Mille's POV- Continued
Before I was an 8-time award winner for good science & ethics... before the incidents that forced me to become a hardened survivor at Noorisbor and Celtrix. Before I even became a teacher, scientist, survivor & bookworm as a champion for human rights. I am not your typical scientist or "egghead" that some others call me, follow as you glimpse into my life, you might learn a thing or two from me...
Her Past- Millie Stone: Hardened Scientist, Champion of human rights
To begin, I was born as the youngest of my siblings; they hailed me as a child prodigy at a young age, because of advance knowledge acquirement. I couldn't forget anything if I wanted to, I learn things quicker than most people. At a young age, I've:
I taught myself how to play the piano
Solved problems at a 12th-grade level
Made a successful chemical formula that made household cleaners more effective when doing housework.
I took college classes at a College level and got majors in Biochemical, Mechanical, Physics, and Mathematics.
My home life, however... It wasn't a happy one.
My two sisters were jealous of my degrees in college and tore them up. My parents wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer, despite my wishes, and threw away my lab equipment. Eventually, I cut off contact with them when I was 14 since I could not stomach their cruelty any more and ran away from home.
Thankfully, they were perks to being a child prodigy; I knew which areas are dangerous at night and the day in the New California area. I avoided the child custody agencies and avoided homeless shelters since it would be dangerous to stay there; I am crafty enough to make the library in Vas Nagoa my temporary home.
3 years have passed, I took various of jobs to make ends meet: Being a mechanic to fix hover-cars, Worked as a waitress, I was a klutz at that, Being a librarian at my library for a place to stay and board, being a teacher assistant and a Gardener. I was never good with people and spent a lot of time at work rather than to entertain the idea.
One day, I met a businessman where I was working in the garden. He offered me a job to work at Celtrix as his secretary. I would have accepted had it not been for him asking me a question about the plant he is about to purchase, I tell him that the plant absorbs its nutrients from the sun, he should give it ¼ cup of water each week, deny both of them, his plant will die. He then offered me the position of being one of their Scientists instead, I accepted.
Celtrix and Noorisbor Incidents
To my greatest joy, when I arrived in Celtrix, it amazed me at it having many projects to do ranging from Technological, Biochemical, Gravity-based to my favorite...
"Who can tell me about my favorite passion?" I asked the room when Sakura Song raised her hand. "Yes, Sakura?"
Sakura raised a hand: PSI Abilities & What they can do.
"That's correct, Sakura!" I said with a smile. "Mark! Pay attention, this is where the part gets good." much to his surprise.
However, I learned the hard way without social skills, clout, or respect, it limited me in advancement or promotions. My co-workers took advantage of me, harassed me, stole my ideas, and pass it as their own or worse, use me until they got what they wanted. I didn't tell anyone since it would make it worse, since I would have panic attacks in social gatherings and sometimes get confused when my co-worker flirted with me being babbled by their intent. While I enjoyed the experiments, the endless calculations, planning & executions of the projects, it became too much for me.
Before I got ready to turn in my resignation, an incident occurred that put the entire station on lockdown, Soldiers, scientists, and employees banded together against these "Experiments". We barricaded ourselves in a safe room, hoping that help arrived.
Tears streamed down as I recalled these events, I've steeled himself to explain my story. I sat closer to the team, and I described the events.
I was a scientist who would hide and cower behind a security door; sobbing uncontrollably, believing it was a nightmare. Day by day, they were 100 of us left- scientists, doctors, employees. We had faith that our security team would get through and get reinforcements.
Eventually, it got bad enough that we eventually threw a group of people out there to get help. Scared and terrified at the thought of dying, which after the last group failed to return with news of reinforcements, I learned that I soon was next...
"Wait! wait! You said that they threw you out there, an untrained and untested scientist?!" Mark raised his voice at the way they treated me. "Why didn't you fight back or protest?"
"What was I going to do, huh?" I said, "Oh please, let me go! I don't want to die out there? Hmm?" I asked him.
