Chapter 2B: Magnum Opus
Six hours ago, during a routine check-up by the med bay nurses, a patient was discovered missing. A report had been filed, and alarms blared throughout the systems. Sentry droids popped out of the walls with information on the patient. If found, they are to retrieve her immediately.
The patient is passenger number C5731A. She used to be a former top candidate to enter Gaia with her top of the line intellect and ingenuity. That was before the accident occurred. During a trip to the Junk Yard to gather supplies for her mentor, a collapse happened and she took a blow directly to her head. After much effort, it showed that she had entered a vegetative state and was no longer responding. Due to the pleas of the parents and the mentor, she wasn’t decommissioned and was allowed to reside in the med bay until further technology could perhaps cure her current ‘ailment.'
At this moment, the girl was inside the tube in the old man’s experiment.
A soft repeating beep of the cardiorespiratory monitor showed that she was indeed still alive.
It was now hour four of the experiment. The old man still worked as if he was in top shape. He was soon adding the finishing touches. With skillful hands, he finished the final sutures on the girl’s scalp.
“This will do,” He finally said after putting down the scissors and tongs.
On the other table was the boy’s corpse. It no longer had any signs of life. As the hour passed, it started to get colder, and rigor mortis was setting in. His skull was opened at the top with several wires attached to his brain. It was opened in a way that showed that the operator had no longer any care for the body afterward.
The old man sat down by the tree and looked at his work. It was his crowning achievement if it works. He now only had to wait for the girl to wake up.
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded throughout the dome.
“Shit, I’ve been found,” The old man cursed. He wished he could hide more efficiently, but with his name being on the list of those who must be monitored continuously, being unseen for such a long time must have triggered alarms.
Half a dozen security droids barged into the dome.
They scanned around and saw two people and one corpse. Having matched one of the people with their target, they immediately began to act.
“Passenger G4240B, you are under arrest for the murder of passenger A7619B and the kidnapping of passenger C5731A. Everything you say will be used against you in court, and you will be judged by a jury of your peers,” It said with a mechanical voice that sounded threatening.
The old man knew he couldn’t win. The security droids were well armed with weaponry specially made to disable and stop all offenders. He walked forward and took one last look at the boy’s corpse and the girl in the tube. He whispered something to the robot that recorded the experiment and walked forward. There are secrets he had to pass to the boy before he leaves this world.
“Fine, you got me,” He said with his hands up in the air.
The security droids surrounded him and tied him up. They lead him away leaving everything else behind for the cleanup crew.
______
The girl who was supposed to be in vegetative state woke up several hours later back in her hospital bed.
“Where am I?” She wondered, “Where is the old man?”
She looked down at her body and was shocked.
“T-this…,” She looked down her shirt and pants. “W-what is this?!”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Calm down, calm down, surely this is the old man’s doing,” The girl said to herself while panicking.
Before she could calm down, the AI spoke up.
“Oh C5731A, how miraculous. You have awoken,” The AI said with shock in her voice.
“C5731A? Is this the person’s number?” The girl wondered to herself, “I have to fool the AI, for now, I have to feign amnesia. If they knew what the old man did perhaps I won’t be safe for much longer.”
“How are you doing C5731A? Any discomforts?” The AI asked.
“I-I can’t remember anything,” The girl said in a weak, timid tone.
The AI froze for a second before saying,
“Amnesia is common with patients who suffered head injuries. It is nothing to worry about; people can still live perfectly healthy lives.”
“W-who am I?” The girl asked the AI.
“You are passenger C5731A, age fifteen. Current rank C+ with ongoing promotion to B. After the incident, rank drop to C due to inactivity.”
“I-I see,” The girl said timidly.
“Don’t worry C5731A, a nurse is on their way,” The AI said with a reassuring tone before going silent.
C5731A looked around in a daze. The whole situation was a lot to take in. Last thing she remembered was the old man calling them to the oxygen recycling plant. She remembered the old man asking whether she trusted him or not.
“So this is what he meant…,” The girl said with a soft sigh, “Another chance at life huh?”
Looking at her soft hands, she clenched them hard. She could feel the pain as well as the pounding of the blood flowing through her palms.
“A second chance,” the girl got excited, “I really do have a second chance now.”
She didn’t question where the old man found a suitable body for him to inhabit. However, she did question why it had to be a girl, but she pinned it on the limited resources available on the seed ship.
“Where is the old man?” The girl asked, “I thought he would be here beside me all hyped up about his experiment being successful.”
A knock on the door brought her mind back to the situation at hand.
“Come in,” She said daintily.
A nurse walked in with a clipboard. She was apparently very nervous. The nurse had taken care of the vegetative girl for a while now. Suddenly seeing her sitting up and talking indeed shook her a bit.
“Hello C5731A, I’m here to run a few tests,” She said with the best business smile she could muster.
“Ok,” The girl answered.
The nurse silently checked her vitals, her blood pressure, checked her ears and mouth, all the routine things.
“It seems other than some muscle atrophy, you are perfectly healthy,” The nursed sighed.
“When can I move around?” The girl asked with her innocent eyes.
The nurse couldn’t say no to such a cute kid.
“Soon, C5731A. You will recover in no time!” She reassured.
The girl smiled. That smile certainly pulled some cords in the nurse’s heart.
“Such an innocent little girl,” The nursed thought to herself, “Why did that crazed old man kidnap her when she was vegetative?”
Sadly, that question will remain unanswered until the trial.
“I can’t seem to remember anything,” The girl said finally.
The nurse was shocked.
“T-this…,” she stuttered, “Don’t worry, we will do our best to help.”
She could only use the same line all doctors and nurses use when they felt helpless.
After several minutes of questions and answers, the nurse left the room with the girl alone by herself.
“So this girl’s parents already left for Gaia when she was in a coma. Not only that, her mentor who caused her to receive the injury was reprimanded and was punished. Perhaps he doesn’t want anything to do with the girl anymore after such a fate.”
The girl mumbled on about what she learned from the nurse.
“So basically, here on this seed ship, this girl no longer has any attachments.”
Suddenly, the girl realized perhaps this was one of the reasons the old man chose this target.
“He sure is brilliant,” The girl couldn’t help but sigh at the old man’s genius plans. Little did she know, it was completely coincidental.
______
Meanwhile, inside a jail cell with electrified bars, the old man sat disheveled on a metal bench staring at the wall. The only thing on his mind was whether or not his experiment succeeded.
“I have to escape and see,” He said.
G4240B knew that they would not let him get close to the girl after this incident. He needed to check; he just had to no matter what.
With his one good eye, he looked at the walls and ceiling. Not a single place to exploit. The cell was smooth. It was like it was cut out of one large block of metal. He looked at the bars. They were lightly electrified. If he were to touch them, it would be like a stun gun hitting his hands traveling to his chest.
His choices were slim, but thankfully, he modified his body for emergency purposes like this. He already communicated with his robots to delete whatever evidence was left of the experiment. With his track record, he doesn't want to get the boy, and the girl caught in this mess any further.
“If I can’t get out to check, I’ll have to control a robot to check remotely,” the old man thought to himself. This didn’t seem like the first time he did this.
G4240B closed his eyes, and a monitor appeared in his mind. He remotely accessed one of the many robots he had in stand-by in his lab.
A small ball rolled out of a hole in the wall in his lab with a single camera was poking out of its spherical shape.
“Let’s do this.” The old man said as he controlled the robot to head toward the med bay.