Pseudo Life by Schitz Wolfie
> I really wish I could explain myself better than this... I mean, my memories are more than a little distorted. Mostly everything I'm writing here is what I could piece together from the video feeds and security tapes that recorded things before I woke up... <
Katie shifted a little on the floor, pausing from her typing as the words dimly lit the black screen... the screen looking just as empty as she felt at the moment. Sighing, she looked over the scraps of paper that were tacked to the wall, stained with water marks from how they were brought in, the ink smeared all over the pages... one of the problems with living in a semi-liquid state all the time. All over the walls were scribbled notes and pictures of her... birth, as she called it. But trying to get the words typed into the file was proving a lot harder than she had thought it would be.
The room was only lit by the soft glow from the laptop, not so much of a room as it was a storage garage... one of those rental places where people lock up their things so that they can stay somewhere out of sight and be forgotten about. It was mostly empty, plenty of room to crawl around, and pretty easy to slither under the garage doors if you could puddle down to the thickness of a sheet of water... getting the laptop in was harder, but not impossible. It wasn't much, but it was home for the moment; a place to be by herself, away from everyone else. Looking back at the screen, she started thinking about what to type, her memories blurring as she pictured what she thought had happened.
***
The lab was a place called NeuroTech, a fairly large facility specializing in odd technology... brainwave templating and modifications, electronic stimulators for mood enhancement, direct linking from computers to the nervous system. Due to the nature of most of their experiments and projects, NeuroTech had a lot of military contracts... and access to a lot of top secret materials. One of the projects that a small division was working on revolved around a puddle of silvery material... completely liquid, but in a constant state of flux, shifting its shape and solidity every few seconds. The details of where it was discovered were sketchy, but it was assumed by the government to be extraterrestrial in origin.
Dr. Patricia Casseo was the lab's top scientist, and she spent hour after hour performing tests on the 'moontear', as the silver stuff had been nicknamed. It had taken her months of work, diluting and mixing chemicals with the moontear, and making rather large holes in the tables as various attempts ate through the metal... but she was finally onto something. Rb00853-fl203xl, a chemical mix that was stable enough to exist as a puddle of goo, keeping its state in a fixed pattern. The substance looked like a blue liquid in its glass beaker, but when it came into physical contact with any other material, it would spring to activity, slowly gelling into a copy of the object that it was touching for as long as it remained in contact. If a small current of electricity was applied to the gel, it would retain that shape for a period of time relative to the duration of the charge... roughly keeping the same density of the object as well, soft and flexible against thin materials, or a hard, tough rubber when mimicking hard surfaces.
Dr. Casseo was a tall, thin woman, long black hair flowing
down over her shoulders... not bad to look at as far as scientists go. She
walked into the lab one morning, smiling at the prospects of the demonstration
that she was going to be giving at the
"Mornin' Dr. Casseo... just finishing up. I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes..." Edgar blurted out as she came into the room, quickly dropping the Egyptian statue that he had been fondling back on the desk... a tiny 8 inch stone carving of Anubis. Patricia sighed; she hated it when Edgar was playing with her things, the statues in particular, but she was in too good of a mood to really give him a hard time.
"It's ok, Edgar, just finish cleaning, I have to run a few tests right now anyway." Walking past her desk, going right to the locked specimen cabinet... taking the flask of blue ooze out onto the table. Edgar watched, always a little too curious about what she did... always a little too curious about her... thoughts of him being together with her always flooding through his mind whenever he got this close. His hands were sweating as he placed the statue back in its proper position.
Patricia set the flask on the counter, as she walked over to a locker, pulling out a mannequin wearing a thin vest... placing it on the counter as well. Taking the flask in her hand, she poured the goo over the vest… and instantly the ooze gelled out, twisting with slight gurgling sounds as it stretched and melded itself into a copy of the material, complete down to the ridges in the pockets. A small tazer in her hand, she jolted the substance, electricity arcing softly over the surface as the blue gel rippled, hardening and solidifying. Edgar watched with amazement, not knowing just what was going on... "Wha... what is that?"
