Dimitri found himself in an empty laboratory that seemed to have been unused judging by the dust-coated glass in the room. Presently, it was filled with a fragrant incense with therapeutic calming properties so strong, Dimitri was finding it difficult to stay guarded. All he wanted to do was sink into the nearest chair and spend the afternoon idle and alone.
“Tell me, boy, how did you escape?” asked the man, drawing a chair to sit right in front of Dimitri, facing him straight-on. Dimitri shifted back into his chair slightly.
“What makes you think I will tell you?”
“While you’re here, you’ll abide by my rules,” the man said slowly. “Need I remind you, boy, that the two people you love the most are also here on my premises? It would only be too easy to hold them hostage to get you to talk. Shall we do that, or would you be so kind as to have a nice conversation with an old man? Now, let’s try this again. I want to know exactly how you escaped this facility.”
“I’m creative and resourceful,” Dimitri said through gritted teeth.
“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”
“I went to the harbour in the middle of the night, when the least guards are on patrol.”
“And nobody saw you?” the man questioned.
“That’s correct,” Dimitri replied.
“It takes nine minutes to get from your room to the harbour. If you run, it would take you at least four minutes. Now, I pay for the best men, the most effective guards who carry out their duties to precision right down to the minute. Apart from them, you are also well acquainted with the patrol robots I’ve employed for surveillance. The robots and the humans change patrol areas every two minutes. There’s no way you wouldn’t have been spotted.” The man leaned back into his chair and tapped his fingers on the table. Then he brought a hand to his chin and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking about this problem for a long time now. It was really one of the most challenging problems I faced. And what makes it even more intriguing is the fact that it was completely unexpected. I thought my system was flawless, infallible. But I guess all systems really do have at least one point of failure. Tell me, was it a robot or a human that you managed to manipulate—wait—don’t tell me. You know, from just the minimal interactions I’ve observed among the three of you, it’s been really stimulating, really beneficial for my learning. I’ve discovered some valuable insights, enough to make an informed guess, which I will pronounce now, and then you will tell me if I’m right. My hypothesis is this: That the patrol officer on duty was a human, and you either established rapport or evoked sympathy from the person or both. Then you picked a boat to get away.”
“It’s true I met a patrol officer, the first one was a human. He looked at me and instantly knew exactly what I was trying to do. But you’re wrong. I didn’t manipulate him. I didn’t even talk to him. At first, I tried to make a break for it and he chased after me. But his pace was leisurely. He had no intention of hunting me down. When I looked back, he was turning his head from left to right, scanning the area, keeping a lookout. That’s when I realised he was covering for me. We encountered a robot patrol officer later, but the man took care of it for me. When I got onto the boat, he waved at me and I tipped my hat to him. We never spoke, but I will always remember him.”
Silence filled the room.
“You must have had extra help, didn’t you? What you’ve just described is the process of how you overcame the patrol officers on night duty outside the facility. But inside the facility, no one heard you go out? The shoes you were given, and the floorboards were specially designed. They would have made sure that every step wouldn’t go unnoticed, a way of self-surveillance among the lot of you, if you will. We implemented a curfew for that very reason, too.”
“When you poisoned us, you stamped out the hope that we would ever escape from this lab and return to our normal lives. My friends thought that I was spared.” Dimitri was careful not to mention any names. “I thought I had escaped. They pinned their hopes on me to make this devastating news known to the rest of the world, so that they might prepare and defend themselves against the very calamity that you are going to deliver. Turns out, I had also been infected, just that the symptoms hadn’t started showing yet. But they showed up soon enough, alright. And it’s no surprise to you then, that after that, I couldn’t get anyone to listen to me. If I did, then I probably wouldn’t have ended up at the village.”
“Well it’s fortunate you’re back. You can rejoin them, if you like.”
“I won’t see them. Not while I’m still in this state.” When he left the island, Dimitri had promised his friends that the next time he saw them, the world would be different, that they would all be saved. Presently, he was greener than when he had left. He could never show himself to them. There was no way he could face them while he was like that. When he left, he carried their hopes with him. If they saw him now in the same state that they were in, they would be crushed.
