Part 3: Removing the Veil
Chapter 46: Change Isn’t for Everyone
Several months passed. The new Government passed bills to roll back many of the ‘rights’ that were passed by the previous Government. Lily voted against these bills but could not convince any of the governors loyal to the Business Sector to vote with her.
The biggest changes the new Government made were in regard to potential dissent within the regions. Head Enforcers and commanders were given more authority to tackle any groups that potentially posed a threat. Any groups similar to the Inquisitives were broken up, and bans were implemented to prevent them from gathering.
Prior to the events of Adoy, such changes would not have been popular. However, the Adoy incident made the public more fearful. This led to the majority of the public supporting these changes. Lily realised the change in sentiment and voted with the governors to increase enforcer powers.
Lily and Pardi had become quite close. Lily came over several nights a week. She enjoyed his and the girls' company. However, Lily and Pardi did not go out in public. She believed it would be beneficial to her political career to keep her friendship with Pardi a secret. Lily also sent the twins on a search to remove all the bugs in the apartment. She felt she could trust Pardi since he had not, to the best of her knowledge, contacted Collingswaggle since the election. She also did not want Pardi to find the bugs. Pardi was aware of the bugs, and he was aware when they were removed. She underestimated Pardi’s ability to monitor his own home.
Pardi’s experiments were yielding considerable success. He was a little concerned, as he had only two creatures left for testing. The others were killed, as they had grown too big. The number of Sapien test subjects had increased. Arville was still barely alive and badly mutilated. Jarlint was infected with multiple diseases. He recovered from many of them, but eventually his body was overwhelmed, and he died. Other than the loss of limbs and digits, Joselin healed well from various types of burns caused by concentrated alkalis, various types of acids, radiation, heat, fire, and explosives. She eventually died of heart failure due to the immense stress on her body.
Four new test subjects arrived. They were each in different trials and only part of one trial. Pardi did not want the outcomes of different trials to overlap. Pardi had developed a trial for rapid growth. He managed to develop a gene therapy that would reduce the artificial womb gestation period to under one week. He believed he could grow a full-grown adult in under a year or possibly even months.
The expedition that found the creature’s eggs also brought back a unique seaweed. After about a month of testing, Carvaress scientists discovered the seaweed could be developed into a drug that could greatly improve fertility. The drug was tested on twelve couples where one or both partners were infertile. They were infertile for a number of different reasons. After a month, the females of ten of the twelve couples were pregnant. The remaining two couples' fertility appeared to be improving. None of the couples appeared to suffer any side effects. At this point, it was unclear if the babies would be negatively affected. The scientists believed they would soon know from scans if they were developing fine.
Orcille had been transferred to an out-of-region facility run by the Spiro Company. Several security guards staffed the prison section of the facility. Orcille’s cell was very basic. It only contained a mattress and a toilet. It had no windows and was only lit by a small ceiling light. He was fed through a small hatch in the door. The hatch was also used to administer Orcille’s medication. Orcille was not allowed out of the cell for any reason. He was not permitted any visitors. Even if he was, he would not receive any. The only one outside of the facility who knew he was there was Pardi.
Orcille was not the only one being held at the facility. There were many other cells. Most were occupied. The prisoner turnover at the facility was reasonably high. Most prisoners did not stay longer than a couple of months. The duration of Orcille’s stay was going to be the exception. The other half of the facility consisted of laboratories. The prisoners were not subject to testing. Even though it would have been convenient to do so.
Orcille was not doing well. His argument with Pardi had taken a lot out of him. He realised his relationship with his father was truly over. In a strange way, his split with his father, as awful as it was, was of some relief to him. He no longer had mixed feelings. He no longer desired his father’s approval, as he knew it was impossible to achieve. His living conditions were bad. He was incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly bored. He knew he was never going to be released. If he were going to get out, he would have to find his own way out. He was becoming quite friendly with one of the guards. He was hoping he could exploit this friendship at some point.
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