by CS Patra
"Which one am I getting?" Ren asked.
"I have no idea. They probably won't tell you until it's time to go." Crystal said, putting on the green bracelet. "They told us to wait here for a few minutes. I want to see this Dr. Chang and what she has to say."
They were waiting for only five minutes when Dr. Rosemarie Chang arrived. "John and Andrea?"
Crystal nudged Ren who looked up. "Um, yes?"
"Hi, Dr. Chang. I heard that you were looking to have children." She shook their hands.
"Yes, we were." Crystal said. "We heard so many good things about this institute. My husband and I have been trying our hardest to have children. Sadly, we've been unsuccessful. We've tried everything, but nothing seems to be working."
"Well, you've come to the right spot. We will make sure that you will have everything you need to have a perfect, healthy baby." Dr. Chang said. "Now if you could both follow me, we'll go to the orientation room."
"Orientation room?" Ren repeated.
"Yes, I'm going to show a small video about the institute to you and other couples that have come today. It will take probably fifteen minutes and then you will start your lecture and tour." Dr. Chang explained. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask me before we begin?"
"How long do we have to wait until... well, until I can become fertile?" Crystal asked. "I have no idea if that makes any sense."
"I think I understood what you were trying to say. You want to know when we can start doing tests." Dr. Chang said. "Well, it will be up to you and when you would like to have the baby. Once you determine a time, we can schedule up a session to get you ready. You will have the entire facility to use. We will show you what we offer and you can use this place even after your baby has been born."
"That's good to know." Ren said as Dr. Chang led them into a small room. There were other couples hanging around and talking amongst themselves. It didn't look like anything was out of the ordinary. All these couples were eager to hear what Dr. Chang had to say. Crystal and Ren found seats in the back and got situated as Dr. Chang went to the front of the room.
"Hello, everyone!" She greeted them. "My name is Rosemarie Chang and I welcome you to the Bradley Institute. I know you have all come for one reason and I promise I will not talk very long. We will begin with a video that will explain everything and then we can get started after it's done. Make sure you are wearing either an orange or green bracelet. If you do not have a bracelet of any kind, you will go with the orange group. That will be all for now. Sit back and enjoy the video."
"Well, this should be fun." Ren murmured as he got comfortable.
The lights went dim and a video came on, showing a couple of cells separating. "Ever wonder if you could create the perfect human being? What if you had the power to determine what kind of baby you wanted? Would you take that chance to determine what genes the baby got? Well, the Bradley Institute has what you might be looking for. We have come up with the technology to give you the baby that you desire."
The next part of the video had pictures of babies and happy couples. All the couples vouched for the good things that the institute had done for them. They were happy that they had the perfect baby. The more that these people talked about this, the more uneasy Crystal felt.
"Now you are wondering how this can be." The narrator in the video went on. "How can a person determine what they want? Isn't it all up to genetics? That was in the past. This is the future. Here, you can decide the fate of your child. You can give them abilities and choices no one else would ever give them. Their future is now up to you. The future is now. Are ready to take the next step?"
Ren leaned over and whispered in Crystal's ear. "I don't know about you, but this is a little creepy to me."
"Yeah, there's something about this that I don't like." Crystal agreed. "I can see why this appeals to people, but I feel like there's something else to all this."
The video went on explaining how things were run in the Bradley Institute. Then it switched to something else. "The Bradley Institute is known for making miracles happen. Sometimes, people are not looking to have a child, but to fix problems they currently have. Imagine if you were sick and the doctor told you there was no cure for your illness. You would prepare for the last days of your life. Here at the Bradley Institute, we can help you. We have had cancer patients that were deemed terminally ill to being in remission for years. We have given people another chance at life."
The Genexis logo came up as the narrator went on. "Welcome to Genexis, a subdivision of the Bradley Institute. With each passing day, new patients enter and leave with a better sense of themselves. They leave knowing that they can see tomorrow again."
Crystal felt chills as she listened to the video. Genexis was a part of the Bradley Institute and they knew exactly what they were selling. Sure enough, everyone in the room was eating up everything. They didn't care how creepy this sounded. They were hopeful.
"I really want to get out of here." Ren whispered.
"Me too," she agreed. "Let's see what this tour and lecture is about and then we can go."
The lights came on and Dr. Chang returned. "Those of you with the orange bands, please exit through the rear to start your tour. If you have a green band, please stay behind for the lecture. If you don't have a band, please stay with the green band group for the lecture. Thank you."
"Well, have fun at the lecture." Ren told her. "I'm going to see the institute. I'll bring you back samples."
Crystal smirked. "Oh, I envy you. I'll try to stay awake if I can."
"I'll meet you outside, honey."
