The Doctor and the Slime Girl

Theresa stroked Henrick's face and he laid his hand on hers with a little smile. 'I'm all right now.'

Louis lit Henrick's lantern again and held it up to watch the mess. 'What on Earth was that!?'

Henrick noticed a strange reflection on the floor near the armour, stood up, and moved over towards it. 'I don't know yet but look at this.' he said and pointed at a small patch of blue slime. 'This must've been cut off by a sharp edge of the armour. Now I have something to analyse.'

02 - Interesting Times

Louis had returned to his study and Theresa prepared something to eat in the kitchen while Henrick studied the slime sample and tinkered with his instruments. Louis had shown him where he could find spare materials used for his medical experimentation and Henrick gladly took the offer. When Theresa brought a hot meal he was testing various substances on the slime. 'I can't make out the biological part of the slime but it does react to common substances, absorbing most of them.' he said while she stood next to him and looked at the various vials. He pulled her against him with one arm around her hip. 'I'm guessing that is how it feeds itself and it will be of great interest to many scientists. Just thinking of the possibilities is almost as exciting as when I met you.' Theresa chuckled and ruffled his hair, then kissed him and gestured she'd bring Louis's meal to his study.

She knocked gently on the open door and Louis's head jerked up. He smiled gently at her when she seemed hesitant to go in. 'Please, come in.' he said and sat up straighter in his chair. 'I must've dozed off since it's been rather hectic lately and I didn't sleep much.' Theresa offered the tray and he quickly made room on his cluttered desk for her to put it down. 'Thank you, this smells and looks great.' he said and chuckled. 'I suspect Henrick isn't only happy about having found proof of ghosts with you.'

'Found it!' said Henrick when he hurried into the study. He presented a note to Louis. 'This mix caused the slime to lose all cohesion and liquefy. I think we can use this to pacify the slime creature, if you have enough of these components in store.'

Louis read the note and nodded. 'I think you'll find all you need in the storage closet by my equipment.'

'Good. If you can prepare, say, two buckets full, I'll go back to my place to build something to shoot the slime with this.' Henrick said and turned to Theresa. 'Can you stay here and keep an eye on things?'

Theresa nodded and he kissed her quickly. 'I'll be back soon!' he said as he hurried away.

***

By the time Henrick returned it was past noon again and he brought three copies of his creation. 'What's this?' asked Louis while he held what looked like a short musket with a steel bottle on top and a small bellows attached behind it.

'With this we can spray the slime from a short distance.' Henrick said. 'We fill the bottle with the slime solvent, use the bellows to pressurise it with air, and pull the trigger to release it in a focused spray on the slimes. If we spray it enough we might catch them if they've shrunk, or they might dissolve completely. I prefer the first possibility so I can study them more.'

After all three equipped themselves with what Henrick called a spray musket, they began the hunt from the ground floor upwards to corner the slime thing in the attic if it came to that. Henrick took point while Theresa and Louis covered the left and right behind him, moving as silent as they could while listening and looking for any sign of the slime creatures. They went up onto the second floor after clearing the first and Henrick opened the door of a closet next to the stairs. A slime burst out from the crack and he cried out in surprise.

'After it!' he shouted as the slime rushed through the half open door of another room.

'Did you see the size of that!?' said Louis. 'It's like a large dog!'

Henrick rushed to the doorway. 'If we don't stop it it might grow even larger!' he said and aimed his spray musket into the room.

Theresa joined him at his side and Louis kept close at their backs. The big bedroom lay quiet in the light coming from the windows. 'Where'd it go?' Louis asked.

Henrick watched the big canopy bed and the heavy curtains with his goggles. 'I don't know. I don't see any sign of it now, nor any movement.' He stepped slowly inside. 'Theresa, can you check the right side? I'll take the left. Louis, can you block it here if it slips past us?'

Theresa nodded and Louis said 'I'll try.', and Henrick and Theresa moved cautiously further into the room. Henrick crawled down at the end of the bed and quickly pulled up the bed cover from the floor. Nothing stirred in the shadows under the bed. Theresa poked each thick curtain but they only swayed without exposing the slime. Further searches underneath dressers and inside closets turned up nothing and Henrick and Theresa sat down on the end of the bed. He looked around at each possible hiding place in the room. 'Where could it have run off to?'

