“There was a slight blood stain, but the stitches had almost completely healed,” Angelina reported when she, Fonda, and Nixon were in the elevator. “There was no pus, fluid, or swelling.”
“Hmm.” Fonda copied Angelina’s words into the file the woman was carrying. “How long does the anesthetic last until the patient regains consciousness?”
“Doctor Angelina does not administer anesthesia,” Nixon interrupted. “Doctor Fonda, you should have seen it for yourself. He was acting like a house cat.”
“Mr. Nixon! Stop insulting—”
“Training Floor.” The voice of a female robot sounded as the door opened.
Fonda reiterated in a flat tone, “No anesthesia,” as she composed the report. She closed the file and looked disinterested before walking out, followed by Angelina and Nixon.
With the building structure resembling glasses from the top view, Angelina had guessed that two hallways from left and right would greet them with a CCTV on the ceiling on each side. Her eyes caught a flurry of activity in the left hallway.
An artificial wall suddenly opened. From there came out a woman of about fifty years old. She hugged a file, escorted by a bodyguard in the same uniform as Nixon. They walked hurriedly away from the elevator where Angelina was.
“That’s where the researchers are,” Fonda explained, gesturing as she walked toward the right aisle. “Come on; we don’t have much time.” “Come on. We don’t have much time.”
Angelina followed her partner without comment. The group then walked for about ten minutes until they reached a dead end.
Fonda placed her fingerprints on a light switch-like device. The wall resembling an artificial spaceship door lifted and closed automatically when they entered the room.
Angelina caught her breath when she saw the interior of the semi-circular room they were currently in.
How cool!
It was as if she had been transported several hundred years into the future and surrounded by various advanced machines.
“Good afternoon, Doctors,” greeted a forty-year-old Caucasian woman with a foreign accent. From her lab coat and thick glasses, Angelina could already guess that the woman was one of the researchers.
The researcher stood in front of a giant tube, similar to Doctor Reiner’s, and was busy fiddling with the panels and red buttons on the machine’s board in front of her.
Six black swivel stools were scattered around the room, where a giant 32-inch screen was attached to the ceiling and displayed the conditions inside the dome, which was currently in darkness.
Fonda introduced them, saying, “Ms. Galina, this is Doctor Angelina, my replacement. Inyiak will be her responsibility.”
“As you wish, Doctor,” Ms. Galina responded, offering a brief smile to Angelina, who stood beside Fonda.
Turning her attention to the colossal tube before them, the woman in the lab coat inquired, “So, what is your request?” Ms. Galina’s hands moved to the keyboard on the computer and accessed a secret password-locked application.
Doctor Fonda selected a chair and sat down. She paused to think while crossing her legs.
“India.”
“Your wish is my command.”
India? Are we going to India or watching an Indian movie?
Angelina’s brow furrowed in confusion. However, she kept silent and decided to sit down. She glanced at Nixon and Ms. Galina’s bodyguards. They stood to the right and left of the entrance.
“Pushpawati River, India.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Angelina’s attention snapped to the front when she heard the machine’s operator reply.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she observed the change of scenery inside the dome. The appearance of two green mountains flanked, while the white marble floor now seemed to be covered by grass as well as a collection of flowers that dominated by maroon. She observed several trees clustered closely together near the river.
How beautiful! Is this a three-dimensional movie?
However, before Angelina could receive the answer, the splashing of water from the stream and the birds chirping around them caught her attention.
Angelina had a dumbfounded expression on her face. She observed the giant tube before her while holding her breath.
“Inyiak is coming.”
Mrs. Galina’s words made Angelina turn her head. The Caucasian woman pressed one of the red buttons before a transparent capsule in the center of the dome rose slowly.
Angelina focused on the giant dome. Her eyes widened when she found Ramaik inside.
The creature she had just examined stepped out when the automatic door opened. An iron chain bound both hands and glowed red.
Ramaik was unaware of the five people watching outside the dome. He stood still while looking around warily.
