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The locks on the door cracked back. Sipos turned his head to see who was invading his room. It wasn’t another doctor or orderly. The figure in the doorway was wearing a military uniform. He ordered the door shut behind him.

Since Sipos had already noted the number of stars on his uniform, he wasn’t surprised when the man introduced himself.

“Dr. Moric Sipos, my name is Vincent Fable.”

The doctor smirked. “I should’ve known Gardner would go running for help the moment he realized he was in over his head.” Sipos sat up straight at the edge of his bed. “Well, General Fable, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Fable’s face was grave. The lines on it testified to how common the expression was. “Dr. Sipos, this isn’t a courtesy call, and I’m not going to pretend it is. Not after what you’ve done.”

“What I’ve done? You do realize that last incident can in no way be attributed to me. I warned Gardner—”

“When Gardner went to confront you about the fire in your lab, he found a dozen people in your home, including one of your former team members, all of them seemingly comatose. There was an unidentified dead body in your basement, prepared for chemical disposal, and evidence that you’d done it several times before! He didn’t think you were sane.”

There was a bitter emphasis on the last word.

“Yes,” Sipos grumbled. “I figured that’s why he put me in this hell hole.”

“A hell hole?”

Fable looked around the room. It was narrow, with one small window at the end, glowing orange because of the sunset. The only furniture was a twin bed that had to be shoved sideways against the wall so there’d be enough room to walk around. It was spartan, but the room could’ve been any small motel room on a crowded planet. The only difference was the door. All the locks were on the outside.

“Not enough pillows on the bed, Doctor?”

Sipos smiled at the dark sarcasm. “Not enough mental stimulation. Boredom is the bane of my life, General.” He eyed Fable. “The only excitement we’ve had around here happened several days ago.”

“Three caretakers are dead, Sipos, and you’re joking about it?”

“You’re joking about a man being sentenced to life in an insane asylum.” Sipos sighed. “What was my mistake, General?”

“Murdering Doctors Jones and Morres.”

“I meant how did I get caught.”

“You underestimated our forensic team, and for all your scientific skill, you don’t know how to make arson look like an accident.”

“Ah.”

“Why did you torch the lab?”

“To hide what I was doing. I had a feeling most people wouldn’t believe me if I told them what was going on.” Sipos peered at the general over his glasses. “And when they did come to believe me, I doubted they would understand.” He looked away. “Besides, I needed access to more bodies for my research.”

“Are the numbers in your journals accurate?”

Sipos smiled.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Fable’s lip lifted in a sneer. “You’re sick, Dr. Sipos.”

“A lot of very educated men have been telling me the same thing, General. But I wasn’t smiling because I perversely enjoyed my experiments—I’m a scientist, for god’s sake! I was smiling because you’ve been reading my journals.”

Fable didn’t know what to say.

“Does this mean you have the original xeno material as well?” Sipos asked.

The general nodded.

“I hope you know you have to be careful with it?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Excellent. Take care of them. I trust someday you’ll see how important they are, but for now, allow me to assure you, they’re more precious than you can imagine.”

“Where did they come from, Sipos?”

Moric took a deep breath and interlaced his fingers so he could rest them on his lap. “Ah. So that’s why you’re here.”

“What planet?”

“I don’t know.”

Fable moved away from the door, led by his accusing finger. “Your team had specimens from over fifty different planets. The records that you destroyed cataloged findings from close to two hundred planets!”

“Calm down, General. Most of the information was so routine I could copy down a grocery list and you’d learn as much. Oh, look! Here’s a swamp planet. Here are a dozen desert planets. Here’s an ice planet. Ah! This one’s habitable!”

“Sipos, the xenos are a serious threat. We need to know where they came from!”

“I told you I don’t know.”

“Why should I believe you?”

When Sipos stood up, Fable was forced take a step back. The general’s indignation faded as he stared into the biologist’s unblinking eyes.

“When I was caught out, did I try to hide anything from you? I told Gardner everything! Is it my fault that he assumed, without evidence, that I was delusional? Yes, I hid the xenos from you at first, General, but that was because I knew I needed time to find out more about them. Otherwise, I’ve only told you the truth.”

Moric Sipos went over to the window in his room and stared out at the courtyard. “I made a mistake, General. I thought I had all the information I wanted from the lab. I didn’t realize I’d left so much behind.” He tapped his fingers on the sill several times. “What about the backup records from the lab?”

“They’re ashes,” Fable said.

“Without those records, do we even know which planets are the fifty they might have come from?”

“All we know is that they’re out beyond our current settlements.”

Sipos swore. “Then we’ll have to make do with what we have.” He put his hands in his pockets and ambled back toward Fable. “It should still be enough.”

“Enough for what, Doctor?”

Moric twitched his head to the side. “I’m sorry, I think we’ve lost each other. You did read my journals?”

Fable nodded.

“And you did read the part where I considered their military application?”

Fable said nothing. His face was as still as a mask, cast in disapproval.

It failed to impress Sipos. “I’m smart enough to know who pays my bills, General.”

“I read it.”

“An army of beings that could infiltrate anywhere with the perfect disguise—that wouldn’t be useful to you, General?”

“That would only work if you’re right about them gaining sentience.”

“Specimen Four is almost there. Two or three more bodies and we should know.”

“Doctor Sipos, I came here to try to find out where those things came from. The planet needs to be red marked. I didn’t come here because I wanted more of them, and I did not come here to offer you a research project.” Fable turned to leave.

“But you’ve thought about it.”

The general hesitated at the door.

Sipos went on, “You didn’t scramble to understand the import. You knew immediately—they have to gain sentience to be useful.” The doctor wagged his finger at Fable. “You’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

Fable said, “If they gain sentience, they’ll only be more dangerous—”

“If they gain sentience, they can be reasoned with—controlled.”

“There’s no guarantee.”

“You’re right, but we can take our time with this. How long has the war been going on, General?”

“Eighteen years. O.E.,” the general whispered.

“Ah! Now that’s dependability! I’m certain it’ll still be going on by the time we’re ready to deploy the xenos. First, we experiment to establish whether or not they’re able to master full human sentience and to figure out what exactly they’re learning when they rip through their victim’s brains—”

Sipos saw a look of disgust cross the general’s face and instantly changed his tone to something more mollifying. “I’m only saying that it might be worth it to experiment. A small project would be enough. You’ll only have to find two more people you wouldn’t mind losing. Only two more people. How many people have already died in this war, General?”

Fable didn’t answer.

“And if it doesn’t work out”—Sipos shrugged—“that’ll be that.” He shut his mouth and rocked back onto his heels.

Seconds passed before Fable spoke: “I’d only need one.”

“Pardon?”

“The one you call Specimen Four took over a caretaker. One of the things she ripped from that poor woman’s brain was language.” Fable knocked to be let out. “She can talk now.”