Quietly whistling, the man dressed in a doctor’s outfit was slowly checking something on the display. The multiple rows of numbers and diagrams looked like rare gibberish for most people, but this specialist for the first time wasn’t far from the same feeling. The whole data was weird, giving the parameters that were simply impossible not only for the ordinary human but even for the modified citizen of Terra. Moreover, being the solo science worker on Mr. Wright’s payment, the man was without any understatement on the level of the best in his industry… if there was one, considering the range of his tasks.
Knowledge, equipment, resources – he had everything, but the current situation made him reevaluate his own abilities. The captured Terranoid was a masterpiece, beyond his comprehension. He couldn’t understand how the genetic laboratory of the destroyed planet managed to produce such an incredible specimen, which simply on paper couldn’t exist at all. On the other hand, they were the only ones who had enough research on the topic and no law restrictions for this task, easily experimenting on multiple humans without any worry about consequences. That obviously gave the result, despite being from the other specter of moral values.
Thank the galaxy, other planets didn’t have to face an army of such soldiers as it would be a real disaster. This “thing” could be the last-ditch attempt to change the inevitable outcome for Terra. Luckily, they didn’t have enough time, otherwise, the war would lead to the destruction of many more planets than a single one, their own. And even more fortunately, that man could now study the best work of the fallen empire without heavy investment in research.
Standing up, he slowly walked toward the opposite side of the enormous laboratory where the damaged body of the Terranoid was lying on the bed, tightly fixed on the bed with few belts. Connected to multiple cables and tubes, the dangerous human-like creature was forcefully held in a deep sleep, being fed an insane quantity of sedatives. Most traces of the wounds and injuries had already disappeared by this point, but the scientists still prevented the regeneration of the legs below the knees with special devices that simply cut the flesh and bones when they reached the specific mark.
“Donald, how is everything proceeding? Are you finally ready for the operation?”
Entering the place like a hurricane, a well-dressed man immediately asked his most trusted employee. The signs of anxiety and barely hidden desire were visible on his round face. His thin lips were almost in the skin's tone, while the same small nose, tiny ears, and nearly non-existent eyebrows made him look like some kind of a balloon. Light blonde hair with a boldness only intensified this feeling, making only the dark deep eyes the single eye-catching facial feature. The odd appearance of Michel Wright didn’t stop on it, as he had very thin limbs, looking almost like an energetic skeleton, who was just resurrected by the necromancer’s spell. However, his proportions were akin to a child, with a bigger head, a short frame, and a visible belly as if he swallowed a ball.
“Oh, Mr. Wright, you are already here… I almost finished planning. I have enough information about the subject’s regeneration capabilities, so I can safely extract all his bones to replace them with the metal frame. The platform for him is ready. The transparent screen is thrice tougher than the one, he failed to break in the video from cameras. A feeding system with additional energy supply in case of emergency is also set. The last thing I need is to correctly plan the route for feeding and breathing tubes, so they are well hidden, but will not be broken easily,” the scientist started his report, while the boss wasn’t listening.
Pausing to observe the sleeping figure, Michel licked his lips before slowly moving forward. Stretching his hand, he lightly touched the skin on the thigh of the giant with the back of his palm. Petting with visible enjoyment, he proceeded further until he reached the face. Looking at the rough facial features, Mr. Wright opened the mouse and checked the teeth by pushing his finger to open the gap. Then forcefully opened the eyes of the Terranoid, but there was no clarity in them. Unfocused, they seemed to drift away into imaginary worlds, completely abandoning reality.
“Can you make a switch to wake him up, but not fully, so he wouldn’t try to break free. I want to enjoy the sight of the horror in those dark green eyes. Those huge muscles, all this strength, and power, but no ability to move… Yes! I want it! Can you do it, Donald?”
“I am not sure, Mr. Wright. You see I already changed the drug a few times because his body is slowly getting resistant to the effect as if adapting… Mr. Wright, are you sure that I can’t study him more? You see, his modifications can lead to a major breakthrough in medicine and genetics surgery. Not speaking about his insane level of regeneration that basically has no limits of what to regenerate, the superior muscle strength, the noticeable change in the brain, or even his toughness that led to breaking me a first set of instruments… and I liked them – they were the gift of my mother… No, the biggest mystery is his energy source!”
