Glass Back Read online

  Password? Crap. Henric tried to think of possible answers.

  Aquarium? He typed it all lowercase. Incorrect. Maybe it was sealife? He tried again. Incorrect. Was it mermaid? The ringing was started to hurt his ears now. Mermaid was also incorrect. Henric punched the screen but it didn’t damage it. What could it be? His dad was smart, but he was shah simple. There wouldn’t be any numbers or capital letters. He’d forget the password almost as soon as he set it. The password on his phone was literally six zeroes, so this password shouldn’t have been hard to guess.

  Henric decided to give it one more try before trying to smack it with the mallet. He put his own name on the screen, all lowercase. The sirens stopped at once, and the door unlocked and opened up.

  “Welcome, David McCathey. Thanks for signing in.”

  The wall slid back over, concealing the screen and scanner.

  Henric pushed the door open and peered inside. This part of the factory was drastically different from the last area. There were several rows of computers in the middle of the area, most of them looking smashed in or broken. The floor was slightly flooded and littered with shards of glass. Along the right side were tall test tubes that reached the wall, some completely shattered. They must have tested on people too. But why would they? Henric looked to his left and saw the black tubes connecting to another large tank, also extremely dirty. In this one, he could see dead fish floating upside down in the tanks, though a few bottom feeders were eating algae off the glass. He saw one dark fat fish swallow a small dead beta in one gulp.

  This part of the factory wasn’t just one huge area like the one he came from, there were partitions hanging from the rafters separating it into sections. Henric carefully walked over the glass to a computer that like it was working. The screen was on but the keyboard didn’t work. He went along the rows trying each computer. They were either broken or didn’t have anything in the screens, no apps it widgets. He even tried booting them into safe mode, to no avail. Walking past the computers, he kept going until he saw a sign pointing towards the maintenance room past a partition. Henric squeezed through an opening and looked around. There was a door to a maintenance room but there were also a collection of empty test tubes together, surrounding him in the little area he had squeezed into.

  They all looked damaged in some sort, some had fractures along the side and some had black soot on the inside of the glass at the top. The lid to one was completion broken, just hanging on the edge of the glass. There was a weird stench coming from past the tubes and Henric tried to slip between two of them. He put too much pressure on one tube and it cracked, causing him to fall into the dirty water and sending more glass everywhere. Luckily, he was unhurt. He picked himself up out of the disgusting water.

  UGH! How fragile is this crap?

  Once he got his bearings, he found himself staring at another huge tube, this one more like the one Eve could swim to, but it wasn’t connected to a tank system, it sat in the middle of this dark factory floor. It stunk and was dirtier than all the tanks so far combined. Algae and weed growth had taken over the tank, making it almost look like a long, closed terrarium instead of an aquarium.

  He noticed the hatches and seals on the side that enabled it to connect to the other aquariums. They should’ve cleaned this a long time ago. He pinched his nose and looked closer into the tank, trying to see if any creature could survive those type of conditions.

  He squinted and noticed something big. It had scales, but it wasn’t moving. He moved up to see how big it was and froze. The scales stopped and a bloated, rotten human torso continued the rest of the way up.

  4

  Henric backed away from the tube, still staring in shock. Noticing the maintenance room behind it, he walked around the tube, not taking his eyes off it. Reaching the door, he noticed something had already tried to break through it. It was dented and scratched up, almost broken through. Henric, mallet ready, turned the knob and was surprised it actually opened. Why was the door messed up if it was unlocked?

  Opening the door, he immediately sees a big panel on the wall half shut. He opened it and looked at the switches. Instead of actual names there were numbers and letters for the rooms. The map was no help either, so Henric flipped every single one. The light in the room went out and came back on as he switched them. Just like every other computer, the one on the desktop was offline. Worthless. He picked up a flashlight and headed back out the room, staring at the tank again. It was just my mind playing tricks on me, right? There’s nothing in that tube.

  Henric didn’t even believe himself. He cut on the flashlight which was way brighter than he expected it to be and slid it against the glass. Unfortunately, he was right. He could see the silhouette of the mermaid in the glass. He didn’t know why, but he felt sad for the mermaid. He didn’t know her, he couldn’t see her face, he didn’t even know if she had a name. But seeing her, trapped in filth… A creature that amazing deserved better.

  He could still help Eve though. When the power on, her filter should start back working. After that, he’d keep going and find his dad. Going back from where he came he saw how bad the state of the labs was. The whole place had been trashed. Papers, chairs and tables had been thrown all over the place. Henric saw shoes watches even a phone. He picked it up but it wouldn’t turn on. Great, Henric thought, lunging it as far as he could. There’s nothing here but broken machines and bizarre animals.

  He made it back to Eve’s tank and found her laying on her side, poking at the starfish resting on the glass. As soon as she saw him she sat upright and smiled. Then she looked at the filter and noticed it wasn’t on. She frowned and pointed to the filter, which hadn’t turned on.

