Sleepers Part 1

Sleepers Episode IV

Chapter 4

                A message light blinked on the screen of the computer chiming with an alert.  The tech set down her clipboard of vitals she had been tracking.  Upon reading the new memo she sighed as she glanced to the paper beside her.  She hadn’t been sure when it would happen but each of them knew every case would end as this one was soon going too.  The timeline was never the same for each sample and she had known from the start that this one was special.  She had crafted this one to be different she just hoped it wouldn’t cost her.

                Picking up her clipboard she went back to her daily tasks.  Entering the room attached to the lab she checked the temperature inside as they all did.  The light coming from behind her offered enough illumination for her to see the read out by.  Satisfied the environment was holding steady she turned around to face the space beyond.  The area was a massive warehouse sized space with large cylinder tanks throughout.  Each tank was made from a fortified glass virtually incapable of outside damage.  Every one of them sat sealed to its own mechanical base that worked much like an artificial intelligence system.  The tanks were filled with a synthetic amniotic fluid that the systems regulated to create the perfect living containment.  Every fluid filled unit in use was lit up with an artificial light that killed bacteria that would have fed on the host within.

                Ignoring the other scientists around her she moved through the room soundlessly.  Other than the hushed discussions between colleagues the only other noise in the vast room was the burbling of the fluid within the tanks.  Keeping her eyes focused she avoided the others as she moved to her own section of tanks.  There was only one still in use at the moment as the previous project had already finished.  If her last endeavor was finally being called in it could only mean the two have met at last.

                She had always been assigned the creation of pairs.  In theory it spoke volumes towards her talent that she was their “go to” for them.  Deep down though she couldn’t help being slightly jealous of her fellow peers that were enlisted to create singular master pieces.  She had wanted for nothing more than to develop a singular sample that could outshine all others.  After all there were so many genetic sequences to choose from.  The brain power of the man that couldn’t be held by any prison.  The ingenuity of the woman who bathes in the blood of noble daughters.  The list went on and on.  A little of these, a handful of those.  The combinations were vast.  Yet here she was stuck combining a limited genome to create attached pairs.  The constraints placed upon her very hands was a travesty.

                Clicking her pen open she came to a stop in front of her remaining active tank.  Paying no attention to the occupant she proceeded to fiddle with the base.  Reading levels, adjusting for the readouts, and jotting down vitals and notes.  It was business as usual for now.  She had to be ready to move at a moments notice.  There was no telling when the specimens would be coming in.  Once they awaken the clock began to tick down.  If she had to hypothesis a set time?  The tech wouldn’t be surprised if she only had hours to prepare.

                Placing the pen away she took a step back with a satisfied smile.  Lifting her eyes up along the front of the tank her gaze came to rest upon 426.  The tiny being floated in the fluid occasionally stretching a chubby little foot or twitching the round fingers.  She always figured the specimens were able to dream which is why they moved.  A cluster of thin tubing ran into the mouth providing the sustenance the inhabitant required.  The dusting of lashes cast shadows as the lids they were attached to showed signs of rapid eye movement.  The long golden curls drifted about lazily.  She had begun to equate the graceful movement to a trance like state.  Her eyes turned away from the wild mane as she glanced to the final tubing.  These were the pieces that removed the waste.  It would be too toxic to eradicate it any other way.

                Taking her pen back out the tech wrote a few more observations.  Depending on what 426 did next they may have to hide the incisions.  Hopefully, the child wouldn’t make things too difficult.  She usually hated complications.  This time though there would be many.  She both dreaded and became elated at the prospects.  After all she had done many things this time around that she had never attempted before.

                Finished with her plans she turned back to the tank.  It was a shame such a wonderful creation would have to be used for such a purpose.  There was nothing that could be done about it now, however.  It was how her employers choose to solve a problem.  Her job, as well as the others in the lab, was to think no further than the end of each project then move on to the next.  It didn’t use to bother her in the past when she had been fresh out of school.  Now though she no longer felt challenged.  That was a problem for any scientist.  It’s one of the reasons she stepped over the line this time.  This would be her last project there.  After her part with 426 was done she would slip away before they could realize what she had done.  She could guess what they could do in retaliation, but she really didn’t know for sure.  It wasn’t like any of them went against the grain on a regular basis.  There had been a few over the years.  It never ended well.  Any that had tried had disappeared.  Of course, there had been talk and even rumors.  None of which she had participated in.  In doing so she had been called an animatron, an emotionless robot.  Maybe in a way she was but that could be said of any person of science.  The reputation would allot her the barest of time frames at the very least.

                Reaching her hand out to the tank in front of her, her fingers hesitated.  She usually didn’t do such silly things.  There had been a lot of things she found herself doing that she wouldn’t before.  Maybe it was because of what she did that she felt an attachment to 426.

                “It won’t be long now.”

                She wasn’t sure why she had said that aloud.  It wasn’t as if the specimen surviving inside its glass prison could hear anything.  It had never even taken a breath of true air, never opened its eyes, nor interacted with another living soul.  Could her captive even be called alive?  As her fingers lightly danced across the cool surface her work cell pinged from her lab coat pocket.  Taking the device out her eyes ran through the words she was seeing.  Another alert had been sent to her workstation before her phone was also given notice.

                As the screen went dark something cold settled within her.  With deft fingers she brought up the tank’s operating system.  She changed its directive from sustained to terminated.  Looking back up she almost felt bad for the specimen.  It never knew what it was like to truly live and now it never would.

                Moving away she quickly headed back to the lab leaving what was left of 426 to the grunts.  They would disconnect it and bring it to her.  Things would be moving quickly now.  She needed to keep her wits about her until it was finished.