Brings On Many Changes

Why?

Why had he signed the goddamn contract? What had convinced him to do it? How stupid was he?

For three months they had kept him in this 'facility'. The walls were white and seemed to move in towards him every second as if the rooms were getting smaller. They weren't, of course, but he'd been stuck in here for so long now that he wasn't sure.

Why hadn't he read the small print? Damn his stupidity. How could he have missed the clauses that said they effectively owned him?

He could remember back to when he had signed the contract that seemed to end his life...

* * *

"Greetings, Mr. Jericho, I am informed that you wish to sign up for the special assignment that has been offered to all employees of your level."

Zachary Jericho thought to himself about the 'offer' that had been delivered to him through the internal post. No one else in security had seemed to have received one, wasn't that odd? So they had chosen him for this job. All he had to do now was find out what it was and what it paid.

"I was just interested in what the job entailed before I signed on the dotted line. It would also be interesting to find out what the return was."

"Ah, a pragmatic man, very good to see. The job is very simple, it is to be a human guinea pig."

"A guinea pig? That doesn't sound very healthy."

"Well, guinea pig is probably not the most accurate term to use. The job is to test out some new social drugs, all legal, and some other mood enhancers. There are also some vitamin shots that are being tested and some vaccinations. A list of the different substances currently being tested is available to all interested."

Zach watched as the suit reached into a briefcase and retrieved a sheet of paper. Looking at the proffered sheet he noticed the fact that he did not recognise any of the products on it. Some had very odd names.

"Ok, so if I agree to this what is the procedure? What does it pay?"

"The procedures are very simple. You'll be given regular doses of the substances being tested and monitored. You will be allowed to continue your normal job. For each dose administered you will receive a sum of ten thousand."

Hmm, ten thousand was a lot of money. Sounded a bit fishy. The suit handed over a rather thick document, obviously the contract. Zach attempted to read over it while the suit continued talking.

"This is our standard contract. It lays out the terms of your employment in our research venture, your pay, and all the other usual bits and pieces."

The contract seemed well written but that could mean anything. Ten thousand could really go towards paying off those debts run up by his wife before she had disappeared. The suit handed him a pen. Now he would have to decide...

* * *

So now he sat in this cell, a room devoid of any form of stimulation. They arrived now and again to perform their 'tests'. He thought back to the terrible threshold tests on his bones. He remembered the pain as they cracked under the weights, but they refused to help him. He still wasn't sure how they had healed in just four weeks. What had they been doing to him?

* * *

"Honey, I'm home."

Zach closed the door to the apartment and hit the lights. A thought struck him, why were the lights off?

"Sue, are you there?"

He moved across the living room area to the small kitchen and then to the small bedroom. No one was in these two rooms. As a last point of call he moved to the bathroom. No one in there either.

Zach was moving back to the couch when he noticed the light was flashing on the vid phone in the corner. It was a particularly cheap one and the plastic finish did not match the sideboard it rested on. Pink was probably not the best colour for it either. Reaching over, Zach hit the control to play back the message recorded on it. The screen flashed on and a small readout displayed the time and date the message was received, about three hours previously.

The face on the playback belonged to Susan. She had obviously been crying and Zach could not recognise the background behind her.

"Zach, I'm so sorry. I'm going to have to go away." She reached up to wipe a tear away. "I've done something so terrible..."

* * *

Four more weeks had passed. The tests had got increasingly more numerous. Sight tests, strength tests, training, running and many other bizarre tasks for him to do. What were they doing, training him or killing him?

Zach was just despairing about his plight when the door opened and five figures came through. Four of them were the orderlies; these guys were so obviously morphs. The job on them had been for an almost full conversion and they weren't wasting money on 'aesthetics'. The final figure was that of Dr. Janus.

"Good evening, Mr. Jericho, and how are we today?"

"Have been better. Time for more tests?"

"Well, there's good news and good news, Mr. Jericho. There are no more tests for a few days."

"And the other 'good' news?"

"There has been a change of policy. We are going to move you to more comfortable surroundings."

"What? Why?"

"It seems that the new owner has finally got around to finding out what is happening down here at R and D and has decided to go ahead with my recommendations."

"Oh, right." Zach held out his arms to be restrained as he had before.