"Let me go, please!" I pleaded, but they ignored my pleas and threw out into the wolves. I learned they decided send me out there alone to get reinforcements. They gave me nothing- No radio, rations, or anything to help me survive.
"Okay, let us know when you send for reinforcements!" A man said behind the door.
"Open up! Open up! Open... please!" I bang on the door to no avail.
There I was, a defenseless scientist who barely knew how to defend herself, let alone call for help, yet they thought it was a good idea to leave me out there. I wanted to find a place to hide, which I found a desk to stay hidden and hope to hide out until the reinforcement came, but fate had other plans for me. One monster, however, found me and dragged me by my leg, which someone killed it to save me... I had assumed reinforcements had finally arrived only to learn...
It was a cyborg that stood in front of me, it was devoid of emotion or compassion, it took and grabbed me for "Assimilation" saying have no choice.
I knew firsthand; it was taking me to one of their cyborg conversion devices, and if it gets me there... It intended for me to become one of them; I kicked and screaming for my life to no avail since cyborgs are far stronger than normal humans and they don't respond to pain or fear like us humans would as it continued to drag me toward the conversion room.
It was until someone broke the cyborg grip over me; it was another cyborg, but I saw they have damaged it with one arm missing but it was still enough to knock it down.
I watch in fear and amazement as two cyborgs fight against each other in a clandestine battle over my fate. The damaged one fights with an inhuman growl while the other was emotionless, moved through seamlessly. I was too paralyzed in fear trying to move a muscle since I know the victor would pursue me no matter where I do and I don't know which one would come as the victor. However, despite being damaged, the damaged one defeated the cyborg in front of me.
I tried to move, but I remain frozen in place, I didn't know what it would do to me... I cried, wondering if it would-
"M... Millie..." It said in a calm tone.
"Please... Are you going to hurt me?!" I panicked.
"My... My orders were ... To give you this implant." It pulled out an implant in front of me.
"No ... No!!" I screamed.
"My mission... is to aid you." It said to me, "I... I am... I am not here to convert you."
The moment it said to me, it is not here to convert me; I realized it meant to help me. I don't why... The cyborg keeps a free will or someone I didn't know reprogrammed it. As the cyborg got near me, I closed my eyes since I wondered what it will do to me.
"Millie Stone... Listen...." it continued to speak to me despite my fears. "It is not your time to die, today. My mission... is to give you this implant... to you to survive." I opened my eyes. "Look at me..." it demanded, "Look at me... I do... I don't... have much time left... please?" I looked at the cyborg and looked him in the eye.
It's kneeling toward me and showing the implant so I may see it. "This will take time for it to process... It won't be long...." before it plunged on the side of my head, leaving me screaming in pain as the implementation took effect.
"Mission... Complete..." It was its last words before it collapsed onto the ground.
After it integrated the implant inside my head, I learned it was a guiding and targeting computer to help me survive around this crisis.
"To sum it up, you taught yourself how to survive!" Mark exclaimed. "You learned how to fight, make your equipment to give yourself a fighting chance to survive. Did that implant teach you all of that?" he asked.
"The implant didn't teach to me to survive, I taught myself on how to do so," I explained.
As I explained to him before I was untested before the incident occurred,. I learned:
No one was going to save us, leaving me to overcome my fears as I explored the entire station.
I learned the incidicent was caused by human experimentation. It started with the intent to create a superhuman where they would suffer no more disease, curing cancer, and promote longer lives. It was also to induce PSI powers among those subjects which caused death, paralysis, madness, or if unlucky... Mutations.
However, one of the test subjects broke free of their containment and unleashed the experiments onto the station, which also includes the cyborgs we have on the station.
To my horror, the Executives were the first to escape. They left us to all die here at the station. They write us off as "Losses" to replace and take any available spacecraft to leave the station. They also didn't put safety as a concern or a priority as I learned there is no distress signal here since it didn't occur for the company to build one in case of emergencies. What kind of company that value making a profit and not give a damn when disaster strikes.
