Dr. Ilene's research team assembled after the security team reported what they saw. Dr. Curtis managed to salvage security footage of the little girl before she passed and scanned it thoroughly. The atmosphere here was heavy but it was uncertain if it was because of the girl that had passed or the fear of a disaster from before.
"Running diagnostics…"
A member of the research team had obtained the scan results, and what he saw blew his mind. Dr. Ilene noted the change in his expression and called out to him.
"What did you find out?"
"Okay so, there weren't any seismic readings before this that would have warned us about the tremor, so I thought the machines were faulty. But it was odd that the only place badly affected was her room, so I scanned her room and the facility to know what happened and I found this..."
The man pointed to the screen of his monitor, drawing everyone's attention to it, but before they could ask him about it, he explained.
"What you're looking at is the island's normal seismic readings, but this…"
The doctor pointed to another image on the screen.
"…this was the seismic readings when the tremor occurred."
"Explain it."
Dr. Ilene was getting impatient.
"Adding a thermal lens to the images, you can see the seismic energy in the first image is balanced. But for the second image… all that energy is drawn to the facility and at a particular spot…"
The man brought up the footage of the little girl's room moments before it collapsed.
"I wanted to clear my suspicions, so I put the footage under a thermal lens, and this was what I got. Here, not only is the seismic energy in her room intense, but the waves emitted vibrated at a similar frequency in response to the seismic energy drawn to the room... and get this, the source of the wave... was the little girl."
Everyone had a look of realization when he explained up to this point, but they still waited for a conclusive remark.
"So, you're saying…"
"I'm saying that for some unknown reason, the girl was the source of the tremor. It was like she could generate a resonant frequency that matched the island's natural seismic frequency, amplifying it, causing the tremor."
This information struck them like lightning, rendering them speechless. Dr. Curtis found Dr. Ilene wearing a light smile before she turned and left without saying a word. He followed after her,
"Ilene!"
He called out.
"Curtis, how can I help you?"
She didn't bother to stop walking.
Curtis couldn't keep up and held her arm, asking in a stern voice,
"What… is going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"A girl just lost her life and the best you could do was smile about it? I don't think so… there's something you know that the rest doesn't, and I want to know what the hell is going on."
"Genetic modifications…"
Dr. Ilene simply replied.
"You're forgetting that I've written and presented papers on genetic modification… no one knows it the way I do…"
"And how many of those papers were approved?"
Dr. Ilene snickered. Sadly, Dr. Curtis had nothing to reply.
Dr. Ilene carefully analyzed his expression,
"Some things are best left unknown… knowing too much could complicate things…"
"True, but I take being left in the dark personally like being called a fool. If you want my full support, then you have to tell me every detail of this project."
Dr. Curtis didn't relax his stern look for a moment, causing Dr. Ilene to fall into deep contemplation before she shook her arm free from his grasp,
"Follow me," she said and led him back to her office.
Getting there, Dr. Curtis sat down while Dr. Ilene went over to a corner of her office to prepare some drinks.
"Who do you think funds this research?" she asked.
"The United World Authority…"
Ilene nodded,
"This means a majority of the countries of the world are responsible for this facility. But the thing is, this facility only exists for those on this island. Every record related to this very island, or its staff has either been erased or manipulated to maintain the secret of this facility. Our sponsors will be unhappy if something made its way to the public without their approval, and drastic actions will be taken to cut any flow of information…"
"If this is your way of asking if I can keep a secret then my answer is yes. Get on with it."
Dr. Ilene smiled,
"I wasn't asking… I was telling you, but since you've given consent, I'll have to play my part."
At this time, Dr. Ilene was done preparing the drinks, bourbon served with ice.
"Do you remember what I said when I invited you?" she asked.
Curtis nodded,
"You told me you wanted to bring something new into the world… a new generation of sorts."
"That was just an idea I had… a wish I always wanted to fulfill but was suffocated by the limitations we as humans innately possess… until I was given a gift to break past our shrinking boundaries."
Dr. Curtis creased his brows,
"What gift?"
"To borrow poetic license, you could call it an elixir that bears the secret of evolution… a drink that will usher a new generation of humans… special in different characteristics."
Saying this, Dr. Ilene reached into her table drawer and took out a file, placing it before Curtis. On it was a bold writing with the approved stamp of the United World Authority.
'Project New Generation.'
Curtis looked through the file, absorbed in its content. But his gaze narrowed when he flipped to a certain page.
"MX4…" he mumbled.
"It says here that the MX4 is the key to your research, but there's no information about what its components are, or even where it was engineered."
Dr. Ilene played with her drink before taking a sip,
"Unfortunately, I cannot tell you about it under any circumstance."
Dr. Curtis pieced a few things together and finally understood.
"The MX4 is responsible for the genetic modifications… I see. But the results cannot be the same for everyone, you should know that."
Dr. Ilene nodded and replied,
"I do. We carried out the first experiment a year ago, but it was a disaster. Nonetheless, we learned that the mode of intake of MX4 also mattered…"
"…hence direct inducement into the bloodstream."
Curtis added before Ilene could finish her sentence.
Dr. Ilene affirmed with a nod.
"Even after the change, the losses were more than we accounted for. Hence, we had to outsource resources through other means. For such a step to be made, sacrifices are inevitable. Sometimes the future we desire can only be laid on a foundation we aren't proud of…"
She then turned to Curtis,
"Now that you know this, I can only tell you further when I know you're still onboard."
Dr. Curtis thought for a moment before he replied,
"This is merely research… emotions and morals will only get in the way."
Hearing this, Dr. Ilene nodded, wearing a smirk.