Chapter Text
Carlos arrived at the tall, dark building with windows on all levels except the top one exactly on time. The company was called “Strexcorp”. Carlos had never heard it before. The instructions of the job offer were very precise. He was to tell his family he was taking a job in South Korea, teaching STEM subjects to children in local orphanages for an indefinite amount of time, when in reality he was only an hour’s drive from where his parents lived, and his task was much less noble. Carlos didn’t actually tell them anything, because hearing from him for the first time in years just to say he was leaving the country would likely have just concerned them more than necessary.
Carlos had never grown up thinking it would be cool to be a scientist for illegal and often inhumane projects, and abandoning the family he cared so much for. As a kid he had actually dreamed of being a marine biologist and saving wounded dolphins, octopi and sea turtles. Then one friend one time said he had work, but it was “shady”, and Carlos had been too poor and too desperate to uphold his morals. Now, years later, he still didn’t have much of a choice but to take whatever questionable jobs were graciously tossed his way. Very few people left the business he was in.
Carlos was always known for being on time. Punctuality meant predictability, and if it was predictable, it was easy to understand. Half of science was predicting what would happen. He walked into the building in typical work clothing. He was issued a black lab coat and an ID badge with clearance levels 1, 2, and 15. There were fifteen floors on the building, so Carlos deduced that the numbers were the floors he was permitted to be on. He judged by the way that the top floor had no windows that were visible from outside that floor 15 was going to be his primary work environment. A look at the sign informed him that floor 1 held a cafeteria, the front desk, and several offices that did not matter to him. Floor 2 was his bosses’ offices, his subordinates’ offices, and his office. He was fine with never knowing what was on the other floors. Based on his task, he assumed he didn’t want to know.
He went up to floor 2 to meet with the other people working on his team. He found that he had two people above him on the corporate ladder that he was actually allowed to know about, Lauren and Kevin. They looked almost exactly alike, both with reddish-brown hair and eyes the color of uncut diamonds that cut through Carlos’s soul. He was uncomfortable looking at them, but he assumed that meant they were in the right line of work. He realized quickly by talking to them that Kevin was the optimist of the pair, and Lauren was more of a realist. He saw on their office doors the same last name. Normally that would lead him to assume spouses, but since they looked as close to identical as opposite-sex people can be, he presumed siblings.
“I assume you read all of the information distributed to you on Subject NV01?” Lauren asked him after she outlined the little things you need to know for any job, especially the legal ones.
“Yes, but I still don’t feel very adequately informed.” Carlos expressed his concern. “The file had a blurry picture that really just looked like a flash of blue light coming from a corner, and several copies of death certificates of people the subject has killed. Has he really killed that many scientists?”
“Dr. Científico, we do not use gender pronouns when discussing the Subject, because we feel it humanizes NV01. The Subject has, in fact, slaughtered that many scientists, and maimed many more. The file was very thorough. Anything else you need to know will come straight from either me or Kevin.” Lauren explained sternly.
“Oh, my apologies. I suppose what I’m the most concerned about is, what is my job in relation to Subject NV01?” Carlos asked, trying his best to sound professional and intelligent. They were withholding what seemed to be vital details, even more than was customary in other jobs Carlos took.
“Eventually, we would like you to take measurements and do biological studies on the Subject’s anatomy and biology, but you see, Doctor… NV01 does not respond well to observation.” Kevin elaborated pleasantly.
“What do you mean?”
“Getting the subject to stay docile long enough to take biological samples has proven difficult,” He paused. “Also, if you could get a solid picture of the subject while it is in it’s threatening form, that would be excellent. Just in case you’re not successful. But I’m sure you will be!”
“Threatening form?” Carlos questioned. What had he gotten himself into this time?