Deciding I needed to do something about it, I found the workshop on the lower level of the station. Thankfully, it had all the material that I needed to make the equipment I needed:
I made an Exo-suit 1.0 for mobility and some defense.
A Psi-Null collar to resist PSI energies and mind-attacks.
Learn how to handle a gun with the help of the guiding computer on my implant.
Made a chemical-thrower using a box of scraps and an oxygen tank that had two modes: Napalm and Cryo modes.
"So you made yourself a hardened warrior of science?" he said with a smile. "That explained how you survived on Celtrix station."
"But the thing is, Miss stone." Skip spoke up. "Did you ever find the cause of the incident or encounter some test subjects that possess PSI Powers?"
"I did," I said, recalling that I encountered some of them.
I built the distress signal with the help of the guiding system within my implant to make a blueprint of the device. With my new equipment in hand, I went through the dangers of the station to get the materials to make the device.
I've encountered some test subjects along the way:
Some were maimed.
Saw one of them with his lower jaw missing
Some with only one part of their brain exposed,
Some without eyes
And some looked normal but madness had already possessed them, reasoning with them was out of the question.
As soon as I gathered all the parts and began constructing the device, I encountered one of the test subjects with my own eyes. She differed from all the others and I felt... hatred in her eyes.
"I cannot touch your mind...." the woman speaks. "I know you made that PSI Collar to defend against my mental attacks, don't deny it!" she bared her teeth.
"Listen, we can help you-" I tried to calm the woman, but she teleported closer, stalking me as if was her prey.
"How can you help me?! You don't even know me..." the woman whispered. "The experiments conducted on us... turned us into monsters... They turned me into this!!" she screamed at me.
"I am so sorry... I swear to you, I didn't know..." I felt sorry for her.
"Sorry? Oh, you're sorry?!" she looked at me with baring her teeth at me with contempt. "Sorry won't cut it... You were part of those experiments and I know your role in it!!" she shouted at me. "REMEMBER! REMEMBER THAT YOU WERE PART OF THOSE EXPERIMENTS WHATEVER YOU REALIZED THAT OR NOT! DO YOU EVEN NOT REMEMBER WHAT YOU DONE TO US?!" The woman howled at me.
"I don't..."
"Oh yes, you do..." she quickly lunged at me ... To take the collar from my neck despite my effort to evade her attacks.
"Hahaha! Now I can read your mind!" the woman bared her teeth at me. "I know you are afraid of what I am going to do to you now and..." her face turned a mixture of sadness, joy, and sadistic glee. There was no telling what she'll do to me if I give her a reason to do so.
Being honest with her is my best option; I knew trying to evade or fighting her is out of the question since it's likely the subject uses PSI and telekinesis. She'll also know if I try to lie to her or detect any hostile intent. Yet, she stared at me, eyeing on me like a cornered beast, predicting that I might lash out if I tried.
"Since you can read my thoughts?" I said cautiously. "Why are you here? You can just kill me now and go on your way since I cannot hope outfight or outrun you."
The woman smiled at me and shook my head.
"You were responsible for these atrocities that happened. Killing you won't satisfy my anger, I plan in fact to make you suffer for what you did to me..." the woman drifted toward me.
"Wait! You said I was responsible for this atrocity? How? We never even met before in person." I said as I backed away from her. "Whoever is responsible for this, it is not me."
"No... IT is you!" the woman moved fast as the eye can see, grabbing me on my shoulder with a firm grip and taps my head on the side. "Since you are so smart... You should remember what you did, what you did!! NOW REMEMBER!" she shouted at me.
I clench my head in pain as I fall to the ground and memories pour into my head.
"REMEMBER! Think about what your coworkers wanted from you? The lies they told you! The executives plan to do that with that knowledge." she demanded. "Your ignorance has ruined our lives, thanks to your 'Theories'."
"Do not even think about trying to stall for time or attempt to fight me because I will know." the woman warned me. "Now remember what you did!" she said while I struggled to grasp what she said. "Do you remember yet?! You should because it is your life on the line here!" she raised me in the air and held me in front of her.
