“My, my, we’re awfully worked up now, aren’t we? All those things. Yes, I sure do believe you would follow through if I don’t comply,” Dr. Volda calmly replied.
“If?” Cain abruptly countered.
“Hmm, yes, ‘if’, my good man. See, the street goes both ways. Do not forget your flawed, corrupt and, might I add, bloody rise to power. Oh, I’m sure the already angry public would just love to hear the disclosure of your violent past. A distrusted public figure already detested by a distrustful public. They would revolt, bury you alive even, hm?” Volda replied.
“Answer my question, Stein!” Cain yelled.
Lt. Daav put his gun to the back of Dr. Volda’s head, licking his chops as he donned a sinister grin.
“Put the gun down, sir. I never said I wouldn’t comply. Ha, ha! A joke, yes? I was the one who released the Adriel Project, or should I say, the White Knight,” Dr. Volda said.
Daav lowered his weapon and stepped back. General Cain leaned forward, elbows on his desk.
“And why did you do this, might I ask? You understand this project was top secret, right? You also understand that this would be a breach of contract between Quantum, C.E.L.L. and us? Despite our absolute ownership of this city-state you do realize that even we have to play by the rules sometimes!?” General Cain asked.
“Odd coming from a man, who like me, broke all the rules to begin with, huh? Either way, yes, I understood the ramifications of being caught, by the wrong person, that is,” Volda slyly replied.
“So, you did this purposefully? Nearly killing my men for your own selfish reasons?” Cain angrily replied.
“Is that why I was summoned? Hmm, it wasn’t to undermine any operation you had going on, on purpose, that is,” Volda replied.
“So why did you let him loose? Do you understand the irreversible damage you could have caused? What if he went haywire and began murdering innocent civilians? What if he never ran into my highly trained unit?” Cain countered.
“I never knew you were a man to care of such noble things, sir,” Volda replied.
“Why did you release it? Give it to me straight, Stein!” Cain commanded.
“Twenty years ago, I had a brilliant student. Gifted with the kind of genius that only occurs once a generation. Her research was awe-inspiring and revolutionary within the scientific community. Far, far ahead of her time, even among the elite scientific thinkers of today. Her work would have changed the way we look at the human body, had she lived long enough to complete her research. Her name was—”
“Amiko Fayte,” Lt. Daav interrupted.
“Why, yes, that’s correct Lieutenant,” Volda replied.
“Can never forget her killer looks. Never gave me the time of day,” Daav said, nostalgic. Even Volda, for all his eccentricities and the lack of the normal array of human emotions, appeared reminiscent.
“She and my former colleague, Dr. Hisashi Sendo, developed the coveted, often dreamed about, ‘Nano Formula’,” Volda added.
“I believe I heard of that during my first few days after becoming General years ago. We thought it was nothing more than science jargon, a myth even. What exactly would this formula have been able to do?” General Cain asked.
“Essentially, it is the key of the creation of the ultimate being; the ‘Natural Hybrid’,” Volda replied.
“Natural Hybrid? Explain,” General Cain asked.
“Yes, a naturally born human, with techno-organic functioning organs. An organic, living breathing, evolving, sentient machine, equipped with the natural ability to reproduce! To exceed normal human physical and mental feats far beyond what we could have ever imagined. All the advantages a regular Hybrid would have, and none of its weaknesses. And who knows what other variables and unexplainable phenomena could be embedded in their genetic code? What their life span would be? Would they be able to experience the inner workings of technology more intimately? Even assimilate their consciousness into the technology? Then there’s the potential immunity to all viruses and diseases. The ability to run and heal faster, think quicker, process information on an entirely different scale! Pushing the envelope of the vast potential for learning and creating new things human eyes have never seen!” Volda ranted on.
“So, what happened to Amiko Fayte?” Cain asked.
“We had a bit of a falling out,” Volda deflected.
“Falling out?” Cain asked.
“She created the formula. The process was painstaking. Year after year of intense trial and error. Her consistent work in the field and research yielded a very small but very powerful amount of the formula in a small vial. Trillions of what she called ‘nanocells’; sentient nano-cellular sized super bio-computers. No one had seen anything like it before, not even I. I wanted it mass produced as fast as possible. However, it took years just to get that small vial. I told her we would need a test subject; preferably human. She staunchly opposed this. I needed to see these results. So, I threatened her staff, saying that one of them would be the subject. They also refused. Because they had the gall to disobey orders at such a critical time, I decided that they should all be punished. I think you know what happened next,” Volda alluded.
“Go fucking figure,” Lt. Daav commented.
“It was a shame, really. They were all brilliant people. Nevertheless, she was the last one. She finally agreed to be the test subject,” Volda said.
Lt. Daav’s eyes shifted. Yeah, right. You left her no choice, he thought.
“And what happened to her afterward?” Cain asked.
“Shortly after the time of the injection, she admitted to being pregnant. But that wasn’t all. After many thorough diagnostic tests and analyses, it was revealed that the majority of the newly injected nanocells had found a home within her unborn child. His intrauterine development was simply astounding. She also began to change; her already brilliant mind expanded even further and her physical capabilities increased five-fold,” Volda said.
“And?” Cain asked.
“Well, the majority of the nanocells went to her child, but the remnants that remained in her
