Experiment 909

Story for my creative writing class last fall.

The year is 5839 Post Lapsum, After The Fall, in the Cloning and Stem-Cell Research Facility of New Bedford..

Experiment 909 was inscribed above the intercom plate by the door, with Jane Doe on a piece of paper below it. The door had a complicated locking system that only allowed specific people to enter the room, which contained a plain white bed with a limp pillow and one layer of linen sheets, a small dresser with golden knobs, a table lamp with a silver shade, and a multi-grey colored carpet. Sitting on the bed was the miss Jane Doe, which was what the scientists and doctors called her. She knew that wasn’t her name, but she didn’t know what her name was. When she was Born, roughly two years ago on her twentieth birthday, she was the only one without a name. It was that day she was named Jane.

She sat motionless on her bed, dressed in white for the day, her daily routine cycling through her head on autopilot: Wake up. Wait. Take injection. Eat. Exercise. Take injection. Eat. Wait. Lessons. Take injection. Eat. Sleep. There were only two minutes and seventeen seconds left of waiting. Jane stared at the stainless steel door in front of her, watching for the red light above the frame to light up, signaling Dr. Drevis was going to enter. One minute and forty-two seconds. She blinked, her schedule going through her head again: Wake up. Wait. Take injection. Eat. Exercise. Take injection. Eat. Wait. Lessons. Take injection. Eat. Sleep. One minute and thirty seconds. Her chrome irises never left the door as the time ticked away in her mind like a timebomb, reaching zero just as the red light illuminated.The sound of the door unlocking shattered the dead quiet of Jane’s small room. Dr. Drevis entered, clipboard and pencil in one hand and a silver box with a handle in the other, containing her injections. “Good morning, Jane,” Dr. Drevis said, setting his things down next to Jane.

“Good morning, Dr. Drevis,” she said automatically in her clear monotone voice. Dr. Drevis took a syringe from the case. Jane immediately held out her left arm for the injection. He studied her arm for a vein and injected the needle, squeezing the chemical into her veins. Jane kept her vision forward, aware she was supposed to be in pain, but she was not feeling it.

“I have not felt any differences in my Emotion Drive,” she said flatly.

“That’s what this new injection is for,” Dr. Drevis said, finishing with the first injection and switching syringes. He changed needles and injected into the same place. “It’s supposed to correct that. You’re not taking to it very well.”

“I am different from the others.”

“You are. But that’s okay.” He finished the second injection and switched that for a third. “Now for your vitamins.”

“I don’t feel anything.”

“You will,” he assured, taking the third syringe and injecting her vitamins into her arm. “This one should burn. Does it?”

“No.”

He removed it and watched as her skin recovered from the injections, quickly growing new cells over the needle wound.

“Your regeneration is getting faster,” he said. “That’s good.” He put the needles away and wrote some notes on his clipboard. Jane couldn’t help but stare at his hair, pulled back by a headband but still flowing slightly behind him as he walked.

“Dr. Drevis, I would like hair,” Jane said. He looked at her, smiling.

“You’ll grow hair eventually,” he said. “You’re just not matured enough yet.”

“When will I be mature?”         

“As soon as your Emotion Drive develops more.” He wrote down some additional notes on his clipboard and then stood up, picking up the silver case. “Time to eat. Come on.”

Jane stood, keeping her eyes locked on Dr. Drevis’ back as she followed him through the hallways, lined with doors similar to hers. Every experiment had a number. Hers was the most recent. She was the oldest experiment, agewise, however.

Jane followed the doctor to a set of double doors, locked, with an intercom system on the right.

“Dr. Joshua Drevis with Experiment 909, codename Jane Doe,” he said into the intercom. “Permission to enter?”

“Permission granted,” a crackly voice said through the small speaker. There was the sound of a buzzer and a red light illuminated above the door frame, similar to the one in Jane’s room. Dr. Drevis held Jane’s arm as he walked her through to the cafeteria line, where the other experiments were lined and waiting, other doctors holding their arms just as Dr. Drevis was doing for Jane.

Jane knew some of them by name, others by experiment numbers. In front of her was Experiment 736, codename Alfred Montgomery, his thin brown hair not very long with multiple bald spots. He kept his eyes forward, his face blank and his foot tapping. He had scars around his neck from a recent complication. His Emotion Drive had developed early with too much sadness. He claimed to have felt trapped, like he was choking. He was doing it to himself, scratching and clawing at his own neck and ripping his own hair out. He was sent into lockdown and regeneration soon after, just recently released and able to assume his regular schedule.

The line inched forward. Dr. Drevis started a conversation with Alfred’s doctor. His doctor was a short woman with brunette hair tied into a tight ponytail.

“And how are you today, Jane?” she asked.

“Good morning, Dr. Bushard,” Jane said automatically. “I am well. And you?”

“Just fantastic,” she said with a smile.

