seating, Dr. Malcolm Whelan waved to him in an invitation to join him.  The audience, realizing that Reed wasn't leading today's meeting, went back to chattering amongst themselves.  Reed made his way down the steep aisle stairs to join his friend.

"Glad you could join us, Allen." Mal reached out to shake Reed's hand.

"Damn animals kept me busy all morning.  Did I miss anything?" Allen looked around the room at all of the seated scientists.

"No, Reynolds isn't here yet.  This is his show." Mal motioned to two empty seats in the first row. "Saved you a seat, figured you could use one."

"Thanks Mal." Allen sat down with a sigh.  He hadn't been off his feet since he first woke up to his assistant complaining about the early delivery. "It's not like Reynolds to be late."

"No... It's not." Mal took his seat beside his friend. "Something must have come up, something big for him to call this meeting on such short notice.  Reynolds called me this morning and told me to get this thing together for him, but he wouldn't say exactly why."

"You're on the Council, Mal." Allen knew that Malcolm had been a member of the Council for about two years. "Have you heard anything?"

The Council controlled everything that the scientist worked on.  If they decided to end your line of study, it was over, no questions asked.  They were the ones who pulled the strings and made things happen.  At one time they worked with the government, but long since had become an autonomous entity.  They still worked toward the betterment of the United States, but were no longer held up by political or moral red tape.  No one outside of the various projects knew that they existed, even fewer knew who all the members of the Council were.

"If something's up, they've been keeping me in the dark," Mal said flatly.  It was no secret that some members of the Council still didn't trust Mal.  No one had made more sacrifices for the Project than Malcolm and his family, and for that reason alone he had been asked to join the Council.  He had been part of Project Phoenix for nearly half a century, his father had been one of its founding members, but even so, Mal's personal beliefs had made him somewhat of an outcast.

The sound of the security door opening drew everyone's attention to the rear of the room. "Ah, here he is." Mal grinned up at the man now coming down the stairs. "Now we'll get some answers."

Jonathan Reynolds moved quickly down the steps to the podium below.  He neither looked right nor left as he made his way down.  Mal looked into the face of the man he considered to be one of his most trusted friends.  As far as anyone else knew, they just worked together, and that was that.  The truth of their friendship remained a secret for nearly eighteen years now.  Jon looked ashen, tired, and many years older than his natural twenty-eight.  Something was wrong.  Something was terribly wrong.

Reynolds moved behind the podium and finally looked into the sea of faces focused in his direction.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologize for the delay.  I know you are all very busy and I promise this will be as brief as possible.

"First, as you all must know by now, Project Phoenix has entered its second phase.  This new facility was designed and built specifically for this purpose.  Once the mandate known as Order 66 was issued..." Reynolds paused for half a beat as his eyes met with Mal's.  Malcolm had been the one to call for Order 66, much to the dismay of the other Council members, but once it had begun it could not be aborted. "... a call went out to every project leader.  All of the old labs are now closed, empty, and abandoned.  We are now all operating under one roof.

"I bring this up now because this is the first time I've had all of the project leaders in one room at the same time.  Up until now you've all been working independently of one another... that ends today."

A loud grumbling issued from the assembled men and women.  Reynolds let it continue until it died down to a hushed whisper.

"I know that you are not used to working alongside your peers, but to put it plainly, get over yourselves.  This Project is bigger than any of you could possibly imagine, and it will require all of you to think and work in ways that you have never even dreamed about.  As of..." he looked at his silver wrist watch, "... right now, all of your research has just been made available to everyone else in this room."

Once again angry grumbling filled the auditorium, some even yelling at Reynolds.

"QUIET!" The room silenced. "Listen up, this came directly from the Council, you will begin working together or you will not work at all.  This is not a joke.  This is not a request.  This is not something that you can ignore.  Do I make myself clear?" The room remained silent.

"Good.  Now we can move on to our next piece of business.  If you would please take out your data pads." Reynolds waited as everyone pulled out their PDA's. "I've sent a list of all the special projects under the umbrella of Project Phoenix to you.  Most of them will come as no surprise, but others may shock or even confuse you."

Reed stared wide eyed at the list displayed on his tiny computer screen.  As Reynolds had said, most of the fields of study came as no surprise to him; Physics, Biology, Genetics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Neurology, Psychology.  All of the major fields and their branches were on the list.  It was the other areas that had him frowning; Parapsychology, Astrology, Psionics, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Ancient Rites, Cult Behavior and Practices, Transcendentalism, Aura Reading.

Reed actually began to laugh as he read through them, and he wasn't alone.  Half the auditorium joined him in chuckling.  He turned to see what Malcolm's reaction to this joke had been and was surprised to see him sitting calmly with his eyes locked on Reynolds, waiting for him to continue.

"Is everyone finished acting like a bunch of kids during a sex ed class?" Reynolds addressed the heckling crowd.

