by Bret Brown
Dr. Larry leaves the room nearly stumbling as his legs feel like complete jelly. He slams the door on his way out. From inside the room, his footsteps could be faintly heard running away as the technicians and Leliana sit dumbfounded.
Not really sure what to do, Leliana puts her hand on a technician's shoulder as she reaches to the console for the intercom. "Hey uh P-T? The doctors said it'll be a few more minutes. They wanna run a few more scans.... um... I guess the ones they did before were... ah... inconclusive?", she says as she looks for reasons for P-T to remain where he's at.
P-T, still lying on his back on the examination table, lifts up his arm and flips off the mirror where he assumes Leliana is.
She pulls her hand off the technician's shoulder and says, "Okay run the scans again."
Thirty minutes later Dr. Larry returns, out of breath holding some storage drives and a strange handheld device recently removed from where it was collecting dust. He inputs a storage drive in the console and a program starts booting up.
"This was something researchers were pioneering a long time ago. I heard about it when I was interning as a young man. I found it truly fascinating as the implications of use were tremendous, but it was merely ideas.", Dr. Larry says in between taking deep breaths; still recovering from his run.
"A little over two hundred of years ago, right after the disaster of the first colony attempt, research began to shift toward nanotechnology in humans. The idea was to make us impervious to extraterrestrial bacteria or viruses. It was revolutionary! I don't know exactly what happened to the research and why it was scrapped. It always fascinated me when I first learned about the research, so I kept what I could find stored away in case I decided to research it for myself. I guess I ended up forgetting all about it because of the work I've been doing here. I'll never forget the image of that schematic for that fascinating looking creature."
On the console a video begins, the title pops up "Subject 1: Prototype 1." On the video, a healthy, skinny man in a hospital garment is sitting in a room, reading a book. The room has some simple comforts, a bed, a counter, and a couple of chairs. Enough for someone to live cozy for a few weeks.
A woman's voice off screen begins to narrate the video. "This is Dr. Jennifer Singh, lead researcher of exo-planetary R and D of Bio-mechanics. Several weeks ago, we've received radical new technology from our Ictarian liaison thanks to our most recent delivery of personnel. This technology is beyond anything I've ever seen before. Pressure from leadership want us to expedite our efforts, forcing us to forgo reverse engineering the nanites. We have been assured that these nanites will adapt easily to our anatomy. However, with the Ictarians, we shall see. So far, preliminary results have shown some promise. We have decided to move forward with human testing. This is day one of subject one. The subject has been introduced intravenously with the first prototype of the exo-planetary nanites. The subject's health is all within normal parameters. The nanites are fully operational within normal parameters. Monitoring will continue for twenty-four hours." The video fades out to black, ending the first clip.
The video comes back on with the title "Subject 1: Prototype 1 day 2" at the top of the screen. The same man from the first clip is being examined by several doctors in the room. He is naked and he's lost a considerable amount of weight. The same woman's voice narrates the video. "Day two of subject 1 prototype 1. The subject has lost nearly sixty pounds within the last twenty-four hours. The nanites energy consumption has turned to the subject's own body mass. We've tried to remove and shutdown the nanites, but they are not responding as they've integrated themselves with the subject's anatomy. I don't know if this was an oversight, but I accept full responsibility. I will do my best save this volunteer.", she says as her voice starts to waiver with emotion at the end of her narration. Again, the video fades out to black.
The video fades back in, the title "Subject 1: Prototype 1 day 3" appears at the top. The camera is now in a handheld position as it pans over the man's body lying on an examination table. It is the same man seen in the previous recordings, however he is severely emaciated with only skin and bones for a body. His bulging eyes are moving around in their sunken state within his skull, but that is all he can move. He is rapidly breathing shallow breaths as death is knocking at his door. The same woman narrates the video.
"This is day 3 of subject 1 prototype 1. The subject has lost another fifty pounds. I do not believe that the subject will live beyond today. We started with a healthy man weighing in at one-hundred and seventy pounds. No medical anomalies. We killed this man in three days after injecting the nanites...[sniffs]... How could we... How could we have missed this massive energy consumption?", she says as her voice begins to break up with emotions. A few moments pass and she returns to narrating with her emotions subsided. "We are going back to the redesign stage. I'll push for primate testing before we attempt another human subject, if we have enough primates for testing." The video fades out to black.
Dr. Larry taps a key on the console stopping any additional footage playing. One of the technicians in the room breaks the silence. "You don't think that this guy was a part of that, do you? I mean, he kinda looks the opposite of what happened to subject 1 from the video."
Dr. Larry nods his head in agreement and says, "Leliana, you've spent the most time with him. Is there anything that you've seen that could shed light on this?"
"Well... there are a few things that are really odd. After I was captured, I was brought aboard that ship that brought us here. There was another man on that ship, I'm guessing a friend or colleague, it's not important. Anyway, I was discovered by this other guy. He wanted to rape me and then sell me if I don't whatever he wanted. I fought back and it started a big fight." She pauses for a moment looking down to remember the details.
