The inside of the metal elevator smelled of pomegranate and roses. Random scenes from the African wilderness flashed across the back glass of the gleaming white elevator. The advertisements, straight out of a hotel or resort commercial, contradicted the coolness of the room, but I wasn't going to care about that. I lifted my head and cracked my neck. I pulled up my shirt cuff and looked at the watch on my wrist. It was an extremely high-quality watch. The institution had given it to me as a gift, saying that reputation shouldn't be economized. After all, Bioethical Oversight was an institution that couldn't find many employees. Why? Low salary? Maybe... Perhaps it was just a boring job. That's why none of the institution's inspectors liked wearing watches. They'd say time didn't pass when they looked at them.
Looking at the watch, I realized I was late. I frowned and scratched the back of my neck. A desk job like Bioethical Oversight wasn't for me. Especially... especially after all the things I'd done before starting this job, it felt like breathing under suffocating cigarette smoke. It was so stifling... Listening to people constantly talk, trying to find solutions to their problems, and so much more... You'd work so hard, and then a Weapon Security inspector would come and order you around. Even though it wasn't their place...
When the elevator reached the ground floor, the door slowly opened. I picked up my briefcase, which looked like brown, shimmering leather but was actually metal, from the floor. I straightened my tie and stepped out of the elevator.
"Welcome to Unify!" a woman's soft voice announced from the loudspeakers.
There were rows of tables arranged in square cells. At one table, a middle-aged man, sprawled comfortably in his chair, was talking on the phone. His robust physique was a good sign; he wasn't thin and looked healthy. A man sat on a woman's desk, stirring his drink with a spoon. A bald man at another table rapidly scrolled through lines of code. Crowds of people milled between the tables, engaged in heated conversations.
The room where the elevator dropped me off was spacious, but the tables positioned right in the middle of it brought out my claustrophobia. Claustrophobia? In me... I chuckled softly. How had I, who had no fears, acquired such habits recently? How had Maria changed me so much?
"Arthur Vale!" a man called from a distance. He was a Black man. His eyes glowed with enthusiasm, just like my old friend Oliver's. I wondered what had happened to him after the recent events.
The Black man wore a black suit, but it was surrounded by layers of crumpled, plastic-like bags. He must have just come from a sterile area and hadn't even found time to remove those bag-like coverings. He approached me with quick steps. I couldn't tell if he was an evolved being or a human. Normally, I wouldn't scrutinize every person I met like this, but after all, in such a well-funded company, most people earned enough to be evolved.
The Black man extended his hand to me. "Welcome. My name is Kohn, I'm the chief director of Unify's p-OG245 planet Volem science facility. We've been waiting for someone from Bioethical Oversight for a very long time."
"Pleased to meet you, Kohn."
"Would you like me to start showing you around the facility?"
"Please do."
As Kohn walked, I followed behind him. I could feel every person at every table glancing at me. There was a gnawing anxiety in everyone. That anxiety was hidden between my two lips. The decision on whether this facility would be approved was very close.
"I hope your journey wasn't difficult. Traveling from one end of the galaxy to the other is hard, I know well."
"It just felt like a long sleep."
"Yes…" he said and laughed. "…you could say that."
"Could you tell me a bit about your facility?"
"Firstly, thank goodness, our company's business has started to improve. With the Incompatibles gone, everything is returning to normal. Most people thought they would never leave, but suddenly, out of nowhere, they disappeared, isn't that strange?" Kohn was a very talkative man, and I never liked such men. "Companies went bankrupt, colonies collapsed, but as Unify, we managed to overcome this crisis. Thankfully, companies realized that technology can also be insufficient in some areas. They realized that biological beings, superior to human evolution, like the Incompatibles, could be more powerful than technology. This, of course, benefited us, a genetic engineering company. Some people have already started replacing their household robots with mutant slaves… Most people have already started investing in evolution instead of technology… That's why we received huge investments. Even Quartez became an investor."
"Quartez? Not Evoke Systems?"
