Though we had never tested this out on a live human, I was prepared to try anything to keep Lena with me.
“Sir,” Peter grabbed my wrist, but I pulled it away, “Ian, look at me!”
I finally turned to him and saw the worry on his face. I matched it with my own determination, which felt more like desperation at this point. I couldn’t lose her. I wouldn’t let that happen.
“Are you prepared for the consequences should this plan succeed?” Peter asked.
I thought for a moment. There’d be consequences if I failed, but I had yet to think of what may happen if we succeeded. The potential outcomes I had thought about were all positive ones. “If this succeeds, we will have solved the number one problem that no one has ever had an answer to, not even the stars above.” I looked Peter in the eye, waiting for him to understand what I was talking about.
“Death,” Peter answered, and I nodded my head. “Not everyone will see that as a positive thing. Not everyone will understand.”
“So let them question. Let them disagree.” I shrugged my shoulders. “And when their time comes, we’ll see who they come to begging for an answer.”
Peter’s throat bobbed, and I watched him process my words, but with a subtle nod, he made his decision to help me.
The process took a few hours. We connected Lena to the scanner where it replicated her body, all the way down to her tiny toes and golden blond hair. Then we injected in her a blue serum filled with tiny microbots that transmitted everything in her to the computer—her thoughts, emotions, and learned behaviors…what few she had. This process took the longest as with each injection, the microbots collected more and more data. This process normally took a few days or weeks even to complete, but we didn’t have time.
“This should be the last injection,” Peter said as he handed me the syringe.
Lena’s breath had become slower and strenuous with each minute and hour that went by. Our time was limited, and we had to get her essence transferred to the Carbon model soon before she was gone. We had a pod ready to transfer her human body into as soon as the transmission was complete. This pod would keep her human body alive, though it wouldn’t be able to wake up again or truly be alive, but it’d continue to grow with the Carbon as if they were one in the same. This would give Lena a chance to live again in a new body that would still feel and act as her own.
I watched as the blue liquid released into her body and swam through her veins across her pale white skin. The computer continued to collect its data until it was ready to be transmitted.
I picked up Lena and placed her in the pod. I reconnected the cables from the computer to the pod and saw the light blink to life.
My hand hesitated over the button as I stared down at my baby, the last part of Selena.
Peter put his hand on my shoulder, “She’s ready.”
I nodded. Bending down, I kissed Lena on the forehead before I closed the lid to the pod she was attached to, and I pushed the button to complete the process. My eyes flashed to the computer screen as I watched the system load up and transmit my baby girl into the identical Carbon version of her.
There was no indication if it was working or if it would work. And as I glanced to the time scrawled across the wall, I realized that no matter what, my time was up. It had been nine hours and forty-eight minutes since I left the hospital.
The progress line filled up fast.
50%, 70%, 90%...complete.
I held my breath, unsure what to do next. It was Peter who moved first. He stepped past me to the Carbon version of Lena that lay sleeping on the metal table she had been created on. He glanced back, unsure what he should do next, before he reached down and pinched the tiny leg of the Carbon Lena.
The baby cried.
I had never heard such a joyous sound before as I ran over and scooped up the Carbon Lena. She was warm to the touch, her skin smooth and delicate, and her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. She was identical in every way to the baby that had been born only six days earlier.
“It worked,” Peter whispered beside me as a smile grew across my face. He clapped me on the back as he reached toward Carbon Lena who took his finger in her tiny hands and squeezed it tightly.
“We did it.” I nodded as I stared down into my beautiful baby’s eyes. Her eyes locked on mine, a haunting gold color like Selena’s eyes, and a little smile spread on her face.
My Lena was still alive.
Chapter Five
It had been ten years since everything changed for me and Lena, but only two people knew about what we had done. Peter, who had helped me and continued to work at Sub 9 on the Carbon project, and Sarah, the attendant at the hospital who I had paid handsomely for her silence and her help in raising a new baby. She had stayed with us for the past ten years, teaching Lena and taking care of her while I worked.
To the rest of the world, Lena had made a miraculous recovery. Only Sarah had questioned how Lena survived, and it had taken me a long time to convince her not to tell anyone and to help me raise a child. But in the end, one look into my baby girl’s eyes and Sarah was won over.
Tensions were rising in the city of Cytos, and many people had turned to me to solve their problems as they felt I had created the problems. The bots were no longer sufficient enough to appease the ever-unhappy citizens. More and more people were being forced to work long hours, doing grueling jobs that my bots weren’t capable of completing. They were never built to do the delicate work, they were built to serve and be useful, but they had overstayed their welcome, and people were no longer satisfied.
Rebel groups began to protest and direct their anger, and they blew anyone and anything they could. It was chaos, pure chaos.