Patricia sighed, not even looking at him, "It's my project, Edgar... it's complicated and it involves a lot of math, and I don't have time to explain it right now." Edgar continued whining, "But I just want to know what it does..." Patricia sighed harder, knowing that he'd just be a pest until he got a better answer. "It's an experiment that copies the last thing it touches. It stays that way when it gets jolted. Now please, let me work." Edgar said nothing else for a few minutes, staring at the copied vest... getting a very dirty thought in his mind... "Could that thing... copy people?" he stammered out. "I suppose so, but what good would that do... and why are you still here?" Patricia snapped at him, getting very annoyed that he wasn't leaving her alone. Edgar quickly finished gathering up his supplies, having been actually finished over an hour ago, and walked slowly out of the room.
Patricia sighed as the familiar nervous tingle crept up her spine as he left; something about Edgar just made her nervous. But she shook herself out of it; there was too much work to do today. Lining up the mannequin onto a bolted down stand in a set up corridor, she smiled... walking back to pick up a pneumatic handgun locked under the counter, bolting it down to a testing post, and hooking up the air lines and cables. One last test run before the meeting, she thought, as she typed at the computer, setting up the air pressure to fire a high speed shard of sharpened metal at the pseudo-vest. The gun fired as soon as the pressure jumped up to the desired amount, the shell streaking through the air, impacting itself into the vest... bouncing down to the floor after failing to even scratch the hard rubber, much less penetrate.
Patricia smiled again...
***
Later that day, the meeting completed, and the military brass quite pleased with the results, Patricia sat at her desk, the flask of goo resting next to her as she typed notes into the computer. Rb00853-fl203xl was still in it's preliminary stage, but the final plan was to have an evolved version of the material that could have multiple states stored into it's genetic makeup, maybe looking like a watch around a soldier's wrist until a suit or armor was needed, being able to hold each shape for as long as was desired... a fully portable, easily concealed, readily available, multi-purpose personal defense system. The military execs had been amazed at the results so far, and were eagerly awaiting the details of the substance, Patricia was still typing, completely lost in her work as usual when Edgar walked into the lab, the night shift beginning. She didn't notice as he quietly crept up behind her, watching over her shoulder... stepping so close that he could almost touch her. Patricia got a sudden chill, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up... suddenly feeling nervous... she stretched her arms over her head, rubbing at the back of her hairline as she tried to shake off the feeling... only to feel someone suddenly grasping their hands around her wrists. Jumping in her chair and making a shriek, she turned her head... to see Edgar standing behind her, holding her. Squirming in his hands, she yelled, "Edgar!!! What in the hell do you think you're doing??? Let me go!!!"
Edgar had a strange look in his eyes... and he wasn't listening... it wasn't rape if it wasn't her... if it was just a copy... not even real. He pulled her in her chair, rolling her back over to the wall... grasping both of her struggling wrists in his left hand as he fumbled with a roll of duct tape in his other, pinching the roll in his legs as he pulled a long piece out, taping over her screaming mouth... and then wrapping the tape in tight bands around her, confining her sobbing body to the chair. He knew that there would be consequences... he'd probably lose his job... but it was the only way he'd ever get to touch her... the thought had been running through his head all day. Ignoring her muffled screams and her writhing, he walked over to the desk, grabbing the flask of ooze. "It just has to touch you, and then I just have to zap it..." his words trailed off as Patricia suddenly realized just what he was planning... scared for her life, and for her work, she trembled in her constraints as she watched Edgar walk back.
Edgar tilted the flask, pouring the gel out onto her skin exposed on her wrist. The substance immediately stretched into activity, molding and rippling out, fingers poking out of it's hands, smooth rubbery skin stretching up into arms... shoulders... breasts. Edgar was getting hard as he stared at the stuff, his pants bulging as the naked copy of Dr. Casseo melted into existence in front of him... his fingers fumbling through his pockets as he pulled out a small tazer that he had stolen before he left the previous morning. The copy was forming legs now... perfect in every detail except for the color, the light blue gel maintaining it's monotone hue as it mimicked Patricia's features... her face... her hair... her... Edgar was breathing harder and harder as it sat on the floor, still attached to the real Patricia's wrist. When it looked like the gel had stopped moving and molding... just sitting there... Edgar reached down, turning the tazer between its... her breasts... and gave her a long jolt of electricity. Arcs of crackling power rolled over the skin, zapping the real Patricia as well, her trembling scared body shaking as she fell into unconsciousness.
