Initiation
It fell to me as the new guy to turn out the lights. Whenever an experiment was terminated or needed to be shut down and relocated, it was the latest acquisition’s responsibility to stalk the halls. We were working on super soldiers. Completed successful projects were hired to police the perimeter and man the switches.
I was the latest completed successful project. I was the new guy.
‘Turning out the lights’ was a euphemism for executing the mid-state or failed projects that hadn’t yet matured. Killing my brothers. Downsizing them to the afterlife. Outsourcing them to the infinite.
This station wasn’t big. Eight trailers buried in the Arizona desert linked by air conditioned suitlocks. It had as much comfort as complete secrecy would allow. We were effectively a microcosm. A child had ridden his bike over one of our near surface power cables three hours ago. It had been exposed by a dust storm. After a brief inspection, he cycled off.
We needed to relocate in case he brought back a parent to take a closer look at it. Curiousity killed the cat but we needed to be invisible. We could kill no cats.
There were seven experiments in this facility. Two of us had ‘graduated’ to being in uniform and given a name. The other five were in their rooms hooked up to tubes and maturing. This would be their last moments. My hands were lethal weapons. The other graduated experiment who came before me patted me on the back and left through the ladder up to the dropship to join the scientists. I was left alone with my duty.
I set my jaw and walked forward. I kicked down the doors of their quarters and flooded their rooms with energy from my fingertips.
The first two were practically fetuses and died boiling in their tubes, scrabbling at the glass, mewling at me in confusion before going limp and silent.
The third was a child who I interrupted while he was doing a military reflex puzzle on a fold out card table. He jumped when I kicked the door in but smiled when he saw me. He drew breath to speak. I flexed and he cooked with that smile blackening and peeling back from his white teeth.
Number four was a Failure. He looked up at me through giant watery eyes. His bulk filled the back third of the room. He gave me a nod and closed his eyes. Not as dumb as the scientists had thought, then. His massive body popped and sizzled like a roaring winter’s spitroast. His last breath sounded like a sigh of relief.
Number five was scheduled to be named Jenny when she graduated in three weeks. So close. She almost talked me out of it. It took five minutes. In the end I took her life without using my powers. It’s what she wished after she saw that I would not be dissuaded. Her glassy eyes were still staring up at the ceiling when I left her on the floor.
I climbed the ladder crying but my tears dried in the desert sun when I got to the surface.
My initiation was completed. I got into the dropship with the rest of the ops crew. We blasted the sand and erased our presence. We vectored north to find another site.
tags
I was the latest completed successful project. I was the new guy.
‘Turning out the lights’ was a euphemism for executing the mid-state or failed projects that hadn’t yet matured. Killing my brothers. Downsizing them to the afterlife. Outsourcing them to the infinite.
This station wasn’t big. Eight trailers buried in the Arizona desert linked by air conditioned suitlocks. It had as much comfort as complete secrecy would allow. We were effectively a microcosm. A child had ridden his bike over one of our near surface power cables three hours ago. It had been exposed by a dust storm. After a brief inspection, he cycled off.
We needed to relocate in case he brought back a parent to take a closer look at it. Curiousity killed the cat but we needed to be invisible. We could kill no cats.
There were seven experiments in this facility. Two of us had ‘graduated’ to being in uniform and given a name. The other five were in their rooms hooked up to tubes and maturing. This would be their last moments. My hands were lethal weapons. The other graduated experiment who came before me patted me on the back and left through the ladder up to the dropship to join the scientists. I was left alone with my duty.
I set my jaw and walked forward. I kicked down the doors of their quarters and flooded their rooms with energy from my fingertips.
The first two were practically fetuses and died boiling in their tubes, scrabbling at the glass, mewling at me in confusion before going limp and silent.
The third was a child who I interrupted while he was doing a military reflex puzzle on a fold out card table. He jumped when I kicked the door in but smiled when he saw me. He drew breath to speak. I flexed and he cooked with that smile blackening and peeling back from his white teeth.
Number four was a Failure. He looked up at me through giant watery eyes. His bulk filled the back third of the room. He gave me a nod and closed his eyes. Not as dumb as the scientists had thought, then. His massive body popped and sizzled like a roaring winter’s spitroast. His last breath sounded like a sigh of relief.
Number five was scheduled to be named Jenny when she graduated in three weeks. So close. She almost talked me out of it. It took five minutes. In the end I took her life without using my powers. It’s what she wished after she saw that I would not be dissuaded. Her glassy eyes were still staring up at the ceiling when I left her on the floor.
I climbed the ladder crying but my tears dried in the desert sun when I got to the surface.
My initiation was completed. I got into the dropship with the rest of the ops crew. We blasted the sand and erased our presence. We vectored north to find another site.
tags