Chapter 12 – Life 4 – The Condemned

The man who regrew his arm, as far as I was aware, was allowed to say that his arm HAD been regrown (since it would be rather hard to hide), but not allowed to say HOW. Still, we had several more volunteers who had been injured in the past.

One day, I was shown a woman who was missing a hand and was given three long-clawed cat monsters as regrowth material. I was confused, as thus far we had stuck to primate-like monsters. The researchers assured me that I should go ahead, so I did. The process of regrowing her hand took longer than entire arms usually took, but in the end, her fingers ended in sharp claws. I hadn’t been expecting that, and apparently neither was the woman. She was rather confused, then a bit angry, but the researchers took her away while explaining something. I never saw her again.

At the end of the latest five-year period, a new Caretaker took over. As usual, their identity was kept anonymous. But this one was clearly interested in pushing me to my limits. I was given a cage filled with rats and told to merge all their lifeforce into a single, remaining rat. 7 rats in, the “lucky” rat was able to chew through its metal bindings and escape somewhere into the ship. Sometime later, I was told it was found gorging itself on food stores meant to feed an entire support ship for 2 weeks.

My next task built on that in an interesting way. I was shown to an aging Water-Affinitied man who I knew mentored my parents, alongside not one but two sedated men on gurneys. I was getting numb, at this point, to those subjects marked for death-by-experiment. I knew the Harmonium had marked them all as dead the moment they went into the testing chambers, for one or more of assorted crimes. Harmony had to be maintained.

Draining two people and feeding the energy into one had an interesting result. After the first, the old mentor reported any injuries he had suffered over the years had been fixed, which we already figured would happen. But when he took the life from the SECOND one… his wrinkles started to recede, his thin gray hair grew new strands of black, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he stood up a few inches taller than before.

A flurry of experiments replicating this process followed. We called the effect ‘overhealth’, though I wasn’t sure who named it that. It seemed when someone or something was given life force beyond what was needed to fix injuries, it then went towards fixing defects or age. And if even more was added? Some said they felt stronger than ever before.

I spent quite a long time doing nothing but overhealth experiments. I became somewhat concerned at the number of criminals flowing through my chambers. Had the Harmonium attempted to grow, did it invite more people? The Caretakers before had usually professed quality over quantity being important, but who knew how the new one had changed things. I hadn’t left my rooms in years; mostly by choice, although the fact that I could only leave under heavy guard played a good part in that as well.

Some subjects went back for additional overhealth after the first session. Apparently, while their Affinities were not changed via the process (wouldn’t THAT have been something?), it helped people spend more time focusing on either absorbing their element or killing monsters. I grew a rapport with some of the returnees, though they often got tight-lipped when I asked about the current state of the Harmonium. They much preferred to talk about their adventures off-ship, and how they were getting stronger than almost anyone could dream of.

Even my father was there for treatments. He often said how proud of me he was, that my work was some of the most important done on the Harmonium. He didn’t even seem to care about my mother’s death, since it furthered the cause of science. I tried to ask him how HIS work went, but he would only hint that it was quite complex. I wondered how complex the work of a Water Generator could get, especially since I had been trained in the same practices as a child. He would only say, “The Harmonium is changing, hell the world is changing, son. We’re going to have a bright future, but we’re going to have to fight for it. I know you will be a crucial part of that fight…” He left me to puzzle over what that all meant.

One day, the Earth Generator named Thomas arrived for his overhealth session. But there was something different about it. Something concerning. “Why is Oscar on the gurney?” Oscar was a Fire Generator, one of the best, and also one of the most interesting people I knew. For each injury he came in with, he regaled me with tales of how he got it in combat. Some of the monsters he described were probably smaller in real life, but I loved humoring him.

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Thomas gave me a hard look. “This man was found guilty of treason, I’m afraid.” I blinked. “Oscar? Treason? I- no! What did he even do?” Thomas shook his head. “Not sure of the specifics. But I know he had been questioning the Caretaker, even spreading dangerous rumors.” His face softened. “I know you knew him. But remember, he’s been marked for death, just like all the others. Even if you refuse, and I assure you that’s a bad idea, he will die regardless.”

