After a few more initial tests with the homoparvulus had been completed, Peregrine had to take his leave. Aelfred then called up some trusted assistants to handle cleaning and also ensuring the imp was properly attended to.
After he was certain that everything was to standard, he sent the assistants away and walked over to the central elevator room. There were eight elevators for public use arranged in a rectangle with four pairs of each facing one another. At the rear of the room was the much larger transport elevator, designated for moving specimens and equipment. At the head of the room was the private staff elevator which required clearance to access.
Aelfred entered the staff elevator alone, using his personal identification to unlock the door. He stood inside the unmoving elevator for several minutes, long after the door had closed, as if reluctant to even move.
After a while, he pinched his glabella and controlled his breathing to calm down. Steeling his resolve, he turned to look at the complex series of different buttons for floor selection.
What was most interesting was that rather than just a single number to represent each of the nine floors, there were also additional letters per floor. For example, ‘7a’, ‘7b’, and so on.
This was due to the ability of the elevators to not only ascend and descend vertically, but to move horizontally as well. It relied on the same system as the mechanical observatory arm in Aelfred’s lab, using the power of resonant materials to achieve an otherwise difficult task.
The elevators allowed swift travel not only between different floors, but to different areas within the same floor as well. From this, one could tell how large the SCBRD really was.
Aelfred began pressing different floor numbers in a predetermined sequence, stopping only once every single floor and subfloor had been selected. He then procured a handkerchief from within his robes, wiping the sweat that had collected on his face.
He lowered his head to face a pin-hole sized transparent disc of glass slightly above the floor buttons, ensuring his right eye was level with the disc. He held it there for a few breaths, allowing his iris to be fully scanned.
At once, the green rings around every single floor button vanished and the sound of an affirmative chime played, but the inertia one normally felt while within a moving elevator was absent. The constant hubbub of activity in the background also vanished - it took a conscious effort on Aelfred’s part to notice this change.
The pin-hole sized disc projected the number 10 in bright red light.
It was as if time had stopped.
He felt a chill go down his spine. Looking down at the back of his hands, he saw that every hair had raised in trepidation.
The door slid open and the number 10 flickered away.
What he saw was something almost indescribable to the human eye. Colours that did not exist and objects that could not be measured seemed to make up what was both an invisible yet wholly tangible dome. The centre was an open expanse that appeared to be infinite in size, but the illusory walls begged to differ.
Aelfred’s primal instincts urged him to shrink back into the furthest corner of the elevator, to curl into a ball and cry for help, but he controlled himself.
It was not his first visit to the tenth floor and it most certainly would not be his last. Although it did not feel possible for anybody to truly withstand the sense of intrinsic inferiority under the influence of this place’s oppressive aura, with practice, it was possible to resist temporarily.
But despite Aelfred’s familiarity and repeated visits, he still had difficulty breathing, let alone standing.
Amongst the swathe of unintelligibleness were four pulsating auras that could only be described as formless orbs of light. Their borders were both visible yet invisible, relaxing and contracting like the constant rising and receding tide on a beach. Surrounding each orb were vortexes of intangible winds which gave off the impression of blades in a blender, but infinitely sharper and faster.
Even looking in their general direction created the impression of having one’s body lacerated. One could only imagine the consequence of intruding unprotected.
Aelfred set his sights on the closest orb of unknown colour. Metaphorically, of course, since looking too much would only harm the viewer. Besides, with how incomprehensible the place was, nothing of value could be gained by doing so.
He reached into his robes once more, retrieving and wrapping a length of black cloth over his eyes.
‘Focus. It’s just the same old,’ he encouraged himself.
He began walking forward, towards the orb. The moment he stepped foot out of the door, the sense of oppression tripled in magnitude, and he almost faltered mid-step. At the same time, the octagonal black talisman around his neck began floating as it emitted a strange glow.
As Aelfred limped forwards, his body was shrouded with the protective glow of the black talisman, warding off the invisible vortex winds and ensuring he remained largely unscathed. The closer to the orb he approached, the stronger the vortex, while the talisman emitted even more protective power to keep pace.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Resisting the aura of the formless orb was tiresome, especially so for Aelfred’s aged body, and sweat quickly began to soak his robes. As some of that sweat dripped down towards the floor, it was pulverised by the vortex at a molecular level until nothing remained.
Finally, he stopped an indeterminable distance away from the orb. While he couldn’t see due to the blindfold, he could still sense his relative positioning due to the uniqueness of the place.
Suddenly, the entire area turned still and the oppressive aura vanished. Despite this, not only did Aelfred’s heartbeat not slow back down, but it seemed to stop for a moment instead. He could feel something watching him, but this gaze was different from that of any normal creature.
The ravenous gaze of a slinkshade or cinderclaw was directional and filled with ill intent. In the scenario where one came into a direct stand-off with one, there would be no confusion over its goal. Its goal would be to kill and eat its prey. Simple.
