Shapeless Read online

  They still knew so little. They barely knew anything at all.

  What spawned the changing? Was it what the baby saw, observed? Was it what he touched? What were his limits? He once changed his shape into a copy of a diaper, and held the shape for four hours. Was he sleeping during that time? Babies loved to sleep.

  Were they even dealing with a baby?

  The project was inspiring. It triggered every adventurous, scientific thought in Michael's brain. Sometimes he couldn't go to sleep at night, marveling at what he'd seen during the day.

  Kim leaned forward and pressed the intercom button.

  "It looks like Zero-Twelve's going to be a handful today."

  Along came the guilt. Michael frowned as it took hold. Zero-Twelve. The baby didn't even have a name. Just a project number, on the bottom of all their reports and equipment. P-132ERSH-012. Zero-Twelve for short.

  Did the child even have parents?

  The baby laughed, and Nancy flashed a thumbs-up to the mirror.

  Michael glanced behind him, to the people that had shifted their careers to Zero-Twelve. Didn't anyone else have doubts like he did?

  "Look," Kim said.

  He frowned in confusion as he looked back and forth from the nursery to Kim's smile. They often played the game of find the baby. Sometimes it was easy, as two cribs stood out. Other times it wasn't as obvious.

  However, Zero-Twelve was happily smiling through his pacifier as Nancy made funny faces.

  "What am I looking for?"

  "Just look. What do you see?"

  Michael fought irritation. He didn't fancy himself a Sherlock Holmes type. He wasn't a detective. But something had excited Kim enough for her to drag him to the basement as soon as he arrived.

  "Oh c'mon, Kim. He's right there. He hasn't changed into—"

  Then he saw it, and the excitement followed.

  Zero-Twelve happily suckled at his pacifier, but Michael noticed the second one, lying at Nancy's feet. Same shape, size, color.

  "Oh my God," he muttered. "You're…not telling me—"

  "I am!" Kim interrupted. "The pacifier, it's part of him! Come look."

  She led him to another monitor and fiddled with the controls. She took the video back nearly an hour, when Nancy first arrived to feed him and change his diaper. After his diaper change he began to wail, that typical baby cry that had the ability to pierce an adult's ears. As she searched for his pacifier, Zero-Twelve's bottom lip changed into the familiar goo they'd spent so much time observing. A pacifier grew outward before his lip reformed, nestled tightly in his mouth.

  It shouldn't have been so much of a leap. Zero-Twelve had the ability to change shape, to change into multiple shapes. A crib alone had a mattress, a frame, supports. It didn't pose him any trouble. But shaping a piece of him, combining both another object and his own body, that was a new wrinkle.

  The simple gesture brought forth many questions, and he was more than willing to voice them.

  "He can…change just portions of himself?"

  "It looks like it," Kim said, still beaming. "He wanted to be soothed, and Nancy wasn't doing it fast enough. He made his own pacifier."

  "Okay, okay. Was that reflex, an instinct? Or did Zero-Twelve consciously do that? Could he…make his own diaper?"

  Kim frowned at the thought. "That…might be kind of gross."

  He ignored her. "The pacifier itself. Is it really rubber, like when he copies other objects? Can he take it out of his mouth? Or is it too much a part of him?"

  She smiled. "Watch."

  It only took another minute to find what she was looking for. During playtime with Nancy, the pacifier dropped from Zero-Twelve's mouth. A moment after hitting the carpet, the pacifier turned into the shapeless goo he used as his transition stage. The goo oozed across the carpet, like it had a mind of its own, and melded onto his bare leg. Nancy jumped back a step and stared into the camera, aware of its location through the mirror.

  "How?" Michael asked. "How is any of this even possible?"

  It was a question asked in many variations every day.

  "I know. Imagine what he might be able to do when he gets older."

  Michael was quiet. The truth was they were all out of their depth.

  They didn't even know what questions to ask. They were lost in the woods with no light to guide them.

