The Experiment

by Costanza, Christopher

  I put my hands on her shoulders “Please… I want you to be safe… We have plenty of people… After everything that’s happened, I can’t risk you… Please?”

  She hugged me and then walked over and picked up a gun.

  “I appreciate you worrying about me Atlas, but I deserve the chance to fight for them. You only assisted Horus in the experiments, imagine if you had to actually perform them yourself?.. Did you have to drill into them and cut them open?.. No!.. That was me… I have more of a right to risk myself than you do!”

  She didn’t even give me a chance to respond. She just turned around, started walking out of the room and said “Let’s go Atlas. Didn’t you say we had to hurry?”

  Narim looked at me, said “You heard her” and then he smiled.

  I didn’t like it, but she was right so I didn’t try to stop her… Not that I actually could…

  We still had to walk up four levels and Kayin’s team was already on the way to the other weapons room… We had to get moving.

  Narim and I made our way out and walked to the front of the group.

  “Ok everyone, let’s make this quick! It’s going to take us longer to reach the weapons room and the other team is going to need our help taking the flight deck! The longer we take the more likely we are to lose people!”

  By the time I ran up all those stairs I realized I had gotten rather out of shape… I hadn’t had much physical activity since I left the academy… I did my best to catch my breath and went through the door leading back into the halls of the ship.

  Narim said “Head left, then we take the second right.”

  I nodded, raised my gun and headed down the hall. Narim stayed right behind me to my left. Everyone else followed closely behind.

  As soon as we turned the first corner, there were two soldiers standing there talking. When they saw all of us they both stopped and immediately became alarmed.

  One of them stepped forward and said “What is this? Did something happen?”

  Narim and one of the other men came around me, guns drawn. “Don’t move!”

  The soldier to the left went for his gun and Narim yelled “Don’t do it!”

  I said “Wait please! Listen to us!”

  They both just stared at me… Hands on their guns…

  “We’re taking over the ship, setting the natives free, and putting a stop to this madness… You’re either with us or against us.”

  The one of the left started to raise his gun so Narim was forced to shoot him.

  The other soldier immediately put his hands up “Please, I’ll join you!”

  I walked up to him and yelled “Why!?”

  He looked confused “What!?”

  “Why do you want to join us…?”

  He looked down and then back at me “Be… Because I know what we’re doing is wrong… I had no idea so many of you felt the same way… I was just afraid to say anything. I’ve heard stories about what Neros does with people who question him or disobey orders… Please I’m just scared. I haven’t hurt anyone!”

  When I looked into his eyes I felt he was being genuine. It even seemed like he was on the verge of tears… Just like I’ve been so many times over the years…

  “I used to be too… But none of us have to be scared anymore. We have the numbers… We’re on the way to the weapons room now. And as we speak another group the same size is taking the other one… Then we take the flight deck and arrest Neros…”

  “I’m with you!… You have my word… Oh wait! They’re a bunch of guys doing weapons maintenance in there right now.”

  “How many?”

  “I don’t really know… I’d guess at least ten.”

  I looked at Narim, he nodded to let me know it wouldn’t be a problem.

  “So what’s your name?”

  “… Moros”

  “I’m Atlas and this is Narim, take the lead with us. We have to hurry. The others will be waiting.”

  I turned back to the rest of the team. “Everyone, things have changed! I’ve been alerted to the presence of soldiers in the weapons room! We’re going to have to breach aggressively… I’m going to give them a chance to surrender but if any of them raise a weapon – don’t hesitate!”

  I looked for Sara and she was towards the back, well out of harm’s way for now… exactly where I wanted her…

  When we made it to the weapons room I immediately tried to open the door but it was locked.

  “What is this? Kayin didn’t know they would be locked… What are we supposed to do?”

  Narim motioned for me to step aside “Don’t worry, Kayin’s got it covered… He taught me a few tricks.”

  He took out a small computer and wired it to the control panel on the door. In a few moments I heard the lock disengage.

  Narim smiled and I opened the door.

  We ran in and I yelled “Nobody move!”

  There were so many of us and they were so surprised and caught off guard they had no time to react. They just froze and looked at us. They were right in the middle of cleaning parts of various weapons, they were helpless.

  One of them dropped what he was holding to the floor, stood up and said “What are you doing!?”

  Narim yelled out “Get up and stand near that wall, now!”

  All of them except the one complied “I’m not doing anything you say! What is this!?”

  I walked up to him “We’re taking the ship and freeing the natives… You have two choices… Join us or continue to aid in something we all know is evil…”

  He grew angry. “Who cares about the natives!? We have our own world and people to worry about!”

  He started yelling for help and tried to get to the door. Narim launched into action, flew across the room and knocked him out with the butt of his gun before I even had time to react… Kayin wasn’t lying, he knew exactly what he was doing…

  I said “Tie him up… We’ll have to leave some people behind to guard him and anyone else who won’t join us.”

  I walked over to the other men. “You heard what I said… Do you want to do the right thing, or stay here and be selfish cowards like your friend over there!?”