I tried to get more information out of Thomas, but after his brief concession to my feelings he went hard as the rocks he was known for. If Oscar had truly committed treason, there was nothing I could do for him but feel sorry. I drained him into a husk, wiping off a single tear. When I gave Thomas his overhealth, unlike most times, I held a little back. It was stupid and unscientific, but I liked the thought that some of Oscar’s memory would live on in me.

I hoped the next Caretaker would be more lenient than the previous, but after the following changeover, I was busier than ever. The same people who got overhealth two days ago would come in, covered in injuries. I asked why, in all sorts of different ways, but they seemed almost terrified to tell me.

My rotating group of patients grew smaller, as many either stopped coming in or arrived on gurneys rather than on foot. My father was never one of them, thankfully. He kept coming in, somehow never getting incredibly muscular like the other patients. In fact, he almost looked worse than before; gaunt, like he had barely eaten, and pale, like he saw the sun as infrequently as I did. He started answering my questions ever more cryptically, and eventually stopped answering questions at all.

One day I heard a strange sound, almost like an explosion, then a lot of yelling. Had one of the engines failed? I went to leave my chambers only to be blocked by the door guard. “Sorry sir, it’s a state of emergency, I can’t let you leave.” I was confused. “What’s going on, then?” “It’s nothing to worry about, sir, just go back to your chambers.” I raised an eyebrow at the contradiction of a state of emergency that was nothing to worry about.

I considered my options. The guard was clearly ordered to keep me safe, but I might be needed to heal injuries caused by whatever that explosion was! I ordered the man to let me past. He started to look rather concerned. “Please, sir, it’s not safe for you to leave your chambers.” I made to push past the man, but he grabbed my hand rather forcefully. I realized I vaguely remembered him as one of my earlier overhealth patients.

I looked back at the guard in anger only to see that he was *terrified*. Was I really that scarry? “P-please sir… I’ll end up on one of those gurneys if they see I let you leave…” Something was decidedly wrong here. Letting me leave my chambers was a crime? One that carried the death penalty? I needed to investigate. I swallowed and said, “if anyone asks, I opened the door and did this immediately.” The man gulped. “D-did wha-“ I touched my hand to his neck and drained *just* enough life force that he fell unconscious. He would recover over time. I took a ring of keys from his belt.

I made my way in the direction of the yelling. I heard what sounded like a second explosion. Why were no alarms going off? Surely this, whatever it was, warranted a red alert? I tried to make my way to the higher decks, but all the doors upwards were locked, and none of the many keys were labeled. As I went through the halls, two more guards tried to stop me. They had been given overhealth as well, I was sure of it. It took longer to drain them, something I had to keep in mind, but I still pushed them to the point of unconsciousness and no further. I hoped. Then I went into the room they were guarding and found… a nightmare.

If my power drained people of life over time, these bodies had it ripped from them violently. Intestines and other organs draped the floor, all coming from people and monsters that looked like they had exploded from the inside. Strangely, not a single drop of blood was there to be found, it was like the room had been scrubbed clean in an incredibly selective way.

I barely avoided emptying my stomach, but I needed to know what sort of depraved experiments had been going on here. I made my way around the corner and found… the strangest monster I had ever seen. A red thing in the shape of a person was standing there, at least 7 feet tall. Despite standing upright, the thing was clearly made of liquid. And then it reached out for me with a 6-fingered hand.

I quickly, on instinct, went to drain it of life. But nothing happened. What made this monster different from all the others? Why the hell was something like this on the ship, anyway? As I struggled to free myself from its grasp, a man in a black cloak came out from somewhere and rasped “Stop”. The monster put its hand down. Someone was controlling a monster with vocal commands?! Wait, that voice sounded familiar…

The man stood up and dropped his cloak showing off his gaunt form and pale skin, shocking me to the core. “Can’t have you hurting the boy who made this all possible, now could we?”, said my father.