Chapter 152: Smell?
Chapter 152: Smell?
He had known, truly, he had been warned.
Freddie had told him enough to prepare him for what AL-TECH truly was.
Blake even partially saw it with his own eyes.
Now, standing before countless glass capsules stretching farther than his eyes could follow, he realized there was no such thing as preparing for something like this.
Hearing about it, and seeing it with his own eyes... they were two completely different things.
Blake’s hand shot over his mouth.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably as he finally forced himself to close his eyes.
His breathing became ragged.
One shaky inhale.
Another.
His chest refused to expand properly.
The images remained burned into the inside of his eyelids.
The floating bodies, the glowing blue liquid, the endless rows of capsules.
He couldn’t escape them.
A dry gag escaped his throat.
His stomach twisted violently.
He bent forward, coughing, one hand pressed against his abdomen as another wave of nausea rolled through him.
He couldn’t think.
He didn’t want to think.
His mind simply refused to process what he had just witnessed.
WEEEOOOO—WEEEOOOO—
A shrill alarm erupted throughout the facility.
The sound bounced endlessly between the towering capsules, making it impossible to tell where it had originated.
Almost immediately, a mechanical voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Warning, unauthorized individual detected. Initiating security protocol."
The announcement repeated itself over and over, each repetition somehow colder than the last.
Blake slowly lifted his head.
"Monsters."
The word escaped in little more than a whisper.
"They’re... monsters..."
Scientists? Researchers?
No, that much he knew already, those words no longer fit.
Whatever these people were... whatever AL-TECH was... it was something Blake couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
Who could possibly look at another human being and decide this was acceptable?
Who could willingly build a place like this?
His fingers curled into fists.
His nails dug painfully into his palms.
"...Fear Is For The Unloved."
The familiar sensation spread through his body almost immediately.
The pounding in his chest softened.
His trembling gradually subsided.
His breathing steadied.
Thought after thought became quieter, buried beneath the comforting numbness his skill always provided.
He still remembered everything.
He still understood everything.
He simply wasn’t overwhelmed by panic anymore.
Fear slowly disappeared.
The anguish didn’t.
Sadness wasn’t fear.
Neither was disgust.
Those emotions remained lodged firmly inside his chest, refusing to leave.
Blake slowly looked up once more.
The capsules remained exactly where they had been.
"Spoon."
His voice sounded distant.
"Take the camera out."
[ Yes, Dear Host. ]
A small digital camera appeared in his hand.
There was no way he would ever risk storing photographs like these on his phone.
Thankfully, while searching through his house after everything that had happened, he had found an old digital camera tucked away in one of the drawers.
At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it.
Now, it was invaluable.
He switched it on and started taking pictures.
He slowly walked between the rows.
Click.
Another.
Each photograph only made the sheer scale of the chamber more horrifying.
’There are undoubtedly thousands of people here.’
Blake lowered the camera.
His gaze settled upon the glowing liquid surrounding every single person.
’That liquid...’
His thoughts immediately returned to the third floor.
The dead alien’s abdomen, the harvesting machine.
The emerald blood endlessly pouring into containers.
’Could it really be the same substance? But if it was, how many aliens would AL-TECH need? Surely one creature can’t possibly produce this much.’
His stomach twisted again.
Then another thought surfaced.
’Why? What purpose does this serve?’
Keeping thousands of humans submerged inside alien blood... for what?
Were they alive?
Comatose?
Were they being preserved?
Changed?
If one of those capsules were opened, would the person simply wake up?
Or would they already be beyond saving?
The questions continued multiplying.
The answers remained nowhere to be found.
Blake continued running.
Left.
Right.
Another row.
Then another.
The chamber seemed almost infinite.
Every direction looked identical.
Eventually, however, his hand brushed against a solid wall.
He followed it with his eyes until they reached the ceiling.
Running along nearly the entire length of the wall was an enormous industrial power distribution unit, its metallic framework supporting dozens upon dozens of thick cables that stretched across the ceiling before descending into the countless capsules.
"..."
Whatever it was, it seemed like it was powering this entire place.
Blake stared for several seconds.
Then quietly shook his head.
Electricity wasn’t his specialty.
Destroying it without understanding what it actually did could just as easily kill every person inside these capsules.
He couldn’t take that chance.
Instead, he continued following the wall.
Minutes passed.
Finally, he found doors.
Several identical doors stood side by side.
Blake cautiously approached the nearest one.
