The Side Effects of Progress (Part 2)

    Yuri's hand reached for the desk drawer, taking out the Makarov. He released the magazine to make sure it was loaded with the same cheap surplus steel core FMJ that he was familiar with shooting. Nervously, he gets up from his desk and slips the pistol into his secondary holster. He takes out his taser and turns on it's aiming laser. He points the taser straight ahead, and looks around him. Every room connected to his office, except for hallway access was open. He does his best to calm his nerves as he moves to the kitchen door, keeping his head on a swivel. He peeks into the room, gun pointed. The kitchen was clear. Yuri's heart was racing, and his blood pressure was high. His breathing was shallow and quick. He nervously checked the bathroom. Nothing. The medical bay. Nothing. His bedroom. Still, nothing.

 

    Yuri was slightly relieved that there was nothing to kill him now in the connected area, and he was the only one with security clearance to open doors so at least he could move and investigate. He kept his taser ready as he prepared to open the door leading to the rest of the station. The departing words of the CEC cargo dispatch going through his head, “Warning, contents hazardous.” He pressed his hand on the scanner and the door slid open. The hall looked clear. He quickly moved forwards and closed up the door behind him.

 

    A search of the station was in order. On the mid level, there was access to docking bays one, two, and three. On the upper level was all maintenance. On the lower level was access to docking bays four, five, and six. One part of his brain told him to just check the cameras, the other part said that he had to know for sure if there was a threat. Whatever it was, it was able to break out of a shipping container. Yuri walked into the first docking bay. It was empty. The bays were plain, and there wasn't really a good place to hide at all in them, so at least checking would be quick, with the advantage of being able to see what was in the camera's blind spots. After confirming the place was clear, he shut the door and moved on to docking bay two. The only thing there was the cargo container. Yuri steps inside the docking bay and looks around the container. Nothing was inside it, nothing was outside it. Yuri leaves the docking bay and closes the door behind him. Two down, five more areas to go. The process repeated with the third docking bay, nothing in sight.

 

    Yuri was relieved that the current level was empty, but bothered that he had to now check either the upper level or lower level, knowing it, whatever it is, is sure to be in the one of the floors. Yuri heads into the stairwell, closing the door behind him. He quickly makes his way to the lower level and takes a quick peek inside. Nothing. He closes the door immediately, to isolate whatever was inside just in case. Yuri sprints up to the upper level and heads inside, closing the door behind him to keep it from sneaking up on his back. Yuri checked every room that had an open door, closing each one after the search was completed. At the end of the hall, Yuri sat, back against the wall, and waited a couple of minutes. Maybe he missed it, and decided if he waited, it would knock on the door. After no response, he realizes he was getting closer, and that it is most definitely on the lower level. The upper and mid levels were cleared and inaccessible. The lower is what remained.

 

    Yuri stood back up, taser always ready in hand, and went into the stairwell. The further he descended, the more nervous and sweaty he got. To him, it felt like a twisted game of cat and mouse. In where the mouse had to hunt the cat, and the cat was a stealthier than the mouse, waiting to pounce. Yuri didn't like the game, and didn't remember seeing that on his job contract either. He could try asking for a raise, or get drunk more often. Either one was fine with Yuri.

 

    Yuri took a deep breath as he reached the door to the lower level at the bottom of the stairwell. He tried to calm his nerves, pointing his taser as he put his hand up to the hand scanner. The door slides open, revealing nothing. Yuri steps inside and closes the door. Locking him in the level with whatever broke out of the container and himself. Yuri kept his taser as steady as he could. His heart raced as he approached docking bay six's door. He quickly maneuvered inside, closing the door behind him. Yuri cautiously approached his ship to inspect it, seeing if it had been tampered with. Nothing was out of the ordinary, other than the fact that Yuri was not alone and something was lurking in the station. Yuri turned down the throttle to his ship and turned it off. He disconnected the leads between his ship and the station, storing them back in his ship. Yuri replaced the floor plate and headed back to the door. He took a deep breath before opening it back up, trigger finger against the trigger of the taser pistol. The door slid open and Yuri quickly checked both directions of the hallway. Nothing. It was either in docking bay five or four, or he had completely missed it. Yuri walked into docking bay five and inspected the area, closing the door behind him. He inspected every square inch of the bay, just to make sure whatever it was, wasn't in there. After concluding that it wasn't, Yuri decided it was in docking bay four. It had to be.