“Alfred, how are you doing?” Dr. Drevis asked as Alfred turned around.

“Good morning, Dr. Drevis,” he said in the customary morning greeting. “I am well. And you?”

“Dandy,” Dr. Drevis answered.

“Alfred, you must be feeling different than Jane,” Dr. Bushard said, walking him forward as the line moved again.

Trapped. The word echoed in Jane’s mind. He felt trapped. Jane looked at him, wondering what he meant by the word. How exactly did one feel trapped? How did one feel anything at all? Alfred rubbed his head, twirling his hair around his finger, ripping out a few strands, and Jane noticed something in his eyes that she couldn’t identify. It was troubling.

“Alfred, are you malfunctioning?” Jane asked. Alfred looked at her and moved his hand to his neck, aiming to scratch his throat. Dr. Bushard took hold of his other arm and asked Dr. Drevis to radio the infirmary, letting them know that Alfred would be returning immediately. Dr. Drevis did just that as Dr. Bushard took Alfred away and out of the cafeteria.

The line moved forward.

“What will become of Alfred?” Jane asked Dr. Drevis as they finished exercise. She had never heard of someone malfunctioning more than once.

“Odds are, Alfred will be Dismissed,” Dr. Drevis answered as he folded her exercise clothes and put them away. “Come on, it’s time for your injections.”

“Will that happen to me?” Jane asked, the thought developing in her mind and making its way out into words. “I...feel strange. Is this an emotion?”

Dr Drevis paused and took his clipboard, writing something down. “That’s very good, Jane. Very good! You’re developing your Emotion Drive.”

“What is this feeling?” she asked, her voice a bit louder and wavering from her usual monotone. “It’s alarming.”

“Fear,” he said. “You’re worried about Alfred and if it will happen to you.” Jane stood still, feeling the feeling and disliking every thought that entered her mind, each one of them starting with What if...?

He held her arm as he took her back to her room and sat her on the bed.

“I’m going to get your injections. You stay put.” He turned and left, closing the steel door behind him. Jane just sat on her bed, feeling like she was drowning in this cold feeling called fear. She didn’t like it. She would rather not feel emotions at all if this is what she would think and behave like with them. Her mind was clouded, new thoughts conflicting with her old thoughts and her schedule that she had memorized. Static and code flashed in her mind and her eyesight.

“I need to get out,” she said aloud. “I need to get out.” She stood and tried to force the door open, banging on it and kicking it, ramming her shoulder against it.

“Jane, calm down, sweetheart,” she heard over an intercom.

“I need to get out,” she said again, her voice wavering, unused to increasing in volume. “Let me out!”

“Dr. Drevis will be in there with your injections and you’ll be okay,” the voice said. “Sit on your bed.” The red light illuminated and the rough creaking of the door made Jane cringe. Dr. Drevis entered with his clipboard and his box of injections. An alarm went off in her head: “I’m not taking those.”

“Yes you are,” Dr. Drevis said. “Jane, we need to get your newfound emotion under control.”

“No,” Jane insisted, backing away. “Dr. Drevis, I would like to leave this room. I need to leave this room!” In what seemed like a blur, in a desperate attempt to escape, she had taken the box and smashed it against the side of his head, watching him collapse to the ground. The box had opened on impact and the syringes had emptied onto the floor. The static and number code had flashed in her mind again and before she knew it, she was gripping a syringe and injecting it into Dr. Drevis’ arm. He screamed, his eyes wide, teeth clenched, and his muscles locking.

“Jane, stop!” he cried as she removed the needle and dropped it by his face. Her mind flashed again and she was running down the hallway out of the room. Her fear was telling her something. Alfred. She had to see Alfred. Down the halls she ran, an alert going over the intercom system: Experiment 909 has threatened and injured an employee. She has escaped from her room and is loose in the building. Take caution. The same announcement repeated over and over, ringing in her ears. Her vision flashed again, and she was standing outside Alfred’s room. The door was open a crack; Dr. Bushard had probably left it open because she was coming back quickly.

“Alfred,” Jane said, opening the door. He was slumped over his bed, a pile of hair at his feet, blood spots on his scalp and more scratches on his neck. He had pulled out the rest of his hair.

“Fear,” he said. “I dislike fear. Malfunctioning. Dying.”

“We are escaping,” Jane said, holding out her hand. “Alfred, we are leaving this place.”

“They’re always watching, Jane,” he said in a shaky voice, slowly looking up at her. “Dr. Bushard explained to me that I’m being Dismissed. That means they’re going to kill me and mark me as another failed experiment.”

“They cannot do that if we leave,” Jane said. “I now know fear, and I fear this place.”

Alfred shook his head and looked back down at the floor. “They’re coming for me. And they’re after you. I heard the announcement.” Immediately after he said that, Jane’s arms were bound behind her back by two doctors. Dr. Bushard stood in front of her with a tranquilizer.

