The Forgotten Experiment: Truth and Lies (part 1)
Today wasn't that bad out. It was probably about 46 degrees, but that had been better due to the calmness of the wind. The stinging of that harsh bitter cold and the force of the wind was enough to drive off even the hardest of workers. Shad and Molly had gotten up early as well, so the sun was starting to grow brighter, bringing with it an inviting warmth among the cold that the air had.
"So...Shad, I overheard you talking to your mother last night" Molly said keeping pace beside Shad as he took his time through the streets.
"Yeah, what's the matter, worried about something?" Shad replied giving a small grin.
"I figured if she was that worried about you being home late...what will she think if she caught you gone again...she might become suspicious."
"Well, this morning, it took me a while getting back upstairs for a reason..." He said navigating them to the road that lead toward the fence. "...I got it all planned out, see this morning I worked out my whole day. I told mom that I'd be spending a night with my friend, so she would know that I'd be gone all day. That should at least give me enough time to read a little more on the experiment." he said looking toward the ground.
"Hmhmm...wise thinking Shad, I guess that wasn't a bad plan at all...but what if she checks up on you and your not there?" she asked taking in the familiar sites.
"I thought about that too, I've already given Alex a quick call this morning. That was shortly after my mother was called in for work. I told him that I had to go somewhere special today but that it was a place mom wasn't fond of. I told him that I had said I'd be over there all day instead and that he was to be my proof...".
At that time they had traveled a good ways down the road to the spot where they could make their way over. Shad noticed small places of divots in the snow from the night before. But they were barely enough to notice at a distance due to the heavy snow last night. Shad jumped up and took hold of the chain link fence and looked back down at Molly.
"Alright, you know what to do next?" he said bracing his shoulders for Molly's weight.
"Yes Shad, just hang on and I'll be over before you know it"
Molly took a few paces back before sprinting up and leaping up to Shad's shoulders. She gracefully pushed off his shoulders with her soft pads and landed softly on the other side. Looking back at shad she gave a small grin signalling that she had indeed made it. Shad just smiled and made his way up to the top and threw his legs over the side. Since he didn't have the weight of his bag this time, he could easily make it down. He simply just jumped down and let the snow cushion his fall. However he had not judged just how deep the snow was. Upon impact, he sank shin deep in the snow and lost balance. Throwing his arms up reactingly and moving them in circular motions, he fell forward face first into the snow, feeling the cold sting of the powdery substance.
"Hehe..Shad are you okay clumsy?" Molly asked letting small sniffs of laughter.
"Yeah...I'm awake now..." Shad said as he picked himself up and brushed the snow off his fleece and face. "Phew...what a rush".
"You should be more careful Shad, your the only one who can do this experiment, we wouldn't want to have you injured before time". She said standing back up, awaiting Shad to recover and move on.
"Haha...yeah I guess your right, don't worry, I'm alright" He said blushing behind the redness of his cheeks.
The two started moving toward the woods that were farther back from the fence. As progression was made, Shad had to take precaution of where the small creek was and the logs. The snow was so thick that it had blanketed the entire field in an illusion of white. As for Molly, she could easily leap around carefree due to her light weight. Surprisingly, Shad had made it to the woods without falling into a hole once. He looked back at his footsteps, giving a small "hmph" as he felt satisfied with hisself. He looked over at Molly, taking in the bright red fur and the cool blue sweater she was still wearing and smiled. She just closed her eyes in the aknowledgment and then resumed pacing toward the woods. He followed her close behind and looked around as he did so. He had never really taken a close look at these woods before. But this time he absorbed it all in his mind, allowing it to take a mental image. That's when he noticed something shining over next to a fimiliar spot. It had been the spot he sat early the past morning when he had first saw Molly.
"Hey Molly, hold up a sec!" he said as he walked over to the alluring shine.
"What is it Shad, something wrong?" She said stopping and sitting.
"No, but I think I see something, although I'm not sure what it is."
Shad moved in on the general direction of the shine, his shifting movements changing the view of it. He finally stepped at the source of the shining and bent down. That's when he let out a gentle laugh. He picked up the object and revealed it to Molly. It was in fact his watch, the one he supposedly lost at the fence, was laying on the ground next to the spot that he sat. He just slid it back on his wrist, ignoring the cold metal against his skin, too infatuated with the fact he had actually found it. He walked up and pet Molly softly on the head and forwarded toward their destination. She was quick to go ahead and lead the way once again. They eventually had made it up to the point with rocky areas and a steep hill. Shad was surprised when he saw it. It was hard to beleive that just yesterday he jumped and ran through this place without hurting himself. Even in the dense snow, the jagged boulders could be seen and the rugged hill side. He simply just moved on through it, using caution as for the hillside was slick with ice forming from the drips of water from the rocks. Once over that, he saw Molly waiting for him over the hill at the point where the tall trees receaded.
