S.M.A.R.T. (The Subject of Mind Altering Research and Testing)

Chapter Sixteen

Michael had been waiting for the General to come, but he came late. He always liked to try and catch Michael off guard, but he stayed on his bed reading until he came, doing nothing suspicious.

The General looked especially happy today, and Michael didn't know why. He didn't like it, and he knew something was up from the look in his eyes.

"Michael, good to see you're staying read up, keeping that mind of yours sharp. It really is a shame we aren't seeing better results." The General said.

"It's the least I could do for all of your hospitality..." Michael said, trying to sour his mood. It didn't work. The General just smiled back, with a little glow in his eye.

"Now Michael, sarcasm should be beyond you by now, shouldn't it?" He stated, almost knowingly. He knows something. He is different. What did he find out? Jim? No way. Unless... They beat it out of him?

"I don't like to waste energy on our conversations." Michael retorted.

"Good, I have a feeling you'll need all the energy you can get today."

"Let me get ready, I'll be right out..." Michael didn't like the feeling he was getting. What is he going to have me do?

He led Michael to the courtyard as usual. The courtyard ceiling was open again, and this time the ponds were frozen completely over. Michael noticed a circular pool was set up in the middle of the room. He didn't like the feeling he was getting at all. The General saw him looking at it as they walked in.

"How strong of a swimmer are you, Michael?" He joked. "Not that it's going to matter. You won't be doing laps."

"What is it for, then?" Michael wasn't going to play his games.

"The water in that tub is sub-zero. We want to see how long you can last in it." The General said, as if he had Michael in a trap.

Michael thought it was a good idea. He would have no choice but to either crank up his adrenaline and body temperature for heat, or risk hypothermia, or worse. He wasn't going to give in though. I'll just let myself freeze until they pull me out. See how he likes that.

"You're going to freeze me to death? That's an easy way to get rid of me. What do you expect will happen?" Michael asked.

"I am here to find out, aren't I? You'll only be in there for as long as we feel you need to be. Better take those clothes off. You don't want to walk back cold too." The General handed Michael a bottle, walked off and left him to strip in front of the crowd of people that were there behind the glass as usual. He stripped down to his boxers and walked over to the pool.

He dipped his hand into the water and the icy cold took over his fingers. It was painfully cold. He didn't know how he was going to pull this one off without showing something. He hoped his body would tell him what was too much, and that they'd take him out before then. He found a ladder on the other side of the pool. He looked down at the little bottle and put it to his mouth. He swallowed without washing it down.

His eyes went, his mind went, and he was back. Oh god, the feeling. I'm back. I can do this. He stepped into the pool. Every hair on his body pricked up, and the goosebumps spiked with them. He shivered violently and then settled back to calm. He lowered himself further into the frigid water. His thoughts went to every man or woman who had ever died in cold water. He pitied them. His whole bottom half was in pain already and it had only been thirty seconds.

He knew if he shut off the pain or raised his own core temperature, the people watching would know, so he let himself take in the cold. The dipped down to his neck. The heat was rapidly leaving his body now. He felt his whole chest tighten and his lungs struggling hard for breath. He made himself as calm as his natural body would allow him. It was good practice, separating the part that was so high from the part that was so average.

He started to lose feeling in his toes, and then his fingers, and his body started to shiver again. The water rippled hard with his movements. His teeth chattered and he felt like a thousand knives were stabbing at every inch of his body. Somebody had cut off his hands and feet. He couldn't feel them anymore, and he lost the movement in his legs.

He could see the panic set in to the people behind the glass. The General didn't move a muscle. He stood right in front, eyes focused determined on Michael. He wondered how long they would keep him in there. His body was sending him extreme warning signs. It was shutting down. He needed to take control. He watched the people behind the glass say something to the General. He looked at them and didn't seem to be agreeing. They are telling him to take me out. He is refusing. He wants to kill me or see me exposed... Michael had no choice. He wasn't going to die in that water.

He pumped up his adrenaline, and his body started to respond and heat up. He remembered every fight he had been part of, every feeling of anxiety, every fever, and any other time his body had made him hot, and he channeled it. His body temperature sky rocketed back to normal and the shivering stopped. The General, whose eyes were still on Michael pointed to the pool from behind the glass and the rest of their eyes followed. Their faces turned from panic to wonder.

Michael knew it was over. He had shown them exactly how much control of his body that he had. He had been on the verge of passing out, and come back to completely normal. His breathing stabilized, the feeling came back to his fingers and toes. He was invincible to the cold.

They kept Michael in the water for another forty-five minutes before they let him out. His body worked over-time to keep his temperature normal, and it did. When Michael emerged from the water, he was still within average human temperature. Doctor Reidman and Doctor Hall had been there to monitor his vitals when he emerged. They looked to be in shock.

Michael knew his reign of freedom and control over the pill and the testing had come to an end. What had the General done to get these pills changed? How did he know that would work? I watched him, he didn't budge. He knew I wouldn't let myself die.

He looked around and met eyes with the General. "My body must have taken over. I thought I was going to die." Michael lied.

The General didn't look convinced.

"Is that how it happened? Well, whatever the case, you can't argue results like that, now can you? Thankfully your body decided to act for you." The General said, eyes fixed on Michael screaming, "I caught you. You're exposed. How does it feel!?".

"Thankfully. That was a big risk you decided to take with my life. How did you know that it would work?" Michael had a suspicion, but needed to know.

"Oh, I just had a feeling. I would imagine such effects could overwhelm a person, but given the right push, it's amazing what the mind can do. A little shove here, a little jolt there, and you get an old woman who can lift a car off of her dying grandson. Maybe a jump start was all you needed." The General said.

"And you knew that would do it?" Michael wanted him to slip up.

"I had a suspicion. Its amazing what the brain can do when it wakes up." The General lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "Don't you remember, I told you if you were lying, I'd find out." The General said, his eyes gave a little shine.

He's taken it. He knows what I know. When the brain wakes up? That is exactly what I thought. He knew I could do it, because he knew he could. He knows it is working. He knows I've been messing with the tests. Michael had no idea what was going to happen now, but he knew he needed to stay one up... Somehow.

"You are smarter than you look." Michael lied again. He is anything but. He just told me that he took the pill and he doesn't even seem to know it. He did it behind the investors backs, I'm sure of it. I'm the test subject, or why would they need me. Nobody else knows he took it, and he thinks that I don't know either.

Michael spent the night writing about how he knew the General had taken the pill. He knew it couldn't have been long ago, but now that he had, Michael would need to be precise about these tests. He couldn't afford to tamper with them the same way anymore, but he still couldn't show the true potential of the drug.