The Experiment

by Costanza, Christopher

  If I learned anything about his experiments, it’s that most likely I’d be just like the first groups of natives… Sacrificial, so he can perfect the treatment… It was just like 3 said – He was obviously afraid to test it on himself. That told me enough…

  Almost every aspect of him was fake and selfish… and the rest… pure evil.

  I shouldn’t have expected any less from him… If anything, I should have easily seen something like this coming…

  As soon as I made some distance from the lab I started to run, I needed to get to Sara… Now we had a time limit. I was almost sure he threatened me…

  Within a minute I was at her door knocking.

  When she opened it I was out of breath, but I did my best to casually say “Can you tell Kayin to meet me as soon as he can, I have some very important news about the mining operations.”

  She smiled “Oh of course, he’ll be so happy to hear from you Atlas. Thanks!”

  We had to put on a show… just in case…

  I said goodbye and went back to my room to wait for Kayin…

  A few minutes later I heard someone walk by… I assume it was Sara going to relay the message.

  I was too anxious to concentrate on anything so I just walked around the room thinking about what I should say to Kayin. I kept thinking about 3 and how much he could change everything. If anyone could actually communicate and coordinate with the natives it’s him.

  One good thing, is I could tell he despised Horus… How could he not?

  I just hope once 3 finds out about my plan he’ll help us. It could really make the difference between succeeding and dying… Now I just had to convince Kayin that it would work.

  If I’d had the chance I would have just put the injectors back… Now there’s also the risk that Horus will eventually discover some of them are filled with water. I’d have to just hang on to them and do a switch again if I get the chance…

  It seemed like hours before there was finally a knock on the door.

  “Hey, have you seen Kayin yet?”

  I was a bit confused “No”

  “Hmm… He must be busy. I was going to head to the observation room for a while, would you like to come?”

  He must be waiting there...

  “Yeah absolutely.”

  As we walked, I tried to form the idea I had come up with into a rational explanation… It wasn’t exactly easy, but I was almost sure he would understand what a difference it could make…

  When we got to the observation room, Sara grazed my hand and continued walking… It was still emotionally trying to be around her. I wanted to call out to her as she walked away, but I just kept my mouth shut…

  When I walked through the door, Kayin was standing there, looking down at X-451. He didn’t turn around but he must have known it was me.

  “Been a long time Atlas… Heard you have good news?”

  “Yeah, I finally did it”

  “Great, and don’t worry about how long it took. In our situation more time is a good thing… It’s just giving me the chance to get more people on our side.”

  He turned to me “So is there a reason you asked to see me specifically? Not that I don’t want to, it’s just a risk… Do you have them with you?”

  “Things have changed Kayin…”

  I went on to tell him about the secret Horus had revealed to me and that he was trying to force me to test his new injection… He was just as shocked as I was… And he agreed they would use it for their own purposes instead of to help everyone.

  “No way, you can’t do that Atlas. You’ll die, just like the others, and he knows it.”

  “I know, but I’m pretty sure he threatened me and then gave me a week to decide… But that’s not all, I think I have a plan that will really help us and save me at the same time.”

  He folded his arms across his chest “Go for it. I’m all ears.”

  “This native Horus turned into a super genius can help us Kayin…”

  Clearly confused by my statement, he said “How?”

  “Forget about slightly advancing a few of the natives… That plan depends totally on luck. They might even attack before you want them to. So many different things could go wrong… The more I think about it, the more I feel it’s not worth the risk anyway.”

  I got closer to him. “Horus is all alone or with me most of the time; everyone from his science team has been reassigned… I’m about the only person who sees him besides the guys who come and go with the natives. They only show up when he requests it and they’re totally random. I rarely see the same faces.”

  He brought his hand up to his chin. “What about Neros?”

  “A far as I know, he only talks to Neros when he has to, and it’s not often… I’m telling you Kayin, the guy never stops working. He’s like a ghost.”

  He seemed intrigued. “Ok…”

  “The native Horus calls “3”, displayed an obvious hatred for Horus, and he even automatically disliked me… But he’s one of them. If he finds out about our plan he’ll help us.”

  “Help us do what? By the time we free him it’ll almost be over.”

  … “I think we should kill Horus tomorrow and get 3 down to the planet so he can start trying to coordinate with the rest of the natives. If you just take him to a few of the sites no one will notice… He’ll be able to learn their language faster than you could imagine. He could explain everything to them.”

  What I said obviously surprised him… And judging by his face, I could see he was afraid of my plan. Hopefully he just needed a minute for it to register.

  Kayin turned around and looked up at the ceiling. He brought his hands up to the back of his head and let out a long sigh…

  “Ok, yeah… I guess that could work… but do you really think we can get all that done before someone questions his absence?.. I just don’t see that happening Atlas. I might be able to set everything in motion before you give Horus your ultimatum, but that’s a whole week.”

