“No kidding.”

Mosh heard a noise. Someone was trying the door. “They’ve found us.”

“They won’t do anything too fast. They’re worried about hurting their charge. I’m assuming PT’s pay will get docked if they kill him on accident. Keep going, Doc. How do we stop this super alp of yours?”

“The creature isn’t the problem. It is merely following its instincts, creating nightmares and feeding upon the resultant terror. The danger comes from its human host. One of our volunteers turned out to be something…special. He was our most promising subject, so we picked him to receive what seemed to be our most capable alp. When a creature was bonded to him, it unleashed some surprising side effects. What had previously been figments of the mind were given actual form. Nightmares became real. Physically real. They were small at first, but this sort of phenomenon was unprecedented. My team was delighted. The energy necessary to accomplish this feat was simply inconceivable. Our experiments had unleashed the unexpected.”

The rattling of the doorknob stopped. Mosh picked up one of the rifles. It was an unfamiliar, bulky, plastic thing, heavier than it looked, but the controls made sense. It had a safety, a trigger, charging handle, and mag release where expected. Auhangamea Pitt had taught him well, so Mosh knew he could fire it if he needed to, but it wasn’t the technical part of shooting someone that was troubling him. Somebody kicked the door hard, but it barely moved the shelf.

Holly raised her voice and shouted through the door. “If you use an explosive to breach…the shock’s liable to kill the old guy!” Then she went back to normal. “Let them chew on that for a minute. Please continue, Doc.”

Dr. Blish didn’t seem to notice the noise. It was as if telling the story he’d kept bottled up for so long was consuming all of his attention. “The sudden increase in the alp’s abilities was all due to the volunteer. He seemed like a normal enough young man, rather brave considering what he was willing to do for his country. However, as time went on, things became worse. The nightmare creations became far stronger and unexpectedly aggressive. Members of my team died. We tried to break the bond, but it wouldn’t work. This particular alp had either gained sentience, or some dark aspect of the human host’s personality had become imprinted on it. The immaterial being didn’t want to give up its new source of power, so it began to manipulate him, first physically, then mentally. He tried to keep it in check, but it eventually turned him against us. It was a hard decision, but we had no choice but to terminate the project.”

That’s a nice way to say they decided to murder the dude. “I thought you said you couldn’t kill him?”