Monster Factory

Prologue

Three days ago in a secret underground lab beneath the town of Cripple Creek ...

"What do you mean, attack?" Dr. Stuart Devon asked the soldier on the other end of the phone.

"Exactly what I said, Doctor." The soldier replied. "The outer perimeter fence has been compromised. Until we can verify that it's just a security system malfunction, I need you and your daughter to remain in your lab."

The steely-voiced soldier sounded worried, which made Dr. Devon worried.

"Can you do that, Doc?" the soldier finished.

"Yeah," the doctor said. "Sure."

The line went dead, leaving Dr. Devon, head of the special weapons group, with a ball of ice forming in his stomach.

Attack?

Animals had run into the fence from time to time. Teenagers, feeling adventurous, had even climbed one of the perimeter fences, but Sgt. Connolly had never used the word attack before. Dr. Devon blinked and hung up the phone.

The lab was very quiet, with just the whirring of computers and the fans circulating fresh air into the room through various filters. Miles of steel-reinforced concrete and a platoon of some of the best trained and heavily armed soldiers on the planet stood between them and whatever had "compromised" the outer fence. He did a quick calculation of the odds of someone actually getting all the way down to his lab. It didn't take long. It was about a million to one. Maybe more. He turned to his daughter, letting out the breath he had been holding since Sgt. Connolly had hung up.

"Does it hurt them, Daddy?" Clare asked.

Normally, Dr. Devon would never allow his eight-year-old daughter to accompany him to his lab, but his babysitter canceled at the last minute, and he had no other choice. Besides, he was the head of the department, and being in a super-secret underground weapons lab was probably the safest place in the world, relatively speaking.

Clare stared at the swirling black fluid inside a large clear plexiglass tower in the corner of the lab. Below the tower of swirling liquid was a clear cylinder the size of a large aquarium.

"No, no, no, darling." Dr. Devon replied. "The nanobots that make up the black sand are very tiny special computers. When they completely cover a host, they form a protective suit. You see this ring?"

Dr. Devon wriggled his fingers, letting the thick gold ring with a green cat's eye stone catch the overhead fluorescent light. "Once the suit is formed, I can use this ring to make the suit do whatever I want."

"So the person inside ..." Clare began.

" We just test the suit on animals. Since the animals tend to run away, I need to be in control to make sure the suit works."

Clare's blue eyes sparkled. She looked so much like her mom, Dr. Devon thought, so much. And, for a second, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Can I see one?" Clare asked. "Can I see how it works?"

Dr. Devon snuck a peek at his watch. It was getting late, but what did that matter now? They were on strict orders to remain in his lab until further notice.

"Please, Daddy."

"Honey, I don't know. It's already past your bedtime."

"Please, Daddy, I'm already in my pajamas!"

One look at Clare's puppy dog eyes and he was defeated.

"Sure," he said.

Clare smiled, clapped her hands and wrapped her arms around her father.