  Damn. What else do I need to do? Henric walked around the tank and looked at the wall, searching for an on switch. Turning around and seeing the ladder, he gazed up at top of the tank, which seemed like a very long way up.

  “They made this for a reason, and I doubt they were you giving you fish food.” he muttered as he climbed. Eve watched him closely, slowly going up as he went up. He got tired halfway up the stairs and then he made the mistake of looking down.

  “Holy crap!” He closed his eyes and held on for dear life. Why didn’t just make an elevator? He thought. Or an escalator? How did anyone climb up this thing?

  Eve watched him while he rested until something took her attention. She swam away from him right before he opened his eyes.

  “I got this… I got this… I’ll be up there in a moment Eve.” He opened his eyes and noticed she had swum away. He peered between the rungs and saw a bunch of fish swimming through Eve’s tank. She had swam passed them and was holding onto something long and wide.

  Oh my God, it’s a shark!

  Eve was holding the shark’s tail in her right hand and trying to grab the front of it with her left. It thrashed about angrily, trying to chomp off her hand as she wrestled with it. She finally got a hold of it with both hands, clamping its mouth shut. She raised it and bit into its back, right where the dorsal fin was. She left a huge chunk missing out of his back, causing a small spurt of blood to shoot out. The shark’s tail moved feebly, but it didn’t resist anymore. Henric continued to climb up the ladder, not wanting to see what would happen to the rest of the shark. When he finally made it to the top of the platform gasping for air, Eve was done, and she was watching him again.

  There was way more space on top than he first thought. There was a long platform for him to stand on that went all around the tank. In front of him was a dock like area that extended out over the water. Henric looked across the water and Eve raised her head above it. Her skin was greyish and covered in little spots like freckles. Her irises were a pale blue, almost the color of her sclera. She gazed at him intently, unblinking, and he gazed back for what seemed to be an endless amount of time. Then he got to his feet and walked onto the dock. It didn’t wobble like he expected; it was sturdy. He walked all the way to the end before she dipped back under the water.


  “Wait! Come back up!” He yelled, putting his hand in the water and splashing furiously. Eve stuck her index finger up out of the water. Her finger alone was already longer than Henric’s entire body. It wasn’t pruned Henric reached out and rested his palm against her finger. He smiled. Her hand was cold as ice but he didn’t care. Just to physically touch her… This was unbelievable.

  5

  She lowered her hand and her head rose above the water again. Henric turned around and marched towards the filter.

  He opened a square door on the wall and looked at the panels in front of him. At the top was a timer labeled Cleaning Cycle. It read 2:39 and continued to count down.

  So it is working! He thought happily. Her tank will be clean in no time.

  Henric kept looking down the panel. A bunch of things were labeled and had lights next to them.

  The light next to TANK CLEAN was bright green.

  TANK EMPTY was red.

  FILTRATION AREA CLEAR was orange.

  SILVER FILTER CONDUCTORS was flashing green.

  Conductors? He wondered. For What?

  He heard a mechanical whirring sound and turned around. In the corner of each side of the tank there were thick silver poles with holes and lights down the side. Eve approached them with an odd curiosity, as if she had never seen them before. He watched her swim up to one, dazzled by the flashing lights. She reached out to touch it and quickly snatched her hand away as if it had stung her.

  Wait… no.

  Henric looked at the panel again, looking at every label. “This, this can’t be right. This, this huge machine, this should be the filter. What are those other things?” Henric rambled to himself while running around the filter, trying to find something, anything that could help him. He looked down at Eve, who was still clenching her stung hand. Small fish swam around her, unbothered. One unlucky fish also swam into the light pole, and as soon as it did, It jumped back awkwardly, until turning on its side and floating upwards.

  NO!

  Henric ran back to the panel and looked at the timer. 0:39.

  “No,no, no, no, NO!” Henric took his mallet and frantically started destroying the panel, beating through the frame and revealing the wiring behind it. Once the timer hit ten, it beeped with each second, even though he had destroyed the screen.

  9

  “No!”

  8

  “Damn it!”

  7...6...5

  “Please!”

  4...3...2...

  Henric’s body seized up and a tingling sensation spread throughout his limbs. It got warmer and till it burned, and he realized he couldn’t feel his arms. After the final beep a loud alarm blared once, and the water bubbled up. Henric tried to back away from the panel but everything turned black.

  #

  When Henric woke up, he couldn’t move. Everything was blurry and out of focus. His head felt like he had bashed it in with his mallet, the pain was unbearable. Liquid filled his ears and he could hear his heartbeat ringing in his skull. Despite every ounce of his body screaming, he lifted his head and looked around. He couldn’t see much because everything was blurry, but one thing was close enough for him to recognize. The ladder. He must’ve fallen off the tank. How was he alive?

  He saw spots and closed his eyes for a second and took deep breaths.

  For Christ’s sake, it hurts to breathe.

