Episode 20: The Spacecraft Hanger

Helona, frustrated with her captivity, attempts an escape.

She typed in the code to open the elevator door, then took a deep breath, entered, and hit the down button.

Helona Chubuck had watched carefully during Dr. Thadfield’s multiple visits and learned as she watched, memorizing each step as she’d been escorted repeatedly to the underground lab for genetics experiments. Luckily, the doctor had no interest in fiddling with Helona’s genome directly, saying that he valued her genetic makeup too highly for that. Instead, the research had been about tuning the skills model to define the nature vs nurture balance more closely, testing and triggering her in various ways, often to the point of emotional or physical pain. As much as she’d enjoyed learning all those geeky details about genetics, genetic tags, mind games, and the like, she’d had enough of it.

When the elevator had reached the bottom, she stepped out into what she knew had been the prisoner receiving room back at the Feleg 3 lab. She smiled again as she remembered gunning down twenty or so sentry robots. However, here they used that room as a supply buffer, temporarily storing crates of consumables en route to the underground areas. She selected a quick snack out of one of the crates before creeping soundlessly through the widened doorway and out into the hall.