"What is this, some kind of an April Fool's joke?" called someone from the back of the room.

"I assure you... it's not."

"Come on, you can't be serious," the same disembodied voice called down.

Reynolds slammed his fist down hard on the podium. "I have never been more serious in my entire life than I am at this very moment.  Every area of study that you have listed before you is legitimate.  Just because some of you lack the ability to keep an open mind to such things doesn't make them any less real.

"Now, listen up, kids!  This is not a joke, this is not a game, no one is pulling your leg here.  So shut up and let me continue." The room fell silent as the normally cool Reynolds exploded into the microphone, "Thank you!

"All of you, each and everyone one of you..." he pointed into the audience, "... have been selected for Project Phoenix because you are supposed to be the best and the brightest minds in the country.  All of you have worked diligently within your particular areas of expertise, and because of your hard work we have made discoveries that would boggle the minds of the rest of the world.  I know it has been hard, I know it has been difficult for you to leave the normal world behind in order to pursue your life's work, but now is not the time to scoff at the things you do not know or understand.

"Since the beginning of Phoenix the areas of study you see before you have been explored.  You have been kept in the dark about each other in order to preserve absolute secrecy.  The less you knew, the better off you all were.  Even with this level of security, we have had some leaks to the general public."

Dr. Reed cringed as Reynolds eyes fell on him.

"I am here to inform all of you... that Phase Two has officially begun, and with it comes some new security protocols.  From now on, no one is allowed to leave this structure for any reason unless they get approval from a project leader, that means you, and you must get approval from me.  We are on complete lock-down, people.  Any violation of the aforementioned protocol will be dealt with extreme measures." Reynolds waited for his words to sink in before asking, "Does everyone understand?"

The room full of stunned men and women nodded.

"Good.  Other protocols have already been sent to your data pads and you will need to explain them to your teams.  Make no mistake, the Council is dead serious.  If it comes down to it, your lives are less important than keeping all of this from going public.  I'm sorry for being so blunt, but you should know the truth of your situation."

Reynolds smiled. "Is everyone scared shitless yet?" A nervous chuckle followed.

"Okay, now that the preliminaries are out of the way, it's time for me to discuss the real reason that I've called you all here today.  After much lobbying by Dr. Malcolm Whelan, the Council has decided to let me explain what the true goal of Project Phoenix is all about.

"Over the years you have been told that the goal of Phoenix was to protect the American way of life from those who would see it destroyed.  This was not a lie.  Your work is going to save our country from our enemies, just not the ones you think we are fighting.

"In the beginning you were told it was the Nazis, then the Russians, then Communism, then drugs, and now its terrorism.  It's true that all of these things either were or are detrimental to the United States, but as far as Project Phoenix is concerned, they have been nothing but a smoke screen for our true enemy."

Reynolds dimmed the lights in the hall using the controls on the podium.  The plasma display behind him went dark before a grainy black and white film began running on its screen.  There was no audio to be heard.

"What you see behind me is what started this whole thing.  It was shot in 1937 by Nazi scientists deep in a mine that they converted into a science lab."

The film showed a group of men dressed in white lab coats as they busied themselves checking a series of wires and cables attached to a large domed device.  In the center of the contraption was circular portal, large bolts surrounded the thick glass window.

"The machine that they are adjusting was called 'The Bell'.  'The Bell' was designed to contain another experiment.  They were attempting to develop anti-gravity technologies to be used with their aircraft.  This particular experiment required the use of a powerful electromagnetic field and microwaves.

"We have no idea what they hoped to accomplish during this test, but you should all know, the U.S. tried something like this as well, only we were trying to cloak a battleship.  The results of our test killed a number of good men.  Their test did something far worse."

The men on the screen moved away to allow the camera to peer inside of the chamber, revealing a lab monkey strapped into a seat.  The poor animal looked scared out of its mind as it struggled against its bindings.

The image blinked white and displayed a wide shot of the entire device.  Lights began to flicker on and off on one of the many display panels, a count down clock ticked away the final seconds in German:

Vier , Drei, Zwei, Eins, Null.

The window into the chamber began to emit flashes of light in rapid succession.  The camera started shaking, the image on screen becoming difficult to see clearly.  Suddenly the image went dark.  A few moments later it came back into focus revealing 'The Bell' once again.  Steam or smoke poured out of several large cracks on its steel surface.

The camera man moved closer to peer into the chamber once more.  The interior was now dark, too dark to see inside.  The camera panned around to show the scientists shaking their heads in disappointment before returning to the broken chamber.

Suddenly the thick glass window exploded outward, the darkness contained within coming with it.  A black tentacle reached out, searching for a victim.  It finds one of the scientists and plunges into his chest.  His mouth moves in a silent scream as his life is stolen away.

More tentacles slither from the shattered chamber.  They move so fast that the Germans have no time to react.  The camera spins wildly.  Images of death and panic fill the screen.  Silent screams, torn flesh, and then finally... complete darkness.

