Tap, tap, tap, tap, several steps could be heard echoing through a long corridor, with each step bringing a new light on. A beautiful woman was walking hastily through the cold, sterile corridor. She had raven black hair cut into a chic pixie cut that framed her delicate face. Her pale skin resembled porcelain, and her gray eyes made a striking contrast with her black hair. Whenever she took a step, an air of elegance. She was wearing a beautiful sleeveless white dress that continued into a turtleneck and had a space on her chest allowing for a bit of skin to be shown. If one paid close attention, one would see that she had a worried expression. She approached the end of the corridor, where there was a large door. When she did that, a laser was shot from the top frame of the door, fully scanning the woman's body; she continued tapping the floor with the tip of her feet.
Come on…
The woman thought to herself as she waited for the door to open.
"Junior researcher Lorraine" A synthetic voice suddenly spoke. "Please specify the project you wish to verify."
"The Ashvin Project," Lorraine said in a fast-paced voice. Lorraine was more likely than not the last person that wanted to admit it, but she was truly worried about what she had come to check, and she didn't want to wait much longer.
The door began to open, and Lorraine crossed her arms and started to tap with her fingers. Usually she thought this door was fast when opening, but now, she couldn't help but feel that this door was the world's slowest door.
"Junior Researcher Lorraine access granted." The synthetic voice from before resounded once more.
Afterwards, the door stood completely open. Lorraine was in front of an empty room; she entered, and as soon as she did, in front of her, she started to see a control panel. This panel was being sent directly to her neural system. This panel was only visible to her and nobody else and only showed the options she could choose. Right now Lorraine was in the elevator of Sync Laboratories; in order to get access to even the elevator, she had to go through several controls, but not long ago both she and her father had received a silent alarm from the room that was supposed to house The Ashvin project, and it was imperative for that project to go as smoothly as possible. In the panel she quickly tapped away the password to access the correct floor.
The elevator suddenly began to move. Sync Laboratories was a cutting-edge facility, located in the Alpha Sector on Phoros. If one were to see the exterior, it would see an unassuming but state-of-the-art facility, blending in with the other skyscrapers and buildings surrounding the place. However, once inside, things change dramatically. The main tower, which was visible to everyone, had been adorned with large LED lights and a massive holographic logo that consisted of two interlocked gears rotating at the top of the structure. Although this was the norm in the Alpha Sector, the Sync Laboratoria chose this route for another reason: to divert attention away from what was going on beneath the building.
The only way to describe it was as a large labyrinth of hidden laboratories. The majority of the experiments in those laboratories took place away from prying eyes. In order to access that place, one needed to have the correct password; otherwise, the elevator would not work. The Asvhin project was, by far, the most well-kept secret of Sync Laboratories; by all accounts, the project was illegal and could land them in huge problems.
I hope everything is okay.
Lorraine thought while biting her fingers. She really wanted everything to be ok with the Ashvin project; it was the lifeline of Syn Laboratories. While she was pondering all of that, the synthetic voice came back.
"Lorraine Sync, special access granted to project Ashvin."
Lorraine gave a long sigh. She started to walk forward, another large security door opening as she walked in. The room was dark, with only two pink lights illuminating the center; Lorraine slowly walked over to where the lights were; there, she stood before two strange capsules. Instead of glass, those capsules were covered in a strange synthetic veil that.
Everything seems good
Lorraine thought while relaxing a bit. Nevertheless, she started to look around; something felt off, but she wasn't able to quite put her finger on what was wrong. Then she received a call; the caller ID that was showing in front of her said Hyde Sync; her father was reaching out to her.
"Yes, Dad," Lorrain answered. "I'm here at the lab; everything seems to be going well." She told her father with a serious tone.
"Good," Hyde answered, breathing a sigh of relief. "But if everything is good, then why do you sound so serious?"
"Something feels…" Lorraine started to speak but stopped herself midway. Was it really a good idea to say what she was about to say? Would her father think she was going crazy?
"Lorraine," Hyd suddenly said with a harsher tone, "tell me."
"Off," Lorraine finished "Something feels off, but everything seems good, the kids."
"They are not kids, Lorraine," Hyde interjected. "They are the fruits of our work; they are our experiments." Hyde added with a hint of pride on his voice, Lorraine could even picture her father smiling as he spoke.
Lorraine felt like screaming; her father had always been like this, completely detached from things, but, at the end of the day, that was what had made him such an important person in all the right circles.
"I'm sorry, Dad." Lorraine said with a defeated tone. "The experiment seems to be fine, but something still feels off."
"You know Lorraine." Her father started to say with the tone of someone that was lecturing a student. "Your attention to detail is good when you are doing research, but there is a fine line between attention to detail and being paranoid that something is wrong; please don't cross that line."
"I understand, Dad," Lorraine answered with a defeated tone. "I'm going to close things up and leave then."
"Good," Hyde said. "Take care of yourself, Lorraine, and enjoy the rest of your night; you deserve it." He added with a somewhat warm tone.
