The Experiment by Christopher Costanza

How different it would be once I finally made it back. If I did at all…
    The surrounding cities could have gathered their strength and defeated The Capital by now. The home and the people I knew may no longer exist... We may return to nothing but chaos and destruction… Or the protective field could have ceased to operate by now and promoted peace…
    I had no, idea… I just wanted to think about anything else other than the sound of the drills…
    What was even harder to think about was the fact that Sara was in one of those rooms, with a drill in her hands… I knew this had to be hurting her so much more… I wasn’t the one having to actually give the injections and look at their faces as I drilled holes in their skulls…
    I wanted to save her more than anything… She didn’t deserve this… No one did…
    Eventually, one by one, the sounds started to stop and the lab became completely silent. I knew thedoor to Horus’ lab would open any moment and I’d have to go back in and see what he had done to the man on the table.
    I had to mentally prepare for what I was about to see and keep reminding myself that I’ll never be able to help them if I act now… I couldn’t let him see me have a negative reaction… I just sat there and stared at the door, getting myself ready…
    After another minute, the touchpad lit up and it opened. Horus appeared and motioned for me to come back in. I hesitantly got up and slowly approached, the whole time wishing I was just having one of those stasis nightmares he had warned me about.
    When I made it through the door, I knew that my mind couldn’t possibly make up what I saw… The nightmare was indeed real.
    I counted dozens of different tubes and wires connected to the man’s head; blood running from each one. To the left was a blood soaked rag Horus had been using to clean it away while he worked. And just as he said, I could see the man’s chest going up and down as if he’d been running for his life; it was starting to take effect.
    I could see Horus drying off his hands, looking down at the native as if he were pleased with his work… He must have just gotten done washing all the blood off of them…
    I knew I shouldn’t have asked but I had to know… I couldn’t let it go…
    “Can he feel anything?”
    Horus shot me a cold glance, hesitated for a moment and said “Unfortunately, the subject is only partially sedated and paralyzed. I can’t get the necessary data without normal brain functions and an induced coma could compromise the testing… Plus the stimulation of fear may actually speed up the process and help our cause.”
    On the inside I was screaming… In my mind I was slamming Horus’ head against the table until he was dead and then freeing that man…
    He calmly sat down, started looking at the data being acquired on his computer and said “Ok, go ahead and sit over there and just write down everything I say. If you don’t know to spell a word, do your best and I’ll know what you’re trying to make out… Don’t interrupt me unless you absolutely have to – it could break my train of thought.”
    Before he had a chance to start, I said “Why am I writing by hand? People don’t really do this anymore; it’s actually been a long time for me…”
    He laughed. “You’ll be fine… I just don’t want my notes to be accessed by anyone but us. People can be nosey and once it’s on a computer it’s no longer private… You should feel very special Atlas… You have a level of clearance only a handful of people will everget to experience… Your name will make it into the history books as the assistant of the man who changed the world… Now let’s begin.”
    My name in the history books?.. I thought to myself “That’s not working anymore Horus… You may think I’m stupid but I’ve figured out exactly who you are and how you’re manipulating me…”
    I sat there for hours writing pages of things I didn’t even remotely understand.