VEGETABLE
088 lay there, his muscles still twitching from the residual electricity of the ENS. He stared back at the face of the researcher, his chest heaving as he wondered why he was back to damned place. He will rather choose to be engulfed than to be in the facility.
"Inject the body stimulator, and prepare to run physical test", Joe commanded after staring at 088 face for a while. The attendant hurriedly brought a gun syringe that contained an unknown fluid. The attendant injected it into one of the exposed veins on 088 neck. He felt a sudden surge of strength in his body; all the fatigue disappeared like the dandelion spores in wind. The subordinates moved in and unfastened the restraints that tied him down. 088 was then transported to a different testing room. When he was brought to the room he saw various equipment, ones you will find in a gym but had exaggerating extra features. He was made to climb into one of these machines which seemed to be a thread mill. He got into it and watched as the technicians attached various sensors to him.
Without any warning the mill under his feet started moving, forcing him to run. The speed gradually increased. If one looked from afar 088 looked like he had been chased by an animal and was running for his dear life. He cursed in his heart, "damn it, I just woke up and the first thing you make me do is to run a marathon". Before he could curse further the machine slowed down signaling the end of the test. 088 was beyond tired and could barely stand on his feet.
After being injected with another shot of the drug the fatigue vanished, he was moved to the next test which looked like a strength test. He went through various physical tests, stamina, endurance and others. By the end of the day he could not even lift a finger, even the drug that was being injected could not take away the fatigue.
"The results are... i..in, sir," the subordinate begun, his voice thin. "Subject 088 shows significant physical improvement. His muscle fibers have condensed, in terms of raw strength and stamina, he's roughly equivalent to an elite top-tier bodybuilder and a world class athlete. His recovery speed is also twice that of a normal person. Joe had a calm expression, but a vein began to throb in his temple. "That is a basic thing, we have a successful integration that can give the same result. Are there any signs of zombification? didn't spend years and millions of credits for a bodybuilder."
but his questioning was met with a non-affirmative answer. The series of disappointments gradually aggravated into anger. After calming down he asked, "what's his awakening status?" the subordinate swallowed hard, his hand raising up, though he was the only one speaking. "He… he did not awaken sir," the attendant stammered. "After the diagnosis he is just a normal person".
The head researcher flew into a blind rage upon hearing that. He slammed his fist into the reenforced glass panel.
"A normal person?!" he roared. "Do you take me for a fool? A normal person in a coma does not produce brain activity that glows white-hot on a monitor! Only Awakeners show that kind of neural firing when they enter their mental space! You are telling me the 'Grain' of my project is a mundane failure?"
The subordinate cringed, his voice trembling as he tried to explain. "Sir, please... the data doesn't lie. While it is incredibly rare, there are recorded cases of 'Null-Awakeners.' People who fail to awaken but whose brains still undergo the neural expansion. They can enter their mental space, they can see the void, but there is no power at the end of it." While all this happened 088 lay there soundlessly not daring to breathe, listened in on the conversation and thought. "So that space is called a mental space, and it is a feature exclusive to awakeners. What about that aura is it also a normal thing". What blew his mind the most was that he was not awakened, because he was sixteen and he should be awakened, why was that. "Was sixteen years just a threshold and not a guarantee to be an awakened?" he thought. All this while he had been planning to use his awakening powers to escape from the facility, but his plan was crushed before it even began. Joe's voice dropped into a low, vibrating growl of pure disgust. "So, the experiments where a failure". He stepped closer to 088, his shadow falling over the boy's face. 088 kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, his heart hammering against his ribs, waiting for the sentence to be passed.
"Transfer him to the training facility," he barked at the technicians. "But not before a deep-cycle brainwashing. Also do same for 100 too"
The heavy door hissed shut, leaving 088 who had begun to panic. He now knew the truth about his "Null-Awakener" status and his mental space, but the researchers were about to rip those memories away. As he drew near the reprogramming center, panic clawed at his throat, he forced his eyes shut as he tried to calm down. His brain began to run at hyperdrive speed trying to figure out an escape. As he thought he felt his only leeway was the mental space, he had to try and find a way to enter the space. As he did he remembered his time as a kid, when he visited the training grounds of the shelter guards, where he saw some training in close combat, others too sat on mats with their legs crossed reciting some kind of mantra, he figured they were trying to enter their mental space so he tried to recall the words, " Tura sura koura or was it Tora sura klira" he thought. He took a deep breath; heart still racing and began to say anything that sounded like what he heard.