The gaze of the new presence was different in both ways. Not only did it not come from just one direction, but all directions at every angle at the same time, its intention was also masked. It created the feeling of being powerless - Aelfred felt like his every thought was being read and his every movement was being predicted.
It was similar to how a person viewed an ant crawling on the floor, only, in this situation he was the ant. His vast knowledge, his wits and intelligence and his personality were reduced to nothing in front of the observer.
If no matter what he did, he could not pose a threat to the observer, then wouldn’t he precisely embody the ant?
If no matter what schemes and plans he came up with, he could not change his fate, then wouldn’t the sum of his cognitive powers be no greater than zero?
The difference between himself and the observer was so insurmountable that no matter how much he physically or mentally strengthened himself, even if he pushed himself to the very limit that the human form could endure, the other party could still stomp him into oblivion at a moment’s notice.
Then what made him so different from an ant?
In the eyes of the beholder… not much.
A presence seemed to enter his mind, and he could feel something formless blanketing his body from the direction of the orb.
This was the observer’s method of communication and its general meaning was, “You’ve returned.”
Aelfred’s head automatically tilted upwards, as if facing the ephemeral speaker, “I have. The task you assigned to me has been completed.”
Though he could not see or hear the observer, he felt as if the other party was smiling.
“Good,” it said, “and there were no complications with its creation? No physical or cognitive defects?”
Aelfred shook his head in a strained manner, “None so far, but I have only run some preliminary tests.”
The observer gave off a sort of mixed feeling of understanding but also disappointment.
“It’s fine, you have already come far - a small delay is of little harm. You already know that for beings like me, even a thousand years is worth awaiting the fruition of a grand design. In fact, a mere one thousand years can be counted among the shorter of times,” it consoled.
Aelfred nodded, but said nothing more. While the pressure currently on him was lighter than before, it was not the same type of pressure. It was similar to the difference between approaching one’s superior with bad news versus directly speaking with them and finding out that they were actually very reasonable. But they were ultimately still the superior.
“Your task then, is the same as before. Once you have verified that you can create flawless intelligent life using the seed as a baseline, you may begin the process of designing and creating a suitable vessel.”
The voice paused momentarily, as did the formless waves of energy blanketing Aelfred’s body.
“From now until just before the vessel is ready to be birthed, only visit me if there are any matters of urgency. Otherwise, handle it yourself. I look forward to your good results.”
———
The future. Aelfred’s private laboratory on the ninth floor.
“Alpha-1, stand guard by the door. Don’t allow anybody to disturb me.”
“Yes Lord,” Alpha-1 replied meekly, placing the notebook in its three-fingered hands down.
Aelfred watched as the short yet lanky figure swung its legs and hopped off the chair. Alpha-1 trotted out of the laboratory door, shutting it behind it with its tail.
Once the imp had left, Aelfred walked into the furthest reaches of his laboratory, passing through several different safety measure locked doors to reach the ‘inner sanctum’. While the automated security was high, it was nowhere near as difficult as entering the tenth floor and leaving alive. But it served its purpose nonetheless.
In this room were four large cylindrical tanks. Each one was filled with a clear liquid, while the contents were obscured with frothing white bubbles. Looking closely, however, one could make out faint humanoid silhouettes within.
The four silhouettes were merely infants at the moment, suspended by the natural buoyancy of the buffer liquid, but Aelfred only intended to keep them there until they passed the age of 3. He did not wish to have to take care of literal babies and while he wanted to leave them to stew for even longer than 3 years, it would be detrimental to their overall health and development.
Aelfred made his daily rounds, refreshing the nutrient tanks which fed the babies, while also empty the waste containers. He always made sure to clean and process the source foods used to produce nutrients, but also ensured that they were not too clean either.
While normal babies underwent a crucial period of immune development through exchange with their mothers, this was the best that Aelfred could do to minimise the chance that they were birthed with immune-related complications.
Once he was finished, he revised the names he would give them. After a long and brain-aching session, he happily settled on ‘Beta-1, 2, 3 and 4’. He then walked over to observe Beta-3, eyeing the hairless, smooth-skinned test-tube baby.
“You will be the unfortunate one,” he muttered under his breath.
As he spoke, he produced a container which held a strange, transparent liquid. Whenever he looked at the liquid, it appeared similar to the night sky, with a sea of stars floating languidly within. What was most eye-catching was how the liquid appeared to only roughly conform to the walls of the container.
When he moved the container, it always took a few moments for the sea of stars to move as well. It was as if it had forgotten it was merely a substance that had to abide by the laws of physics.
After a few moments of looking at the sea of stars, Aelfred measured out a tenth of the liquid and mixed it into the nutrient tank connected to Beta-3. Making sure it was properly mixed in, he sealed the apparatus and started the pump.
The infant’s body didn’t show any immediate signs of change, but Aelfred knew that its fate had already warped dramatically. What exactly it was that would happen in the future, however, he was uncertain of.