Louis lowered his weapon and entered the room. 'Maybe it found a hole or crack through which it escaped.'

Henrick nodded and looked up. 'Seems like it.' he said and squinted at a ripple moving along the bed's canopy. 'It's here!' The disguised slime contracted and sprung away at the same time he shot at it with the spray.

The slime bounced off the wall to avoid Louis spraying it while he turned around, and disappeared into the hallway. The three hurried after it, followed it up the attic stairs, and surveyed the attic again. Henrick looked at Theresa and Louis and they nodded back. He moved along the left side of the attic and sprayed between the stored clutter while Theresa did the same on the right side.

Several chairs crashed halfway towards the end at Theresa's side. The slime rushed through any opening to get away from the spray. Henrick moved in its direction and unleashed his cloud of solvent. The slime knocked over a dresser into the pile of chairs as it tried to retreat, then burst through in between the two attackers towards the other side. Theresa and Henrick followed at once and kept spraying into any corner they could reach. The slime crashed through the clutter again and headed towards the stairs but Louis aimed and sprayed before it got close. It dove into a corner and found itself trapped by Theresa and Henrick. 'We caught it!' he said.

The large blob of blue slime shivered and shifted its shape. Theresa and Henrick aimed their spray muskets at it and it pressed itself into the corner while its shape shifted into a human form and a terrified face appeared.

'Wait!' shouted Louis and pushed the muskets down. He stared intensely at the female face on the humanoid slime as he knelt before it, and reached out a trembling hand. 'Athena?' he said, and fell unconscious onto the floor.

***

'He exerted himself too much but I doubt anything more can be done for him.' Doctor Rubens said, a friend of Louis. He put his stethoscope away and looked at Henrick. 'His body has taken too much damage from his experiments.'

'What sort of experiments?'

'He's been trying to find the cure for Athena's disease.' said Rubens and the puzzled look on Henrick's face told him he had to explain. 'I don't know the complete story but what I do know is that Athena was a patient he met a couple of years ago.' He gestured at a photo frame on a small table to the side with Louis standing next to a pretty woman in a wheelchair. 'That's her in the photo. She suffered from an unknown disease that weakened her little by little and no doctor could identify it or cure her. Her family didn't have much wealth but Louis offered to try to find a cure and help her out.' Rubens looked at the sleeping Louis for a moment. 'He didn't succeed though and she died some time later. Since then he's been obsessed with finding the cure and proceeded with dangerous and unhealthy experiments, exposing himself to a lot of toxic materials to find the cure no matter what the cost. Although it seems he did get some useful results, it looks like his work will be in vain because he'll die soon. The only thing we can do for him is to let him rest and sleep.'

Henrick let doctor Rubens out and froze in the doorway when he returned to Louis's chambers. The slime with Athena's appearance and the shape of a simple dress stood next to his bed holding the photo frame. It gazed at the photo with a soft smile, looked at Louis, then at Henrick. The look of worry was undeniable to him. 'Did you hear what was said?'

The slime looked at Louis again and nodded a little. She put down the frame and gently caressed his cheek.

Henrick watched the slime's expression shift between a loving gaze and worry. 'Athena?'

The slime looked at him.

'Do you remember him? Or anything about him?'

The slime looked down and bit its lower lip for a while, then nodded and shook its head.

'Only a little?'

The slime nodded again.

Henrick moved a little closer and it backed away in fear. He held up his hands. 'I'm not going to harm you. You don't seem to be dangerous and I'm sorry for any misunderstanding before, but can you tell me where you came from since you seem to have a link to the Athena in the photo? I'd like to know why and have an explanation for Louis.'

The slime glanced at the photo, then at Louis, and nodded a little again. It moved around the bed and Henrick took a step away from the door when it hesitated coming closer to him. 'Please.' he said as he gestured for it to pass.

It looked down as it passed him and he followed it at a short distance while it headed towards the kitchen. Theresa gasped as it entered and reached for the spray musket lying on a table at the side. 'Wait!' said Henrick as he stepped in front of her. 'It's all right!' Theresa looked at him and relaxed. 'It's not hostile and it seems to know about a former patient of Louis. It's showing me where it came from.' Theresa nodded and he smiled gently at the confused slime. 'This is Theresa. She's a ghost and my dear companion.'