“It’s best if you see that aspect of the Subject for yourself.” He smiled worryingly. Carlos requested if he could go up and feed or even meet the Subject right then, and they said that’d be a great idea. If the Subject didn’t immediately slaughter him when he went up there, then he could come down later and meet the assistants he was welcome to use. They handed him a giant chunk of meat on a bone, like what you would see in a cartoon. Carlos didn’t have the guts to ask what animal it was from. The risk involved in this position was mildly concerning, since it didn’t seem like anyone expected him to come down that elevator alive, but he didn’t have much to lose. He headed up to floor 15 and took a deep breath before stepping out of the elevator. There was a hallway with no doors except one at the very end of the hall. Carlos thought this was an exceptional waste of space, but he figured no one wanted anything to do with the floor that the Subject was on. He used his security badge clipped to his coat to unlock the door. “Carlos Científico” the door read out loud before the light changed to green and Carlos turned the handle. The room had a large tank on one side of the room that connected to what looked like it could be a zoo habitat for sea lions. The tank’s sides, separated by a glass wall (the entire habitat was glass, but about 2 feet thick, and reinforced) came up to the ceiling, which was about twelve feet tall. The entire left half was filled to the ceiling with water. The right half had a tan, flat rock that took up most of the floor, with a little bit of water at the bottom. It looked like the Subject was moved between the two for different methods of studying. On the side of the right half was a very reinforced metal door that opened into hallway that revealed another very reinforced door to prevent the thing from getting out.
Carlos had walked into this with very little description of what he would be managing. He was told it was semiaquatic, and could breathe underwater and on land. He was told its central body was about six and a half feet tall/long, depending on how you looked at it, with bilateral symmetry. He was also told there were tentacles, but not how many or how large. He was told that other than the tentacles and some skin discoloration, Subject NV01 appeared… human. Even with that warning, Carlos was expecting a monster, something that looked human in the way that TV zombies looked human. This… thing… had killed a lot of people. It was a monster. But… it didn’t look like one. Carlos had never been one to take other people’s descriptions as fact before getting to know someone himself, but how could the subject look so normal, and be so evil?
The subject was facing away from Carlos on the rock side. Its tentacles lied flat out on the rocks next to it. Three on each side of his back, each one thicker at the base than the rest. It had dry, scraggly looking light hair, lighter even than bleached hair- it was a pure white. The hair was at a curious length- short enough where it seemed like, at one point in time, it had been cut. The dryness led Carlos to believe it had been on the land side for a while. When Carlos shut the door behind him, the Subject became alert, throwing its six tentacles around its body, shielding itself from prying eyes. Carlos approached the glass. He saw that the Subject was quivering. Carlos imagined it needed water or sunlight to maintain its preferred body heat. He wondered if NV01 was warm or cold-blooded. He hypothesized that it was warm-blooded, but further observation was needed.
Carlos walked over to the two-door system of getting in. He got through the first door and stayed there a moment. The Subject, nearly covered by its thick tentacles, used the two on either side of its lower back to move its body to the opposite side, near the glass that separated the water half. Carlos took this as an invitation to open the second door, though it most certainly was not intended as one. He walked in and closed the door behind him. The door only opened again if Carlos said his name out loud, and he had been informed that the Subject was non-verbal in all sorts.
“Hello.” Carlos greeted. He felt incredibly nervous, because this thing had a hundred different ways to kill him and was likely only hesitating to decide which one, and they both knew it. “I’m Dr. Científico.” He gulped. “Or, you know, just Carlos. I’m not here to be antagonistic.” Carlos just prayed to a smiling god that his tone of voice came across as unthreatening enough. “I just came to give you some food.”
The Subject turned its head at this, just enough to look. Carlos set the meat down on the ground equidistance between them. NV01 rotated around using the bottom two tentacles to face Carlos, and he got a good look. The Subject had a human face, and human torso, and human legs. Even human arms. That was ten limbs total. Its complexion was typical of Caribbean natives or islanders, though its human features could not be pinned down to any race or ethnicity. The subject glared at the meat, but Carlos’s eyes were trained on the Subject. He- it, Carlos scolded himself- was objectively, by human standards, attractive. Symmetrical face, large eyes, a strong jaw… the tentacles and murderous reputation were certainly off putting, but Carlos was not so easily deterred by a creature of nature, no matter how freakish. That wasn’t to say that he was attracted to the Subject, only that he was slightly entranced. The tentacles were dark, dark blue. More like black, but with glimmers of blue and purple in the light. Carlos wasn’t close enough to see its eyes. He wondered why it wasn’t going for the food.
