The lifeless body of the double was lying on the table with his tummy open. There was no smell of decomposition or traces of bleeding, only some strange whitish liquid with revolting acidic stench. “A normal in appearance human body of a male individual, aged about 22…”
“Please, March, cut the crap and say directly. What is actually this shit on the table?” Norman had no time or patience for unnecessary details.
“Death has come as a result of a bullet, that entered the frontal lobe of the brain… Only that usually I would add the phrase “because of a massive hemorrhage and irreversible brain death”. But here there is no hemorrhage, since there is no blood, Major. It is as if this ‘thing’ or this ‘creature’ does not need oxygen or metabolism as a whole. It has only a scanty quantity of some strange liquid, similar to acid, which is totally incompatible with live cells. It would rather burn any living creature on Earth, than support metabolism in the tissues.”
“I just need to know whether it can be killed by a bullet.”
“I suppose so. But there is something awfully strange. Besides, the chemical analysis shows very unusual values. Its anatomy as well – it has no secretory system, no internal organs, no bladder, no kidneys. Digestive system is also missing – no stomach or intestines. There is just nervous tissue, a well formed and greatly folded brain. This thing obviously has an appearance and tissues, similar to those of humans, but is definitely not human.”
Marcela cut a piece from the calf and almost stuck it under Norman’s nose, who instinctively flinched his head back.
“Look at the muscle, see the muscle fibers.”
She splashed the piece of meat, similar to fillet, on the stable and stuck the scalpel deeper, removing a couple of thicker fibers. To Norman it seemed exactly like a pork chop.
“Here, Major, the muscle fibers are very hick and at the same time numerous.”
“You mean…”
“I mean that in appearance this thing has a similar structure to ours but is twice as strong. And this is not all. Look at the brain.” Marcela moved upward to the head and stuck her gloved hand inside the opening in the top of the skull.
“Here, look”, she said and stepped away from the lens of the microscope, so that Norman could take a peek. “Can you see?”
“No”, he replied. Frankly there were only some dots at the end of the tube and around them – smudgy pink background.
“These here are normal human nervous cells and these here belong to the ‘thing’. Can you see? The small dots are the nuclei of the cells. There are at least three times as many nuclei and respectively cells per a unit of area.”
“Does that mean it is cleverer than we are?”
“I am afraid it does mean exactly that, Major.”
“So, we have to deal with an alien form of life, that doesn’t need to feed or go to the toilet, has no blood and is definitely more intelligent than us, stronger, faster…”
“A better killing machine than us, Major.”
“Does it have any flaw?”
“Yes, Major, it can be killed. But only with a bullet in the head that can cut the nervous activity and stop the nervous impulses. The rest of the body is practically invincible, except in case of massive laceration.
This night unlike others they were eating silently and only the slight clatter of silver interrupted the deadly silence in the dining room.
Tension was pulsating in the stuffy air of the room. Their glances were hanging over the plates and nobody dared look into someone’s else’s eyes.
“What happens to the doubles after they kill us?” Michael was the first one to speak in the quietness.
“When the original version perishes, regardless in what manner, their double dies”, Hans answered.
“So, if we all die, they are toast”, Michael said, trying to clear the atmosphere with black humor.
“Stop it, Michael, let us try to find some more rational solution than our mass suicide”, Marcela cut him short. She was as pale as a sheet of paper and extremely scared.
“How can you be sure about that, Hans?” Alan asked.
“I am sure. Call it ‘scientific intuition’ if you must, but in vein of the principle of the annihilating of elementary particles with their anti-particles, I’m telling you that when the prototype of the ‘double’ dies, then the replica stops to exist as well. I suppose, they avail of information for the replicating of some form of energy information field from us. Their DNA must be in constant communication with ours, or else all functions cease. Believe me, when you are not here, your double is not here either.”
Norman’s radio buzzed, so he answered and after three words from the other end of the line he jumped instantly from his chair and dashed out of the door.
Outside the hurricane was at its worst. There was no a trace of the beautiful desert from three days ago, the storm had turned the sunny vast territory into a black freezing blind hell.
Norman had the feeling that all the fucking sand in Sahara was up in the air, whirling and trying to enter through his eyes, mouth and nose. He was walking almost as a blind man, having covered his head with a scarf, hardly seeing through the protective goggles the lights of the projectors inside the base.
“What’s going on, Lieutenant? What was that on the radio?”
“As I told you, we have three dead bodies and munitions are missing from the warehouse, Sir. The bodies belong to two of the sergeants on duty and to Miss Tarantino.”
“How did it happen?”
“One is torn to pieces, the other one is cut by a big tool, probably an axe… The woman died from a bite on her neck, like in a horror movie for vampires.”
“This is her double! Take the body immediately to the biology room for further investigation.”
“Yes, Sir! There are broken ribs, her chest was practically smashed with enormous weight and force. Death has occurred almost instantaneously.”
“Take in the bodies for an autopsy and… Fuck this damned wind!” The storm had almost dragged the scarf off Norman’s head and moved his goggles.
“There is one thing more, Sir…”
“Say it, because too many new things heaped on me today!”
“Near the woman’s dead body we found a phone, tuned for detonation.”
“Hers?”
“Probably not. Its menu is in Russian.”
“A saboteur, obviously.” Norman did not seem too surprised.
“Yes, Sir. The phone is here, but the detonators are missing.”
At this moment the Sergeant approached.
“Sir, we found the body of Colonel Ivanov. You’ve got to see it, Sir.”
“Take us there, Sergeant.”
Norman bent over the Russian’s huge body, lying lifeless on the sand about twenty yards away from the one of the female double. A bloody trail was connecting them. Ivanov had left it, dragging on the ground. He had clearly remained alive after the fight despite the great blood loss and was trying to seek for help.
The Major leaned and touched his heart. Though barely felt, there were slight movements of the chest.
“But he is alive, for God’s sake! Take him to her! Quickly!”
The Cube was there. It stood imperturbably motionless like when they saw it for the first time. Only its light was changed from bluish-green to bright red.
“Do you think this thing can be destroyed at all?” Marcela asked. Her question was obviously directed at Hans.
“I don’t know, there must be a way… The bad side of it is that we don’t have an idea what it is actually and what it is made of. You can only kill something if you know how it lives. If you don’t know birth, how could you possibly understand death?”