Similar to the behavior of a tiger, Angelina thought when Ramaik had not moved. The man tilted his head as if trying to catch a faint sound.
“…and, here he goes.”
Ramaik turned his head to scrutinize the weeds closely before a hiss suddenly entered their hearing.
A snake?
Angelina got her answer. From among the long grass emerged the figure of a tanned man. Shoulder-length black hair was adorned with a golden crown with sparkly gems, while the upper part of his body was naked. He also wore a collar while both hands were chained.
Is he another human experiment? Is he also a tiger man?
Angelina watched with curiosity. However, her gaze turned to horror as the creature grew taller and taller before displaying black snake-like scales on his lower body.
“Naga Basuki, from India,” Mrs. Galina said as she glanced at Angelina and grinned with satisfaction.
Ramaik looked up. The Inyiak returned the gaze of the snake man, who was almost two meters taller than him.
“Three, two, one, remove the chain.”
Mrs. Galina exaggeratedly pressed the button. The red button on the handcuffs flashed before becoming green. Then, the handcuffs that bound the fighters’ arms unlocked and fell to the ground.
Naga Basuki smirked at Ramaik. He opened his mouth before spitting fire.
*****
Angelina let out a terrified scream as the flames nearly consumed her patient. Ramaik rolled over and transformed, seconds away from the instantly scorched grass area. The tiger man jumped to the nearest tree and climbed up to hide.
“Good, he is learning from his last mistake,” Mrs. Galina looks cheerful.
Naga Basuki looked up at the tree whose leaves were swaying gently. The snake man ignored the small blaze in the grass. He moved to catch up with his opponent.
Slithering, did these lunatics cut off his legs and merge them with a cobra’s body? Angelina got goosebumps. She felt nauseous. Or…, maybe he was also a shapeshifter like Ramaik?
Angelina’s face contorted in horror as she watched the legless creature begin to circle the trunk and bounce up like a spring. However, Ramaik jumped out of the blue. He took the opportunity to claw at Naga Basuki’s body while that snake man still wrapped around the trunk.
A hiss-like scream of pain escaped Naga Basuki. The snake man twisted his body and opened his mouth to burn Ramaik beneath him, yet his effort was in vain.
The smell of burned grass entered Angelina’s nostrils, which was strange since a glass dome separated them. Her breath turned quick and shallow. Her hand grasped the chair without intention.
However, Inyiak once again managed to evade. He moved around the tree while slashing at his opponent’s body.
Angelina’s heart raced as Naga Basuki’s body began to tear and soaked in his blood. She screamed in horror as the serpent-like man hung weak and upside down.
“It’s enough,” Fonda said to Mrs. Galina. “We will continue tomorrow.”
“As you wish, Doctor.”
The foreign woman lowered the lever, and the entire scene, including the dying snake-human, disappeared instantly. The commotion came to a halt. She stood, gazing at the glass wall, breathing heavily.
Angelina’s scream subsided when Nixon’s laughter echoed from behind. “Oh my, Doctor! You acted like a coward!”
Now, the pale color on Angelina’s face turned red with embarrassment. She turned and tried to clarify her actions. “How was I supposed to know that was just a hologram?! Someone should have told me!”
Fonda’s contemptuous snort was audible. Angelina reflexively turned and saw her senior writing on Ramaik’s file while muttering softly. “In previous training, Inyiak was incinerated. Today, there wasn’t even a burn.”
Angelina didn’t understand the term “incinerated.” However, she had just been ridiculed and wasn’t interested in being the subject of further mockery. Therefore, she chose to observe the training arena again.
The glass wall seemed impenetrable from the inside, as Ramaik’s gaze didn’t stop at any of the spectators. He slowly transformed back into a human and entered the capsule when a female robot’s voice sounded. “Training is complete, please return.”
Fonda closed the file and handed it to Angelina, who frowned her eyebrows. However, the senior doctor only gave her a cold stare and said, “It will be the Doctor’s responsibility to oversee his training starting tomorrow.”