Strangerville Mystery - Ch 6 - Stranger and Stranger

Pomegranate Corner, Rangerville, Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 6:05 PM

"Hey, Dylan. I'm glad to see you. You weren't at work today," Molly said, relieved. She'd imagined government agents dragging him away to be questioned.

"hELlo moLLy. I aM gLad tO sEE yOu. I wAs noT At wORk toDaY," Dylan replied, his voice strangely stilted.

"Umm, Dylan... are you OK?" Molly felt suddenly much less relieved.

"umM, mOLly. I Am oK," Dylan's smile moved rapidly beyond creepy into downright frightening.

"helLO MoLly. I aM jeSS. I Am dyLAN's wIFe," Jess said in the same broken manner as Dylan.

"Yeah, I know that," Molly said. "Really guys, what's going on?"

"yEs I kNoW tHAt reALLy nOTHing IS goINg oN," Jess said. "wE woULd lIKe tO cOMe insiDE. wE hAVe sOMeTHinG fOr yoU."

"Right," Molly said. "Say, you guys didn't happen to do a bunch of really strange drugs just now... did you? Please say yes."

"yeS. wE DId nOt dO a bUNch oF sTRanGE drUGs," Dylan stuttered.

"So why are you guys acting like this?" Molly asked.

"oUR eYEs aRe OPen," Jess said. "wE woULd lIKe tO cOMe insiDE. We hAVe sOMeTHinG fOr yoU."

"Sure, let's go inside," Molly said, adding softly to herself, "where there aren't any witnesses to see you scoop out my brain and replace it with a kumquat." 

The couple just smiled their frightening smiles and lurched toward the door. It wasn't just their speech, Molly realized. They moved as if... as if they didn't fully understand how their bodies were supposed to work.

When Jess dropped three strange, faintly pulsating, red fruits on the table, Molly froze.

"OK, I was joking about the kumquat," Molly said nervously. 

"tHIs iS frUIt," Jess said. 

"fRUit iS gOOd," Dylan added.

"YOu shoULd EAt THe fRUIt," they both said in perfect unison. 

"Thanks, I already had dinner," Molly lied. "Maybe later. Say, Dylan... what the hell is going on!?"

"yOu wENt To tHe cRAter," Jess smiled uncannily.

"Dylan told you?" Molly glanced at him. 

He only smiled vacantly back, offering nothing.

"The Mother kNOws aLL," Jess said. 

"dO noT reSIst Her," Dylan added. "eMbRAce The Mother."

"She wiLL bRIng yoU PEace," Jess finished.

"Is... is this Mother in the crater?" Molly asked hesitantly.

"Her Nest iS clOUded iN beaUTy," Dylan started.

"wE dO nOt deSERVE Her," Jess finished.

"Of course," Molly nodded. "We don't, do we? Well, thank you guys for the fruit... and the strangeness. It's been terrifying. I'll see you later."

"JOIn uS," they said in unison.

"I'll sure do that," Molly smiled weakly. "Just let me finish a few things up first." 

For a moment, they just sat there staring at her with alien eyes. Then, without another word they lurched down the hall and out the door, like two marionettes controlled by an unskilled puppeteer. Molly couldn't stop herself from thinking the metaphor was terrifyingly apt.

"What the hell?" Molly breathed to her empty house. "I mean... what the hell!? 

"The lab," she continued. "Dylan was probably exposed to something at the lab. It must have been when we split up... because it hasn't affected me. I'm fine. Perfectly normal...

"Except I'm talking to myself."

The red 'fruits' seemed to pulse menacingly.

There was sudden hard bang, bang, Bang. Molly jumped, spinning.

That would be someone knocking on door, idiot, Molly thought. She deliberately forced the thought not to escape as words. Someone is knocking on the door. Probably zombie Dylan and Jess come back to eat my brains.

It wasn't.

"Hello, can I help you?" Molly asked the strange man in a black suit.

"Molly Prescott?" the man said.

"Who's asking?" Molly asked worriedly.

"You can call me Mr. Hunt," the Man in Black said. "Have you recently encountered anyone acting in a strange or unusual manner?"

"Define strange?" Molly replied as Mr. Hunt walked past her into the house.

"Has anyone offered any form of fruit?" Mr. Hunt continued undeterred. "Such as raw fruit, a fruit pie, fruit salad or salsa of any kind?" 

"Well," Molly said, stunned, looking down at the menacing red fruits on her table.

"I see," Hunt nodded curtly. "I'm afraid I will have to confiscate these. Are there more?"

"No," Molly admitted. "That's it."

"Have you consumed any fruit, pie, salad or salsa recently?" Hunt pressed.

"No," Molly said weakly. "I had a cheese sandwich for lunch." 

"Dairy products. Very good," Hunt nodded, briskly collecting the fruit and returning to the front door.

She wasn't remotely surprised when a second Man in Black walked in. 

"The perimeter is secure," the newcomer informed his partner.

"Three infection vectors located on the dining table," Hunt said. "Secured. Subject denies exposure."

"Umm, guys," Molly put in. "You want to maybe tell me what's going on here?"

"Nothing is going on here ma'am," Hunt said firmly. "Everything is perfectly normal. Please abstain from eating any fruit..."

"... pie, salad or salsa," Molly finished for him. "Right."

"Have a good day, ma'am," the second Man in Black said, adding quietly to his partner: "Standard surveillance?"

She thought Hunt nodded curtly as they left.

"Right," Molly said to herself. "Nothing is going on. Everything is perfectly normal... in the Twilight Zone!" 

