Lotus Eaters (Chapter 1)

Lotus Eaters (Chapter 2)

The message ends, and the hologram of Dr. Lang vanished.

“DeXter.” I said.

“Yes, Dr. Taylor?” he says.

“What cell is D24 in?”

“Patient D24, Section D, Cell 32.”

“Thank you.” I said.

Before typing in my report about F66 in Messenger, I use DeXter to find out about D24.

“DeXter, what is D24’s Lotus?”

“Lotus, File 11216, Anthropophobia, Stage 1.”

I nodded. Anthropophobia is the morbid dread of people. “Credentials?”

“Delta24, created November 12 in the year 2035. Aged 10, male. Height is 4 feet, 3 inches, weight. Eye color, brown. Hair color, black.”

“Thank you DeXter.” I said. “Initiate Messenger.”

“Your welcome, Doctor Taylor. Would you like a refreshment while you type your report?”

“A cup of coffee would be most convenient.”

A blue circle of light appeared on my desk, and a white mug filled with steaming coffee materialized right in front of my eyes.

“Be careful, doctor. It’s hot.”

No matter how long I’ve been in this facility, DeXter’s artificial intelligence never ceases to amaze me. I find it amusing that an advanced machine like DeXter would find the time to be concerned about me burning my tongue. Considering the fact that he is not installed only in my room, but in every room in this facility. Plus the fact that he controls every machine and every program in each.

REPORT 153:

Foxtrot66 seems to be recovering from her Lotus the past few months, considering the fact that she is only in Stage 3. Her fascination with sharp objects seems to be less enthusiastic than a few years ago. She seems to have more self-control over herself compared to her younger self when it took three men to restrain an eight-year-old girl. I expect her to reach stage 4 by next month.

I pause. As soon as F66 recovers from her Lotus, her memory will be erased. All clones have a micro-chip connected to their brains so that when their Lotus is cured; all the doctors have to do is remove it and implant another one with a different Case. The clone is not destroyed, and the body is reused for an experiment that starts at a different age level. The facility holds multiple clones with the same Lotus to ensure the success of the experiment by testing it on Cases of different ages and genders.

I take a sip from my coffee and shiver as I remember F66’s anger at me a few moments ago. It was frightening to see Shannon’s eyes look at me and hear her voice shout at me with F66’s hate. I know it is not appropriate for me to have emotional attachments with F66, but no matter how strong her Lotus controls her, she still has the same charm Shannon possessed.

“Are you cold, doctor?” DeXter asks. “Do you want me to lower room temperature?”

I jump at his interruption of my contemplations. Sometimes I think DeXter observes me with too much concentration. He doesn’t miss a single detail of my actions.

I sigh and shake my head. “No thank you, DeXter. I’m all right.”

I take another sip of my coffee and write a memo to the Creators.

The Creators are those who help DeXter create the clone. They help the clones go through the different processes to make it a full fetus. They plant the microchip DeXter had created with the programmed Lotus and the memories.