The Experiment (6 page)

All of a sudden I heard a man hysterically yelling and
carrying on. The vastness of the room made it so loud, I almost had to cover my ears.

I heard Horus say “He’s having a bad reaction! Hurry and sedate him before he goes into cardiac arrest!”

Horus pinned him down and the technician injected the man with something; he struggled for a few moments and then he passed out.

He turned to the technician and said “Call someone to come and bring him to the medical bay. And tell them to keep sedatives ready in case he continues to panic when he wakes up again…”

Horus frowned and became concerned, leaned in close to the stasis capsule and said “His mouth is bleeding… He must have bit his tongue…”

The tech was obviously horrified, he had backed up and was stuttering as he tried to answer Horus.

“I.. I’ve never seen anything like that…”

“It doesn’t happen often… I haven’t seen anyone react this badly in a long time… Hopefully he won’t end up having to be restrained and confined the rest of his life like the last one… He’s a good man, very bright. It would be a shame.”

… So much for that being extremely rare…

Sara came over and sat next to me, I could tell she was waiting for me to be able to talk again.

I coughed a few times and said “That was definitely the strangest I’ve ever felt in my whole life… I feel fine now though.”

“Yeah, me too…”

I stood up and walked around a little. If anything I was starting to feel better than I have in a long time… I suppose it was a side effect of a five year rest. I’m just glad I didn’t wake up in a terrified frenzy like that man…

“I hope that guys ok… I thought Horus said that kind of thing was really rare?”

She sighed. “He must have been really afraid when he went in… I’m sure he’ll be fine. It should only be temporary.”

“I don’t know, Horus said he was the worst he’d seen in a long time…”

Sara didn’t respond right away, she just looked into my eyes…

“So do you feel anything… odd?.. Like feelings that don’t belong?”

I must be right… She was being overcome by the same inexplicable emotions I was… But I wasn’t sure and this could easily end in my embarrassment, so I wanted to tread carefully.

“I think so… but it’s so strange, I don’t really know what to say.”

She looked down and then back at me... I could tell she was embarrassed and confused, just like I was…

“Are they about me?”

I hesitated for quite some time… “Yes.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ll be right
back.”

I didn’t know how to take anything right now…

She walked over to Horus and I heard her say “You were right, he feels it too.”

Horus glanced in my direction and then walked over to me. “You two are going to have be part of an official case study when we return. This is extremely interesting… To say the very least.”

I asked “What do you mean?”

He went on to explain that Sara and I had obviously made a connection shortly before we were put in stasis. It caused us to be thinking about each other as the process was initiated. He said this why I felt like I missed her and was so relieved to see her face.

In my subconscious I had been waiting to see her for five years… Apparently she felt the same way…What did this mean? We barely knew each other and now I felt like I’d known her for years, even though I knew absolutely nothing about her.

Sara and I sat there awkwardly looking at each other for what seemed like minutes before I said “So this isn’t real? It’s just a side effect due to our recent connection? What do we do?.. Will my conscious mind eventually straighten it out?”

“I don’t know… but it’s so strange…”

Then she rolled her eyes. “I’m glad Horus is so happy about this.”

We both laughed and I said “Yeah I know… he’s
probably drooling at the chance to study us.”

Horus sighed and interjected “Alright, as fascinating as this is, the three of us can discuss it later. We have to report to the main deck for orientation. But don’t pay too much attention… It’s revised and edited for those with the least amount of clearance. I’ll have a lot more to tell all of you once we’re in private.”

He walked away and we immediately looked at each other.

“What do you think he means?”

Sara said “I’m not sure, but he’s really high-up in the ACI, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out we’re going to be involved in something highly classified.”

… He did go out of his way to mention that my clearance would be above the Commanders… I didn’t tell Sara, but it had to mean we were about to be let in on something big.

She said “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I feel great now, let’s go.”

The Sirius was so large, it seemed like half an hour before we finally made it to the elevator leading up to the main deck… I already missed the asirium hall… This ship wasn’t at all like the Aurora at all. There was almost no asirium anywhere. It was completely closed in; there was nothing but metal, bolts, doors, control panels, terminals and some type of strange lighting that actually bothered my eyes…

I was starting to realize that most of the ship was
actually pretty dreary…

Sara and I walked side by side the whole way and I wanted to say something… I just couldn’t find the words… This was far beyond confusing.

It was actually painful to be next to her and not be able to embrace her or show any affection… I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t even know her and it was just a side effect of stasis. Like Horus said, different people experience different things… It wasn’t real…

Eventually, we were all led into a massive auditorium; the other teams were beginning to show up as well.

After we found seats, I looked over at Sara and I could tell both of us felt the same around each other now; confused and somewhat uncomfortable. Hopefully this would just fade away and our minds would return to reality.

I liked her from the moment I met her and I didn’t want this to ruin any kind of relationship we might have. I just hoped she didn’t avoid me from now on or anything like that…

She touched my shoulder and said “Don’t feel weird, it’s fine. We can’t help it; we just have to remember it’s all in our minds. There’s no need for you to act uncomfortable around me I promise… We were obviously going to become friends anyway. Right?”

I smiled and said “Yeah I know… Thanks for saying it
though.”

So maybe I was wrong… I guess I was the only one who felt strange. I suppose it could be that as a scientist she was able to better understand what had happened and rationalize it. She probably looked at it more like something to study… I guess that made me feel a little better.

Once the other teams all arrived, Horus made his way through the crowd and up to the front of the room.