 

    Yuri devised a plan of action. Rush into docking bay four and resolve the mystery by tasing the first thing he sees and asking questions later. Before Yuri left docking bay five, he set the hand scanner to automatically close behind him after one second. Taking a deep breath, despite the ever increasing nervousness. Whatever it was, was in docking bay four. He had no idea what it was. What to expect. All he knew is that it was hazardous, the CEC dropped it off, and it could fit inside of and break out of a shipping container. And it had stalked him in the cover of the darkness.

 

    Yuri pressed his hand up against the reader. The door opened and Yuri dashed to docking bay four. Only to find that the door had been closed. Something had closed it. And it was in the hallway. Yuri though to himself, “Turn around Krasevec.” Yuri stood still in shock. Arms locked straight, heart about to explode out of his chest, sweat pouring down his forehead, hyperventilating, pupils dilating, the whole nine yards. Yuri turned around, slowly, and saw it.

 

    Something. It stood on two legs. It looked like a cross between a raptor, a wolf, and a shark. It stood a head taller than Yuri. It had white and gray fur. It wore strange armor. It pointed a glaive, or was it a naginata, at Yuri. It stood 25 feet away. What. The. Fuck. Yuri slowly raised his taser pistol, pointing the shaking laser at the center of its mass. Yuri tries the absolute best to calm his nerves so he could talk, “Drop it.”.That was all he could manage to say.

 

    It stood still as well. Maybe it was just as nervous. Maybe it was completely calm. Could it tell Yuri was nervous? It disobeyed. It slowly approached Yuri. By the time it was about 15 feet away, as long as a car, Yuri gave his last warning, “Drop it.” It continued walking. 10 feet. Yuri pulled the trigger of the taser. A pop from the gas cartridges, followed by two electrodes, was emitted from the pistol. The electrodes embedded themselves in the fur, followed up by the all too familiar clicking of the taser pistol. It let out a terrible, high pitched scream as it fell to the ground, stiffer than a log. Yuri let go of the trigger to show mercy. It had no concept. It grabbed its weapon and tried to move. Yuri pressed down on the trigger again. The clicking and the cries returned. Maybe it learned a lesson. Yuri let off the trigger. It didn't. It tried to get up again. Yuri squeezed the trigger again. Followed by more clicking and monstrous screams. Maybe this time? It did learn a lesson. It yanked the electrodes from its body.

 

    Yuri dropped the taser. It stood up. Yuri pulled comrade Makarov from behind him. He pulled the slide back and took aim. It lunged forwards. Yuri did a mag dump into its chest. Eight sequential bangs echoed through the hall, followed by a ringing noise. It tackled Yuri. Yuri opened his eyes as his hearing returned. It was on top of him, bleeding. It was struggling to breathe, making sick coughs and wheezes instead.

 

    Yuri collected his senses and sat still in shock. He dropped his pistol and rolled the body off of him. He saw the edged weapon lay to the side, dropped mid air. Yuri stood up and braced himself against the wall. He pressed his hand against docking bay four's door control panel, causing the door to open up. He picked up the weapon and tossed it inside. He closed the door, locking the edged weapon away. He stumbled around and collected the Makarov and taser, holstering them. He looked at the body laying on the ground, along with the mess. It tried to speak, but ended up coughing up blood. A look of fear frozen in its gray eyes and angular face. It tried to reach its arm out, but couldn't. Yuri grabbed it by the arm and legs, picking it up in a fireman's carry. It didn't seem to struggle anymore. As it coughed and wheezed, Yuri diagnosed it with a collapsed lung, typical from harsh breathing and bullet holes. Looks like the cheap surplus works as advertised.

 

    Yuri made his way to the stairwell, opening it up with his clean palm. The door slid open as he waited. Yuri looked up, tightened his grip, and climbed the stairs. Whatever it was, it was pretty heavy. Yuri was able to make it up though. His heart as slowed down since he was constantly reviewing what had happened. Yuri reached the mid level and opened up the door, wasting no time to get to the med bay. He sort of knew how to treat it. Yuri reached the end of the hall. The bleeding had stopped. The lung must be absorbing blood, meaning that Yuri had to get to work quickly. As soon as the door opened, Yuri headed straight for the medical bay and sat it on the table. Yuri wasn't sure if working on whatever it was would be the same was working on a human, but he had to try. Yuri turned on the lights and said, “Now hold still.”

