"Sir... Sir, do we really have to use living people for experiments?"
The young man standing next to Louis Pasteur looked at the prisoner bound tightly with a linen rope, and there was a hint of reluctance in his eyes as he nervously inquired of Louis Pasteur.
"I...!" Louis Pasteur also swallowed hard, questioning himself in his heart whether doing this was really the right thing for a responsible scientific researcher.
On one hand was the future of France as envisaged by Governor Jerome Bonaparte, and on the other was his own conscience as a scientific researcher.
Stuck between his conscience and patriotic fervor, Louis Pasteur felt an unprecedented torment. Unconsciously, he bowed his head, thinking that this might somewhat lessen the moral condemnation on his conscience. But this way of avoiding it had no effect at all.
When Louis Pasteur adjusted himself and raised his head again, locking eyes with the condemned prisoner, he saw despair and a plea in the prisoner's gaze.
