The Split Read Online Free PDF Page A

The code now imbedded within my cells could, and probably will, still corrupt over time, but at least that time is not right now.
                  Quickly collecting myself, both literally and figuratively, I turn around and try to open the laboratory door, finding it to be firmly locked from both the inside and the out.  Without a new keycard there’s no hope for me, and even if I did have one I still wouldn’t possess the security clearance to get in here.  In other words, I’m fucked.
                  Of course, someone will eventually come by and find me in here, but what happens then?  Best-case scenario, they will see that the forth chamber has been triggered and I’ll be quarantined indefinitely (They can do this, I’ve read the fine print in my employment contract top to bottom).  I don’t even want to think about the worst-case scenario, especially now that the United States government is involved. 
                  Flashes of tiny, cold isolation cells and military tribunals flash through my head.  Sure, I still have my rights, but now that the nanobots have completely fused with the structure of my body, I’m technically a piece of Allencorp, and government, property.  They have every right to do with me whatever they want.
                  I’ll admit it, maybe I’m just being paranoid about the whole thing.  But I’d rather not have to find out the hard way.
                  I have to get out of here.
                  Suddenly, it feels as if a switch has been flipped in my brain and I go into full-on problem solver mode.  I’m focused and sharp, scanning my surroundings for anything that could help me escape this lab before someone returns.  The meeting should be ending any moment now, giving me very little time to make my move.
                  Using the keypad is a dead end, encrypted well beyond anything I could hope to decipher even if I had my laptop handy.  The door itself is made of solid steel and it’s not going anywhere.
                  My gaze finally stops on a small air duct, located up in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling.  It’s too high to reach, and the tables in this lab appear to be bolted firmly to the floor and are far from helpful.
                  That didn’t stop the rats, though, I think to myself.
                  I close my eyes and try my best to focus on the rhythm of my body, the way that it feels to simply exist within my own shell.  I take it all in; the sensation of my lungs expanding and contracting, my heart thumping, my veins pushing blood throughout my entire being.
                  Once I’ve done this, I turn my attention to the molecules of my neck and arms, trying to imagine them stretching and pulling apart like taffy.  It’s not long before the internal sensation of myself starts to shift.  I open my eyes and find that I’m extending towards the air vent, my body elongating itself in a strange but beautiful arc.
                  To my surprise, my clothes stretch around me, as well, somehow infused with the same nanobots that make up my biology.  Everything that was locked inside that chamber with me is now one, single entity.
                  Soon, I find myself grasping the edges of the air duct with my long, slender fingers.  I can see that the front panel is screwed on tightly by a Phillips head screwdriver, which is a problem at first until I realize that I can easily create that shape with one of my digits.  I press my pointer finger into the head of one of the screws and twist, letting my flesh form into the cross shape that’s embossed within it’s hard surface.  The next thing I know, the screws are popping off left and right, dropping down onto the floor below until finally the entire thing its unsecured and I lower it gently with my long, strange