The slime looked at her and nodded in greeting, and Theresa returned it.

'Shall we continue?' Henrick asked and received another nod from the slime in answer. It led him down to the large cellar where one side was occupied by shelves full of jars, vials, boxes with cards, and several tissue sample cases. It pointed at a corner on the floor with broken glass and dark blue and green coloured mushrooms. Henrick took a closer look and found slime patches around the mushrooms. 'Looks like some biological and chemical reactions took place when various substances became mixed up.' He noticed a piece of a vial with a label and carefully picked it up. 'Blood sample Athena, dated some time ago.' He looked back at the slime. 'I think we found the cause of your appearance and memories.'

***

Henrick explained the situation to Theresa while they sat in Louis's chambers, watching over him and the slime sitting next to him with her hand on his. 'Athena's blood must have been absorbed and given the slime her attributes and some memories.' he said. 'So in a way this slime creature is Athena and that's why it,' he noticed Athena's gentle expression while she looked at Louis. 'or maybe I should say she, reacts to him so much. The chase probably triggered the return of her memories.' He sighed. 'It's sad to see he might never catch this glimpse of her again.'

Athena looked at him while holding Louis's hand against her chest.

'I'm sorry this is happening.' Henrick said and stood up. He went over to the bed and looked at the photo of the couple and strongly suspected there had been something between them. 'The toxins he handled are ruining his body and we have no way to remove them or repair the damage they're doing.' He looked at a shelf with medical and chemistry reference books. 'Those books can tell you more about it than I can though.'

Athena followed his gaze and he could no longer suppress his yawn. 'I need to retire for now.' he said. 'I'm afraid I reached my limit of going without sleep. Will you stay by his side?'

Athena nodded.

'I'll return as soon as I wake up.' Henrick said and left with Theresa for the guest chambers.

***

Henrick and Theresa returned after a deep and long sleep and were stunned by the sight in Louis's chambers. Books lay open everywhere and Louis lay naked on his bed, the covers and his clothes in a pile on the side, and his entire body apart from his nose and mouth was enveloped in a transparent blue slime layer. They moved closer to examine Louis. 'She's not suffocating him but what is she doing to him?' Henrick said.

Theresa held up one of the open books and the subject on the pages was about foreign substances in blood. He checked the other books and they were open on subjects of poison, manifestations of how certain parts of the body deteriorated, the workings of viruses, and various reference works on anatomy up to the minutest details. He watched the faintly breathing Louis again. 'Does she think she can cure him, or keep him alive?' Theresa touched his arm and he sensed her conflicted expression. 'I don't know, but he will die either way so maybe we should give her a chance indeed.'

Theresa nodded and they kept a watch near the bed while waiting for what would happen next.

***

After more than a day had passed a book falling on the floor from the bed startled Henrick and Theresa, and they watched as the layer of slime pulled away from Louis and transformed back into the female body of Athena again. She smiled tiredly at them and held out an open hand to Henrick. He stared at a tiny, dark and shiny sphere in her palm. 'Is that..?' he said and took it from her. She smiled a little more, then closed her eyes and lay quietly next to Louis. Henrick looked closely at the tiny marble for a moment, then laid it on a saucer on the night stand and listened to Louis's heartbeat. He smiled at Theresa. 'It's relaxed and steady, a good sign.' Theresa pulled a sheet over Louis and Athena while Henrick took the saucer. 'We'll let them rest now. I assume Athena is fine since she still in her human form.' Theresa nodded and they left to examine the marble.

***

Louis groaned softly when he woke up and his whole body ached as if he'd exhausted it by strenuous exercise and then been run over by one or more divisions of the cavalry. His gaze focused slowly on the ceiling while he tried to remember what had happened. A tear rolled down his face and his chest ached even more at the memory of Athena's face on the slime creature. 'Curse you.' he croaked and swallowed a lump in his throat. 'To torment me so..' He rolled his head sideways and his eyes went wide at the sight of Athena's blue face so close to him. Despite his aches he sat up at once and nearly fell back when his hand slipped from the edge. Theresa stepped inside his room and he gazed at her while pointing at Theresa. 'What is this doing here!?'

Theresa held up her hands in a gesture for him to calm down, then brought the books around them to his attention.

