The Council’s officials are late.

Valm stood by the glass doors, pacing back and forth.

An hour ago he received a phone call about a tour of his lab. He told the official that they were going to conduct their first full-scale test run today and that something could go quite horribly wrong, but they insisted on coming.

Finally, the entrance doors slid open, and Valm heard the clacking of fine leather shoes against the tiled floor.

A young man turned the corner, dressed in a fancy business suit, a little badge pinned to his collar.

“Hello, Dr. Stresemann,” the man said, sticking his hand out for a handshake. “Hector,” he introduced himself with a smile.

“Valm,” Valm said in return, giving the man a firm handshake. “I was expecting a few more people.”

“Ah, yeah, we are currently very very busy and short on people, so I was the only person who had the time to come.”

“You know if you people are that busy we could re…”

“No no, it’s alright,” Hector cut Valm off before he could finish. “The Council demands it to be today.”

“Very well then,” Valm sighed. “Follow me please.”

He led the man through the corridors and into the testing hall, where the massive printer sat, ready for its first full-scale test run.

Dozens of young researchers littered the hall, conducting final checks before the test run.

“Everyone!” Valm called out. “This is Hector, an agent for The Council, and he will be observing our test run today.”

Emily, standing nearest to Valm and Hector, gave the agent a curt nod. She liked the new governing body more than the previous but believed their claims and promises to be far too outlandish.

Hector raised his hand and gave the room a respectful wave. “Pleasure to be here.”

“Alright, everyone, let’s head to the control room and get this test underway.”

“Yes, doctor.”

They made their way to the control room, a room one floor above, filled with displays and projector screens and a massive window to offer an unobstructed view into the testing hall.

All of the screens and displays are up and running, filled with graphs and numbers and simulated views of the machine. Valm is impressed by how quickly the junior researchers had gotten all the sensors hooked up and ready to go.

Though the printer produced a myriad of readings and outputs they had to monitor when running, most of it are handled by computers, which puts the data through a complex sequence of processing before presenting it to the researchers. As such, the actual need for someone to be constantly watching the numbers is minimal.

Most of the junior researchers went over to the window to watch the printer, while only a few sat down in front of control panels to monitor the most important of the readings.

“Let’s get the show started,” Valm called out. “Start gas injection and the printing cycle.”

“Yes, doctor.”

Buttons were pressed and switches were flicked as the machine began whirring and the sound of pressurized gas being released emanated from the testing hall.

Valm stood at the back of the room, overseeing the action and watching the test through projected views of cameras. Hector stood beside him, looking around curiously at all the instruments.

“So… what exactly does this thing do?” Hector asked Valm quietly so as to not disturb the other researchers. “Pardon my ignorance, my superiors didn’t tell me much before sending me here.”

“Well, this machine uses…” Valm began but was immediately cut off by Hector.

“Don’t tell me how it works. Just tell me what it does.”

Valm smiled. “It produces humans.”

“Produces humans?”

“Or anything, in fact, anything that’s organic,” Valm explained. “We are hoping to use this technology to help fill in the drop in birthrate due to radiation.”

“And how long does it take to make one person?”

“Right now,” Valm thought, running the math quickly in his mind. “On average, it can produce one viable human baby every twenty-five hours. In the future, that time can be reduced much further, potentially half of the time it takes right now. The machine can also be downsized a lot, meaning that a factory of ten machines can easily produce twenty people every day.”

“Impressive...” Hector muttered, stroking his chin. “And, say, if I wanted to make not a baby, but a full-grown adult, would that be possible?”

Valm thought for a bit. “Potentially yeah, but we’ll need blueprints of important parts of the body, such as the brain.”

“Blueprints?”

“Yes. Currently, we still struggle to understand how the brain and consciousness work. So, we just simply replicate the brain atom by atom, completely identical to a properly functioning brain. But to do that, we need a blueprint of a brain accurate down to the very last atom.”

“And uhh… what does that mean?”