We were set to launch the new Carbon program, a version of what Lena was without a human host. These Carbons weren’t exactly what I had wanted them to be, but we hadn’t been able to replicate the results we had with Lena.
She was different, special. No one would ever be able to tell she wasn’t human.
We tried on multiple test subjects, all volunteers at the end of their life cycle, hoping for some way to live a little longer, but they all failed. There was something I was missing, but I couldn’t figure out what.
So to quell the tensions that had escalated from bots not performing as they should, we went forward with the launch of the Carbon program.
“Today is a monumental day, one we will remember for years to come.” I stood at the podium outside of Sub 9, surrounded by the entire city of Cytos. “Your years of slaving day in and day out are over. My Carbons are here to do each and every task you need. These trained machines can perform delicate tasks such as rescues and aiding in surgeries, or simple tasks like taking your kids to school. They are the future, they are your future, and the era of the Carbons begins today.”
The crowd cheered and applauded as the Carbons stepped out from behind me and into the streets, ready to get to work for our city. I felt a little tug on my sleeve, and I looked down to where Lena stood beside me.
“Why are they all leaving?” she asked.
“They are going off to work,” I answered, smiling down at her.
“But they are not ready.” Her nose scrunched up as she followed the Carbons.
“What do you mean they are not ready? Yes, they are, sweetheart. They have been ready for some time.” I tilted my head at her, a little confused.
Lena shook her head. “They are not ready.”
Lena had been right. Disaster struck only a few days later when one of my Carbons decided an injured human wasn’t worth the resources to save and killed him on the spot.
I chalked it up to an anomaly and assured the public that it wouldn’t happen again, but I was wrong. The next morning I woke to find two more Carbons had not only killed innocent humans, but one had been a child.
I recalled all the Carbons immediately to find out what had gone wrong.
“Why would they do this?” I looked over the data from th
e two Carbons who had killed innocent unharmed humans for no reason.
“Their logs both show they scanned the humans and found…” Peter stopped talking as he read the chart.
“Found what?” I turned to him sharply.
“They found that the humans both had a genetic disease. Neither were symptomatic yet, but both would eventually receive terminal illnesses and were likely to die from whatever was inside of them. The report from the scan showed that not only did our systems recommend these humans not reproduce for fear of passing this disease along, but it was recommended to end their lives now to save time and money on the health care costs they would have in the future from these illnesses.” Peter shook his head as he spoke.
“What?” I ripped the report out of his hand and read exactly what he had told me. My mouth gaped open. “But how? We never added that directive to the system. I never told the Carbons to do that.”
Peter nodded along. We hadn’t done anything like that, but then how could this happen?
“Pull up the system charts.” I marched over to the computer where all the Carbons’ orders and directives were charted. I followed the patterns laid out before me, showing each directive and intent given to the Carbon and the branches of scenarios and options they had to choose from. I scanned through them until I found the one I was looking for.
Healing directive. The directive stated that the Carbon should do everything possible to save a human should the human not pose a threat to themselves or others. As I read the branch of possible options, I noticed two sub-branches that had not been there before.
“They added to the directives,” I said.
Peter came up behind me and read over my shoulder. “But that shouldn’t be possible. These Carbons created their own orders?”
I nodded beside him as I read the new orders. “Should a human pose a threat to future generations, the subject is to be terminated to prevent further destruction. And if the subject poses a threat to their own financial stability, personal wellbeing, or the economical balances of the remaining humans, then they are deemed high risk and should be terminated immediately.”
My hand was shaking. This couldn’t be. This was never what I had intended, never what the Carbons were built for. They had evolved past what I intended them to be built for. They were supposed to help humans, save humans. Now the Carbons had become a dark spot on my history, one I had to correct swiftly.
Two hours of reasoning with them still didn’t quell the masses. I had done my best to explain that the situation had been caught and we were working to fix the problem, but the people wanted answers and justice for those who had been killed.
“I’m not sure what more we can do, Ian,” Andre Castello, the governor, said from the head of the council table. “It seems you were wrong to bring these Carbons onto the market, and we were wrong to trust you.” To his left sat Commander Murray, his military officer and chief adviser.
“We found the glitch and are working to fix it,” I said.
“The people will never trust the Carbons again, not after what they did,” Governor Castello stated. “This experiment is over.” He and Commander Murray stood to leave.
“No, it will work. It has worked,” I spoke before my mind had a chance to tell me to shut up.
Commander Murray turned. “What do you mean it has worked? We just saw three people killed in only two days. I would not call that a success.”
I didn’t want to tell them, I wasn’t sure they’d believe me, but I said it anyway. “The thing the Carbons are missing is a human host. With the connection of a human, the Carbons would be able to move past what facts and logic may tell them to do, and make the appropriate decisions based on all factors. With a human host, I’d have more control over them, and they’d know the difference between right and wrong.” I swallowed, “These Carbons could save so many people, if you’d just help me out I could save our city.”
