Imperium (Caulborn) by Nicholas Olivo

successors who would honor her vision, that might be possible. It would probably take hundreds of years, but I didn’t want to rain on her parade.
    We got back to Boston and I headed to Medical while Megan went upstairs to speak with Galahad. Doc Ryan was making some notes on a page as I walked in. “Afternoon, Doc,” I said. “How goes the battle?”
    The Doc ran a hand through his thinning white hair and gestured to the papers on his desk. “This zombie Kristin brought in has to be one of the strangest things I’ve seen from an anatomical perspective. Its organs are in the wrong places, and there are membranes stretching through tissues that I’ve never seen before. Add to that it seems to have been rotted alive by some disease I’ve never encountered before, and you’ve got yourself a case of weird shit.”
    He lit a cigarette and took a puff. “You know I’ve been working with the Caulborn for almost fifty years now? It’s crazy, Vincent, absolutely crazy. In five decades I’ve treated diseases that cause vampirism and lycanthropy, I’ve healed wounds that were infected by black magic, I’ve de-animated zombies and cyborgs. And still, just when I think I’ve seen it all, you kids find something new.”
    “Come on, Doc, you know you love it.”
    He smiled at me as he let out a smoke ring. “I never said I didn’t. Just the same, sometimes it’d be nice if someone brought me something I’d already seen.” He gave a short laugh. “Just once I’d love to say, ‘oh, yeah, I know what that is.’”
    I handed him the vial with the silver stuff I’d scraped up. “Well, how about this?”
    He took it in his aged hands, and his bushy white eyebrows rose. He swirled the liquid in its container, watching how it stuck to the sides. “At first glance, I’d have said melted silver, but that’s not right. The way it’s clumped together reminds me of a blood clot.”
    “You know anything with silver blood?”
    He sighed. “No, no I don’t. So I guess I’ll have to find out for you, eh?”
    “You’re the best, Doc.”
    He pointed at me, a thin tendril of smoke rising from his cigarette. “Damn straight. Don’t you forget that.” He slapped a label on the vial, made a quick note, and then put the vial into a rack of test tubes on his desk. Gearstripper popped out from beneath the desk.
    “Okay, Doc, I just loaded a bunch more RAM into your computer. The facial reconstruction program should run much faster now.”
    “Thank you, Gearstripper,” Doc said. “I can finally get that reconstruction analysis going for Kristin.” He gestured to the bag I held. “Something else?”
    “Yes.” I pulled out one of the vines and laid it on the desk. “I need you to tell me what these are.”
    Gears hopped up on the table. “Oh, I know what those are.”
    The Doc and I looked at him. “You do?” I asked.
    “Well yeah,” Gears crouched down next to the bag and stared intently at the vines. Then he looked back up at me. “Plants,” he said.
    I stared at him for a moment, then he burst out into squeals of high-pitched laughter. His tiny, sharp teeth shone brightly as he laughed. “Oh, I got you good!” he squeaked. “You should see the look on your face, Vinnie! Plants!” The Doc and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. Gears was laughing so hard he fell onto the table, holding his sides. After a moment, he calmed enough to stand back up.
    I made an effort to keep a straight face. “Allow me to clarify. I require an analysis run on these plants, Master Gearstripper.” I turned back to Doc Ryan. “I think they’re supernatural in origin, and anything you can tell me about them will be good.” I filled the Doc in on what I'd Glimpsed.
    The Doc rubbed his chin. “This is more up Mrs. Rita’s alley than mine. I’ll run some preliminary scans on them, but she’ll be able to tell you more.” He scooped up the bag of vines and placed them in a plastic bin on the desk. “She’ll be here