Edgar took the tazer away... staring for a moment... before slowly lifting the gel wrist of Patricia’s limp body... it still looked like her! It didn't change!! He almost yelled with perverted happiness as he dragged the gel body across the floor, setting her down and spreading her legs... perfect in every detail. His pants so tight, he ripped his belt off, tearing his zipper open and pulling his pants down... already so hard that it ached as it throbbed... and kneeled down, crawling over the soft rubbery skin of the copy. Moaning and sighing with pleasure, he slid himself tightly in, the rubbery lips bending and stretching around his shaft, making it feel not quite as real as he wanted, but just as satisfying. Stroking faster and faster, the copy lying motionless on the floor, her breasts bouncing softly to his thrusts, her head bending back just a little with each pounding buck of his hips. Edgar was in heaven, grabbing and squeezing his shaking hands into the rubbery skin, cupping around the copy's thighs as he pulled her tight against him, getting so close to the release that he had waited years to feel... staring down at her face... Patricia...
His body rocked as he spasmed, releasing the pent up tension that he had held for Dr. Casseo for so long... convulsing as he trembled inside the copy's body... sweat rolling down his forehead, tears staining his cheeks... his body trembling as he sat there feeling the rubbery warmth, now even warmer... wetter... Edgar closed his eyes, trembling as his sweat stang slightly, just holding himself in the moment... picturing the fantasy of this copy waking up and loving him... the fantasy of him opening his eyes to see the real Patricia there... feeling her hands wrapping around his waist, his thighs... holding him closer and closer, the slurping of her... slurping???
Edgar opened his eyes... and recoiled in horror as he saw the gel oozing up his body, his legs already completely engulfed by the rubbery liquid. Panicking, he reached a hand down to push himself up off the floor, but he only plunged his arm up to his wrist in the goo, and screamed as he realized that he couldn't pull back out!!! He couldn't feel his legs... straining around, his pants lying in a heap nearby, he lunged for them... fumbling around in terror to grab the tazer. His chest half coated, he grasped the tazer between his shaking fingers, turning it fully on to the ooze, electricity coursing through the gel... and his own body. He couldn't breathe from the current, but the thought in his mind that this was the only way to survive kept him conscious... his skin starting to smell as it burned under the electricity. Current arced across the surface of the ooze, but it didn't slow it down... it kept creeping up aver his skin more and more... gurgling and slurping as it pooled up his arm, wrapping itself around his neck. Edgar's panic forced him to scream as the ooze burbled up into his mouth... spilling down his throat as it swelled up over his head...
His body lay inside the ooze... slowly shrinking down as it was devoured inside the mess of a puddle, electricity still rolling over the surface, but different this time... tingling instead of arcing... Edgar's body rippled into nothingness as the oozing puddle sat there on the floor, gurgling...
***
Katie shifted again on the floor, cringing a little as she typed... Edgar's memories still stuck in her mind... his last thoughts were her first... her body rippled as she stood up without standing, her crossed sitting legs melting into her body, and reforming into tall standing ones. She paced around the room slowly, looking at all the pictures she had collected... all the files... she just needed a break to clear her thoughts before resuming typing. She hadn't wanted to kill him... she didn't even realize that it hurt him until his thoughts came screaming into her consciousness... his electrical brainwaves burning their terrified thoughts inside her mind permanently. As much as she knew what he had done, she couldn't ever forgive herself for killing him... even though she was ignorant at the time.
The moment passed, her thoughts still on Edgar, but able to concentrate again... she sat back down in front of the computer, and slowly started typing...