The man gave him a blank stare. “Tell me, now, what is so appalling about my plan to transform humans? Is it really so terrible? Help me understand.”
Then it was Dimitri’s turn to return him a dumbfounded look. “Do you really not know?”
“Contrary to what you believe, the drug is not a poison. It’s supposed to be a supplement, a mutagen that will help propel humanity into a desirable direction. As they are now, our hardware systems, the biological body that we have been cursed with are so inefficient compared to plants. In a combined state, we can reap the benefits of both species. Immediately, we gain a self-sustaining energy system while retaining the capacities of our brain. It’s the perfect way to enhance the human biological system but if we wait for evolution to run its course I’m afraid it might be too late. It is almost certain that humans will lead themselves to self-destruction before then. With this transformation, we might even possibly achieve immortality, though I dare not assert this too strongly since there has not been significant research conducted to support it,” Then, he added as an afterthought, “Besides, who would I have asked? Enlighten me.”
“That may be true, but it only makes sense in theory. The world is not ready for this. All you’ll be doing is throwing everyone into chaos. You’ve forgotten one of the core things about humans—we have a strong sense of self-awareness, a strong sense of identity that is inextricably linked to our sanity.”
“And irrationally also linked to your body,” the man said.
Dimitri ignored his comment. “Do you know why I left? Do you know why my friends wanted me to leave and get help before it’s too late? It’s because we understand how people are, at least a great deal better than you do. We know just how the general reception of this disease would be. You’ve been cooped up on this island for far too long, and you’ve been too fixated on bringing your daughter back to life that you don’t even care if you bring misery to every other living being. Because you don’t understand, you don’t see how horrible this is for us, how horrifying it would be for everybody.”
“It is for the benefit of all of humanity. It’s not misery I’m conferring onto them. It’s liberation. People will understand.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“That’s just what you think,” Dimitri said.
“For the longest time, people have had this remarkable ability to rationalise any disaster that has befallen them. This will be no exception. Life will carry on. In a much more efficient way, might I add.”
“I’m telling you now that you’re wrong,” said Dimitri.
“I’m not quite sure I understand even after all this talk. I am still firmly rooted in the belief that I’m just lending evolution a helping hand,” said the man.
Dimitri scoffed. “Yeah, at the cost of everyone’s freedom of choice. Who told you that our future was for you to decide?” Dimitri accused.
A long pause ensued before the man spoke. “That … is the question I ask myself every day.” Then his eyes went dull, as if his mind was transported to another place.
When he spoke again, he surprised Dimitri by starting on a strange topic. “Say, you know ants are a sophisticated species with whole civilizations. They’ve been around for so much longer than humans and they will likely live on long after the last human has perished. I read somewhere about a man who appreciated this quality of the ants. He saw their potential and wanted to help them. So he built tiny structures, dome-like things for the ants to use as their homes. He hoped they would adopt his new technology because it was so much stronger, and so much more energy-efficient to build than their existing architecture. They never did. And the man never figured out why. Do you know the reason?”
Dimitri shook his head.
“Make a guess.”
“I don’t know.”
“The answer is not as hard as you think.”
Still Dimitri was clueless, not to mention extremely confused at the sudden change in the topic of their discussion.
“Think, where did the man go wrong? Now, that’s a big hint.”
“I thought the man had the right idea. He observed that the ants were building anthills, so he thought he’d try to help them create a new kind of anthill to live in. It’s innovation and technological advancement he was offering them. They’re the ones who lost out because they didn’t know how to appreciate it.”
“Interesting piece of insight. The man observed the ants.” He raised a hand to his chin. “The man observed the ants and, in analysing their behaviour, tried to predict what their goal was. But his prediction was wrong. So the outcome is still the case that they’re carrying on their merry ways in the same, inefficient, archaic ways now, and it’s not likely to change in the future.”
“What did he predict?” asked Dimitri.
“That the ants wanted technological progress and innovation in their civilization’s architecture.”
Dimitri thought for a while, then asked. “Even if they hadn’t wanted that for themselves in the first place, wouldn’t they have realised that the domes would be more beneficial to them?”
“You know the answer to this question,” said the man.
Dimitri thought for a few more moments before he arrived at the answer.