The governor considered this before he sat back down and waved his hand for me to continue.
“I have done it before. I have used a human host to create a Carbon, and they are exactly as you would imagine. Smarter, faster, stronger, but they can feel, love, and sympathize. They make decisions not just based on what they logically should do, but also based on how it’d make them feel or how it’d make others feel.” My hand was shaking, but I continued. “Not only that, but these Carbons could live forever. They cannot get sick or ill. They’d survive almost any attack because their bodies can heal themselves. We could live forever!”
Governor Castello glanced at Commander Murray to see what he thought. “If this were possible, why have you only done it once? And where is the proof of this Carbon?”
My throat bobbed as I tried to find the right words. “It has only worked once…with my daughter.”
The two men’s eyes widened in shock. “Your daughter? You did this to your own daughter!” Commander Murray was the first to speak.
“She was dying, you both know what happened. Only she didn’t miraculously survive, I helped her live again. She is a Carbon, the first of her kind. And she is just as human and real as you or I.” Their expressions changed immediately. Prior to this revelation, the idea of humans being a host for Carbons had been hypothetical. Now that they knew it was reality and that I had already done it, they were scared.
“She’s not human. She is an abomination. You are not the decider of who can live or die, Coleman. You are not God,” Governor Castello seethed, and his eyes glared through me.
“I’m…I’m not trying to decide who should live or die. I am taking those who are already going to die and giving them a new life,” I tried to reason with them.
“How many?” Commander Murray asked. “How many others have you tried this on and failed?”
I swallowed back again, nervous before I spoke. “186.”
“186! You have killed 186 people in an attempt to make this thing happen?” Commander Murray failed to hide his disgust and horror.
I shook my head. “No, these people volunteered. They were already dying.” I tried to justify what I had done even though the guilt still weighed heavy on me. “There’s something I’m missing. If I had a little more help or resources, then I could figure out why it worked on Lena but not the others. If you guys would just help me figure this out.”
Governor Castello stood and Commander Murray rose with him. “We will not be a part of this. We will not help you murder the innocent so you can continue keeping your freak of a daughter alive. She should have died. She was supposed to die, that was what the stars had decided, and you chose to change someone else’s fate. That is not something I can condone.”
Their words sunk deep into my soul, and my breaths were ragged pants as I watched them leave the room. I must have heard them wrong. I must have misunderstood.
“Andre...” I sputtered out.
Castello turned on his heels, returning to the room with fire in his eyes. “You forget who you are speaking to, Ian. You would be nothing without me, without my support. I can take it all away just as easily as I have given it to you. You’d be wise to remember that.”
My mouth opened and shut as I struggled to find words.
Castello stepped around the table, head tilted to the side as he surveyed me, “Either you put this experiment to an end, or I will.”
I stumbled again, swallowing hard as I tried to regain what little confidence I still had, “It can work…”
“It’s over. I want everything regarding the Carbons gone,” Castello leaned in again, his breath hitting my cheek, “And Coleman, I do mean everything.”
The two men turned and stalked out of the room before I had even blinked. Before my mind could even comprehend that the governor of our city, the place I lived and loved, had just threatened my daughter’s life.
There were no words to convey the nerve he had hit or the retribution I’d seek.
Chapter Six
I told no one of my plans, but my sole purpose in life w
as focused on proving that the Carbon program could be a success and show the people of Cytos what life could be like in a world where you cannot die. I kept everything a secret, only Peter and myself continued to work on the project, and we would only work out of my private quarters to ensure Governor Castello or Commander Murray didn’t catch wind of what I was doing. Not until I was sure I’d solved this dilemma.
I reprogrammed the Carbons I had, giving myself unyielding control over them so that there was no doubt in my mind they’d do whatever I asked them. I’d given them too much freedom before, allowed them to create a back door into my own system, and I wasn’t going to allow that to happen again.
All Carbons answered to me. I was their master, and I was the only one who could make them do whatever I asked them to.
Hours turned into days, days into weeks, and I’d discovered nothing more as to why Lena was different. The governor and Commander Murray hadn’t told anyone about Lena, but once I proved them wrong, they’d seek to destroy me in any way they could. And if they found out she was still alive…I don’t know what they might be willing to do. My number one priority was the safety of Lena so I kept her locked up indoors on a floor marked off only for us so even my own men didn’t know she was still here.
“You need to stay indoors for a little while, baby girl.” I tousled Lena’s hair as she scowled. “It’s not safe out there anymore.”
“But I want to go to the park,” Lena whined.
I shook my head. “You have to stay here. I will build you a park indoors. I will buy you any toys you want and bring them here for you, but you have to stay indoors. I need you to be safe.”
Untold: The Complete Watcher Series Mini Novellas (Watcher #4) Page 6