***
Edgar's screams and panicking thoughts seemed to ripple through her entire form... as she looked around the room for the first time, seeing in all directions at once through her puddled body. She trembled as her first words gurgled out from her pool, sounding like her voice was being filtered through a waterfall... "What have I done?" It took her a few seconds to realize that the voice was hers... suddenly aware that she was talking... thinking... She saw Dr. Casseo still bound in her chair, and slowly slithered over to her, her ooze pooling into a thin rolling trail as she moved. Her cells still remembered what she had just looked like, and her body slowly emerged, gelling up from the center of the puddle, melting out from the liquid state into a solid form... her fingers flexing in her hands as she pulled at the tape straps.
Patricia was free in a few minutes, the gel ooze easily gurgling under the sticky bonds of the tape to set her free, only to watch as Patricia slumped down to the floor, still unconscious. Not really sure what to do, having never talked with anyone before, she looked around the room... her eyes blinking, but not really being used for sight. She could still see everywhere at once, and she spied the statues on the desk... something about them seemed familiar, comforting. She walked to the desk, picking up the statue of Anubis... her cells instantly reading and memorizing every contour of the hard statue... her body shifting slightly as ripples of liquid washed over her, her body transforming into a duplicate image, but keeping her same height. She looked at herself... it wasn't right... it wasn't what she wanted. Concentrating, pulling features from Patricia's image, her hair, her chest, her hands... little details mixing with the Egyptian god's body... until she liked the blend. Her naked form shimmering in blue colorings, a canine head softened with a human female's features, her body thin but muscled. She smiled as she walked back and leaned down over Patricia, nudging her rubbery hands at her cheeks, trying to gently wake her up.
Patricia slowly woke up into groggy consciousness... still trembling as she thought Edgar was going to rape her now... her eyes blinking as she heard a soft woman's voice speaking to her "What am I?"
Patricia's eyes hazily came into focus... a bluish form standing over her, touching her...
"What am I? You made me, didn't you?" The gelly form asked in a soft, timid, questioning voice... not really sure what to even say to her creator.
Patricia's eyes slowly focused... a dog-woman standing over her... the same blue as her experiment... her heart raced as strange thoughts spilled into her dazed mind... "... I... I... where...?"
The dog woman sat down, still softly stroking Patricia's cheeks, barely opening her lips, a pained expression on her face. "The man that was here is gone... he won't be coming back... I just want to know what I am..." Her voice was shaking; she was obviously scared and confused. Patricia sat up slowly, reaching up to touch the arm of the creature... rubbery skin. Patricia pressed a little harder... the skin gave in a little as it sprang against her touch, but stayed solid.
"You are... alive?" Patricia stammered out, hardly believing the sight before her senses. The creature nodded. "I am, but I don't know why... I just woke up when he..." her voice got suddenly quiet, her face bending down to look at the floor.
Sitting up fully, scared, confused... but amazingly curious, Patricia asked the creature, "When he... what? What did he do to you?"
Sitting with her legs crossed, staring at the floor, the creature softly answered, "... when he leaked into me. I felt a hunger... and I couldn't stop." She actually sounded like she was sobbing out the words. Patricia remembered the chill that she had felt whenever Edgar was near... and felt the chill again when she started to realize what he had done to this creature. Raped into life... no one deserved such cold abuse... especially not a creature that could obviously feel and think... and hurt.
Patricia's probing fingers were trembling when she wrapped them around the creature's arms, still afraid for her life, but not nearly as desperately now. Squeezing softly as she spoke, "I... I don't know how you can even be talking, much less thinking... but it's obvious that you're not an experiment anymore... I don't really know... just what you are, but I can try to help you find out... if you promise not to... kill me."
The creature looked up at her, blue tears beading down her cheeks. "I didn't want to eat him... I don't want to eat anyone else... and I don't want to kill you... I just want to know what I am.", her voice was sobbing. She was scared, alone, hurt, confused, her very soul raped.
