The Chemist.
Chapter One.
Sitting in his remote house on the outskirts of a provincial town in Nebraska, the house was silenced except for the faint noise of the air recycling machines in his homemade clean room. He lived alone. He had no time for a relationship. The centrifuge spun around in this dizzy motion. The Chemist sat and stared at the screen; he smiled. It had taken him three years; three years of effort, three years of expended funds and patience. But now, his results flashed on the screen.
Test: Positive. He sat back, his white coat ruffled. His formula had succeeded in all the tests. The great mystery of the past had finally been solved. More importantly, his research had given him a powerful weapon as he felt the need and crucially an opportunity to ransom cities, states, and even small countries, should the need arise.
All his lab work, his building of a delivery system, and his labours were confirmed. All that was required now was a verified field test that could be observed, recorded, and reviewed for improvements.
And he had the perfect opportunity. The College campus, only four miles away, was holding an outdoor concert for co-ed students. The venue was ideal: low security and lots of rooftops for him to observe and record the spectacle. His drone delivery system could get 96% coverage.
It was perfect. Saturday's performance would be something for the history book!
Early Saturday morning, his stolen panel van parked in a secluded spot near the exits. He had placed fake advertising panels and had the foresight to switch plates so that nothing could link him. He set up his 'hide' on one of the flat roofs, set up a camera, telescope, and drones, and waited and watched in the warm sunshine.
After a couple of hours, the quad filled up with the student body, and even some faculty members had taken the time to sit on the grassy banks. The Chemist looked up at the sky, beads of sweat had formed on his brown and he smiled again. This unseasonal heat would be an added extra, the heat had encouraged a pleasing selection of scantily clad bodies. All the better for the entertainment he would be providing. As the Chemist scanned the crowd, his cold heart skipped a beat as Gina Martin and her daughter appeared from the south entrance and perched themselves on the low wall. The 43-year-old divorcee and her daughter, Penny were carbon copies of each other. The Chemist had formed an unhealthy carnal desire for the mother, and now a perversion grew in his mind; he might enjoy the daughter too!
A perversion that made him smile broadly. He searched in his holdall and fished out a small stun gun, a design of his manufacture with the easy availability of 3D printing and then readied himself to initiate the launch of his drones. He felt the sting of nervous tension as his drones spanned their rotors and lifted almost silently into the air. As they slipped over the crowd, a fine spray of his nerve agent emitted from the vials that had been built into the frame. It took less than three minutes for the drone to expand its supply and return to its master. The Chemist dismantled the first drone's payload system attached two cameras, and sent it away, fidgeting with his view screen on his tablet to get the HD quality feed. The drone whizzed to preprogrammed points hovering above the campus, just in time to watch the spectacle about to unfold.
The effects were rapid and unmistakable as the invisible nerve agent was inhaled. For years the 'frenzied affliction in 15