'My books?' he said as he looked around. 'What happened!?'

Theresa gestured she'd fetch Henrick and left quickly while Louis tried to make sense of his situation. It was only after Henrick explained everything and showed him the tiny sphere that it began to dawn on him. 'You call it Athena?'

Henrick nodded. 'Athena's blood is part of what made her alive, so I think she's close enough to be Athena. Especially when she seems to have some memories of the two of you.'

Louis looked at the sphere. 'And she gave you this?'

'I analysed it as best I could and so far it looks like she collected all the toxins and metals out of your body.'

Louis chuckled and coughed. 'That does explain why I feel mangled.' he said and gazed at Athena. 'It's almost too amazing to believe it's real.'

Henrick grinned. 'Welcome to the world of occult science.'

Louis looked at him, then laughed out loud and coughed again. 'I never imagined I'd end up surrounded by such proof as this Athena and your Theresa.' he said and Athena stirred.

The men watched ripples flowing across her blue body like a stone thrown into a dark pond and she morphed slowly into sitting on her knees. Her face showed signs of tiredness but a soft smile appeared when she looked upon Louis and his heart skipped a beat at the familiarity of the sight. 'Thank you.' he said. 'You saved my life.'

She nodded slightly once and toppled forward on his chest. 'She must have used up all her energy to heal you.' Henrick said but at that moment Theresa came in with a tray and bowls of a light stew and he smiled at her. 'You really are the best.'

She handed one to Athena and the slime girl looked at it, then at Theresa. She nodded in encouragement and Athena put the bowl carefully to her mouth. Everyone watched the stew go down into her upper body and dissolve slowly.

'Is it good?' Henrick asked her and Athena nodded with more vigour. He chuckled. 'I think there's more if you want to.' Theresa nodded and Athena held up the bowl towards her with the request clearly on her face, and Henrick helped the weakened Louis eat while Theresa fetched more.

***

Louis had Henrick bring him sedatives to help him sleep and recover more quickly and he had hardly fell asleep when a crash and glass shattering sounded from inside the house. Henrick stood up at once. 'That sounded like it came from my experiments!' he said and rushed out followed by Theresa.

In the chamber used by Henrick for his experiments and work on his instruments, a large, sickly green slime stood amidst a mess of broken glass, fallen instruments, and spills of the substances Henrick had used. It morphed into a barely human shape but its head moved around the upper body. It opened a jagged mouth in a silent scream and jumped at Henrick and Theresa.

Henrick reacted just in time to push Theresa out of the way but the slime hit his side and pummelled him to the ground. He pushed and swiped at the goo covering half his body and groaned loud when the slime on his skin stung and burned him, until Theresa sprayed the slime with the spray musket. The slime retreated fast and slithered out the door with Theresa hot on its trail.

Henrick hurried to the kitchen where he washed his red skin with cold water and Theresa returned soon. She looked dejected and explained the slime escaped through a broken board in the floor. Henrick gave her a gentle smile. 'Don't worry about that now, you saved me from more harm.'

She gestured at his arm and hands.

'It's luckily a light burn and I will be fine in a few days.' he said and looked up when Athena came into the kitchen. She looked worried but he gave her a reassuring smile. 'It's all right, no major damage done but we need to find out what happened and what motivated that green slime to be so aggressive.' Athena looked at the cellar door. 'Yes, we'll start there.'

Henrick examined the mess around the slimy mushrooms and poked through the pieces of glass with a fork. 'There's not much left of the label on this vial.' he said after turning the broken one next to the green mushroom. 'I can barely make out what looks like onnel written on it.'

Athena tapped his shoulder and she reached out to take a vial with dried blood from the shelf above. She showed its label to him. 'Mike O'Connell! That must be it!' he said. 'I'm sure Louis kept records on who his sample donors were. Let's have a look at them.'

They found several binders with patient information and all three began going through them until Theresa found the name. Henrick read quickly through the notes. 'Mike O'Connell, male, thirty-four years old, same symptoms as Athena, Louis tried various experimental drugs, no real improvements although it seems the degeneration slowed down, died at Wilmington asylum for the criminally insane.' He flipped the page. 'The man was admitted there for being a violent psychopath and murder!' He looked at Athena. 'If he's just like you his personality must have awoken and he's highly dangerous!'