Project Khepri : Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3: After Action

“Alright, people, from the top.” Commander Scott turned away from the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the rest of the facility. “We have a lot of ground to cover, and not much time to do it, so let’s not waste any more time.”

With that said, he took his seat at the head of the oval conference table. It was made of polished wood, so dark it looked almost black, with a cutout in the center. One wall had white boards, the other screens, and all the chairs were filled with personnel who’d interacted with ‘Sleeping Beauty’.

Or ‘Khepri’ rather, from what Sif had heard.

When she’d first started working here, Sif ‘Dot’ Runarsdottir would have given her left arm to be a fly on the wall of these ‘advisory’ meetings. Now, years later and partnered with the most brilliantly frustrating scientist Sif had ever had the pleasure of meeting, she could safely tell her past self that the meetings were a waste of her time.

“Well, for one, she should still be in a coma!” One of the medical doctors leaned forward in his seat. “There’s still absolutely zero brain activity.”

“You’ve said as much already, Dr. Travers.” Commander Scott took a drink of his coffee before setting it off to the side. Not on a coaster. Sif twitched.

“I’m looking for new information on Subject 17, so we can put together an action plan now that she’s up and moving.” Scott fixed the Doctor with a sharp look as Travers went to interrupt again. “A plan that will lead to a deeper understanding of her condition without causing either 17 or the facility unnecessary damage.”

Travers sat back, mollified, as the Commander took a hard look around the room. “Medical, do you have any new information?”

A woman near one of the screens stepped forward. “While we’ve reconfirmed no brain activity, we’ve also gotten readings of nerve signals seemingly propagating from the CNS and causing her body to behave normally.”

Commander Scott nodded. “So the issue at hand here comes back to the question of ‘where is she thinking’.”

“Or what’s doing it for her.”

Sif held back a sigh at the familiar voice.

Scott raised an eyebrow. “You have something to add, Dr. Simon?”

There was a bit of a kerfuffle near the door as Simon forced her way out of the mass of lab techs, researchers, and staff to stand next to the table. Sif did let out a sigh when she caught sight of Ada padding after Molly, looking around the room like a child presented with a new toy.

“You brought her…?”

Simon elbowed the woman next to her in the ribs. “Commander Scott told me to start bringing her around the base.” She gave a cocksure smile. “I figured now would be the perfect time to see how Ada reacts to crowds with a low level of external stimulation. Nothing to report on that ongoing experiment so far, sir!”

Commander Scott huffed, covering a small smile with another drink of his coffee. “Make sure she doesn’t break anything.” After Simon nodded he set his cup back down. “Your report on Subject 17?”

“Prefers to be called Khepri, sir, though I’m pretty sure it’s not her actual name.” Simon crossed her arms. “It was like pulling teeth to get that much from her.”

“Any more information on what caused you to postulate something else might be doing her thinking for her?”

Simon hummed. “Well, she didn’t seem surprised when she saw she didn’t have any brain activity, which was my first clue. But then she started making allusions—allegory? Something like that—to this ancient Chinese philosopher that dreamed he was a butterfly instead of a man.” She paused, looking a bit sheepish at that. “I had to look it up after I heard the quote.”

Scott rubbed his brow. “Be sure to append it to your report.”

“Of course, sir!” Molly’s eyes tracked over to Sif, and she gave the red-headed woman the biggest pair of puppydog eyes.

Sif huffed. “I’ll make sure it gets in.”

“Thanks, Dot!” Sif rolled her eyes at Simon’s enthusiasm, but made a note on her tablet regardless as her friend continued. “In both cases, she implied some form of connection to another individual, perhaps one of extraterrestrial origin given how she reacted to Ada.” As Simon said as much, her hand reached out, combing idly through Ada’s hair. The little Albino alien gave a happy smile, leaning against Simon before lettering her eyes drift shut.