 

    Yuri looked at the armor, and saw eight dents in the armor, some having copper and lead bullets still stuck to the holes. After removing them, Yuri concluded the steel cores must have penetrated. Yuri turned it over and inspected the back side. Eight smaller holes reveal that the steel cores went through, and were laying somewhere in the hallway. Yuri looks around the chest and back armor, and detaches every fastener and buckle he could find. He set the armor plates to the side. He could see its chest heave, its white fur stained with red blood. Yuri took some alcohol wipes out of a drawer, tearing open the packages and cleaning around the holes. Upon contact, it arched its back and gritted its teeth in pain.

 

    After cleaning each spot, Yuri took a shaving razor and shaved the hair around each hole, leaving only smooth skin behind for the bandages to adhere to. Yuri took more wipes to disinfect the area once more, and followed up with antibiotic ointment. Yuri quickly searched the cabinets for occlusive dressing to make the holes airtight. He found some small sized bandages, and carefully applied them to each spot. Yuri then goes up to it and says, “Hang in there, we're halfway done.” He slowly turns it onto its back so he could work on the chest. A pool of nasty bodily fluids had accumulated on the wax paper of the table. Yuri takes the pillow under the paper and slides it to the mid section, causing the fluids to drain off onto the floor.

 

    Yuri gently sets it down on its back and repeats the process all over again. Cleaning, shaving, cleaning, treating, then applying the bandage. The only hole to not get a bandage was the lowest one. Instead, Yuri got some tubing, a special container, and a vacuum pump. Yuri inserted the tube into the hole, making the open end of it go as low as it could go. Yuri attached the end of the tube to the special collection container, and the container was attached to the vacuum pump. Yuri used some bandages to make an airtight seal between the hose and the chest, and turned on the pump. Yuri puts his ear up to the wounds and listens for air leaks. Finding none, he configures the pump to automatically shut off once the chest cavity pressure has been normalized, and all the fluids like blood has been pumped out.

 

    Yuri takes a rag and dampens it with some water. He takes a small cup and fills it up as well. Yuri sets the cup on the operating table, and reaches into one of the cabinets, grabbing some aspirin to help ease the pain and keep the blood from clotting. He wipes its mouth clean of coughed up blood and gently gets it to open its jaw. He takes a couple of tablets and places them in the cup. He then pours the water and medication down its mouth, and pushes up on its jaw, causing it to close itself back up. Yuri presses a switch on the side of the table, causing it to fold up into more of a chair, forcing it to sit upright. He takes a clean towel and soaks it in some water, wiping the blood from under its back and the floor. He moves the pillow back up to where its head was. Yuri wiped his own brow and let out a deep sigh. The job has been done. Yuri sits down on a stool, closes his eyes, and leans his head back, saying, “Please, try not to move.” He listens silently as he watches it. He could hear its breathing rate return to normal, along with reduced wheezing and stressed breathing, telling Yuri that he had done everything correctly.

 

    Yuri sat and watched it try to adjust comfortably for the next couple of hours. Now and then, their gazes would cross and they'd look into their eyes. Yuri then eventually got up and inspected the pieces of armor. The first thing that caught his attention was the iron plating on the breast plate. It was a crude and weak iron, but the plating was only present on that one piece. It covered a piece of low grade ceramic armor. In fact, the rest of the armor plates were all ceramic. The iron shell managed to stop four bullets, but not their steel cores. The bullets that weren't stopped were split up and broken by the ceramic layer, but were still not able to stop the steel cores. The technology behind the armor was pretty primitive, but the design was rather edgy. Yuri sets the armor back on the counter and comments, “Maybe it's time for you to move on to polyurethane armor.” Yuri sees the fluid coming into the collection container slow down to a slow drip. Yuri leaves the room for a moment to clean himself up.

 

    Yuri was filthy, no doubt about that. His uniform was soaked in blood, he had hairs from the thing all over it, and was in desperate need of a shower from all the sweat. Yuri decided to grab some new clothes, and figured he would make his shower quick. This would also be the first time he closed the bathroom door to take a shower too. Didn't want anyone sneaking up on him while he was nude.

