The Life and Times of a Human Test Subject

Goodbye, I Guess.

"Looks like it's finally your time, eh?"

"Guess so."

"Got any regrets?"

"Just one."

His cellmate eyed him from the other side of the tiny room that had been his home for the last twenty-five years.

"An' what's that?"

"I never did see Paris."

The bald man laughed at him.

"Ah, shaddup, you! Shoulda known you was going to 'ave one last giggle 'fore you took off for good."

He had been grateful for the company that his cellmate had provided over the years. The man had never let the world get him down, letting hardship slide "like water off a duck's bum." Even when the prison guards decided to take out their anger on him, or when someone took the last fruit cup from the mess hall, the dimwitted man sitting on the bunk across from him could always be found humming a tune the next day.

"How do you think it's going to feel?" he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

"Wot, dying? They says it's like falling asleep, don't they? That's what I 'eard on the tellie, anyways."

"I hope you're right."

There was a jangling of keys outside the cell door. Two uniformed men stepped inside.

"Looks like that's you, mate."

The men stood beside him and each took a hold of one of his arms. They walked him out of the cell and shut the heavy steel door.

Through the small window in the door, his companion called out.

"Oi! I, uh... Goodbye, I guess!"

Was that sadness he heard in his voice? Surprising, considering who it was coming from. He looked back at his cellmate.

"Yeah. Goodbye, I guess."

He turned to look ahead of him, towards the doors that would lead him to his doom. They opened once the trio got close, and then closed and locked behind them.

"This is it," he thought.

He had expected nothing but a chair to sit in for the last time, but there was a man in the room as well. He was dressed in a white lab coat and scrubs, and seemed to have a different purpose there than anyone else. He was probably older than anyone else there, too.

The two guards released him, and unlocked the handcuffs that he'd been made to wear all day. He rubbed his wrists where the shackles had left creases in his skin. Then, to his surprise, they left the room, leaving him alone with the scientist and the chair.

"Hello." said the scientist.

He chose to remain silent, he wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

"Naturally, you're a bit confused right now, but I'll explain everything. I am Doctor Bauer, and I have need of you."

Despite his apparent age, the man spoke with focus and energy.

"Of me? Why me?"

"Well, not specifically you, but any non-smoking, physically able adult from the ages of twenty to seventy who will die soon anyway. And you, sir, fit the bill."

"What do you need me for?"

"To put it bluntly, I want you to be my... guinea pig. You will be the subject of experiments designed to unlock the secrets of modern medicine. Of course, these experiments will be dangerous, even lethal at times, but they could lead to the curing of diseases that have plagued humanity for generations!"

"Right, and why do I care? We're standing in the room I'm dying in, if you haven't noticed."

"Not if you come with me. Should you live through what we have in store for you, you'll be a free man. This is your shot at a clean slate. It's your choice in the end."

He looked down at his hands. A clean slate? What would that mean for me? It's not a guarantee that I'll even make it that far... But then again, I'm going to die for sure if I stay here.

He looked up at Doctor Bauer.

"Alright, Doc. I'll do it."