Dr. Larry, anxiously waiting says, "Go on.", putting his hand on her shoulder for comfort.
"The argument between the two men seemed as if it was over. I was taking Rowan away and I had my back turned. Suddenly, two shots rang out from a rifle. I dropped to my knees thinking the worst. I honestly didn't know if I had been shot at first. I was so scared for Rowan and me. Then, I heard the other guy drop the gun and start gloating, but he was interrupted. I don't know what happened at that point. I still had my eyes closed so tightly as I was holding Rowan as close as possible. Once it got really quiet and things seemed to settle, I forced myself to look at our fate and I see P-T standing over this lifeless body. It looked as if he had lost a lot of weight within those few minutes. I could have sworn my eyes were playing tricks on me. It was such a horrible ordeal I didn't want to dwell on it."
Leliana snaps out of her memory trance that she's in and comes back to focus with the people in the room with her. In a casual manner, she says, "He also eats like a fucking slob. I mean, I've never seen someone eat the amount of food this guy does. He's always snacking on some bar too. Just like the one he's eating now.", pointing to P-T through the glass.
P-T is sitting up on the examination table with a bored look on his face eating his S.L.A.G. bar. Dr. Larry reaches down and taps a key on the console, "Nurse, can you get a sample of that bar our guest is eating please?"
Sitting on the table, P-T gets defensive with handing the bar over. Seeing the struggle, Leliana decides to help.
"Sir, please we just need a sample of the bar. We're not going take the whole thing.", says Sarah as she is reaching for the bar.
Having fun with it all, P-T has his one hand on Sarah's face pushing her away while he's holding the bar in the other hand waving it out of reach. Using his foot to stave off Cynthia, P-T sneaks in a few quick bites of his bar, smiling smugly at their attempts.
Leliana enters the room and sees the commotion. "Hey! What are you doing?", she yells at P-T. "Can you behave for one fucking minute and just give them the sample they need."
In his defiance, P-T shoves the remaining bar in his mouth and then smiles with it all smashed up on his teeth. Still holding the nurses
back, P-T sits still as Leliana approaches him.
She reaches out and grabs a crumb from his shirt saying with some agitation, "This is all we needed you over grown idiot."
She hands the crumb to Cynthia who gives P-T a frustrated look. She puts the crumb in a small vile and adds a clear liquid to it. She shakes it up for a moment and then places it into a centrifuge. Once the centrifuge finishes it cycle, she places the vile with the crumb into the same console as the blood sample and all of its contents quickly disappear.
In the room with the technicians, a small amount of code appears on the screen of a console. Leliana enters the room as Dr. Larry and the technician read the results.
"This is incredible.", Dr. Larry says excitedly. "This singular crumb has nearly two hundred calories and four grams of protein alone! From the size of the bar he had it could contain over 40,000 calories and one kilogram of condensed protein. That's over twenty times above the average healthy diet!"
In a snarky response, Leliana says, "That will explain why he's a fat fuck."
Laughing at the response, Dr. Larry replies, "It may have a little to do with that, but the important thing is that the energy consumption that killed the subject from the video doesn't seem as if it's been resolved if this indeed exo-planetary nanites. I have this device here I scavenged up from an old storage. It may be of some use." He holds up the handheld device he brought with the storage drives.
Dr. Larry leaves the room and goes to P-T in the examination room. "Hello sir, thank you so much for your patience during all of this process. We are nearly done with your examination. We have a full cafeteria on site and as a payment for your time, I'd like to extend an invitation to have something to eat besides that bar."
P-T shakes his head yes in acknowledgement.
"Before we go there, I have one last thing to check. May I see one of your hands?", says Dr. Larry politely.
Anxious to be done with all of this testing, P-T holds out his right hand. Dr. Larry gently holds it with his left hand and activates the handheld device and waives it over P-T's arm. The device gives a soft purple glow on the skin. Making several passes slowly, an image starts to take shape.
Seeing this, Dr. Larry holds the device still. Several seconds pass by and the purple image showing through P-T's skin becomes clearer. The words "ProtoType 6" is clearly seen through P-T's skin. In amazement, Dr. Larry removes the device and the image fades quickly except for the letters "P T 6" as they fade out last.
"Well that's the last we needed. I promised you some food, and I am a man of my word. Cynthia, please take our guest to the cafeteria.", says Dr. Larry pleased with himself.
Cynthia has an annoyed look on her face and very displeased with her new assignment of still dealing with an obnoxious patient, she holds her hand towards the door, "This way.", she says with some anger.
P-T stands up from the table and gives everyone a mistrusting look as he moves towards the door. Before the nurse exits behind him, Dr. Larry grabs her and says quietly in her ear, "Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy and keep a close eye on him."
The already frustrated nurse looks Dr. Larry dead in the eye, "It's not like he fucking listens anyway.", as she storms out of the room.
