Author: D. Irving, Word Count: 666
Featured in Spooky Archaeological Story Moot: Live Stream – 2026
Alex looked at the sample then back at the label, Metamorph Use Extreme
Caution, In case of emergency use protocol 23b, she checked the date, not
Aprils Fools then, she still didn’t put it pass the team to pull a fast one on her
so she checked the paperwork which was, as usual, a mess of redactions and
missing pages. She finally found and read protocol 23b, thermonuclear
cleansing, she looked at the sample; it still looked like a bogey.
Alex moved the sample into the control cabinet cycled the air and took her first
good look at, she had THE best microscope in the world but all it could tell her
was that really close up it still looked like a bogey. She had learnt a couple of
things very quickly when she had arrived, one, where the loos were and two,
speed kills, rushed experiments and testing were frowned upon. A few mishaps
in the early days had seen the lab moved from Texas to here in the middle of
the pacific where atomic bombs going off were less likely to be noticed. She sat
and thought for a while, then deciding she needed caffeine she locked up the
lab then clocked out for the weekend.
Alex was surprised to find a box of chocolates on her work bench, all food and
drink were strictly banned, why take the risk of smuggling it in when they could
of just left them outside her apartment, oh, of course what was his name…….
Mike, Michael something like that, as a guard it would be easy for him. She
smiled at the memory, the look on his face when she…… she blushed. She
opened the box and selected a glistening dark brown treat, popping it into her
mouth she slowly let the chocolate melt, her taste buds exploded as the subtle
flavours mixed with her saliva. The first signs of something being amiss came
an hour later, she had felt …..odd, her body overheating, heart racing she sat
abruptly, phuff not good, it passed after a few minutes and she was now
slightly damp and chilly. Over lunch she described what was happening to
some of the other ladies who told her in no uncertain terms that she was now
a woman of a certain age and just what she had to look forward to.
By the end of the shift Alex was getting fed up with what she described as her
power surges, her mind was getting fuzzier and she kept thinking she could
hear a voice telling her to eat more chocolate, she had to comply. Her study of
the bogey had got nowhere, there was no evidence that it was alive, no
movement, the atmosphere was stable so no breathing, no obvious secretions
nothing, just like every other report. She looked at the clock, it was near 08.00hrs, where had the night gone, opening the transit chamber on the side of the inspection chamber, she reached for the sample case which was
supposed to be on the tray right where the empty box of chocolates sat.
Alex sat staring at the empty box, it hadn’t taken long for her to figure out
what had happened, the sample case was the Metamorph, the sealed bag it
had come in should have been labelled better, such a simple mistake. Writing
her report with some very pointed remarks about labelling she put it and the
rest of the paperwork into a supposedly bomb proof safe. Next to the safe was
a telephone, shaking she lifted the receiver from its cradle, the line hissed and
crackled then rang once.
Please state your emergency
Lab 666, Bikini Atoll, Protocol 23b.
The line went dead.
She sobbed.
High above the B29 opened its bomb doors, the code was simple Able, Able,
Able, below people went about their usual business no alarms sounded no
lights flashed, the bomber lifted sharply as it released the bomb, a baby cried
in its cot.
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