  “Kayin I’m telling you, 3 is so smart it won’t take long. We can just take him around to the sites in an airship and tell everyone he’s one that got left behind or something like that… No one will even look twice.”

  I stepped closer to him and did my best to be deadly serious. There was no doubt in my mind that using 3 instead of gambling on advancing random natives was substantially better.

  “I’m willing to bet my life that no one will notice Horus is missing for at least a week Kayin.”

  He still looked really doubtful; I could see his eyes darting around the room as he tried to think… I was right, the plan scared him… “I don’t know about this Atlas, I need time to think.”

  “Look, even if they do notice he’s missing they’ll have no idea why… How could that possibly lead to Neros figuring out our plans… If anything, it could distract them and help us even more.”

  Kayin sighed and started pacing. Then he walked back over to the asirium wall and leaned up against it. It was kind of an interesting sight… From where I was standing, it almost looked like he was floating around in space…

  “I like the plan, I’m just afraid of it to be completely honest with you… We’ve worked so hard and been so careful picking and choosing who we recruit. It’s really amazing that we haven’t been caught. I would hate to give it all up just to slightly raise our chances of winning when we already have a decent plan.”

  I nodded and said “I understand, and you’re right… But I really think it will do more than slightly raise our chances. I think it’ll ensure we succeed…”

  He interrupted me “I’m going to think about it Atlas. You’re right; upping our chances just a little bit could make all the difference in the world… It’s a sound plan, and the other one is a huge gamble that could easily backfire … Let me run it by a few of the others and see what they think… I’ll meet you here an hour before we have to report in the morning and give you my decision.”

  “Thank you Kayin.”

>   We shook hands and he left…

  I decided to stay for a while and look out at X-451. Even after all this time I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was compared to Aeris. It really did help me forget about everything and attain some type of momentary feeling of peace…

  I was too wired to sleep so I spent most of the night in the observation room. As I continued to look down on X-451 I thought back to my first day on the Aurora. It was still hard for me to believe everything that’s happened is real.

  I went from being excited about the adventure of saving Aeris to becoming part of something truly evil… Before all of this, I didn’t even know people were capable of such things…

  After a while I sat down, leaned against the wall and just looked out at the stars…

  Eventually I started to fall asleep so I made myself get up and go back to my room. Tomorrow was either going to be a crazy day or a normal one. Either way I needed some rest so I could think and be coherent... I hadn’t gotten much lately and it was obviously starting to have an effect on me.

  I had no idea if Kayin was going to give my plan the ok. I’d understand if he didn’t… But like he said, even something small could make all the difference and it had a much better chance of working than the other plan.

  I just knew that it would make it so all the odds were in our favor. I hope he knew that too and that I’d finally get to kill Horus tomorrow… And it was going to be slow and painful. Just like it was for all the natives.

  Chapter 10

  Somehow I managed to fall asleep last night, and today I felt energized for the first time in months. That combined with my new idea and the possibility of finally putting an end to Horus had me ready to go. I wanted this to happen today.

  As I walked to the observation room I told myself not to get upset if he turns it down… I can’t let my anger towards Horus interfere with my judgment. And Kayin’s is a lot better than mine, so my judgment was telling me to listen to his…

  If he wants to stick with the original plan and says we have enough people to take the ship and all of the mining sites – I trust him.

  I was a few minutes early but Kayin was already waiting for me. I guess he appreciated X-451 as much as I did…

  The moment I walked in he said. “So I ran your plan by a couple of guys I really trust and respect… They both agreed the advantage it could give us is worth the risk. Even Sara agreed that at this point, no one would notice Horus is missing.”

  I was so relieved, but immediately began to feel nervous as the realization of killing Horus today entered my mind. I knew it was just a normal reaction… I’d never actually killed any before but I knew it had to be done and I felt confident that I was the one to do it.

  “Thank you Kayin… You won’t regret this”

  He smiled “I better not… So where do we go from here?”

  “Have you looked into getting a transport ship?”

  “That won’t be a problem; most of the people in that division are on our side. All I have to do is ask.”

  “Oh, ok great… that makes things a lot easier. I thought we were going to have to find a way to steal one…”

  I thought for a moment and said “Well I know what to do, I just don’t how I’m going to do it yet… I have to find a reason to get him back to his lab… We’ve been spending almost every day preparing more natives; we only go back to his private a few times a week now.”

  We both stood there for a few minutes trying to come up something.

  Kayin finally said “Just tell him you need to talk to him about 3… He can’t risk anyone overhearing so you can suggest going back to the lab for privacy without making him suspicious.”

  “About what? He’ll probably ask.”

  He sighed and threw his hands up in the air out of frustration. “Atlas you haven’t been thinking about this?”