Patricia leaned closer, holding her rubbery body in her arms. "Ok, it's all right... I didn't mean to upset you... I know what he did to you... what he wanted to do to me... my name is...” her voice trailed off as the creature spoke up. "You’re name is Patricia Casseo, you work here as a scientist doing research on a substance you call the moontear. I know that I am an experiment based on that stuff, and my name is Rb00853-fl203xl. I know that I'm supposed to be a weapon... I know all of that... but I don't know what I am now."
Patricia's eyes grew wide, staring at the intelligence of the creature. "How... how do you know all that?" The creature smiled weakly at her "I remember everything that's touched me; every object, every person...and every wave of sound. I remember everything that has ever been said around me since I was first created." Patricia's eyes got even wider "y... y... you've been conscious all this time?" The creature shook her head, "No... but my body remembers it all."
They sat in silence for a few moments, each looking at the other figure... trying to figure out what to do from here... Patricia stood up slowly, her scientific curiosity getting the best of her thoughts. "Can you shift on your own?" The creature nodded as she stood up, her upper body melting and shifting into copies of various objects she had been exposed to over the past few weeks... things that had never been displayed before, common objects like pens and table counters; more complex objects like pieces of clothing and hands of people that had curiously reached into her beaker for just a second to see what the ooze felt like. Her body eventually melted back into the canine woman.
"That form... where did you copy that from?" Patricia asked, stunned at the detail the creature possessed. "From there... “the creature reached up and pointed at the statue on the desk. As soon as Patricia saw the statue, she saw the features, altered and merged with another memorized figure... one of the women, or more than one... that must have touched her ooze. "And this form is what you want to look like?" she asked, curious why the creature liked its current image.
"Yes... it feels... right... like me, but I don't know why... is it wrong?” she asked curiously. "No, it's not wrong", Patricia smiled, "... it's just curious that you chose to look like that."
The creature grinned, rubbing her hands down her sides, "I'm solid blue; no matter what I look like, I'm going to stand out. Besides, I’m not human… and it just… felt… wrong… pretending to be…” Patricia smiled, giggling softly. This thing could actually make a joke... "We need to give you an actual name... you're far too intelligent to keep calling you a thing... "her voice trailed off as she thought about what to call the creature.
The blue figure walked over to Patricia, smiling at her first friend. "It should be something that suits you... that you can look like so many things... mimic... Xerox... reproduce... replicate..."
"I like that one." The creature spoke up, smiling as she heard what she thought sounded good. "Huh? But I was... " Patricia stopped, smiling as she thought about it, "Replicate? OK... Katie it is.", giggling at how well the name fit.
***
The two women talked for hours, Patricia running tests on Katie, trying to figure out just what had happened... the ooze somehow sprang to life with the amount of living energy that must have been in Edgar's seed, and once it had a taste, it instinctively tried to absorb more. When Edgar jolted it with the electricity, it's permanence properties must have kicked in, still trying to absorb the organic energy, it must have absorbed Edgar's very brainwaves... copying his ability to think. The combined factors must have permanently altered the ooze into Katie. As much as Patricia was regretful about what had happened to Edgar, she was glad he was gone... and very glad that the accident had happened. Katie was amazing... intelligent, curious, attentive, and… easy to look at... Patricia just kept smiling the more she watched Katie move around, her shiny skin feeling so slick and soft... shimmering under the lights of the lab.
"Katie... it's getting very late... I should have left hours ago... and I don't know if you should be here in the morning. The other scientists will know something happened, and I know that the security tapes have been watching us all night. I don't even know if I'll have a job in the morning... But we've got to get you out of here. If they find you, you're going to be trapped inside a beaker for the rest of your life." Katie nodded, knowing that Patricia was right... but not knowing quite what to do about it. She had already figured out that she didn't want to stay here, and it wouldn't be hard to slither out from the security of the lab.
> "Where should I go? I really don't know anything about the real world..." <
Katie typed the last words on the screen as she thought about the last two weeks... the human world… feeding… and the problems that started from her just existing… problems for Patricia. The sound of a car braking to a stop outside the door made her ears perk up as she looked at the light from the headlamps barely shining under the storage door… time to go to her other home… with Patricia… Katie smiled softly.