  "We need to somehow get a sample—"

  Michael cut himself off. He'd fallen into the same trap from when he'd first arrived. Curiosity. He looked up from the monitor at Zero-Twelve himself. For the moment, he was smiling and laughing, but those giggles were quickly becoming the exception rather than the norm.

  The things they'd done to him, they would haunt Michael forever.

  "I don't know how we're going to get a sample," Kim said. "I've watched the video a hundred times. The transition stage, the goo, it doesn't remain by itself long. It's like it's drawn to him. It always merges. I wonder…do you think he can split himself? Two living, breathing entities?"

  He didn't hear her. His gaze was locked on the baby with no name. Where did he come from? What was he? How could he change shape?

  Michael would have loved to find out, but one thing kept nagging at him.

  The young boy didn't belong there.

  Nancy left the nursery/cell and joined Michael and Kim by the monitor. Zero-Twelve was lying in his crib, still sucking away at the pacifier made from his own essence. He'd spit the soothing toy out, cry for a moment until it merged back into his body, and then coo again as a new pacifier grew from his lips.

  "Just when you think you'd seen it all," Nancy said. "It goes beyond words."

  "We were watching," Kim said. "You know, I've been thinking. Do you think…the transition stage. Could that really be him?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "What if he is the goo? What if that baby we're looking at, what if that's not him? But just another shape he's holding?"

  "I don't know," Nancy said, shaking her head. "I don't know anything anymore. We need more info. For starters, where did he come from?"

  "That's need to know," Kim said, her smile full of sarcasm. "And we don't need to."

  "He's going to change things," Nancy said, admiring the wide-eyed baby through the mirror. "He's going to change everything we know about…everything."

  "True," Michael said, breaking his silence. "And he'll do it all locked in that room."

  Kim and Nancy both eyed him carefully. Nancy coughed uncomfortably and excused herself, heading to her computer terminal. Michael approached a spare monitor and scrolled through the footage from the night before. Zero-Twelve was recorded constantly, twenty-four hours a day. Michael pretended he was searching for whatever new shape Zero-Twelve assumed overnight, but the truth was he was lost in thought.

  A voice whispered next to him.

  "You'd better stop that."

  He turned to see Kim, a genuine look of concern on her face. He glanced behind him before realizing she was speaking to him.

  "What?"

  "Stop, Michael. Don't play stupid. Everyone here knows you've got a problem with all of this."

  He was taken aback. Kim had never been so frank before. They worked together before the basement, knew each other a long time, even occasionally ate lunch together, but he didn't think they were friends. Their conversations outside work tended to start and stop at how's your family.

  "Am I the only one?" he whispered back. "Am I the only one here with a conscience? That boy…he's a prisoner here."

  "Are you even sure he's a boy?"

  "What else would he be? Okay, for argument's sake, let's say he's not a boy. He's a boogeyman under the bed. That gives us the right to hold him here? To study him, experiment on him?"

  "Where else would you want to keep him?"

  "Did you know the military was here last week?"

  "What? When? What are you talking about?"

  "The owners walked around with I think two generals. Laughing, talking, all tak
ing their turns gawking at Zero-Twelve. Tell me, do you think anything good is going to come of any of this?" He motioned emphatically, drawing the attention of someone walking by. "What do you think they're going to end up doing to Zero-Twelve?"

  "Keep your voice down. You're exaggerating, seeing things that aren't there. We're going to discover amazing things. We're pioneers."

  "And that means it's okay to give him electroshocks, hang him upside down from his ankles to see if he'll shape-shift out of his restraints?"

  Kim blinked, and for a moment, he thought he might have gotten through, seen a tiny amount of regret. Then the look was gone, and she grabbed his shoulder tenderly.

  "I don't think this is the type of position you just walk away from. You'd better be careful."

  Michael eyed her as she walked away. He knew perfectly well what she meant. He remembered the conference room, the tone in the air, the grave seriousness of the proposal. It was made very clear how important secrecy was to the project.

  If it mattered to anyone, his plans didn't involve telling any secrets.

