Waldemar glanced into the cage and then at the small door secured shut with its locking pin. “The door was closed when you found them missing?”
“It was.”
Waldemar glanced around the floor. “And you searched the room?”
Luka nodded. “Thoroughly.”
Waldemar stroked his bottom lip with his teeth as he pondered the mystery. “They can’t have just disappeared.”
“Obviously. Someone has taken them, as what other explanation is there?” said Luka.
“But who, and why? We’re nowhere near ready for the radiation testing phase that would require their use.” Waldemar glanced at the cages. “Are any other animals missing?”
Luka shrugged. “I haven’t checked.”
Waldemar looked at the man. “Maybe you should?”
Boris shrieked frantically when his human friend walked along the cages and halted at the rabbit cage he had been pointing at.
Wondering what had gotten Boris so agitated, Luka ignored his hooted calls and peered into the rabbit cage. “Two rabbits are missing.”
Waldemar joined Luka and looked at the four rabbits in the cage. “You’re certain?”
“Of course I’m certain, I can count. There were six earlier and now there’s only four.”
“Okay, okay. Check the other cages while I inform Stanislav. And shut that damn monkey up for god’s sake.”
“It’s a chimpanzee, not a monkey. It belongs to the family of great apes,” corrected Luka.
Waldemar glared at Luka. “I don’t care if it’s King Kong’s offspring, shut it up.”
As soon as Luka released the catch of Boris’s cage and pulled the door open, Boris leapt onto him.
Luka smiled at the chimp as he stroked its head. “What’s got you all riled up?”
Boris cooed as he rubbed his head under Luka’s chin.
Waldemar shook his head at Luka. “You two make a lovely couple.” He crossed to the intercom and pressed the button linking him to the laboratory. “Director Stanislav, can you come to the animal housing room as we have a situation requiring your attention?” He released the button and waited.
Stanislav’s irritated voice responded a few moments later. “What is it? I am rather busy here, and I don’t have time to waste sorting out Luka’s problems.”
Waldemar sighed as he pressed the talk button. “I really think you need to see this, Director.”
Stanislav groaned. “You had better not be wasting my time. I’m on my way.”
Waldemar looked at Luka. “You’re certain there’s no other way your animals could have escaped?”
Luka nodded. “Unless they were able to unlock their cage doors, climb out, refasten them again and somehow get out of this room that was locked from the outside, someone took them. It’s the only possible explanation.”
Waldemar teeth-stroked his bottom lip. “I agree.” He glanced at the rabbit cage when it rattled.
Hissing at something at the far side of their cage, the four rabbits began thumping their feet in agitation.
Boris jerked his head towards the sound. He pulled his gums back over his teeth as he started screaming and thumping Luka’s shoulders.
Perplexed by what could have caused Boris’s fear, Luka approached the rabbit cage.
Boris screeched when he leapt onto the cages and then jumped for the pipes that ran the length of the ceiling.
Waldemar glanced at the chimp. “What’s gotten into him?”
“He’s frightened,” stated Luka, peering into the rabbit cage at something moving beneath the thick layer of sawdust covering the cage floor.
Waldemar joined him looking at the shifting sawdust. “Could that be one of your missing rabbits?”
Luka rolled his eyes at the stupid remark. “Only if it has been squashed flat.” He straightened up and looked at Boris cowering on the pipes in the corner of the room. Whatever was in the cage, Boris feared it.
When Waldemar reached for the pin holding the rabbit cage door closed, Luka grabbed his hand. “I’m not sure that’s advisable.”
Waldemar shook his hand free. “Don’t be stupid. It might be your missing mice.”
Luka stepped back. “I doubt that. They’re not Houdini mice.”
Waldemar opened the cage door. He reached towards whatever was moving and brushed away the sawdust with his finger, revealing something black and greasy.
“What in Stalin’s name is that?” uttered Waldemar.
“Nothing I think we should be messing with,” replied Luka.
“It looks like thick oil or tar.” Waldemar glanced up at the ceiling to see if anything could have dripped into the cage, but the ceiling was clear.
Luka had a bad feeling about the black sludge. “Let me remove the rabbits, and then we can quarantine the cage and whatever that thing is.”
“Stop overreacting, Luka.” Waldemar put his hand back inside the cage and prodded the black blob. “It’s soft, spongy.”
“I really think you should leave it alone,” cautioned Luka.
“I’m the scientist. Fetch me something to put it in, and I’ll take it to the lab to examine.”
Luka shrugged. “If that’s want you want?”
“It is.”
While Luka searched for a container, Waldemar brushed aside more of the sawdust riddled with pungent rabbit droppings and urine. Whatever the substance was, it was about the size of a dinner plate. He froze when the blob pulsated, sending ripples out from its middle. Confused by the movement, he prodded it again. The edges of the thing snapped around his hand like a clamshell closing. Waldemar screamed and yanked his hand from the cage.
Every animal in the room became agitated and screeched, squealed, hissed, barked and grunted.
Luka spun and rushed to the man’s aid when he saw Waldemar attempting to shake the black substance from his hand.
“Get it off! Get it off!” screamed Waldemar. “It burns!”
Luka was at a loss as to what to do. He sure wasn’t going to touch the black burning stuff.
The door opened. Stanislav entered and froze on hearing Waldemar’s screams and stared at the black substance covering his colleague’s hand. “What the hell is happening here?”
Seizing his chance to escape from the black terror, Boris swung along the pipes, dropped to the floor in front of Stanislav and barged past him into the corridor.
In agony, Waldemar ran towards Stanislav waving his hand at him. “Help me! Get it off. It’s burning!”
Worried Waldemar was going to touch him with the burning black he waved in front of his face, Stanislav stepped back and kicked him in the stomach. Waldemar staggered back, crashed into the empty mice cage and toppled to the floor.
Stanislav turned to Luka and demanded an explanation. “What is that black stuff and where did it come from?”
Luka shrugged. “It was in the rabbit cage. Some mice went missing, and when we looked for them we found that…stuff, in with the rabbits. Two of them are also missing.”
Ignoring Waldemar’s screams and pain-wracked writhing on the floor, Stanislav continued questioning Luka. “Missing? How could your animals go missing?”
“That’s what Waldemar and I were trying to discover when we found that thing.” Luka looked at the black substance that seemed to be stretching up the man’s arm and noticed his arm seemed too short. His hand was missing. Shocked by the revelation, he looked at Stanislav. “I think that thing ate them. Look, Waldemar’s hand is gone.”
Stanislav took a cautious step nearer the screaming man and studied Waldemar’s arm. Luka was right, his hand was gone. “We need to seal this room, now!”
“What about Waldemar?”
“Fuck him.” Stanislav turned and strode from the room.