Evolution # 5

Dr. Wesley Slezak

 EVOLUTION #5

by Douglas R Sentz, Jr

Part Two

IV

Evan awoke violently in a panic, sweating from the unusually high temperature in the recovery room. At least, as he shook the cobwebs and looked around, that's where he believed he was now. The room was well lit with a single window to his left that allowed him a limited view of the adjacent room which was currently completely dark. He was hooked up to multiple machines all beeps and whirs beating in time with his heart. As his vision began to get less cloudy, he could see through the small window in the door to his room across the hall. He could see in over-sized glass etched stenciling, "Dr. Wesley Slezak, Director, Congo Life Sciences."

V

Dr Wesley Slezak

When the first explosions happened up on the surface, Dr. Slezak had presumed that the inevitable had happened. Those ignorant humans "up top" had finally decided to start the final war. The inevitability of the demise of man began in the year 2020, when the American President was assassinated to prevent his imminent re-election. The country was plunged into a virtual civil war of belief systems that most intellectuals believed would ultimately lead to an actual civil war that would result with no winners and nothing left for the victor, not even the spoils.

Dr. Slezak cut a slight figure with dark brown hair and eyeglasses that didn't quite fit and would constantly slide off of his elongated, pointy nose. He was constantly using his left index finger to push them back up as he peered at his Ipad. The archived article that he was currently reading was a detailed listing of the documented instances of the scientific phenomenon of "iterative evolution" from around the globe.

As he settled into his leather chair, he heard the faint rumbling of a second and third explosion "up top." He picked up his phone and pushed 5-2-6. He spoke in a rushed tone, "Let's get some number fives up to the surface to find out what's happening. We'll need to move forward with protocol 99, if what I fear has happened is true." He didn't wait for a response and placed the phone back on the handset.

Wesley had began working for Congo back in 2013 after much deliberation with his wife about the transition. The offer was lucrative financially but he knew that it would require sacrificing any semblance of the work life balance that he so enjoyed and uprooting them from the midwest to the eastern seaboard. Never did he imagine when he made the decision, that they would end up living here, in an underwater facility, happy to be "down here" and not "up top." He had so loved exploring the outdoor wonders of his midwest upbringing in Madison, Wisconsin. And then everything changed on that fateful day in 2020. The fabric of what held them all in place was stretched until it ripped, and this time there were no stitches to put it back together.

VI

His phone rang. He picked up the receiver. "Yes, what's the report from up top this time?"

The voice on the other end of the phone responded.

"We are not sure of the cause at this time but multiple explosive impacts to the city's eastern coast. We recovered a male and a female from up top that were caught in the channel during the chaos. The male is in recovery room 23, seems like he should be ok . The female is in worse shape, we have her in the critical ward and await your instructions."

"Collins, did we have to send the twins to recover them?"

"No, they were not needed. The number fives were able to complete the rescue and recover."

"Ok, I'll be over to critical to make my initial prognosis for the female. Have they been here before?

"I don't believe so, I don't see any visible mods," Collins reported.

"Thanks. Meet me in critical in 5."

Dr. Slezak knew exactly what his superiors would expect him to do with the female. He decided before he went to see Lily that he would make up his own mind in this case. She had not chosen this destination as the others had.