Ren left with his group while Crystal tried to get comfortable. A part of her wished that she was going with the orange group as well. Still, there could be something interesting with things that Dr. Chang was going to say. She wanted to know more about the founder of the Perfect Human project. She wanted to know more about Project 99 and what its true intentions were. She wanted answers that she knew she was not going to get over here.
“Thank you all for being so patient.” Dr. Chang said as the other group left. “I know it seems like the others are going to have fun, but I assure you that this will be very enlightening. Before we begin, I would like to tell you a little about myself. As most of you know, the Bradley Institute was founded by my father and his family many years ago. In his mind, he thought everyone deserved the chance to be perfect or at least have that perfect child. Sadly, my father passed away before he could see how far the Bradley Institute has come.”
She crossed the room to the other side. “He may be gone, but his dream lives on. It lives in every baby that is born here. It lives with every patient that leaves our building. It’s still living today. I want to thank you all for coming here and having faith in us. I promise you that I will not let you down.”
Taking a quick look at the room, she added. “I just want you all to sit back and relax as we show you another video. This will go into the history of the Bradley Institute. We have been doing this for so many years and we’ve changed so many lives. One day, we hope to change your life as well.”
Crystal shifted around in her chair and prepared herself for another video. If this was going to change her life, she wanted to see how they would do it.
“Welcome to the Bradley Institute.” The video began. “We believe that everyone has a chance to have the perfect child. Do you believe you can pick out what your child will be like? We do. We think you should choose the child you deserve.”
It was just a little creepy.
Chapter 15- Ren
In a way, Ren was glad that he was part of the group that was going on tour. He took his phone with him to take some pictures of the place. Everyone else in the group seemed to be so happy. They didn't suspect anything wrong with the place. They just wanted to have their perfect baby and were pleased to find someone who could give them that.
Thinking about the video had Ren thinking about himself. When he was younger, he never saw h
imself as perfect. He was always trying to change and people hated that. In their eyes, he was a girl. He was supposed to be a girl, but he knew that he was meant to be a boy. If he truly was an experiment, someone here had fucked up big time. They didn't make him perfect. They had screwed up somewhere along the line.
Maybe I should have come to this place sooner. He thought. There's that Genexis subdivision. Perhaps there's a subdivision for transgender people too. They're willing to help everyone out there so why not us?
"As you can see, this is the birthing center." The tour guide was explaining to them. The birthing center looked like a fancy hotel room instead. "We want our patients to be as comfortable as possible. We want the birth to be painless and smooth. We want our patients to feel like they are at home instead of a hospital."
There was blood curdling scream coming from around the corner, which made Ren jump. A few of the other people were concerned too, but the woman calmed them down. "Relax. We are about to witness a miracle here!"
"What kind of miracle?" Ren asked.
"Why, the miracle of child birth! If we are lucky, we will be able to see the live birth today!" The woman clapped her hands. "Now if you follow me, we are going to the delivery room!"
Ren was a little apprehensive about watching someone else give birth. He knew what childbirth entailed, but he didn't want to see it. Still, he wasn't sure of his way around the facility so he followed the group. Along the way, he took some pictures of the place and tried to make mental notes of what was around. It was a creepy place, but maybe there was some benefit around. He would do a little more research about it when he got home.
They headed to the birthing center where doctors had moved the pregnant woman onto a bed and were trying to get her to push. She was screaming and sweating hard, but was trying her best to get the baby out. Ren felt terrible for the poor woman. She was suffering a lot and there was blood coming out of her, but she had to keep going. He bit down on his knuckles as they watched from a distance. It was hard to deal with.
"Can we... can we leave?" He asked the tour guide. "I don't think she really needs an audience for all of this. She probably wants to be with the doctors and her family right now."
"We will see the birth and then we will leave." The tour guide promised him. "She is almost done. I can see the head from here."
Other people were interested in this, but Ren tried to move away. He asked to go to the bathroom and they pointed him in the right direction. He took a deep breath before heading into the men's room and tried to calm down when he got into a stall. This was a little too overwhelming for him. He had nothing against childbirth and knew that it was a very beautiful thing for people. It was just the sight of the poor woman screaming as a living being come out of her that got to him. She was giving birth to one of these so-called perfect humans. Needing some peace of mind, he decided to text Crystal.
[How's the lecture going? My group is watching a live birth.]
After a second, Crystal answered.
[Dr. Chang isn't saying anything I haven't heard before. Still talking about the scientific part of all this. I don’t understand most of it.]
He sent a quick text back.
[I’m going to explore this place a little more. I have a feeling they are hiding something big from all of us. It’s a little too creepy in here.]