"That's ok, Jericho, no cuffs this time. I don't think you'll try to escape - you are about to find out why you are here."

Zach followed the orderlies in a subdued manner. He was a little shocked as to his treatment now compared with how they had treated him when they had brought him in.

* * *

Zach lay on the couch. Coughing loudly he reached up to lift his sleeve and look at where they had given him the last shot. There was no mark, just as always was the case.

A lurching feeling in his stomach caused him to jump up and stumble into the kitchen. He fell against the cooker and bounced onto the refrigerator. Finally he reached the sink and held onto the stainless steel unit as a wave of nausea moved up his spine and into his head. This time there was no stopping it and he leaned forward to the sink.

A few minutes later he staggered back out to the couch and collapsed onto it.

"Speed dial, memory five," he croaked at the vid phone.

The phone made some tone sounds and then the screen lit up with the 'ringing' icon. After a few seconds the screen changed to a Bold Industries logo and a female voice said,

"What is it, Mr. Jericho?"

"What have you done to me? I think I'm really ill."

"Mr. Jericho, the side effects you are suffering are all within normal parameters. This was laid out in the contract that you signed. The fact that you have called us a total of seven times on this subject is only backing our case that you, the employee, did not read the contract properly when you signed and so we take no responsibility for your present predicament. We will, however, be sending out our team a little earlier this time to examine you to ascertain whether you have caught something that may void our results in this case. Please stay where you are." The phone went silent and the screen went blank.

"It's not as if I can move very far, is it?" Zach mumbled under his breath.

An hour and four more trips to the sink later and the door chime sounded. Zach had been asleep for a few minutes and showed no sign of waking up to answer it. The chime sounded again.

Zach did wake up, however, when the door was torn from its mounting, landing on the floor in front of the couch he was lying on. The armed men spilled into the room and spread out to surround him. Jumping up, he was just in time to count ten before dizziness overtook him and the world started moving toward him rather quickly.

From the floor he tried to crawl to the door but he was in no condition to make it. He barely struggled as they restrained his arms behind his back and then his world went black with a sharp pain in the back of his head.

* * *

Wow, when they said they were going to move him to better surroundings they really meant it. This may have been another cage but this one was most definitely gilded. There was a living area, bathroom facilities, bedroom and closets. A quick check indicated that the closets were full of clothing. The bed was large and soft and the couch comfortable. Where was the catch?

Dr. Janus had followed him into the room and was now sat on a chair in the living area as Zach moved around the new room. Once he had returned and sat on the couch she began.

"You are Zachary Jericho, former security guard at Bold Industries. You are now Project Atlas."

Janus gestured to one of the walls and it lit up as a computer screen showing a personnel file on Zachary Jericho. Currently it listed him as deceased, his life ending the day he was taken from his apartment.

"What the hell? Why am I dead?"

"Why do you think, Mr. Jericho?"

"Because dead men tell no tales?"

"Precisely. Now, you were chosen to go through a highly experimental process to rebuild you."

"Rebuild, what like a morph? But I haven't had any surgery."

"No, not like a morph. You were chosen to become the ultimate human. A creature built not from grafting constructed parts to a frail human body, but by having the body build itself. You are the culmination of forty years of testing and theory."

"But, why me?"

"You happened to fit a profile given by our employer as to the type of person who would be going through the treatment in the future. You are proficient to black belt status in seven martial arts..."

"Eight actually."

"Ok, eight martial arts. You had a level of fitness in the parameters set. You were also already working for the company, had effectively no one to notice when you were 'removed' and had a reason to sign away your life."

"Ok, but why was I not told about this earlier?"

"It seems the employer who started this project only required the subject to be tested on and for efficiency stipulated the treatment and speed of your development. You were the prototype never to be seen if you worked. But the ethic has changed somewhat with our new employer. It seems she has other plans for you with the advent of certain interesting developments."

"What developments? What do you mean?"

"The original changes to your structure were calculated to take at least a year to eighteen months to complete. It seems you are changing at a rate that we did not anticipate. It seems the total rebuild of you will be finished in about four months."

"So what does this rebuild mean?" Zach stood up and moved over to the wall screen.

"We are about to find out..."

Paul Taylor, 18/05/01

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