EXPERIMENT

by Cyma Rizwaan Khan

  “Leave me alone.”

  “Fine,” Martinez said. “Just get some sleep. We’ll talk when you wake up.”

  No we won’t, we won’t talk, because I don’t want to talk to you.

  I just want to go home.

  *

  Martinez was already awake, when Lane woke up the next morning. There was no way to tell the time, no sunlight no alarm clock, so Lane guessed morning was when you were awake. His body was so stiff he couldn’t possibly get up without screaming his lungs out. The pain was so much worse than it was last night, so bad Lane couldn’t stop crying.

  “It’s okay,” Martinez said kindly. “It’s okay to cry.”

  Lane wanted to tell him he could do without his commentary or his permission on the matter, but he was guessing the man was pretty much his only hope for sanity in this place. He couldn’t move his face much so what he said next came out vague and he doubted if Martinez even understood. “What’s The Experiment?”

  But Martinez did understand.

  Lane knew, because it was the first time Martinez was silent. “You don’t need to worry about that right now,” he said. “Just don’t aggravate the guards. No matter what they do to you, it won’t be worse than what they’ll do if you make them angry.”

  Life was ironic.

  One minute Lane was trying to profess his undying love for the girl he wanted to get married to, and the next he was sitting in some far-away concentration camp learning about survival tactics.

  CHAPTER 7

  THE RESISTANCE

  The Administration Hall,

  Zyron Region-One

  The officer studied the document that Connor placed in front of him. “This looks legit,” she said. “I don’t understand what the problem is?”

  “The problem is that they forced my brother into confessing for a crime he didn’t commit,” Connor said.

  The officer slid the file back to him. “You know how many cases of people claiming their family members didn’t commit one crime or another we get around here?” she said. “If I was to take them all seriously, I’d never get any work done.”

  “But that’s your job,” Connor said. “This is what you get paid for!”

  “Get out of my office,” the officer said. “Or I’ll have you thrown out.” She went back to work and Connor had no choice but to give up. His whole plan about creating some noise about this case hadn’t been too successful so far. Even the reporter hadn’t responded to his calls. Sydney Chang, she was supposed to help people, but apparently she was too busy for him.

  Outside, Kevin was waiting impatiently, and Connor wished he had some good news for him. “What did she say?” Kevin asked the minute he saw Connor.

  “Nothing we don’t already know.”

  “You need to be heard,” someone said, and Connor turned to the man who was standing right next to them, holding a folder. “You need to make your voice stand out from the crowd, so they can recognize you.”

  “Who’re you?” Connor asked.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing,” the man said, thrusting his hand forward. “I’m Jace Dyer.”

  “Jace Dyer?” Kevin said. “The Jace Dyer? Of the resistance?”

  The man smiled. “You’re a supporter of the resistance I assume?”

  “I almost joined your army two years ago,” Kevin said. “But my girlfriend was pregnant, it didn’t seem like the thing to do at the time.”

  “Well we’re always hiring,” Jace said. “And always in need of motivated people.”

  “I’m Kevin Chase by the way, and this is my friend Connor Volze,” Kevin said by way of introduction. “They’re sending his brother away to Black Walls and we’re certain he was forced to confess.”

  Jace turned to Connor. “I’m sorry,” he said. “This isn’t exactly unheard of. I’m afraid your brother might be one of the candidates for some kind of human trials.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Connor said. “Isn’t that one of the conspiracy theories those reporters keep floating about?”

  Jace looked around and eyed the guards standing across from them with suspicion. “How about we continue this discussion someplace more appropriate,” he said. “These people won’t listen to you Connor, but I know what you’re going through. And I might be able to help.”

  *

  Chase Square,

  Zyron Region-One

  Dyer lived in a small house with his wife and two kids and the house was nothing special. He was obviously not into appearances, didn’t care what people thought of him. He was unlike any politician Connor had seen, but Connor couldn’t help wondering if it was a façade. Over drinks, they started talking about the current situation of the world, and Kevin was just as enthralled by Dyer’s presence now, as he was back at Main Hall.

  “Anyway long story short,” Jace said after a while. “I try to do what I can to help, but it becomes difficult when no one is willing to go against the Zyres. Most people would rather live in misery for the rest of their lives than allow change.”

  “Most people are afraid of change,” Kevin said.

  “Most people are afraid period,” Connor said. “They’re dealing with enough misery of their own, without people like you adding to it.”

  “So what then?” Kevin said. “We keep going the way it is? Forget change? Just let these bastards rule over us and tell us what to do?”

  “How come I don’t see you standing up?” Connor said. “You’re just like the rest, you just like to think you’re different.”

  “That’s not fair,” Kevin complained.

  “You both make some valid points,” Jace said. “Don’t get me wrong, Connor I know how ordinary people’s minds work, I happen to be one myself. I’ve lived all my life in poverty. I know what it feels like to have your thoughts always surrounding survival, I know how dejected that makes you feel, how helpless and like you don’t have control of your own life. But if you just go about life being afraid of change, you’re not helping anyone, least of all yourself. What happened to your brother could have been avoided if anyone had fought for these basic rights.”

