The cake is chosen! Now I just have to make it and hope for the best!
I’m moving rooms at the moment, so everything is being shuffled around the house, but work is getting done quickly. Though it was interesting going through the stuff on my sisters shelves. We found a dissection kit. We had a fun few minutes speculating why the hell she had it before we remembered she needed it for some college biology courses. Our own theories were much more interesting, as is often the case!
Hope everyone else’s week is progressing well! On with the show!
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He always hated these places. It wasn’t just the smell, it was the stares of everyone. That was so much worse. That blank empty stare. He didn’t know if they were still in there or not and he didn’t want to know. Nurses moved through the rows of people, checking them here and there, changing IV bags. They didn’t eat or drink, they didn’t do anything. Not really. They were like human sized dolls, they could be moved and shaped and walked, but that was it. They were living, breathing plastic dolls. He moved past the rows, trying to ignore the stares. God it was creepy. They should close their eyes. He finished walking through the day room and went down a corridor. This was a little better. He knew they were there in their rooms, behind the walls, all staring, but he couldn’t see them. That made it better.
One of them shuffled down the hall, probably sent by some nurse or orderly. Probably to fuck with him. He knew they had a strange senses of humour. The person, if it could even still be called that, continued on her way, ignoring him completely. He shuddered as she went by. Finally he reached the end of the hall and knocked four times in rapid succession “Come in” he opened the door and stepped inside, closing it gently behind him. The man behind the desk was old and appeared to be in his mid seventies, his skin covered in wrinkles and bumps, he wore a suit, though it was covered with crumbs. An empty lunch tray sat on the desk beside him, his hair was thinning, white and wild. “Ah, Jones. I wasn’t expecting you till tomorrow, how’s things?” “Fine, things moved a little faster than we expected, how are you getting on here?” “Can’t complain really. You know how it is. It’s easy work and we’re well compensated.” “I don’t think any amount of money would keep me working here.” “They’re not that bad, once you get used to it.” “I still don’t know how you do it.” “Tests have all been normal, no real brain activity to speak of, as far as we can tell, they are not mentally active. They can take directions but they need to be simple. For example, they can walk, but they cannot run, they will keep doing a task until you tell them to stop. No success with the coloured blocks yet. They keep going until they collapse. They’d be the perfect soldiers if they were trainable.” “How so?” “Well, if it’s unthinking it can’t second guess orders” “Yes, but there is also the problem that they will not be able to assess a situation accurately. If they are told to kill all threats, everything they perceive as a threat would be killed. If they can’t distinguish between coloured blocks how would they tell the difference between enemies and frightened people?” “Well, with a little bit of experimentation we’ll get there eventually I’m sure.” “I need something to report. Some kind of progress.” The old man sighed. “I don’t want to skew results, but we’ve had a promising new patient. Sandy, she’s twenty two and her abilities seem to be a bit better than the others. While she cannot complete the block test, she is better than the others. She can match the colours, but not the shapes. We’ll get there soon, we just need a little more time” “What about the unsuccessful people?” the doctor looked away, “We take care of them.” “You know that is not procedure.” “I am aware of that, but if we can figure out the procedure we may be able to reverse the effects on them, bring them to a higher level. We don’t want to destroy a bunch of potentials.” He shook his head. “You’re still thinking of them as people. They aren’t. They need to be disposed of. We can’t afford to look after the growing number of people.” “I’ll take care of them.” “Good. We can send some men to help dig the holes if you want” “That would be great. The workers don’t mind the death, as long as they don’t have to deal with it. They are reluctant to help dispose of them.” “We can get you a new work force if you like.” “No, that isn’t necessary, they just need to get used to it.” Jones stood, “We’ll get you your meant soon. Do you need anything else?” “No, I think we’re set.” Jones shook the mans hand and left. He hated the visits. They were so pointless, it was all stupid busy work that could be done over the phone. They just wanted to monitor the old man. It was stupid, he would do anything he was told. It might take a little push every now and then to keep things going, but he wasn’t a danger. Jones left the facility, moving quickly to avoid being in the same room as the empty shells. As he was pulling away he felt himself relax. He was done for now. He wouldn’t have to go back for another month or so, maybe he’d be able to send one of the underlings. Pass off the duty to someone else. It was an idle fantasy, one he knew wouldn’t come true, but it couldn’t hurt to dream.
The old man watched the car drive out of the facility. He hated the check ups, he was well aware of what they were doing. Still, Jones was lax in his duty, it made things easier. He had figured out how to restore them months ago, but he saw what they would do, if allowed. He couldn’t allow that into the hands of anyone. It wouldn’t be too much longer. He had been systematically destroying all the research done. Going back to the beginning. They’d be able to figure it out again, but he knew they wouldn’t try. It was already a massive money sink, billions spent on the project with no discernible progress. A fire would soon set things right. Everything would burn and they’d consider the project a complete failure, cut their losses and move on. They might consider going back to it again later, but he could stop it now, had to stop it now.
