Snippet #1517962

Mikhail sat with a leg crossed, watching Andrei with an almost impatient look on his face. It had been nearly seven minutes, and he was still in terrible pain, the tears hadn't stopped yet, if anything they had gotten worse, the only way to compensate for Andrei's lack of being able to express the pain, Mikhail guessed. However, the average time it took for Mikhail's self-made mixture to do it's job was about five minutes. Usually the pain would spike at about the three minute mark, and then slowly decline, but it was only just now spiking for Andrei. This annoyed Mikhail, who had been hoping to be able to move on already to the more 'hands-on' tests. However, the fact that Andrei had lasted this long was something intrigueing. Anyone that lasted five minutes and forty-three seconds had forty percent Alien DNA, and only sixty percent Human DNA. The Alien ratio would slowly rise the longer the Subject was affected, which meant that right now, Mikhail looked at his watch, then quickly executed a series of mathematical formulae in his head, Subject #9001 has forty-seven percent Alien DNA, and only fifty-three percent Human.

Somewhere down the road, Andrei could prove an interesting test subject again, particularly as far as pushing a Subject to the fifty percent mark. According to many theories and experimental formulas, a perfect fifty percent hybrid would be... Mikhail moved past those thoughts, realizing that Andrei's pain had seemed to stop. The tears were still running down his face, but now, his nerve endings and body's cells were no longer under attack. The only thing Subject #9001 could feel now was a dull throbbing, everywhere in his body. "Well, now we can finally move on!" Mikhail declared, as if accusing Andrei of being the one at fault for it taking so long. Mikhail stood, looking at the group of scientists and Lissa, sitting in a chair, eyes shut and ears covered, well, he had seen her doing stranger things. "One of you, go to the supply room and fetch me a kit labeled SS-23." He pointed to the room across the second bridge. "Ah, wait. Maybe two of you should go and get it." He remembered how large the Surgical Supply kits for Lab 23 were.

While his two lackeys were busy doing that, Mikhail leaned over Andrei again, a cold expression on his face, and he removed his surgical mask to reveal his sick grin. "Any complaints? Aches or pains?" All Andrei could even do was narrow his eyes at the mad scientist, pushing more tears out of them. "Good! Wouldn't be much fun if you were enjoying yourself!" Mikhail was genuinely excited now. He always was during this part of the primary testing. The two scientists that were sent to get the SS-23 kit were barely managing to carry it together across the bridge from the supply room. "Hurry up, hurry up." Mikhail droned, "Anyone that wants to see the next phase needs to come here, onto the central platform, now."

Mikhail waited impatiently for everyone to come onto the platform, and then went over to his computer and typed in a command. A tremor coursed through the entire platform, causing many of the scientists to stumble and one of them nearly fell down into the black hole that surrounded the platform. Panels of glass rose up from the edges of the platform, and connected to the edges of the heavy piece of machinery that hung above. The central platform was now completely enclosed. The same female automated voice from earlier came buzzing back to life. "Sterilization; commencing." From both the floor and the machine hanging overhead, a white vapor filled the glass room, completely cleansing the room. "Sterilization; complete." A panel in the floor at the the foot of the expermintation table opened up, and a strange piece of machinery with several arms rose up out of the floor, towering over Andrei, staring at it through his still-wet eyes.

"I bet you're wondering what that is, 9001." Mikhail spoke loudly, drawing all attention to him, his surgical mask back on his face and eyes glinting brightly. "It's called the Zaytsev, named after a Soviet World War II Sniper, Vasily Zaytsev." Mikhail walked over beside the machine, standing nearly twice his height. "Zaytsev is a robot, particularly, a surgical robot. It can perform any type of surgery imaginable, from laser to cosmetic, at pinpoint accuracy, hence the Sniper name." Mikhail let it sink in for a moment, looking around at the other scientists. Having a surgical robot, he never actually needed anyone's help, and there was a drone he could have sent to retrieve the SS-23 kit. But he liked to order them around. "Zaytsev was developed by an old colleague of mine, meant to completely take away the need for human surgeons. My old colleague is dead now." The last sentence was cold and callous, but Andrei didn't notice. He felt a small pang of relief, at least that madman wouldn't be tearing his insides apart. Whatever he was looking for in Andrei's body, the robot could find without a problem, and without causing unnecessary pain.

