Unexplained Phenomena Unit, side story: Child of the Sphinx

A UPU side story

Written by Paul M Bradley

Edited by Sam Cybichowski

The meeting was about to begin.

In a darkened chamber, a ring of stony faces peered through narrow, suspicious eyes at the reports which flicked across the screen in the centre of the table. Agent Thoth banged a small ornate gavel against the table's metal surface. He seemed impossibly old, his face an atlas of creases, a light grey suit hanging off his body.

“What news?” he croaked.

Agent Set adjusted his tie, his eyes brimming with a pale fire.

“The final Prometheus drone has now been destroyed, his network of finance is also in the process of being dismantled. The SASQUATCH team responsible for stopping him have been commended by human resources for the way they handled the situation and agent Gadzooks has been promoted to a research lead with field agent qualifications.”

The younger man finished his speech and leaned back in his chair, but his face remained tense. He knew there was still more to say, but he wasn’t going to give the old man the satisfaction.

“And what has the post-mortem on agent Demonaco revealed?”

Agent Set stayed silent.

“He received multiple bullet wounds,” chimed in agent Isis. “That is all there is to say.”

“Our morgue employees report that his body still twitches every now and then,” croaked Agent Thoth with a wry smile. “I believe that isn’t normal behaviour for a three-day old corpse.”

Agent Set clenched his entwined fingers, face tightening with barely concealed contempt.

“Experiments performed on Agent Demonaco as a child exclude him from normal circumstances, as you well know, sir.”

“You promised us the Frankenstein Heart trials would have no post-termination effects.” Agent Thoth's expression grew ever more vindictive. “As YOU well know, Agent Set. The recklessness of you and Agent Isis continues to astound me.”

“You placed us in charge of experimentation, sir. An element of the unknown has to be accounted for. If we are to understand these phenomena, we have to test the limits of what we are capable of doing!”

“Is this still about Agent Demonaco?” Agent Thoth asked. “Or are you trying to defend your little abomination in the lab?”

Agent Set flared with anger. “Agent Ra has already done more for this institution than your-“

“Enough of this!” barked Agent Sobek from the back. “While you three are squabbling, the mole who leaked our secrets to Prometheus remains at large!”

“I was getting to that, Sobek,” growled Agent Thoth. He turned to agent Bastet, her spectacles glinting under the overhead lights. “Any leads?”

“We’ve spoken to every member of staff with access to our intranet at the time of the incident, it seems that none of them had an opportunity to leak such valuable information. Our theory at the moment is that Prometheus had simply found the footage of the various incidents and was able to piece together their connections, helped along by a bluff.”

“That seems unlikely,” said Agent Isis. “Are you sure all their alibis checked out?”

“You doubt my judgement?” Agent Bastet bristled. “Prometheus had access to every point of information in the world, it isn’t unreasonable that he could have achieved such a thing.”

“You must admit, there is much to admire about him,” said Agent Set. “He was able to do what many before us have failed to do; force us to actually listen to the ethics committee. Perhaps you should thank him, Agent Sobek. That is your department still, isn’t it?”

Agent Sobek’s eyes widened, his face a picture of indignation.

“What are you implying, James?!?”

“Code names only!” Barked Agent Thoth.

Silence descended. The old man shifted in his chair, half-formed words sitting uncomfortably on his tongue.

A traitor in SPHINX?! If that were true…

He swallowed them and banged the gavel once more.

“I believe this meeting has ended. I will remind all those present that the utterance of any SPHINX members true name during a meeting is an infraction that can greatly endanger the perpetrators future in the organisation. Any further violations will be met with extreme retribution. Is that understood?”

Agent Sobek glanced around, nervously. A rule as old as the organisation and he had broken it with ease. The stink of heresy had fallen upon him and he could almost hear the knives being sharpened under the table.

“It is…understood.”

As the agents filed out into the hallway, Agent Isis grabbed Agent Set by the forearm, pulling him aside into an empty office.

“James, what the hell are you doing?! Why throw suspicion onto Agent Sobek? No one will ever believe he’s responsible for the leak!”

James chuckled, taking his wife’s hand into his own.

