Subjects

5- Too Much Information

Leo walks out of the building and the four follow. He is walking along one of the roads that lead away from the building complex. Around them are green plains of grass and some trees that I truly don't know what they're called. Lots of albatross are sitting everywhere on the grass. The group walks down the road until they find an empty spot on the grass and sit down there. Leo knows that he has to break the news to the four sooner or later, and he prefers doing it sooner rather than later. There are no more excuses to delay the truth.

Leo looks at each one of them in the eyes before he starts talking, this is going to be a tough conversation, "I am going to tell you something and I need you to listen to me very carefully. Your lives could depend on it."

I'm sure that if anyone would ever tell you that, you'd just laugh right in their faces. The thing is, you are not those four and Leo is not the one talking to you. If you were, surely you'd understand how serious the matter is. Somehow they just know he's speaking the truth, they can feel it.

"What's going on, Leo?" asks Emily, concerned.

"I don't know how to... tell you this," he begins. "The reason I brought you all here is not because of some scholarship, and you are not here to count birds or anything of this sort. I brought you here because the four of you are subjects in an experiment, and your lives and the lives of anyone you love are in danger greater than you can imagine."

That's just lovely, doesn't anybody like to hear that everyone they love could die because they are a part of an experiment? Great job, Leo. You just ruined their day, maybe their week, even. Obviously, they are all too shocked to respond so they are just waiting for Leo to explain what the hell is going on. As I told you before, you may or may not believe it if someone you just met a few days ago told you that, but those four know without a doubt that Leo is telling the truth, even if it makes absolutely no sense.

"I regret to say that I, too, have a part in this experiment. Now I have no choice but to try and fix what I have done and to do that, you need to know the truth.

"All four of you have a gene in common, a very rare gene that only the subjects of the experiment have. That gene is not a good one, it is the one gene you do not want to have if you ever fall into their hands. That is the reason why I brought you out here. I had to hide you away somehow, I don't know how long it will take them to find us but I hope it will be enough to give us time to figure out a solution.

"This gene that I told you about, it allows me and anyone else from my kind to control you. I am telling you this because I don't want to control what you do or think. I only need to concentrate hard enough, and you will believe and do anything I say."

Instantly, the four of them look away from him. They are absolutely horrified. They feel like he is telling the truth, but it does sound insane.

"I really am sorry," Leo says to them, he doesn't even try to influence them anymore. Anyway, it's near impossible now that they're looking away.

"Who are you?" Ben asks quietly.

"I am... I am not from around here," Leo answers.

"An alien?" Roger sounds as if he doesn't believe his own words. Honestly, that certainly isn't the most far-fetched explanation.

Leo says nothing so they all carefully turn to look at him. Slowly he nods.

"Why?" Emily asks.

"Your planet has so many great resources and my planet, well, my planet is dying. I don't say what I did was right but I am trying to fix it and I need your help to do it. You are not the only subjects and if they know that the experiment is successful, that the gene works, they will start expanding their control over humanity until all of you become slaves to them."

Well, that's cheerful.

"You talk as if you're not one of them," Eva's words sound more like an accusation.

"Not anymore, I am not," says Leo. "I've lived here since before you four were even born. I have a life here, I have a family. I can't let anything bad happen to them and I don't want to see this place destroyed by the greediness of my kind."

Without noticing, they are all looking at him again, desperately trying to make sense of those feelings. The things he says, his regret for what he's done, they can sense it. It is like there is no doubt, his words are the one truth, and he isn't even trying to manipulate them now. Maybe it is they who are desperate to believe him, to take in his every word.

"What can we do?" asks Ben.

"First of, don't get off this island. If they can't find you, they can't control you," Now that telling them the truth was behind him, Leo feels some sort of relief. "I cannot know for sure, but maybe you can try training to resist my influence. If we can find a way to prevent the effect of the gene, maybe there is a solution for all of this."