"Are you sure you want to do this?" Allie asked for the unknownth time. She was looking at the screen in front of them, her fingers pausing stiffly an inch above the keyboard. She had a concerned frown on her forehead. A few more taps from her fingers on the correct keys, and they would have made an irreversible decision.
No one else but Allie knew about this. Not yet anyways. The other scientists would find out soon enough, of course, and he would have some explaining to do when the time came. They would certainly question his judgement, again. The same way they had with the boy.
The synth boy, he corrected himself.
Even though an interesting experiment, the other scientists, Dr Li especially, frowned upon the aspects of a synth child. The Gen-3 models were too authentic in their human impersonation programming. To such extent that the synths actually believed themselves to be humans. It was a quite unnerving notion. No one could argue that the experiment with the boy was not important. It opened many new possibilities for their work on the surface. At least, that's what his main argument had ben when the Directorate Board questioned the wisdom of this creation. He had kept his own personal reasons a secret from them. Allie however, seemed to have put the pieces together when he had asked for her assistance in this particular matter. The request was, after all, outside her field of profession.
When he did not respond to her immediately, Allie looked at him. "Well?" she probed while one of her fingers restlessly tapped the keyboard without pressing any of the keys.
He looked at the screen, reading the words there he had read over and over again so many times. The words that told very little about the resident inside. The words that only confirmed the occupant's status; Alive.
The previous Directorate had kept a close watch on the occupant for obvious reasons; in case the experiment with himself failed they needed a viable replacement. But the experiment had been a success beyond expectations. There was no longer a need for the replacement. When the Director title was passed on to him, he had also been given access to all the reports about his… rescue, as well as information about the replacement.
These terms they had used about her were difficult to accept.
The replacement
Plan B
It
The subject
The occupant
The specimen
They were scientific and neutral concepts, but they didn't even recognize her as human. As a sentient being that had once lived, loved and hoped.
After he had learned about her existence, so many years ago, he had caught himself wondering. What she was like? He had scrutinized his reflection in the mirror, trying to figure out if he looked like her. He had analyzed his own behavior, trying to pinpoint something that could be explained by nature and not nurture. He had looked at the data of his own DNA to try and find her in there. He had, simply speaking, tried to get to know her using the technology he had available. After a while, he had realized those methods were inadequate.
If he wanted to know her, to know what she was like, he knew he had to make this personal. On the screen, that one, simple word had told him everything he needed to know. She was alive. She had been kept alive all these years, and now, his own curiosity was very likely about to kill her.
It made him slightly unwell.
Straightening his back and raising his chin, he reminded himself of his responsibilities. If nothing else, he could look at it as another experiment. There were many hypotheses to develop from this. Many predictions about her chances for survival, and eventually the circumstances of her death. Setting his personal desires aside, he found himself quite interested in her as a simple project, and there would surely be something valuable to learn from it all. First and foremost, how adaptive would this pre-war woman be when facing her new reality?
He very much wished he had a way of witnessing first hand these events, and all the events to come.
They had the technology to pluck apart an organism down to its very smallest particles, atoms and electrons and such, and then reassemble them somewhere else, with every cell and neuron in its correct place, functioning as if nothing traumatic had happened at all. It even scanned the area for unoccupied space before reassembling, to make sure no one got stuck inside walls or worse. They had the technology to combine synthetic and organic life, to reprogram biological DNA into accepting the synthetic components as natural parts of its structure, recognizing the synthetic components as superior and thus allowing essential programming of the entire organism's functions.
With that in mind, it was strange that the Institute, far more technologically advanced than any other organization, lacked the necessary tools to place surveillance cameras outside the Institute's own facilities. This was a problem he intended to address on the next Directorate Meeting, for sure.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at Allie and nodded once. "Release her."
Allie complied without a word. Her fingers resumed tapping the keys quickly for a few seconds while she hacked the mainframe to override the controls, and then finally slowed down when the number of fingers needed on the keyboard were gradually reduced to one. With a final tap of her index finger, she was done.
They both held their breaths while the screen flickered and updated, and then exhaled when the new status appeared on the screen. The green letters were bright and ugly against the black.
Pod C7: Naomi Joyce Williams
Occupant status: Unknown - Remote Override Engaged
"Summon Kellogg," he ordered quietly, not looking away from the screen.