The Seafarer cut through the waves with determination, heading straight for the docks at Dr. Turner’s private island facility. Their goal was to broadcast the initial high-frequency signal from the island, which would disrupt the hostiles for a short while. This would buy them enough time to reach the old radio tower outside of Bayvue and amplify the signal for a wider area.
As the sun reached high noon, the island came into view. The facility, a sprawling complex of laboratories and warehouses, loomed like a fortress against the encroaching night. The trio and Dr. Turner docked the boat and cautiously made their way to the main entrance. The trail to the place was an extension of the dock, a half-overgrown pathway made of deeply stained and well kept wooden slats with a green railing that looked as if it was just installed.
Externally, it was practically a relic of a place, with dusty yellow sheet metal and adobe-style beige walls for exterior, a warehouse and adjacent building butted up against other, full of memories and a library’s worth of manuals and documents from his days in government research, and judging by the towers and antennas that adorned the roofs, it was evident that the technology within was state-of-the-art, if not cutting-edge design.
When they got to the door, Dr. Turner entered a security code, and the heavy steel doors creaked open. The sound echoed into the facility, the sound disappearing into the hallway on the other side of the large room they entered in through. The faint hum of machinery could be heard further in. Mason, Ava, and Jack followed the scientist through a series of dimly lit corridors, their senses on high alert.
Dr. Turner led them to the control room, where they prepared the equipment. With a flick of a switch, the high-frequency signal began to hum, barely audible to human ears but capable of disrupting the aliens. They hoped it would be enough to keep them at bay while they made their way to Bayvue.
“That’s one item off the check list,” Mason said, his voice hushed. “What exactly was this place used for, Dr. Turner?”
Dr. Turner glanced around the corridor, his expression tense. “This facility was part of a high-level government project, focused on researching potential extraterrestrial life. We were tasked with studying any evidence of alien technology and biology that we could find.”
Ava raised an eyebrow. “Alien technology? Like the ship we saw in the sky?”
“Exactly,” Dr. Turner replied. “We’ve made some remarkable discoveries over the years. Alas, as we explored our findings, we learned that these aliens have been here much longer than we suspected. As a matter of fact, the some of their technology is centuries old.”
Jack frowned. “Why keep this a secret from the public? Shouldn’t people know about this?”
“In an ideal world, yes,” Dr. Turner said, his voice heavy. “But the government believed that revealing this information would cause widespread panic. They wanted to study the technology without interference. They thought they could protect us while keeping it hidden.”
Mason exchanged a worried glance with Ava. “And what about these experiments you mentioned? What were they trying to achieve?”
Dr. Turner’s gaze sharpened. “There are things about these experiments that I can’t fully disclose yet. Suffice it to say, they were… disturbing.” He looked down, then back up at Jack, who towered over him. “We need to focus on now. The main warehouse is dead ahead,” Dr. Turner whispered. “It’s where we kept the most sensitive projects.”
It was only ten more steps before they were at the door. Dr. Turner paused, his hand on the door. “We’re about to enter the heart of the facility. Stay alert, and be prepared for anything.”
With that, he pushed the door open, revealing the vast warehouse and an intact alien ship at its center, covered in dusty blue and orange tarps. Had Jack not seen the ship himself, earlier, he’d think it was just a bunch of stacks of old boxes surrounded by neon green lighting.
It wasn’t just the ship that caught their attention. Scattered around the tarps were what looked like space-age coffins, some open, some closed with some sort of mist emitting from their bases at the corners. There were unrolled blueprint type designs of human bodies and odd strands of DNA. Vials of luminescent fluid were sealed and in neat rows on the tables that lined the walls by the strange containers. Ava recognized instantly that it appeared to be a part of a biotechnological splicing method. Her heart sank at her initial thought.
“What is all this?” Mason asked, his voice almost silent as his throat tightened up.
Dr. Turner let out a heavy sigh and put his hands on his hips, gazing almost proudly at the projects at his old work site. “This facility was originally established to research potential extraterrestrial life. As we dug deeper, we uncovered the truth — the aliens have been here for much longer than we thought, and some humans, chose to join their cause, collaborating with them…” he shook his head. “Oh,” his voice trailed off.
“Collaborating?” Ava echoed, her eyes wide. “You mean…?”
