Experiment X

31| Dark Hour

31| Dark Hour

From inside the Control Room there is only darkness, and the glittering of the multi-colored lights and screens that break this darkness, shadows the contemplating, severe face of the Controller. His lips are tautly constricted as he watches from the paneled screens mounted high beyond him, each of the Trainees left alive wandering through the brightly lit labyrinth. Before him, there is a lower terrace, where two Assistants sit, perched in front of their own smaller screens, preoccupied with their panel of buttons, and levers.

The Changer stands in his long, sweeping white coat, holding the same clear clipboard at his side; his eyes though seem to be trained on the red-headed girl, who is displayed on the nearest of the paneled screens, and happens to look straight into the eye of the hidden recording camera, fear in her green eyes. So many wondering thoughts enter and stay mingling in the Changer’s thoughts, of this girl, the reality she could bring…if only she discovers her true potential. It could be quite devastating, for them. He mentions nothing to this to the Controller, as he has forbid it. The Controller notices the Changer’s behavior, and his eyes fall upon the redheaded girl as well, and he allows a small smile to pervade his thin lips. The girl seems to be now resuming her travel with her partner and the smaller boy, and in the Controller’s mind this will not do.

“Assistant 1,” the Controller speaks deeply, and the Assistant upon his right stares up at him, expectantly, behind reflecting spectacles. “It is time to cut the lights…And also we can’t have them roaming in groups like this anymore…These Experiments have become quite attached to one-other; so, I think it’s time we separate them for good…Release the Beasts.”

This decision draws despondency from the Changer who steps toward them, a worried scowl on his face. “Do you think it’s best? To release them so soon?”

The Controller glares, which submits the Changer into a withdrawn silence. “I am the Controller, here,” he says. “And I do think it best. It is my decision…If they can’t survive these Beasts, they’re not worth having alive…We’ll start out with five, then work our way up as time progresses. Do it, now!”

The demanding order startles the Assistant, and he stammers, “Right away, Controller sir.” He fumbles with the panel of buttons before him, pressing select ones, and he lifts a glass encasement, and pulls the red, shining lever beneath. Suddenly, the screens changes from the intense white light it once projected to portraying a glowing green glow, outlining the stunned Trainees within the maze within the dark. A din of growling, and gnashing now emits itself from the speakers, and the Controller smiles pleased, and he stares at the Changer discontented with his behavior.

“Changer, you are dismissed,” he says, flicking his hand.

“Very well.” The brim of the Changer’s white coat swishing in the dim room is the last they see before he disappears, continuing out his own personal duties, of which he will tell no one. For it could well mean his termination, if he’s found out.

…

When the intense, white light fails into instant consuming blackness, Emberly sucks in air, and clenches for Kel’s shoulder; she nearly shrieks. Balancing herself, she feels her eyes pour into Kel’s, where they should be in the sudden black. There is no denying it. They’re both frightened. Everything is submerged into an inexplicable dark, and only their flaming cores’ light provide the means of glowing light here. But it’s not enough, not enough to forewarn them of what lies ahead, beyond their waving halo of faint light, of what waits sinisterly in the black beyond.

“Why did the lights just go out?” Emberly whispers. She can feel that Quint is nearby, and his large eyes are taking in theirs; they have all paused momentarily.