Test Subject

Lowo N'air woke up without remembering where he had slept the previous night. He was scared and sweating profusely when he noticed many hands touching, groping, and squeezing him.

— Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute! What is this?

Then he tried to stop the multiple hands from touching him, and when he grabbed one of them tightly, he felt a strong pressure on his wrist that made him immediately release the hand he had caught.

— Calm down, kid! No one wants to hurt you.

It was a deep voice, alerting him very close to his bedside, scaring him even more.

— Who are you and why is it so dark here? Answer me, please.

— Who I am doesn't matter. As for the darkness, it's for your own good, — answered the deep voice with irony.

— I decide what's good for me, so turn on the light right now. I want to know where I am.

— Alright, but don't complain later if you don't like it.

With a yank, a strong hand pulled a completely sealed hood from Lowo N'air's face. When he looked at the figure in front of him, all he saw was a blinding glare because the lights were very bright.

Instinctively, he covered his eyes with his hands for almost a full minute. Gradually, he removed his hands from his eyes and began to see the contours of a male face very close to him.

— What an ugly face is this? Get out! Get away from me!

The ugly face backed away, and Lowo N'air started hearing several voices, one of them standing out from the others.

— You can back off now, doctor. Our patient is fully conscious. And please, someone lower the intensity of these lights. Do you want to blind the patient?

Shouted a dominant voice, presumably from the boss, as the order was immediately carried out without any objections. When the lights dimmed, someone asked him:

— Is this better, Lowo N'air?

A new wave of fear overtook him, and scared, he started shouting:

— Who are you? How do you know me? By the way, where am I?

— Calm down, boy. One thing at a time. Nurses, take good care of him and make him presentable and comfortable. I'll be waiting in my office, and please don't take too long. And as for you, young man, you will have all the answers you want. Just be a little more patient.

Even after hearing all that, Lowo N'air had not been able to see the person giving all those orders.

— Come on, girls, hurry up and don't keep the boss waiting too long. He is not known for his patience. I'll be waiting outside the room. If you have any problems, just call me.

After that, Lowo N'air saw the person walk away hastily, followed by the sound of a door closing. "So, he's not the boss, but a lackey," thought Lowo N'air quickly.

— You don't need to be scared, Lowo N'air. We are here to help you. Now, try not to get up on your own, don't rush, and you can lean on me if you need to.

Lowo N'air's eyes were almost back to normal, and when he turned his head to see the person talking to him, his jaw nearly dropped in admiration. She was the most beautiful nurse he had ever seen in his life. With such well-cared-for skin, so fragrant, so beautiful!

— From which heaven did you come? — he asked, thinking he was just thinking.

— Look at this, girls, it seems we have a Don Juan right here.

Lowo N'air turned his head to the side and only then realized he wasn't alone with that nurse, but there were three more.

With his mind still confused and thinking he was just thinking, he said:

— Is this a garden to have such beautiful flowers?

— Hey, Romeo! — shouted one of them. — If you want to have a date with someone here, it's better to get dressed first. It's not right to have the first date with you like this.

— Get dressed? — repeated Lowo N'air, looking to the side when he noticed that there were mirrors all around the room.

And they reflected his image in every direction (and, by the way, it wasn't a good image), that of a skinny young man, so thin, with many needles stuck in his skin and all over his body, wearing only underwear.

Lowo N'air had a morbid fear of needles, and when he saw that many stuck in his body and his image reflected in the mirror, looking that bad and surrounded by so many beautiful women, his brain went into overdrive, his thoughts raced, and as a result, his body lost support and he fainted.

— Help me here, girls, be quick, please.

This was the last phrase he heard before completely blacking out.

— What the hell just happened here?

Asked the supposed boss's security guard, who had been waiting outside the room.

— What happened here, girls? Were you playing with our specimen? Is that it, huh? Do you know what I will have to do so the boss doesn't come here and kick you all out? Do you want to take this unlucky guy's place and become our next test subjects?

None of the nurses had the courage to respond to that guy, and facing his partner would be even worse.

— Doctor Koltz, I'm sorry, but the patient fainted from starvation. His body could barely stand, so he collapsed.

— Very well, nurse Carlie, I'll believe you, but remember that this human trash is our test subject, or our experiment, and never a patient. Do you understand me?

— Yes, doctor, I understand perfectly.

— Great, then prepare his body again, change the transfer needles, and get him ready for the portal transfer in no more than twelve hours, not a minute more.

— But Doctor Koltz, he might collapse and not even make it back alive.

— I don't care about such trivial details. Do as I say, and perhaps you will escape this failure with your physical integrity intact.

— Alright, doctor, I'll do as you said. In twelve hours, the specimen will be ready for the temporal passage.

Reported the nurse reluctantly.

— And one more thing, set the existence sharing to 5% and remove 30% of his blood, replacing it with liquid audio receptors, and reinforce the subliminal message in his brain. I'm sure we'll get better results this time.

— The sharing has never been activated above 3%, and his weak, thin blood is not enough for his current state. If we replace 30% of it with anything else, he won't survive even half an hour. And if we insert more messages into his brain, he will enter a vegetative state. Are you sure you want it this way, Doctor Koltz?

— You are really doing your homework and learning a lot, Carlie. But you are right; there's no reason to discard this specimen so soon. Keep the previous messages and remove only 25% of his blood, replacing it with what you already know.

— And what about the existence sharing, doctor, to what value should I set it?

Looking at nurse Carlie with a sadistic expression on his face, the doctor replied:

— 10%, nurse, just that. Did you understand, or do you want me to draw it for you?

Feeling her heart break because of so many malicious and unnecessary orders, Carlie was already considering the possibility of changing jobs or simply disappearing from that place.