Subject 23:59

1. Intro to the lab

Where am I? How did I get here? Why does my head hurt so much?

The turtle peeped out of his shell; shaking its throbbing head. He grimaced as more pain shot through his head relentlessly, tormenting him as he winced helplessly, hoping to be rid of the discomfort. He slowly opened his eyes as the dizziness came to a halt. The spinning and the pain subsiding as his vision started to clear. He surveyed his surroundings. Enclosing him were smooth glass walls all around him. Through the polished glass in front of him, a magnificent room awaited him.

The sides of the room were filled with countless tiny little transparent cages that held captive to all sorts of tiny creatures from mouse deers, to even tiger salamanders. The turtle could hear the endless chatter and muffled murmurs from the other animals in the room. In the middle of the room, the turtle could discern a few curious green balls hanging from the ceiling. It casted an eerie glow onto the sleek metal table in the middle of the room. On the table was a range of scientific equipments; from a massive globe to a few small syringes lying lifelessly on the table. Some seemed to have rolled precariously to the edge of the table, threatening to plunge to its death at any moment.

The turtle turned its head towards the sound of leather boots crunching against the carpeted floor from afar. Curiosity overwhelmed him as he made out two slim figures swiftly heading in his direction. The two man seemed to vary in terms of their ages. The younger one was wearing wire-rimmed glasses that matched his perfectly neat white coat, which seemed to be a pertinent wear for the lab. The turtle widened its eyes as a spark of memory seemed to return to him.

Why does this person look so familiar? Have I met him before? The turtle tried to remember more about the man but came up empty, his memories seeming to be missing and replaced with a dark void. Although he could recall images of cells, famous land marks and many scientific graphs, he felt incomplete somehow, like he was missing a part of himself. Something was wrong, he did not remember learning the whole world of knowledge stored in his head.

The footsteps drew closer.

"Subject 23:59," a deep and grim voice pierced through the air.

The room which contained the originally whispering animals around the turtle suddenly became pin-drop silent once the chilling words were spoken. The older scientist continued approaching him with the magnificence of someone walking on a red carpet to claim his price, and in this case, the turtle.

The turtle looked up curiously. Two scientists in shining lab coats were towering over him, their shadows looming over him. However, he strangely felt no fear. In fact, he felt absolutely nothing.

"Who are the you?" The turtle asked as he scanned the two men, cocking his head to one side in curiosity. "Where am I? Are you talking to me?"

"Yes," came the hesitant reply from the younger scientist, as he briefly gave an apprehensive glance to the other man, whose face remained unchanged," You are subject number 23:59. The fifty-ninth subject of our twenty-third new method... not counting subject 00, of course. After a lot of accidental fatalities and failures, you are by far the most perfect specimen out of all of the others that we have experimented on and— ouch!" Knuckles descended on the young scientist's head and he gave another whine of pain and protest.

"Shush! If you're going to reveal so much to our test subject, your career is not going to last much longer," the older scientist reprimanded the young scientist in a harsh tone, "You're lucky the lab accepted you, Bill."

"Sorry," Bill whispered meekly, casting apologetic glances to his paramount, rubbing his still hurting head. "I'm just too excited. This is my first experiment after all..."

The other scientist let out a long sigh and the turtle took down silent notes on not ever making the senior scientist angry in fear that he would receive similar treatment.

"Ummm... What is this experiment about and how many experimental subjects are there?" the turtle enquired.

Bill thought for a brief moment, shifting his glance at the senior scientist. He paused for a while but decided to reply in the end.

"There were 61 subjects for each method with the subjects' numbers ranging from 00 to 60 and there were 23 methods altogether so......we take 23 and multiply it by 61 and minus it by 1 as you are our latest subject. That should give us—"

"One thousand four hundred and two?" the turtle replied instinctively.

Bill's eyes widened upon hearing the smooth and instant reply while the other scientist had a greedy, menacing smile plastered on his face. The turtle felt a little conscious of the senior scientist. However, he could not help but feel a little pride at the scientists' surprised reaction. That was a really simple equation, the turtle thought to himself.

"It worked!" Bill's heart started beating faster with excitement, his mouth hanging wide open.

"Good job 23:59." The unnamed scientist spoke; his voice seemingly hiding a darker meaning behind it. "Your first test was multiplying numbers so I guess you could do without it...well done! And as for you, young man, you better learn to watch your mouth!"

"I...hope that you would make it to the end... good luck 23:59!" Bill chirped joyously.

"Remember what I just told you!" the other scientist gave Bill a cold glare, his voice threatening.

The turtle watched in silence as the two scientists walked out of the room, his head still dizzy from the sudden shock of information. He was a test subject. Even though the turtle didn't remember anything about being in a science lab, his instinct told him that he could not let his guard down in the lab. Something felt fishy about the test subjects the scientists mentioned. He knew how the human body works, could name every single country in the world, but yet was still clueless about the reason for why his mind was blank when it came to remembering what he himself had went through.

"You better stop this at once Bill, or you'll be fired!"

That name!

"Why is that name so familiar? Why can't I remember a thing?" The turtle wondered out loud, desperate to find the answer and wrecking his brain. I've been put through an experiment, the turtle thought suddenly.

Put through an experiment...

The answer formed in his head.

My memory had been wiped out by the experiment.