Meeting Dr. Abimori Gupta that was responsible for regenerating the gene asexual splicing amongst humans was supposed to be a cake-walk. She was located in the Research Centre of Bayview Valley Hospital waiting on our arranged but discreet meeting. My contact had told me the only way into the high secured hospital was as a patient. I woke up in an isolated room facing a Nabil Kanso Faust painting. The Encounter with Margeret. The drugs dripping into my IV was just that. An encounter with the abyss. Sinking deeper into the depths of depravity and the unknown. ‘Focus.’ I thought. The doctor walks in with her shoulder length afro bouncing with the clacking of her 6 inch heels.
“You had quite a long nap, there.” She said with a warm grin.
“Who are you?” I stared at her in the pause before she answered.
“I’m the head of our Correctional Clinic of Mithridatic Research, Dr. Peabody. You seem to be poisoned with large doses of urushiol. I’m here to asses you myself.”
She approached my IV bag, glanced at the chart and watched her pen move back and forth below her bosom; scratching notes on her clipboard. She then lifted her chocolate maroon eyes and hooked the pen in the apex of her unbuttoned shirt without breaking eye contact. Sweat dripped from my forehead down my temples and attempted to form words only to be stunted by the weight of my upper lip. I could barely speak.
Dr. Peabody removed a handkerchief from her pocket which smelled of ethanol and sat at the side of my bed tracing the sweat from my crown to behind my neck. Absorbed by the disequilibrium from the pools of her irises to the intoxication of her perfume, I managed to grab her wrist and utter, “What are you doing to me…”
A grimace smile crept along her face. She whispered in my ear while grabbing my neck, “S369, you are in my domain. You think I wouldn’t find out about you breaking your little girlfriend out of here? She’s on an indefinite contract, my dear. You can consider Abi dead.”
I struck her head first and knocked her to the floor attempting to pull out my catheter. She got back up and we struggled back and forth on the bed. She was attempting to pin me down and knocked over the IV fluid and finding out the fluid was corrosive, slowly burning a hole into the ground. I kicked her in the chest and pulled out the catheter; bolting out of the room pushing every obstacle in her way. She yelled at security, “Get her!”
I took left and hid in an office closet. Hasty running past the office and yelling continued, “Make sure she or Abi doesn’t leave this facility alive!” I grabbed the nurse’s uniform, hairnet and a mask, ‘I have to find Dr. Gupta.’ I searched the halls and all the offices including her office. No sign of her. An automated voice cut on the PA system, “Code Orange. Be on high alert for subject S369. They are highly dangerous and life-threatening. Do not approach. Report to your nearest Board Member, Security Personnel or Medical Official on the whereabouts of this subject. Thank you.”
Two security guards approached the other end of the hall and began to walk in my direction. I grabbed a clipboard from off the wall and pretended to glance through it. They ran right pass and watched them leave from my peripheral.
As I proceeded to head down to the basement, I got pulled into a dark maintenance closet at the foot of the stairs. Hot breath emitted from behind my neck. I turned around to come face to face with them. Our bodies conjugated in the confinement of uncongenial silence, fear and anonymity. We hear footsteps patter down the steps. I hold their mouth shut. The person’s footsteps come to a stop followed by the door opening to pattering fading in the distance. We leave the closet relieved and gasping for air. “That was a close one.”, She said as I turned to face who had appeared to be Dr. Gupta. “I’m Abi. You don’t seem to be — “
“I know. We can’t waste anymore time. Come with me.”
Dr. Gupta peered at me in confusion, “I’m Dr. Abi Gupta. You don’t seem to be — “
“I know. We can’t waste anymore time. Come with me.”
Abi paused and hung her head, “I thought you were dead.”
Dr. Gupta grabbed my hand before I could leave out the door. Her eyes widened and glossed over, “I never thought I would see you again since the project”.
I stared back at her with confusion, “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t remember?” Her eyes started to well up. “They tried to wipe your memories, didn’t they. I just want to say forg — “
The VLF wipes their soldiers memories at the end of concluded missions to prevent officers from living with extreme PTSD. There were some soldiers as a result whom lost all memories of loved ones in the process.
