The Edge

In the darkness of space, on a barren moon, far from any civilization, any law, a lone building stands. Large and ominous it stares back at the emptiness that surrounds it, that seems to consume. Perhaps irony or a cruel joke, the station is named Hope. It spans far larger than it appears, heading deep underground, in all directions, it twists and turns.

Inside all manner of deeds is done. In the dark reaches of space the most dangerous and vile acts are committed, Hope station is no exception. However, even the inhabitants of Hope never dreamed that something this horrifying would, no, could be done.

“Yesss, I’ve done it! It’s finally finished! Hahaha!” Dr. Karzen laughed seemingly to himself, his words being hissed out, eerily reminding one of a snake. Despite his apparent enthusiasm, his voice was barely more than a whisper, as it always was. The doctor stood completely still, his eyes fixed upon his new creation. He stared at it with an unnatural intensity, a hunger that could consume everything.

His four mechanical arms twitched and flicked in contrast to his unmoving form, twisting and coiling as if they had a mind of their own. Long ago, so long ago now the memories were dim even to him, he had created them. Added them to himself, to better himself, as he had done to so much more of his body. In truth, the original Dr. Karzen would look upon this new man, and see only a monster. The present Dr. Karzen indeed preferred it this way. Monsters have always been more powerful than Mankin, more dangerous.

The lab assistants surrounding him did not share in his enthusiasm. The… abomination that they had managed to create was awe-inspiring, in the same way discovering the gates of hell could inspire awe. Some of them believed that was exactly what lay before them. The path to hell was now known to Man, and they had made it. None had dreamed that the mad doctor would go this far, none had dreamed he could go this far. They stood around him stunned, silent, and horrified.

As he continued to laugh he reached one of his mechanical arms past the safety measures to pet his “creation”. His two organic hands remained clasped behind his back, as they almost always were. It seemed rare for him to move them, rare for him to move any natural part of his body. Though with the doctor, no natural part of his body might have remained. He seemed to have “enhancements” on every piece of his being one could see.

“Doctor…” A young man ventured, finally breaking the silence of the lab assistants surrounding the monster and his creation.

“We should report this directly to the head office… they’ll know what to do.” The desperation of a man who has not realized that he is in danger was thick in his voice. The sound tugged the doctor’s lips up into a grimace of a smile.

“Ha, I know what to do.” Dr. Karzen scoffed “Besides I have no intention of handing over my work, now that I finally have results.” The doctor spoke calmly without moving an inch or even glancing in the other direction. They were getting nervous at this kind of speech. If the Doctor refused to cooperate with the higher-ups… well they were all replaceable. Dr. Karzen however had been planning for this day for so long, far before day one, far before he had been recruited, far back when he had survived the Great Death. So many had fallen to it, but not him, he had grown from it, and had started his path from that day to this single moment, when all his plans were realized, when his dreams and hopes became possible once more.

“Sir” One of the assistants began, trying to get the doctor to see reason. “we need…” the man never finished, as suddenly his upper body ascended while his lower part fell. The scream suddenly erupted as, without moving a muscle on his human body, one of the mechanical arms lashed out, carving through one of the women’s chests. Not a moment later the rest of his arms moved. One slash here and another lady’s arm was severed, again a slash and there, a man was suddenly disemboweled.

The scene of a nightmare is what unfolded on the monitors as the doctor began to hack his way through the inconsequential people surrounding him. They had been mere stepping stones to his success, and now he had no further use for them.

The screams of horror quickly became deafening, but the doctor did not hear them, instead, he had turned the sound in his ears off, and began playing Beethoven’s ninth symphony inside instead. He did so prefer the music to the clambering, struggling, and begging of the fools that had always surrounded him. Even in his youth, when his ears had truly been his ears, he had enjoyed the sounds of Beethoven. When the owning of such things had become illegal, he had suffered as great a risk hanging onto the music as he had to implement his changes upon his physical person.

As was the loss of his Mankin ears like many of his changes, it was all well worth it, shown in times like this, he mused to himself. As he finished the massacre, he took a look around, for the first time his eyes turned away from his work. Blood was splattered all over the previously white and clean lab. Bits of bone, as well as guts, were strung about. Limbs seemed to be scattered across the room like some sick decoration. He alone seemed to be the only object in the room not covered in large dark spatters of red. He started walking through the pools of blood to one of the lab’s main computers.

Dr. Karzen began to type in several commands into the computer, beginning the automated procedure of his now perfected work throughout not just the lab, but the entire station. Soon every containment cell was given a variation of his masterpiece. He could feel the change take over the entire compound, he could feel the perfection of his work beginning to take root.

Having already disabled the alarms when he had started typing, he had a head start before anyone realized something was wrong. By the time they did he had already locked down the faculty allowing him to work freely without interruption. Soon he would have every room, every staff member, and every piece of Hope station under his control.

“Dr. Karzen! What is the meaning of this? What are you doing?” A voice suddenly cut into his music. The doctor frowned in annoyance, he hated that there was someone smart enough to, quite literally, get into his head. He had always been the smartest man in the room and now was no exception, but he had discovered someone who could reach his level of intelligence. While certainly not an equal, something close to a rival.

“Dr. Brindon, I have made a breakthrough. For your safety, I have sealed you within your lab.” He replied irritated. In truth, he didn’t care if Brindon was safe or not, but he did want to make sure that doctors Roderick and Ariyan were well secured. He would need them soon enough to continue his work to its next stage, Brindon was certainly expendable though, at least more so than the others. They were all fools, but Dr. Karzen could control most of them, Brandon would resist.

“Safe? What do you mean? Karzen what have you done?” The arrogance of the man, Karzen thought to himself. Rather than hearing worry or concern in his voice Dr. Karzen could only hear anger and reprimand, as though there was nothing that could be done that Dr. Brindon could not undo. Well hopefully this next part would take care of Brindon, the doctor thought to himself.

Dr. Karzen typed one last code into the system and watched on the monitors as the containment cells began to open. It seemed almost a pity to let them go before they could be perfected, but this would help him learn more about his creation.

Outside the facility, one could almost hear the screams and cries that desperately tried to escape from the inside.

In all directions there was nothing, the building stood alone on the dead moon. An endless sea of rock and dirt was all to bear witness to the final moments of Hope station before it went dark.