The Experiment

by Costanza, Christopher

  Once everyone else left the room, Kayin lightly slapped me on the side of the head and started laughing.

  “I can’t believe what you got yourself into! What are the chances Horus would pick you of all people… You’re lucky I’m here to save you Atlas!” He continued to laugh.

  “I know… I think about it every day, believe me. If only I hadn’t gone back out to the asirium hall after Neros’ speech… Horus wouldn’t even know I exist… ”

  The laughter and happiness in his eyes quickly faded… “There’s another part of the plan… this is where you come in… I came up with a crazy idea and I’m interested in your opinion.”

  He went on to present the idea of me stealing at least two of the injections from Horus’ lab.

  His plan was to use some of his contacts on the planet to further advance a few of the natives. When Horus originally advanced a few of them to act as leaders, they immediately rallied the others and formed a rebellion… Kayin wanted to try and convince the natives to coordinate an attack alongside ours.

  “If the miners can teach them to mine, then I’m sure we can convince them to attack at a certain time.”

  One of the mining sites was especially large, which meant a lot of armed men… He had the idea of immediately overwhelming the remaining soldiers and miners in the hopes they would all surrender and join us. He felt it could prevent hundreds of deaths if they knew there was no point in fighting back… And I agreed with him.

  There was only one problem I could think of…

  “Well now that they worship us as their creators, will we be able to get them to attack again? After everything that happened they may refuse to do it this time.”

  “I’m thinking that maybe we’ll be actually able to communicate with the ones we further advance. Then they can convince and coordinate the other, just as they did before… And I know a guy who studied ancient languages before he joined the ACI. If anyone can do it, it’s him.”

  He made a good point. They had already come up with a simplistic language, the ability to learn and coordinate, displayed the want to be free, and most importantly the will and courage to fight.

  If a few of them were smart enough to understand what we wanted them to do, and that we wanted to help them, they should theoretically be able to convince the others.

  I said “Kayin, like I said before; I trust you…and yeah I think it’s a good idea… I’ve looked into their eyes while Horus was drilling holes in their heads… they want to be free and they’re smart enough to recognize us trying to help them; I know it.”

  Kayin nodded “Alright then, I don’t know how long it will be until we’re ready but the faster you act, the sooner we can do this.

  I said “I know exactly where he has some extra ones in his lab… I remember the day perfectly... He commented about wishing he could take the experiments even further…”

  I could see the disgust on Kayin’s face as he closed his eyes and shook his head…

  “I have to get back Atlas. Be ready… It was great to see you… Just have Sara send someone to contact me when you get the injectors. And hopefully, next time we meet will be the day we all make up for what we’ve allowed to happen.”

  “I’ll be there, right alongside you.”

  We shook hands and he walked out.

  I could tell all of this had changed him… I’m sure it had changed all of us in one way or another...

  Only Sara and I remained. I was still a little nervous around her so I stood there hoping she would talk...

  She walked over and touched my arm “Atlas, I’m sorry it had to be like this. We couldn’t risk telling you too soon…”

  I smiled “I completely understand… If anything I was just worried about you…”

  We didn’t speak for quite some time and just looked into each other’s eyes. The side effects from the stasis definitely hadn’t subsided… Maybe they never would.

  Eventually Sara said “The effects haven’t gone away you know… I still feel like I miss you…”

  I felt relieved to know I wasn’t the only one and replied “I thought about you every day. All I wanted to do is take you and get away from here… It was horrible having to see you all the time and not being able to talk.”

  I could see her expression change from shy, to the same sadness I see when I look in the mirror every day. “Well you know it has to stay this way…”

  Even though I was still somewhat nervous around her, I reached out and took her hand.

  “I know, but it was really good to spend time with you, even if it’s just for a minute…”

  She smiled and said “You know, I think once this is all over we’ll have to get to know each other.”

  We both laughed and headed back to the elevator.

  On the way down I could feel the excitement building… I wanted nothing more than to kill Horus that very moment.

  I envisioned strapping him down on that table, paralyzing him and drilling holes in his head, just as he did to all those natives… I truly wanted to torture him. Just so I could see that same fear and desperation in his eyes before I killed him.

  I looked over at Sara and she put her finger to her lips to remind me to be quiet. There was so much more that I wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time. Like she said… After this is all over we can get to know each other.

  As happy and optimistic as I was, I had to remember there was a very good chance it wouldn’t work at all. Commander Neros has great influence over the military and many men may back out when it comes down to it.

  There’s no way to know what will happen. We may all be killed or captured and executed for treason… In fact, that could happen at any moment. If Neros got wind of a resistance group on the ship I’m sure he would show no mercy…

  As Kayin said – All it would take is for the wrong person to find out and report us…

  It’s funny… One day I read a book about the history of Aeris that spoke of a time, many thousands of years ago. It had detailed accounts of several decades in which powerful men and the military secretly took over the government and almost lay waste to modern society as we know it. They started false wars and were largely responsible for the deterioration of the atmosphere… all for wealth and power.

