Chapter XV: Origins
In which the truth is made known...
Barsch did not know what he had been expecting to see, once he reached the end of the ladder. Perhaps a large room, filled with cryogenic pods, or the madman, waiting for them with weapon in hand. What he had not been expecting, was a stairwell. He had to check twice to make sure he had not slipped and hit his head on the way down. The room below the hatch was stark, filled with nothing but stale air and embedded lights in the white-washed walls. It's emptiness proved a stark contrast to the vibrant and lively valley they had only just left behind.
With no other way but forward, the cautious group proceeded down the stairwell. If they had thought that Revelation Station had been unpleasant, the barren stairwell was almost unbearable. From the blank, white walls to the cold that seemed to hover between chilling and sub-zero; everything was seemingly designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. The endless stairwell did not help this fact in the slightest, as Barsch eventually gave up counting how many floors they had passed.
Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, they ran out of stairs. They had made it to the bottom of the stairway: a small, rectangular room with only a single door. There were only two choices: turn back and return to the surface, or continue moving towards the unknown. Although in reality, there was really no choice at all. The door opened easily, sliding into a hidden recess as they approached.
“That's strange, I would have expected more security from someone who's trying to eradicate humanity,” Alza said, looking at the open door with suspicion.
“Don't forget, there aren't supposed to be any humans awake. And this location is not exactly the most accessible one out there, so I suppose he has no real need to be cautious,” Kingston replied, as he stepped through the opening.
Beyond it lay a simple, white-walled room. It was square, uncluttered and cold. Several tables and chairs -all painted the same sterile white as the walls and ceiling- had been laid out in a complex pattern, with a maze-like walkway between them. Upon the long tables lay several expensive looking machines, the purpose of which was known only to Kingston, if only because he had seen them before. Beside the strange machines were multitudes of beakers and bubbling solutions, all labelled for convenience.
Barsch approached the nearest vial and read, “Sample 1156 – Human Male, Adult.”
Kingston glanced at Barsch as he spoke, an indecipherable look on his face. Seeing the vial in the youth's hand, he found an identical container nearby and read, “Sample 0972 – Human Male, Adolescent.”
“Kingston, what are these?” Barsch already had a rough idea, but he desperately wanted Kingston to prove him wrong.
Kingston saw it in his eyes, and took a few extra seconds to think it over. Barsch needed to know the truth, but did he have the right to tell it? From the moment he had stepped through the door, and seen the machines laid out on the tables, the suspicion Kingston had had for weeks had been all but confirmed. The vials were the last piece of the puzzle, a puzzle which could destroy any semblance of peace within the group.
Instead of giving his admittedly still unproven theory, Kingston settled on telling a fraction of the truth, “They are DNA samples... human DNA samples...”
Barsch looked at the vial in his hand with a mixture of surprise and curiosity, as he briefly imagined what kind of person Sample 1156 had been. Alza, meanwhile, had been walking down the rows, taking time to study each machine and read every printed note. Her eyes were shadowed, and Barsch could not tell what she was thinking.
“Why would the madman have collected DNA samples? It's not like you can do anything with a bunch of genes anyway.” Barsch's innocent words were almost painful to hear, but Kingston forced himself to listen. Unlike Kingston, who had grown up during the worst part of the pollution outbreak, Barsch's childhood had taken place after the end. He had grown up with almost no knowledge of how the world had been before, and of how much they had lost to the vanity of mankind. He had not been around to see how desperate humanity had become, to see how far they had been willing to go to save themselves. In those dark days, matters such as human rights and morals were not important, as long as the end result was positive.
And so, Barsch had no idea of just how much chaos a single vial of DNA could cause.
“You should never underestimate DNA, Barsch m'boy. They form the blueprints to our entire existence, and even a minute alteration could radically change our appearance and lifestyle.” Kingston pointed to the various machines and devices around the room and said, “All of these relate to DNA in some way. That one over there sequences the human genome, while that tall, white one can isolate individual strands of DNA for closer study. However... I've never seen so many of these gathered in one place before, especially given the rarity of some of these machines...”
“We are wasting time. The madman is obviously not in here.” Alza had left the tables containing the gene-manipulation machines, and had begun walking to the exit. Her back was turned, so Barsch could not see her face, but there seemed to be a darkness around her that he could not explain. Only a few minutes ago, before they had entered the room, they had been united in their goals. And now, with Kingston's guilt-ridden face and Alza's reinvigorated coldness, it felt as if they had never been more divided.
“How could so much have changed in so little time?” thought Barsch, as he ran to catch up to Alza. Kingston, still looking at the vial with a sombre expression, did not follow.
For the first time in his life, Kingston wished to be wrong... about Alza... about everything. But wishing had never helped him in the past, and he had an oath to uphold. He would protect Barsch, against anything that threatened him... even Alza...
“Alza, wait!” cried Barsch, as he struggled to keep up with Alza's quick pace. She had already made it to the far wall, where a plain, white door stood. However, as Barsch neared Alza, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye: a small, black box. It hung, almost out of sight, in the corner of the room, where the two walls met and formed a harsh corner. A stiff cord ran from its ceiling-facing side, simultaneously keeping it stable and anchoring it to the wall. Facing Barsch was a lens, roughly the size of a small coin, with a blinking red light just beneath it.
Although it was a different model than the one they had found in the meadow, it served the same purpose: surveillance. The tiny security camera had been watching them ever since they had walked into the room, undoubtedly relaying the images to the madman.
But, in this case, whether the camera was there or not made little difference. There was only one way forward, and one way back. The madman could be lying in wait in the very next room for all they knew, and the only way to find out was to move forward. Kingston and Maloch had come to this conclusion as well, and had left the lab to join Barsch and Alza by the door. With only a slight pause, almost unnoticeable unless one had been watching for it -and Barsch had- Alza stepped forward and opened the door.
It slid open gently at her touch, revealing a stark, ivory-hued corridor. “I am so sick of corridors!” Barsch thought, trying to ease his nervousness. Despite everything he had been through, Barsch liked to think that his hard work and effort would pay off some day. So being forced to travel through yet another bland, uninteresting corridor would undoubtedly yield an amazing reward in the future. With his karmic belief giving him confidence, Barsch stepped past Alza and started down the dull, dismal corridor.
Awakening Page 218