  He opened his eyes and looked down. His left leg we bent at an odd angle. His body was in so much pain he thought everything was broken, but he knew for sure his left leg was, he could see something jutting out. Seeing it made him gag and that movement alone made the world a scarlet blur.

  Oh God. Focus on something else. Anything else.

  Henric stared at the ceiling and thought about the sky. He thought about the sun, the clouds, the stars at night. He thought about the wind, the trees, and playing frisbee with his dad. He didn’t even know if he would see him again.

  Nearby, he heard a banging sound, getting closer and closer.

  I’m hallucinating. Henric thought, trying to ignore the sound. I’m dying.

  The banging continued to get closer and closer until it stopped at his side. He felt a piercingly cold metal slide under his legs and back and suddenly he was being lifted off the ground.

  “AAAHHH!!!!” He saw a million colors as his body howled in agony. He was about black out again but he couldn’t, he had to see what was carrying him. He looked up and saw a dark grey faceless figure, like a mannequin in a mall, but there was a white glow where eyes would normally be. Henric screamed and freaked out, causing the figure to stop moving. Henric thrashed around until the figure dropped him and instantly regretted it. Landing on his leg again took all the strength and resistance he had left. When the robotic figure bent down towards him, he noticed something behind it.

  The lights inside Eve’s tank were off and the red emergency lights were on. The water level was lower than when he was on top of the tank. The glass was still dirty, so the filter thing hadn’t worked. Squinting so his eyes could focus, Henric could see it.

  He could see her.

  Eve was still and unmoving, her back leaning against the glass. Her head was bowed, and she was being surrounded by dozens of tiny fish.

  “Eve.... no” He whispered.

  The figure held his palm up to Henric’s face and sprayed an odorless gas. Within seconds, Henric was fast asleep.

  6

  Henric woke up freezing cold, laying on his back. A bright white light nearly blinding him. He was in a hospital room, and his leg had been set and put in a casket. He felt strangely calm, too calm. Most of the pain was gone, just a little numbness here and there. The figure was sitting at his side, watching him.

  “You’re conscious.” It spoke. Its voice was an awkward blend of monotone and someone’s real voice. It bothered Henric.

  “What are you?” he asked it. It waited a moment before speaking, looking at Henric from head to toe. Henric guessed it must have been scanning him.

  “I am Wireless, a security automaton. I am also designed to help scientists with a variety of tasks. Your dire situation was beyond my basic health protocols. I had to download 117 files to nurse you to recovery. Would you like to know all the drugs and procedures I administered?”

  Henric stared in awe at the machine in front of him.

  “No.” he eventually replied.

  “Understood.”

  They sat in silence for a while, Henric looking at the ceiling while the automaton watched him. Sitting there, it looked like a grey Thinking Man statue.

  “Wireless, where did you come from?”

  “I came from my charging station.”

  Charging station? This thing was battery powered? “And where is that?”

  “Inside this laboratory.”

  Henric rubbed his eyelids and sighed. “Can you be more specific?”

  “Absolutely not. David McCathey has no clearance, and neither would his son.”

  Henric sat up and looked directly at the automaton.

  “You knew my father?!”

  “No.” It replied bluntly. “David McCathey is the last person to use their ID to enter this building in the past two weeks. You are the only person I have encountered in the four hours since the power came on. I presumed that you’d be his son, otherwise I would have terminated you for trespassing.”

  Henric was so deep in thought he didn’t realize the automaton just said it would’ve killed him.

  “Two weeks, you said? Nobody’s entered the facility in two weeks?”

  “Yes.”

  “Has anyone left since then?”

  The automaton got quiet after that question. Was it trying to hold the truth from him or was it searching for an answer?

  “I am uncertain. I was undergoing an update when the power shut down. The update failed and partially deleted my memory.”

  “Of course.” Henric flipped off the covers and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He gingerly tested his f
oot in the cast before standing up.

  “Have you fully recovered?” the automaton asked him.

  Henric turned around. “Why?”

  “I wouldn’t leave unless I was positive you are in a stable condition. I am going to search for my creators.”

  “Why don’t I come with you?”

  “You don’t have the clearance. I would advise you not to follow me in a restricted area. You won’t be walking out of it.”

  Henric rolled his eyes and saw a big red bag with the biohazard label sticking out the trash next to the sink. He grabbed what looked like a nurse outfit and a lab coat from the chair beside him.

  “If that’s the case, I’m fine.”

  “Good. Your father made you well, you know. There aren’t many that could survive that fall. The remaining medications are in that cabinet. You most likely will not require them.”

  Wireless marched out the room before Henric to respond. Henric took a few steps slowly and noticed a pair of crutches leaning against the counter next to a bottle of pain pills and cups. He slid the pills into his pocket and limped towards the door.

  A robot saved my life. Henric thought as he reached the door. He didn’t even know where he was. How did it take him to a hospital?