Issue 13, Page 5
Transcript
1: The three have stopped outside a stone doorway covered in a plastic curtain.
Julia: So… we’ve sat through the paperwork, background checks and DNA samples, I think I can ask: what happened to the creatures that were down here?
Njeri: While we relocated much of what we found to a secure location for study, I’m afraid nothing living left these caves.
2: Melissa looks a little shocked.
Melissa: You killed them?
Njeri: They were frail creatures who developed in a niche ecosystem, exposure to surface bacterium was more than their immune systems could handle. The ones not dead on our arrival did not survive capture and transportation.
Melissa: And the frozen ones we saw?
Njeri: Just that: frozen. They hadn’t been alive for a very long time, but they could still provide us with many answers.
3: Julia and Melissa exchange glances.
Julia: Those things sure didn’t seem frail when we saw them, we barely outran them.
4: Njeri motions to the room they have stopped outside.
Njeri: We’ve set up a room so you can prepare before the talk. We’ll send someone in to get you at 4 o’clock.
Smooth dodge, doc.
If I’ve learned anything from countless hours watching TV, never ever trust in them telling you everything. It’s always “need to know” and that’s usually after the alien has pounced you and laid eggs in your ear.
Unfortunately, there’s a precedent for First Contract also bringing deadly diseases to an isolated ecosystem. The Order of the Black Dog may have sealed their fate just by going down there. I like to think that the doc was just “protecting” them from this distraction.