Chapter 139 - The Reason for Science

Ceres hobbled over to the nearest empty dark unlit room before closing the automatic door behind him. With a strong punch, he broke the electronic control of the door, causing him to cough out blood again as he exerted strength.

“Shit, that fight really got me…” Ceres slumped against the door, breathing heavily while his ribs strained against the bleeding wounds that marked his body. It was a cinch to avoid the patients that were beginning to spread out, as more and more restrained patients were released all over the underground lab.

However, he could only regenerate faster if he had more energy. This would require him to come into close contact with the raging patients, but he was in no position to fight them. Ceres estimated he was only at ten percent of his combat capability now. He tried to stand up, and could only barely maintain his posture.

The sounds of crashing and fighting could be heard all over the lab. Ceres knew he could not risk opening the door again, but realized he hadn’t checked the room he was in.

Switching on the light, he noticed it was an operating room, with a dead patient lying face flat on the floor in front of him, his waist cut in half as the tendrils of his organs was splayed out on the floor.

Three medics and two guards were also found dead, their bodies were strewn over other parts of the room, killed by unknown causes. The dried blood stains that marked the walls and floors showed that the scene had occurred more than a few days ago.

Ceres walked unsteadily over to the bodies. His time in Rockhold had already made him desensitized to such bodies, and he began to do a light inspection. The bodies were already showing signs of decomposition along with bloating.

Ceres was not so proficient at multi-tasking to be able to keep track of hundreds of targets at the same time, so he did not know what happened in this room. “Let’s find some food or medicine first, should be some around such a room.”

While his wounds had already closed up, he still knew he had plenty of internal damage. The black goo was a miraculous healing agent, but everything require energy to operate. Luckily for him, he managed to scavenge a few nutri-paste bars from the two guards’ pockets, quickly devouring them.

Gulping down a litre of water found in a nearby cabinet, Ceres rested for a good five minutes. He noted that the aggressor had to be ridiculously strong to kill the patient, three medics and two guards in such a fashion.

The two guards were also armed with strong combat armour, making the strength of the aggressor even more unbelievable.

Ceres remained slightly tense, continuously checking the room with his H.T. mode to spot anything living. If it was another Keeper drone, he would be in deep trouble right now.

“There must be something more to this than just the worms plague… Perhaps a combination?” Ceres knew he had already lost the target, but he was in no shape to confront it anyway. Even if he caught up, he knew he still had to deal with the Keeper and the sniper drone.

He instead decided to check what happened in this lab, checking a nearby computer terminal. It was a basic filesystem, but it was locked by access. Rummaging through the clothes of the dead medics to find anything useful, Ceres eventually found a key card but realized the key card had to be used in conjunction with an eye scan for authentication.

Ceres sighed, grabbing the dead medic’s body and dragging it over to the terminal. The body was already heavily mutilated, with its neck already half cut. The medic’s head suddenly broke free of his body, the neck already ripped through cleanly. “Well, that makes it easier.”

Ceres lifted the head, which was already slightly cold to the touch to the eye scan. “Authentication confirmed: Head Nurse Yul. You have not checked in for more than a day. Please talk to Doctor Theria for rectification.”

“Doctor Theria…” Ceres memorized the name, of who should be the superior of this ‘Head Nurse’. Also, the time of death seemed to be more than a day ago, so there was no chance Ceres would have been in range to observe what happened in this room.

The basic filesystem was now available to him, but the folders in the directories were all completely empty.

“Fuck, the system has already been purged!” Ceres cursed. He did not know why he expected to find anything, especially considering that the target had even gone the extra distance to deploy fake research labs and fake data too.

Nothing else was left behind inside the terminal, so Ceres gave up on it, instead checking around the room in the hopes of something useful. “Maybe if I check all the medical equipment I can at least work backwards what they were trying to do…”

Instead, he discovered something – a tiny camera that was connected to the same power supply of the terminal but concealed extremely well. His sharp senses had allowed him to spot it.

He was reminded of the same spy camera that had been placed into the exosuit’s attackers. It had allowed him to find the research lab in the first place.

“There’s really a traitor within, and it’s someone very involved in whatever organization is behind this.” Ceres thought to himself.

Anyone who could put the same spy camera in an exosuit, as well as a secret operating room, must have extremely high access.

“Or he’s really good at infiltration.” Ceres quickly plucked out the spy camera, accessing its memory chip using his own multi-terminal. The spy camera did not manage to record much, but the audio was as clear as day, allowing Ceres to hear everything that had occurred here.

***

“Log surgery session #8129, the patient is currently under active neural suppression. Beginning injection of prototype worm combined with X-12 stimulant. It has been theorized that the combination of the artificial worm known as “A-689” is compatible with the stimulant developed by Professor Dekil.” Doctor Theria read to the terminal while a medic retrieved a syringe filled with the slightly translucent stimulant.