"Evoke Systems is very expensive and they're constantly arrogant. Quartez is a completely different company. Their policies, their goals… Thanks to the Quartez team, we've been able to evolve our engineers. They increased our efficiency by 120%. We are grateful to them. In fact, we received such large investments that we were able to jump from 138th place to 27th place. We even managed to get noticed by the Supreme World Republic institutions. We are now the 27th largest company. If you'd like, I can..."
"Mr. Kohn…" I said and stopped. Kohn stopped too. I lifted my jacket and showed him the Bioethical Oversight Authority symbol on my shirt. "…I didn't come here for your accounting matters."
"Ah… I apologize," he said, stroking his curly hair. "It's the first time an inspector has come, so I'm at a loss for what to explain. You… What exactly would you like to talk about?"
"Tell me about the experiments you're conducting."
***
We watched silhouettes moving within a green mist. These silhouettes wore metal armor. The plastic-like robes they wore were already irritated and tearing from the acidity of the gas. The green mist spread throughout a colossal room. Cameras in the corners of the room transmitted images to the screens under my hands. Throughout the room, cables, like muscle fibers, covered the walls. The cables were the size of sewage pipes, and each cable was carefully controlled by these silhouettes.
In the middle of the room, there was a bed. Whatever creature lay on the bed, we could only see its feet pointing towards us. Two silhouettes, with holographic papers in their hands, checked the cleanliness of the mechanics around this creature.
"Our maintenance team…" Kohn said.
"What's with the green mist?"
At that moment, a silhouette with a holographic paper in its hand approached the gigantic glass and tapped the paper against it. Written in red, it said, "Approved." At that moment, data flowed onto the screens under my hands. Maintenance and repair data. The current in each cable, the pressure of each airflow, the wear and tear of each mechanical part, and so much more... Kohn pressed a button with his hand and spoke.
"Good job, everyone. You can leave now."
The fourteen-person team collected the equipment they had left around. First, they entered a room and sterilized themselves. Then, the enormous room remained empty.
"Were you asking about the green mist?"
"Yes…"
"It's a gas that directly kills any biological agent. We cannot allow any DNA residue to exist in the room. You could say it's for sterilization purposes…"
"Doesn't it harm the thing lying there?"
"The gas was specially designed for it."
Suddenly, the vacuum motors started working, powered by compressors. As the green mist was drawn in, flow control valves began to activate one after another. With the control valves working, the mist slowly disappeared, like a gently flowing river.
"So, what is this thing lying here?"
"We named it Volem. It's our new project. Quartez says it's going to make a big breakthrough. For that, it needs a very high energy production. You know, without energy, there is nothing. That's why this creature was one of Quartez's investment conditions for Unify. This creature is at least the power of twelve nuclear facilities and…"
"What kind of breakthrough is Quartez going to make?"
"I don't know, but… But if it wants to build a biological facility instead of a technological one to produce energy, we think it might be because it doesn't want to be sabotaged by other companies. Evoke Systems easily ruined many companies through espionage and software infiltrations. Even if the Supreme World Republic knows this, they can't do anything to Evoke Systems because it's the Supreme World Republic's biggest partner. That's why Quartez might be afraid of getting on Evoke Systems' radar. That's why it might want to provide its energy through genetic engineering instead of technological means."
The President of Quartez was an unknown president. Who they were, where they were from, and what they were, were unknown. The company had four council members, and they usually received the investments. Whoever the President of Quartez was, making such an investment was a great act of courage.
"What you've told me is very interesting," I had said. "But I have many questions in my head. For example, the first one is what kind of creature this is."
"If you'd like, I can show you," Kohn said and pressed a large button on one of the screens.
First, we saw the motors on the metal plate where the creature lay start to work. As the electronic motors ran, air spurted out from the pistons. As the motors rotated one after another, the metal plate finally became able to move. Brackets on the floor began to pull the metal plate towards the glass on a conveyor. Some holes opened in the ceiling, and dozens of small cameras pointed downwards. These cameras were probably positioning, detection, and examination cameras.
The metal plate came right up to the glass. Then the pistons behind the metal plate began to push the metal plate upwards. The metal plate slowly began to rise, and this continued until the metal plate became upright. At that moment, an alarm began to sound. Kohn picked up the phone on the table and said:
"Don't worry. We're here with Inspector Arthur Vale. Everything is under control," he said and hung up the phone.