The world vanished as he blacked out, waking instantly in the silence of mental void. What he saw completely shocked him. The purplish red aura was everywhere, woven into the very fabric of the space like parasitic web. Terrified, he looked down at his own mental projection. Intricate, glowing purple reddish lines traced across his pale skin in strange runic patterns. The sight broke him so much so that he let out a high-pitched hysterical shriek that echoed endlessly in the empty space.
He scrambled backward, pacing frantically through the gloom until he finally calmed down. When he did, he was finally able to notice a dim blue light from the depth of the space. He walked towards it, leading him to the center of the mental space . there he found a flickering blue screen." has this always been there," he thought to himself. He approached it carefully learning from his experience with purplish red aura. When he confirmed that there was no danger he drew near and was finally able to see the contents of the screen.
[HOST: BROCK VELAZQUEZ]
[AGE: 16]
[RACE: HALFLING]
[STATUS: AWAKENED]
He stared at the words, his mind racing to make sense of them. "Brock Velazquez?" he whispered. The name felt heavy and unfamiliar on his tongue. It was the name his parents had given him. His real name.
The "Halfling" tag sent a fresh shiver of dread through him, especially as he looked at the purple lines still throbbing on his own skin. It confirmed his worst fears about the Hetram experiments. But it was the final line that truly shocked him the most.
[STATUS: AWAKENED]
The researchers had just called him a "Null-Awakener." They had seen nothing but a normal human with a bodybuilder's physique. Yet, here in the sanctity of his own mind, the system was telling him a completely different story.
Outside of his mind the gurney bumped into the frame of the heavy doors. the doors hissed open as the researchers worked together to strap him into a chair setting him up for brainwashing.
"Commencing deep-cycle brainwashing", a muffled voice sounded. Suddenly, a violent surge of energy forced Brock out of his mental space. He was slammed back into his physical body as a blinding, incandescent yellow light exploded behind the visor. It felt like liquid fire being poured directly into his retinas. His eyes burned with a searing stinging agony and a high-pitched discordant ring began to vibrate through his teeth. The dozens of thin, glass-tipped needles that pierced into his skin sent numerous electrical pulses into his cerebral cortex.
The light pulsed with a rhythmic pattern that synchronized with the electrical shocks. Brock felt like needles were being stabbed into his memories. He felt the various memories and images in his disappearing, dissolving in a yellow glare but then a blue wave flashed past, this was followed by a dull chime.
Ding!!
[WARNING: MENTAL BREACH DETECTED]
[CALCULATING HOST MENTAL DEFENSES...]
[NOTICE: DUE TO HOST RACE AS 'HALF-HUMAN, HOST IS IMMUNE .]
[MENTAL BREACH NULLIFIED. ESTABLISHING MEMORY PARTITION.]
Despite the danger being resolved the agony didn't stop; the yellow light continued to burn his eyes and the electricity continued to jolt his nerves. After what felt like an eternity the yellow light faded and the straps retracted. Brock slumped backwards his eyes bloodshot and watering. A researcher stepped forward with a penlight in hand which he shined into Brocks eyes.
"Subject 088," the researcher said, "identify yourself." Brock looked up knowing that if he showed a flicker of recognition, he would be in deep shit. He tilted his head to the side and aimlessly wandered his eyes toward the flickering fluorescent lights. "uuuuh.. guhh.."he groaned. Seeing this the researcher turned to look at his companion, "I told you!" the researcher hissed, "I told you to keep the intensity at a moderate level! Look, look at him! you have fried his brain, he has turned into a vegetable!"
"He is a Null-Awakener!" the second one snapped back, though his voice lacked conviction. "People like that have a higher mental capacity because they can access their mental space. I calculated for the extra resistance! Don't blame me for making a logical decision based on the subject's unique brain activity!"
"Logic? You call this logic?" The first researcher began to pace frantically, clutching his head. "Shit... the Head is going to kill us. We are dead men. Why did I even listen to you?"
On the other hand, Brock felt a surge of joy. The fear in their voices was the sweetest thing he had heard in four years. If they believed they had made a mistake, if they truly thought they had broken him beyond repair, then their guard would drop.
Being a "vegetable" meant they wouldn't expect him to be special and they certainly wouldn't expect him to strike back.