"What you have just seen is the first filmed encounter with our true enemies.  This is just one of the many forms that they can take.  This particular being was pulled into our world through a rift created by the German's experiment.  None of them survived, except for the operator of the camera.  He was smart... he ran while the others stopped to fight.

"Knowing that the film he had shot contained the most significant scientific discovery in history, he made a copy before handing the original over to his superiors.  He snuck the second film into France where it was given to one of our operatives.  We have no record of what happened to him afterwards." The lights in the auditorium came back up to full luminance and the Phoenix logo reappeared on the screen.

"You can't expect us to believe that crap, Reynolds." A man in the third row stood up as he spoke, Reed didn't recognize him. "That alien autopsy on FOX had better production value.  Come on, what's really going on here?"

Reynolds smiled at the man, "You're too quick for me, Dr. Cox.  You got me!  I confess!  I came all the way down here just to play some childish prank on all of you!  You know, every minute that you are away from your experiments, millions of dollars are lost, but so what... this is some funny shit.  Isn't it?" Jonathan Reynolds flipped a switch on the podium and turned his back on everyone gathered.

The plasma screen went black as the entire rear wall began to slide open in two directions, one half moving up, the other half moving down.  Behind the wall a barrier made of twelve inch thick Clear Steel separated the scientist in the auditorium from an empty room on the other side.

"I have worked with all of you long enough to understand how your minds work," Reynolds continued. "You work with facts.  You seek truths.  You need proof, evidence.  You need to see it with your own eyes..." He flipped another switch and a low humming noise filled the room.

On the other side of the barrier the lights changed color slightly as the room began to fill with electromagnetically charged particles.  Someone in the front row cried out, "Holy shit!" as the once empty room before them suddenly began to fill with shapes and forms that had not been there before.

They looked insect-like, but were the size of a large dog.  Jet black chitinous shells, glowing red eyes, and more legs than any natural creature should have.  Hundreds of them scrabbled around, clawing at each other, growling and hissing.  Some of them clung to the barrier, their throbbing bellies exposed to the unblinking eyes of the scientists on the other side.

"We call these little buggers Hespers," spoke Reynolds. "As far as we can tell they are the lowest of the low, but they can still rip you apart in the blink of an eye."

"These are but one of the many species we have collected since the project began.  We found these living in the basement of an apartment building in Seattle, and they were not easily taken.  They are immune to radiation, chemical agents, biological and viral weapons.  Bullets have no effect, they seem to enjoy fire, and as you have seen with your own eyes, they are invisible to the naked eye unless bombarded by highly charged particles.  The good news is that, at the moment they pose little threat to anyone as long as they are left alone, but one day that will change, and that day is drawing closer and closer.

"There are groups out there, hiding and plotting.  They hope to bring about the end of humanity, and give rise to Hell on Earth.  As they grow in strength and numbers, so do creatures such as those now before you.

"Believe me when I tell you, many of the things that you know as fiction, are in fact real.  There are horrors in our world that you can't even begin to understand, and wonders that rival the greatest of imaginations.  Make no mistake, they are out there, they are organized, and they are waiting for the right moment to strike.

"We will not give them that chance.  Everything you have been working on has been for this reason.  We must be victorious over this evil, or all will be lost.  When you go back to your labs, study this new information, discover knew ways to defend against them, to find them, to hunt them, and to destroy them.

"But before you head off to save the world, I'd like to share with all of you one last thing.  Dr. Whelan, if you would, please."

Mal stood up and moved to the podium, leaving the dumbfounded Reed behind.  Mal cleared his throat before taking over the microphone. "Good Morning.  For those of you who do not know me, I am Dr. Malcolm Whelan.  I have been a devoted patriot of the United States of America since the very day I was born.  My father was one of the founding members of Project Phoenix, and it was his dream that one day we would triumph over this growing evil.

"Thanks to his hard work, and mine... and my fantastic team's diligence, we have moved one step closer to achieving my father's dream.  Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you... Eve." Malcolm pointed into the center of the writhing mass of monsters. "It's okay Eve, you can come out now."

The mass of black legs and red eyes began to slowly spread out to both side of the far room.  The effect reminded Reed of the film staring Charlton Heston as he played Moses parting the Red Sea.  There, sitting on the floor with vicious horrors all around, sat a nude little girl, no more than ten or eleven years of age.

Her long blonde hair and white skin made her stand out like a sore thumb amongst the chittering monsters, and yet, they seemed not to notice or care that she was there.  She stood up and walked calmly towards the human crowd on the other side of the barrier.  Her expression was blank as she stared out at them with her blue eyes.

Malcolm smiled warmly at her through the dividing wall. "Say hello to everyone, Eve."

At first the girl didn't respond, her eyes searching the sea of strangers as they gaped at her.  When she finally did speak her face lit up with a huge smile.

"Hi Mr. Reynolds!  Did you bring me a new teddy bear?"