Old Friends, New Forms
It's been a long night
3:04 AM
Bina is crying again tonight. It's three hours past midnight, and no one in the compound has been able to get a wink of sleep all night, she's so loud. Solen gives up on sleep and rolls out of bed to go check on his favourite specimen. At this rate, they might have to put her down. Several frustrated researchers have already requested it, in fact, but Solen's supervisor, Oru, has so far managed to insist on keeping Bina. Best to find out what's wrong with her first, she says, because who knows if it might be related to whatever's been messing up our readings this past year? It's an excuse to keep a creature that's been with them for over six years now, and everyone knows that it's an excuse, but Oru is both attached and stubborn, so Bina gets to live another day. Solen would probably be thankful for that on any other night, when he's not running on practically no sleep for the fourth night in a row. The walk from the dorms to the outer ring where the specimens are kept is long enough that Bina's cries have become nearly outright screams and odd gurgles by the time he draws near. That's new. Solen forgets his annoyance and jogs the remaining distance toward Bina's enclosure, scanning his ID and throwing open the door in quick succession. Then he stops. Oru has always criticized his tendency to freeze when confronted by danger, his sheer inability to think on his feet. It's a terrible trait for someone living at the edge of the wildlands, admittedly, but. But he thinks his supervisor would definitely understand his reaction just this once.
A harmless creature
3:26 AM
Bina- dear, silly, adorable Bina- is one of their less dangerous specimens. As a gilar, a species of large, long-maned dogs common in the western wildland, she's considered relatively harmless as long as strangers stay out of her enclosure. Usually. Bina lets loose another ragged wail and turns her head to face the open door where Solen stands frozen in horror. One massive eye views him with no warmth or recognition, just maddened pain. The other eye is nothing but red and black ooze. The creature is half laying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of fire, writhing in pain and seemingly unable to stand. Still, she lurches toward Solen unsuccessfully, pain turning her wild and violent, and he finally sees what's impeding her movement; her limbs, and indeed a good portion of her body, are covered in burns, the skin still bubbling where a trail of lava touches it. Lava. Lava?? Solen thinks hysterically. Then, Bina's next scream ends in another one of those strange gurgles. Molten flame spills out of her mouth and onto her own body, her face lit up in orange as she twists in agony. It spills along the dirt of the enclosure around her and nearly burns Solen but for his- for once- quick reaction. He bleats in terror and leaps backward, tripping onto his back in the dirt and dragging himself away from the creature before him. But what-was-once-Bina no longer cares to attack him. Lava drips out of her snarling mouth and burns her skin as she thrashes and tries to escape her own flame. Solen doesn't know how long he lays there uselessly, but eventually, he does gather his wits enough to realize he probably should call someone. He blindly pulls his communicator out of his pocket with shaky hands and fumbles enough that he drops it and draws Bina's attention once again. With a low, terrified keen, Solen grabs the communicator and scrambles away, just in time to avoid the splash of molten flame Bina sends his way. He watches the dirt crisp and blacken in horror; Solen moves faster than he ever has in his life when he brings the communicator to his mouth to call for help. It feels like ages before anyone comes, ages in which Bina's torment seems to come in waves. The flames fall from her mouth, then stop only long enough for her to try to get away, slamming into the walls of her enclosure, then they return once again. It's just as painful to watch, made all the worse for Solen cannot comfort her. Bina burns and screams, and screams and burns, and Solen watches and grieves- then help arrives at last. The security guards show up first, weapons in hand, then some of the younger researchers who live closest to the outer ring- and Oru. They stand transfixed for long moments before the researchers turn to Solen for an explanation.
Dead hour
3:57 AM
That's all it takes- their careless noise, a moment of inattention, and the gilar lunges as best she can, mouth wide open, screeching, and filled with fire. But she is weak and slow, and the guards are faster with their guns, so fast that Oru doesn't get the chance to do more than open her mouth to protest. One loud bang, a moment later, and Bina finally, finally, falls silent. Her body falls to the ground and doesn't move again. All is quiet, save for the sound of skin sizzling, as Bina's body sinks into the pool of flame under it. The room bursts into action, the scientists yelling for help in dragging the body out of the lava before it becomes too damaged for further study. The next hour passes in a blur, new guards coming in to handle the corpse, researchers excitedly discussing the gilar's odd mutation and layering the body with stasis charms. At last, Bina is as prepared as she can be to be studied, and most of the crowd has left the site. It's barely even dawn, though those short hours felt like years. Solen doesn't help with any of it; he's only stood there frozen next to Oru and watched the scene blankly the entire time. He doesn't think he will ever forget the sight of Bina being destroyed by her own body. He doesn't think he will ever forget the sound of her screams, or the scent of her burning fur and flesh, or the look of terror in her eyes. "Come," Oru orders wearily at last. She has a distant sort of look on her face, as though she's decided to shelve away all her feelings about Bina for another day. It's probably a wise choice, because none of this makes sense. Gilar don't breathe fire; their bodies aren't built to handle it. "We need to write to the capital about this." "Looks like you might've been right about your specimen helping us in figuring out what on Earth's going on with the wildlands," Fenar, an older researcher who's been trying for ages to befriend Solen's prickly supervisor, says in a faint tone. None of them have looked away from Bina's body yet, but now he turns at last to Oru. "Someone's going to have to study her." Solen's head snaps around at that. "Us. We will," he says at once. No one will be taking over for Bina, no matter what anyone says about their attachment to her. "Not someone. Us." "Indeed," Oru agrees thinly. For once, Solen is grateful to have someone so terrifying as his supervisor; no one would dare argue with her about Bina. Oru says nothing more and simply turns and walks away to the lab. With one last glance at where their old friend now lies, Solen follows. They have work to do.
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