For all intents and purposes she looked like she’d fallen asleep in the same room as a bunch of humans she’d never laid eyes on before. Some of those humans had even advocated for a dissection of Ada back when she’d first hatched.

Sif frowned, cupping her freckled cheek with one hand. If she was so at ease around new people, what exactly had made Ada so frightened of ‘Khepri’?

“Noted.” Scott drummed his fingers on the table. “Anything else to add?”

“You got that much from a twenty minute conversation?” Dr. Travers pinched his eyes. “Honestly, Simon, what am I supposed to do with you?”

“I mean, it was pretty obvious? Most of it was just piecing what she said back together after. She talked fast, made a lot of connections, classic signs of someone with a pretty high intelligence as well.” Simon tilted her head, one hand still idly combing through Ada’s hair. “Oh, you might want to give her a psych eval as well, though I’d bet dollars to donuts she’ll register as having DID on top of anything else.”

“Dissociative Identity Disorder?” Travers blinked. “I suppose that would track with your comments on her interfacing with some outside entity.” He gave a low chuckle. “Of course, DID doesn’t let you walk around functionally braindead.”

Simon shrugged. “Maybe she has a physical mind palace, or something.”

“We’ll look into it.” Travers sat back. “Sorry for interrupting again, Commander.” Scott waved him off.

“Other than that…” Simon tapped her chin. “Nothing else immediately relevant, sir. It’ll all be in my report.”

“Type it up, this time.”

Simon slumped. “Yes sir.”

“Runarsdottir?”

Sif stepped forward. “Yes, sir?”

“Anything to add?” Scott looked over at the shorter doctor with his steely eyes. “I trust Dr. Simon with the human aspect, but I do know how distracted she gets with Project Ada.”

“How could I not get distracted, look at this face!” Simon leaned forward, smooshing Ada’s cheeks until the girl’s eyes flickered open sleepily, blinking at the world around her with a look of sleepy confusion. “She’s adorable!”

“Noted.” The Commander’s lips twitched as a small chuckle ran through the room. There were a bunch of eccentric people here, and by now they were all used to Simon’s infatuation with Ada.

Well, the ones that didn’t have to live through it every day like Sif did, at least.

“Simon covered the important parts, sir.” Dot paused, frowning lightly. “Though, Ada appeared frightened of her, when she first woke up. I initially thought it was a reaction to a new person, but…” She waved her hand around the room.

The scientist next to Simon stepped forward, snapping her fingers sharply next to Ada’s ear.

The girl looked over at her lazily before dismissing the woman and snuggling back into Simon’s side with a happy purr.

“Hardly a peer-reviewed study,” the woman said, “but at first blush, it looks like Project Ada doesn’t seem too surprised by new people or loud noises.”

Commander Scott hummed. “Which begs the question, what does she know that we don’t?” He looked at Ada across the long table. “I don’t suppose she would be willing to share.”

“Ada has shown an apt ability to understand us.” Sif tapped her tablet against her side. “We’ve demonstrated a level of comprehension far in excess of simply picking up on non-verbal or tone-based cues. Unfortunately, that doesn’t translate well back into speech.”

“Let me know if she decides to drop a Rosetta Stone on our heads.” Sif nodded at Scott’s request, even as the rest of the room chuckled again. “Anyone have additional input?”

A chorus of negatives went up from around the room. Commander Scott nodded. “We’ll continue as usual then. Medical, draw up a list of people who can be shifted over for a more intensive project. Include at least one physical therapist.”

“Yes sir.”

“Dr. Travers, the neurology department will treat Project Khepri as though she were a normal patient.”

Travers blinked, pulling down his half-moon spectacles. “Project ‘Khepri’ now, is it?”

Commander Scott gave a wan smile. “The lady gave us a name, it would be rude to ignore it.”

