by Jiny Lee
What kind of human experiments were they doing there? I asked myself. Was all that experiments had something to do with the night crawlers? The night crawlers were the outcome of the experiment? Well, I hoped Bertie and Ganbold would find something out.
The veterans came down with ammo and food and took the documents and bottles we found and went back up. I asked them if they encountered any of the night crawlers on their way. Instead of answering the question, they smiled and showed their metal fists with blood on them. Well maybe they were the ones who had to be on this trip in the first place, I thought to myself.
We repacked and went further down. We met several more night crawlers but they were much smaller in number.
A strange feeling got bigger and bigger in my mind. It was a doubt. Unexplainable doubt. Did we kill the most of them? How many more of them were left? How many floors we had to go down? And on top of all that questions, what are they?
29
Were they really the night crawlers? They looked like the night crawlers we talked about, but I couldn't help thinking that something wasn't quite right. We were suspecting that the night crawlers kidnapped the sisters, and made a deal with the Reaper. But the movements we encountered were not so sophisticated. They just looked like animals. They didn't even look like they were capable of complex thinking. They walked and ran just out of instinct, Not even like animals, but more like insects. An insect. A bug in a shell of a human.
When we reached the 10th floor, we were all exhausted. We weren't very tired physically but we were mentally exhausted by the fact that we didn't know how further we should go.
We had found some more useful pieces of materials that looked promising to solve the puzzle. Ganbold had translated some of the documents we had sent and he translated them faster and faster. We found out what this building was and what kind of experiments they were doing.
According to what Ganbold had found, the one who was wearing mask and covering all of his body in the picture was Nergui, the founder of this building. We had found out that he was the first of our kind. He had extreme sensitivity to the sunlight and he tried to find the cure. It was a genetic mutation. It was similar to a sun allergy but much severe one. And as far as we had found out, he seemed to find a way to cure it.
The tenth floor looked the same as the seventh, the eighth and he ninth. Computers, experiment chambers, and also chambers that represents a variety of terrains. But there were also empty chambers that looked like prison cells. In some of the cells, there were night crawlers inside, extremely inactive, which was probably because of the extreme starvation.
Bertie started an anatomy with a dead body of a night crawler that the veterans brought him. He found out that their organs and muscle fibers were different from ordinary human's.
'Their muscle fibers are much stronger than the ordinary human body. They can perform five to six times more efficient than ours. One interesting fact is that they show no extreme reaction to the direct ultra violet ray. And it seems that they can function even without any nutritional intake for a long time,' said Bertie.
'How long?' asked Alex.
'I'm not sure, but almost infinitely. The analysis of their cells tell me that they are as old as... hundreds of years. Nearly a thousand. And their DNA structure seems like they experienced an extreme mutation.' explained Bertie.
I asked him, 'You mean they evolved?' But he said, 'Not exactly, it seems like they experienced the mutation while they were alive.'
'What? You're saying that they are artificially mutated human beings? What the fuck is this? So all the experimental facilities we had seen was to turn ordinary humans to monsters like them?' asked Alex. Bertie said, 'I'm not sure but that's a possibility. Moreover, their brains are a little bit different from ours. One part of their brains seems to be particularly evolved. The cerebral cortex.'
'So, what does this cerebral cortex do?' asked Nari. Kimmy answered this time. 'Perception, cognition, and communication. Basically, it plays a key role in language and consciousness for ordinary people.'
'They don't look like they were able to talk,' said Fox. 'Any other new findings from the historian?' she added.
'Should I talk on this microphone?'
We could hear Ganbold, the historian's voice through the radio. 'Mic test, one, two..' 'Oh come on, old man. We can hear you,' Alex said with a big laughter.
'I'm almost finished in translating the documents you sent me, but they're all about the same. They're all talking about experiments and that they all failed. The purpose of the experiments seems to be the cure of the genetic mutation that make the subjects extremely vulnerable to direct sunlights. Perhaps that was the initial intention. But something seems to have changed in the middle. The extreme physical ability and unusually development of the cerebral cortex are also written on the reports. They are written as unwanted side effects in some reports, but in some reports, it almost seems like they were expecting the result. Perhaps, the direction of the experiments had changed in the middle. In some of the experiment reports that seems to be operated later in dates, they were more interested in those physical enhancement than finding the cause and cure of the sensitivity to sunlight. I think they were purposely making the creatures, but I'm not sure about the reason. Why were they interested in making those monsters?' said Ganbold.
'Alright, thank you Mr. Ganbold. Tell us if you find something out,' said Purple and he told us to keep looking for more.
We did find out a few more computers on the floor but they were all broken. It seemed like we had to go down to the eleventh floor.
I asked Bertie how deep we had come down. He said the basement floors were made much higher than the floors above the ground. So we had come down more or less a hundred meters down the ground. Fortunately, according to his estimation, we were almost close to the bottom.
...
