The Experiment

by Costanza, Christopher

  He’d say things like “I’m very sorry Atlas, but I can’t do this without you and I can’t risk letting anyone else know I’m doing.”

  Or “This will be the last time, I promise.”

  Horus had slowly succeeded in making me numb to it all. I’m sure it was just another part of his sick plan… He never intended on sparing me from the horrors of his experiments… It was painfully obvious that he methodically eased me into it…

  I know my predicament was nowhere near as tragic as theirs… I was probably just being weak and selfish… But I honestly felt just as trapped as everyone that ended up on his table.

  Now it was nothing for me to watch him cut open one of their chests and start removing organs… I had even gotten used to the sound of the drill…

  Every single one of them was completely dissected for study once they died… It was hard to think about… But he actually made me hold a plastic shield in front of his face to block the spray of blood as he cut open their skulls so he could examine each brain…

  At this point, what bothers me the most is the way he can do it so casually… I never thought I would witness another human be excited to murder so many innocent people and be so delusional as to think they’re doing something wonderful…

  He can stand there and watch them writhing in pain, foaming at the mouth, having convulsions, and listen to their screams without so much as a flinch or a hesitation… I can’t sense any emotion at all, not even the slightest bit of remorse… All I could see is the anger he feels as he fails over and over again.

  Looking down at the bloody corpses with lifeless eyes, red from the vessels bursting due to the inexplicably inhumane way they died - was nothing to him… He’d just send them away to be disposed of and calmly ask for another one, as if it were something as trivial as a glass of water.

  It was painfully clear that Horus was such a selfish and evil man that his own interests outweighed human life… He wasn’t doing this to benefit mankind; he was doing it for his own amusement and for a personal goal I know he was still keeping from me…

  I’ll never forget the first time I had to watch him remove one of their brains… He was grinning the whole time… He even asked if I wanted to hold it…

  With a big smile on his face, he said “It’s a wonderful experience to hold such an important part of life in your own two hands… It changes the way you see everything Atlas.”

  I remember thinking to myself “It has changed everything… You’ve shown me just how monstrous people can be… That I should never blindly trust anyone again…”

  It had been a long time since I felt sick to my stomach… I didn’t even look away anymore. I felt like a lifeless robot just taking commands without thought or real purpose. I’d become exactly what he wanted me to be.

  I guess it’s the only way I could get through it all without losing my mind…

  The anger is there but Horus has slowly chiseled away at my will and I’ve lost all hope. Sara has continued refusing to speak to me, I don’t even attempt it anymore…

  I still spend my nights lying in bed or sitting in the observation room, trying to come up with a way to do something… anything to help these people. But I just can’t, no matter how hard I try. Every scenario I come up is just hopeless and ends in my demise or incarceration…

  Horus had me working twelve to fourteen hours a day, spending most of it taking notes that I still don’t really understand. All of the other teams would always stop long before we did. And many days I could tell he had been working through the night. He was like a monster that never sleeps, and never stops.

  I rarely saw Kayin, and when I did, I could tell he knew something was wrong… Sometimes he would even ask but I just had to pretend everything was fine.

  Kayin was actually excited about the existence of the natives; he even wanted to figure out a way to communicate with them… Apparently they had been approaching the mines out of curiosity, so everyone was aware of their existence now... But he still had no idea what was going on. That there was another group of eleven, dying in that lab as we spoke…

  Every time he brought them up I wanted to tell him… I wanted to convince him to help me kill Horus and set them free… And knowing what kind of man he is, I was almost sure he’d say yes…

  Eventually the rest of the divisions would have to find out about the plan to form indigenous mining teams. Until then I couldn’t say a word… I couldn’t betray Horus and endanger us. But Kayin is going to know I’ve been lying this whole time… That I’ve been hiding something horrible from him…

  I’ve also come to the full realization that Horus had picked someone like me because I could be easily disposed of once this was all over. I didn’t come from a wealthy, powerful family; I was just some guy from the military division. A person no one would ever miss.

  There was no way he’d let me live after what I’d witnessed… I’m convinced he’s going to kill me once this is all over, even if I fully cooperate… I’d probably end up on his table…

  During this time, the mining division had only produced about 230 tons of chrysos. After factoring in the months they spent setting up the locations, they predicted to hit around 800 tons by the end of the first year. At that rate it would take almost ten years to mine the amount needed.

  Neros began constantly urging Horus to speed up the experiments, even though it put a far greater strain on the Natives… After a few weeks Horus had to go back to the original pace. It was only resulting in more deaths due to cardiac arrest or fatigue and actually slowed everything down.

  It just made the whole situation seem even more desperate. Horus was getting angrier by the day and sometimes I think he actually took it out on the natives…

  As Horus admitted some time ago, Kayin had been right from the very beginning… Without him knowing it, he had caught the ACI in one of their many lies.

