Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

Some looked like they were dying.
    “It’s not really a zoo,” said Jacob, standing impassively at Daniel’s side. “This is a laboratory. The AIs run experiments here, on life forms they’ve captured. Or created. They’ve combined elements of interest, and removed others, to see the results. They’ve worked with chemicals and surgery and applied breeding techniques, to better understand the basis of meat life. Know thy enemy. The resulting creatures are
    tested to destruction, and then their bodies are vivisected. Knowledge is all that matters. And the AIs have discovered so much, unrestrained by human morality or conscience.” “This is vile,” said Daniel.
    “Nothing can justify this kind of torture. Have you no respect for life?”
    “Human scientists have always practiced vivisection on lesser organisms. Shub is no different.”
    Jacob moved on, and Daniel followed reluctantly after him. For the first time since he’d come to Shub, he was angry. This could not be allowed to go on. And then they came to a new series of cages, and Daniel had to fight not to vomit inside his protective suit. The things in the cages had been human once, but now they were something else. There were monsters and abominations and things so horribly violated that Daniel was pushed beyond horror into pity. Some still had human eyes or voices, and pleaded for freedom or death. One humanoid figure flitted back and forth inside its cage, moving almost too fast for the human eye to follow. Its hands were blurs. Another had been opened up and its insides carefully pulled out and spread over the walls of its cage, without killing it. A heart hung from the cage’s roof, still beating, while lungs swelled and contracted on the floor. Miles of pulsing intestines and bowels had been strung around the bars of the cage. There was no sign of any face, for which Daniel was grateful.
    “What… is the point of all this?” he finally managed. “What purpose could these atrocities possibly serve?”
    “It’s interesting,” said Jacob. “And that’s really all that matters. Toughen up, boy. I didn’t raise you to be a weakling. Now, come with me; you’re going to want to see this next bit. Its purpose should be a little more obvious.” Daniel swallowed hard and followed his dead father between ranks of cages, looking straight ahead because he just couldn’t bear to see any more suffering. An arm over five feet long snaked between the bars and brushed his shoulder gently in passing. Daniel wouldn’t let himself shudder.
    Finally they came to an open space at the back of the laboratory, and there, in a great glass cage, were the insect aliens whose ship had attacked Golgotha. Insects in all shapes and sizes, from the tiniest scuttling things to great, ponderous shelled things as big as a tank. Jointed legs and compound eyes and drooping feelers, scrambling around and over each other in constant darting motion. Daniel had no trouble recognizing them. There’d been no shortage of holofootage of what Captain Silence and his crew had encountered inside the alien ship. “So you’re in league with the alien insects!” he said finally. “Where did you find them?”
    “We didn’t,” said Jacob. “We created them. Right here in this laboratory. They’re just another Shub weapon, gengineered as another of our distractions. We wanted to make use of certain Human phobias; amazingly, even after centuries of alien contacts, there’s still something about insects that can push people right over the edge.
    “Still, Humanity should have realized insects like these couldn’t have been just another form of alien.
    They don’t get this big naturally. It’s the inverse square law, among other things. But they’ve served excellently as a distraction from our real purposes. And yes, I am going to tell you about that eventually.
    Just not yet. Be patient a while longer, boy. We’ve almost got to where we have to go.”
    He led Daniel out of the laboratory and back through the airlock to where Young Jack Random was waiting. He gave every indication of being pleased to see them again, but Daniel kept his distance, and wouldn’t let the Fury link arms with him again. Something about the continuously smiling face was beginning to get on his nerves.
    They set off again, down yet another metal tunnel, and Daniel kept up with them easily. His anger and outrage had given him new strength. More than ever he was determined to survive this tour