Then, it did. The Subject reached out with one tentacle and brought the slab of meat into its lap. Carlos noticed that no matter what it did, it always kept two tentacles, the middle ones, over its crotch area. It seemed to have human ideals of modesty. Carlos wondered if that meant it had human genitalia. Its sex was listed as male on the documents, though gender pronouns were strictly discouraged, so… another hypothesis to determine. Its torso was not exceptionally muscular, but it had broad shoulders. All of its ribs were visible, even from ten feet away. The subject held up the meat, and Carlos thought he was going to get to watch it feed, when it brought down the meat like a hammer and slammed Carlos against the back wall of the tank. He hit his head hard against the thick glass. Carlos felt dizzy, and he struggled to stand back up. He remained calm, though he was seeing stars, and was very concerned that he was concussed.
“Uhhnn,” Carlos groaned, rubbing his head for a sign of a protrusion. He seemed fine, physically speaking. “Alright. I understand you don’t like me or my kind, but I’m only trying to help.”
The Subject then scowled at Carlos, and used what seemed like teeth on the bottom of a tentacle to bite off a tiny piece of the meat, like a taste. It held the piece up to its mouth, sniffed it, and threw it back at Carlos’s feet. Carlos didn’t understand. The creature wasn’t eating it. Maybe it just wasn’t eating out of rebellion for being trapped. That was probably it, and also explained the very visible ribs. Carlos picked up the uneaten meat and walked over to the door, clearly enunciated his name into it, and left the tank without incident.
“I’ll likely be back later today.” He told it through the glass. He wasn’t sure if the glass was soundproof, but if it was, at least NV01 saw him speaking. He left the meat on a metal desk near the door.
Carlos went down the elevator to floor two. Everyone was having a conference room meeting. When he walked in, they all looked surprised.
“Dr. Científico? You fed Subject NV01?” Kevin gaped.
“I did. Well, I attempted to. It didn’t give me much trouble, but it didn’t eat either.” He felt a warm liquid drip down his forehead. He touched it, and his fingers came back red. He didn’t even notice the blood the first time he checked. Lauren rushed to the office and came back with a clump of tissues.
“You didn’t even take the discipline button.” She commented, impressed.
“No one told me there was a discipline button,” Carlos replied, beginning to feel incredulous at the lack of information he was being given, and wondering how many of those deaths linked to the subject had, at least in part, been due to negligence.
“Whoops,” She shrugged, not sounding very apologetic.
In the conference room, all the assistants who were allowed to be in there, Lauren and Kevin, and two other guys who looked the same age as Carlos sat around the table. The two other guys were introduced to him as Steve and John, who had only been there for a week before Carlos arrived. Steve had dark skin and short, kept hair. He wore a pale green button down under his black lab coat. John had lighter hair, and more light-medium skin. Steve gave Carlos a weak smile, but John just nodded when they were introduced. Carlos was told that they had the same job as him, to feed and gain the trust of NV01. He supposed they had three of them because the likelihood of at least one of them being successful was more appealing. Neither John nor Steve had been up to feed NV01 yet, though. It led Carlos to believe that neither of them ever planned on doing so. The meeting was a discussion on what the next steps to be taken were. He found out the discipline button is like a panic button, and if pressed, the rocks and walls become electrified. It was intended to make the creature leave them alone, and since they’re required to wear rubber sole shoes, it wouldn’t affect them. Carlos grumbled that such a device would have been nice to have while he was literally in the cage with it, though he knew he wouldn’t have used it unless his life was directly at stake.
“Today’s meeting is to be a brainstorming session. Everyone, just throw out your ideas on how we can get this thing to do what we want and figure out why it is the way it is.” Lauren informed.
“Why don’t we just drug it?” Steve asked. “A simple tranquilizer could be less painful for everyone involved.”
“Steve, we’ve tried to pump that thing upstairs full of so many chemicals, its bloodstream looks like the goddamn periodic table.” Lauren replied stoically. Steve nodded; if he was bothered by her harsh tone, he didn’t show it.
“Why do we even need it alive?” John spoke up.
