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“H-hello?”
Sans lifted his head off his brother’s shoulder. That...didn’t sound like Doctor. He carefully extracted himself from his brother’s hold and crept closer to the bars that lined the entrance of his cage.
There was a light at the end of the hallway, moving back and forth in a rhythmic scanning pattern. It was strange; there wasn’t any light source in that location that Sans could remember.
“Hello?” the voice called again. It sounded high, hesitant, like Papyrus’s when he asked awkward moral questions.
The light began moving, swaying back and forth as it came closer. Sans watched the floating light curiously. It wasn’t demanding anything, wasn’t causing him any pain, but something told him to hide. He shrugged off the impulse. Where would he hide? Even if there was someplace to hide in the cage (and experience told him there wasn’t), how would he hide a sleeping Papyrus as well?
The light stopped right in front of the bars to his cage. “O-oh! Hello!” the voice said.
Sans just stared. He wasn’t sure what that word meant. He’d heard Doctor say it sometimes when he spoke into the communication box, but he didn’t see any communication box near the light. He couldn’t see anything besides the light at all, actually. It was just a floating rectangle of bright white facing the cage.
“O-oh! S-sorry.” The rectangle was flipped down towards the ground. In the ambient light, Sans made out the shape of a new monster standing behind the rectangle. It was a little taller than he was, though shorter than Doctor. It wasn’t skeleton-shaped, but thicker, like monsters in some of the picture books he had let them see when they were smaller. The monster was Justice-colored and wearing a bone-colored coat, like Doctor usually wore.
“A-are you okay?” the voice asked.
Finally, a question he could answer. “My status is satisfactory,” he said.
“U-um, what?”
Sans repeated himself, his browbone wrinkling in confusion.
“O-okay, that’s, um, a strange way to put it.”
“Why?”
“M-most people s-say something like, ‘I’m fine’ or ‘I’m hurt’ or something like that.”
“That seems inefficient.”
The strange monster blinked. “Um, I...I guess? Maybe? So...who are you?”
“I am Sans the skeleton.”
“N-nice to meet you, S-Sans! I’m A-Alphys.”
Sans wasn’t entirely sure what to do with this information.
“A-are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am not sure where your confusion lies?”
“You really d-don’t act like a-anyone else I’ve e-ever met.”
“That seems logical. Doctor always says I am deficient.”
The Alphys made a face that looked disappointed to Sans. He felt his soul sink. The first monster from Outside he’d ever met, and he’d disappointed it. He cleared his nonexistent throat. “My brother is a great improvement over me, if you would prefer to speak with him instead?”
“O-oh, there’s another one?”
“Yes. We are subjects one and two. I am subject one, my brother is subject two. Doctor made us as tools to assess the strength of the barrier, and ideally to break it in the near future.”
The monster’s eyes widened. “Y-you’re gonna b-break the barrier? Really?”
“If trials follow Doctor’s hypotheses, then yes.”
The Alphys looked down the hallway, nervous. It shifted the rectangle of light so the hallway it came from was illuminated, but there was no movement. After a moment, the Alphys’s attention returned to Sans. “Who is, um, ‘d-doctor?’ Which doctor do you m-mean?”
He cocked his head to the side. “I apologize for my deficiency, but I do not understand your question. Doctor is…” words failed Sans. He tried to recall descriptive words, but it had been so long since he’d seen the books on colors and shapes that his memory was a little fuzzy. He didn’t need to remember which color was ‘yellow’ or ‘red’ when there was much more important information Doctor gave him. “Doctor is...long? Up?” He stretched his hands towards the ceiling, trying to convey meaning through gesture.
“Y-you mean, tall? He’s tall?”
‘Tall’ sounded right to Sans. “Likely. He is also, um, brittle? Not sturdy?” He brought his hands together, palms facing each other.
“Thin, you mean?”
“Perhaps?”
“Skinny, maybe? Is that the word you’re looking for? Not fat?”
“I...am unfamiliar with those words.”
“O-oh. Sorry. Um...do you know wh-what kind of m-monster he is?”
“Naturally, he is a skeleton monster. A real monster, not like Papyrus and I. Oh, are you well?”
The Alphys had taken a step away from the bars and had a hand over its mouth. Sans wasn’t sure what that was meant to accomplish, but when it started shaking its head a moment later he assumed the gesture denoted distress. “Y-you mean Dr. G-Gaster. Dr. Gaster m-made you.”
“I am unfamiliar with those words?”
“O-oh my, it m-makes so much sense. Y-you even talk l-like him.”
He frowned. Of course he spoke like Doctor; Doctor was the only real monster he’d ever come into contact with.
“A-and what d-do you mean, that you and P-Papyrus aren’t m-monsters? Aren’t you a-alive?”
“We are alive. We are tools, not monsters.” Sans wasn’t sure why that comment caused tears to trickle down the sides of the monster’s face. “Are you in pain? I am unsure why you are crying.”