“Ok everyone, let’s begin… We are less than one hour away from X-451. Once we have arrived, the Sirius will orbit the planet and scan for air, water, and land quality, along with deposits of chrysos… Once it’s confirmed that the environment is in fact similar to Aeris, we will begin sending the teams down. This will take approximately one day, which on this planet consists of around 24 hours, just like Aeris… Please take this time to explore the ship and settle in. Work begins as soon as possible… Expect long hours.”

He paused and cleared his throat. “On a more unfortunate note… We have detected no satellites or space stations of any kind, so it’s safe to conclude there is no advanced civilization on this planet.”

By the end of his statement the disappointment had already set in. I was like Horus, I truly did think we would encounter a civilization similar to ours. He must be so heartbroken, even though he wasn’t
showing it.

I was upset, and I had only known about the high probability for a few days. I could only imagine how long he had been thinking about it. If there are no signs of life similar to us, this journey would be a complete waste of his time… He was starting to get older and it would be years before he got the chance to go on another mission in search of his dreams.

I looked over at Sara and I could tell she felt the same.

I said “I really thought there was a good chance…”

Sara replied “Yeah me too... But there will still be plenty of other things for me to study. He only mentioned no intelligent life. There could be millions of new species to discover… but yeah I’m disappointed.”

I could hear it in her voice…

Just then Horus walked up “Come on everyone, I have news that’s classified to our division. They’ve set us up with a private laboratory, offices and quarters.”

He didn’t seem upset at all, if anything he was smiling when he said it…

Sara and I looked at each other. I could tell he had something important to tell us. For something to still excite him after the news about not detecting signs of intelligent life, means it’s something big, just like I thought…

The lab was absolutely mind boggling. I had no idea
what any of it was; all I knew was that I’d never seen anything like it in the Capital. I was clearly beginning to see that the ACI was decades beyond the public’s level of technology… Maybe even more.

There were at least two dozen computers, and an array of the most complicated looking machinery I had ever seen. I guess Horus wasn’t over exaggerating about the funding needed for this division, and why it’s so small.

Horus made his way to the front of the room and waited for everyone to settle in and give him their undivided attention.

“... I was taken out of stasis yesterday… They took me out early for a meeting. The probe we sent ahead of the ship discovered something extremely interesting… Before I tell you what it is, let it be known this is classified at the highest level and anyone who divulges any information what so ever will be charged with treason. That basically means life in prison… Not only for you, but anyone who you inform… … The rest of the ship will soon find out the minor details, but for now, these are the rules…”

He stopped and ran his hands through his hair, then put them behind his back and started pacing.

“The project we will begin may border the unethical and cause more sensitive people emotional… discomfort… But it is of the highest importance… If you wish to be moved to another division of study,
please speak now.”

Horus paused and took the time to lock eyes with everyone in the room, as if to ensure their compliance.

This was definitely something big… I could even sense a change in him. His eyes, his voice, even the way he carried himself. Every aspect of him was suddenly different… Although I was really wondering what Horus meant when he said the experiments would “border the unethical” and causing people “emotional discomfort”…

“What has been discovered will provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to study our evolution... The probe sent back video confirming that this planet is indeed inhabited by our species. Only they have not fully evolved. From what I’ve seen of the video evidence, it would appear as though they’re only about a million years away, possibly less…”

I could tell everyone in the room was shocked… I know I was… I looked over at Sara but she didn’t turn her gaze away from Horus. I heard people whispering and even start to openly talk among themselves.

Horus coughed a few times and cleared his throat. “Please everyone!”

“The ACI has entrusted us with a very important experiment that may further humanity as a whole while we wait for the atmosphere to heal… Our goal is to artificially advance this species as far as possible.
We are to study the effects on their brains and physiology, while experimenting with several different classified procedures. All the information will be given to a secret division at the ACI upon return. That is as far as I will go for now… Questions?”

The room was completely silent for almost an entire minute…

Horus walked forward and started looking around the room with an entertained look on his face. Almost like he was surprised everyone was speechless… Or even found it comical…

Then a woman stood up. She appeared to be very agitated.

“I’m sorry but I want to be moved to another division, I refuse to have any part of this. I’ll sign whatever legal paperwork you want and keep quiet, but I will not be participating.”

Horus looked annoyed. He put his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh.

He closed his eyes for a moment and said “I made it clear that this project would cross some lines. Are you sure this is what you want?.. As a scientist you aren’t interested in this opportunity?.. You’ll never have another chance like it again… You do realize that?”

Without pause she answered “Not at all, this is sick! I don’t even want to discuss it or hear anything else…” and walked over to the door.

Horus sighed again and picked up the phone “We
have one that refuses to participate; she’s agreed to sign the treason agreement. Send someone.”

He looked up and said “Everyone stay quiet until she’s gone, then I will continue.”

He had changed; I could see it in his eyes. Almost as if he was a completely different person. The Horus I met wouldn’t want to do something like this…

I’ve always thought this kind of thing was totally illegal…I didn’t really know what to do, I had already come this far. I wouldn’t actually be doing any of the experimentation and I wanted to know what else Horus knew… There was obviously a lot more going on here than any of us thought…

I was in disbelief… It was extraordinary to actually find our species in the process of evolution on another planet… It would change everything… I just couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. It almost took away the excitement of the discovery… And made it clear why everything was “classified” and we were just all threatened…

There was nothing but silence… Within a minute, two soldiers showed up and escorted the woman away. Though the way one of them roughly grabbed her arm and led her away made it seem more like an arrest…

Horus stood back up “Ok, so everyone that’s still here wants to participate, correct?.. Good. I’ll dive right into the details.”

I looked over at Sara and she was obviously just as concerned as I was. I whispered “What’s going on with Horus? How can this be happening Sara?”