“We need to monitor its patterns and such while it is alive. It is worth far more to us scientifically and financially if whatever it uses to breathe still does exactly that.” Kevin smiled.
“Is there another of the same kind anywhere? Possibly a more willing participant?” Steve offered. Kevin and Lauren shared a glance.
“This is the only creature of its kind we know of.” They agreed firmly.
“I think I can get what we need. Creatures get attached to what feeds them, so if the same person feeds it for every meal and shares a bond with it, then it will feel comfortable with them,” Carlos explained his idea.
“What, so who do you suggest puts their life at risk, pretty boy?” John smirked. Carlos was confused by the “pretty boy” comment.
“Me. I thought that was obvious. I want to do it.”
“Dr. Científico, you must remain professional. The Subject is just that, a subject. You cannot think it will want to be your friend no matter how much you feed it and speak to it. NV01 doesn’t even have any language skills.” Lauren warned.
“I understand. I simply hypothesize that repetition and soothing tones of voice could relax NV01, and once it is relaxed, I can take measurements and the like without it being hostile,” Carlos continued explaining. Lauren and Kevin nodded. And like that, Carlos was the only one with actual work to do until he could get some data for the others to analyze. Eventually it came time to attempt to feed NV01 again, and Lauren gave him the discipline button. Carlos thanked her, but still did not plan on using it unless he was seconds from death. The Subject could not trust him and fear him.
Carlos went back to floor 15 and stood in front of the glass. The Subject was sitting in the same place as before, but now facing the water side with its forehead against the glass and its knees pulled up to its chest. Carlos stood as close as he could to it through the glass, holding the meat. If the Subject would open its eyes, Carlos would have been about to see what color they were. The Subject had light brown eyelashes and thick, furry brows. It had coral colored lips and accented cheekbones. Carlos attributed the cheekbones to both whatever was making its ribs show as well as genetics. Carlos admired that no matter how cruel the creature was, it was still a magnificent and beautiful being of nature. Carlos could feel its eyes on him when he turned around and set the discipline button on the floor. He went through the 2-door process and walked into the tank. NV01 turned around, still covering its crotch, and used the top right tentacle to point at the button through the glass. Carlos was amazed that it had abilities beyond eating and violence. The creature pointed again more vigorously.
“That button is to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you,” Carlos stated calmly, hoping his tone would affect how he was perceived. Somehow, he felt that NV01 understood what he was saying. He wondered just how complex NV01’s communication skills actually were, and if he was the first person to ever learn that those skills existed.
Carlos put the meat between them again, just like before, only this time he sat down on the rock. “I decided you might want some company while you ate this time.”
The Subject glared at him warily, but not angrily. Carlos was encouraged. He didn’t know if whatever species NV01 was was a social one, but it couldn’t hurt to try. He realized immediately after he had the thought that it certainly could hurt to try, since this thing could kill him if he made any move it didn’t like, but still. Carlos felt he had nothing to lose. He began describing himself to have something to fill the silence.
“Like I said, I’m Carlos. Feeding you is my new job. I’m thirty-four years old. I have a nice mother, though not nice enough to support me after I got out of college, and a younger sister. She’s twelve now, but I haven’t seen her in about three years. She’s a lot younger than me, because we have different dads. My dad died when I was a kid. My mom was sixteen when she had me, so she’s still younger than most of my peers’ parents.” It was strange, but at the mention of his twelve year old sister, NV01 looked up with intrigue, though not exactly making eye contact. Carlos couldn’t imagine why. The subject still hadn’t taken the meat.
“I like science a lot. When I was little, I wanted to study ocean creatures. Like dolphins, turtles, octopi.” Carlos chuckled lightly. “Maybe even like yourself.” NV01 recoiled at that last part. “You don’t want to be studied?” The creature took the meat and began nibbling on it.
“Do you understand me at all?” Carlos asked, not expecting a concrete answer.
The Subject stopped looking at the meat and slowly looked up and met Carlos’s eyes for the first time. Something like a shock went up Carlos’s spine in the form of a shiver as their eyes clicked together. The experience caught Carlos completely off guard; he felt magnetically connected to the pupils across from him. The whole action was so sentient, so human, that Carlos lost all train of thought. It extended out that middle-right tentacle towards him and laid it out by Carlos’s feet.
