Authors: Christopher Costanza
The way things were going, I didn’t see any reason for Horus to go to the surface… And the idea of being stuck in that lab for years immediately made all the horror come rushing back. I was his personal slave now; I’d only be able to go exactly where he told me to…
The thought of it made me want to make a run for it… Go down to the loading bay, steal one of the transport ships, escape down to X-451, and just disappear… Dying alone on that beautiful planet sounded like a better option at the moment…
Then I remembered I had no idea how to fly one… I couldn’t even escape if I wanted to. In reality, my only option for “escape” at the moment was to get myself killed by doing something foolish like trying to steal a transport ship…
All I could do was try to enjoy the time I had left in the observation room before I had to report back to the lab. Gazing out over X-451 was really helping me to calm down. It was exactly what I needed… I had a feeling I’d be spending a lot of time here…
It might even keep me from going insane…
Chapter 7
A
s the months passed, I stood by and witnessed countless atrocities… Since the beginning of the experiments I have personally counted 167 deaths, many of which were his “private specimens”… I’ve yet to see one survive Horus’ “advanced testing” longer than a few days.
Even I didn’t know all the details of what Horus was doing to them. He would continue working when I left every night. There was no telling how long he stayed or what else he did…
All I did know is that his private subjects had to endure far more than the others.
Every time a new batch of natives was brought in, Horus was so sure he would finally make a breakthrough. The only thing he did was continue to pile up bodies while having the rest of the science team aid in mass murder… And no one else asked to leave…
All it did was make him angry and harder to be around… He became more demanding and started making me stay later into the night. He had even forced my participation to become more frequent and had me assisting in surgeries and autopsies.
At first he kept to his word and allowed me to leave the room whenever he was doing anything like
that…Then he began making me stay…
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…