though, unable to dismiss a bit of present discomfort for future gains. He did not care what happened to the young scientist, but he supposed she would manage to move on to some other grunt job, even if a well-paid one. Meanwhile, he could live out a fantasy, all financed by Dr. Klein’s estate.
He left the office to attend to his tasks. Meanwhile he pictured luxury cruises, yachts, and exotic destinations. He thought about penthouse apartments and beach villas. There would be fine dining, culture and entertainment, and above all – passion. He pictured young women of a dozen different ethnicities and nationalities, all waiting for his embrace.
“I could father a whole new race,” he practically sang to himself. “Maybe I will call them the people of Enrico.” He pictured children, all as handsome and charming as he pictured himself. The superior beings, all fair of face and brilliant, would eventually grow in numbers and spread through the world. I will only be doing the human gene pool a favor.
Perhaps if Pam is still around, I’ll even give her a couple of my offspring. She’s intelligent enough, if a bit blunt and naïve in a sort of corn-fed way. She has an interesting face. Any children we had together would surely be intelligent and handsome enough to please me. She seems like she could be a sturdy mother for my gifts. Maybe next week, after I have sealed this deal, I’ll go mend some bridges with the intern.
With that though in mind, Enrico emerged from Dr. Klein’s office and went out to meet his destiny.
Waking the Dead
Dr. Klein rushed back to Preservation Room 17 immediately after Pam called her. The younger woman noted that the doctor’s hair was now loose and her cheeks looked a bit flushed. Did she and Enrico actually find some quiet corner of the building to make a little romance? Pam remembered that Dr. Klein’s office suite contained a plush sofa. She tried to push the image of the two of them together on Dr. Klein’s office sofa out of her mind.
The older scientist fiddled with some controls for a moment. Then she paced back and forth between the two warming capsules. By that time it was obvious that the mouths had opened. Bubbles streamed out intermittently.
It’s not as regular as breathing, but some exchange of gasses is taking place. In fact the two bodies seemed to be working their mouths in a way that reminded Pam of fish in an aquarium. Repelled and fascinated, Pamela was sure she had seen Mr. Barnes’s hand flutter and Mrs. Bell’s eyelids twitch again. Somehow the bodies had become reanimated though Pam was not ready to go so far as to declare them alive. She certainly saw no evidence that either of them was aware of their surroundings.
Suddenly revived like a goldfish in a tank, wouldn’t their faces betray some emotion?
Enrico entered the room a few minutes later. He still looked immaculate, and every strand of his dark hair had been combed in place. Pamela imagined that his mouth curved up slightly in a self-satisfied grin. He glanced at her dismissively and then focused on his boss as if her face was the only thing worth viewing in the room. He barely even glanced at the suddenly animated corpses. What can he be thinking about to miss that elephant in the room.
“Thanks for coming so quickly, Enrico. We need to move Mr. Barnes and Mrs. Bell to the clinical suite soon,” Dr. Klein said. Her tone conveyed nothing but professional urgency now.
“I am here to serve you, Doctor Klein.” Then he pulled out his phone and called for assistance. In a moment two laboratory technicians wheeled in a pair of shiny steel carts. She had never seen these workers before, but she noticed that they each had their name embroidered on the breast pocket of their light blue work shirts.
The short, stocky, balding man was named George. He made up for the lack of hair on his head with a thick mustache. Pam thought it looked like upper lip hair that her old roommate used to call a porn mustache.
The taller blonde man was named Paul. He was clean shaven and looked about Pam’s own age. She could not be sure, but she thought he tossed her a meaningful glance. Then he seemed to casually flick his eyes from Dr. Klein to Enrico. Pam wondered if he genuinely wanted to chat later or was just here as more bait