“You have to calm down, Jane,” the tiny woman said. “or I’ll have to put you down.”

“Let me go,” Jane said, panic rising and her mind flickering again. “Let me go! I am trapped!” Dr. Bushard sighed and injected the tranquilizer into Jane’s neck and her world dulled into darkness.

Dr. Drevis awoke in the staff room, a bandage around his arm and a pounding confined in his cranium.

Jane, he thought. He needed to know if Jane was alright. The dose he had asked for that morning had obviously been too much. It was his fault that she attained fear so rapidly.

Suddenly, a voice boomed over the intercom system: Dr. Joshua Drevis, please come to the Dismissal Chamber. Dr. Joshua Drevis, please come to the Dismissal Chamber.

He stood, a bit shakily, and quickly left the room and headed there, thinking of the worst along the way.

Jane opened her eyes to find she was restrained, strapped down on a medical table. Fear instantly struck through to her full consciousness.

I need to get out, she screamed in her head. I need to get out.

“Jane,” she heard. Dr. Drevis appeared above her, his eyes bloodshot.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Drevis,” she automatically said.

“Jane, this is all my fault,” he said, a waver in his voice. “The dose I gave you this morning of the new injection was too much. The fear was brought on so quickly... I’m so sorry...”

“Am I being Dismissed?”

“Yes.” He held up a syringe. “It’s...it’s time for your final injection. I’m sorry, Jane.” Alarms were still going off in her head; she was confused and felt this was unfair.

“Why can I not be sent into lockdown and regeneration?” she asked. “Like Alfred was?”

“You assaulted a staff member and planned to escape from this facility. That results in immediate Dismissal.” Dr. Bushard entered her field of vision and added, “It means you are a failed experiment and cannot be corrected. And now we know what to fix when we Awaken Experiment 910.”

“I am defective?” Jane asked slowly, her computations still cluttered and numbers still flashing in her mind. “I...am a failure?”

“You couldn’t take on emotions, 909,” Dr. Bushard said, using her scientific name. “That is an important aspect of our research and you failed.”

“Sandra,” Dr. Drevis said in a stressed tone. “Please, let me just have these last few moments with my subject.”

“Fine, but only a few minutes. Then it’s Dismissal.” She left Jane’s field of vision and stared at Dr. Drevis looming over her.

“I have failed you, have I not?” Jane asked quietly.

“No, no,” Dr. Drevis said, gently stroking the top of her head. “I failed you. I overestimated your abilities and tried to give you what you wanted. I promise, that wasn’t the emotion I wanted you to develop.”

“I dislike fear.”

“Everyone dislikes fear,” he said with a smile. “I’m so sorry, Jane.” He uncapped the syringe he was holding and found the place on her arm that he always injected.

“Goodnight, Jane,” he said quietly, squeezing the syringe. “Sleep well.”

“Good night, Dr. Drevis,” Jane said as the customary nighttime farewell. “I will see you in the morning.” Her eyes slowly closed as her systems shut down and her pulse slowed until it stopped.

“You won’t,” Dr. Drevis said quietly. “I’m sorry, Jane, but you’re not waking up.”

Joshua Drevis, Dr. Drevis heard over the intercom. Report to the Awakening Lab. You have a new assignment. Report to the Awakening Lab. You have another assignment. Dr. Drevis sighed and, holding a robe, entered the lab. He examined the DNA sample that was being used and found it to be the exact same sample that had given life to Jane.

He walked to the Awakening Capsule and swiped his ID card in the keypad. It slowly opened, and revealed a thin naked girl with a very familiar face.

“Good morning,” Dr. Drevis said. “I’m Joshua Drevis, I’ll be your caretaker. Do you know what your name is?” She opened her eyes, the chrome iris’s scanning her surroundings.

“I do not know my name,” she said. “Am I supposed to?”

“Yes,” he explained as he helped her out of the capsule and covered her in the robe. “but that’s okay. We call girls who don’t remember their names Jane. Jane Doe. That will be your codename, but what most of the staff here will refer to you as will be Experiment 910. Welcome to your new home.”

Author's Note

Please leave constructive criticism.

Reviews

[Emunah June.]

I saw this come up in my feed and I absolutely could not resist re-reading. This is still just as incredible as the first time, and I would love to see an eventual expansion.

[Emunah June.]

I screamed on the inside at first, because the city I live in is New Bedford. But oh my word Kee! This story was amazing!!...and amazingly creepy, at that. The idea of stem cell research and cloning gone wrong, and emotions being kept under cap is an idea most writers don't toy with all too often. The story has a clear and very strong opening, climax, and closing, and the final sentence leaves the reader with a very unsettling feeling in the pit of their stomach. Always one of my favourite writers, and this time was no different. Excellent work, Kee! Would love to see more in the near, near future.