“What do you mean, Donald?” Turning around, Michel squinted his eyes in surprise, slightly opening his small mouth. The wildly running imagination of owning such a unique person almost led to the reaction, but Wright was too experienced in hiding his reaction in front of others.
“Moving muscles, regenerating cells, even just living needs an energy supply. In most cases, it’s just nutrition and oxygen, sometimes ultraviolet. In his case, it seems it is something akin to an aether. A space filling-substance that was found only a few decades ago. It’s not exactly it, as his version is fully energy-based, filling each of his cells. I barely managed to track it, but I still can’t find the source. Nothing is in the air, so he is not getting it from the surroundings. I don’t see any special organs to produce it, making it a real mystery… But by uncovering it we discover how he created those metal constructs as there are no nanobots inside his flesh or blood. Maybe we can…”
“And you want to study him more,” Michel nodded in confirmation, turning back to the lying giant figure just to hide his light smile and sparks in his eyes.
“Yes, sir, yes. Of course, if I have your permission,” the scientist agreed, not holding his emotion from possible discoveries.
“Donald, you are a clever man, but sometimes you can’t see further than your nose. How would you explain his presence here when the investigation of the event is already conducted. Or how would you do it yourself, as the space thing is not your main theme? Do you want to invite more people HERE? So they will see what you were doing all this time? I am not even sure that you can keep him in such a state for long. You told it yourself – he adapts… However, the biggest problem in your wish is ME! WHO IS FUNDING YOU, IDIOT? WHO PAYS FOR EVERYTHING? AND YOU WANT MY TOY? GET OUT, MORON!”
The loud shout at the end of the speech made Donald pale as a paper, before pushing him into a scared run from the laboratory. Repeating unclear apologies, the scientist quickly left the place, leaving his boss with the new acquisition. The latter immediately calmed Mr. Wright, as the man simply couldn’t feel anything, except the euphoria from obtaining something truly special.
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“You would be the pearl of my collection. Nobody came near in terms of uniqueness to you, my dear. And believe me, an old collector, I do know what I speak about… From my childhood, when I started to collect badges the understanding that quite a lot of others had not only the same hobby but the very same collection. Even expensive pieces of art lose their true value when a random scammer can recreate an exact copy using common technology. It only pushed my search further in an attempt to find a really unique thing. But I had to widen my sight to finally see that the humans themselves are what I had in mind all the time.”
Licking his lips, Michel tilted his head to the side, carefully inspecting every part of the body in front of him. The pale skin without any hair or even a single tiny birthmark looked as tough as the skin of the wild beast, sending a new wave of shivers all over Mr. Wright’s body as another distinctive feature of his new item.
“Even through history, only people could leave such a trace that they would be remembered for centuries. But humans are not just bodies as you can’t clone their experience, their character, their soul. A tiny scar from a fall in childhood, or a disproportion in muscles because of the sport injury. An unsuccessful correction of sight, made on the old equipment by an unskilled doctor with a hangover. Or even the strike of electricity after failed repair that left a mark on the body. There is so much uniqueness in each human that is only increased by the unrepeatable life experience. That made me want them. Obviously not an average Joe, but the ones, who managed to set themselves above others, making it impossible to replicate their life even with enormous investment of resources. Therefore, I started to collect persons of high value, turning each of them into a living statue to freeze the moment of them being on the peak.”
Pressing his forehead against the stomach of the Terranoid, Michel left a trace of the drool. However, all his attention was focused elsewhere, wandering from the lying body to his inner thoughts. In a meanwhile, he never stopped talking, muttering to himself.
“You see, I don’t want just a corpse of someone. No, I want them whole, together with their soul, their mind, their life. I need everything to the last piece… So, you will live like a statue, not able to move with a replaced metal skeleton, being always fed, under the calming drug not to hurt yourself. Your muscles will be stimulated not to lose the volume, and to keep you in the current shape forever. However, from what I heard, you don’t even need it. At least your value can compensate for the loss from my failed plan.”
Backing off and grimacing from the memories, Michel found the nearest chair before sitting on it.