“Understood, Commander.” The man sighed. “Though, we could get more done if we were allowed to move faster with the tests…”

“Denied.” Scott took another drink of his coffee. “Project Khepri is a human and shall be accorded the full rights of one. Even if it is suspected that she might have extra-dimensional origin, we cannot prove that and we do not care enough to try.” He set the cup back down with a note of finality. “Also, if it turns out we have another alien that can blow up the entire base on our hands, I’d rather she think of us fondly.”

Travers chuckled, sending a significant glance over to where Ada was currently nuzzling against the back of Simon’s neck. “Point taken, sir.”

“See that it is. Beyond that, I want your best transferred over to this project.” Commander Scott steepled his fingers. “The instant she got up and started walking, Khepri went from a potentially interesting phenomena to a potentially life-changing discovery. I expect the greater project will be treated as such.”

Travers nodded. “Of course.”

“Dr. Simon.” Simon froze at the commander’s words. “You are going to be our primary contact person with Khepri, though a few nurses will be assigned to her on rota.” He fixed the Doctor with a sharp look. “You are there to engage with her as a person, instead of a test subject. I am led to believe you have prior experience in the field.”

Simon gave a nervous laugh. “Got it, Sir.”

Scott nodded again. “Beyond that, I’ll be keeping you and Runarsdottir on Project Ada.” He looked over to the other Alien on discussion. Ada ignored him as she tried to lick Simon’s cheek around a hastily-raised palm. “We do not have a protocol on this, so I will leave it up to your best judgement on when and how Projects Ada and Khepri interact.” He worked his jaw. “Her reticence regarding our new friend is the best lead we have into her origins. If possible, see if the two of you cannot glean any other nuggets of information.”

“Yes sir.” Sif snapped off a short salute. “We’ll run it by security if we decide to put them in the same section of the building as each other.”

“See that you do.” Commander Scott’s lip twitched. “So far, Project Khepri has remained non-hostile. I’d like things to remain that way if at all possible. Keep me informed of any other pressing developments for this initial period.”

“Yes sir,” Sif repeated.

“Security, set up a new detail to ensure Project Khepri doesn’t wander out of her room in the medical ward without supervision. Coordinate with the physical therapist to make sure she makes a recovery from her coma.”

“Yes Sir!”

Commander Scott clapped his hands once. “Alright people, you have your orders, and I know we all have work to do. Back to it.”

With that, the meeting was adjourned, and everyone began to file out of the conference room. And that, more or less, was why Sif thought attending the meetings was a waste of her time. Commander Scott would get the relevant information, issue new assignments, and then get everyone back to their jobs instead of wasting time with a round table conference.

Oh, sometimes there was necessary discussion—more even than today—but Sif would be just as happy getting her marching orders from her department head if it meant she didn’t have to stand in a corner and look like she was paying attention.

Sif was here to do science.

“You were such a good girl, yes you were!”

Sif let out a much aggrieved sigh as she turned to look at her partner.

Now that they were a few hallways away from the conference rooms, Simon had once again thrown away all semblance of restraint. She’d spun on her heel, giving Ada a big hug as a ‘reward’ for being so good in the conference room. Ada, for her part, seemed very enthused with the reward all the same. Her four thin limbs were wrapped around Simon like a lemur as Ada nuzzled her jet black hair.

Sif sighed. Whatever worked, right?

She really wished she could still believe that. “Simon, we have work to do.”

“Jus’ gimmie a minute.” Simon’s voice was muffled from where her face was buried in Ada’s stomach.

“You look like you’ve been attacked by a face hugger.” She placed a hand on her cheek. “You can bring Ada with you anywhere, Simon. Specifically, places we have to go?”

“Hmph.”

“Molly.”

“Ugh, fine!” Simon extricated herself from Ada’s grip with the ease of long practice. “Ada doesn’t look like a face hugger though. Never shoulda shown you those movies.”

“Of course she doesn’t. I said you looked like you’d gotten attacked by a face hugger.” Sif reached out, running a hand through Ada’s snow white hair. “Ada looks as adorable as ever, somehow.”