He thought she was a lot luckier than he was. They should have traded bracelets when they had the chance. Orange really wasn't his color anyway. He took his sweet time to collect himself and then came out. By now, his group had left him behind and he found himself lost in the hallways. He had no idea where everyone was planning to go next so he tried to walk back to the lecture hall where Crystal had been. At least he would be somewhere familiar.
Finding an elevator, he tried to get in, but realized it wouldn’t open without security clearance. “Shit! How am I supposed to get down?” Then he saw the staircase in the corner. “Well, duh! Why did I even ask that question? Of course, there are going to be stairs!”
He pushed open the door and ran down without really knowing which floor he needed to be on. He made to the next floor and decided to go inside. There didn’t seem to be anyone in there so it was a perfect place to snoop around. He went inside the first room to find that it was an office. He didn’t know who it belonged to, but they had to have some information.
He began to pull out folders and look through each one. It had mostly articles and thank you notes from happy parents. There was nothing but the glowing praise for the Bradley Institute. Everyone kept clamoring about how great and beneficial the place. Ren took out his phone, snapped a few pictures, and then sent Crystal a text.
[I’m in someone’s office. I lost my group. I’m going to explore this floor.]
Then he went into another room where he found several file cabinets. Most of these were not locked, which was surprising. He opened the cabinets, pulled out some folders, and found something that he never expected to find. There were some family trees that traced back at least fifty years ago. They weren't big family trees, but he could see that they had done a lot with the family over the years. He also saw maps and pictures of human genes. There were several pictures of eggs, cells, and sperm. He couldn't find his own file, but what he did find was astonishing.
There were several photos that horrified him. He didn't know what they were supposed to be, but they looked like monsters. They were so misshapen and deformed that he didn't even realize they were supposed to be humans. "What the hell am I looking at?"
There was no one to answer him, but he had a good feeling that this was what a fusion was. This was what Project 99 was trying to avoid. This was what would happen if two or more people fused right now. He didn't want to know what had happened to these people, but he was sure they weren't alive anymore. How could anyone live in this state? How could anyone accept them?
Quickly, he took a picture of the photos and sent them to Crystal. Then he added his message.
[This is what they are doing. This is a fusion. Tell me, do you want to do this?]
She sent him a reply after a second.
[WTF?!]
He heard some people talking around the corner and decided now was the time to hide. He dipped inside of a closet as he heard the door behind him opening. He peered through the peephole as he tried to see who was there. Dr. Chang appeared with another man that he couldn't recognize.
"I should have figured they would find out." Dr. Chang was saying. "I almost didn't recognize them. Crystal and Brenda have grown up so quickly."
For a second, Ren didn't recognize who they were. The man spoke up. "Well, it doesn't seem like they've caused any damage. I can't blame them for being curious. We have kept so much from them over the years. It's about high time they knew where they came from."
"I want to know who told them. After Harrison Blackwell killed himself, I figured the secret was safe."
"Well, don't underestimate them. Don't underestimate any of the experiments. They will come to realize that they were created, not born. They will learn that they were made in a lab. They will learn that, despite all these facts, they are as human as they come. In fact, they are better than humans. They are perfect. That's what we wanted them to be."
The conversation ended at that point and the two left the room. Ren waited for a second to take in everything that he had just heard. They just confirmed what he had feared. Nikhil was right. They were experiments. They were someone's lab rats. They were never real to begin with, just created in a lab. It was a heartbreaking truth, but at least he knew what had happened. He sent a text to Crystal.
[Are you done with your lecture? I got confirmation.]
She responded.
[Confirmation for what?]
He took a deep breath and texted back.
[We're not real.]
Chapter 16 – Nikhil
Everyone gathered in Nikhil's house the next day to explain what had happened. Re
n had managed to take pictures of the disturbing things that he had seen in that room. He still couldn't tell if any of the pictures were of humans or not. They were so misshapen that it was clear that none of them had survived more than a few minutes. Misty cringed when she saw some of them. She was quick to pass them over to Doug and turn her eyes from them.
"They look like blob fishes that I've seen pictures of," she said. "Are you sure they are supposed to be people?"
"That's what they claim." Ren said. "I wish I could have gotten a chance snoop around a little more. I feel like there's more hidden behind those doors. The worst part is that they knew about us. They were able to recognize Crystal and me despite using the fake IDs. So they are aware about us. They can find out our information any time."
"Did they confront you about that?" Ash asked.
"No, they didn't. I guess they didn't want to make a scene." Crystal said. "If they want to confront us, they're going to do it in private. The lecture didn't really provide a whole lot that we didn't already know. Dr. Chang went into some background about the place and we saw videos about the Bradley Institute. It's been around forever. They did admit that they had volunteers that did help them out."