The Experiment (22 page)

I responded “Exactly…”

By the time it was our turn and we choked down the nutrition bars, it was almost dark enough to leave. When I looked up I could see the moon just barely
shining through the clouds… It was perfect for what we had to do.

As soon as we got a chance, we snuck past everyone and quietly made our way towards the mine.

When we were about 20 yards away I started to hear yelling. I looked at Kayin and I could tell he heard it too.

He said “Be careful, it sounds like there’s more than one of them. And we can’t kill anyone else. They’ll know something is going on and more of natives will end up dead.”

We slowly approached the edge and looked down.

There were two soldiers beating one of the natives and we could see a few more cowering around them. The rest of the natives just kept their distance and stayed down in silence.

Kayin said “It sounds like they’ve been drinking; I hope this doesn’t get out of hand…”

I looked over at him “It’s already out of hand…”

“I know Atlas but we can’t do anything. We just have to wait for them to leave.”

I wanted to just look away but I didn’t… I wanted to see what these men did to them. Just as it did with Horus, remembering their actions would give me strength when I needed it the most.

They continued kicking them around and yelling at them for quite some time… It looked like they had
beaten one of them to death. Either that or he was just unconscious… And as usual, I had to sit there and do nothing. Just like all the time I spent with Horus in his lab…

Eventually they lost steam and started climbing out of the mine… I wanted to kill them right then, I even had a perfect vantage point. They’d both be dead before they could even react… But Kayin was right. It would just lead to more of the soldiers doing the same thing…

I turned to Kayin “Should we go down and look for 3?”

“No, it’ll scare and confuse them even more. He knows we’ll be up here waiting for him. If he doesn’t show in an hour we’ll go in for a closer look… I have a feeling he’s clever enough to avoid getting killed though.”

When I looked back down into the mine I could see that one native holding a torch had climbed on top of a large rock. It looked like he was talking to all of them.

“Kayin, look! That has to be 3.”

“Yeah you’re right… Who else would be doing that...”

I let out a sigh of relief “I guess he’s trying to calm them down.”

We couldn’t hear what he was saying but it didn’t take long. After a few minutes he jumped down and
started making his way to the top of the mine. He was coming up on the opposite side so we made our way around.

As soon as I saw 3 I said “I’m glad you’re ok, we were worried about you.”

He scoffed “You mean worried about the plan?”

“I’m sorry 3… You know we wanted to do something…”

“Nevermind… I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go… They’ll be waiting for your people to show up. I told them 3 days.”

Kayin stayed quiet. I was going to say something else but I decided not to… It wouldn’t help anything and he deserved to be angry after everything that happened today…

On the way to the next site we all remained completely silent… Neither one of us could manage to think of something to say to 3. I guess there really wasn’t anything we could say… It was hard to even look at him.

I didn’t want to know what he was thinking about us… He probably knew it was our fault, because we weren’t cautious enough…

What seemed like 20 minutes went by until 3 got up and walked to the front of the ship.

He leaned over and said. “Look… I know this isn’t your fault. I didn’t mean to suggest that you don’t care about us. I know you do… I know a lot of your
people do and that you aren’t all bad…”

He looked at us for a moment. “I just wanted to say that.”

I looked at 3 and nodded, Kayin said “Thanks 3… We really needed to hear that.”

He smiled “That’s why I said it… We have a lot of work to do. You two simpletons already keep coming within inches of getting us caught. Can’t have you distracted because you’re moping around.”

Kayin said “Way to ruin a nice moment hairball...”

3 replied “You know me” smiled even bigger, and sat back down.

I turned to Kayin “Hey is there any way I could stick with you this time?”

I really didn’t want to guard the mine again… or possibly have to deal with another guy like Cassian.

“Yeah sure I guess so… I’ll tell people you’re my assistant. Just try not to say too much so people don’t figure out you’re clueless…”

I laughed “Yeah sure, I’ll just do whatever you say.”

Kayin turned back “Hey 3! Come back up here!”

