WE ALL GOT BORN SO AFRAID
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- from the voice logs of Dr. B. Frank Morrical
"Sunday, October 7th. This is Dr. Morrical. Dr. Frost is currently in the room with the subject. The subject is showing progressive signs of advanced intellect. No physical deformities are visible. The subject exhibits a growing awareness of difference from others. She's aggressive in the believe that she is an "outsider." For the most part, though, she seems to be in good spirits. Today's injection, though, seemed to cause the subject some degree of... of pain. This is off the record, but I have to admit that I do have a few doubts about subjecting a living thing to these sorts of experiments. She was, of course, created for this purpose, but still... Regardless, I don't have a choice in the matter. Should the experiment fail, Lily-- the subject would have to be... terminated.
"Saturday, October 20th. The subject is showing an increased number of REM periods during her sleep sessions. She explained her dreams in great detail to me. Many of them were about other people, living people. I looked up a few of the names she mentioned, and they all exist. It's as if she can extend her mind into their lives. Extraordinary.
"Tuesday, October 30th. Lily has revealed a unique ability to read the minds of others, including thoughts, dreams, emotions, et cetera. Everyone assigned to the Athena Project is excited; they're going out to celebrate tonight. The subject, though, has lost weight and her appetite, though there's a significant rise in her brain activity. We have high hopes for Lil-- the subject.
"Wednesday, November 7th. The subject is displaying negative side-effects towards the injections. She's pale... shaky, and she has frequent, but minor convulsions. There's been a dramatic drop in her brain activity and she no longer displays her former telepathic abilities. I've requested that her injection be reduced, but I know that it won't happen. We need to get successful results-- fast, or they'll pull our funding.
"Monday, November 19th. Lily has developed severe... severe physical deformities, particularly on her head and face. She no longer responds to external stimuli. I'm not sure if she'll pull through.
"Saturday, November 24th. Lily-- I mean, the subject, is very ill. She should be in a hospital, not a testing lab, but my superiors don't want her moved. She no longer responds to her dosage, or anything else. She's catatonic. There's still hope that she might-- Shit. Oh, shit. I'm not getting any readings on her. I think we... I think we just lost her. She's just flatlined. Can you please... just... please, please just go check on her. I think she's... she's dead now. Lily's dead.
THIS IS OUR TORCHED ESTATE
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- Lily O'Callaghan was not the first to die. There were dozens before her, dozens after. Some stillborn, some born deformed (and soon after terminated), some dying due to the injections, and some being killed after developing a strength or ability past the control of the scientists. They were just casualties, though. They meant nothing. It was the successes that counted.
Their initial goal was simple. In the year 2010, the world was on the brink of WWIII. The United States could not go down in flames. They needed better defenses. That was where the pharmaceutical company, Merck, located in Chicago, came in. With funding from the Pentagon, they began to dig further into the wonders of genetic engineering. If they could create an organism, a killing machine, preferably with the human intellect, their chances of winning any potential war would skyrocket. That was their task.
CREATE THE LIVING MACHINE OF WAR
Merck, to make the best use of the Pentagon's money, split their scientists into separate projects: Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Pandora, Triton, and Zeus. Each had a different and unique purpose, and each worked separately with their own subjects. Subjects were born, bred, simply for that purpose. From the beginning they were given the best chances, their DNA having been tampered with to combine every extraordinary trait portrayed by humans. Their injections of scientist-developed drugs began the moment they were born; none were spared.
Some trials were successful, but it was a mystery as to why it enhanced some specimen, but killed others. As the number of successes increased, Merck was permitted not only to create children for their experiments, but to have access to orphans, criminals, and the insane. All of the Unwanted were given. Again, none were spared.
As the years went by, the subjects in each project began to show unique abilities, and the success rate got higher and higher. Merck had almost reached its goal. But as the scientists began to learn more and more about what they were doing, their goal was no longer focused on national defense. Instead, they wanted to create these creatures for various other reasons, including their own personal fame or their own curiosity. Some wanted to push themselves, find the extent of their abilities, and they found them boundless. Each subject responded differently, so they were rewarded with infinite results. The European governments were attempting the same thing, but none of them had advanced to the point that the Americans had. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.
And then the peace treaty was signed in 2040. Disarm, it said.
WE ARE THE FLOOD
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- Subject after subject, person after person was terminated-- killed. The scientists had protested at first, but the iron fist of the government wouldn't allow for the subjects to live. They were a danger to society, all of them, and a breach of the peace treaty. They needed to be disposed of. And fast. If the press got heard of the Merck project, there was no telling what sort of public uproar would ensue. It was best to simply get rid of the evidence.
But the Merck children would not be killed so easily.
It was principally the older ones who started the rebellion, the ones who had been there since the beginning, the first successes. They had never known much of life, but what they had known was far to much to simply let go of. Every creature, even those created by man, had a desire to live, a will to survive. They were still human, even if they weren't God-made. They were still human, for Christ's sake. The outbreak was explosive. No one was ready for it.
It happened when roughly 20% of the "weapons" had been terminated. The subjects of the Apollo Project, the Hermes Project, and the Triton Project created an escape through the western wall of Merck Industries, while the Athena Project and the Artemis Project subdued the scientists. The Pandora Project and the Zeus Project erased every evidence that they had ever been there. It was as if they had disappeared from the face of the earth.
But the scientists and the American government knew they existed, and knew they were out there somewhere, dangerous. They had to be stopped.
The Projects, for the most part, were not interested in hurting others. They simply wanted to be allowed to live. They were not surprised or awkward when it came to worldly things, such as cell phones or automobiles. They knew of all of it, due to their training. After all, what good was a weapon if it didn't know the functioning of every day society? They were smart, smarter than the government, of even the scientists, could have known. They assumed that the subjects would be lost when it came to the outside world. But they weren't. They faded into the scenery, perfectly.
And then there were the Spectres, the shunned of the Merck children. They were made up principally of those who responded negatively to the drugs. Most were killed immediately, but a few were kept for further observation. The rest of their numbers were made up of those who had been given the termination drug and survived, miraculously survived, though they would never be the same as they once were. Some were jaded and angry, while others were left half alive. Some were the Undead. The Projects didn't know of their existence, and didn't anticipate that they would escape as well, otherwise they would have made provisions to see that they were contained.
The Spectres were hated by all, even their own kind.
The National Security Agency had to keep the matter under wraps. They all swore secrecy oaths, as well as the FBI and CIA, facing long term prison sentences if they let word of the Merck Projects get out. They were to find them-- and kill them-- quietly. The local police suspected that something was wrong, particularly because there were several bulletins put out, warrants for anyone with an ID number consisting of two to five digits tattooed on the underside of their left wrist. The first digit was the number of their Project, and the second set was their number in the order created. They were branded for life.
But once again, the Projects outwitted their would-be captors. Some of them found civilian doctors who would remove the tattoo and keep their mouths shut. But most were too afraid of returning to the lab or wary of doctors in general to risk it. But still they remained on the loose. Very few were caught and killed. Survival, rather than killing, became their primary purpose.