His fingers wrapped around the handle.
He inhaled, then pulled.
The door opened just enough for him to glimpse inside.
His eyes widened, immediately slamming it shut again.
"..."
His heartbeat quickened.
"Activate strength buff. Activate defense buff."
Warmth spread through his limbs, his muscles tightening again.
Only then did he slowly reopen the door.
This time... he stepped inside.
The room couldn’t have been more than three or four meters wide.
Almost everything inside was empty.
One light, one strange chair, and one occupant...
An alien.
It wasn’t restrained.
It simply sat there, perfectly upright upon the oddly designed chair.
The instant Blake entered, its eyes settled directly on his face.
Not behind him, not toward the doorway, but his face.
Blake instinctively looked around.
’No cameras?’
He frowned.
That made absolutely no sense.
If there was one room inside the entire facility that deserved constant surveillance surely it was this one.
Unless... there was no reason to monitor it.
His attention returned to the alien.
"Hello."
Blake cautiously raised one hand before giving a small wave.
But there was nothing, the alien simply continued staring.
The room was so small that only a few careful steps separated them.
As Blake approached, something caught his attention.
Attached to the back of the alien’s head was a metallic device embedded directly into its flesh.
Several thin cables disappeared beneath its skin before extending into the chair itself.
"So that’s it."
That was why.
It wasn’t free at all, the chair wasn’t restraining it, that machine was.
Blake instinctively reached toward it.
His hand stopped halfway.
If he removed it... would it help, or would it kill the alien instantly?
He had absolutely no way of knowing.
Slowly, he lowered his hand.
"I don’t know if you can understand me."
His voice was soft.
"But I’m here to help."
No response.
"I know someone who wants to save every single one of you."
The alien continued staring.
"Maybe you’re not from the same species..."
Blake smiled.
"...But they’re still an extraterrestrial being, in part at least."
Not even a small reaction.
Blake sighed.
"Maybe you really don’t understand me."
Or perhaps that wasn’t it.
He glanced down at himself.
The uniform.
The gloves.
The badge.
The mask.
To the alien, he looked exactly like everyone else who had ever walked into this room.
Another scientist, so basically another captor.
Another person responsible for whatever had happened here.
’Right.’
Blake slowly reached up and removed the Blank Mask, turning back to his original appearance.
"There."
He smiled, admittedly a little awkwardly.
"I’m not one of—"
The alien suddenly stood.
Blake flinched.
The creature unfolded to its full height in one smooth motion, ending up slightly taller than him. Its frame was remarkably slender, its long limbs moving with an almost graceful fluidity despite the apparatus embedded into the back of its head.
Neither of them spoke.
The alien slowly raised one elongated arm.
Its fingers were longer than a human’s, each ending in rounded, pale nails instead of sharp claws.
Blake instinctively wanted to step backward.
Except, there wasn’t any room.
The small chamber trapped both of them within arm’s reach.
Besides, he genuinely wanted to know what the alien intended to do.
The creature’s fingertips finally brushed against his cheek.
The touch was unexpectedly gentle and careful, almost hesitant.
Then, its breathing changed.
A slow inhale.
Another.
Its chest expanded more deeply than before as it leaned closer, the soft sound resembling someone trying to identify a scent.
"...?"
Blake stayed perfectly still.
The alien wasn’t attacking him.
It wasn’t threatening him.
It was... sniffing him?
Its large eyes remained fixed on his face as it continued taking slow, deliberate breaths.
"What are you doing?"
Blake whispered.
The creature showed no sign of stopping.
Its expression didn’t change, yet something about the way it tilted its head made it seem interested, almost ascinated.
Blake frowned.
’Wait, now that I think of it, this afternoon Myles specifically touched this cheek with his tissue.’
Blake hadn’t even thought about it afterward.
He certainly hadn’t washed his face since then.
Could that be why? Was the alien smelling Myles?
The possibility made his heart skip.
Myles was only partially alien.
Could that really leave behind some sort of scent?
Blake himself had never noticed anything unusual.
’As far as I know, Myles smells like nothing in particular. Then again... perhaps humans simply can’t detect it.’
Perhaps another extraterrestrial species could.
Slowly, Blake spoke again.
"Can you understand me?"
The alien looked directly into his eyes.
It remained completely silent.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved.
Then, without warning, the alien lowered its arm.
Turned around.
And quietly sat back down in the chair exactly as it had been before Blake entered, staring ahead once more as though nothing had happened.