  They all remained silent… I can only assume they were some of Neros’ highly paid men.

  “Fine, once we’re done you’ll be taking the place of the natives at the mines… Along with the rest of us. And if any of you refuse I’ll shoot you myself!”

  Then I kicked one of the chair across the room in anger… I was so sure they were going to join us…

  I turned back to everyone. “Ok we’ve already wasted way too much time here. Everyone arm themselves and get moving to the flight deck!”

  I told ten people to stay behind and guard the soldiers.

  Then I had an idea… Sara wouldn’t be happy but I was doing it anyway.

  “Sara where are you!?”

  She made her way over to me. “Yeah?”

  “Stay here and help them guard these guys… If they try anything – shoot them immediately. Don’t even think about it.”

  “Atlas, don’t do this to me!..”

  She started shaking her head “I don’t care what you say! I’m going with you!”

  I looked at her as seriously as I could. “Kayin put me in charge… I’m not asking. Be mad if you want… All I care about is that you live.”

  She didn’t say anything… she just turned around and went over with the others I ordered to stay behind.

  I turned back to Narim. “Lead the way.”

  When we reached the door leading onto the flight deck we could hear yelling and gunfire.

  “Everyone get ready, Neros and his men are putting up a fight!”

  I slowly opened the door and looked around.

  I yelled back “I can see some of our people pinned down. Follow the hall for about 20ft and then you’ll be able to find cover on the left and the right!.. Go!”

  Narim and I took the front. We ran down the hall and immediately started taking
fire. We made it to cover but the rest were caught in a hail of bullets. I could see several people fall to the ground right away… Some were attempting to crawl to safety but others were completely still…

  I yelled out. “Stay back until we can provide cover fire!”

  I took a deep breath and leaned out from behind the wall. I could see two soldiers shooting, so I took three shots at one of them. He went down and could see the blood splattered on the wall behind him.

  Just as I did, another one appeared and bullets started hitting the corner of the wall, inches away from my head.

  I looked over and saw Narim on the floor in a pool of blood… When I looked back I could see that at least a dozen more of our people had gone down too. We had a really bad position. The moment anyone came out from behind cover they were already being shot at.

  I waited to see that the soldiers were distracted firing at someone else and I leaned out from behind the wall again to take a few shots. I was just in time to see Kayin and some of the others sneaking up behind them from the other direction.

  I yelled “Everyone hold your fire! Just Wait!”

  After a few moments the shots stopped and I heard Kayin yell “Atlas, it’s clear! Everyone move up!”

  I came out from behind the wall and ran over to Narim… I didn’t even have to check his pulse. I only had to look at his eyes…

  After a few seconds I got up and went over to Kayin.

  “You owe me…What took you so long? And where’s Narim?

  “We ran into some soldiers on the way and there ended up being a dozen of them in the weapons room… Only one out of all them agreed to join us.”

  I looked back towards Narim’s body. “He got hit… I checked him…”

  Kayin closed his eyes for a moment… “Don’t worry, we’re making good progress… Where’s Sara?”

  “She’s fine… I left her and ten others behind to guard the soldiers in the weapons room.”

  “Ok, perfect.”

  He turned around and yelled out. “Everyone! As soon as we go through these large doors we’ll be in a long open hallway about 20 feet wide. There’s no room for cover whatsoever and there are dozens of rooms off to the side along the way. Expect a lot of resistance and watch your sides! It’s known that there are anywhere from thirty to fifty soldiers in this area and they had to have heard the gunshots, they’re probably waiting!”

  He walked over to the doors. “Expect fire as soon as we go in! We’re just going to have to overwhelm them! There are a lot more of us!”

  Then he pulled out the same hand held computer Narim had and unlocked the doors. He yelled “Get ready!” and opened them…

  Just as he said, the moment the doors began to open, bullets started hitting everything around us… Several of our men were immediately killed but there were so many of our people pouring through they didn’t have a chance to defend themselves.

  Kayin ordered me to stand at the door with him and fire as everyone ran in…

  We lost a lot of people on both sides taking the main hall leading to the flight room, but eventually the soldiers realized there were just too many of us…

  They started putting down their guns and one of them even yelled out “Please, I don’t want to shoot anyone else! I’m done!”

  All of the soldiers starting coming out of the rooms off to the side with their hands up.

  Once they gathered, Kayin approached them. “We are taking this ship, arresting Neros and freeing the natives! Help us!... Then we’ll all mine the chrysos together and save Aeris without continuing this mass genocide and enslavement!”

  They all started looking at each other and whispering…

  Kayin got closer. “It’s over, we’ve already won! Neros is held up in the flight room with less than two dozen men, most of them part of the flight crew… He will be brought to justice!.. So either come with us, or you’ll be taken prisoner… Either way we’re all going to be working the mines together once this is all over… But you will be tried for your willing participation once we return. When the people of the Capital find out about this, expect no mercy!”

  He continued. “We’re all guilty in aiding the ACI, but now we have the chance to make up for what we’ve done!.. The choice is yours, here and now!”

