SHORTS - HAYDEN - 1 - INTERVIEW WITH THE DOCTOR
 
"Gregor, can you pass me that reporter's tablet? I want to have a look at what she wrote about me..."
 
"Yes, my love. Here you go..."
 
***
 
"Journal entry - Monday 29th January 2040 08:17
 
"After years of trying, I have finally managed to get in touch with someone who has contacts with Doctor Masters. This is going to be the scoop of the century for the NABC News...
 
"Doctor Hayden Masters, the world's greatest Biotechnologist AND Genetic Engineer, but also one of the most elusive figures I've ever encountered. I've spent the past five years of my life following his work, seeking out every mention of his name on social media and the mainstream media and I've got barely enough information to fill an A4 sheet of paper. This man took the science world by storm at the age of 19 by developing a way to basically end world hunger, then vanished completely after completing his university studies.
 
"Talk on the dark web is that he's still out there, people catching glimpses of him, other people claiming to have been approached to work with him and then vanishing. Even his own parents vanished just before he did. And I really mean vanished. Sure, their house was destroyed by a fire, but there were never any traces of the bodies...
 
"There's even talks that he has become some sort of supervillain with his own private island and an army of scientists and bodyguards working for him. Now that's rich, looks like conspiracy theorists are alive and well!
 
"Anyway, I need to meet up with this guy to see if I can get any closer to finally tracking him down. End of entry"
 
***
 
"Journal entry - Monday 29th January 2040 22:53
 
"I met up with my contact. He didn't hang around long, but he did manage to pass me a data pad with information on another contact who might have information. Aargh, why is there a web inside a web here. Not to mention that this other contact won't speak to me except in person. Thankfully, it looks like the guy I met today has already arranged a meeting for me tomorrow.
 
"There's also a bit more information about the good Doctor on the data pad. It looks like he is still very much alive and kicking, just as I suspected. He has a front business for his activities called 'Genetech' (how original, huh?) but it looks like that's headed up by a Carter Greenwell. Not a name I'm terribly familiar with, and an Alphabet search just comes up with his position as CEO. Another mystery to investigate, but first I need to make sure that I can get to this contact tomorrow. End of entry"
 
***
 
"Journal entry - Tuesday 30th January 2040 08:12
 
I awoke to a start this morning - there was a handwritten note next to my bed changing the time of our meeting to 08:15. Someone has noticed me snooping around. After panicking and checking everywhere in the house, I realised that there was still an opportunity here, so I rushed to get ready and get to the location on the note, but there doesn't look to be anyone here waiting on me. Wait... there's a man staring at me. Like really staring. Oh phew, he's getting into the back of that limousine that's drawn up. Wait, the driver has just got out and is signalling to me to get in. He's huge, like HUGE. He must be over seven feet tall, and he's packed with muscle. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose. End of entry"
 
***
 
"Miss Carole Augustine?" the driver asks. The young lady nods and follows him as he goes to open the back door to the limousine. Carole nervously steps in and waits as the giant driver closes the door carefully behind her.
 
"Ah, Miss Augustine, I presume? Please do take a seat," a young, but commanding voice says as the car begins to move.
 
Carole takes a seat and looks at the source of the voice. She sees a young man, no older than 20, looking identical to the pictures that she has on her wall. This is none other than Doctor Hayden Masters, the target of her investigations these past six years. *But wait,* she thinks, *according to my file he is closer to his 30s than his 20s, yet he looks no different to the photos from the press release 7 years ago. How can that be?*
 
"Now, my dear, I believe that you have been trying to track me down for a few years now. So, I have decided to save you some time and come to you," the young Doctor informs her.
 
"Thank you, Doctor Masters. You don't know how hard I've been trying to arrange this meeting. But, and I apologise for asking, wasn't there another man who got in the car before me?" Carole asks, carefully.
 
"Ah yes. Your 'contact', I believe? Well, let's just say that he has now served his purpose and was now surplus to my requirements," Hayden said, with a sinister tone to his voice. "Never mind. You now have me, and I am willing to answer any questions you might have for me?"
 
*Oh my god,* Carole thought, *this is it. The chance of a lifetime...*
 
"Well, Doctor" - "please, call me Hayden." - "Thank you. Well, Hayden, I suppose my first question should be 'where have you been all these years?'"
 
"Well now, that is quite a story..."
 
