As I demanded answers, the man in the white coat simply nodded. "Sure, Max. Follow ," he said calmly.
I trailed behind him, my mind a whirlwind of emotions.
The corridor we traversed was vast, stretching out seemingly endlessly. It was undoubtedly part of a circular spaceship, its dinsions so massive that the curvature was barely perceptible.
After what felt like only seconds, we arrived in another room. Inside, I spotted several stations akin to the one where I had woken up, each occupied by mbers of my family.
Oliv was the first to notice . With tears in her eyes, she rushed forward and enveloped in a tight hug.
Relief flooded through at the sight of her, but my joy was short-lived.
Imdiately, I noticed the absence of Veronica, her mother, and Rick.
"Where are Veronica and Rick?" I demanded.
"I’m sorry, Max," the man began, his voice tinged with regret. "But as I said before, we couldn’t simulate everything. This must be hard to hear, but they weren’t real."
His words hit like a physical blow. My heart raced, and a cold sweat broke out across my skin.
Looking around, I saw the shock mirrored in the faces of my family, especially Oliv, who looked as stunned as I felt.
It was clear they hadn’t been part of this.
"We only managed to bring in those closest to you and so of your high school friends," he continued, his tone clinical. "The rest were simulated using the latest artificial intelligence algorithms."
Tears welled in my eyes as I struggled to process his words. "What is all this for?" I choked out. "What did you want to achieve?"
"This is Project Somnus Veri," he declared, his pride disgustingly evident. "I’m Jack Somnus, and you are Subject 1286."
With a sense of dread, I turned to the mirror he gestured toward.
As I looked at my reflection, I saw a tattoo on the left side of my neck—’1286’, just like the number on the door.
"You are the first subject that has successfully completed the trial of genius," he smiled, as if nothing untoward had happened.
I was at a loss for words. He seed to expect to accept the loss of Veronica.
"For years, together with my wife, we thought about ways to test the injection of Somnus Veri," he continued, his tone matter-of-fact. "That’s why we created the simulation. Every iteration was the sa, but the dosage and version of Somnus Veri were different. At first, the simulation ran in real-ti. But as your brain adjusted, we sped up the ti inside, resulting in you needing less sleep."
I couldn’t take it anymore. "ENOUGH!" I shouted, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I don’t care about your experints. What kind of sick person are you? Do you want to use this injection on yourself?"
He didn’t seem fazed by my outburst.
"Not exactly, No. Obviously, the level of intelligence you’ve reached will remain," he said calmly. "Which ans that you have now beco useful for sothing that I want to do..."
His words sent a surge of fury coursing through . Without a second thought, I lunged toward him, intent on delivering so form of justice.
But before I could make contact, it felt like an invisible force halted my advance, warping the air around him.
"E e. Don’t try that," he said, his tone chillingly casual.
Jack Somnus snapped his fingers and the next thing I knew, two n matterialized right next to , their grip tight as they restrained .
I felt a sharp sting in my neck as sothing was injected into .
My family erupted into protests, but their voices were quickly silenced as an unseen force pushed them back onto their beds.
Jack Somnus stepped forward, his expression stern. "We thought you’d be perfect," he said. "But there’s a problem in the simulation we need to fix. I won’t tolerate disobedience."
As everything blurred, I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, unable to fight against the darkness.
...
When I regained consciousness, I found myself strapped to a chair, unable to move. My eyes widened as I gazed through a vast glass window, witnessing countless circular spaceships drifting in the void.
"I guess my immortality will have to wait." A voice echoed from behind , sending a chill down my spine.
The speaker then walked up in front of , standing right in front of the glass window. It was the sa person. Jack Somnus, was that his na?
He sighed, "This is where you all end up," he continued, his tone chilling. "I tried to make a good impression, but the truth is, you never agreed to any of this. The governnt did, and that’s enough. Unfortunately, I’ll likely need to try a few hundred more tis, adjusting the paraters to make you more compliant in the next iteration."
Confusion flooded my mind.
"? What do you an, ?" I demanded as I tried to get myself untangled from the chair.
"Well..." Jack approached and spun the chair around.
"Shitshitshitshit!"
I scrambled in the chair, trying my best to keep myself from screaming. No, fuck that; I couldn’t scream.
My eyes were locked into the lifeless dead bodies before . Rows upon rows of lifeless corpses lay piled in a massive pit.
I realised who those bodies belonged to.
I started trembling.
"What the Fuck!? What the FUCK!?" I scread.
Were they all ? Are they all ???
Jack Somnus, cool and collected, stood nearby, casually smoking a cigar. "Yeah, no tricks here," he remarked with a chuckle. "Those are our subjects."
His words sent shivers down my spine. "2000 test subjects, plus their families," he explained. "The governnt wouldn’t have approved, but one inconsequential Maximillian Sullivan and his little family? No problem at all."
"Alright, ti to say goodbye," As Jack Somnus uttered those chilling words, another sharp sting pierced my skin.
Before I could react, the chair began to move, propelling forward towards the edge of the pit.
I plumted chest-first, hurtling towards the lifeless bodies of my other selves below.
Before I landed, the numbers etched on their skin ca into view: ’322’... ’1101’...
The intense sll of death hit as I crashed into the dead bodies, assaulting my senses with its foul intensity.
With one last, desperate gasp for air, I passed out.
The sound of my own screams was drowned out by the suffocating silence of the pit.
...
Heavily breathing in, I opened my eyes to a dim light—a spark of hope in the darkness of the pit.
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