Ada smiled up at her, pressing her head into Sif’s palm. Despite herself, the woman found herself smiling in return. Unlike Simon, however, she had the professionalism necessary to reign herself in. “Now let’s go. We’ll need to draw up a plan for how we split our new duties, since you will have to go to the medical ward more often.”

“Oh that’s easy.” Simon waved her head. “I’ll just bring Ada with me.”

Sif paused, closing her mouth. Then she started rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses. “Simon, Ada was terrified of Khepri. You should not bring her back so soon, no?”

“See, I thought about that.” Simon interlaced her fingers with Ada’s as the three of them walked down the hall. “I figure the best way to get around that would be exposure therapy. Ada would never hurt someone, after all, and I doubt that Khepri will—”

“Vetoed.”

“—do anythi—huh?” Simon looked over at her, eyes blinking rapidly. “Dot, what?”

“Vetoed,” the smaller woman said again. “You are not throwing Ada into a room with this new person until she has been properly vetted if nothing else, and preferably not before we get to the bottom of why Ada was so frightened to begin with!”

“Well, it’s not like Ada can tell us why.” Simon drew back a step, pouting. “Besides, I’ll just take her back if she doesn’t like it in the medical ward.”

“You’ll take her back because she doesn’t like the other person you’re meant to be interacting with?” Sif arched an eyebrow.

“Well… that’s mostly academic, you know.”

“How fortunate we are both academics of some note.” Sif crossed her arms. “Molly, I knowyou are excited to have Ada around with you on the rest of the base. But that does not give you leave to ignore all your other duties.”

Simon huffed. “Wasn’t going to.”

Sif sighed. “Take her back to our rooms if you want to spend your free time with her, just don’t think—” She paused as Simon seemed to freeze in place, eyes growing wide. “… Molly?”

“We can keep her in our room?”

Sif winced. The two of them shared a small quarters with two beds and a few other amenities. It was not a large space. Ada’s room was larger than theirs, and that was before one factored in the observation room off to the side or the equipment that they stored in one of the (locked) closets there.

“It… would be a bit of a tight fit?” she tried.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Simon smiled smugly. “She can sleep in my bed.”

Sif opened her mouth, then closed it again. “We are getting off topic. First, we have to discuss the new distribution of our duties given that you will have to spend time with Khepri.”

“Right, well, I’ll do that while you finish our report for Commander Scott.”

Sif raised an eyebrow. “The one you need to type up?”

Simon waved a hand. “Just… put it through a dictation bot or something. C’mon Dot, give me a hand here. I need to get Ada’s favorite beanbag chair over to our room, and her clothes!”

“While composing our new shift schedule, I assume?” Sif raised an eyebrow.

“Oh I already have most of that worked out.” Simon waved a hand. “I’ll handle morning and evening duties, you can handle… hmmm 10 am to 2 pm on your own, right? I should be there for at least half of that, but I’ll budget out a two hour chunk for right after Khepri’s finished with PT.” She hummed. “We might shift that time slot back or forward a bit depending on when they settle on, but it’ll probably be around then. But just think, Dot, we get to observe a whole new range of behavioral data! Night Data! Sleeping with other individuals!”

Sif raised her other eyebrow.

Simon’s face went atomic red. “N-not like that! It’s just, how Ada behaves in a shared ‘den’ with other individuals could provide valuable insight into whether her species was communal or solitary! You know that!”

Sif sighed. And this was why it was utterly infuriating to work with Molly Simon. The woman was a brilliant scientist, and could be brilliant at a great deal more, if she bothered enough to devote her attention to it.

“Alright, alright, we will try things your way.” Her green eyes narrowed to a sharp glare behind her glasses. “But if I catch you slacking…”

“I won’t, promise!” Simon darted forward, engulfing the smaller woman in a brief hug before darting down the hall with Ada in tow. “I owe you one!”

Sif sighed. She was standing all alone in the middle of the hallway.

“Well.” She pushed up her glasses. “Best get to work.”