The night’s sleep rejuvenated me. I remember waking in the familiar surroundings of a military barracks. Our team area was isolated and right near the lab. Despite this fact, I was feeling settled and oblivious to the tumultuous events of recent days. I looked at my messy barracks, almost expecting a call from my father. Then, it hit me—reality splashed in my face like ice cold water, thoughts flooded back into my mind. My calm disappeared, as I thought of Samuel alone in the main laboratory.
I got to my feet.
“Tyler, what's wrong?” said Martina. “Is Samuel still at the lab?”
“I guess so. He can't go anywhere else. He'd stick out like a sore thumb. I don't know what we'll do now.”
“We better get down there.”
We headed to the main laboratory. We walked into the eerie surroundings and could see Samuel busy behind the control panel.
“Have you been here all night?” I asked.
“Geez, don’t scare a person,” he said, jumping sideways. “Yes, I’ve been here all night. This plot is truly insane.”
“It doesn’t seem possible,” Martina said.
“It IS possible Martina,” he said.
“Are you sure they were acting alone?” I said.
“I couldn’t answer that with absolute certainty. I have figured out quite a lot from the information I have here.”
“What've you learned?” Martina asked.
“Obviously, a vast project like this can't be put into action with just two or three people. Yet, you can have hundreds, or thousands, working on a project with only a select few having the high-level knowledge of the project’s true goals and directions. I've found evidence of a hierarchical command structure. All tasks necessary divided into carefully defined components; many scientists and researchers working on the individual components, yet few with the high-level knowledge of the project’s main goals and direction. I can see only one other person having access to this laboratory; and that profile appears old and inactive. My guess is he could've died or been cut out of the elite group. There is a highly sophisticated automated system for maintaining and nurturing these growing humans. They'd been testing nutritional requirements for the experiments.”
“Don’t call them that!” I said. “They're human beings.”
“Sorry Tyler, I didn’t mean anything.”
“There's an automated system which provides all the nutritional requirements to the people in these cylinders; a kind of feeding tube. I think some people here are being starved to death and others are being overfed, just to see how they react.”
“Can’t you do anything about it?” I cried.
“Yes Tyler, I think I can. I will standardize the automated feeding requirements for all the people here; so that they receive the healthiest requirements as per the research they have performed up until now.”
“We need to tell the people what's going on,” Martina said.
“I don’t think that'd be a good idea,” Samuel cautioned.
“Why not?” Martina asked.
“Even though the current situation is far from ideal; we have to move cautiously. Stability is essential. The reality is there is a huge void in leadership of this society. Another factor is the powerful technology that your society controls. As an Earth dweller, I know what damage it can cause. If we rush into anything, make some sort of declaration of the truth, what will happen? I’ll tell you that we don’t really know. I know what it’s like to live in a world with that huge, gaping void where political leadership should be and it can get pretty ugly.”
“What're we going to do?” I asked.
“Let me have some time to work on it,” Samuel said.
“The explosion, the presidential residence!” Martina said. "We've GOT to explain it."
“What's that?” Samuel questioned.
“The presidential simulator. It's time for a presidential address,” I said. "Even the President is fake. It's all a hologram."
"Oh well," Samuel rubbed his head. "That'll have to be priority number one."
My mind was spinning.
Samuel had busied himself in his plans. Surrendering some control, we were walking away from him, dissatisfied in the unknown solution we desperately wanted to be a part of. As we were slowly moving away from him, he said, “Think positive you two, stay positive. We're in a unique situation. I've studied a lot of history, and humans keep making the same mistakes over and over again, but how many times has the greatest military power in the world had a chance to start with a clean slate? Run by pacifists disinterested in domination over other cultures. I’ll tell you how many times—zero. Historically, military might comes hand-in-hand with the most ruthless and the most power-hungry. Now, look what we have here: three people who just want the world to move in a positive, humane direction—and we have all the power. Think about it, my young friends. It is an exciting situation, completely unique.”