NOVEL NEXT We exist in the dark, for those in the light to go on
Charlotte was led outside of the facility, she realized how big this place is as she saw multiple buildings looking the same as the one she was in. Box shaped building stretches further than her eyes can see. This whole place belonged to this whole Organization.
Director Issac let out a relieved breath, making her concentration go back to him, "Hah, I hate that place. Now we can talk about Project Darwin freely!"
"For starters, it researches evolution, mostly human evolution but it also takes an interest in animals. I largely have no problem with it except one part", he pointed at Charlotte, "The experiment you took part in."
Me?
"The experiment is about instinct and skills, what stick longer to the human body and mind, by clearing the subject's mind of all memory periodically. Like language, even after mind wiping, you retained the ability to understand human speech and your ability to talk. You might not find the meaning of some words you don't hear often. We also find out what yearly mind wipes do to a human body and mind, for example, the discoordination experienced after each wipe, and the enhancement of bestial instinct are the most common cases."
She did experience both of those cases, like the first time she woke up and how she can sense the air flowing through the cracks in the wall.
Nope! It was my doing you were able to sense the errors!
Or only one.
The girl looks afar, at the distant buildings and the vast empty space, "Why is this place so big?"
"To prepare for the worst.", the Director looks to the sky with a hopeful smile, "We exist in the dark, for those in the light to go on."
"In a world where there exist people, not to mention creatures, capable of bringing down countries with ease. This organization is the first and the last bastion of humanity."
Those words resonated with Charlotte, seeing the man with curious eyes. She can feel the truth in those words, ready to defend this... humanity... what is humanity?
"Issac, what is humanity?"
"Hm", Issac stared at Charlotte, "Just what we humans called ourselves."
The girl nodded, accepting the answer. With no more questions, she quietly followed Issac to their destination.
How should Charlotte put it? It is certainly different from any other buildings in this place, in that instead of boxes, her new residence is a dome.
"Charlotte, this place will be your new home, Project Belial.", Issac spoke with a proud smile, "The place to create the most selfish human possible."
The most selfish human... I like the sound of that
Charlotte walked to the door, where it automatically opened. Inside, just like the Project Darwin Site, is a hallway leading to a door, which seemed to be made out of wood.
Without minding the others, Charlotte rushed in to open the wooden door. My new home...
The room on the other side was bright, the walls were light pink without anything hanging, as if this was a brand new house. There is a dining table in the middle of the room, with a set of four chairs. In this room, there are two other doors, one made out of wood and the other made out of steel.
Charlotte decided to check out the steel door first, so she came close to the door. Her senses told her there are people beyond the door, with the air flows she faintly feels, Charlotte can just make out the shapes of the people beyond the doors. Flowy, flappy... coats, they are like the people in the 0ther place...
"I need to talk to the management here so wait by the table, can you do it for me?", Director Issac asked, standing behind the girl.
Charlotte stared at him, finding a faint trace of vigilant in his expression. Not knowing anything further, she answered, "Fine". Then she sat down quietly while the Director went through the steel door.
The guards stood beside the steel door and next to Charlotte, keeping a check on the girl. At the same time, Charlotte too keeps her eyes on them. She does not fully trust them given how wary they are of Charlotte herself, though she does not blame them since she knew what she did. Anyone would be scared of me...
With nothing to do at the moment, Charlotte laid herself down on the table, letting the coolness of the object pass to her. The chill was nice and calming, at least it kept her eased a bit in this tense atmosphere. Still, with nothing to do the girl started to fidget around. Then she remembered her box, and she let a guard carry it for her.
Finding the guard was easy, he was the one standing furthest from her and he already put it down next to the entrance. Charlotte got up, ignoring the tense expression on others' faces to get the box. My stuff...
In the box, Charlotte put aside the dictionary to look for the trinkets. The first thing that got her attention was a fake butterfly knife, it has a rainbow design and was very light to the touch. Her body remembered holding and playing with it before, so she let her instincts take over. She spins the knife around her fingers, keeping it from falling off, and maintains the balance, it was flashy but did the job of opening the knife, but the blade was dull as expected. She closed the knife and put it back in the box.
Next was a silver coin that had the symbol of a skull on one side and a boat on the other. Charlotte did not know why but this coin felt very special to Charlotte, there is a certain memory connected with it, something her mind held on to through even the mind wipes—
"I'm back!"
Charlotte turned around when she heard the Director, normally she would have noticed his movement, but she must have been too distracted by the coin and its meaning.
Her azure eyes landed on the Director, or more specifically the object in his hand, a rectangular black screen. Following him is a woman in the lab coat.
"Charlotte, this person here is the Project Manager Silla Arco."
The woman waved her hand greeting Charlotte without saying a word. She is quite young, seemed to be around in her late 20s, blonde hair with a hint of brown in them. She gave Charlotte an uneasy feeling, especially her eyes which are crimson red, which is not a normal color for eyes, combined with her unchanging and fake smile. Silla is very suspicious.
"And this is your phone", Issac handed Charlotte the phone, "This is the latest model developed exclusively for the organization, it is as strong as a high-end PC, though it lacks the fancy modifications..."
Charlotte did not know what Issac was talking about, she knows it is very impressive by the surprised look of everyone in the room. In the end, the enthusiastic mood of the Director fell to her deaf ear, she now just waits for him to finish and she can explore it by herself.
"You must not download anything without the Project Manager's approval, nor can you make any comments on public sites since it would potentially pose a security risk. You can never be too careful with corporations nowadays. Okay, now you can try it, touch the screen"
She did as she was told, and the screen changed to a symbol of a spiraling tower in front of a white background. Charlotte tapped it again to get to the main menu, where the usual preinstalled apps are. But she did not care about that, what fascinated the girl was the touchscreen itself, how can it move with just a touch? She fiddles with it scrolling ups and downs, and opening apps to explore the features of the device. Cool...
Seemed like this was not the expected response the Director wanted, but it cannot be helped, children are curious creatures, and there is no way to stop them from wanting to explore the world. He lightly tapped Charlotte's shoulder, getting her attention away from the phone and onto him.
"How about you go to bed? I think you need a rest for tomorrow since you will be very busy from now on."
"Hm, alright.", she agreed.
So she when to the room behind the wooden door, it was her bedroom. Not much is in here, only a single bed, a desk, and chair, and a closet to put her clothes in. Very simple and Charlotte quite liked it. There is another door which leads to the bathroom and toilet.
So this will be my home from now on...