Estimated reading time: ±4 minutes
I had already been living in the lab for three months, a few missions here and there. As I'm here, I realize a lot of small details. Darakei was doing genetic experiments, or as I heard it, genetic recombinations, to deal with diseases as he tells journalists or visiting groups for primary and secondary school kids. I wasn't allowed to face them inside the lab because I'm still under adjustment. I might scare them, "Pff, come on, I'm not a monster"... Darakei came into my room.
Darakei: So how are you? You're getting used to the left arm we put in?
He twisted my arm in every possible and imaginable direction, testing both the flexibility and strength of the materials used for this new arm.
Wamien: Yeah, the hand reacts strangely to touch, but it can be fine.
Darakei: Let's see that.
He moved and began to press very hard on certain points in his hand. I feel an electric shock that makes me grow a "shhh".
Darakei: False connection, that's good there.
I'm testing and everything's fine. He seems to be able to see through matter sometimes. He left without saying anything else. I get up and go to the window. I got a kind of promotion. I get a window in my room. "Yay, it's fabulous" a window to look at a false image of the outside, a hologram. I know it's fictional, I already tried to break it to finish a fist in the wall. The hologram got restless and let me see the wall in the background.
Later that night, I got up. It wasn't the first time I'd done that. I get out of my room disabling the alarm systems and go see some test subjects. Tom, subject number 421, he has sleep attacks and starts creating nuclear energy, so he is not allowed to sleep. He was quite small and was always overexcited after the evening stimulant doses. Sam, subject number 284, he can fly, with wings of course! On the other hand it is attached at wrist level so that it remains on the ground. Tiana, subject number 287, she is super flexible, as if her body did not feel the joint blockages. Her cell had to be adapted as such so she couldn't leave.
These are my buddies, their cells have special codifications that mean even I can't open them. Otherwise I would go far, far away with them to live in peace. No tests, no missions, no worries, but that's not possible. The security system in the other wings are so complex that getting out of there would be as impossible as being amnesic in a maze.
Sam: Hi Wamien.
Tom: Coffee is so good!
Tiana: Quiet Tom, we know you love coffee.
Wamien: Hey, guys, how you doing?
Sam: It can get better, I was transported to a big room and they let me fly in the air, it was just a magical moment.
Sam almost had tears in his eyes.
Tom: I managed to steal a flash drive for you Wamien.
I take it and look at it before I put it in my forearm.
Wamien: What's on it?
Tom: No idea, but there must be a lot of stuff.
Wamien: Well, thank you very much.
Tiana: I'm fine, still not allowed out of here, but I'm fine.
Sam: You have the right to move at least you, it's like someone nailed my body to the ground.
Tiana: Yeah, but me it's because they don't want to leave me an opening wide enough for my body to pass through, I don't even have a ventilation grid.
Wamien: It's okay, folks. You don't have to fight each other.
Sam: Sorry Wamien, with the other one yelling all the time it's normal that we lose patience quickly.
Tom: Who's yelling!? Did you see one yell at you? You have the right to sleep, you sleep peacefully on your pillow and I have my damn stimulant that keeps me awake, not even a second of sleep! Nothing!
Sam: We know it Tom, we know it.
Wamien: It's okay, Tom, we know you're tired.
Tom: Yeah yeah, you're the only one who understands me Wamien.
Tiana: Otherwise you think we'll be able to get out of here soon?
Wamien: I hope so, I found the corner where your cell codes are stored and then we can leave. However, we're gonna have to find a way to help Tom, he's the only one who doesn't control his power.
Tom: Don't be jealous, Wam.
Wamien: Tom, this is as much for your safety as it is for ours, you know?
Tom: Hm...
Tiana: Let him do Wam.
Wamien: I don't want to leave here without you, you're my friends.