  “There were those who tried,” Connor said. “To this day, no one knows what happened to them, they just vanished.”

  “I know,” Jace said. “But we’ve been going on strong for more than two years now, and we’re still here.”

  “How’d you manage that?”

  “I don’t know,” Jace said. “Maybe people are tired of being ruled by a bunch of idiots who don’t give a shit. Maybe they’re ready for change.”

  “Look,” Connor said. “This is all well and good but I was under the impression that you could help me with my situation.”

  “I’ve been wondering how to broach that subject,” Jace said. “Connor, your brother isn’t the only one being taken to that detention camp. All over Zyron, there have been incidents of people being trapped with meaningless charges, only to end up in some science lab.”

  “Science lab?” Connor remembered the list from the Science Bureau that Easton had showed him.

  “I don’t know the details,” Jace said. “All I know is that they’re doing a top-secret experiment for which they need people. The younger the better. Since they can’t just haul people off the streets, that would be too blatant, they make up a false case history, give The Force enough reason to detain that person, and that’s the first part of their set-up. The cops make a case against that person, bad enough for the judges to give a tough ruling, which, once they have the confession tape, is relatively easy to obtain. When the person ends up in Black Walls, his family pretty much gives up on them, no one comes out of that place alive anyway.”

  “You think my brother’s being taken in for some kind of human trials?” Connor said. “If that’s true, why isn’t anyone doing something about it?”

  “I would but I don’t have that kind of power,” Jace said. “I’m just a resistance leader, Connor, not exactly king of the realm. I do what I can but even
I can’t get the court to listen to me or for The Force to stop committing these atrocities. There’s no way to infiltrate these organizations, they’re all connected. There’s nothing I can do until people vote for me and I become the authority.”

  “How do you plan to help my brother,” Connor said. “When you have no power?”

  Jace was looking directly at Connor, and he didn’t waver. “I can’t do anything for your brother officially of course,” he said. “But there are other ways. If you’re willing to go with me on this, I’d like to show you something.”

  *

  The Resistance Hideout,

  Zyron Region-One

  They had always heard horror stories about Black Walls. But it wasn’t until Connor saw the man sitting on the small bed in that cramped room of the hideout building, that he realized the severity of it. Zachary was in his early thirties, a survivor of Black Walls, as Jace called him, thanks to an operation that the resistance initiated a few months back. Zachary was back in theory, but looking at him it was hard to tell if he would ever come out of that dark place that his mind had been imprisoned in. He would suddenly start staring at nothing, and trailed off twice in the middle of a conversation and he couldn’t walk—some form of extreme torture to his legs had rendered him paralyzed from the waist down. The man had suffered everything from being sleep deprived to being electrocuted, all because they knew he was part of The Resistance.

  When Zachary came back, instead of providing him the family support he deserved, his family disowned him because they thought he might bring harm to them. Being a member of The Resistance made him a target and his family wanted none of that trouble. Since then, Zachary had been with many others at The Resistance headquarters, a place they had set up in an abandoned building so they could have a functional office but it wasn’t much. Natalie, the one who Jace referred to as ‘the doc’ was the one who had found out about ‘The Experiment’ from one of the memos she saw that weren’t supposed to reach her. When she realized Zachary might be in trouble, she told Jace, and Jace lined up The Resistance army to rescue Zachary and find out what was really going on. They hadn’t learned much, but at least they got Zachary and two other prisoners out, who had since then joined Dyer’s group.

  Jace also told them about the millions of problems they had to encounter on a daily basis. He said the only reason their peaceful protest turned into a riot in the first place, was because The Force had interfered. They harassed the protestors and one of them got angrier than he was supposed to and that’s what caused all the violence. When Connor asked him why he wasn’t able to control his people better, Jace just smiled and told him the whole idea of their group was to try and do things together with mutual understanding, instead of using power to control them. So far, Connor hadn’t seen any evidence that Jace was lying or pretending to be someone he was not. What he had done for the others, it was evident how much they appreciated and loved him for it.

  Natalie set up dinner and Kevin helped her with it while Connor sat with the others and learned some more details about them. He was in a corner sitting alone, when Jace got up to talk to Natalie, and that’s when Zachary came on the wheelchair. “I understand your brother’s been taken to Black Walls.”

  “They got him to confess,” Connor said, glad to get it off his chest. “Now they won’t listen to a word I have to say. And they keep reminding me there is no case.”

  “No lawyer in their right mind is going to touch it,” Zachary said. “I know, it happened to me too. I was falsely accused of murder. I never even knew the person who was murdered, they just pinned it onto me for no apparent reason. They threaten the lawyers. Tell them their families aren’t going to be safe if they try to help us.”

  Connor stared at the scars on Zachary’s face, wondering about the stories behind them but he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know. “How did the world get so fucked up?”