"What took you so long?" she asked Playfully
"Oh, you show off" Shad giggled as he ran up to meet her.
They now approached the open field that wasn't all that deep in snow. It was acually pretty thin through here. Shad figured it was because more sun could hit the surface. In the distance, he could see the Shed as they walked closer. Shad then ran up to the door and grasped the handle, then waited for Molly to catch up. He looked back and saw her treading over to him with a look of excitement on her muzzle. Shad turned and tugged as the door gave in much more easily this time. He walked in and held the door for Molly. As she padded in he sat a chair that was sitting nearbye against the door allowing in light. He then walked over and flipped the lid on the thermostat and switched it "on". a small "hum" could be hear below, assuring that the lab hidden underground was now operational. He walked over to the oil lamp sitting on the desk of papers, still about half full of oil, and fiddled in his pocket. He presented a lighter that he had from his little collection of junk in his pocket. He lit the wick of the lamp, unleashing a small flame that cradled the string. He removed the chair from the door allowing it to close, dimming the light slightly as it did so. Taking a seat on the chair at the desk, he rubbed his hands slowly to warm them.
"Mind if I wait a couple minutes before we start?" He asked leaning back on the chair making it tip up on two legs.
"Not at all, we've got all day, so there's really no rush." She said circling on the small carpet and laying down in a ball.
Shad wished there was a window, it would make it feel a little more "confortable". All that the shack had on the walls was a little picture frame displaying an old certificate of "Scientific Acheivment Award". It looked as if it were Iska's when he was still around. "Must be from college" he thought. That's when it occured to him that perhaps he could bring some of his own things from home here. Maybe he could personalize it to his liking. But he figured he'd do that later on, he was already here, why go back? Shad stood up and walked over to the hatch and opened it up. Molly arose from her position and padded over to the hatch and walked down into the darkness. Shad peaked down only to see a couple little red lights that were probably part of a machine of some sort. It wasn't but a few seconds that the lights came on with a small click. Returnig to blow out the oil lamp, He then walked down a few steps and closed the hatch behind him.
Placing his fleece upon the coat rack, he took the science coat and put it on, the familiar scent of old and the loose fit. He walked over to the long table of papers and took a seat on the office chair, spinning it around for fun before reading the documents. As he began reading he gazed up for a brief moment at the lab. Here too he had lacked to notice all it had to offer. The whole lab was concreate walls with cracks that showed it was aged. The floor was a sheen white tile with dust due to the neglect of cleaning over the years. He looked up around the walls. He remembered the clock of course, from last nights event. He also saw a television, but there were no buttons. what really caught his attention was a projection screen and a machine that blinked with green lights parallel to it. He arose and walked over taking a curious look at it. He saw the familiar "power on" symbol that was used on most machines. He pushed it and a "Beep" was emmitted that made Shad jump in surprise. The projection screen displayed a black screen with a booting log starting. It displayed numerous codes before displaying a three dimensional image among the projector and the screen. It was a table of contents that was in a green grid-like screen in the air. On it it displayed "Guides, Notes, current, and Experiments".
"Oh, I see you found the digital archives!" Molly said as she padded over to Shad's position. He was still dumbfounded by the amazing technology that he was experiancing. He let a grin take his face before turning to Molly for guidence.
"So what exactly do I do now?" He asked turning back at the dimensional image before him.
"Well...let's see now..." Molly began to think, looking up toward the ceiling as she did so. "...I think that he used to select the "Notes" when he found something out that was new...and he selected "Experiments" when he wanted to try his foundings."
"So...I guess I'll try notes then." he said raising his hand to the dimensional icon. "Uhmm...how do I..."
"Just touch it and it should come up" Molly said noticing his confusion.
Shad placed his hand on the icon and it came spinning to life in the projection. It raised off the image and confirmed with a voice that said in a womens tone "notes". Then the screen flickered with a list of dates and pages. A small tab that said "new entry" was in the bottom right corner beside the time tab and the options tab.
"hehe..it's like my computer at home..only ten times better!" Shad said smiling in awe at the amazing display of content.