As the memories surfaced, the woman wasn't lying... I... I was partially responsible for the crisis. I was wondering about a way to enhance the potential of the PSI mind. On the frontal lobe, I even looked into ways to develop it in average human beings. I shared my findings with my colleagues; they congratulate me, but I learned they used me to advance their agenda on their human experimentation projects. I thought I was doing good with the power of science...
"You are such a deluded scientist!" she said to me, laughing at my ignorance. "You weren't doing it for the good of mankind, they did it to turn us into their guinea pigs!" she said to me.
"I didn't know they would use it for their ends. If I have known-"
"There is more, remember!" she motioned me to continue.
My colleagues used my research to benefit their ends, and the executives used this opportunity to see a profit. I was ignorant of their true intentions and continued to work various projects with the others. Now I see how they used my research, the way they have conducted them...
"Test subject #22, ready for an injection of the Millie PSI enhancement boost." A scientist said.
"W-What? What is going on?!" A woman shouted. It was her, the same woman who held me responsible for the mess.
"Cease your struggles, number #22. Today is a good day to do science." another said with a smile on his face.
"Please, let me go, I have a husband and son..." She pleaded.
"Hold on, please." The scientist ignored her pleas. "Begin the injection." He said to his companion beside him.
"No. No... Please..!!" The woman screamed as the injection went into her while the scientists ignored her screams.
"The injection is in, how do you think this test subject would survive the process?" The scientist said.
"By my estimate, she has a low survival chance of 15% but it seems to me her body is accepting it." Another said while smiling at the prospect of what it will bring.
"I can imagine the big juicy paydays we would get from Ms. Stone's research." The scientists gloated. "She is brilliant but dumb as a rock the minute we told her it would be for the betterment of mankind." he smiled. "Can't believe she had brought it, hook and line & sinker."
They laughed while the woman suffered in agony under their care. They... used me for my research just for what... for a big paycheck?!
It dumbfounded me when I realized that they use my other theories on the cyborgs and wildfire creatures and plant life, just to steal it and use it to justify their unethical experiments. All while making me believe that I was befitting from mankind, I was only giving these monsters the tools to do whatever they wanted.
Thinking back to it, when they said Subject #22, she has not the first or the last. The experiments have produced some successes and give normal people PSI powers while it inducted some into Mutations, Madness, and some into degradation.
One of them broke free and released the test subjects which caused the situation in the first place, one of them called "Zero", he organized the others that suffered to get vengeance on those responsible for their predicament.
Now, I understood the reason; it was my research that started these inhumane experiments, the scientists that used my theory for their ends, and the Executives of the company that encouraged these practices.
"Now you see the truth." Upon seeing my realization of what i seen from those memories. "You are the one that started this whole experiment."
I couldn't say anything since it was my fault I allowed this to happen. Now the subjects are hell-bent on killing those responsible for their predicament. How could I be so blind to the fact they were only using me for their ends? Now I have one of the test-subjects, who fully intend to kill me for my research, destroying their lives with zero regards for their well-being.
"You want to kill me for my research, destroying your lives?" I looked her in the eyes. "I take full responsibility for what happened to all of you. I am sorry about what has happened to you." I accepted my fate, but the woman realized something else...
"Ah! So that where those cowards have been hiding there all of this time." She... read my mind?!
"No, please... Don't kill them, they had nothing to do with this!!" I pleaded, but the woman moved toward the door.
"By all means… Go ahead and finish that distress signal," she said with a psychotic smirk on face. "Someday, somehow... Your time will come, Doctor." With that, she had left the room.
Remembering to finish and activate the distress signal, I hurried back to the others, hoping the woman didn't kill them. By the time I got back... They were dead...
I paused, telling my story, realizing that the woman has found the others and killed them in gruesome ways, showing no mercy to any of them. I later realized that I was one of the lucky ones that survived by the time they came for me, but I was in shock that I could barely respond to anything around me.