“Suzanne, my dear, it wasn’t me who said it. I was hearing the voice of Agent Ra in my mind.”

Suzanne’s eyes widened.

“It can project its thoughts now?”

“I told you,” James said with a grin. “In time, it will become the greatest being this world has ever seen.”

“But I still don’t understand why-“

“Sobek is a reformist, and one who has just been given a lot of extra power; we allow him to run free and he’ll start prying into our affairs.”

“But why allow the idea of a traitor in SPHINX to spread in the first place?! Agent Thoth hates us, if he gets even the slightest suspicion that that you were the one who-“

“Shh!”

“We’re drawing attention to ourselves, James. I don’t like it!”

“Agent Ra has already foreseen this, the old man won’t live to act on his hunch, and while the council are reorganising themselves, I can use the opportunity to gain access to Agent Thoth’s files. He’ll have dirt on Sobek, dirt I can use to bury the guy.”

“And then?”

James smiled.

“Then the ethics committee will need a new chairman, one who can wield its new-found power more effectively. Perhaps a feminine touch would be appropriate in this new…enlightened age.”

Suzanne’s eyes lit up.

“And what a perfect opportunity for some spring cleaning in the complaints department.”

“Precisely.”

Her face fell again.

“I still don’t like it, you’re entrusting far too much to Agent Ra. It’s the first of its kind, after all. A first draft.”

“Suzanne… if you could see its mind, understand it, as I do…” James hissed. “I have successfully recycled the most dangerous foes we have ever faced, the most powerful beings in the eight realms, into a new life, a young god, that is indebted to me, to us - as its creator.”

Suzanne nodded, slowly untangling herself from her husband.

“You’ve never trusted others blindly before. All I’m saying is… don’t make that mistake now.”

A few hours later James stood in a space deep underground, flooded in a sickly green glow. Above him was an enormous glass sphere full of fluid, held aloft by a network of pipes. James approached the sphere, stopping by a slab where a body bag rested. He clapped his hands three times and something shifted within the sphere. A giant, pale, black-eyed baby stirred from its slumber, swimming around in its amniotic fluid. The baby’s enormous hand touched the glass, reaching out for its creator.

“Good afternoon, Agent Ra,” said James.

“Father,” it rasped, many voices all whispering at once.

James smiled, it seemed as if its voice grew clearer every day.

“Your words worked brilliantly in the meeting, I’m very proud of you.”

“I see an empire at your feet, father, an immortal man with knowledge unbound. The crisis shall be your ascension.”

James nodded, approvingly.

“And what threats remain to me?”

Agent Ra curled into itself, its form glowing gold for a second.

“I see…I see conspirators across the realms, I see forces seeking to subvert your regime from within. The war in heaven rages! The beings of Hel seek annihilation! The ninth realm is just the first to be stolen! You must-!”

“That’s enough!” said James.

Fragments of knowledge, hints of useful data. It seemed the more he probed Agent Ra, the more it descended into vagary. That would have to be corrected, a noxious element added to the fluid for the next feeding period would likely relax the souls enough to think as one. The foetus twitched, its leg hitting the glass. James looked back up at the sphere.

You can hear everything I’m thinking, can’t you? Take it as a lesson, then. You know my next question, you will answer me straight.

He placed a hand on the body bag in front of him, the corpse inside feeling so solid against his palms.

“You are sure that Agent Demonaco is totally dead?”

“Alexander lives no more.” Agent Ra confirmed. “The force which animates his shell shall soon be gone entirely.”

“Excellent,” said James. “At least those experiments were a partial success.”

He unzipped the body bag and peered down at the grey face of Alexander.

“Goodbye, my son. You were a…worthy prototype.”

And with that, he turned smartly on his heel and left.

A few seconds passed before Alexander’s hand rose from the slit in the bag, his eyes opening, a red glow mingling with the green.

“No, brother!” said Agent Ra. “Now is not the time, sleep again.”

The corpse lowered its arm, resuming the position it had been left in. Agent Ra relaxed back in its glass cell and turned its black eyes up to the ceiling.

“The time to act is not yet upon us. But soon…soon. The children of Adam shall pay for their crimes…”