“Since it’s the middle of the night I’m going to land about a mile away from the mine so we can just sneak you in… No one has to know this time… Atlas and I will just come back to the ship, wait until morning and check in.”

3 responded “Yeah that sounds logical to me… Why wait until morning and make them aware of me?..

Finally you two are starting to use your brains… It helps a lot doesn’t it?”

“… Just go get strapped in, I’m about to land again. I’ll do my best to take it easy and even though I would love to see you getting thrown around the ship again – we need you…”

3 let out an obviously fake laugh to mock Kayin.

“Like I’d ever forget about your 3rd rate flying abilities…”

I said “I better brace up too, my knees still hurt from last time…”

Kayin shot me a dirty look and we got ready to land.

If anything, his landing may have actually been worse… But I leaned forward and put my hands on the console to steady myself. If my knees took another hit like that I’d probably be limping.

When it was over 3 yelled up “That was even rougher than last time!.. Please explain how you can practice something and actually get worse at it!?”

Kayin yelled back “Shut up! I’m still learning!.. “

Then he turned to me and shrugged “It’s harder than it looks…”

I heard 3 say something under his breath… At least he was kind of trying not to aggravate Kayin… I guess it would be annoying to be some kind of super genius and have to deal with people like us…

When we stepped off the ship I said “There aren’t clouds covering the moon anymore, you can see
pretty far into the distance tonight. We have to pay attention and take it slow.”

Kayin landed the ship in a clearing in the middle of a heavily wooded area so we had to make our way through a forest. It was the first time I’d ever been in such a place… The moonlight coming through the trees gave it all such a surreal visual effect. All the leaves shimmered as they waved in the breeze sweeping through the forest… It was more like a lucid dream than reality…

In my lifetime no citizens ever left the Capital. It had small zones of greenery and contained remnants of the wildlife Aeris once had, but nothing natural like this… I don’t know why but I felt like I was in a very special place. I genuinely hoped once we restore the atmosphere on Aeris, that one day, the future generations will be able to experience nature like this…

3 started to say something and Kayin stopped him.

In a low voice he said “We have to be careful out here. There are these big brown animals, 3 times the size of a man… Apparently five of our guys have been killed by them. We’ve been told to shoot on sight.”

3 said “Oh yeah, I know what you’re talking about. They’re extremely dangerous and excellent hunters. You usually won’t know one’s around until it’s too late…”

Kayin said “Exactly… So we need to be quiet and
tread softly… And most importantly listen for any noises; there could be many creatures able to kill us on this planet. And like 3 said, they’re silent hunters.”

So much for the amazement of the forest… Supposedly I could be killed at any moment…

Since we had to try and make as little noise as possible, it took quite some time to finally make it to the site.

When we got to the tree line, Kayin told us to stop. “Ok 3, the mine is all the way to the right. All the soldiers should be sleeping or at least preoccupied and nowhere near it.”

3 calmly started heading away “Yeah, yeah, I got it… get in, don’t be seen. I’ll make sure we’re ready to move on by tomorrow night. Just try not to be so careless… Maybe you won’t have to kill any of the soldiers and cause a scene this time…”

Kayin snapped back “Hey! At least I wasn’t standing there waving a torch around! That’s probably why he saw us!”

3 just kept walking; he didn’t even look back… I don’t know if it was because he knew Kayin was probably right or if he assumed we were followed and didn’t care to argue about it.

Either way, it was a mistake that had severe consequences for the natives and we couldn’t let it happen again.

I turned to Kayin “Whoever’s fault it was… We need
to be more careful. That soldier could have just as easily seen us leaving and followed us… We don’t know.”

“Forget him… If we didn’t need him I would have already dropped him off somewhere. I’ll be glad to be rid of him soon… I don’t care what he went through; he purposely tries to initiate conflicts with me, meanwhile we’re trying to help him!”

“I know, but you just said it yourself. We won’t have to deal with him much longer… So just ignore him…Hey, I feel bad for his people. Apparently he’s their leader now. At least we get to leave.”

We both laughed and started back to the ship…

There was no room to lie down on the ship and it was too dangerous to sleep outside so we had to just try and fall asleep sitting up in the pilot’s chairs.