“O-oh, sorry, no. I-I’m f-”
The lab lights came on in a single blinding wave, not the gradual process Sans was used to. The Alphys hissed and covered its eyes. Perhaps it was afraid of light? Or did it know what the lights meant?
The tap-tap-tap of Doctor’s shoes came down the hallway moments later, much faster and heavier than Sans was used to. There was a scrabble as the Alphys attempted to find some hiding place in the hallway, but Sans knew from previous escape attempts that it was no use. One end of the hallway led to the main labs: the experiment rooms, isolation chambers, recovery rooms, and the door Doctor used to access Outside. The other end terminated at a storage room.
There was no way out.
“What do we have here?” a familiar voice asked.
Sans wasn’t sure whether Doctor was referring to Sans or the Alphys, so he remained silent. He did stand at attention next to the bars, though, in case he was needed.
“Subject One, report.”
“The Alphys came down the hallway with a light,” Sans said. “It inquired about my health, and I provided a status update. It then requested an analysis of you. I provided one as best as I could with my deficiency of language.”
“And what was your analysis, Subject One?”
“We concluded that you are tall and thin. Or skinny.”
Doctor made that strange noise he made when he was pleased, so Sans relaxed a little. He was unsure what had pleased Doctor, but sometimes the monster showed emotions he didn’t understand. It was part of being a real monster, he’d been told over and over again.
Doctor looked back down the hallway. “Little Alphys. An intern in our mechanical department. Aberner’s daughter, correct?”
“U-um, y-yes?” Sans heard the Alphys’s voice echo a little, but couldn’t see it.
“Whatever are you doing all the way down here?”
“I-I was curious-”
“I am certain your father has warned you about such things around my lab.”
“W-well, yes, b-but-”
“And you elected to disregard him. I see. Subject One, wake Subject Two. I have a valuable lesson for you both.”
Sans scrambled over to his brother. Papyrus was half-awake already, his sleep disturbed by the light and sound, so getting him upright and presentable was an easy task. Both held out their hands without a fight when Doctor opened the door. The control cuffs were relatively new, implemented after Sans had tried to escape one time too many while Doctor’s back was turned, and he already hated them with a passion.
“Follow me,” Doctor said.
Sans did as he was ordered, but kept glancing at the strange monster. Doctor had the Alphys caught in blue magic. Escape was impossible.
He felt...disappointment? Regret? It was the same way he felt when he failed one of Doctor’s logic tests, like he should have been able to do something but his deficiencies were too great. Had he failed some test from the Alphys? He thought back over their conversation. Perhaps he should have been better at using his descriptive words?
Doctor led them to the examination room and closed the doors. “Stand against the wall and watch,” he ordered. He held the Alphys down with some difficulty, despite the blue magic, but eventually wrenched both its arms and its legs to the table. Sans hadn’t noticed before, but the Alphys had a tail; this Doctor had to tape down, as the examination table didn’t have a restraint for such an appendage. Another length of tape went over its mouth to silence its cries.
Finally, the Alphys was restrained and quiet. “Watch carefully,” Doctor said. “This is what happens when you fail to obey.”
Both watched. Sans could feel Papyrus shifting in confusion, but didn’t dare say anything. He’d explain what happened with the Alphys once they were returned to their cage.
The procedure Doctor used on the Alphys was not very scientifically sound. There were far too many unmitigated risks, from what Sans could see. Perhaps Sans’s deficiencies were preventing him from understanding the procedure, but it looked to him like Doctor merely intended to harm the Alphys instead of using it to better understand anything.
The Alphys began wailing pitifully halfway through the procedure, and Sans’s soul beat in sympathy. Papyrus shuffled closer, apparently affected by the sound as well, and Sans carefully adjusted his hands in his control cuffs so that the back of his hand brushed against the back of his brother’s. It was the most he dared.
“One point of health left,” Doctor said, finally. “You have been a very bad little girl, Alphys. The question now stands: should I let you go, or should I take care of you like the rat you are?”
The Alphys made muffled, distressed sounds. Sans could only guess that it wanted to be released. That’s what he would want, anyways.
“Oh? You wish to contribute your body to science? A noble endeavor, my dear, but I am afraid I have nothing to learn from you. You see, I performed as many experiments as I dared on monsters before creating my tools. It is...frowned upon Outside to experiment on the living, you see. The ignorant fools fail to understand my higher purpose.” Doctor walked slowly around the table. “In short, Alphys, you are useless. Well? Anything to say?”
The Alphys was crying again.
“Very well.” A single bone appeared in Doctor’s hand, which he used to give the Alphys a single firm tap on the head. Immediately it stiffened, sobbed once, then dissolved into a cloud of grey-white dust.
Doctor retrieved his communication box and pushed some buttons. After a moment, he spoke. “Hello. Yes. Doctor Aberner, correct? I regret to inform you that your daughter, Alphys, snuck into my private lab while I was away. I found her playing with some very dangerous tools. ...No. I made my way back to the lab as soon as I was alerted of a foreign presence, but I fear my appearance must have startled her. I could retrieve nothing but dust...and her clothing, of course, if you wish it.