  CHAPTER 2

  Hours passed. Michael treated it as any other work day. He took notes, observed Zero-Twelve, logged and filed reports. He kept an eye on his colleagues, waiting for the right time. The lunch hour would thin the herd somewhat.

  As he recorded Zero-Twelve's feeding schedule, how much formula and when, he overheard Drew and Lisa, both in radiology. They talked about how Zero-Twelve copied the lead blanket they used for his X-rays, slowing down the process. He noticed they both referred to Zero-Twelve as it, and not him.

  "Michael."

  He looked up from his workstation to see Kim, who flashed him her bright smile. In the beginning, her smile used to be adorable. Now it was starting to annoy him.

  "Yes?"

  "We just got the call from upstairs. We've got the go-ahead to finally get some blood samples."

  He took a deep breath as he glanced toward the nursery. Nancy was on her way inside with a bottle. It didn't seem that long ago that he would have been thrilled to hear such news. Whoever drove the project was moving very slowly, very cautiously. Observation, mostly, with the occasional test that bordered on torture.

  Now he felt no such thrill.

  "I don't think he's going to let us."

  Kim laughed. "It's a baby, Michael. I don't think there's really much he can do to stop us."

  "That's not what I meant. Do you really think we're going to walk out of there with his blood? Think about the pacifier. Do you think we could leave the room with it? Or would it just melt and meld with him?"

  "Well, it'll be in a vial, obviously."

  "Which means we could be taking away a piece of him. We might hurt him."

  "He lets us take away his pee, doesn't he? His little shitty diapers."

  "That's biological waste. It could be completely different. We just don't know enough."

  "Exactly. Which is why it would be nice to have a blood sample."

  He shook his head. "I don't know about this."

  "Well, good thing it's not up to you. Are you going to help me? Everyone else is trying to head out for lunch."

  Michael glanced at the neighboring workstations. Kim was right. Some stayed behind and ate at their desks. Others gossiped, read from magazines, continued to work. But the crowd was clearing out.

  There wouldn't be a better time.

  "Yeah, sure. Just let me go to the bathroom."

  He stood and straightened his lab-coat. The basement didn't have a bathroom. His chest tightened as he ascended the stairs back to the first floor. His nerves were frayed, and doubts crept in. Could he go through with it?

  Smiling at the security guard, he pressed on. Instead of heading to the bathroom, he stepped into the break room, two doors down. A nurse was eating a sandwich, and smiled politely, although with a hint of suspicion. The look didn't bother him. Ever since being transferred to the basement Michael and Kim both received their share of long looks.

  "Dr. Oliver," she greeted. "How are you?"

  He nodded as he approached the guest computer in the corner. It was used to check email, the news, play the occasional online game. The computer and dial-up modem were agonizingly slow, but it would suit his purpose fine.

  "I'm good, Maggie. And yourself?"

  They engaged in small talk as he slid the three-and-a-half-inch floppy disk into the drive.

  "I'm fine, thanks. I'm not sure if you've heard. Jerry's cancer has gone into remission."

  "Is that so? That's wonderful."

  "It really is. So, have you guys found the Holy Grail down there yet? Or maybe the Fountain of Youth?"

  Curiosity mixed with sarcasm. He was used to it. He dismissed the question with a laugh and evasion.

  "Not yet. We're hoping by the end of the week."

  He called up the contents of the floppy disk, and his hand stayed over the enter button. The point of no return stared at him. If he removed the floppy disk and walked away, nothing would happen. His life wouldn't change. He'd see his wife when she returned from Paris.

  But if he turned his back, he had no doubt Zero-Twelve would eventually be dissected, piece by piece, like a lab rat.

  He launched the program. The college kid charged him two hundred dollars to write it. For a moment, he wondered if it was working, but then heard the familiar whir of the dial-up modem.

  He removed the floppy disk and nodded at Maggie. She was more interested in her sandwich than whatever he was doing.

  "I'll see you later."

  "Take care."