  The ACI knew the manpower they sent along was nowhere near enough… The whole plan depended on turning the inhabitants into slaves and so far it wasn’t going very well… I had to start accepting the fact that we were going to be here for a lot longer than four years…

  I still thought about killing Horus everyday… Then I would remember what Sara said to me in the storage room – “Something’s going to be done about this; it just needs time to happen.”

  It’s the only thing that kept me from doing it… That and the feeling that if I did kill Horus, I’d be arrested and he’d just be replaced. It would be for nothing except my own freedom from all of this… There were many days when I couldn’t help but feel that a cell or death was better…

  As I hesitantly headed to the lab for another day of insanity, I ran into a bunch of soldiers transporting more natives… To my knowledge the current batch of “subjects” were all still alive, so I knew something had to have happened.

  When I walked into the room, Horus saw me and immediately yelled out “Atlas get in here, I’ve got excellent news!”

  As I entered his lab, I saw one of the natives sitting in my usual spot playing with some blocks meant for children… He looked up at me and then went back to what he was doing.

  Horus was standing there wide eyed, with a much larger than normal grin on his face.

  “I’ve done it Atlas; all of our work has finally paid off… I’ve already acquired his base intelligence test score and by the end of the day he should be ready to be tested for improvement.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I just waited for him to continue. Horus loved to talk…

  He walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

  “I know this hasn’t been easy… As a scientist I may seem cold to what I’m doing, but believe me I’m not… at all. I’m very happy to say no more of the natives will have to be sacrificed if this works… and I think it already has. I just have to test him to prove it.”

  It was nice to finally hear Horus refer to them as people instead of objects...

  I forced myself to say �
��I understand.”

  “I made the breakthrough last night, a few hours after you left. I finally figured out why the treatment was killing them so I was able to correctly adjust it… I won’t get into the technical stuff… But as you can see he’s sitting here, perfectly healthy.”

  I had noticed no one else was at the lab yet. “That’s amazing Horus. This is so exciting… Where’s everyone else, do they know yet?”

  “I sent word early this morning for them to all take the day off. There’s nothing else they can do until I confirm it’s a success and start mass producing the injections… I will only need your assistance today.”

  …Of course…

  He cleared his throat and continued “When I tested his intelligence before administering the injection, he couldn’t figure out any of the puzzles or arrange those blocks properly… He didn’t even have the slightest interest in trying… Within a few hours I saw an immediate change… He started recognizing colors and patterns, even solved two out of the ten puzzles. They’re meant for children of course, but it’s a huge breakthrough.”

  Horus was completely confident he could finally produce results. And he was starting to remind me of the Horus I met on the Aurora… I guess it’s because he was so happy at the moment. I’m sure it wouldn’t last long…

  I guess it was somewhat of a comfort, but all this really meant is they would now go from tortured “subjects” in a lab to being forced into hard labor against their will. I suppose it was better than death, as we would eventually leave and they would all be set free… At least that’s what I told myself…

  For the rest of the day Horus observed his behavior and tested his blood at least once an hour.

  After he tested the native for the sixth time, he ecstatically said “It’s working Atlas! There is no sign of cellular degeneration or brain damage occurring! His heart rate is perfectly normal… His breathing as well!.. It’s working Atlas, it’s really working! Any negative effects should have already presented themselves by now.”

  Horus walked around the table and sat down at his desk, letting out a groan as hit the chair. He started entering something into his computer, and as he did he said “I have him on a calming medication to help prevent any violent outbursts. He’s still so primitive we could easily offend or threaten him without realizing it… I’d also like to remind you that he’s much stronger than a normal man. If anything does happen we run and call for soldiers. He could snap your arm like a stick… Understand?”

  As soon as he said that I found myself wishing the man would turn violent and kill Horus right in front of me… I’d love to see him snap Horus’ neck “like a stick.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Horus finished typing, stood up and handed me a chart, snapping me out of my morbid fantasy…

  “Ok, I’m going to perform a series of tests. For each test you will write in a score of 1 to 10… His initial score was 17. The average person generally scores around 90 to 100. Our goal is to get him up to around a 30 or 40. I think once that’s achieved they’ll be able to do manual labor and take commands without any issues.”

  He performed various tests such as showing the native a formation of blocks that interested him, mixing them up, and then seeing how long it took him to come close to putting them back.

  Horus spoke and acted as if he were a loving father guiding a child through life. He genuinely sounded like he cared… To me, it just showcased what a brilliant actor and liar he is…

  Surprisingly, in just a few hours Horus was able to teach him quite a bit. Even to understand a few words. The native went from sporadic and nonresponsive to being able to differentiate between “block” and “puzzle” right before my eyes… It was astonishing to say the very least and Horus was shaking with excitement…

  I on the other hand, just became even angrier because the more intelligent the native became the more I felt he deserved to be free.