  All but a few soldiers agreed, so he ordered the rest to be held and started leading us towards the flight room.

  As we walked he yelled back to everyone. “I want Neros alive! If you engage him and it’s possible, try not to kill him! He doesn’t deserve such an easy way out as death! I want him working the mines and able to face his crimes once we get back to Aeris!”

  We began approaching the massive door to the flight room… I noticed something in the corner of my eye and before I could turn to look, a shot rang out. I immediately reacted along with a few other people and took two shots in the soldiers direction. He fell to the ground, moved around a little, and then stopped... He’d been hiding in one of the side rooms…

  I heard someone yell “Kayin’s down!”

  When I looked back, Kayiin was on the ground. A woman was kneeling down next to him and everyone was gathering around. I immediately noticed the blood on her hands…

  I knew I needed to run over, but I didn’t want to… I didn’t want to know Kayin was dead… If he was, I don’t know what I’d do…

  I clenched my fists and slowly started walking over…

  Then I heard him yell “Get off of me! I’m fine, it barely caught my arm!”

  I was so relieved when I heard his voice… I couldn’t lose my only friend now. After everything that’s happened I couldn’t imagine not having him around… Really, we all needed him.

  The woman trying to help him said “Yes, it didn’t go in but you’re still opened up and bleeding pretty badly. Stop struggling!”

  I ran over and pushed through the crowd. I was still shaking from the thought of him dying…

  I could see Kayin laying on the ground. When he saw me he said “Atlas, help me, this lady won’t let me get up!”

  I shook my head and smiled… It was clear I had nothing to worry about… If anything, the way he was acting was kind of funny…

  The woman said “Just let me wrap it! It’ll only take a second!.. You’re bleeding all over yourself.”

  I laughed and said “Kayin, just let her do it. We all know you’re tough, relax.”

  He groaned and put his arm out. The woman looked over at me, shook her head and rolled her eyes, then she ripped off part of her shirt, packed the wound a little and used the rest to wrap around it.

  As soon as she was done he jumped up and said “I’m good to go everyone! Just a little setback, everyone quit staring at me and let’s do this!”

  Kayin took the lead and started heading towards the flight room again, just as we were about 10ft from the door we heard the intercoms cut on…

  This is Commander Neros! All of you stop what you’re doing immediately. You are currently committing the crime of treason, which is punishable by death!.. If you stop now, I will grant you all the alternative of life imprisonment!”

  All of us stood there in silence as he repeated the message…

  Kayin waited until it was over and said “Neros is scared! There are hundreds of us and he’s backed into a corner with a handful of men!.. He has no more power here, it’s over! His threats come from desperation and fear, not confidence!”

  The more I observed Kayin in action, the more I could tell he was a natural leader. There was something about him that just took away all of your fears and made you ready to jump into any situation with him… He was quite intimidating, standing there, ready to face Neros, blood running down his arm and smeared all over the front of his uniform…

  He walked closer to the door. “You hear that Neros, it’s over! You’re going to see what it’s like to work the mines from sunup to sunset!... If YOU surrender, I’ll allow you to live and offer the ALTERNATIVE of hard labor and a trial on Aeris!... It’s up to you;
there are hundreds of us out here!”

  Kayin paused for a moment, ran up to the door and started pounding on it with his fist. “Give up Neros, The whole ship is against you!.. I know you can hear me old man!”

  I walked up to Kayin. “I don’t think he’s coming out Kayin…”

  “Fine, let him put up a fight… If he wants to get himself killed it’ll only make things easier for us once we get back to Aeris. We’ll return with a ship full of people ready to tell the public about the ACI’s crimes.”

  Just as he started to work on unlocking the door it opened.

  Everyone jumped back and raised their guns, including us.

  After a few seconds, soldiers started to appear in the door way, hands held in the air and guns hanging at their sides.

  The one in front said “We all surrender; we never wanted any part of this.”

  Kayin grabbed him. “Where’s Neros!?”

  “He’s not coming…”

  Kayin waited for all the soldiers to walk out… They were followed by the flight crew. I could see the shame and sorrow on all of their faces, most of them refused to look up as they walked out…

  He looked at me… “Atlas, I’m going in alone.”

  “Wait, no you can’t do that! You’re hurt and he could be hiding somewhere, just waiting to kill you!..

  Some of the soldiers may have even stayed behind to help him set a trap!”

  Kayin paused and gritted his teeth. “I already know he’s a coward Atlas…”

  He stood there glaring at me, his ice blue eyes caught the light and flashed like finely honed steel blades… He softly said “Someone like him could never kill me…”

  Then he turned around and faced everyone.

  “All of you stay here!” He pointed to about 15 men in the front.

  “The rest of you, form groups of 20 and go all around the ship. Inform everyone of what’s happening and arrest those who won’t comply. Just use some of the storage rooms to hold them for now… Oh and try to appoint someone with military experience as the leader of each team!”

  Kayin started heading into the flight room and I stepped in front of him. “I’m going in with you… You can’t stop me.”

  He didn’t say anything. He just moved around me and kept walking towards the door so I followed him…