  He marched with purpose, keeping his strides calm and even, to the supply room at the end of the hall. Closing the door behind him, he immediately went to work. He grabbed a bucket and filled it with towels and pillowcases. A long sheet served as a wick. He lit the end with a lighter and slowly poked his head into the hallway. It was empty, with only the oscillating camera in the corner to keep him company. He'd memorized the timings of every camera in the building. At the end of its rotation he had six seconds to make it back to the basement. He knew Derek, who worked in the security office, didn't always watch the monitors. He preferred to flirt with Stacy, one of the secretaries, between his rounds. But the cameras did constantly record, and Michael didn't want to show up on any of them.

  He flashed his badge once again as he approached. The guard let him through, and Michael waited for the doors to close behind him at the top of the stairs.

  He pulled the fire alarm next to him.

  There were audible gasps and confused exchanges in the lab. Michael joined his colleagues and gave his best bewildered expression.

  "Shit. There's a fire?"

  "Does anyone know what's going on?"

  "Did someone call the fire department?"

  There was one important question Nancy asked, that no one knew the answer to.

  "What are we supposed to do?"

  Michael said nothing, just waited patiently to see what would happen. Everyone glanced at each other, uncertainty in their eyes. Finally, the sprinkler system went off, soaking everyone and the technology around them. The smoke and heat from the supply closet upstairs had done its job.

  "Shit!"

  Nancy and several others ran to the nursery. The nursery didn't have a sprinkler system, but the dry Zero-Twelve wailed anyway. His hands and jaw twitched as he screamed, his lips quivering.

  "The upstairs isn't supposed to know about him."

  "We can't just leave him here," Kim said, opening the door. "We have to take him outside."

  A new voice spoke behind them.

  "Everyone, just relax."

  They turned to see William, the supervisor of the facility. Michael's jaw dropped. He'd broken into William's office and read the procedure for the plan of action in case of an emergency or natural disaster, as far as Zero-Twelve was concerned. He just couldn't believe his eyes, watching it carried out in front of him.

  William held at his side what looked to be a large,
metal suitcase.

  "Project Zero-Twelve is not to leave this facility," he said curtly, pushing his way through the personnel. "Excuse me."

  "There's a fire, William!" Nancy said.

  "I doubt that. Someone probably just dropped a cigarette upstairs. Everyone, please evacuate, follow the fire route out the main entrance."

  Most everyone filed out of the basement, but Nancy, Kim, Michael, and a few others remained behind.

  "You're going to leave a baby here with a possible fire going on?" Nancy asked.

  "He'll be fine." He patted the metal suitcase. "This is fireproof, waterproof, soundproof. He cannot leave. Those are the rules. I didn't make them. Once we deal with the fire department, we'll come back down and let him out."

  "He won't be able to breathe in there!"

  William arched an eyebrow. "Do you really think Zero-Twelve needs to breathe?"

  "This is fucking crazy," Nancy said, throwing her hands in the air. "It's insane. I'm taking him outside. I'm not letting you put him in a goddamn suitcase."

  She took a step toward the nursery, but William stopped her with the tone in his voice.

  "Nancy, if you don't turn around, now, and walk away, you will be fired. You'll lose your career, everything you've worked for. And that's just what I will do."

  Time seemed to freeze in the basement. Michael realized that Zero-Twelve had stopped crying, having fallen asleep. The only sound was the cold water cascading around them. He locked eyes with Kim, and for a rare change, she wore something besides a smile. There was fear, panic. He could see in her expression that she finally realized they weren't just having a good old time researching an amazing discovery in a secret lab. Much more was happening, and it wasn't in the name of science.

  Nancy said nothing. She searched the eyes of her colleagues around her, but none jumped to her defense. Kim seemed about ready to speak, but held her tongue. Nancy turned, her gaze to the floor, and left the basement.

  "You can all leave," William said, entering the nursery. "You don't need to be here."

  He didn't enforce his word, however, and several stayed behind. Kim slowly made her way over to Michael. They watched in horror as William set the metal prison on the floor and gingerly scooped up Zero-Twelve in his arms. The suitcase was padded on the inside, and was large enough to accommodate him, but that didn't help calm anyone's nerves.