Empyrean Iris

Chapter 48

Down on the floor below, the humans were being dragged from their cages one by one. Of course the subjects were not brought from their enclosures willingly, and most of them were gassed or darted with some sort of chemical mixture before the alien assistants dared even venture close to the barrier.

From there they were hoisted onto stretchers and rolled away towards the other end of the room, where temporary tarp enclosures were being set up with the use of the occasional energy barrier.

Operating trays glittering with shining silver scalpels were wheeled across the floor and placed at each and every one of the 'operating stations'. Those were followed closely by racks and racks of shining silver metal exo-skeletons, hanging from metal frames like some sick bastardization of a human's ready pressed uniform.

Despite the urgency of his mission, Krill couldn't help but pause as the window, looking down onto the gruesome scene below. The fact that these creatures planned to operate en-mass inside shoddily constructed tents, and with likely armature surgeons was enough to make Krill sick.

This was going to be a bloodbath, and even if the humans survived the initial operation, many of them were going to die from shock, or meningitis, just like the original test subjects had done during the war. This in itself was complete madness.

But no, he had to stop this.

He had to stop the surgeries before they even started.

Dr. Quinn had given him an idea of how to do that. There were two locations in this facility that he would need to go to. The first would be to shut down the main generator powering the entire plant. That would turn off all of the major systems like lights, and the operating of tools.

However, freeing the humans was going to be a little harder. Whoever had made this facility had clearly put their priority in keeping the humans in check rather than in keeping the lights on: This fact was evident in that each of the energy fields was run by two separate power sources, one of the main generator, and one on the dedicated generator, which could pick up where the first generator left off if something were to happen.

They might be in the dark ,but at least they would be in the dark and safe from their captives.

The only way Krill was going to be able to release the humans was if he turned off the main generator and the dedicated generator.

Of course he could go for the dedicated generator first, but that would mean leaving the light on and the equipment running, giving Dr. kedd just enough time to ruin some poor human beyond repair.

No, it was going to have to be the main generator first.

He would turn off the lights and the machines, and then he would hurry his way across the facility to where the second generator was. Of course there was always the worry that someone would spot him during that time, and the first generators going off would be enough to rouse suspicion.

Those moments right between him reaching the first generator and him reaching the second generator were going t o be the most dangerous: for him and for Dr. Quinn who was going to try and spread the word about the upcoming escape, to read the humans for action. She had promised to try and help in other ways, though she had not bothered to elaborate.

Either way, this was their only shot.

Krill would have liked to have had a plan B or C, but at this point that wasn't really an option.

He skidded around the wall and into a side room just as a group of Drev guards marched past. He was almost caught before his mission had even begun when he nearly stepped out from behind the doorway too quickly, saved at the last moment when a voice rose up from the other side.