"Well at least we know where he got the name P-T.", says Leliana. "You said this research was scrapped, who would have continued it?"
"Honestly, I don't know. It could have been after the bifurcation.", Dr. Larry says stopping abruptly. "Or it went underground with the Chancellors funding it for military applications?", as he's making things up.
"Bifurcation? What's that?", says Leliana.
Still working to backtrack on his slip up, Dr. Larry changes the subject. "So how did you and your son escape when everyone died or disappeared?"
Caught off guard, Leliana replies, "Uh... Well, Rowan and I were sleeping in our quarters. We felt a hard shift like the ship hit something. The next thing we knew, alarms were blaring for emergency preparations. I grabbed Rowan and ran to the nearest escape pod. We sat there waiting for other people to show up, but no one came. The pod ejected itself with only us in there. Out the viewport, I saw a bright flash and then nothing. The pod trembled violently for a quick second afterward as debris rocked us. We were stranded for who knows how long before this nutjob found us. Now, what is the bifurcation?"
Leliana's father now enters the room. "Larry, my good friend, what did we find out about our guest."
Dr. Larry, finding his escape from Leliana's questioning, takes the opportunity and leaves the room with Dr. Hisk with his arm around his shoulder. "Boy, do I have lots to tell you!"
Dr. Hisk turns to Leliana, "Leliana why don't you go on home now. We have all we need at this time. Your mother is dying to see you and Rowan."
The two men walk way leaving Leliana with a dumbfounded look on her face, as she stands in the examination room. Once she leaves, she sees Rowan running down the hall from the cafeteria at full speed; hyped up from his sugar rush. His face is messy from eating a vast assortment of sweets as Amanda follows in the distance.
Leliana kneels down and hugs him. "Thanks, Amanda, for loading up this little monkey up on sweets. I'm sure he'll be spinning in circles for hours.", she says sarcastically. "Let's go home baby.", she says as she grabs his dirty hands and walks away from the examination room.
Chapter 9
Inside Leliana's small, quaint house are dozens of pictures; elaborately decorating the walls. Pictures of various happy, blissful moments in her and Rowan's life. Complementing the decor, various synthetic leather furnishings fill the main room accompanied by light colored wooden furniture completing the aesthetically serene design.
Outside, there is a patch of recently cut grass stretching from the house to the road, as similar styled homes fill the neighborhood; overwhelmingly redundant in design. Along the street, a mosaic of dimly lit windows, glow outwardly; giving hint as to which household's tenants may still be awake.
A cool night's breeze gently passes through, rustling around the leaves on the trees standing tall above the homes. The lights illuminating the neighborhood drown out the stars above, while the two moons reflect brightly showing a reddish tint.
Back in Leliana's house, she is taking a long, hot shower. A thick steam fills the slate tiled room, as well as her lungs, as she scrubs herself with a well lathered soapy sponge. She works the sponge very aggressively against her soft skin; as though she's trying to physically remove the last few months of terror. She washes her hair several times with shampoo; the first time since the incident that started it all.
Finally satisfied, she turns off the shower, twisting up her hair to wring out excess water. She dries herself off and steps out of the shower; wrapping herself up with the towel. She wipes off the steam built up on the wall mirror with her hand and stares momentarily at her reflection; like she's looking at a complete stranger.
As she brushes her wet hair, she hears a faint knocking at her front door. Curious to see who it could be, she puts on a thick white, knee length robe and goes to investigate. She gets to the door and hesitates to open it; unsure if the visitor is still there. The knocking starts up again; startling her.
She moves to a window off to the side and discreetly moves the drapes and curtain to peek out front. She sees a figure in a long coat, covering their face with the lapel of the jacket standing anxiously at the door. However, the lights from the street are not enough to provide any details on the figure.
Again, the knocking resumes, "Leliana, it's your dad.", says the mysterious person, trying to be quiet.
Confused by the late visit and his strange demeanor, Leliana moves away from the window and goes back to the door.
"Leliana, we need to talk it's important that you let me in.", her father whispering hoarsely; still trying to be discreet.
She finally opens up the door and sees her father at the doorstep; looking suspiciously around him. He swiftly enters her house holding his finger to his mouth, shushing Leliana befor
e she can speak. He walks straight into the den; turning off all the lights he passes on his way to the room. From the pockets of his long jacket, he pulls out two devices. One begins to play classical music a little louder than typical conversation levels. He places that device on the nearest counter. The other device he places on the coffee table between the plush chairs. After closing all the blinds and curtains, he motions to her to take a seat.
Completely baffled by everything, Leliana asks, "What is going on?", as she tries to figure out why he is acting so strangely.
Her father takes her by the hand and sits her down on one of the chairs next to the device. He then sits across from her, but leans very close to her; attempting to speak directly into her ear. "What I'm going to tell you is extremely sensitive and highly dangerous information. What do you know about the pilgrimage and our settlement here?"
Still puzzled by all of the secrecy, she pulls away and says, "Just what we are taught in school."