“You’re trying to communicate.” It wasn’t a question. “Can I… can I touch you?” The creature did nothing. Carlos so-so-delicately, barely even grazed the tip of the tentacle with his hand, but NV01 jerked it away and whacked Carlos upside the head with it yet again making him see stars, but not as badly as the first time. “Okay. I deserved that. Moving too fast,” He said once he recovered. “I know its a lot to assume that you actually understand my words, but I’m going with- nothing means no, and moving means yes.” NV01 tapped Carlos’s foot with the tentacle. Carlos’s heart raced. He had-possibly- established communication with the non-verbal subject. The Subject continued to eat in tiny bites. It took him about two hours to eat the entire thing. Carlos just continued to chatter away about his life, and NV01 seemed to listen.
“I haven’t stayed in one place for a long time. I’ve done jobs that last a couple of months, then moved to the next city.” He paused.
The Subject wasn’t looking at him anymore, just focusing on slowly, nibble by nibble, eliminating the meat.
“This is the closest I’ve been to home in a while. Home, meaning, where I grew up, and where my mother and sister live.” A deep breath from Carlos. “I just left one day. I wrote some lame note, about how I needed to find myself, but that wasn’t why I left.” Carlos didn’t understand why he was pouring out his soul to this creature that probably understood no more than tones and body language, but he didn’t stop. It felt like he was establishing trust by just sitting, unarmed, and almost entirely unafraid.
There was a whirring sound from the door that lead out to the elevator, and in came John and Steve.
“Oh, Dr. Científico, we were sure you were dead.” Steve sighed with relief.
“Please, call me Carlos.” Carlos insisted.
“Científico, how are you supposed to press the discipline button if you’re sitting on the rock?” John said like it was obvious. Carlos supposed it was obvious, and he knew he was breaking protocol, but he didn’t care. Risks were necessary for the sake of scientific discovery.
“I didn’t need it.” Carlos motioned for the button, still on the floor in front of the tank.
“Doctor, this is grossly irresponsible. You are in an enclosed space with a dangerous and hostile creature. Do you really think this company needs any more deaths drawing attention to them?” John scolded.
“John, do I look like I’m in danger?” Carlos casually waved. John gaped like, yes, he did, but Carlos was fine. Carlos figured the best way to earn the trust of NV01 was to pretend to trust him first, even if he was absolutely terrified. Nonetheless, he left the tank for the last time of the day and walked back to the elevator with Steve and John. They all went to floor 2 and sat in the conference room, just to hang out until work got out not too much later, since they still didn’t have any samples to analyze.
“So, what would you guys do if it wasn’t all this?” Carlos motioned to indicate all this . Befriending the two people who shared a similar job couldn’t be the worst thing. If he was going to be in the same place long enough to unlock all the mysterious of Subject NV01, it would be nice to talk to someone who could actually talk back.
“I’d do something in agriculture. That life always appealed to me.” John sighed. Carlos could only imagine the tragic reasons he was doing this instead.
“I dunno,” Steve grumbled. “Probably teach high school, settle down and start a family. I’ve always liked kids.” Carlos found that surprising. Something about Steve seemed so kind, which made it hard to believe he ended up in a place like this. Carlos passively wished the cards could’ve lined up the right way so that Steve would have gotten to teach.
The lot of them just chatted about work and simple stuff colleagues talk about before Kevin and Lauren came in.
“How was the second attempt at feeding?” Kevin asked cheerfully. Carlos was absently doodling a tentacle in his scientific notes.
“It was great.” Carlos smiled back, more out of a human mirroring instinct than true feeling. “No complications whatsoever.” Carlos looked at John. If John wanted to tell their bosses that Carlos didn't bring the discipline button into the tank and possibly get him into trouble, he wasn’t going to do it right then.
Eventually the day finished up. Carlos was just hanging up his black lab coat when Steve tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hey, do you want to go grab a beer?” He asked with a genuine smile.
“Yeah. That sounds great.” Carlos grinned back.