“Oh, naturally, I will return it to you. My condolences to your family. I only wish she had not gotten involved in such things. Do you know how she could have come to be down here? No, I understand. The investigation can wait, of course, until you have a chance to mourn. I am certain the security team has tapes; there is no need to trouble you or your family unless some kind of foul play shows up.
“Very well. No, I fear I am still in shock myself; I have not had the opportunity to collect it. No, you may not come down here. I am blocking off this lab until further notice; I would hate to have a repeat of this...tragedy. Yes, you may meet me in the first floor lobby. It may take me some time to collect myself, but I shall meet you there as soon as possible.”
He pushed another button on the communication box, then looked over the brothers. “A real monster lost her life today because she was not obedient to the orders she was given. Do not think for one moment that either of you are any better than she was. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Subject One, since you gave me a clear analysis of the situation, I will grant you a reward. What is your request?”
Sans could feel his brother’s eyes on his face, making it hard to think. He wasn’t used to this...choice. It was confusing. What was the right answer? What was the wrong one? What would happen if he failed this test?
“I request information on shapes and colors,” he said, finally, “So that I may be less deficient in those areas.”
Doctor’s eyes widened, and Sans sensed that he’d taken the monster by surprise. It was a heady feeling, like he’d gained some kind of hold. It only lasted a moment. “I...well. Very well. I shall compile the information for you and will provide it to you in the near future. I shall be busy over the next few days, however. Both of you, come with me; I must give you food rations to last until I am next able to come down here.”
Both brothers were laden down: Papyrus with water bottles, Sans with food ration bars. It was hard to hold onto so many of them with the control cuffs on, but they didn’t dare drop anything.
“You must ration them carefully. If you eat and drink all your supplies in one day, you may die before I am able to return. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” they replied.
“Very well. Back to your cage, now. I shall clean up this...mess.”
The brothers followed. Doctor grabbed a few books - treats he usually reserved for the recovery room - from his desk as they passed, and placed them on the single table in the brothers’ cage, along with the magic-fuelled lantern he gave them when he disappeared for long periods of time.
“Do not destroy these,” he said. “I shall return as soon as I am able. Until then...well. Do try not to kill each other.”
He left, footsteps tap-tap-tap- ing back down the hallway, and the lab went dark.
Sans sat, still and quiet, for a long moment. He felt very conflicted about what had just happened. It had been interesting to talk with a monster from Outside, and he regretted not using the opportunity to ask more questions. On the other hand...the Alphys had apparently been disobeying someone. Doctor said that the Alphys had been warned not to come down to the lab, which made sense; being in the lab usually meant being hurt. Doctor was the only one who could move through the lab without pain, but that was because he was the one performing experiments.
The Alphys...didn’t perform experiments at all. It had asked strange questions, using words Sans didn’t know or could barely remember. Did all monsters in Outside talk like that? It was hard to imagine such a place.
“BROTHER,” Papyrus said, finally. “I AM HUNGRY.”
Sans made his way over to the table on memory, then felt around for the lamp. A brief flare of magic ignited the lamp and allowed them to see their supplies.
“I think we should only eat our usual rations,” Sans said. “We do not want to run out of food before Doctor comes back.”
“THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE! I AM HUNGRY NOW!”
He looked over their rations, counting the food bars. “We can each eat one now,” he concluded. “We will eat one ration bar for the lights-on meal and the lights-off meal. Two ration bars for each of us every day will last us...four days. If Doctor does not return within three days, we will go down to one ration bar each day. Is that acceptable?”
“WELL…”
“If you have a better ration plan, please present it.”
“NO, THAT IS ACCEPTABLE.”
Sans smiled and passed a ration bar to his brother. They ate in silence, thinking.
“BROTHER, WHAT WAS THAT CREATURE? WAS IT A MONSTER, OR ANOTHER TOOL?”
“It was a monster from Outside. It called itself the Alphys.”
“THE ALPHYS? I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING. WAS IT LIKE THE FLUFFY BUNNY?”
“I...am unsure? It did not look like the Fluffy Bunny.”
“YOU ARE CORRECT.” There was a pause as Papyrus disposed of their food ration wrappers. “WHY DID YOU REQUEST INFORMATION ON SHAPES AND COLORS?”
“The Alphys spoke of those things like they were ordinary. It appeared distressed that I was unable to find the right descriptive words. I wish to correct that deficiency.”
“IN CASE WE CAN GO TO OUTSIDE SOMEDAY?”
Sans looked around. He was pretty sure Doctor wasn’t listening, but he couldn’t be too careful. “...Yes. It is bad enough that I am the deficient tool; I do not want to be deficient in language.”
Papyrus hummed. “WILL YOU LET ME SEE THE INFORMATION AS WELL?”
“Of course! You will probably remember it better than I will.”
“THIS IS TRUE. NOW, CAN WE GO TO BED?”
“Yes. Have good dreams, Papyrus.”
“HAVE GOOD DREAMS, SANS.”
The light went out.