We looked all around the tenth floor and came up to a huge door again. It looked like it was a door leading to the eleventh floor. We instantly realized that the eleventh floor would be different from the other floors by the enormous size of the door. Purple asked our opinions whether to move on, or take a short rest before we go. We were all tired and we needed some sleep. We agreed on taking a short rest and wait for the veterans to come down one more time for another resupply and for picking up what we had found. We decided to take a rest for some hours. Most of all we needed to get some sleep.
We decided on taking turns standing the sleep watch for an hour each in a pair so that each of us could get at least 3 hours of sleep. Purple said he'd take the first watch with Fox. Alex and Wonder were the second, Steve and Josh were the third, and me and Nari were the last watch, all added up into 4 hours.
We set up our camp in a terrain chamber. It was a savanna chamber. Purple said the savanna would be better for us to make a fire and prepare for enemy with an open sight.
Wonder worried about making the fire, saying what if the night crawlers surround us while we were asleep. Purple said they would surround us if they wanted to even without the fire. And they were more reliant to their nose and ears, so the fire wouldn't make any difference to them.
We made a small fire to keep us warm and all lay down on the ground. The lights on the ceiling high above almost looked like starts. I soon fell into a sleep. I must have been really tired.
I didn't have any dream that time. Maybe I was so deep asleep. Until I hear Steve's voice waking me up for the shift, I slept like a fallen log on that simulated savanna.
'It's time for the shift, sir,' said Steve. He also told me that the veterans had visited. I said, 'Good job. Now get yourself some more sleep.'
After waking up, I put more of the dried branches into the fire. Nari asked me, 'Did you have a good rest, sir?' I said I did and asked her why she was calling me sir. She said, 'Because you're friends with Alex and Fox, sir.' I said, 'Well that's because they are superior to you, but I'm not. Just call me Endy without sir. As far as we're together as a team in this
journey, I think we're all equal.' She said she would after a brief consideration.
It was the first time that I had a chance to be with her alone.
'So Endy, can you tell me about the girl you're looking for?' she asked. I said, 'No problem. Well, we were together since the day we were born. My parents and their parents were friends. We did everything together. When we were young, there were five of us always hanging out together. Me, Diane, Kimmy... There was also a little boy named Chen, and Danny who was older than us....'
I told her the story of how I'd come to do everything. The story of how Chen died, and the story of Danny and Diane. I also told her about what happened to our families. I also told her that all I wanted at that point was to find Diane and compensate the days that we had lost. An hour was longer than I'd thought.
After I finished my story, I asked her if she was having any sort of sorriness because of the fact that her father was one of the guards. I said she didn't have to.
Nari seemed to understand what I was saying. She said she had lost someone she loved, too. I turned to see her face. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking above to see the lights.
She said, 'Now I think I can understand the man who built this building and why he built this stupidly tall and great structure. He needed company, definitely. He must have been lonely outside in the world full of people he can't freely talk to, with his condition.'
I didn't answer to her. I didn't know what to say. She continued.
'It's a weird thing to say, huh? I know, but. On the outside of everything, he built this building to find a cure. But maybe on the inside, he just wanted to be with people. I mean, think about it. If this building was only built to a company headquarter, why he built the floors above the 100th floor to resemble a town? Why did he made it look like a city with curved streets with benches, street lights... Why would he have designed the floors like that if he was just making a company building?'
'Yeah, maybe. But maybe it was reconstructed later to be like that?' I answered.
She said, 'Oh, I didn't think about that. That sounds more reasonable.'
She made a quick agreement to what I said. But well, to be honest, I couldn't care less about what was in the man's head who existed hundreds of years ago.
'I'm sorry, sir. I think I talked too much nonsense. Forget it, sir,' said Nari.
And we didn't say anything more until the time we had to wake the other guys up.
30
'Okay gentlemen, and ladies, get your gear up and let's go,' said Purple with a firm voice, 'It's a new dawn, it's a new day and it's a new ...'
'Everyone's ready, Purple. And it's not even a dawn or a day. 6 o'clock in the evening,' Fox interrupted.
'No, it's just a metaphor.., no forget it. Now let's go open that big ass door,' said Purple. We headed to the door and contacted Bertie.
Purple said, 'Bertie, we're in front of that door again. Tell us what to do.'
Bertie said, 'The door won't open by force, The walls would be much thicker. See the panel or something. Is there a number pad or things like that?'
I found the closed cover and opened it. There was a number pad. I asked him if he could figure out the pin. He told me to attach the device to the panel which he'd sent us by the veterans. I did as I was told. The screen on the device was showing numbers turning rapidly to find out the correct combination. I asked Bertie how long it would take. But the device made a ting sound to tell that it was already done before he had to answer.
The door opened itself, and there was a massive stairway lying in front of us. We went down slowly. There were no night crawlers. We just followed that long, long stairway down to the bottom. It wasn't written anywhere that it was the last floor, but I could see it was. More than anything, the massiveness of the stair case let me feel that it was the final stage.
We walked down the stairs for almost five minutes until we reached the floor. The eleventh floor definitely had a different atmosphere. The floor was well lit and there was a hallway straight in front of us and numerous doors on both sides.