After a few minutes we looked at each other and Kayin said “This isn’t working.”

I said “No it’s not… But we don’t really have a choice.”

“Let’s just sleep outside, the ground is soft and we can use our jackets as pillows.”

“What about those giant animals that can kills us?”

He laughed “Think about it Atlas… We’ve been here for two years and five guys have been killed by them… What are the chances?”

I was so uncomfortable I agreed and we went outside.

As soon as I hit the ground I immediately noticed how much clearer the sky was. I could see so many stars… Literally thousands more than I ever did looking up at night on Aeris.

I couldn’t tell whether the moon was closer, or just substantially larger. But when it was full like this you could almost see as if it were the middle of the day… Everything about this place was so beautiful and amazing… I never wanted to leave…

Kayin said “You know that some of the stars we can see have long burned out or become unstable and exploded? We can only still see the light because it’s been traveling to us for thousands of years. Even though the original source is gone… So in a way it’s like looking into the past.”

“Hm… I didn’t know that… Incredible… And since when have you cared about that kind of stuff?”

He laughed “Hey I read sometimes!”

“I bet 3 would have a good response to that…”

He looked over at me, smiled, and we both started laughing…

I had a lot on my mind so I wasn’t exactly talkative; I guess the same went for Kayin... It seemed like 20 minutes went by before we spoke again. I kind of figured he fell asleep.

“You know I don’t mean to be so short with 3… You have to admit, it’s really hard… I’d go as far as to say he actually picks on me specifically…”

“I know, but you’re doing a lot better, and so is he… Don’t even worry about it… I don’t mind listening to you too bicker anyway. It’s actually pretty funny.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds… “Shut up Atlas.”

We both started laughing again…

I heard him let out a big yawn. “So I’ve been thinking about what you said…”

“What’s that?”

“About not letting their actions change who I am…”

“Yeah?”

“Well I decided you’re right… Torturing people is for men like them. I’ve got a much better idea for Neros and his supporters.”

He paused for a moment “I say instead of killing them or locking them up, we make them work the mines… From sunup to sunset, just like they’ve been doing to the natives… It’ll even help us get home sooner.”

“Glad to hear you say that… I love that idea… But what do we do with them once we’ve mined all the chrysos?”

“I say we lock them in those storage rooms and let everyone on Aeris know what they’ve done when we get back… The people will demand they stand trial. I know it.”

I appreciated Kayin’s change of heart… But I honestly worried about letting men like Neros live…

When we got back to Aeris, things could be different. The ACI obviously had strong influence over our government. They could have complete control by the time we get back. A lot can happen in 15 years or whatever it will end up being…

“I know what I said… But are you sure it’s a good idea to let him live?.. The ACI is very powerful… We could really regret it later if he uses his influence to turn us into the bad guys… It wouldn’t be difficult for a man in his position. Especially if a good amount of his men stay loyal and lie for him.”

“No, I have faith in our people… Most of us are good Atlas. Don’t let men like Horus and Neros convince you otherwise… We can do this without losing ourselves. Just like you said… I know that now.”

“I hope you’re right…”

Chapter 14

3
managed to convince the second group of natives to join with us by the end of the day, just as he promised. He must have been right about their desperation… They’ll take any way out, even if it sounds like certain death.

We were perfectly in line to hit two more sites, just as planned, but 3 ran into something totally unexpected at the third mine.

One of the natives took exceptionally well to Horus’ treatment and was noticeably more intelligent than the others. He was able to assert control and refused to step down and allow 3 to have any influence over the rest of them.

3 did his best to reason with him and show the others his superior intellect but it was of no use… Unfortunately, by the second day, 3 had no choice but to challenge the other native to a fight, or “Cal-Mah”.

In order to secure his victory, 3 secretly fashioned a weapon beforehand… By their customs, 3 was forced to kill him. It was the only way to win their respect and make them recognize him as their new leader… If he had backed down, they wouldn’t ever forget the display of weakness and we’d have to just move on to another site.