“We need... an actual brain, which is functioning and alive, to take the blueprint from. However, the process is destructive, so whoever the person we take the blueprint from, they will not survive.”

“We can provide you with the subjects,” Hector said, turning to look at Valm.

“You don’t mean that…” Valm began to ask, a sense of uneasiness coming over him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Hector patted him on the shoulder. “You mustn’t worry, doctor,” he reassured him. “I must go now, there are other business I have been called to attend to.”

“Alright, have a good day,” Valm said as Hector stepped through the door.

“You too, doctor,” Hector replied. “Oh, by the way, you’ll probably hear from The Council in a day or two, we have big visions for your tech.”

Then he went out the door, closing it behind him.

The test proceeded without a hitch through the afternoon, past the evening, and into the next day. By the following evening, everyone was running almost purely on caffeine, something they’d all grown accustomed to at this point.

At exactly 32 hours after printing started, the machine wound down, and the readings on their displays ceased to change.

“Printing has finished, doctor.” Emily informed Valm, “Vital signs are normal and brain activity seems to be working fine.”

Through a camera mounted inside the printing chamber, Valm could see the outline of a human infant, still hooked up to the tubes and cables, serenely sucking on the thumb of his tiny hand. The entire room was frozen in awe, intently staring at the large display.

The little boy was retrieved from the machine, wrapped in many layers of blankets, and brought over carefully to an awaiting ambulance, an army of researchers following after it.

Their eyes all seemed to glimmer through their drooping eyelids as they excitedly hopped up and down to get a glimpse of the baby. When the little thing opened its mouth and gave a little baby cry, many had tears in their eyes.

They had made an agreement with a hospital already, that if the test were to be successful, the child would be taken into their care, and be sent for adoption once they made sure that he was a normal, functioning human.

The ambulance didn’t bother to put on its lights and drove away without hurry. The baby was sound asleep, and they didn’t want to disturb it.

Soon the ambulance disappeared into the sea of cars, and the researchers headed back inside.

Valm gathered everyone in the testing hall, as they often did after a major test.

“So, all done,” he addressed the room. “As far as we can tell right now, the baby is viable and healthy. Brain activity is basically as expected, perhaps slightly more than usual.”

Quiet cheers and giggles rose from the listening researchers.

“And now, data collection and processing!” Valm announced a little smirk on his face.

Loud moans and booing rose from the listening researchers.

“I’m just kidding,” Valm laughed. “We can leave that until next week. For now, get some well-deserved sleep.”

The researchers began to stand up.

“And!” Valm shouted, halting the researchers in their strides. Then he pulled out a little stack of red tickets. “I have booked out a very nice restaurant for tomorrow night, enough seats for everybody here. Of course, you don’t need to come if you don’t want to, it’s more food to split among the rest of us,” he joked, smiling. “Come here and get a reservation ticket. Don’t be late!”

The researchers cheered and wooed, and lined up to get a ticket each. Even through their tiredness, they were laughing and joking with each other.

After everyone had left, Valm stood in the testing hall alone, looking at the massive machine in front of him. The full-scale test run has used up most of their gas tanks, so they would have to wait a few days for new supplies of those to come in. In the meantime, the printer would sit there quietly, unmoving.

The next few days passed as usual. The dinner party was great, and everyone left slightly tipsy and full of delicious food. Data collection showed no major problems, and all readings were basically as expected. The hospital phoned too, and told them that they had named the baby Adam, because, in a way, he is the first “human”.

But somehow, Valm always had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Hector’s words still remained in his mind.

What did he mean by “provide you with the subjects.”? He didn’t mean that, perhaps, he’d take actual people, and kill them for the sake of my research? Maybe if they were on death row? Or had committed crimes heinous enough for them to be considered disposable?

Why does he want us to produce adults anyway? The ethical concerns for doing that would far outweigh the benefits. Plus, the learning phase the brain goes through as a child is vital for its proper development. An adult can be printed with the knowledge needed, but be unable to access them, since the brain hasn’t learned how to do so.