Maybe Mikhail noticed the look of relief on Andrei's face, or maybe not. Either way, he continued, in his cold tone "We won't be using Zaytsev." Mikhail stood over Andrei, "I'll be doing it myself." What, exactly, was still a mystery to everyone in the room, and the thought scared Andrei even more. "Set down the SS-23 kit right here." Andrei commanded the two scientists, sweating from the exertion. They set it next to the experimentation table, and Mikhail went and leaned against it. "Today, you will all be witnessing a laparotomy, on the entire ventral cavity, in order to visually check on the status of Subject 9001's internal organs. Let's hope we all have strong stomachs." Mikhail smirked deviously under his mask. Andrei's eyes were tightly shut, trying not to panic, hoping he would wake up from this.

Mikhail rolled up the sleeves on his labcoat, then ordered, "Someone remove his shirt." Mikhail simply watched as it was done, and then demanded, "Scalpel!" his hand outstretched to his right, looking at nothing other than Andrei. A scalpel was in his hand in seconds, and then it was on Andrei's chest. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked down in horror at the blade against his skin. Mikhail wasn't even going to put him out beforehand. The scalpel held gently against Andrei's skin, Mikhail pushed down, easily cutting into Subject 9001's linea alba, the small bit of connective tissue that holds together the left and right sides of the chest and the rectus abdominis muscles, more commonly called the 'six-pack'. Mikhail slid the scalpel down Andrei's body, down to just below his umbilicus(belly button), and then pulled the scalpel away, making another incision at the bottom of the first, horizontally this time. Now, Mikhail would be able to pull the entire abdominal section apart, and look directly in on the still conscious Subject 9001's internal organs.

The monitors showed how irregular Andrei's heart and breathing rates were, as well as the sporadic readings of his brain. But no one was looking at the monitors now, Mikhail had peeled back the two halves of Andrei's abdomen, and the scientists could see everything from just under his chest below. One of them almost immediately vomitted, covering his mouth and then diving for a trash can next to Andrei's desk, emptying the contents of his stomach into it. "What, already?" Mikhail sneered at the scientist's weakness. He looked back down at Andrei below him, still conscious, looking down, wide-eyed, at his wide open abdominal cavity. "Still awake? I'm surprised." Mikhail chuckled to himself, then continued with his work. All flesh and muscle was now out of the way, but in order to see the heart and lungs, the thoracic cavity, then the thoracic wall would have to be removed. The thoracic wall consisted of the flesh, skin and muscle above the rib cage, but now there was the fascia, a layer of fibrous tissue surrounding the rib cage like plastic wrap. It was a pallid yellowish color, in contrast to the red, fleshy colors of the organs in Andrei's abdomen. Quite simply, Mikhail slid his scalpel down Andrei's ribcage, then managed to pull of the sinewy substance.

"And... there." Mikhail backed away, a small streak of blood on his surgical mask, scalpel in hand, looking as if he were observing a work of art. Andrei lay there, breathing heavily, eyes looking around wildly in hopes of being saved, or at least being knocked unconscious. The entire front of his body no longer had any skin, muscle, flesh or tissue covering it. The rhythmic pulse of Andrei's lower organs in conflict with the wild up and down of his lungs, underneath the ribcage, seeming to just bend like it was made of rubber bands with his breaths. His heart, visible only from the side, being covered by a thick layer of tissue and the xiphoid process, the bone that the ribs connect to on the chest, beat randomly and at an impossibly high speed. His organs were glistening in the light that shone down from directly above, a slick of blood beginning to cover them all.

"Is this really necessary?" One of the scientists finally protested.

"Yes, it damn well is." Mikhail turned around rapidly, to reveal the streak of blood on his mask, holding the scalpel up high behind him. A small amount of sweat was on his forehead, his hair was a mess. His tone was low and dark, "Is there a problem?"

"N-no." The scientist stammered, backing away into the glass wall.

Mikhail turned back to Andrei, like nothing had happened, then shouted, "Swab!" One of the scientists got him a surgical rag, and placed it in his free hand. Mikhail put it down on Andrei's lower organs, in order to wipe away the blood that was building up on top of them. As soon as the rag touched him, Andrei shuddered, even through the paralysis, and passed out. "Surprising he lasted so long without anesthetics." Mikhail noted aloud, and then wiped down everything, then examined everything closely.

After a few moments, he pushed himself away from the table, set down the scalpel and rag, pulled off his mask and gloves, and said, "All done. Someone stitch him up. Everything's in the kit." He had done the part that interested him, and he was done now. Subject #9001, after recovery, would have to have his abilities tested, and then use in the field would be authorized. Subject #0000 had already had all the previous testing done, while he was unconscious, so the both of them only needed abilities testing and documentization. Mikhail recorded everything onto his personal computer while some other scientist handled putting Andrei back together.