Chapter Thirty-Five
Though her brushed fur still smelled of jasmine soap, Seven craved a shower. Just imaging Ghetsis' oily words, his manipulative tactics, and his calm, cold smile, and worse, using those tricks and that smile herself, made her skin crawl.
Instead of showering, she settled for brushing her fur. But as she yanked at knots, her thoughts wandered back to her own days behind a transparent wall, to the helplessness and isolation that clapped iron weights onto her shoulders. A troublesome knot struggled against her comb, and with a swift yank, she tore out a tangled handful of black fur.
The rest of the evening was spent staring at figures and accounts, planning expenses for her squad, and assigning teams to the tasks Giovanni had given her. Every so often, she caught herself staring off into space. Each time, she growled, shook herself, and typed in a frenzy.
As the night progressed, Seven's mind wandered more. Soon, she found herself staring at the clock as minutes floated by. Her Admin's quarters were replaced with the bare walls, plasma barrier, and Ghetsis staring at her with a slight, calculating smile on his face. The memories squeezed her chest, and even in the full light of the room, she felt the shadows with their hidden scalpels creeping in. The nightlight was snuffed out. Darkness descended, broken only by the dull, subtle gleam of scalpels and needles as they dug into her flesh. She fell out of her chair. Bile crept up her throat as her stomach heaved.
With a howl, Seven broke the illusion. Shards of darkness rained onto the carpet and shriveled up, consuming themselves until nothing remained. She thought she heard Ghetsis' faint chuckle as the last shard winked out of existence.
Seven's throat burned, and her arms shook. From the floor, she groped for a desk drawer, found a handle, and yanked it open. Inside were piles of water bottles and beef jerky packs. She wrenched open a bottle and chugged it flat, and then tore into a bag of jerky. As she gnawed on the chewy, smoky meat, she thought over what to do. Talking to anyone, even Celeste, was out of the question, and it's not like they could help her anyways. She couldn't talk to anyone from Harmonia Labs either.
That was when she thought about their research files. Before she could think it through, her hand darted to the phone and dialed Admin Colson's number.
"Were copies made of Harmonia Labs' records?"
"Yes," he answered. "If you want them, you'll have to trade."
Seven bristled. "What do you want?"
"Nothing much. It's a small matter you ask of me, so I'll make it fair and ask something small as well." For a minute, all Seven heard was the clack of fingers on keys before Colson said, "Just bring me a bacon and pineapple pizza from the kitchens, got it? And be sure to bring it yourself."
Colson hung up. Seven stared at the phone for a moment before standing, putting on her uniform, and walking out the door. She stepped into a bathroom and walked out as an ordinary Grunt. No one gave her a second glance as she sprinted for the kitchens. The moment she asked for the unusual combination of toppings, the chef brought out a whole pizza in a box, freshly made.
"Be sure that gets to him intact," the chef said. "He hates it when the toppings slide around."
Seven carefully held the box level as she walked back to the Admins' hallway. When she knocked on Admin Colson's door, it opened at the first tap.
"Set it on the floor," he said without looking up. "And be careful with the toppings. If I wanted my pizza and cheese separate, I'd order it that way."
Seven sat down and set the pizza at her feet. After a moment, Colson unplugged a flash drive and tossed it behind his shoulder. It fell short and clattered on the pizza box. Seven tucked it into her pocket and rose to leave.
"Wait," he said. "I asked you to come in person for a reason."
With a nervous glance at the door, Seven sat back on his clothes chest and waited. After a minute, Colson turned his chair around. His black hair was tangled and gleaming from sweat, and a thin stubble covered his chin.
"I just want to know why you're suddenly interested," he said. "Giovanni would want to know, as well."
Seven shrugged, ignoring the tension in her shoulders. "No real reason, I suppose. I just wanted to know what they were studying me for."
Admin Colson leaned back in his chair. It creaked noisily. "If that was all you wanted to know, you could've asked that over the phone."
Seven shifted on her seat and looked down. After some internal debate, she decided that she had to be honest. "I feel… troubled lately."
"Because of your interrogation with the Pokémon you had captured, correct?" he asked. A smile touched his lips when he saw Seven flinch. "I thought so. Hoping to find something in those files to help you cope with the memories?"
At a loss for words, Seven nodded. Colson got out of his chair, took the pizza box to his desk, and flipped open the lid. "Hmm, looks like the cheese slid a bit, but I won't complain." He pulled out a slice, and the cheese stretched out in big gooey strands before the Admin cut them with his tongue, twining them around and sucking up the grease. "I love my cheese this gooey," he said around a mouthful, "But it has a bad habit of slipping and sliding." He swallowed and held out the box with one hand. "Want a slice?"