They didn’t want technological progress and all that. They weren’t looking for it. They were just happy with the way things were. No, maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. We’ll never know. It could very well be that they were too lazy to think about what those structures could do for them, how they could use the domes. Maybe they were too busy thinking of something else, or maybe they couldn’t even think, now, that’s always a possibility, isn’t it? After all, they don’t have minds of their own. Whatever they want, we’ll never know. We have no way of getting a direct answer.
“I see you’ve figured it out,” said the man, examining Dimitrii’s expressions. “And you’ve been having a nice time throwing questions at me, haven’t you? But you still haven’t figured out the answer to my initial question. Now, try again. Why didn’t the ants adopt the new dome-homes presented to them even though those were clearly, in all aspects, superior to their existing architecture? You’re on the right track.”
Dimitri caught himself just then and wondered how he found himself in this preposterous situation, having a deep discussion about the intentions of ants. “I don’t know,” he replied. Disappointment was palpable in the man’s sigh.
“What do we make anything for? What do we do anything for? Why do we make anything? Why do we do anything? What is it all for? Why do we even start doing anything at all?” When he saw that Dimitri was still as speechless as ever, he dove into a monologue. “Because we want something. We want to achieve a certain outcome, a certain goal. First comes the desire, then the objective. And everything else after that is geared towards reaching that objective. We need to know exactly what it is that we’re working towards if we ever hope to achieve whatever it is we want to achieve. That man thought he knew what the ants wanted. But he didn’t. And he would never be able to. So he was doomed right from the start to get it wrong. I only want to get things right. I’m lucky enough to be luckier than that man. At least the ones I am capable of communicating with the ones I want to help.”
“Who do you want to help?”
“All of humanity.”
“Right,” Dimitri said slowly. He did not believe for a minute that the man had such an altruistic motivation.
“If you’re thinking that I’m crazy for thinking that I’ll be able to interview every person on this planet to find out what they want to make this world a better place, you’re not wrong. I guess it’s fortunate that I won’t have to.”
A little spot of sunlight shone through the window, looking lost and out of place surrounded by the dark shadows in the room. Dr. Chernoff went to draw the curtains open and the evening sun shone brilliantly, bathing them in orange and gold, and the little spot was no longer alone.
“May I have some water?” asked Dimitri. The man got up and poured two glasses. He handed one to Dimitri.
“You’re being a great help, having this conversation with me,” said the man.
“What have you gained from this?”
“A little more sensibility,” said the man. He seemed to ‘detach’ for a moment before he spoke again. “It seems like the world is in greater need of my intervention than I thought. And with each moment that goes by, the probability of my failure to execute the plan increases.”
“Why? What changed?”
“Now, why would I give you any information that will help you stop me?”
“You’ve already told me that you’re going to fail.”
“That is a long stretch from what I said.”
“Is it?”
“I don’t have time for this nonsense—Oh. This was your intention, wasn’t it? You just wanted to delay me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s a trick that you humans often employ. Sometimes it works against the less clever, but you can be sure that I’m no fool.”
Dimitri was about to question further what he meant, but a nurse came scurrying into the room just then. She whispered something to the man, who nodded ever so slightly. Then he drew the curtains and in an instant, the place returned to its dormant state, drenched in shadows. Dimitri got up only to hear the words, “You’ll be staying here.”
“For how long?”
“Not long.”
“I already told you everything you want to know.”
“I only asked you to tell me. I never said I was going to let you go after you finished.” The door slammed shut. Dimitri was left alone in the darkness.
The second he could no longer hear their footsteps, Dimitri rushed to the door. Of course it was locked.
The little gap between the curtains allowed another ray of light to stray through. Dimitri looked at it and followed the light trail to the window. He went over and peeked through the curtains and saw the backs of Dr. Chernoff and the nurse trailing away. The port was also visible in the distance.
He looked around the room for something he could use. The door wasn’t the only way out. He picked up one of the larger microscopes, lugged it over to the window and hurled it out. Window-glass flew. Dimitri protected his head and torso and escaped with minor scratches on his forearms. He climbed through the window and darted into the forested areas. It would take him a little longer to reach the port, but the foliage would provide him sufficient cover until he got there.