'Should we check each door?' asked Josh. Purple said, 'Let's split the group into three. Alex, Wonder and Steve, Check the doors on the right side. Fox, Nari, and Josh, check the doors on the lest side. Endy, you go with me and see what's waiting for us at the end of this hallway.'
...
So Purple and I walked forward. I could hear the other two groups opening the doors and checking the rooms. But there was nothing special. The eleventh floor had nothing. Nothing but just empty spacious rooms and a hallway.
The rooms were compatibly small and the hallway was wired endlessly like a puzzle. I felt like a rat in a maze. We were mice in an experiment and they were watching us solving the maze and timing it. Or an ant. I felt like we were ants that were being observed by some creatures higher above us. We were solving the puzzle they had made, and maybe they were generous enough to wait until we reached the final stage.
That's what I felt like. But I was wrong. They were not generous enough to wait until we reached the final stage.
Suddenly all the lights on the floor went out. Purple hurriedly shouted, 'Everyone group up!' We turned on the flash lights and waited for any attack. Then suddenly again, all the lights turned on itself and I could see a man standing in front of us.
He was wearing a long black coat, made of some kinds of weird leather, I supposed. He was staring at us without saying anything. He was wearing a black hat like an undertaker. He was also wearing a heavily tinted sunglasses.
We stared each other for a while. Bizarre tension was all around us. None of us moved or talked and I even felt like we weren't even breathing. What the fuck is that guy and where did he come from out of the blue? That was probably what me and the other guys were thinking. I didn't dare to say anything. Maybe I was just waiting for something to happen.
'I know why you are here,' the man said, but he didn't move his mouth a bit. 'Poor incomplete descendents of the father's sin, now finally down here after all those ages, to find out the truth, or something else.'
He looked at me. He slowly walked toward me. We held our weapons up and told him to back off. His lips weren't moving, but still, we could hear his voice like it was resonating in my head.
'Please, I demand you to put your weapon down. I don't want any of violence. I'm not your enemy.' he said. He moved his right arm and drew a small line in front of him. Then somehow, we dropped our weapons.
What just happened? How did he make us all drop our weapons down only with that gesture? My brain tried hard to interpret the scene I was seeing but it was useless.
Soon he walked right in front of us. He was tall. He was taller than any of us. He was the tallest guy I've ever met. His face was so pale that I could see the tiny veins beneath his skin. He put off his sunglasses to introduce himself. His eyes were dark. Pure black, like the night crawlers. I thought to myself. Is he one of them?
Then he answered.
'I'm not one of them, Endy. But to a certain degree, I am.'
I said, 'How did you....' and he continued, 'How did I know what you were thinking? It's easy. It's written on your face.' Then he smiled and I saw his teeth were not the same as the night crawlers' beastly teeth.
He told us to follow him. We followed him into a spacious room. We didn't say anything on the way. The huge back of him seemed like telling us not to say anything until we reached the place he was guiding us.
There were eight chairs in the room as if he was expecting the eight of us. He asked us to sit down but we refused to since we couldn't trust him one hundred percent. We were standing. We were ready to do anything if anything bad ever happened. He said 'if you'd please' and went to one side of the room with some kind of control panels. He pressed the buttons and turned on a screen that was as big as the size of the wall. I asked him what it was about. He said we would see when we finished watching the videos he was about to show us.
...
On the video
was a man and I knew who he was instantly. He was the founder of the building I saw on the picture. He started talking something, in a language that we couldn't understand. But somehow, this time, I could understand what he was saying. He was definitely talking in a language that was different from ours, but his voice was echoing inside my head in a way that I could understand.
... To begin with a conclusion, all the efforts we have made have failed. I failed. I succeeded in making the subjects be like me. I mean, I succeeded in turning them into the same condition as I am. Could I say that I've half succeeded then? Sorry, that was an inappropriate joke. They volunteered for me and I shouldn't make fun of them. I'm more than thankful for their participation. But... I failed anyway. I feel tremendous responsibility for all this, for all I have failed. But still, I have to do this. I have to leave this video for someone to see.
My name is Nergui, and the founder of this company. The Lunar Corp. I've had a unique physical condition since the day I was born. I am extremely vulnerable to the direct sunlight.
After puberty, my extreme sensitivity to the sunlight got even worse and when I became an adult, I couldn't even bear to stand out in the day light for a second. Not even a second. In a second, my skin starts to burn and starts to decompose. It's not a skin burn but my skin literally starts to burn like it's turning into a hot liquid boiling and melting down.
I dedicated all my life to find the cause and cure for this. That's basically why I built the company and this building. To find a cure, I've done various researches and experiments, some of which I don't feel so proud about. That's why I kept the people outside to think that this building is just a massive pharmaceutical company building.
I thank everyone who helped me. Every fellow researcher, doctor, and every employee who dedicated their lives to the company, I thank you all. And I'm sorry for what happened. I don't know what the history would say about me but there's one thing I know for sure. I'd be remembered as a maniac who blocked the whole building down and let everyone die inside.