The Alien Agenda (#Wattys2018)

[Chapter 20: Infiltration]

The microfiber jumpsuit, was surprisingly comfortable, but the bulletproof pads cancelled out the comfort. It only made it difficult to move in. My waist was weighed down with a utility belt equipped with gadgets and a tranquilizer gun.

A pistol was strapped to my thigh. I hoped I would never have to use it, though.

The cold in the passageway made me yearn for the heat back at California. Nevada was a desert, and during winter it was cold. Period.

Of course the passageway had no air-conditioning, in fact it did not seem used at all. The whole passage was blocked at the end, by a metal door which was sealed shut. The professional agents that were with us, Agent 4 and Agent 26- yes, they asked us to call them that- cut through the metal door.

My flat-soled boots, padded through the hallway, followed by the echoes of the others.

The walls of the passage were covered with metal as well. Rust was evident on the metal sheets. The passage was empty. No guards, no cameras. Nothing.

It somehow felt a little too easy. I kept my guard up nevertheless.

The agents in front of us, stopped and signalled us to do the same. I stopped abruptly then peered over to see why we halted.

My heart thumped loudly, filling my ears with its quickening beat.

A metal door stood in front of us. Attached to the front was a hatch wheel, that seemed rusty enough to never budge.

Agent 26 walked to the door and attached a hemispherical device onto the door. A few beeping noises were heard.

"It's manual," the agent said.

They tried turning the hatch wheel, but as expected it would not even turn an inch. So we resorted to laser the rust and loosen the wheel. After a few attempts, the wheel finally came about.

We turned it a few times, and with a heavy click, a suction sort of noise was heard. Prying the door open, even colder air rushed out of the door, a bit of fog rolled out from the edges as well.

I clenched my fists and unclenched them over and over again. Taking in deep breaths, as I felt a strong feeling pulling at my gut.

The agents did not allow us to go in just yet. They scanned the area, and deactivated a few alarms. The agents stated that there were no cameras.

Weird enough.

Maybe whoever in charge did not want anyone to even get a glimpse of what was in there. Not even for safety purposes.

It was probably too gruesome. Or worse.

Carefully the two agents walked inside with the three of us trailing behind. They scanned the area again, then stood at the entrance, allowing us to investigate the area.

This was it. This was where we played our part. The agents got us this far.

The throbbing in my head instaneously disappeared as soon as we stepped into the room.

The room was plain white, and had bright white lighting, it somehow reminded me of my dream I had, walking in the alien ship. There were a few metal tables, and at the sides of them were control panels, tubes, gas tanks and other equipment.

I continued looking around the room careful not to touch anything, as ordered by the agents.

The room was about twenty feet wide. Besides the metal beds, there were a few tables filled with what looked like laboratory equipment, folders and computers. I walked to the end of the room and noticed a slight difference in the leveling of the wall. There was a rectangular panel protruding about an inch outward.

A door.

It had to be. But how do I open it?

I called both Axel and Lin over to the door. Lin looked around the panel and found a smaller square and the top right of the door. She pushed the smaller panel and it extended outward slowly, revealing a keypad.

Lin fished out a remote looking device and fixed it beside the panel. She began tapping the device.

I knew the gadget as the so-called hacking device. They introduced it to us during the briefing of our gadgets and weapons. It was supposed to enable us to hack through security devices which require passwords or scanners.

After a few minutes, I realised Lin was not getting anywhere. She looked frustrated. She called one of the agents to help, and it wasn't productive either.

"Damnit!" Lin grunted.

I walked to the panel. It was a simple keypad and only required a password. The firewall must have been to strong for the device to hack through. There was only one way out.

We had to key in the password. Which of course we had no idea of.

All this, only too be stopped by a damned password! I was dumbfounded. We were so close and yet so far.

Lin was muttering a string of curse words, while I just stood there the disappointment evident on my face.

I was secretly hoping that something SOM5-like would happen, just like how the passageway revealed itself in the satellite imaging. Maybe the password would simply come to me.

But my hopes were in vain. Nothing freaking happened!

While we were salvaging our final options, Axel suddenly stepped between us and faced the keypad. He looked somewhat uncertain.

He stared at the keypad with a contemplative look.

What he was thinking about, I had no idea. But a glimmer of hope resurfaced in me. Maybe Axel could do some awesome hacking and voila, open it. But he did something terribly unexpected.

He keyed in a word.

"Axel what are you doing?!" Lin exclaimed.

"If you enter the wrong passcode the alarms would go off!" She warned.

"I'm well aware... but...," he trailed off, staring at the keypad.

Then, without a millisecond for us to think, he pushed the enter button.

"No!" Lin cried.

I held my breath, so did he. Bracing myself for the wailing alarm. But thank the stars, it did not come. Instead the protruding rectangular panel moved outward then slid to the right, with a hissing noise. Lin and I both stared at the open door, wide eyed.

"H-how did you figure out the password?" I managed.

The uncertainty returned to Axel's expression.

"I just knew... Never mind that, let's go in," he said, clearly not wanting us to dwell further into the topic.

I nodded. They both made way for me, and allowed me to step inside. I did so.

The temperature inside was even more colder than the outside. To the point, vapor was swirling around in wisps. The fogginess made it hard to see.

I noticed three upright glass coffins, attached to aluminium tubes, arranged at one end. Without a moment to spare I neared the coffins.

Two of them were empty. I moved on to the final one.

I felt a gnawing sensation once again
As I got closer, it tugged even stronger. And the moment I layed my eyes on the figure inside, the sensation stopped.

I was not surprised at what was inside, instead I was heartbroken.

Lying in the coffin, was a four feet tall, grey alien. Though I knew better. It was not an alien but in fact human. Its grey skin was so pale it almost appeared white. Its dry skin clung to its bones. Wrinkled to the point it looked like its life was sucked out of it. Large beady eyes were sealed shut by its large eyelids. Its thin line of a mouth, slightly agape.

I placed a trembling hand on the glass.

It was the only one left. And it looked dead.