Unless, the doctor thought, we get enough different blueprints, that a one-to-one replication will result in enough diversity.

That thought terrified him, so he decided to forget about it and go to sleep. But before he had a chance to even climb onto his bed, his phone rang.

It’s Hector.

“Hello? Doctor?” The familiar voice said through the phone.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Hi, sorry to bother you so late. But The Council wants to schedule a meeting with you tomorrow. Would 10 AM exact be okay?”

“I’m sorry but…”

“Sorry, doctor, I’m afraid this is an offer you can’t refuse. Stand-in council leader Nikita himself offered to arrange the meeting.”

Valm cursed in his mind. “…Okay… I see. Sure, 10 AM is fine.”

“Great. We’ll be at your lab by 9:50, please arrange a quiet room and perhaps some coffee. The Council has requested the contents of the meeting to be kept confidential, and guards will be stationed outside the door. Any attempt to record and distribute contents of the meeting will be met with harsh reprimands.”

“Okay…” Valm muttered.

“Good night, doctor.”

Then the phone hung up.

*****

The door closed, and the footsteps faded down the hallway.

Valm was left there alone at the makeshift conference table.

A document lay on the table before him. In bold font across the front are inscribed the words “The Use of Artificial Humans in Warfare”.

The meeting had finished already, and Valm was now the lead researcher in the development of artificial soldiers for warfare.

Though not outright stated, he was given no choice but to accept that position. In return, his lab would receive almost unlimited supplies, resources, and funding.

Not only did it offer Valm and his fellow researchers a, perhaps not filthy rich, but nonetheless wealthy life. Their research would also receive unlimited funding, allowing them to expand in whatever direction they wanted. No longer would their ambitions and passion be bounded by mere economics, and only by their ingenuity and technology. In addition, they can also directly contribute to the war effort, and secure a victory for their city.

Yet, every time Valm cast eyes upon the document before him, he would feel his blood run cold.

He spent his entire life creating a technology to give people happiness, and now it was going to be used for war, to bring suffering upon people.

“If we don’t use this technology, then we’ll lose, and our people will die, doctor.” Nikita had told him. “Pick your side, doctor, and pick it wisely.”

But somehow it still didn’t sit right in his head.

Then the door creaked open, and Jasper poked his head in.

“How was…” he began to ask but stopped when he saw Valm’s downcast expression. “…not very good, I’d assume.”

Valm nodded.

“Are they going to pull our funding?”

Valm shook his head.

“Then what?”

Valm sighed and stood up. “I’ll have to call a meeting. Gather everyone in the testing hall.”

“Su…sure…” Jasper stammered, before hurrying out of the conference room.

The meeting with his junior researchers was filled with silence. Though no one openly opposed the idea, no one seemed to like it either. But of course, like all good citizens, they were willing to sacrifice a little for their city’s own good.

“Following the roadmap in the document, we will begin trial production runs from next week. The printer will need to be moved to one side of the hall, and the other side needs to be converted into a unit testing chamber. The exact details will be shared with you later.” Valm informed everyone. “As of right now, the project is classified.”

The meeting was adjourned with no questions being asked, and since then, the atmosphere in the laboratory was never quite the same.

For weeks afterward, their lab became an almost foreign place. The testing hall was completely renovated and expanded. Many many new faces joined their workforce, including a separate team of dozens or so workers responsible for conducting tests on the printed units.

Though it took a long time, but the original homeliness of their lab slowly returned.

Valm’s team focused mainly on developing and improving their printer. The Council had done their best to give them the best supply of mechanics and machinists, so that if they needed anything, a perfectly machined and polished part would be delivered to them in a matter of hours.

With the added pressure and resources, their progress sped up exponentially. The first prototype of the printer had already been scrapped, and the second prototype now sat where the first used to be.

And so, things went on, day after day. Their technology has now far exceeded what Valm had originally envisioned, and is quickly becoming something that would change the world forever.

For better or for worse.