Strange plants, a secret lab, wacked-out zombie people, threatening fruit and now Men in Black. 

I have got to find out what's going on and what this Project Orchid is.

Strangerville Mystery - Ch 5 - The Secret Lab

Classified Ministry of Defense Research Facility, Rangerville Crater, Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 7:40 PM

"I'm having second thoughts about this," Dylan said.

"I can't imagine why," Molly quipped.

Honestly, she hadn't expected they'd get this far. Driving out into the desert, she'd been certain they'd be stopped by MoD guards long before they got close to the crater. 

Of course, she hadn't been crazy enough to just drive up to the Army base and ask to see their secret lab. They'd bounced along a back road, circling the crater until it was mostly between them and the base. The hike from where they'd parked had been a bit rough, but not as bad as she'd feared.

Now they were here, just outside the notorious Rangerville secret lab. Molly could see signs of the rumored explosion all around, in the wrecked fences and damaged building. Despite her confidence, Molly had to admit Dylan had a point.

"I mean, we could get arrested or something... couldn't we," Dylan said.

"Yeah," Molly admitted. "That's assuming they don't just shoot us."

"You're not making me feel better," Dylan said.

"The thing is, if they were going to do any of that, I would have expected them to do it by now," Molly continued. "Do you see any guards?"

"What? Guards!? Where?" Dylan looked around panicked.

"There aren't any. That's my point," Molly said. "Either this place is completely unguarded, or we just can't see the security... in which case, they've already seen us."

"So, either we're fine or we're already screwed?" Dylan said, a bit more calmly.

"Yup," Molly nodded. "We may as well keep going, either way."

"More of those strange plants," Molly pointed out quietly, as they approached the main building.

"Yeah, they're all around out here," Dylan said. "I thought they were some kind of desert plant that bloomed in the spring... her bloom..."

"Whose bloom?" Molly asked, distracted as she looked around for the guards she was sure would be swooping down any moment.

"I just remembered more of what Jess said last night," Dylan mused. "I think she said '...the beauty of her bloom.'"

"'Open your eyes to the beauty of her bloom,'" Molly said. "Whose bloom?"

"OK, so I've got to ask," Dylan said softly. "Where did you learn how to pick locks?"

"Ex-girlfriend," Molly smiled. "It was a crappy lock anyway. Typical MoD. Government contracts always go with the lowest bidder... and still no guards."

"I'm not complaining," Dylan pointed out.

"This place looks abandoned," Molly said, looking around. "I bet they cleared out right after the explosion. Let's have a look around."

"I think you're right," Dylan said. "They must have cleared everything out after the explosion."

They'd split up to search the lab. It had clearly been abandoned for weeks and there were definite signs that it had been done quickly. Quickly enough, Molly thought, that they'd left some things behind. 

"They didn't clear this out," Molly said, gesturing to the working computer she'd found. "It looks like somebody started to wipe the hard drive, but they got interrupted."

"Is there anything useful on there?" Dylan asked.

"Maybe, if I can get into it," Molly said.

"So, you pick locks and hack government computers?" Dylan said. He looked both impressed and worried.

"Ex-girlfriend," Molly repeated. "The same one. I met Yuki in college. She was this really cool geek gamer girl and we kinda clicked. She was also already one of the top underground hackers around. She showed me a thing or two about computers... and other stuff. We moved in together after graduation. For a while I thought..."

"You thought?" Dylan prompted gently.

"Doesn't matter," Molly sighed. "What matters is that she showed me a few tricks that make MoD security protocols sit up and beg. If I can just remember them..." 

"Gotcha!" Molly muttered a little while later. "Now what does that look like to you?"

"Engineering diagrams for kind of sealed environment," Dylan said, looking over her shoulder. "Like a clean room? No, it's too small."

"Some kind of containment unit?" Molly mused. "A controlled environment. Its own air supply, temperature controls... grow lights? What is this for?"

"Check out the file header," Dylan pointed out. "What's Project Orchid?"

"I saw a folder for that," Molly grinned. "Hang on. There we are. Project Orchid... password protected of course. Come on, beg for Molly."

"OK, you're a little scary right now," Dylan laughed.

"Come on," Molly muttered to herself. "Just like Snow taught me... Make her beg. Come on, beg for me you little bitch. I got you... I got you... What?! No! No no no... Shit!"

"That's... not good," Dylan sighed, as smoke started to rise from the computer.

"You think?!" Molly snarled. "What the hell? What kind of file security kills the entire computer?"

"The serious kind," Dylan said. "Speaking of which..."

"Now that is a big door," Molly said.

"I'm thinking they didn't go with the lowest bidder on this one?" Dylan said.

"Oh yeah, this is premium tech. Ours, actually," Molly said. "Well, FutureTech's. I recognize the design."

"Please tell me you worked on this," Dylan said. 

"No such luck," Molly sighed. "Worse, I know the guys who did. I'm not picking this lock. We'd need a security card. Whatever is behind that, MoD is serious about keeping people out."

"Project Orchid," Dylan said.

"Yup," Molly said. "Let me get a couple of notes here. Maybe I can figure something out?"

They'd spent a little longer searching through the abandoned lab, gathering up scraps of documents, hastily scrawled notes and a couple of blurry photos of those strange plants.  

No guards swept down on them. No alarms sounded. No one stopped them as they drove back to town. Whatever was hidden in that crater, MoD seemed confident that the security door would keep people out.

Molly had to admit, they weren't wrong. She knew the specs on that door. Without a keycard, it would be almost impossible to get through. 

What the hell was going on in this town?

... and what's with these strange plants?