Seven shook her head. As she walked towards the door, Colson said, "The only reason we're letting you look through those files is because we don't think there's anything dangerous."
Seven returned to her room. It was on the other side of the hallway to the left, farther away from Giovanni's office. Once she was alone and at her desk, she plugged in the flash drive and pulled up the files. There was a staggering amount of test data from all fourteen test subjects, from pdf checklists to lengthy essays on research results, video clips and test logs.
She opened the file labeled Seven, and after a second, a flood of file paths popped up on her computer. Confronted by a staggering amount of information, she clicked at random, popping up a few test reports. Some she remembered, such as the intelligence tests and physical exams, and others were hazy memories, such as computer tutoring. She didn't recognize a few, including a surprising number labeled sleep tests that held a lot of wavy charts. Another folder compiled all the research done on her illusions, but their focus was on finding the source of her power.
While those files were an interesting discovery, the knots in her gut remained. She scanned through the file names, glossing over mountains of reports, until she found Ghetsis' audio logs.
The moment his voice slithered out of the speakers, she closed the file, clicking rapidly on the X until the computer forced the task to end. His voice finished a sentence before it disappeared. Ragged breaths caught in her throat, and she saw a flicker of blue from one of the walls.
It took a minute for her to calm down. Steeling herself, Seven gripped the arm of her chair and opened the audio log again.
"After all the trouble I went through to pry those Zorua pups out of that zoo, I find myself disappointed that they're all dying after the first test. Having left them in a PC Healing Station with the edited genome for five minutes, I expected minor genetic alteration, restricted to the brain. It would appear that the changes cannot be isolated to a single portion of the body, as numerous tumors sprouted over the body like weeds. I reduced the power output after each subject, but tumors developed even at the lowest settings on the equipment. Six deceased, and four more with metastasized tumors. The other three are in remission. The data thus far is inconclusive, but the rapid growth of brain tissue in most subjects shows promise."
The audio crackled before it ended. Seven stared at the computer screen and felt shock fluttering in her chest. There were others? Numbly, she opened the next one and gripped her chair until it creaked.
"Only four left now. I tried to clone them, but the embryos were too unstable. The genetic mutation has spread further than I had anticipated, but that in and of itself is a promising result. Another subject has developed multiple tumors. As bothersome as it is, I will have to recalibrate the tests on other species.
Though she tried, Seven couldn't remember anything from when she was a Zorua, and her first months as a Zoroark were dim, fuzzy memories, full of scalpels and needles. Though her mouth felt dry as sand, she left the bottles of water in her desk as she opened the next file.
"Constant, minimal exposure seems most effective. Since the equipment coan not alter its power output, I had to dilute the altered genome with standard data. Though the new subjects respond well to the treatment, the initial tests left the Zorua highly susceptible to genetic alteration. Only three left now. Ah well. I suppose I could try using their genetic material to introduce their unique traits to other species."
A feeling of dread like icicles jabbed into her ribs. Seven wanted to throw the computer against a wall, but she opened the next audio log.
"Using the Zorua DNA had… interesting results. Enough exposure reduces the subjects to incoherent cellular mush. The surviving nuclei have an intriguing ability to shift their genetic composition to express new traits. I tried adding the genetic material of every species on file and found no limit to the mush's ability to manipulate them, though getting the brainless mass to do anything proves quite a challenge.
As for the Zorua themselves, only two remain. One of my researchers forgot to recalibrate the machines after the Ditto experiment. Though the process was cut short, the Subject Nine developed numerous tumors characteristic of the genetic mush, or Ditto, as the professors are calling it. I had the corpse stored for further study, as the boundary between the two tissues has an unusual nerve structure." The audio log barely caught Ghetsis' mutter of "I'll have to have the floors bleached."
On the next audio log, Ghetsis' voice smoldered. "That… thing was alive after all. It tricked one of the researchers and is hiding somewhere in the building. It can use illusions, but it is intelligent enough to realize that I can detect them. The remaining subject shows much promise. After evolution, its brain developed a nearly human structure, but it remains able to make illusions. Tumors persist, but the subject's immune system has developed a new kind of cell to combat them. I think I'll present that at the next conference."
She listened through months worth of audio logs, each one describing her condition. One week, the cancer had reached her lymph nodes, and the next, she was given the all clear, only for cancer to swell up in four places at once two weeks down the road. She listened through two years of reports, through a grueling, gradual inclination of her health, before sleep pulled down her eyelids.
Changelog
11/16/2018 – overhauled the audio logs to better suit Ghetsis' personality, and made other minor edits