“As a personal bias, I do not believe the worm would be able to co-exist with the stimulant. The X-12 has a known effect of reducing emotions and elevating rationality, so it goes without saying that it is counter-productive to the rage-inducing effect of the A-689. I understand that the objective is to somehow create a cold-calculating killer that can burst with power on his own terms, but this is pure science fiction at this point…”

Doctor Theria sighed but continued with the experiment anyway. He nodded at the medic, who began to insert the X-12 stimulant into the patient’s body, while at the same time, Doctor Theria activated a mechanical device that was strapped to the patient’s wrist, releasing the worm out into the patient’s body.

The patient was sleeping, but signs of agitation started to appear on his face. His arms began to twitch, but Doctor Theria paid the patient no mind, only observing the x-ray view of the body as he watched the worm enter the bloodstream.

Doctor Theria himself was a Brood Host, and his body had already been modified to ‘feel’ the worm, but he needed to record it for proof to his sponsors. He previously had been a faltering professor at the University of Strathon, despised by others for his work and passion for such creatures.

Many of his research projects had been refused due to restrictions on human testing as well as ‘morality issues’. Doctor Theria scoffed to himself. “Fools, many improvements in medicine and biology were all the result of human testing! How can we hope to push the boundaries without taking some risks?”

Even as the patient roared on the table, trying to break free of his restraints as the medic desperately held him down, Doctor Theria recalled a few professors who accused him of being similar to the war criminals of ancient times.

“Nonsense. Those idiots simply tortured humans out of their own egos and need for control. For me, I truly pursue science to its end – morality and human rights are not real things!” Doctor Theria justified himself.

In his view, if the entirety of humanity was wiped off the face of the galaxy, morals and human rights would cease to exist. Why would he waste time pandering to non-existent things not grounded in the laws of the world?

Hence imagine his surprise to hear about an invitation from the University of Athen, in which almost all his projects would be approved. Naturally, he had to tailor it such that the benefit would eventually benefit the sponsors.

He had finally found acceptance within the Loeric Empire, working together in a place that adhered to the same mentality as him. With fervent joy he moved his entire life over, securing a permanent position in Athen.

He was not the only professor who experienced such a moment – many others were also successfully brought over thanks to the lax rules of the University of Athen. There were still hard limits in place, but the professors found the university to be a lot more forward-thinking and accepting.

Naturally, with so many foreign professors together, there was bound to be conflict. But everyone agreed wholeheartedly that at least they could discuss their opinions openly without being shamed into silence.

Like this, Athen became a rising star in the research industry, boasting a growing reputation and attracting many who would have otherwise gone to the three major Universities on Strathon.

Doctor Theria did feel that some of his colleagues’ experiments were much more brazen than his, and yet the Dynasties had not intervened to put a stop or to regulate them. He did not care, however, as it was far beyond his job scope. He also did not want the Dynasties to intervene.

“Sir, the patient is too strong!” The medic’s shout brought Doctor Theria back to reality. He quickly called for more medics and guards to come into the room, but the patient suddenly stopped thrashing about and remained absolutely calm.

Shocked at the sudden fluctuation in the patient’s behaviour, Doctor Theria began investigating the condition of the patient while the guards immediately put restraints on the patient to prevent any further resistance.

This artificial worm was a creation of his own, using genetic modification on a native worm of Athen. It had been a stroke of luck for him to discover such a use for an abundant species. The worm practically lived almost everywhere in Athen, so it was extremely easy to cultivate and grow.

With his skills as a Brood Host, he easily modified it to induce anger and mania in its hosts, but the outcome was still a work in progress. The calmness that the patient portrayed now began to renew hope in him.

Doctor Theria wasn’t one to find joy in the suffering of others. He saw the feral nature induced by the worms to be a terrible side effect. His motive as a Brood Host was naturally to control the effect properly, effectively subduing the plague.

However, he wouldn’t say no to his sponsor who wanted to weaponize the worms. To him, weaponising and subduing were all the same things.

Achieving the suppression of the worm’s effect was still a win in his books. If it required a combat stimulant to work, then he would happily accept it without any further questions.

“Vitals all okay, the body seemed to have accepted both foreign substances in a sort of balance. Quick, take a snapshot of this right now.” Doctor Theria ordered the medics to quickly gather all the data, measuring every nook and cranny of the patient.

“How do you feel? Are you alright? Can you talk?” Doctor Theria asked the patient, but the patient did not respond other than nodding and shaking his head. “Potential loss of speech… no sign of loss of cognition, brainwaves normal…” Doctor Theria didn’t mind the patient not being able to speak. The objective of the project wasn’t to create a talkative human after all, but a weapon.