 

    After a very cold and mood depressing shower, Yuri was all clean, and got dressed pretty quickly. He went back in to the operation room to check on whatever it was he shot. It hadn't moved from its position, and looked at Yuri as he entered the room to sit down and watch. Yuri spoke to it, wondering if it could even understand him, “You're going to have to sit like this for today and tomorrow. Otherwise, you'd be drowning in your own blood.” It stares at him before looking at the murky red fluid accumulate in the collection vessel. Not seeming as harmful as before, Yuri got up and walked over to its side to get a closer look at it. Sort of standing behind it, Yuri ran his fingers through its hair, drawing a straight line from the tip of the front all the way to the edge of its ear a couple of times. Yuri makes a comment, “Good thing you broke out of there. They would've kept you in there for another week. I wouldn't of opened it, I'm not allowed to.”

 

    It had turned its head so it could look up at Yuri with its eye. Yuri scratched it on the head a couple of times before dismissing himself from the room. He left the door open as he stepped into his main office, wondering what he should do next. After some thinking, he went into the bathroom and tossed his dirty clothes into the bath tub. He poured a bit of detergent into the tub and stopped the drain. He filled it up just high enough to cover the clothes so they could be washed by the chemical. He left the bathroom and sat at his desk. Yuri took apart his Makarov and decided he should clean it out. Surplus ammo was corrosive most of the time, and could ruin the bore if left dirty. He had all he needed, some strong ammonia cleaner, a brush, and some cotton. When he was done, he cleaned up and put everything back together, doing a quick function test. Setting the pistol aside, he took the taser pistol, and disconnected the spent contacts, wrapping them up and setting them aside.

 

    Yuri took a sigh and got up from his seat again to go check on its health. It looked like it was growing tired, or dying. Yuri took an optical heart rate and blood pressure monitor, and clamped it down on one of its fingers. He hooked up the monitor to a PDA so he could remotely monitor its vitals. Upon taking his first look, everything seemed fine. Heart rate and blood pressure were a little low, which was okay. If the rate was high and the pressure was low, then that would mean it was still losing blood. However, that was not the case, and the collection container was being filled slower and slower. Yuri looked up at its eyes, seeing that they were fighting to keep themselves open and awake. Yuri turns the PDA around so the screen is visible to it, saying, “Don't worry, you're not gonna die. You can rest now. Just, don't get up for now.” Yuri turns around and leaves the room again. He could get some rest as well.

 

    It has been a relatively long day for Yuri. He goes to his bed, leaving the door open in case if it cries for help or something. Yuri sets the PDA to the side as he slips into bed. Yuri wondered what he should do once everything was said and done. How would he explain what happened to the cargo to the PTMC was beyond him. He took conditions into consideration. Since the communications array was out, the station couldn't snitch on him, but it was able to send out a report of the micro-meteor storm. Maybe they though he was dead. Who knows.

 

    What about the thing that landed in his lap. What was he supposed to do with it. He had never seen one before, some kind of alien he assumed. But from the looks of it, it wasn't advanced. The CEC had given it to the PTMC, however, the PTMC gave no preparation instructions for the delivery in case things got out of hand. If it was important to them, they should have picked it up today. Maybe they didn't know what was in it. If that is the case, then the CEC was probably breaking the law by operating on an inhabited planet. They were looking for a way to dump bodies they shouldn't have. It could have been a mistake since the company was new and quickly expanding to several systems and planets. It all seemed stupid to Yuri, sounding very much like the side effects of progress. Don't they know what kind of company they are dealing with? The PTMC could shut down all the CEC's mining droids at will if they ever felt like it. Or worse. He could also contact the CED and have them investigate. However, the CED doesn't have the best track record for being kind to whistle blowers. They would probably make out Yuri for a terrorist because he shot an alien eight times in the chest. For now, Yuri decided it would be the best just to hide the alien then get it home. Claim that the cargo dispatch lost its cargo to the storm after disposing of the broken container. Seemed simple enough.

 

    With those final thoughts being sorted, Yuri clutched the blankets and turned on his side to sleep, facing the PDA. The glow from the screen lighting up his face, he sat there, waiting for his body to go to sleep. This week was going to be one of the busiest weeks he has ever had so he could put the thing through physical therapy. Once he was done, then what? Yuri pushed the question to the back of his mind. He'd think of something eventually.