If Found

Definitions

I have said over and over again that there is so much power behind a song. A single song can change the world if given a chance. Those of you that have read "Ghost Bird... Do You Copy?", it all started with Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and Gabriel singing to Sang. I hear growling out there. Stop it. It was beautiful. Once again a song has shaped a story. I think I do better this way. Unpolished proved a point, but a single song didn't shape it. For this, I was listening to Amber Run's 'I Found', followed by Piano's 'Around (You're Not)'.

Are our enemies born, or are they made? This is the question that we wish to find out...

IF FOUND

CHAPTER ONE

Vectors

vec·tor ˈvektər/Submit noun

plural noun: vectors

MATHEMATICSPHYSICS

a quantity having direction as well as magnitude, especially as determining the position of one point in space relative to another.

"Mr. Sorensen, how many more lives need to be lost before we can say this experiment is a success?"

"Until I say it is, Dr. Johnson." I nodded my head at him and backed out of the room. His moods were getting worse. Two years in, and only two survivors. Vector #1, and Vector #26. We were now into the upper five-hundreds, every one of them had had to be terminated, or they died on their own. I went back to the lab where I was in charge of several more possible failures. Vectors 591-600. I had already drawn the blood from them and tested it earlier. They were each superb test subjects. The pipette was filled with the genetic material we would be testing them with. It was always predetermined as to which child would get which materials. We needed enough survivors in order to reach our ultimate goal. Sigh. I should shake things up a bit. I wonder... what if I changed the dosage a little? Let's play with Vectors 596, 597, 598, 599, and 600. I'm a scientist. Why do the Sorensen's always get to play? Worst case scenario, another ten infants die. Best case scenario, they all live. Let's just cross my fingers that at least one survives.

I finish numbering the syringes and match them up to the Vectors ID bracelets, then start my recordings. "Date, the seventh of December. Year, two thousand and twenty-three. Time 7:51. Infant identification five-hundred and ninety-one. Injection enzyme, label A. Time elapsed, one minute. Time elapsed, two minutes. Time elap...Infant identification number five-hundred and ninety-one, terminated. Time 7:55pm." The same happens to each infant as I go down the line all the way through number five-hundred and ninety-five. "All right little buddy. Let's cross your little fingers." I turned the device on and began the study, hoping that these five little guys would survive. "Date, the seventh of December. Year, two thousand and twenty-three. Time, 8:20pm. Infant identification number five-hundred and ninety-six. Date of birth, January 3, 2022. Injection enzyme, label FA. Time elapsed one minute. Time elapsed, two minutes. Time elapsed, three minutes." I counted all the way up to an hour. We had another Vector! I smiled so big I wanted to run out of the room jumping and hollering, but I was a professional. Besides, if I did that, I would be fired from my job. I had four more infants to try this on. Enzyme GA, HA, IA, and JA all worked. I just had to get the Vectors to survive the week before moving them over with the other two survivors.

How could I cover up my subterfuge and still stay in the program? I sat back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. Children were being pulled in weekly from broken homes. Places that they wouldn't be missed from if something were to happen. To the families whose children were terminated, they were compensated, and hopefully they were able to get out of whatever mess they could. Unfortunately, most went back to what got them there in the first place.

There was a cough at the door, and a nerdy "Dr. Johnson, broken my record yet? Well lookie here! Looks like you have some survivors! Congratulations." Christ...Dr. Devros is that annoying co-worker you just want to strangle. "You might have five little critters there, but I have the first two, and have survived past the age of two."

"Yes, yes... we all know. Now what did you need?" I had work to do. He was not part of it. I quickly shooed him out of the nursery and set to making more notes before the next batch were ready.