***
 
"It all started at university. I had long decided that humanity needed to evolve before it became stagnant and went the way of the other human races. A catalyst was a chance encounter with a fellow student, who gave me a gift which would allow me the time to follow through with my plan. Once I graduated, I decided that I no longer had need for the things holding me back - my parents, my friends, my past life, society in general. Everything except for my true love and my vision. So, I decided to get rid of them, using some of my new 'abilities' and simply deleted them, and the two of us, from existence.
 
"Sadly, in my uncharacteristic naiveté I soon realised that my vision needed more than just my passion and my genius - it needed resources and funding. I therefore decided to follow that age-old maxim that 'the end justifies the means' and used some of my newfound abilities to acquire the funding. Just a few banks robbed without them being able to explain anything, but I soon had acquired enough of a fortune to be able to fund my operations.
 
"Again, fate had a way of reminding me that a two-man project on this scale would take centuries to succeed, and with humanity's existence seeping away, I was forced to build up an operation to provide me with the resources to achieve my vision. So, after a few years I now have around 7,000 scientists and engineers working with me, backed up by a logistics staff of 19,000 and a small army, for protection of course, of about 48,000. To help maintain recruitment I set up 'Genetech' as a front company, as I believe you have already discovered.
 
"My operations are now completely self-sustaining, and based on a private island in the Caribbean, which is where we are heading to just now."
 
"We're heading to the Caribbean?" Carole said, worried. "But I don't have anything with me."
 
"Don't worry. We're just going for a short trip. Simply a chance for you to look around my operation. Oh, and I wouldn't worry about sending any messages. All communications are blocked..." Hayden said, with a grin that didn't quite look human.
 
***
 
The car simply drove onto the waiting private jet, with the occupants not even stepping outside. Food and drink was provided for Carole, but Hayden didn't partake of anything during the short flight to the island...
 
***
 
"Now, there must be more you'd like to ask?" Hayden said, snapping Carole from her thoughts.
 
"Yes. You mentioned a small army for protection. Why the need for protection?" Carole asked, feeling the car driving out of the jet and back on to the road.
 
"Ah, such sweet innocence. Carole, it should not come as a surprise that there are those who would not like humanity to reach a higher state of evolution. Governments, corporations, religions all depend on keeping the public unaware of their true potential, keeping them in genetic poverty to make them easier to manipulate and control. There are also those who believe that my work is unethical, ha! and who would rather I was not permitted to achieve my vision. Now, while I have had to be a little loose with my morals, I can assure you that I mean no harm to anyone - but there are many who mean to harm me, much as that is impossible. Hence the reason for my little private army."
 
"I'm not sure that many would call 48,000 a little army," Carole interjected.
 
"Compared to many armies, my little protection force is miniscule in size. Now then, shall we have a tour?"
 
At that moment the car stopped, and the driver stepped out and opened the door.
 
"After you..." Hayden said politely to Carole. Following her out, he spoke to the driver. "Thank you, Gregor," he said, with some affection in his voice.
 
***
 
Carole looked around. They were clearly in a vast warehouse or something similar. Except this vast space was closer to a cavern that stretched for miles. All around her, people were working, looking nervously over at the Doctor. Carole could see the hint of fear in all their eyes every time they looked his way.
 
As the two started walking through the vast concourse, Carole looked in wonder at the operations going on. Not all of it looked scientific, but Hayden had mentioned that he also had to build up a vast logistic chain to support his scientific operations. Large wooden crates were being transported everywhere - Carole was sure that the items inside were not for her eyes...
 
They came upon a crew of about 15 men trying to load a crate on to the back of a small truck. Although they had a crane to do the job, it appeared to not be working. The 15 men working together couldn't even lift the crate off the ground, despite their best efforts.
 
"What's going on here?" Hayden said quietly, but with force.
 
"I'm sorry Doctor," one of the men said, looking at the ground and shivering with fear. "The crane isn't operating, and we can't get the item on to the truck. I have asked for another crane, but it won't be here for another 15 minutes."
 
"Who is the technician who signed off the crane for use?" Hayden asked.
 
"Technician T-VM-42, Doctor."
 
"Have him report to my office with his supervisor, now," Hayden said, with emphasis on the 'now'. Without saying another word, he lifted the crate with his right hand and placed it on the truck as though it was little more than a feather. "Now carry on with your work."
 
The men all gulped, seeing a demonstration of the Doctor's 'abilities' and quickly went back to their duties.
 
Carole couldn't believe her eyes. *Did he honestly just do that? I must have just imagined it, surely...*
 
"Now, where were we?" Hayden said to Carole.
 
"Wha.. Doctor, that was incredible," Carole gushed.
 