I pulled the surgical mask from my face and pressed my lips against hers. A rush of ecstasy and adrenaline washes over us. Her eyes raise and her lips open to form “ — give…” I trace my fingers around her lips and peered into her eyes. I let my hands fall down her bosom and lightly grab the base of her jeans. Pausing to breathe into her mouth, tasting her lower lip.
“Forgiveness is for the unworthy.”
“So am I unworthy?” her lips part an inch from mine.
“I’m going to have to show you sometime again.” I said with a grin. Abi smiled with relief and we headed out the Janitor’s closet.
She huffed, “That’s not funny. I thought they wiped you.”
~~~
In the Republic of Koyna, I was transferred from Nairab’s Astroid Station researching mithridatism in sea jellies and then later humans. The research lead them to splice the their genes in hopes of creating a superhuman immune to viruses, poisons and nuclear compounds. That’s when I met Abi back in 2088 during a PEMF field assessment. I fell madly for her. She was the first person I met outside the pod aside from my other assigned doctors and my superiors. Our contracts to the government prohibits spliced organisms to copulate with humans. Abi and myself did become partners four years later but only on in the Republic of Ceres. They told us that it was a ‘conflict of interest’.
I became a science experiment after the bombs fell in 3001 and on the brink of death from a recon mission in Naj that went badly. After managing to escape with an itch of my life. I flown out to our aerial base in near Kaya Forest and was rushed to the hospital. My pieces of my skin was decayed and dematerialized before their eyes. I was immediately put in the tank for an experiment they were conducting on sea jellies and asked if I wanted to join the case study. At that point in my life, I joined the military to support my sisters and serve my country before meeting Abi. I still believe this research was a part of that serving my country. I agreed and signed on the dotted line to be a part of my country’s solution. I don’t know how long I was put under but I remember opening my eyes from time to time in the pod immobile, weightless and watching the world past me by.
Scientists, came and went like years into the distant past. Then I was let out for rehab and saw her. She would come to the lab to visit me often and at night we would sneak out of the facility to get sometime to ourselves. Those moments in my life tasted bittersweet. I wasn’t able to live a normal life. I was stuck training like a guinea pig for the government and I was turned into a weapon. I later broke out of the Institute and joined the VLF (Veterans Liberation Front) that frees veterans from government funded science experiments as it was on the rise after the War. This mission is different because I have to extract Abi from the institute that held me captive and Abi has been secretly working with the VLF for years. So yes, I still have memories. I remember the goal we have together.
~~~
We heard footsteps coming down the staircase so Abi lead me down a dark hall that had seemed to be closed off. Veils over equipment loomed with a heartbeat of glowing chromatic colours of vessels. After winding down a labyrinth of corridors, we came across an old lab room. When we headed inside it smelled like metal and wet rusting iron. There were three tall vessels of with a black sheets over them.
Abi approached a worktable and plugged in a lamp and began to search the drawers, “We’re going to need supplies”.
I looked at her, “YOU need supplies. Did you forget at that too?”
She turned to me with a blank look on her face and pursed lips, “Bae, go grab a bag.” I roll my eyes as I started to pack, “Please.”
I was distracted by the glowing purple vessel in front of me. Calling to me from under the black sheet. I asked Abi, “Hey, what is this” as I continue to pull on the sheet. She grabbed my hand and said “I don’t think you want to know, Amani.”
I stared at her with disbelief and pushed her behind me as I pulled the veil. A person stood there floating unconsciously in glowing purple solution. I started to pull the two others and the same. Clones. They were me. I looked over to the white board and there were formulas with a dark streak smeared on it revealed by the low dimmed lamp. I attempted to switch on the lab light on. The florescent lights flickered revealing rotting dead bodies and coagulated blood stretched across the room, including the whiteboard that read “Operation Talawah”.
“What the hell is ‘Operation Talawah’, Abi?”
She stared at the tank. “A little after I helped you broke out, they made me clone your DNA after to make more soldiers.”
“Why…” I said throwing the bag to the floor.
“They have Qwasi, Amani.”