“Your appearance here, in my city, already attracted my attention, as the previous Terranoid didn’t make it through the procedure… Donald was too inexperienced at that time. But the dumb bravery of that woman to give you a job created a perfect situation, where I could hit two targets with one shot. To get the power by exploiting her mistake and to get you, my future pearl. It wasn’t hard to push the employees of the Arena into setting you in one shift with those, who would definitely dislike your kind after losing family members during the war. Everything to set the situation, where insane Terranoid would try to bomb innocent people just to be stopped by my own hired forces. I was quite surprised to see how strong your will to live was, killing your way through so many armed guards and mercs.”
Sighing, Michel dropped his face on his hand, covering his eyes from the surroundings.
“I still managed to find how to turn the situation into a win. That head of the guards, a real bastard, by the way, helped a lot, trying to save himself from being thrown away like useless trash. I got the power, becoming the real leader of the triumvirate. I got you… The only bad thing that happened was the death of those VIPs by your hands. Especially the grandson… Well, nothing comes without the cost… Still, how I wish I could show off with my Collection. To show others how pathetic their collections are in comparison to mine… To see their…,” The sudden sound interrupted Michel, raising his face only to meet the cold gaze of the Terranoid.
The latter was already tearing the belts apart as they were made from paper. The clumsy and slow movements of the giant clearly showed that he was still under the effects of the drugs, but not for long. The terror froze Michel on the spot, gripping his heart. It was so strong that he almost lost consciousness from the horror. Only the sudden fall of the Terranoid got him out of this state. The modified soldier missed the fact that he had no legs, trying to stand up only to fall an instant later. The loud sound finally pushed Michel’s blood into motion, spreading the adrenaline all over his body.
Michel Wright charged from the spot, knocking off quite a lot of laboratory equipment in the process. However, the wild and inhuman scream from behind only added speed to his run. The sound of something crushing under the enormous strength made him stumble, saving him from the flying chair that crashed into the wall, leaving a visible dent on the surface.
“Donald, emergency protocol!”
Luckily for Wright, his employer wasn’t far away and reacted immediately, activating the defensive system. Four turrets emerged from the ceiling, quickly catching the sight of the target. However, the latter was already sending devastating projectiles, familiar to Michel from the multiple videos. Therefore, the current leader of Fantasy City didn’t pause for a fraction of a second, literally diving into the door frame. Hitting the floor with his chin and biting his tongue, the man barely managed to squeeze himself between the moving metal plate.
“Next stage, burn him!”
Donald was fast to obey, automatically confirming the command without any thought about the potential value of the prisoner. The lost opportunities flashed in the scientist’s mind when the door closed and the whole laboratory turned into the crematorium, but they died just in a few seconds when he realized that all turrets were already destroyed and the Terranoid was trying to break through the door, despite being engulfed in flames. His melting figure was standing on four odd pillars to support his large frame, while he was silently destroying the single obstacle on his way out. Fortunately, the fire appeared to be faster.
“Try not to kill him – just knock him out… Hey, Donald! Are you even listening to me? I need him alive. Turn off the fire, but check his parameters through the sensors,” Michel ordered after taking a look at the display, where the giant figure struggled to move, finally succumbing to the pain. The sound of a soul-piercing scream was well hidden from the ears because of the thick metal door, but Wright was sure that the former soldier was in terrible pain. The grimace was too telling.
“Are you sure, boss? We survived by luck – that… thing… is just too adaptive and resilient,” Donald answered, halting his finger centimeters away from halting the work of an improvised furnace.
“Yes. Do it! Now!” Only seeing that his scientist followed the given command, Wright relaxed, “I want you to keep him alive, but motionless no matter what. If you manage to do it, you will get a bonus – ten times the ordinary number. Do you get it?... I want others to feel what I felt in that moment.”
Closing his eyes, Michel attempted to recover in his memory the terror he felt a minute earlier. Its trace was still present – the fast-beating heart, the adrenaline nervousness, the sweat on his back, the heavy breathing. Everything showed what emotions he lived through… and he wanted more. But not for himself, but for others, so they can see even more uniqueness of his new toy. Maybe for the first time in his life, Mr. Wright desired to share his collection with others. Only in this way, his hobby would make a step forward, as only the true emotions could influence the minds of others, getting to their inner selves. And where the emotions were, there was an increase in value, which would make his work of life even more historical.
“Everyone will finally see my point of view… Donald, listen to me carefully – we have a change of plans. I want to get to the next level with my collection, and you will help me with it.”