Operation Correction

“Can we do something about the ridiculous screams, it’s barbaric and is disrupting my work.”

“Right away Dr. Ellory”

A loud zap is heard throughout the office. Followed by silence. 

Dr. Ellory opens the file she had been carrying, hidden in the false back of her purse. She calls her superior. 

“The proposal looks good.”

She takes a sip of her coffee. She prepares to say it. The thing they have all been waiting for. 

“We are ready for operation correction. At 13:00 a small lab-created asteroid will be shot from the lab, resetting the planet in an attempt to cleanse the atmosphere of all known pollutants. Two hundred people have been chosen by the lab and have undergone testing.”

“Is there a chance that this could get out before launch? We don’t want another mob before we have time to fix the climate. This is our only hope.” 

“The two hundred participants are to be here in three hours. The lab will be sealed from the inside as a back up if things go wrong. Which they won’t. Because we have tested this system several times,” she says through clenched teeth. 

“Dr. I am worried that..”

“Mr. Reyer there is no need for your input. I have been apart of this team and this project for the last five years. You WILL not come in last minute and change my plans… The team’s plans,” She quickly corrects herself. 

“Mr. Reyer, I know you mean well. I have tested all possible scenarios. There is no way this can fail.”

“I am just worried about the other specimens in the lab. Specimens that I have worked on for the past few months. I am greatly attached to them. And if this operation works, I know they will be safe. However, if this doesn’t work… I. I can think of a thousand ways where this can go badly. Maybe even worse,” Mr. Reyer pauses to think about the right words. He decides that he should just say it. For the sake of all humankind. 

“Dr. Ellory, I have been working on extracting DNA from prehistoric Amber found in the La Brea  Tar Pits. I am concerned that if the asteroid changes directions and makes direct contact that. Well.” He pauses again to find the right words. 

Dr. Ellory interrupts. “That is why we have two hundred people with varying DNA safely secured in the lab. If, and it won’t, but if the asteroid hits Earth, it will reset and cleanse. All two hundred inhabitants will survive, repopulate and live in a clean environment.”

“Yes, I understand. But the pressure of an aesteroid on my compressed samples. Well, it could cause them to…”

“Could cause them to what? Spit it out for Christ’s sake. If you want to make it in this field, speak first and apologize later. I have no time for pleasantries,” she says calmly as if she wouldn’t notice if he left the conference call. 

Mr. Reyer, a young Endocrinology student specializing in the Cretaceous period, pulls the phone closer and speaks. “Dr. Ellory I am concerned that the pressure from the lab-created asteroid will cause my samples to incubate, possibly resulting in twenty-four prehistoric animals breaking from the lab, along with the two hundred human inhabitants. Well, there is a possibility that this decision could end all of humankind.”

Mr. Reyer sits back in his chair. He feels accomplished, like maybe his courage will be rewarded. Possibly him speaking out will result in him advancing in the lab. He waits and averts his eyes to the ground, even though no one else is in the room with him. He begins to count the geometric shapes on the carpet. He waits. 

He realizes that they have put him on mute. He stands up. He sits down. He waits. 

“Mr. Reyer you have been removed from the emerging Stem Leaders Program effective immediately. You can remain at the lab with the visitor’s kiosk, or possibly the gift shop. Don’t worry we will let you choose. Of course you will remain as one of the two hundred lab participants as your DNA is too valuable to turn down. No matter how short-sighted your Jurassic Park views are,” says Dr. Egor, Director of the Smithsonian, head of all geological advancement. 

Mr. Reyer freezes. Dr. Egor never speaks on these conference calls. Often times people forget that he is even there. He is known to only speak at the most absurd ideas. He is often called the salvager of scientific advancement. It wasn’t the first time that he had been made fun of for his prehistoric idealogy. In the lab any references to Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, or Predator are used as a joking form of endearment when you have daydreamed too hard about your proposal. But he knew that this was not said in endearment. He was being mocked to the hardest degree. No one wanted him to be here. If it wasn’t for his DNA, he would have no insurance that he would be alive in 24 Hours. 

Dr. Ellory leaves the conference call and checks her go bag. She has to return to the office as if she will see them tomorrow. She has told all of the department heads that this system is fool-proof, but deep down she worries. She and her family will be safe, but several other of her trusted staff will go home as if nothing is different. Only a small amount of her team knows about Operation Correction. Trees are dying at an alarming rate. Oxygen levels are at an all time low and we are running out of seeds. The only hope we have is that the operation successfully launches, heating up the atmosphere and causing all plants to regenerate. 