  It was said that they committed horrific crimes all around the globe and specifically preyed on those who couldn’t protect themselves…

  It would seem as though history has repeated itself. This whole situation obviously proves that the ACI has a lot of control over our government. Meanwhile it should be the other way around… It’s the only way they’d get away with this… and I really do have a feeling it’s all about wealth and influence over Aeris.

  As the elevator came to a stop, Sara walked over an embraced me.

  At first I was surprised and had to keep telling myself to put my arms around her.

  We stood there for a few moments before she let go. Then she quickly walked out of the elevator… I thought I saw a tear stream down her cheek…

  Then I realized this whole time I was being selfish… Sara had to personally perform deadly experiments on the natives almost every day... All I had to do was watch, assist, and take notes.

  Whatever sadness and anger Kayin and I were feeling was probably much more intense on her end. She was probably haunted by grief… I could only imagine what her nightmares were like… If only I had been able to comfort her…

  I felt like such an idiot… I should have said something to let her know I realize how much harder it’s been for her…

  There was nothing I could do now, we had to continue our normal relationship, or lack of one… And I’d have to spend my days watching Horus inject more natives with his miracle potion that kills around a third of the natives.

  A plan that might take place a year from now was little comfort at the moment… but it was something. I just hoped I could successfully steal some of the injections without him noticing… I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy…
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  As I headed back to my room I started to try and come up with a plan. If Horus notices the missing injections he’ll know something is wrong… I highly doubt he’d believe he actually misplaced them…

  It might not be a big deal because I couldn’t see him possibly connecting me to the theft. And there’s no way he could foresee what Kayin is planning… At the same time I couldn’t risk it, I had to come up with something….

  When I put my hand out to open the door to my room it hit me…

  I turned around and started heading for the medical center.

  I had a feeling the injectors being used on this ship were all the same. I just need to steal a few, fill them with water and do a switch. This way no suspicions would be raised whatsoever. I’m sure they had cases of them lying around somewhere.

  I had a plan; I just hope it will work…

  As I made my way there I stopped off in a bathroom and ran the water until it got hot. I splashed it on my face and hair to make it appear as though I was sweating. I even put some in my eyes and rubbed them until they were red.

  When I entered the medical center, I clutched my stomach and started moaning. I even staggered a little to really put on a good show.

  Two medical techs immediately ran over and helped me to a seat. They started asking me all kinds of questions so I just moaned and acted confused.

  “I don’t know, all of a sudden I just feel really sick.”

  One of them gave me something to inhibit vomiting and they led me to one of the back rooms. Just as I had hoped they told me to lie down and wait for the doctor, then left...

  The moment the door closed, I jumped up and started looking through the desks and cabinets for injectors. There were so many different boxes and containers, it was hard to tell what anything was so I just had to start opening each one… After another minute of searching, I finally found some, and as I predicted they seemed identical to the ones Horus uses.

  Kayin had only asked for two but that meant there would only be two natives to lead the others. Accompanied by the very good chance of one of them dying… There were 14 mining sites… I say the more the better, so I grabbed six. The box was full so I doubt anyone would notice.

  Just as I stuffed them into my pocket I heard the door knob start to turn. So I quickly jumped back on the table and started holding my stomach.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Jaksen, I’d shake your hand but… well you know..”

  He asked me a few basic questions and started preparing an injection. Humming as he did it. For a moment it even looked like he was swaying back and forth… Like he was dancing to what he was humming… He was a strange guy.

  “A few people have come in with stomach problems today… My guess is it’s some type of virus being spread around by the natives and making its way back up to the ship with the miners and military…”

  Dr. Jaksen leaned in and told me to look straight ahead as he shined a light in my eyes. Then he pulled my sleeve up, cleaned my arm and gave me the injection… He immediately rushed over to the sink and washed his hands. I could hear him mumbling something about germs…

  “Fortunately, this will take care of it pretty quickly… But please come back immediately if the symptoms return. It could be something more serious.”

  I guess I picked the perfect thing to fake…

  I stayed for another half hour to appear genuine, thanked the doctor and went on my way… six injectors in my pocket.

  As I walked back to my room, my heart was pounding and I almost felt dizzy… I was so nervous it actually made me start to feel a little sick… I don’t really know why, it wasn’t a big deal. It must be more about everything that’s depending on what I just did…

  I couldn’t believe how easily I was able to get the injectors. Maybe it was a sign of things to come… I could only hope making the switch in Horus’ lab would go that well.

