A few days after Father's body was found, England gave the USB key to America, who had secretly brought a computer on their vacation, probably for his investigation's sake.
They had watched it at night, in secrecy, without talking about it to the other nations (not even Japan) because they didn't know if it was that important.
Among several documents like plannings, complex formulas but also medical follow-up reports of 'I' and 'P's development, behaviour and learning, they found the report of 1998 about the cages incidents England previously downloaded.
But what they got interested about were video takes filmed by a camera. The videos were more ancient and they decided to watch them.
Almost all the videos were showing Kästner talking to a motionless camera in one of the laboratories that had been emptied. They saw multiple green test tubes with biological material in it, as much as the camera could show them.
They had never met the man alive, but they could say he looked clever, his eyes sharp behind those glasses. Someone that seemed too precautious to reveal anything but that deep down wanted to expose to the world his work and discoveries.
Maybe it was the reason for these videos?
The takes seemed to follow the experiment's week after week. Not everything was thrilling to watch so Arthur and Alfred started to select the ones according to the other documents they had found.
xxxx
Take 1-00DPLK :
"My name is Lambert Kästner and I've just achieved my PhD a few years ago. I've accepted to lend my grand-father's , Pr Hanke Kästner, DNA samples of a nation personification, Prussia, on the condition that I would be part of this project Doppleganger myself.
However, I still want to thank Professor Bertelloni and Professor Travasco for providing me two other samples to work on."
Kästner showed two test tubes with codes on them, one the countries recognised as 'I's codebar name.
"This one is Italy's DNA, and this other one, America's, implanted in an human empty egg. My goal will be to succeed in creating stable clones, using the knowledge my grand-father and predecessors left to me. I will not explain all my secrets of course. The goals of this series of videos is to follow the experiment from each step.
Collecting data, whether they are success or failure is essential for this project to be led, to improve. That's how we discovered the serum and the electromagnetic waves helped in producing clones and why we always use the fusion of the two nowadays.
I've mixed these samples with a few more ingredients, and now, I will put them at test.
But to begin, I will set aside Hanke's sample, as it is too rare for me to waste on a failed experiment.
Now Lidie, let's begin."
Lidie seemed to be the name of one of the woman assistants behind him. She responded with a nod and took with precaution the test tubes before putting them inside a machine with rings that looked like a miniature version of the one America saw on the 2nd floor. He guessed it was the one emitting shockwaves.
The samples were locked inside and the machine started. Then, the video was cut.
Take 2-01DPLK
"It has been 7 days since incubation was started. We've decreased the frequencies progressively and everything is going smoothly. I-KXY07DPL003 and A-KXY07DPL004 have gone from one cell to the 'morula' stage in the organic jelly I've put in the tube and are starting to morph into 'blastula' stage.
It is important to remember to add nutrients periodically for the process to succeed, the serum isn't sufficient alone."
Take 5-04DPLK
"The transition to a larger tube wasn't without consequences. It has been a week since A-KXY07DPL004 has not seemed to increase in size, contrary to I-KXY07DPL003 who have reached the 15th stage of Carnegie. I will wait for a few weeks before reaching a conclusion, as it could be simple lateness of growth."
Take 8-07DPLK
" A-KXY07DPL004 hasn't shown any sign of growth so far. I will have the regret to announce it is considered a failure, in contrast with 'I-KXY07DPL003' who's developing normally. Let's remind Travasco once tried to clone America in the past and failed at early stages. I wonder if the fact we are in the US itself is affecting the cells and ILEN, although Professor Bertelloni believes that more a sample is near (distance speaking) its original, more it will grow efficiently."
Take 9-08DPLK
"Week 8 and I-KXY07DPL003 have reached the crucial point of foetal stage, entering organogenesis. We can see his heart beating since week 6 and it seems to be making little movements."
Take 15-14DPKL
"Week 14, the foetus is moving its arms and fingers quite well and internal organs forming seem at place. No attacks had been witnessed so far and the heartbeat is stable. This is a promising subject so far, better than R-MXY04DPL002 who had suffered about 3 at the equivalent period."
Take 23-22DPKL
" The gender has been identified as male according to the DNA collected. No chromosom mutation has been suspected from 'I-KXY07DPL003''s growth as it happened with a former experiment in the past."
Take 36-35DPKL
"We are reaching birth stages. 'I-KXY07DPL003' is viable at the time, but one of the challenges will be to take him out of the tube and not trigger a degenerative acute attack. I'm looking forward to it, it sounds really really promising. If he is a success, I could use that method for my grand-father sample and recreate a fallen empire."
Take 40-39DPKL
"'I-KXY07DPL003' is finally born! Apgar score was at 6 out of 10 in the first few minutes, but then it reached 10/10 at 5 minutes and the constants were correct. He was monitored for 3 days now and still no sign of degenerative attack. Professor Travasco seems happy about the news and we will have a reunion about my report and the whereabouts.
I'm not against him following the same education and pass that R-MXY04DPL002 is having, as I prefer not to expose that child to the growth waves too often.
