It had felt like eons before the girl had opened her eye again and 7714S was beginning to think it had been a figment of his imagination. It wasn’t, of course, he was confident of his ability to discern between fiction and reality, yet doubt lingered in his mind as the girl’s eye hadn’t even twitched since they’d last had their exchange.
A few days after 7714S had spoken at the girl he’d come to the realization that all of Greenhouse’s labs were monitored with surveillance cameras so during his next shift he stealthily checked every nook and cranny to find them. To his surprise, he found none, which meant that Greenhouse had hidden the cameras so discreetly he simply couldn’t find them, or that the Head wanted no proof that this girl existed. After all, security tapes could be accessed remotely, and even though Greenhouse boasted the best encryption software, people from the Old World Force were known to be able to bypass it, so if this lab were under surveillance there was a possibility of the girl’s survival from the Headquarter 3 meltdown could be leaked. Finding out what made this girl so special was already a difficult task in itself, much less having to worry about what drastic measures the OWF would take to get their hands on her.
From his observational journal and from the daily measurements he’d been taking, 7714S could detect that the black crystals were receding, though at a sluggish pace. He estimated it would take years, if not decades, for the crystals to be fully exempt from this picture, and as much as he liked the setup he had, he didn’t think he’d be able to mentally handle being trapped indoors for that long; he needed a way to speed up the process.
His wrist ticker indicated that his shift was nearly over and that it was time to gather his cleaning equipment and put away any machinery he’s used in his latest attempt to forcibly remove the black crystals. Well, more like lack thereof since all of the heavy-duty equipment he’d tried had no effect and he was tired of disposing of broken blades and machines. Whatever that black stuff was, it was putting up quite a fight. He had no idea what to do; clearly, none of Greenhouse’s machines were equipped to handle this substance. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he rapped his knuckles against the crystals.
The girl’s eye opened slowly and she blinked a few times as if coming out of a heavy sleep. 774S froze as the girl looked around as best she could, finally landing on him. He sprinted to his bag and drew out his screen, bringing up a writing program that tracked the eye’s movement and read the sentences it created out loud--this would help immensely in their speed of communication.
He practically flung his screen in her face, knowing that within a few minutes the next crew of scientists would enter the room. 7714S needed to talk with her as much as he could before the others came in and discovered her consciousness. Should he tell her to pretend to be unconscious again when he left so none of the others would know? Was he trying to protect her or was he just being selfish?
“Hello 77114S,” she wrote.
“Hello to you too. What’s your name?” He blurted out.
Her brow furrowed and he could tell she was having difficulty remembering.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s cool, a lot of people don’t have actual names. Like me. I’m just a clone of some guy in the past so I don’t get a word name, but if I become someone important or get a better job then I can.” 7714S rambled, clearing his throat to make himself stop. “We’ll just come up with a name for you later. I’ve been trying to free you but that stuff is very strong. I know I asked before, but is there anything, anything, at all you can remember about it? The littlest thing might help.”
“It...protects me. I think,” she wrote. “My head hurts.”
“Okay, I think I can work with that,” 7714S hurried. “Now in a minute, strangers will walk through that door. If you want to talk to them that is your choice, but if you don’t just pretend you’re still asleep.”
Her eyes went wide with the news.
“Bad people? I don’t want to be in pain anymore!”
The crystals shuttered and 7714S cried out a second too late as she was consumed by the mass once again, leaving no part of her body exposed anymore. He cursed as he lost his only means of communication in this prison of a lab. Granted he’d only spoken with her twice now, just looking forward to seeing if she would awaken each day drove him to get out bed in the morning. He desperately wanted to know more about her and what made her so special that Greenhouse would spend so many resources on her. Now his source of answers was trapped under several inches of indestructible crystal formations, hidden from the world.
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The hiss of the lab doors opening caused him to jump and he swung around, catching the Head as they entered the lab leading a pack of scientists on time for their shift.
“Perfect, just the man I was hoping to catch,” she exclaimed, her eyes wrinkling in a smile behind her large spectacles.