  Although, now that I think of it, he rarely ever leaves me alone… there’s no reason to. I guess it’s just going to be a waiting game. I’ll have to bring them with me every day and wait for my chance. Eventually I’ll get it…

  Chapter 9

  While I sat there every day waiting for my opportunity to finally come along, Horus was able to create almost 1000 more slaves for the mining camps. I stopped counting how many had died a while ago… When I hit 1200, I just didn’t want to think about it anymore…

  As the weeks dragged on, I felt my sanity slowly slipping away. And my solitary existence only made things worse. The only person I ever talked to was Horus and I hated every second of it…

  By the time he’d release me every night, the ship was completely lifeless. My only company was the intensely loud echo of my own footsteps as I walked back to my room. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the shape and emptiness of the hallways or it was all in my head. But every time I took a step, the noise pierced me like a shockwave.

  Sometimes it would be interrupted by a voice… but then I’d realize I was just rambling on to myself as I walked…

  I was becoming increasingly paranoid, angry, and depressed. Knowing about the plan only helped temporarily… I started to notice that there were moments where my behavior could seem… alarming… Walking around the ship having conversations with myself was one example…

  It was beyond my control so it just made my paranoia even worse, because now I had to worry about someone noticing, especially Horus… What if I started talking to myself in the lab without realizing it? I could say something about the plan, or how I want to kill him...

  I truly think I can say the existence of the observation room is the only thing holding me together at all. Something about looking out at X-451 and the starlit background never ceases to calm my mind and body…

  I still haven’t gotten a chance to switch out the injectors. Horus never left his lab unattended unless it was empty and locked… and the man could literally work for 20 hours straight. At times I truly started to believe it was going to be impossible…

  I had the idea of waiting around and breaking in after Horus finally left, but Kayin said it wasn’t worth the risk… He had a hard time believing I wasn’t able to do it after all this time, but he just didn’t understand what kind of man Horus was…

  Over the last five months it’s been reported that the mining sites have produced almost as much chrysos as the entire first year. Apparently a group of the natives had found a large deposit right near the surface. It was only a temporary boost in numbers but it helped get us closer to our goal, and closer to the day they’d finally be free again if our plan failed.

  Instead of being happy with the immense progress and stopping the procedures as he should have, Commander Neros demanded another thousand workers. The head of the mining division claimed that with another thousand they would be able to hit our goal of 7,000 tons in less than 2 years.

  As usual, it was nothing to kill more natives, even though most of us would be happy to stay longer to prevent it…

  Every day military personnel were delivering more natives to the holding rooms. The cramped conditions were getting exponentially worse and sickness continued to spread. The rooms were so unsanitary it was actually difficult to stand near them when the doors were open.

  Whenever one of the natives was taken out for injections they would be bathed, but at least a few a day were dying from infections alone. In one of the holding rooms over half the natives had to be “removed” so they wouldn’t contaminate the others.

  I don’t know for sure but I can only guess they were dumped back on X-451 to die...

  The only thing I could be happy about was the fact that I no longer had to watch them dying in silent agony on those tables with tubes and wires coming from their heads. There were no more exploratory autopsies and inner cranial examinations…

  It was crazy to think... but that’s just how bad things were before…

  It had actually been quite a while since I’d seen native blood. They may still be dying by the dozens in
those rooms and slaving away at the mining sites, but the real torture was over and it was only a matter of time before they would be free.

  I just had to switch those injectors so Kayin’s plan could be set into motion…

  Today was like any other day. Horus was picking the most suitable candidates for injections and I was writing down all the information that enabled him to keep track of his work and each subject. He couldn’t stand the thought of his every move not being documented.

  Once he was done, he signaled for them to be brought to a separate room to have the injections administered.

  As we stood there waiting for them to be bathed and transported he turned to me and said “Atlas… You’ve been by my side for almost 2 years now. You’ve performed perfectly and greatly aided in my progress.”

  He paused… “As I mentioned before, all of this has also offered us the opportunity to make progress advancing our own intelligence… It’s one of the many benefits to mankind I’ve mentioned... You know more about what’s going on here than anyone else on this ship. Do you know what that means?”

  I looked at him and hesitantly said “... What does it mean?”

  “It means that I have put more trust in you than anyone on this ship… or back on Aeris…”

  I thought to myself “Yeah, only because I’m not a threat and you’re going to have me killed before we get home...”

  “But there are still things going on that no one knows about… Things I feel I can finally trust you with… Am I right to feel this way Atlas?”

  No, he wasn’t… but I had to make him believe he was. I had to act like he was my hero… It’s obviously what he fed on. He enjoyed being worshiped. It made me even more disgusted with myself than I already was, but it’s just something I had to do every day.

  I got very serious and said “Of course Horus. I’ve stayed with you because I know what you’re doing is more important than anything… Even the chrysos… Not to mention the gift you’ve given the natives is priceless.”

  I knew that’s what he’d want to hear… That he and his experiments were more important than the billions of people suffering on Aeris…