We don't have enough hindsight to reach a conclusion about this method but as long as it is not endangering the experiment's success, I'm agreeing with it."
xxx
They passed through the series with 'P's development which looked the same..or that what they wanted to do until England pointed out a file with a strange name.
"Look America, this one in the middle, it's called ' Takes 3Final take -0000'. Why would a final take be in the middle of the other takes?"
Puzzled, they clicked on the file and discovered a way more recent video, the date being only...four day before his death. Kästner was in his office recording it, with a grave expression on the face.
xxx
Take 3Final take- 0000
"If someone sees this video, then I'm probably dead already or I will very soon. I'm recording it in advance, as a message for the future.
I'm Doctor Lambert Kästner, having a PhD in human biology and development. I've created two subjects for Travasco's project Doppleganger: 'I' and 'P'. These children are the product of clonage of mysterious beings called personification, which are what we could call a human incarnation of a country.
I've came to know them from my grand-father, an ancient nazi scientist that had fled in America after the war to avoid repercussion of the Nuremberg trials. At the time, he had met with one, who would become "East Germany", formerly "Prussia" and befriended him. Or it could be the opposite actually. He told me that one day, when the man was bleeding, he got access to his blood before the cut closed up 'by magic'. When he collected the sample, it was by pure curiosity to study its property, and as he abandoned his native land, it became the only relic he had gathered from the past that had been meaningful to him.
All the last part of his existence, he studied it but at some point feared to go further, as guilt of the war and human experimentations had scarred him to the core. Travasco contacted him for a collaboration after he heard of it, but he had refused for that same reason. I was one of the few to be aware of it, and I always thought it was a waste of an opportunity when he had stopped his search. When he died and entrusted me with this relic, I moved from Germany to America and proposed on my own a partnership with Travasco under his supervision to gain knowledge about these personifications. It was something of...a dream, even if I knew very well I would be confronted with limits of being a subordinate.
But maybe I was foolish to think it didn't bother me.
Thanks to these exchanges with experts gathered by Travasco, I've come to get interested in project Doppleganger and the idea to create our own nation/ immortal human, as I told before. I created two alive clones for the matter, one of Italy and one of Prussia, my most accomplished one. I've seen them grow and came to realise something I couldn't comprehend before, when they only were samples in a test tube. I couldn't comprehend that these little cells would become human beings with feelings, that they would become children that would depend on me, that they would call me father and get attached to me.
I don't know anymore what my real purpose was, it wasn't this, but it happened and somehow I don't regret it. It still makes me proud of what I achieved.
However, matters came to be this year, perturbations we all couldn't imagine, and Travasco but especially Eiling...they seemed to want to destroy all the things I have built so far. If it wasn't a game of powerful relationship inside the facility, Eiling wouldn't have his word to say and as much as he is also passionate and doesn't mean harm, he is in pass of making everything cramble, I just know it.
I've for politics to never show my weaknesses, but if I've to be honest for once : this pisses me off. My search, my subjects, it is serious to me and this project is becoming nonsense at the point because of hasty decisions. Malsinger was one to lick on Travasco's boot to obtain his favors. I'm not, and I will prove it.
In fact, I've thought about it and concluded : there's nothing more in my life than 'I' and 'P'. That's why what I'm going to do will probably sign my death warrant, and this video can be considered as my testament. I will destroy the whole system in order for my little experiments to escape this. They might die in the process, but that's the only way I've found. Travasco is still ignoring all this and my intention, he had never seen me as a threat able to go as far as this, and that is what will get him lost.
Now, I will tell my farewells while I'm making my plan to spoil the whole tree and its fruits of years of research. I apologize to all the ones that will be killed in the process, their families and all the dreams I will crush. You can call me selfish, you can call me mad, it must be true. I've always calculated and manipulated...that's how far a scientist can go.
I've never given the love 'I' and 'P' wanted from me, but surprisingly, it seemed all I did was enough. I apologize to them too, I'm not the nice father they wanted and I hope inside they will not suffer the same fate as me. But my decision is taken and when I promise something, it will happen.
I will die with my search, with this facility, so I give you my farewells and if we ever meet, well, it might be in hell."
The video ended with Lambert's mischievous smile and determined brown eyes piercing through his glasses.
xxx
It was...well, quite disturbing and the two nations didn't know what to think of it. It wasn't information they wanted to share with the government either, nor maybe with other nations.
In their own accord, America was the new guardian of the USB key and of the last message 'Father' had left to the world.
Author's note :
I'm only going to talk a bit about some medecine/embryology trivia I used on this bonus here!
- Embryo phase represents the 8 first week of pregnancy. After that, it's organogenesis (even if the heart is already there, near the 5th-6th week) and we can talk of 'fetus'. Carnegie's stage is a classification of embryo's stages used in obstetric to evaluate the growth of the future baby. It also help to determine the exact date of birth. I told myself it would sound scientistic enough hehe, but I didn't entered into details because even I don't remember all the specificities nor the Carnegie's stage by heart! You can google it though, embryology is really interesting!
- Apgar is a score performed on newborns at birth to see if they are lively enough and prevent infant mortality. It is done several times to see the evolution.
