Old Landald
District 15, Bridgewald
25th of January, 2157
07.12 NAM
Niels opened his bedroom window slowly right after the man woke up from his sleep. Niels carefully pushed the window lever, even slightly away, worried that the smell of methane gas around his house would reappear and spoil the morning atmosphere with its not at all pleasant smell. Just blame the synthetic pasta food factory two kilometers across from his house for dumping organic waste carelessly without processing it first.
"Hahhh ... grateful the air is better today," he muttered as he breathed a sigh of relief. The little cactus under the window made him smile. They are funny, plus their importance is not visible.
It's always like Niels starts his day early in the morning. The man was also fond of praying in the morning, expressing his hopes to the Lord of the Universe. Niels, who is religious, loves God very much, considering him the only remaining source of calm amid the hustle and bustle of the human world that invites his thoughts to solve problems every day.
"Hi, Niels. When are you coming home? Why didn't you wake me up?"
Isabela, his younger sister, greeted him in an annoying tone at the door.
"How do you know if I'm finally home if you've been sleeping like lifeless flesh?" Niels got up and went to the bathroom sink to wash his face.
Niels opened the sink faucet without closing the door because Isabela was still in his room, and Niels guaranteed that the girl would check all of his belongings and ask a lot of questions.
"Are you going to dig again?"
Well, sure enough, Niels glanced briefly at Isabela, who was reading his daily journal.
"Yes, in the forest of Malarpon. Why?"
"Niels, when are you going to take me for a walk in nature? I'm bored here!" Isabela whined. Niels had promised to take a vacation away from Old Landald for a long time, but unfortunately, her brother was very good at discourse.
"This time I will be very busy, Isa. If you come along, I will ignore you. Just wait for the next time, don't go to the Malarpon forest either."
"Why? What's wrong with that forest?"
"It's too hot. Your skin will burn in an instant because the ozone layer above has leaked. Its diameter is more than six kilometers, and the sun's rays are free to go in and out of there," Niels explained while brushing his teeth. The scientist sounded excited to explain his area of expertise.
Isabela didn't answer until Niels came out of the sink, "What are you reading to make your face so serious like that?" he asked, about to leave his room for breakfast. Then Isabela followed him half-way, "Do you know Rachel Richmann, that hottie?"
"Rachel... Richmann?" Niels frowned in confusion, remembering, "Which one..."
"Here, you contacted him two days ago, before the microchip-gene insertion experiment." Isabela read Niels' notes in the journal aloud to its owner.
"Oh really?"
"Ah yes, I forgot a little bit. Sorry."
Isabela nodded, then placed Niels' journal on the kitchen bar table, watching her brother pour some cereal and milk into two bowls for them.
"I wonder why you interacted with Rachel Richmann? You don't even know her."
"I may know her, but I can't remember exactly when and why."
Isabela sighed heavily, "Has your condition been getting worse lately? That incident seems important since you recorded the topic of your conversation with her around the research. Wouldn't that kind of memory last longer?"
"If I don't remember it for a long time, maybe I'll even forget it as fast as possible."
"Indeed, I don't think it's important, or I just can't remember it." Niels continued, taking a deep breath, making Isabela a little sad.
But the girl didn't want to put any additional burden on Niels with her sad expression. "It was strange. How could you forget her, Niels? She is very famous, beautiful, and admired by many. She is also a scientist like you, even attending parliamentary congresses."
"Still, I don't remember." Niels casually devoured his cereal. "Forget it, why are you so curious about her?"
"Niels, how can you not? She's the first love and role model for both girls and boys. She's so beautiful and talented! She's the federation's flagship scientist!"
"Beautiful? Do you judge someone only by their physical appearance?"
"Yeah, so what if her appearance is the first thing I remember? She's really pretty. Would you like to see her picture? You have absolutely no taste, Niels."
****
Cyclops Intelligence Main Laboratory
District 13, Mazsea, Hatemoor
29th of January, 2157
08.23 NAM
Lars opened the door to the Neurosurgery Room, walked casually as usual, and quickly removed the covers of the cylindrical capsule filled with concentrated oxygen where Rachel had been lying for the last five days. The woman hasn't been conscious since yesterday, since the AI system there said that the surgery was successfully carried out as planned. As planned, it would take up to a week at most for Rachel to open her eyes. But as the maximum time approached, Lars was already worried, and so he planned to wake Rachel up today.
DSSS!
Cold puffs of oxygen gas created additional humidity in the room. Slowly, the oxygen gas thinned out, spreading across the room, revealing Rachel, who was still tightly closing her eyes. Lars then approached, checking Rachel's eyes and nervous responses with his own hands before the AI system worked.
DING!
[System Notification]
[Vital signs: Normal]
[Biological and metabolic history: an extreme temperature drop occurred at 3.14 am. Heart rate and brain function had returned to normal by 3.30 a.m.]
Lars breathed a sigh of relief after reading the information from the hologram that appeared in front of him. "Thank goodness nothing bad happened to you, Rachel," he muttered, gripping her cold hand.
But a few minutes later, unexpectedly, Rachel responded, her finger moving slowly.
"Rachel..."
Lars kept waiting until finally, Rachel's eyes opened completely. Rachel looked confused, looking around the room before finding Lars beside her. "Lars?"
Lars nodded, "Yeah, you've finally come to your senses."
Rachel closed her eyes, grimacing, "What are the side effects like this? It hurts," she complained, rubbing the back of her neck that had not fully recovered from the two large cuts.
"Yes, it is," replied Lars. "But don't worry, the pain will go away in no time as the microchip and genes are activated in your head."
"Oh, is that so?" Rachel sighed again.
Lars smirked, "Yeah, congratulations on your successful experiment this time, Rachel. You did well."