Lorraine disconnected the call, and she was now, completely alone in that laboratory, looking directly at what her father had called "experiments" for her. They weren't experiments; they were kids, and more importantly, they were her kids. She had been there during the whole process, when they extracted the eggs and sperm from the would-be fathers and when they inseminated the eggs. Up until that point, everything was legal; it was what had happened afterwards that was the illegal part. Due to some stuff that had happened a long time ago, human beings had to be born from people; they could not be carried to term by androids nor in a lab. That was the first illegal thing they were doing, but the parents had requested for the children to be "perfect." Eugenics was a big no; there was not way to really justify that, but they were desperate, Sync Laboratories were going through some hardships; they required big amounts of funding, but the money was not coming at the same speed it was being spent, thus, they accepted, under the condition that they would get new partners. Lorraine had been assigned to oversee the project.
When she received the project, she had no idea that it would be such an important thing to her; at first it had only been a job, but soon enough, she had become quite absorbed, first by the prospect of the founding but then, she slowly became more and more invested in the development of the fetus of the children. Two children were developed; by all accounts, they were twins, one male and one female. Lorraine found herself invested in every new development, on every new milestone; it didn't matter how small it was.
"Don't worry, you two; I'll keep you both safe." Lorraine said with a warm smile on her face while gently caressing the capsules. Lorraine took a step back; she could have sworn that one of the fetus opened it's little eyes, like… Thanking her.
I must have drunk a bit more wine than I originally thought.
Lorraine was thinking.
There is no way they are at that stage of development. I really need to get some rest.
As Lorraine walked out of Sync Laboratories, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong in the whole place. According to her father and some of her friends, she had the tendency to be a bit paranoid; thus, she easily obsessed over the most minute detail, and she was sure that something back there was off somehow.
A beeping sound started to sound, echoing along with Lorraine's steps. Lorraine rolled her eyes when she saw who was calling her.
"What?" She answered the call in a sharp tone.
"How is the work thing going?" A male voice sounded on the other side of the line; the voice was clear and steady when speaking.
"I'm done," Lorraine said. "Be there in 5." After that she cut the call short. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she did so, another call came in, this time Lorraine opening her eyes wide.
"Hey, so." The voice on the other side was quite relaxed and aloof. "How's the date going?"
"Celine," Lorraine said while letting a long sigh go, "He is insufferable; the guy can't stop talking about himself. That's why that alarm came like a godsend."
"What alarm, Lorraine?" Celine asked with a more stern tone.
"Can't discuss it through the phone."
"So it has to do with that?"
"Yeah."
"Make sure everything is ok; my father won't like it if anything goes wrong." Celine said, and Lorraine could hear the urgency in her voice.
"I know," Lorraine said. "Your father is not someone we want to piss off, but I came here personally and made sure that everything was ok."
"And?" Celine cut Lorraine mid-sentence.
"It's ok; you can chalk it up to my paranoia, but something felt off." Lorraine said, unlike with her father, this time she was not trying to hide her nervousness.
"That place is one of the most heavily guarded places in this city at the moment. You guys had great security already; my father reinforced that security. Everything should be ok; just relax and try to enjoy your date, ok?" Celine told Lorraine. There was sarcasm in her tone; she knew all too well that Lorraine hated everything about that date.
"Screw off." Lorraine said, but she could only hear Celine's laughter in the background.
A man was enjoying a drink on a skyscraper in a different area of town, behind a tinted wide window that looked out over the city. He was observing the holographic signs, the neon lights, and the people rushing about, heading somewhere they could not possibly know. His neatly combed hair had a grey streak. The neon lights illuminated His sharp, angular features, though slightly softened by age, retain a striking intensity that commands attention. His pale, almost unnaturally clear eyes never seem to rest, always observing, always calculating. He had an unsettling calmness about him. This man was none other than Hyde Sync, Lorraine's father.
He had received the same alarm that his daughter had, but he was too far away from the laboratories, so he had not been able to go there fast enough. After speaking with Lorraine, he was a bit calmer, but anything that had any level of connection to that man was not something he was willing to take lightly. That's when he received a notification: a message had been sent.
"So, in light of the events of tonight, I'll be sending some of my guys to keep an eye on your laboratories, but don't worry; you won't even notice."
The message was short and to the point, didn't waste any time on pleasantries, nor did it leave room for negotiation; it only proclaimed something. Usually Hyde would be outraged at the audacity, but this time he feared the person that sent the message scared him enough to stop him from doing anything. He just poured himself another drink, filled the glass to the brim, and took it all at once. Gerald was one of the few people that could elicit such a reaction from him.
As Hyde drank another drink, he couldn't help but begin thinking about how much longer things would take for all of this to be over. That family support would solve basically all of their problems. But being in bed with them carries its own risks; fortunately, project Ashvin should be over in another month or two; afterward, he could get back into his usual experiments. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
Let's hope that this is over with without any other inconvenience.