This creature, named Volem, generally resembled a human, with a long and athletic body structure. Its skin tone was pale white or shades of gray. It had a colossal, circular mouth on its face. That huge mouth was filled with tubes winding from behind the metal plate. It had no eyes or any sensory organs… The top of its head was crescent-shaped, and the tips of the crescent extended quite far upwards.
It was thin, looking weak. The sparse muscles and veins on its arms were easily visible due to this thinness. Its chest rose and fell with every breath. With every heartbeat, its chest area glowed blue; we could watch the blue fluids emanating from its heart circulate throughout its body. As if its fingers weren't long enough, it also had sharp, elongated nails at their tips. With its long arms, those nails extended almost to its feet.
"Is this the Volem?"
"This is the prototype…"
"What's the difference?"
"This one can only produce energy equivalent to two nuclear facilities. Normally, the original product we planned will be at least 10.5 times larger than this."
"So you're saying it'll be as big as a building…"
"We could say as big as a three-story building."
"So how can it produce energy?"
"Let me show you."
Kohn pressed the phone button once more. "Friends, give 35% fuel. Let's do a small test. Please check the pressure settings of the generators outside. Also, please evacuate the battery rooms in case of any problems."
"We'll be ready in five minutes, sir."
Suddenly, a countdown appeared on the colossal glass in front of us. This large, red-written timer in the middle of the glass was counting down from five minutes.
"This creature… What is it made of?"
"I'd like to pass it off as a company secret, but… But with an inspector in front of us, it's not really possible, is it? If you'd like, I can transfer the data to you."
"Please do," I said and dropped my briefcase to the floor. As I pressed the button on my briefcase, its handle disappeared. Long arms emerged from both sides of the briefcase. Then, a black screen and jet engines from the sides of the briefcase… "VFA-210…" I said.
"Yes, sir…" said my hovering drone assistant.
"I want you to analyze the data sent by our friends."
"Of course, sir," my drone assistant said and turned its back. Kohn inserted a chip into my drone assistant. My drone assistant hovered in the air for a while, and data flowed across its screen as it hovered.
"Analysis complete."
"What's the result?"
"This data is 82% consistent."
"What does that mean, Kohn?"
"I'm curious too, actually… Is it possible your assistant is making a mistake?"
"210?"
"No, sir. I'm directly analyzing from the Supreme World Republic's defined database, and I found it 82% consistent. The other data is inconsistent with each other. In short, such a creature cannot have been created with this data."
"This is impossible…" Kohn said in surprise.
"May I ask why you gave us incorrect data?" I asked, turning to Kohn. The light of the red writing painted half of my face red. The other half was in darkness. I put my hand on the dark side of my face. I started activating the Telkam on my temple. "Everything you say will be considered evidence. You can be sure that as the Bioethical Oversight Authority, we will judge everything you say impartially."
"The data in the chip was probably faulty," Kohn said. But from the tremor in his voice and the sweat dripping from his forehead, I could tell that some of his plans weren't going as he wished. Whatever he was trying to do hadn't worked.
"210!"
"Yes, sir."
"Could you please take care of our friend?"
VFA-210 suddenly hovered in the air and attached metal handcuffs to Kohn's hands. The metal handcuffs lifted Kohn into the air by his hands with magnetic force. VFA-210 moved behind Kohn and drew fluid from near his spinal cord. It placed the fluid in the capsule in its abdomen.
"I examined the hormone levels. Cortisol levels are 85% above the expected reference range, and epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine release are significantly elevated. This indicates that the individual is experiencing high anxiety or internal conflict."
VFA-210, this time moving in front of the man, focused its sensors on Kohn's face. "Pupil diameter is 30% wider than normal, indicating excessive activation of the sympathetic nervous system. When examining eye movements, micro-saccades beyond conscious control and irregular increases in blink rate were detected."
"Shut up, robot!" Kohn yelled. VFA-210, however, continued to speak.