"Indeed, Iska had always loved to play around with it." Molly said padding over to a nearbye couch and leaping on it.
Shad noticed a set of notes at the top of the list that read "Casualty". He touched it and the list minimized to focus on the document. It came up on a digital notepad and it began to emit a voice...
"Huff...huff....the experiment isn't going well....Iska Brothel....my collegue...has suffered from a severe shock. I...I don't think he's going to make it...I...I'm scared...I'm not sure what to do...I...I can't do anything to help him...he's suffering emense pain..."
Shad's eyes grew wide as he heard this voice...it wasn't the computer's voice...it was someone else...but who?
"I can't call for help...Iska told me that all the experiments we conduct are between us only...therefore it may lead to questioning with the public...and I can't risk that...so I must remain with him and deal with his condition on my own. This concludes today's notes...I prey that he will remain with me."
Shad backed away from the digital display of text that had been scrolled and closed. What had he just heard? A severe shock....and someone else was working with Iska? But who, he had never read any documents that stated another assistant. He was also shocked. From what he knew, his father had died from pnemonia. Now he was confused of exactly what happened. He looked away for a moment toward Molly. He walked over to Molly and sat down on the cushion next to her. He placed his head in his hands, trying to take in what he had just heard. Trying to understand.
"Are you alright Shad? Please tell me your okay." She asked placing her paws on his lap and nuzzling his chest.
"I'm okay...I'm just unsure of what happened here...It just doesn't add up...I mean...he would've at least mentioned who that man was." he said looking up with confusion overcoming his expression.
"Perhaps you could check the other tabs on the archive...is there anything there?" She said raising her head and giving his cheek a soft lick.
"I'm not sure.." Shad said getting up and walking over to the image again. "But I guess I can check it out".
Shad touched the tab that said "Contents" and the page that contained the icons came up awaiting his choosing. He selected "Current" this time. The icon came up and aknowledged his choice with the computer's voice. Then a list of documents came up on a list, similiar to the style that the notes were in. He selected the top document on the list. Once again the list closed focusing on that topic. However this time a newspaper-like page came up. It showed a heading that stated the Following...
"Damion Steele guilty on the dissapearance of Iska Brothel."
Damion Steele, Shad took a good look at the name. he then read on. But he only skimmed through the text, looking for keywords. That's when he saw a passage that caught his attention. It was a line that was part of Damion's Statement in the case...
"...I...I murdered Iska...but I had a reason..."
Shad was taken by surprise on that line. Why would he say that? He knew full well that he didn't murder him. So why? Shad selected a tab that said "Media" next to the top header. A picture then came up of a young looking man with eyeglasses and a scruffy tuft of hair on his chin. At this Shad was shocked...it was the same man that he saw on the television this morning! He must have been younger at the time of the trial. He remembered though...he had escaped. A question then came across his mind..."why would he escape?". Shad selected the "content" tab at the bottom again returning him to the main page. Just then the time tab flashed red.
"It's currently 7:30 A.M. Dr. Iska...would you like to watch the locale station?" the computer's voice asked.
Shad was walking back toward the couch when it announced this message.
"Sure..." he said walking back toward the projection to select an option...but he was interupted by the computer
"Yes Dr. Iska." it said before flickering out to thin air. Just then the television across the room came on displaying the message "Acquiring signal". Shad walked over and took a seat next to Molly. She rested once again on his lap and watched up at the television, which now displayed a list of available channels. It automatically highlighted the weather, channel 004 on the corner. Shad sat back and tried to see the highlights of the days weather. At the same time he also tried to figure the whole situation of the murder trial out in his head. A good ten minutes passed as he overheard the updates of the weather on the television before he stood up.
"I don't know about you Molly, but all this is making me hungry" He said with a stretch.
"Well, what did you have in mind?" She asked hopping down beside him.
"I figure we could head up to the mart up the road and grab us something." he said walking over to replace the fleece with the labcoat.
"Oh, well, don't you think it'll be a little tough, you know, with me being a fox?" she asked curiously
"Well, actually I was going to ask you to stay here and watch the place, I'll just pick you up a little something too" he said zipping up the fleece and heading up the stairs. "Just come after me if anything happens okay?"
Molly nodded in agreement and jumped back upon the couch and curled up. Shad smiled and headed up the stairs, opening the hatch and moving up to the shack. He closed the hatch and opened the door letting emmense light in the dark space. Shad winced a little as his eyes adjusted to the light before walking out of the shack into the snow filled field again.