Wings of Death

Lab Rats

Alex had managed to access the security cameras. He was carefully checking every room and corridor and trying to find out where the scientists had disappeared. After searching all the floors, he discovered a group of scientists hiding in the underground containment zone. The containment bunker had been built to conduct research on people infected with highly contagious diseases. Since it had been built only recently it wasn’t there in the building’s blueprints. It was clear that the bunker hadn’t been used before. This was a great discovery. They were all relieved to see that the scientists had survived the ordeal. Maybe they would be able to help them analyze the feather. Nathan was glad that he had decided to visit the research facility.

They took the elevator and descended to the basement level. In front of them was a decontamination chamber. Margaret felt rather nervous but Nathan assured her that they would be fine. One by one they stepped inside the decontamination chamber and came out on the other side. The containment bunker lay just in front. Alex knocked on the door and shouted, “We are here to help. Please open up”.

The scientists were too scared and refused to open the door. Nathan was growing impatient and he asked Alex to disable the lock on that door. “Well, so much for being polite”, snapped Alex and he took out his palmtop. In a few minutes he was able to disable the lock. Nathan walked up to the door and pressed the green button near the key card slot. When the door opened the scientists started panicking.

“Please close the door, you don’t understand. We are all going to die if you keep the doors open”, screamed one of the men in white.

“It’s alright. The Bloodwings don’t go hunting when it rains and it is raining heavily right now”, Margaret was trying her best to calm them.

“That’s just nonsense! We don’t believe you. You all are just kids. You know nothing”, cried a terrified old man.

“Look at us. We traveled over 20 miles to come here. Did anything happen to us? It is still raining outside. Just look at our wet raincoats”, Nathan was trying desperately to reason with him.

“I think there must be some truth in what they are saying”, said the voice at the back. “If those creatures were still outside these kids would have been dead”, he added. The old man with black rimmed spectacles came forward and introduced himself, “I am the supervisor here.  My name is Dr. Merlin Grant”.

Nathan and his friends introduced themselves and soon they started discussing the radio announcement.

“Dr. Erica used to be my student. She is extraordinarily talented. If she is investigating the matter I am sure that we will be able to find a solution to this flying menace”, said the supervisor. The others in the room were still trying to calm their nerves.

“I think you might want to take a look at this”, Nathan took out the red feather from his backpack and handed it over to the man in charge. He went on to explain their theory about the effect of rain on the Bloodwings.

Dr. Merlin was listening with close attention. He asked them a few questions and then got up and took out his voice recorder from the drawer. Pressing the recorder close to his lips he said, “Experiment X. Phase one.  Specimen:  the feather of an unknown avian creature”.

Nathan and his friends were eager to find out more about the creature and they had come to the right place. The supervisor shook hands with them and started making arrangements for the experiment. It would take a while to run all the tests. They had come too far to walk away without finding out the results. Margaret and Nathan trembled in excitement. They had forgotten all about their plan to return home before dawn.

“Everyone, get back to your stations right now”, thundered Dr. Grant.

The scientists were back in action once again. They began calibrating all tools and switched on all the lights and turned on the computers.

Within 30 minutes they were all ready to begin conducting tests on the feather. Before beginning the experiments Dr. Grant ordered them to close the door which led to the decontamination room. Margaret wanted to help; she had always been interested in science experiments.

“Dr. Grant, do you mind if I help out?” she asked hesitantly.

“Not at all, young lady. I am sure you are as capable as any of us over here”, replied Dr. Grant. “Please login to our database and open the avian creatures section. I want you to go over their common features”.

“Yes sir. I am on it.”

Margaret logged into the database and started reading furiously. Alex and Nathan looked at each other. Their faces had blank expressions on them. None of them were particularly well versed in biology and so they decided to sit down and observe the experts at work.

“Detailed analysis of the anatomy”, Dr. Grant spoke into the recorder once again before beginning his experiments. He started taking various measurements and wrote them down in his notebook. After that he handed the feather to another scientist and told him to virtually reconstruct the creature using the feather. The scientist took the feather and put it inside an oval shaped device and pressed a few buttons. He then sat down at the computer and began reconstructing the creature part by part.

“2 D reconstruction underway”, he announced.

Dr. Grant turned to Margaret and asked her to list the common features of most avian creatures. Margaret had finished reading and was dying to give her input. She started by talking about their basic anatomy and then went on to give a detailed account of their natural behavior. Next, she listed their natural habitats and general mating habits and breeding patterns.

The supervisor listened to every single detail with great attention and remarked, “Brilliant work! Thank you.” The look on his face revealed that he was on to something big.