Verse 2

"And so, we cannot come to any conclusion on Iceman's heritage nor are there any records of him in any of the old databases by his dental, thumbprint, or nDNA records. His heritage is obscured by the odd genetic differences between us and him. They make no sense."

"But, records should exist!" said one member of the council. "Virtually all of that data still exists!"

"Multiple searches revealed nothing. The best we can come up with is that he was intentionally erased. By someone with complete control over the national database he came from. He might have been part of an ultra-classified experiment, but even that seems wrong, as we have most of even that data. Plus, cryogenics was not something actively pursued by the people in power at the time."

"So, what that means is that we know just as much about Iceman as he purports to know about himself. Nothing," the one at the head of the table said. He was the overseer of the scientific labs. "What about the mask he wears?"

"As we already knew from the 200 years of prior experiments, a 1 nanometer thick filament reaches into the brain. From what we can tell, it creates a kind of web of bypasses of his thought processes. It doesn't usually interfere with them directly, but it speeds them up, helps with memory recollection, and allows for increased physical ability past the normal limit created by the brain. This of course includes metabolism, raw physical power, the immune system, you name it, and the bypasses enhance it in some way. Most bypasses have been mapped now, with the total coming close to 1 million"

"What about side effects?" asked Mizushima.

"Well, strictly speaking, none for Iceman. His body can handle the increases due to his differing body structure and genetics." The man presenting the report looked uncomfortable with saying the next part. "However, if directly applied to our body, approximately 24-36 hours of continual use will kill us."

"So it's useless for us?" asked the overseer.

"Not entirely…"

"Well then, how is it to be used by us?" said the large man in front of Mizushima.

He, like everyone here except the overseer, was the top researcher of their own Lab. Mizushima disliked this man. Nikolai was grossly large and unpleasant to all under him, especially to maruta. The maruta feared him, as he often takes them to bed or kills them for the smallest infraction. Mizushima found that detestable. After all, fear is not a pure motivator. It instills a want to stay away or even revenge, leading to lower productivity. Though not perfect, positive reinforcement such as a saying thank you or a treat instills a want to stay closer, and to help often, leading to higher productivity. Indifference was middle ground, and it was the way often taken by the leading scientists.

"While investigating the manufacturing process of the mask, we found that we could make a replica given some rare materials, though not a perfect one. However, with slight modifications, we could change some bypasses to have a lower magnitude of effect and to cut some out altogether, leading to something that could be worn an entire year with minimal side effects to the body."

Many of the 24 began to murmur to each other at that news. Nikolai however, was quiet, as was Mizushima. Nikolai noticed that he wasn't joining in, and smiled sickeningly at him. Mizushima stared back blandly, until Nicolai looked away. He knew what Nikolai was thinking. Let him take it the wrong way, Mizushima didn't care. Mizushima had some interest in the mask, but he didn't believe it was the one-and-only solution to the goal of getting surface side.

However, one thing did get his attention. He knew what time period Iceman came from, and they had no way to make such a mask, so where did it come from?

"Sorry to ask this while everyone is so excited," said Mizushima, quieting the Council. "But when and where was the mask created?"

The man stiffened for a moment, obviously dreading telling the answer. So that meant it had to of been one of the other facilities elsewhere, fairly recently. But how? He also knew that the gas trapped inside with Iceman had to have come from his time period, so they would have had to….

"It never was."

And all hell broke loose.