Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 46: Experiments

"Everything is in order, President Boucher."

"Excellent," the woman replied as she looked around the room. "I cannot thank you enough for your cooperation. You are truly doing humanity a favor, Mr. Chen."

He nodded. "Yes, of course. Thank you for choosing my science lab for this research. We will not let you down."

The girl in the cage watched silently, terrified and confused. She understood what they were saying -- aliens had the power to understand and speak every existing language -- but none of it made sense. Research? Doing humanity a favor? What could she possibly have to do with any of this?

"You will not let me down?" President Boucher frowned. "You cannot promise me that. Research always has the chance of failure..."

He frowned. "We will find a way to solve this... problem. You have my word."

---

Alexander followed his boss into the typically forbidden area of the science lab. He had never been allowed down here, and he was a bit concerned as to why he was allowed to be here now.

"As I have told you," Mr. Chen began, obstructing the view of whatever was down here, "this is a top-secret project. You must not tell anyone about this, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Alexander replied.

Mr. Chen nodded in response. "Good. What you are about to see may come as a shock to you..."

Alexander gasped as his boss stepped aside and a girl lying on an experiment table came into view. He studied her in shock, marvelling at her high-tech suit and green skin. She was awake, but perfectly still, seemingly off in another world...

His eyes were wide. "She's an..."

"An alien," Mr. Chen nodded. "You have always wondered about the existence of extraterrestrials, haven't you? They do exist. But unfortunately..."

"Unfortunately... what?"

Alexander's eyes wandered to the instruments on the experiment table as Mr. Chen explained.

"The government discovered their existence by pure accident. They have come from another planet, disguising themselves as humans. Their goal, as we have been informed, is to destroy the human race and the very planet that we live on."

"What?" Alexander frowned. "But why?"

"We don't know," Mr. Chen continued, "but we have been hired by President Boucher herself to run experiments on these creatures. We need to be able to genetically identify them, so that their human disguises can no longer fool us. And... we must discover a way to eradicate them entirely, as well as their planet. If we don't..."

Alexander looked away. "Then they'll destroy us?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I know it may be difficult not to feel sympathetic, but this alien... it is your enemy. You must do whatever it takes to help us, do you understand?"

Before Alexander had a chance to reply, the alien girl's eyes widened and she let out a loud whimper, her muscles twitching.

Alexander frowned. "What's wrong with her?"

"We induce temporary paralysis with a drug before performing experiments to ensure she cannot struggle," Mr. Chen said, then turned to his assistant that had followed them into the room. "Would you administer some more before she becomes dangerous?"

As the assistant made his way over to her, Alexander felt increasingly uneasy. "But... sir, she can still feel everything despite the paralysis, right?"

"Yes, but what does it matter? We were hoping to coax some information out of her," Mr. Chen shrugged, "but she refused to talk."

Their conversation was interrupted when a piercing scream filled the room. Startled, Alexander looked over to see the girl violently thrashing at the sight of the needle, her eyes wide with terror.

The assistant cursed under his breath. "I haven't even administered the injection yet! Stop struggling!"

Mr. Chen frowned and rushed over to restrain her as the needle plunged into her arm, eliciting another scream, her throat already sounding raw. How much of this had she already went through?

When they let go of her she violently twitched, her eyes struggling to focus on something. They finally landed on Alexander, and he couldn't help but give her a sympathetic look when he saw the pain in her eyes. "D-Does she really have to be treated so... unethically?" He couldn't bring himself not to ask. "She seems confused. Maybe the reason she isn't cooperative in giving you information is that she doesn't understand, or--"

"I told you, there's no point in sympathy!" Mr. Chen sighed. "You think I enjoy this? I don't. But she wants us to feel bad, she wants to deceive us into believing she isn't a threat. But all of them are dangerous, including her. They want to kill us! Including you! The President informed us she's a captured spy. Why should you feel bad for wanting to protect people? It's for the greater good, Alexander."

Alexander silently nodded. 'It's for the greater good,' he mentally repeated. 'What kind of person would I be if I didn't try to protect the billions of people in this world? There's no other choice here... is there?'

"Now please, come help me with these experiments," Mr. Chen said. "We have a long way to go if we wish to stop these monsters..."

Monsters. The words sank into Alexander like a knife. Were these the same kind of monsters that he was? A vampire? No, his boss and coworkers knew about that. He couldn't say they were all okay with it, but his boss seemed to favor him, so surely he wouldn't judge aliens simply because they were different. If anything, he would be fascinated, so they truly must be monsters... "Yes, sir," he said quietly and approached the table, trying to push the bad feeling in his gut to the back of his mind.

-----

"Alright, lock her up!"

The experiments were over and Alexander found himself trying to support the weight of the alien girl on his shoulders as she struggled to stand. The assistant shoved the keys to the cage into his hand and then, as he and the boss went upstairs, the room was empty aside from the two of them. 

The girl cried out and sobbed, pain wracking through her body. Shakily, Alexander lead her over to the dingy cell. She struggled against him as soon as they were inside and he let go, causing her to fall to the ground beside of her bed. She yelped and wrapped her arms around her legs as she drew them close to her.

Despite it all, Alexander couldn't shake the guilt and he stared down at her. "Can... can you understand me?"

She began to tremble as he spoke, and said nothing in response.

"You should tell them whatever they want to know," Alexander said as he looked away, unable to watch her suffer anymore. "Then maybe you wouldn't go through all of this."

He sighed and turned to the door. "...I know I shouldn't say this, but... I'm sorry."

As he left, she only sobbed louder, wishing she could cry for help... but no one would hear her.