"As I said, a fellow student gave me a 'gift'. And please, call me Hayden"
 
"Sorry, Hayden. But why were those men so afraid of you? Surely it was just a mistake or an accident that the crane wasn't working?"
 
"My dear Carole. I have not managed to progress my work by accepting 'mistakes' - those who are not able to perform their duties, or who show themselves to be incompetent, face a very swift punishment. Needless to say, they never make a mistake again..." Hayden trailed off, with that sinister tone back again.
 
***
 
Continuing their tour, Hayden leads Carole into a laboratory where it looks like human beings are being suspended in some vast tubes with blue liquid.
 
"Doctor, what are they?" Carole asked.
 
"These are clones. Yes, this is a cloning lab. This is where I create clones of those who might serve some importance to my operation."
 
As Carole looks closely, she notices that one of the clones has a familiarity about it that she can't quite put her finger on. *Wait! That's me! He's cloned me!*
 
"Hayden, is that..." -
 
"Yes, my dear, that is a clone of you. As I said, I create clones that will serve my operation. Now, if you'll follow me to my office..."
 
***
 
Thoughts are racing through Carole's head...
 
*Why is he cloning me? What does he need me for? Does that mean that I'm needed here? What happens to me if I have a clone?*
 
***
 
They enter the Doctor's office, a rather opulent room which looks more like a sitting room than an office. Hayden takes a seat and invites Carole to take a seat opposite.
 
"By now, I'm guessing that you have realised that you won't be leaving this island?" Hayden says, with a charm belying the danger.
 
"But why?" Carole asks, panicking. "What have I done to deserve this? What am I meant to do - just live out my days on this island?"
 
Before Hayden can answer, Gregor, the driver, enters the room. He walks over to Hayden and whispers something to him.
 
"Ah, perfect. Bring them in, my love," Hayden says. Turning to Carole, he says, "perhaps another little demonstration of my 'gift' is in order? Hmmm..."
 
The Technician and his Supervisor come cowering into the office, their heads looking down for fear of catching the Doctor's eyes.
 
"Are you the technician who signed of crane GH-11-AA for use?" Hayden asked quietly. The technician nodded.
 
Looking at the supervisor Hayden continued, "and are you the supervisor who signed off on this technicians work?" The supervisor nodded.
 
"Well then. I put the blame squarely on you," Hayden says to the supervisor, "as you should either have noticed that the crane was not operational and 'corrected' this incompetence, or you are so incapable yourself that you didn't notice. Failure will not be tolerated here."
 
As the Doctor went on, Carole noticed that he seemed to be getting taller. His shirt and jacket were now so high that he was showing some of his abs. Despite her predicament, Carole still blushed - *for a serious science geek he does have a hot body... Wait, what are you thinking?*
 
As she snapped out of it, she noticed something snaking out of Hayden's abs - it was the same colour as Hayden's skin but was stretching over to the supervisor.
 
In one swift move, Hayden's navel engulfed the head of the supervisor and rapidly consumed his entire body. The bulge in the extended belly button passed into his torso, without making a mark. In less than 3 seconds, Hayden had consumed a human being through his belly button.
 
Looking at the technician Hayden simply repeated, "Failure will not be tolerated." His tongue then shot out of his mouth like a lizard and wrapped around the frightened technician before pulling the technician into his mouth, swallowing as if he were no more than a marshmallow.
 
As Hayden started to take off his jacket and shirt, Carole sat horrified at what she had just witness. Two grown men had just been swallowed by the Doctor in less than a minute. She continued to watch as Hayden continued to grow, throwing off his shirt to reveal an extra pair of arms.
 
"Disciplinary procedures do work up an appetite," Hayden said, with a little chuckle. "And now, my dear, you get to see me in my true form. Something that very few people have seen, and even fewer live to tell the tale."
 
"What are you?" Carole asks.
 
"I told you, I was given a gift, and now I plan to share this gift with all of humanity and lead them as their benevolent saviour," Hayden said as he lowered his body down to allow him to look Carole in the eye. Stretching his neck so that it carried his head around hers, he continued to explain what he had in store for the reporter.
 
"Now, you will serve my vision. Or rather, your clone will serve my vision. You see, I have clones in many different influential positions - in government departments, in large multi-national corporations, in the media - all ensuring that no-one is aware of my operations, but also ensuring that I remain in control of resources and information that benefits my vision. You should feel honoured that I consider you to be such a worthy person to replace.
 
"And now," he said, extending his jaw, "we have reached the end of the tour."