  “I know,” Zachary said. “It’s depressing.”

  “The law to have a Concentration Camp for the worst criminals was passed by the Zyres,” Natalie chimed in. Connor noticed her for the first time and wondered how long she had been standing there. “They call themselves the keepers of the nation and keep telling us how truly sensible they are, but it’s all a joke. How can you be sensible when you don’t even know what’s wrong with having a concentration camp? I can’t believe people actually voted to get them elected.”

  “That was five years ago, people didn’t have a choice,” Zachary said. “Now, with Jace and the resistance, things are different.”

  “I don’t know,” Connor said. “Seems to me like it’s a far-fetched idea, thinking people are going to vote for someone like Jace. People are objects of habit. Resisting change is an instinct.”

  “We all need to have a bit more trust in humanity,” Jace said, surprising them all with his presence. “Come now, dinner’s getting cold.”

  *

  After dinner, Connor was standing in the terrace with a drink in hand and when Jace walked in he barely noticed.

  “Connor?”

  “My brother’s in that hell as we speak,” Connor said. “I can’t stop thinking about that. Can’t stop thinking what they’re going to do to him. How can I sleep until I see him safe and out of that place?”

  “I have a family,” Jace said. “So I can imagine what you’re going through. We brought back Zachary, Tamara and Bryson too. I won’t rest until we’ve brought your brother back, I promise.”

  “I just don’t understand why?”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Why would you do put your life at risk for a person you just met?” Connor said. “Is it because you want to earn followers?”

  “There’s only one rule in this place,” Jace said. “We see someone in need, we help them, there’s no ulterior motive to that. You know what sets civilized beings apart from primal cultures? Their ability to feel empathy. Most people, when they go through life, learn how to turn it off. Life matters Connor, regardless of who it belongs to. We’re just trying to do what’s right.”

  Connor wanted to believe it. That there was at least one person in this world who did things for other people purely out of instinct instead of some kind of gain. Connor himself had learned to be shrewd, to do things that were practical, because he always had to support another life along with his own. He felt like he never got the chance to do the right thing. That’s why Jace’s words were making an impact on him, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. Still, he didn’t want to make any rash judgments. He wanted to take his time and truly understand this person before giving him the benefit of doubt.

  “I’m thirty,” he said. “That’s almost three decades of my life trying to survive, trying to protect the one person who’s dear to me, and the only lesson I’ve learned Jace, is that nothing is for free.”

  Jace placed a hand on Connor’s shoulder. “I can’t imagine what you must have had to go through,” he said. “But I can only assume it wasn’t pretty, so your pessimism is justified. Once we help you reconnect with your brother, you’re free to leave. No obligations, no catch. If there’s one thing I do in life Connor, it’s going to be to restore your faith.”

  Connor didn’t say it then, but he truly wanted that to be true.

  CHAPTER 8

  “THE EXPERIMENT”

  Black Walls Detention Camp,

  Delta-Bay, Zyron Region-Two

  The guards had them all in a straight line on their knees, hands behind their backs. Commander Jones stopped by each one of them during the inspection and neither of them dared move a muscle. Finally, the Commander stopped in front of Lane. “Him,” he said to the guards and Lane wondered what prize in hell he had won now. “I think the good doctor will like him.”

  *

  They strapped him to a table, under a torturous white light that made it impossible for him to see. When someone approached the exam table, Lane wanted badly to see his face but it wasn’t possible. All he could see was a vague silho
uette, but when the man spoke Lane could tell he was older, had to be Commander Jones’ age at least.

  “Laison Volze,” the man said and Lane could tell that he was holding a sheet in his hand. “What did you do to end up here, Laison?”

  “Sir,” Lane tried to speak, but wasn’t sure what to say. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “That’s what they all say,” the man said. “I want to know what they charged you with.”

  Lane realized the vague silhouette had a lab-coat on. “Murder, sir.”

  “Fascinating,” the man said. “You’ll make an interesting subject.”

  Subject?

  “I’m Doctor Wilkinson,” the man introduced himself. He unbuttoned Lane’s shirt, stuck a couple of sensors to his chest. “We’re going to perform a few tests today.” He stuck a needle in Lane’s arm and drew some blood. Lane’s eyes were starting to get used to the bright light now, he could almost make out the man’s face.

  “Do you have any family, Lane?”

  “Yes sir,” Lane said. “I have a brother.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “They died in a car crash.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “I was a few months old at the time, so more than twenty years ago.”

  “Were you with them?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Tell me how it happened,” Wilkinson said and turned to a monitor.

  Lane realized the man was monitoring his heartbeat. “We were going to see our grandparents,” he said. “A woman came in front of us out of nowhere and my dad, he was driving and he tried to save her and hit an oncoming vehicle in the confusion. My brother and I we were both in the backseat and we survived with some minor injuries. My parents died on the spot.”

  “You said you have grandparents?”

  “Not anymore,” Lane said. “My grandfather died from heart disease a few years back. And last year, my grandmother suffered a stroke that took her life.”