"Involuntary micro-expressions in facial muscles reflect inconsistent emotional responses. Specifically, a slight contraction is observed in the left orbicularis oculi muscle, while there is a tendency for relaxation in the right zygomaticus major muscle. This is consistent with a form of fake smile or attempt at emotional concealment."
"Is there anything else, 210?"
"I can continue the analysis if you wish."
"No, that's enough… I've recorded everything."
At that moment, the door to the room we were in opened. Five men entered. Each wore metal armor with metal plate shoulder guards. They had "Unify" written on their chests. As they pointed their weapons at me, beams of light from their goggles scanned the surroundings.
"Save me!" Kohn cried. "These guys are crazy…"
As the soldiers surrounded me in the room, I couldn't help but smile. VFA-210 had moved in front of the weapons, shielding me with its body. "You're pointing weapons at a Bioethical Oversight inspector. You know all of this is being recorded, don't you?" As I spread the fingers of my left hand, a holographic form appeared in front of it. When the images recorded by my Telkam were transferred to the form, a screen appeared before me. I could now press either "Approve" or "Reject."
"Stop!" a voice shouted. A woman entered the room, her heels clicking. Her secretary, whose hair was tied in a bun, was leaving her, but the woman signaled her to stop with her hand and shut the door in her face.
The woman had long, blonde hair that almost reached her waist. Her hair was pulled back so tightly that it seemed almost glued to her head. Her glasses were thin and square-shaped. Her blue eyes peered through her glasses. Her pinstriped suit jacket was open, and she unbuttoned a few buttons on her shirt before taking a deep breath. "What's going on here!"
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I own this facility! My name is Flora!"
"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Flora. I'm Arthur Vale. And this is my assistant, VFA-210…"
"You lunatics!" Flora said, walking towards the armed soldiers and making them lower their weapons one by one. "Are you insane? Pointing weapons at an inspector? Idiots! Are you trying to drive me crazy? Do you want the whole facility to collapse on our heads?" She even slapped and shook a few soldiers. Then she turned to me: "What's the problem, Inspector!"
"Your director Kohn's data turned out to be inconsistent."
"That's impossible…"
"Enough! I'm tired of that answer!" I had said, and was just about to reach my hand towards the hologram when:
"Stop!" the woman shouted once more. "I'm serious when I say impossible."
"What do you mean?"
"We created this creature using that data!"
"That's what's impossible…"
"Quartez personally gave us this data. They wanted us to combine our biological expertise with this data and create these creatures for them. That's why it's impossible for this data to be inconsistent."
"Very funny… Clearly, they used you. I can't understand why they'd give you inconsistent data and make you create a useless creature."
"The creature is alive, though…"
"How?"
At that moment, I saw a green glowing light. "Countdown terminated," I heard a voice say. The sounds of generators and motors working one after another became audible. I could see the cables entering the creature's mouth trembling with the current passing through them. Then something happened. The creature also began to tremble. There was an electrical discharge at both ends of the crescent on its head. Then I noticed electricity, like spiderwebs, constantly swirling between the two sharp edges of this crescent.
"One second…" I said softly. At that moment, the creature's painful screams became audible. "…this creature is working."
"Yes, as you can see…" said the woman named Flora. "…there seems to be no problem." At that moment, I looked at the screens below me. All the data was glowing green.
"No! It makes no sense… It makes no sense for such a creature to exist. The data was inconsistent." Then I scrutinized the creature for a while. As I looked at the constantly swirling electrical currents, I began to understand something. For the first time in a long time, I heard the word "inconsistent." This word traveled between the neurons in my brain, bringing back memories that seemed to leap from a nightmare. The memories came into my mind so vividly that if I hadn't pulled myself away, my eyes, fixated on the electrical currents, wouldn't have been able to escape the memories. "Incompatibles! Po, you despicable man!"
If Quartez could create this incompatible creature, then what was happening here was bigger than I thought. The secrets hidden here might just take away the last shred of hopelessness within me.
"Interesting…" I said, and closed the hologram in my hand. "…my work here seems like it's going to be extended." I walked past VFA-210 and took two steps forward. In the same way, the woman named Flora walked towards me. Our hands met in the middle.
"We would be honored to host you here for a while longer."