As time passed, Doctor Theria became even more convinced that the body had managed to integrate both the worm and the X-12 stimulant. “But I can’t prove his strength…” He pondered.

“Keep him under restraint, I have to go get something from my lab that can perform a combat test. Watch him very carefully and do not allow the restraints to be loose.” Doctor Theria reminded them and left the room, leaving the three medics and the two guards behind, watching the patient.

Naturally, the five of them were fully aware of what was occurring in the lab, but the pay was much higher than any legal job they could get on their own. Most people in Rockhold did not give a shit about what they did as long as they had enough to drink themselves drunk every night.

Still, they were a bit unnerved by the unnatural behaviour of the patient.

“Shit, is he really alright? I don’t think mixing a Brood Host’s worm and a combat stimulant is smart…” One of the guards said. He was very clear on how strong the infected patients could be, and from his point of view, the idea of weaponizing them seems very far-fetched.

“Just shut up and keep your eyes peeled. I don’t want to have to get my hands dirty if possible – my wife always complains about the smell.”

“Exactly!” One of the medics nodded his head in agreement. “My girlfriend always complains about the same thing too! I feel like we’re living in different worlds or something, shouldn’t everyone in Rockhold be already used to this type of smell?”

“Nah man, you just have to wash your hands! We got buckets of medical alcohol that can easily get the stench off. You’re just too lazy to spend five minutes more cleaning up.” The other medic shook his head.

They continued chattering, not noticing that the electronic restraints on the patient were suddenly disabled without a sound for some unknown reason. The guards did not notice anything wrong, still joking with the medics when the patient suddenly broke free of the loose restraints and grabbed the head of the nearest medic, immediately snapping it off.

“HOLY-“ The guard yelled as he tried to pull out his pistol, but the patient was too fast, slapping the pistol out of his hands before punching the guard’s face, shattering his nose. The guard collapsed to the floor while his partner fired off two shots, hitting the patient directly on the shoulder and legs.

“Mike, you alright?” The partner yelled, before firing a third shot into the patient’s other leg. The patient barely reacted apart from staggering backwards while the remaining two medics went to check on the fallen guard.

Without a warning, the patient had already grabbed the fallen guard’s pistol that was on the ground next to him and shot the remaining guard right in the head in the room with extreme precision.

With the guards dead, the medics immediately went into panic mode.

One of the medics screamed and tried to exit the door, but the automatic door was not responding to his key card. “HELP! HELP!” The medic screamed before the patient grabbed him by the shoulder and flung him back across the room into the remaining cowering medic, smacking both of them down onto the floor.

As the patient began to horrifyingly mutilate them, his face did not show an ounce of emotion. The terminals that still displayed the patient’s vital signs showed that his heartbeat and breathing rate were all stable, as though he was in complete calmness.

The door slid open to reveal a Keeper exosuit with the number ‘23’ plastered on its chest. The patient stared at the exosuit without emotions, breathing slowly and standing up, a bloodied scalpel in his hand. In a split second, the patient lunged at the Keeper, only to have an energy beam shoot out from the exosuit’s rifle and burned his waist off in half with a sizzle, killing the patient immediately.

Kitana didn’t flinch from the gruesome sight, instead calling Doctor Theria over, who immediately rushed over in a panic. “Wait, what happened here? Did I not tell them to watch the restraints?! Those idiots!” Doctor Theria complained.

“Explain what exactly you were trying to do here.” Kitana confronted the doctor about what was happening.

“I was attempting to use a stimulant known as X-12 that is known to repress emotions.” Doctor Theria began explaining his entire experiment again. Kitana nodded, knowing what the X-12 stimulant was. It was a recent innovation on Athen, and many soldiers including Bee Strathon’s private security forces were already using it.

Kitana still harboured some suspicion, so she quickly checked the video logs and found that Doctor Theria was telling the truth. She confirmed that the doctor had warned the guards to watch the patient carefully, and it was due to their own negligence that resulted in this mess.

“Thanks for handling it, Kitana. If you need more data from the experiment, let me know.”

“No need, I’m just a bodyguard now.” Kitana was satisfied with the explanation, leaving the room and the doctor alone.

As the automatic door closed, the doctor leisurely walked amongst the bodies to the computer terminal. “Very good, I now have a preliminary dataset on the combat strength of such a combination. However, I will need more test subjects to verify this is not a single use case…”

What Doctor Theria left out of the explanation was that he was the one who released the restraints in the first place.

He also compromised the automatic door himself, but Kitana would never be able to find that out. After all, he was the ultimate owner of the lab.

“It’s too bad I have to leave so soon, but at least I have results to show. I’ll just have to continue elsewhere.”