  I could see the child-like innocence in his eyes as he looked up at Horus. He had no idea what was really going on… What Horus had been doing to his people. He had no idea how terrified he should be. Or how lucky he is to be alive…

  Eventually, Horus stated the testing was done and walked over to me, still in a state of bliss.

  “Atlas, I don’t even really need to look at the chart, I already know there’s been a substantial improvement.”

  I had to keep up the illusion that I had great respect for his work so I said “Absolutely, I can see it too. There’s no question… It’s remarkable... All of your hard work has finally paid off. I knew it would Horus.”

  After he studied the chart, he happily concluded the native had scored a 37.

  He turned to me, looking as though he had conquered the world, and said “Do you realize that when we leave, we will have gifted them with several hundred thousand years of evolution?.. They’d probably discover the wheel within a few generations!.. And I could keep going if I want to Atlas, I could bring him to at least a 60!.. But that would be too high. It could cause problems for us.”

  He was so thrilled, he ran over to the phone and proudly reported his accomplishments to Neros, meanwhile requesting to have more natives captured.

  After he explained what he had done, I heard him say “Empty out some of the larger storage rooms, I’ll have it ready for mass distribution soon… I’ll be able to treat hundreds of them a month. We’ll be able to go back to Aeris in less than the projected time, without a doubt.”

  In my head I added “At the expense of the natives.”

  It looked as though Commander Neros and the ACI would get their wish…

  As soon as Horus was done he came back over to me and said “I’m sure you overhead what the plan is now, so go ahead and take the rest of the day off. You’ve been working very hard and you deserve it. They won’t have everything set up until tomorrow and I want to make sure our perfect specimen doesn’t show any signs of side effects… Anything could happen over the next few hours. But I’d bet it’s safe to say he’s our first successful subject…”

  I happily accepted the time away from the lab and forced myself to say “Congratulations, I can’t wait to get back to work” and shake his hand.

  The native kept looking over at me and showing an interest… I didn’t want to stay in that room another moment… It was just too enraging and keeping my emotions in check was still a daily struggle. Looking into his eyes made me feel like I could snap at any moment…

  While I was walking back to my room I spotted Sara at the nutrition center so I went over and stood behind her in line.

  She was still ignoring me and I knew we shouldn’t be talking, but I didn’t care… I tried anyway.

  “Sara, Horus is done, he was able to successfully raise one of their intelligence scores; it’s all over.”

  She wouldn’t turn around but she replied “I know, now please… remember what we talked about?”

  I grabbed her arm and quietly said “You can talk to me, I won’t get us in trouble, I promise... If anything you’re making us look suspicious by not being my friend anymore… Horus does know what happened to us during stasis.”

  She turned around and whispered “Atlas, just give it some more time and I’ll come to you… This isn’t going to last much longer but you have to wait… Now please get away from me… You could ruin everything... Please trust me.”

  Just as before… More hints… What I did know is that something was being planned and they couldn’t tell me about it because I was Horus’ assistant… And that whatever it was, according to Sara, I’d find out soon… For the first time since this all started, as I walked back to my room I could really see a glimmer of hope.

  I knew a lot of people had to be just as angry as I was….

  I was so exhausted in general that I decided to just lie down. Even though I had all these different ideas running through my head and I was intensely stressed out… at the same time I had a feeling something great was going to happen.

&nb
sp; I trusted Sara, and the idea that something big is being hidden from me because I’m Horus’ assistant makes perfect sense... It gave me enough comfort to make me feel like I could actually fall asleep.

  As I lay there, I started to realize this stress I’d been carrying for months was actually starting to fade away… There was something happening in the shadows and according to Horus, I wouldn’t have to watch anymore native’s die on his table… It actually seemed like things were getting better. Maybe the worst of this was over...

  I wouldn’t have to see the eleven bodies being removed from the lab every three or four days. I wouldn’t ever have to hear the drills again… No more standing there just watching like a coward as these helpless people are tortured so the ACI can save time and money…

  Chapter 8

  Over the next month Horus was successfully able to produce over a hundred “competent workers” for the mining division.

  Due to the natives having to live such strenuous lives in comparison to us, they were reported as being much stronger and having twice the stamina. The mining division described the natives as “absolutely perfect.” They even reported the amount of chrysos being mined at the site their first week had doubled.

  At the moment there were 14 different mining sites on X-451. Commander Neros ordered Horus to produce 200 workers for each site and even suggested experimenting with making a few slightly more intelligent than the others so they could act as leaders.

  Horus was more than happy to begin the job and I continued to act as his lapdog… All the while knowing it was only a matter of time before something happened...

  When he brought me to the massive holding rooms for the first time, I came closer to losing my composure than ever before...

  He had hundreds of natives packed into each one. It was to the point where they barely had enough space to move and were standing in their own excrement… I couldn’t even see a way for any of them to get comfortable and sleep.

  The smell was unbelievable and I could tell some of them needed medical attention due to the disgusting conditions… According to Horus, that was of no concern.