It has been 32 hours since the last phone call held by the Corrections team staff. Two hundred people have awaken from their cots and been told the devastating news. All forms of human life have been destroyed and all that is left is whatever has been saved in the lab and science center. The center had been planning on this as a likely outcome so that food and medical provision should be provided. Of course as part of their agreement in this program they will be required to procreate with whomever the lab decides is genetically the best fit. 

From a distance we can see Mr. Reyer walking down a long, florescent lit hallway. He is wearing the clothes from before the launch and appears to be hiding something beneath his lab coat. He is walking slowly behind a large group of employees. He seems to be walking close enough to appear to be with them, but when given a second look, he is clearly not a part of their group. You see, Sam Reyer is preparing a plan to go and check on his latest samples. He told the lab about most of his updated discoveries from his case, but left out a few troubling details. Not only had he found impeccably preserved prehisortice DNA, he had found a way to replicate its incubation process in a donor womb. He had successfully implanted eggs into a caiman and a few large birds, however each living animal always died before birth. He finds his old work room and slips his key card into the entry slot. He is surprised to see that the lab looks almost identical to before the launch. His desk chair sits in the far left corner accompanied by a coffee cup and his old university hoodie. All of his notes and samples sit virtually untouched. Right when he thinks all things are back to normal, he hears a small rumble from behind him. He quicky grabs the fire extuinger, ready to use it as a weapon, and turns around ready to strike. He is surprised to see his coworker, PHD candidate Ms. Carlyle. 

“Oh no. Oh no oh no. You are not suppose to be here. You were not apart of the two hundred selected applicants. What? How? What.” Mr. Reyer pauses trying to figure out how his partner stayed undetected in the lab. 

“I know, know. It is just that one of our caiman’s eggs was ready to hatch. And they have never made it that far before, so I wanted to see what would happen.”

Mr. Reyer puts his hand up and interrupts her. 

“Did you hear the sirens, the alarms, the multiple warnings telling all non-approved personnel to exit the office. No overnights were approved,” he says.

“I know… It is just that, well I thought,” Ms. Carlyle takes a deep breath. She fidgets with her lab coat. “Well, Sir. I was correct.” Her eyes fill with tears. Late last night, we had three successful hatchings. We did it, Sir.”

Sam Reyer stands speechless. His whole career has been focused on genetics and prehistoric DNA. In the last few years he has spent bent over microscopes and beakers. This is his dream. Then it hits him. 

“Caryle. You said it was successful, where are they? Shouldn’t you be watching them?”

“Well you see. After about 32 hours, I decided my mind would work faster if I took a quick nap. But I followed protocol and locked them into the chambers.” She quickly adds. She can tell she is in trouble, she speaks quickly. 

“Mr. Reyer, I followed protocol, I locked them in. But….”

“Caryle, what is it? If you followed protocol there is no way that anything of that size could do any damage, what is it?” Mr. Reyer looks look down at his hands. He notices that all of his clothes are covered in his lunch and sweat. Before she says it, he knows something is terribly wrong. 

“I woke up right as they were escaping. I couldn’t stop them because they were ginormous. While I was sleeping, they grew into fully sexually mature creatures. I went back and double-checked the samples and it looked like their DNA was mutated when the asteroid hit the lab.”

“Carlyle. What do you mean?”

“Sir. There are three fully grown Raptors in the science center. They aren’t completely missing. I have been able to track them to the East Wing.”

“The East Wing is where all 200 bodies are.”

“Correct.”

“And we can’t let them out even if we find them. Because we don’t know if the air quality is ready for human life. Unsealing the doors will kill us all….”

“Carlyle, what you mean to tell me is that there are three fully-grown predators roaming a sealed building. We cannot let them out because there are no longer signs of human life outside. We don’t even know if we could survive yet. So at the moment…. We are,” he pauses before he can say it. “I think I might be sick.”

Carlyle walks over to the emergency broadcasting button. She and Mr. Reyer decide that the rest of the lab needs to be informed for their safety. They type up a statement and prepare for the worst. 

She hits the red button. “Good evening. As of now, you have been awake for a few hours. Congratulations on surviving Operation Correction. I am sorry that I have to give you more bad news. At 19:00 three of our lab specimens escaped into the East Wing of the facility. They are highly dangerous. If you see them do not approach. Do not try to fight them off. You will not succeed. Stay vigilant. Hide, if possible. This is something that no human has ever seen before,” she lets go of the red button and looks over at Mr. Reyer.

From the distance, a faint scream is heard.