Subjects

13- Testing The Limits

This spaceship is huge.

The four walk down the white halls after the two aliens, they are all in different states. Ben fought the influence this time and he is trying to appear as mindless as possible, it is better if the aliens don't know that he can resist them. He has to hold himself together, they still have to get Angie, they still need to escape. He can't let Leo's death stop them, even though it's hard, even though he can't breath when he thinks about it. He's so scared, what if they don't make it?

Eva is confused, she fought the influence but she has no clue what to do. What is going on? Where are they going? Are everybody under the influence? What will she do? She walks after Emily in the hope that somehow things will get clearer soon. When they get to wherever it is they're going, she will get some answers.

Roger still runs away. In his mind, he is still being chased.

Follow me.

Foll-ow m-e.

F~o~l~l~o~w m~e.

Followme.

F

O

L

L

O

W

M

E

Just don't think. Just don't think. Just don't think. Don't let it get you. Don't understand. Don't think. Keep moving. Keep doing. Don't think.

And Emily walks.

They get to a room, a door just as white and clean as the rest of this place. If Emily wasn't in this state she'd probably wonder how they manage to keep this place so neat. The door opens and they walk inside. It looks like some sort of a war room. The room is dark and the only light comes from the many screens on the walls.

The younger alien turns on the light and it is no surprise that this room is just as white and flawless. There are four chairs, ready for them. On the wall across from them there is a window to the next room, where the light is turned off. There is a control panel right below the window.

The alien orders them to sit down. They do. Emily finally loses the influence and to say the least she is confused as hell. She has no clue where she is, how she got here or how did it all go wrong. Roger has glimpses of the ship on the way here but he too is very confused, so is Eva. Ben is mad, furious. He has to talk to the rest alone, he has to see that they're okay, then he has to get them out of here.

The aliens handcuff the subjects to the chairs. Ben secretly tries to free his hand but it hurts too much. He'll have to find some other way.

"I didn't want to begin the tests this early," the older alien says. "He ruined everything, I should have known this would happen."

"It doesn't matter, they're almost ready anyway," the younger one says. He seems not much older than they are, but they know that he can be much older.

"So far things went smoothly, It works much better than version 16.2. I had to yell so much that I thought my throat would never recover." The older one grabs a tablet looking device and taps it. "I'll let you get started with the usual tests. I have to report to Scalven first. There's some VEPP in the bottom shelf."

"Don't worry, I got this."

The older one hands the younger the tablet and then leaves the room. The alien is doing something with the tablet and the subjects quietly look at one another. Before they have time to do anything but establish the fact that they are all uninfluenced the alien says, "Eva Marshall."

Eva looks up, so do the rest. She says nothing. Is he going to test her? What is happening?

"Your name," he says to Eva.

"Eva Lillian Marshall."

He checks the first test on his list. This shouldn't be too hard. And his mother will be so proud of him. He's going to be the greatest scientist of his time. Now that there is an open position for a field agent, this could be his shot. He has to do his best, to prove that he's ready.

He reads out a few more basic questions and Eva answers. So far so good. Now the alien goes to the cupboard in the corner and gets out something that looks like a toothpaste tube. He reads the label, two years in human school and he's still having trouble reading those strange letters. "Vitamin Enhanced... Yes, that should be the VEPP."

He takes a small tray and puts a little pile of the gray-looking paste on it. He now goes to Eva and looks right at her with grater concentration that Leo ever used to influence any of them. "Don't move. Don't get up from your seat. Don't do a thing unless I tell you to."

Don't do a thing. Easy. She has to do nothing. Or maybe she has to do something? What would she even want to do? What reason does she have to do otherwise? She should just keep sitting. This person seems to know what he's talking about.

The alien releases her handcuffs and hands her the tray and a spoon. "Eat."

And she eats.

The alien then moves on to Emily and repeats the same process, same tests. The minute he started talking she forgot all the fears she had and everything just made sense.

Ben is last. He doesn't know what to do. Should he fight this? What if the aliens take him away if they realize that it's not working on him? What if they run more tests? When the alien gets to him he does as he is told, but not because of the influence, he does everything just not to draw any attention. They will have to leave them alone at some point, and then he'll make his move.

The paste tastes way worse than it looks. When the alien turns around Ben quickly pours it under his chair. There's a little pile left on the tray and Ben suddenly has an idea. He takes a little bit of the slippery goo and rubs it on his wrists.

The alien ties him up again just before they start hearing footsteps approaching.