Donman-Reynolds Science Solutions Research Laboratory

Donman-Reynolds Science Solutions Research Laboratory. I hate this place more than hell itself. I hate it so much because that was where I was remade. An eternity ago, I came here. I remember it all too well.

I remember walking into this place and it smelled faintly of apple cider. I remember the cubicles full of people, all trying to work hard. I remember the food court on site serving some of the most delicious catered meals for pennies on the dollar. I remember there being people from all over the state here, all sharing ideas and doing tasks efficiently.

I was in the Robotics and Genetic Technologies Division. I never got why our department was essentially two different ones merged together, but I never questioned it. I was hired as a data scientist, but I felt like more of a full stack developer with all the seemingly random stuff they had me do. They had me programming and debugging their systems, ensuring that all of the data was being stored and processed properly, and that there were no oversights to their procedures, robotic or otherwise. That was, until one day, when I found a glitch in the Genetic Technologies system. I studied the glitch for days, weeks, perhaps even months without really understanding how it came to be, nor how to patch it.

One day, I was staying late. It was already well past six o’clock, so most of the facility's lights were off. This made the main section of the building look someone off putting. What’s more, a dim gray sky could be seen from one of the skylights and the black, crusty, flame-retardant roof was visible from the hallway that connected to the biolabs. I saw someone approaching from out of that hallway. They were one of the senior bioengineers, and they approached me randomly as I was typing away at my terminal. It was not terribly uncommon for me to stay this late to finish up menial tasks, such as debugging the system, but it was uncommon for someone about three levels above me to be here at this hour.

I was working on studying the bug in the system, trying to understand its behavior better and figure out how to patch it. All I can remember is him looking at my terminal and the bug, and rubbing his chin. And then, my memory of that day ends there.

The next thing I knew, I was in some sort of glass tube. If I tried really hard, I could listen to the people talking outside of the glass. I could hear them saying only words at a time. I could hear “Good idea” and “Silver bullet,” as well as the last, most chilling phrase, “Mutation.”

I looked down at myself, which caused a slight pressure to my head, and I realized that I was dressed only in blue undergarments. There was also some sort of tube that had been painlessly attached to my navel, no doubt by some sort of surgery. I looked back up, but before I knew what was going on, everything faded to black once more.

I have no idea how long I was out. Even if my eyes were closed, I could feel everything going on around me. I felt them put something over my face that covered my nose and my mouth, as well as feel some sort of sticky liquid fill up the tube to the point where I could no longer feel my feet on solid ground. I could not move myself, as none of my limbs seemed to function. Any time that I tried to even move my eyes, the thick liquid around them made it impossible to even fathom, given that I would have likely been blinded by it regardless.

The liquid burned my skin as I sat in the tank for what felt like months, possibly even years. With every time that I tried to think to myself, to remember the mere concept of time… I felt something happening to me. The burning felt worse each time that I thought about it. My limbs and skin and everything in between felt like nothing but goop.

Eventually, after what felt like eons of waiting, I could sense something happen. I tried my best to open my eyes, but to no avail. I tried to flail about, but I couldn’t. I tried to scream, but no one could hear me. I don’t even think that I had a mouth left at that point. I could feel some sort of vibration coming toward my tank. These vibrations came closer and closer, until I felt a violent vibe that shook me to the core.

I could feel everything spilling out, completely out of my control. Then, almost within an instant, I could see once again. Everything that I was seeing had a green hue to it. I looked around this strange room, searching for answers. I saw the shattered tube and looked down at the broken glass, which was likely bullet proof.

I then looked down at myself, noticing that everything appeared visible underneath what looked like a gooey gel layer, down to my bones. However, they were not like anything I had ever seen in anatomy class, as they were of heavy metal and clearly exposed wires. I could then hear something, as if in the back of my head. It sounded like a choppy, mechanical voice. “You were trapped here in that tube.” Then, without my input, the hand that I thought I was under control of had pointed to the broken glass.

I had to remain silent, still trying to comprehend my situation. It wasn’t like I could really speak, anyway. But then a thought occurred to me, why was I able to see now? I then thought about it more, and it seemed that I had just entrapped a robotic body within my gel layer, and somehow managed to use the camera in its eye to regain my sense of vision. I then focused really hard and tried to say a word. Then, slowly over the staticky intercom-like speaker somewhere on this robotic body’s head, I asked one simple question. “Why?”

My vision shook from side to side involuntarily. “You made a mistake, just like me.” The entire body shifted and began walking to one of the metallic sliding doors in the room. “The big wigs in Robotics and Genetic Tech were running some rather unsavory experiments down in the underground labs.” The robot continued the story after smashing the control panel to the side of the sliding door, opening it almost immediately. “I actually saw the horrible shit that they were doing in the robotics labs deep down.” Another involuntary shaking in my vision. “They then thought that I knew too much and put my brain inside of this body.”

It was hard to really say much of anything about this. It was all completely mind boggling. “Why would they do such a thing?”

“Because,” The robot said as he walked down the hall carefully, “They were trying to reanimate corpses using cybernetics.” The robotic head peered around a corner, but neither of us saw anyone or anything. “They tried to rewire my brain, but I guess that their attempts were completely fruitless.”

“And why am I some sort of weird goo monster thing?”

“That’s a good question.” The robot said as it walked toward what I assumed was an elevator. “You were the one that found the bug, weren’t you?”

I had to think for a moment, even though I already knew the answer. “Yes, I was.” I then think a bit harder. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, kid,” The hand reaches out and taps a button that lights up, “You were going to patch something that was left in there intentionally.” The elevator started to descend floors, which came with a beep for all 30 subterrestrial floors. “You fixing it would mean that the ‘zomborgs,’ as I call them, wouldn’t function properly ”

“Then how does that explain-?”

I was abruptly cut off. “They just wanted to break you down and use you as a way of connecting all of the zomborg’s thoughts into a single consciousness.” The elevator arrives and we step into it. “You are pretty much nothing but a gigantic piece of sentient biomass.”

“Any idea as to what I can do?”

There was a long pause from the robot, before it said, “I honestly have no clue.”

As we ascended the elevator, I knew that my life had been forever changed. Perhaps there were more people than we realized that had been affected in this way. Whatever the case, I felt that it was my duty to expose Donman-Reynolds for their crimes and make them pay for what they did to me and my robot associate. Only time will tell if we can do such a thing. As the elevator opened, I knew that we had to do something about this.