“The girl, she’s back under the crystals!” He ejected. “I don’t know how it happened!”
“Oh, how unfortunate.” The Head said she as peered around him. “No matter. We have a new assignment for you.”
7714S was caught completely off guard since he’d been expecting to be reprimanded for not just failing, but for worsening the situation, so he just nodded and let her elaborate.
“You see, we’ve taken the necessary samples from the girl already and have created duplicates for further testing, I’m sure you know the procedure. However, we would like on duplicate to be under your care for behavioral observation. This is to test how different environments play into the girl’s development, and because you have already been given full disclosure regarding this manner, we will be assigning you care of specimen 2. We believe that this will lead to us discovering why the OWF killed so many of our own to keep her out of our hands.”
The words rattled around in his brain for a few seconds before he could fully compute what she was saying.
“So you’ve cloned the girl and want me to take care of one of them?” He summarized.
“If you prefer it in layman’s terms, yes. Others will be subjected to different environments and one will be kept in stasis here as a control specimen. We no longer require your services at this lab but I do believe you are an asset that should be used rather than terminated.”
“The thing is, I’m not qualified at all to take care of a child. I’m a glorified janitor. Surely there are people who are trained to take care of children.”
The Head’s demeanor changed as if a switch had been flipped. Her smile disappeared and her bright eyes turned to steel. 7714S joints stiffened when he saw a side of her he’d never once encountered.
“You don’t understand 7714S,” she stated with ice in her voice. “This is not a request. You are Greenhouse’s property and have no say in any matter poised to you. You will pack your things and meet here in one hour.” She turned on her heels and strolled out, leaving 7714S in her wake.
After an eternity he managed to unstick his frozen legs from the ground and stumble into his room in a state of shock, barely remembering to grab his cleaning equipment along the way. Packing was a daze and he couldn’t be sure what he’d put in his bags--all he could think about was how odd this entire ordeal was.
First of all, if they had created clones of the girl, why had they assigned him to spend such a long time attempting to remove those black crystals from the original? Secondly, why was he being assigned to care for clone number two when there were others who’d jump at the opportunity to care for a child under the Greenhouse corporation? Facing facts, 7714S was a janitor who’d gotten swept up in the moment and agreed to something he didn’t fully grasp. Where was he going anyway? Another facility? Perhaps it was just a quick move down the hallway.
As he exited the room and out into the lab, he couldn’t help but pass by the girl still entombed in the crystals. Would he ever discover her secrets or was he doomed to care for her clone? Memories were never passed onto clones, so he’d get nowhere questioning the girl he’d be assigned to.
How old would the girl be? If samples were taken the day they’d pried open the stasis tube, that would mean the clones would have had nearly two weeks of incubation. With the accelerated growth, that would put the clones at several years old. 7714S suppressed a groan when he thought of having to teach someone how to use a toilet. He was not cut out for this; he’d signed up to be a scientist, not a babysitter. But the Head was right--he was Greenhouse property and if they told him to jump, he’d have no choice but to jump.
As he waited anxiously for the Head to arrive, he noticed that he recognized none of the scientists currently on duty. Then again, he was usually out before the crew came in, however, he prided himself on never forgetting a face, and none of the faces around him seemed remotely familiar. He shrugged off his paranoia as his ticker hit the hour mark and the doors revealed the Head strutting in right on time.
“Right on schedule. That’s what I like about you 7714S. I do truly apologize for this next unpleasantry, but it’s for your own safety. You’ll understand in time,” she calmly stated.
Before 7714S could say anything he heard the scuffling of feet quickly approaching him from behind. He turned in time to have two scientists clasp onto his arms as another prodded him with a needle. Dizziness set in immediately and he lost all mobility, falling to the cold tiled floor. Through the buzzing in his ears he could hear the Head speaking:
“It’s time we find out the connection.”
Fight he might, 7714S succumbed to the drug and to the whim of whatever Greenhouse had in his future.