“Yes,” Dr. Turner confirmed. “They allowed themselves to be combined with alien physiology. Their skin has been completely replaced. From what we understand, they believed it was the only way to survive the extraterrestrial wars that were inevitably coming our way. These experiments that you see were my effort to understand how they conducted this…hybridization…”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Hybrids? You mean people willingly subjected themselves to these experiments?”
Jack clenched his fists. “And you knew about this?”
“Yes,” Dr. Turner confirmed, taking a closer look at the pods. “To both questions. But the results were unpredictable and dangerous. I tried to stop it when I discovered their true intentions, but by then, it was too late. I had to go into hiding, hoping to find a way to fight back.” Jack could hear the anguish in his voice, though he wasn’t sure if Dr. Turner was sincere or not. “I tried to stop it, I swear I did,” Dr. Turner pleaded, his voice breaking. “But they would have killed me if I went public about it.”
“They would have killed you? They could be planning to take over the entire fucking planet!” Jack was scorching mad.
“Jack,” Mason put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, and he shrugged it away. “I’m calm,” Jack assured him, his expression displaying that the mercenary was obviously not calm.
Before they could process Dr. Turner’s revelation, an alarm echoed through the facility. The alien ship in the warehouse buzzed to life, with the tarps sliding off from the vibration of its engines powering up. The roof overhead began to slide open.
Mason, Ava, Jack, and Dr. Turner turned around when the pods began sliding open, finding themselves face-to-face with a dozen or more freshly revived hybrid soldiers — very strong humans coated in a dark gren gel-like substance that seemed independently alive based on its movement around the body it coated. The dimly lit warehouse was now lit by the daylight, and felt like a battleground. Mason instinctively grabbed a nearby steel pipe, while Ava and Jack armed themselves with makeshift weapons.
Mason swung the pipe at the nearest hybrid, but it caught the pipe with inhuman strength and tossed him aside. Ava, quick on her feet, ducked under another hybrid’s attack, jabbing it with a sharpened metal rod.
“These things are too strong!” Jack shouted, avoiding a choke hold from one hybrid and barely dodging another’s powerful fist, reeling from their soft and slimy feel. Dr. Turner, frantically accessing the control panel, yelled back, “I got a plan! Just hold them off a little longer!”
The hybrids, though very strong, with some heavily armored straight out of the pods, had weaknesses. Ava noticed that their movements were slightly slower than normal humans, giving her a chance to outmaneuver them. She managed to trip one hybrid, sending it crashing into a pile of equipment, buying them precious seconds.
Seeing Ava’s tactic, Mason and Jack emulated her, using things in the environment to their advantage. Mason swung the pipe again, this time targeting the joints of the hybrid armor. He managed to hit a vulnerable spot, causing one hybrid to falter.
“Aim for the joints!” Mason yelled. “Their armor isn’t as strong there!”
Jack, noted Mason’s success and aimed a metal rod at the back of a hybrid’s knee, causing it to buckle, sending the hybrid to the floor right before it reached Ava.
Dr. Turner finally managed to activate the self-destruct sequence, shouting, “We’ve got five minutes. Let’s move!”
With the hybrids momentarily disoriented, the team made their way around the downed hybrids and through the warehouse. The hybrids they avoided continued their pursuit, but the team of four now had a strategy.
They reached the control room again, where Dr. Turner sealed the door behind them. The hybrids pounded on the door, but it held long enough for Dr. Turner to finish the sequence.
They hurled themselves back into the corridors and fought their way to the docks, feeling the ground beginning to shake, an indication that the countdown was nearly over.
The Seafarer roared to life as they jumped on board, with Mason taking the wheel and Ava and Jack working together to fend off the remaining of the hybrids who followed them. One fell into the water, sending the gel coating up into the air, completely disoriented from a lack of destination as the facility erupted behind them, engulfing it in flames as they sped away.
Breathing heavily, Mason, Ava, Jack, and Dr. Turner looked back at the smoking island, their minds racing.
“We’re not just up against aliens,” Ava declared. “We’re up against people who sold their humanity to them.”
“And we’re going to stop them,” Mason reassured her, a twinkle of resolve in his eyes. “We’ll stop them at all costs, and we will tell the world so that we can all be prepared to fight.”
“And we will,” Dr. Turner added. “We will fight back, and we will protect humanity from the war that’s coming.”
As they sped back to the mainland, they felt a new sense of purpose. They were no longer just survivors, nor would they be alone. They were warriors, now, intent on building an army, ready to face the alien threat and secure their world once and for all. Together, they would stand against the darkness and fight for the future of humanity.