  “I have, of course… It’s not easy… Ok what about this?... I’ll just say I’m afraid someone will hear me and it’s really important… It’s not like I’ll have to explain myself once we get there… Worst case scenario - he’ll make me wait until we’re done with injections for the day.”

  Kayin didn’t look impressed… “Well it’s not the best plan but I’m sure you can get him back to the lab… Take this.”

  He handed me a small gun.

  “It’s really quiet so don’t worry about putting a few in him.”

  “Ok perfect…”

  He turned and looked through the asirium for a few more moments; I could tell his mind was racing.

  “I have to go Atlas… Good luck. Hopefully I’ll see you soon.”

  I didn’t tell Kayin about the rest of the plan… That was between me and Horus… I’d only be using the gun to get him on that table; a bullet was too quick and easy for him…

  Today was seemingly the longest day of my life… I didn’t want to spring this on Horus until he had gotten a few groups of the natives “processed”, as he likes to call it.

  I didn’t want him to feel like he was being pulled away from his work. He might tell me to wait until later if I ask too soon and the last thing I wanted to do was wait. I’ve been wanting to do this for over a year… I’ve never witnessed anyone who deserves it more.

  I was so happy this would be the last day I had put on my act for Horus’ ego… If I had to congratulate or praise him one more time I was going to snap… Most importantly, it would be last day of injections and experiments; his sick little world was going to come falling down around him. And he was going to experience what it’s like to be one of his subjects before he dies…

  As I watched him readying the next group I thought about what this meant for them as a people… There have to be hundreds of millions or even billions of them on this planet and we’re going to be leaving a few thousand with vastly superior intelligence...

  Most likely they’ll take control… The only problem is they could use what Horus did to them to enslave and manipulate the rest. If you read any history book on Aeris, it’s very clear that humans are prone to that type of behavior.

  Some use their intelligence to advance society as a whole and others use it to take advantage of people to gain wealth and power… And for whatever reason it always seems like those willing to cast away morality in order to reach their goals are more successful…

  In this case, even the later generations would most likely inherit the same traits and continue to make it so a small group has all the power. Horus could be responsible for the construction of a very bleak future… The exact type of future we’re trying to prevent on Aeris by destroying his research as soon as we can.

  Really, there’s no telling what could happen because of what we’ve done. I just know it won’t be good, that it won’t help them… It will only separate them, promote hostility, and eventually lead to wars…

  After a few hours he seemed to be slowing down and we had gotten a lot of work done so I went for it.

  “Horus.”

  He turned around “Yes?”

  “I have something I need to talk to you about…”

  I looked around to make it seem like I was nervous. “It’s about 3.”

  He looked surprised “Well not here Atlas, once we’re done for the day just follow me back to the lab.”

  I knew that’s what he was going to say… It wasn’t the end of the world, but I didn’t want to wait…

  I looked him in the eyes and said “It’s kind of important, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  He started getting annoyed “Atlas what could you possibly have to tell about this right now?”

  I didn’t say a word, I just looked at him and tried to portray urgency.

  Horus leaned his head back and sighed “Alright come on, let’s go.”

  As we headed to the lab I started getting really nervous, my breathing escalated, and I could even feel myself beginning to sweat. I had to calm down… He’s probably already suspicious. I couldn’t let him see me like this.


  While we walked I did my best to relax and calm my breathing… I thought it was helping a little but then I noticed my hands were slightly shaking. I had to keep telling myself I’d have the strength when the time comes. If I can watch what Horus does to them all day, I should be able to do this…

  I followed just behind him in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice how obviously nervous I was.

  Luckily, by the time we got there I was starting to feel a little better… I was starting to feel good about everything again. I guess it was just some initial fear I had to get past…

  As he led me to the back he said “I don’t know what this is about Atlas but it better be something important, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

  When he came to stop and started to turn around I took out the gun.

  When he saw it his eyes widened “Atlas what are you doing…”

  I brought it up and pointed it at his face. I had the barrel lined up right between his eyes. “Shut up, turn around and put your hands on the wall… NOW”

  I could tell he wasn’t taking me seriously, he was just angry.

  He yelled. “What is this!? You put that down right now!” and started walking towards me.

  Kayin said the gun was quiet… so I shot him in the leg.

  Horus fell to the ground and started to yell so I ran over and hit him in the face as hard as I could… He was out cold before his head hit the floor.

  I stood there for a while and watched the pool of blood start to form around his leg. I had to stop the bleeding otherwise he’d be dead soon… And that’s not what I wanted. Not yet.

  I picked him up, strapped him down on his experimentation table, and stuffed a rag in his mouth.

  Then I went over to one of the cabinets and started looking for medical supplies. I quickly found some bandaging and wound packing gel so I was able to easily stop the bleeding…

  I combed through his bottles of injection fluids, I was looking for what he used to paralyze the natives. I had no idea what it was called, but I’d seen him use it every day so I knew exactly what it looked like.