I sat in the viewing room, Subject 16 had been considered and officially declared deceased while Subject 17 sat in the medical wing. We couldn't let her go, but we couldn't let her stay for long without faking her death. Captain Ward had guards in the morgue watching the bodies, making sure the gas didn't have this effect with any of the other subjects. I stood up and moved over to the medical wing, looking at Subject 17 on her bed. Captain Ward told me her name was Julie but I couldn't afford to get attached until I knew she would live longer than the night.
We ran as many tests as we could, we wasted many many tax dollars in the process but in the subjective view Experiment 26 was also a waste. I looked her file and saw nothing that threw up red flags, nothing that pointed to an immediate sign of immunity. The Experiment had clearly worked but where it normally bonded to the blood cells, it was slipping and practically hydroplaning off. I paced around the hospital going through all the files again, i suspected blood type but to confirm that hypothesis I'd need more subjects. I was pretty sure I'd have no shortage of subjects, I just didn't have the time.
High command had gotten whiff of my lone survivor, my failure, I currently had a success rate of 94.11% and a failure rate of 5.89%. This was expected, but not this far into the trial phase. I took a deep breath and moved out of the hospital, deeper into the base. Captain Ward sat outside our meeting room,
"Get to talk to your lab rat?" Ward said, standing up. His stance was stiff and as straight as a line, the military hardened his posture into stone.
"Not yet, I need to find out what makes her immune and what made Subject 16 not immune. If I can do that then I can lie properly and tell her a form for him was missing or invalid and that it was an unexpected death. I need time and research before I even think about talking to her, before I can explain how a United States Military experiment went wrong," I answered, moving to walk into the meeting room.
Ward blocked the door with his arm. "Do you even hear how you sound! We could've killed this poor girl and you don't seem to care!"
"The time to care was before this experiment started! Tell me, before you play Saint, did you not think of all the lives that would be lost before you joined this experiment! Did you not think about the dangers! Their blood may be on my hands but it's on yours as well!" I yelled back. "My job isn't to care about the morality of killing dozens or hell even hundreds, my job is to make and test a weapon that will defend America against all enemies."
"You used to be a good man, Jeremiah. Now all you are is a mad man with a hair trigger, you will never be anything more than an Oppenheimer who will come to regret their creation. You will burn in hell with your regret," Ward said in a whisper so fierce that every dog would whine and cover their ears.
"Please, I'll burn in hell when the good lord stops taking written apologies. Captain Ward, if you would," I stared, pointing at the opening door.
I walked inside with Captain Ward looming over my shoulder, I saw the line of uniforms around the table, all generals but at the end of table was The Secretary of Defense. I took the empty seat as Captain Ward stood behind me, clearing his throat and waiting for further instructions. As the meeting started, a file was brought to me. The file contained all relevant information on Julie Riley, and every bit of information we could pull on the previous subjects.
"Can you tell me why we have a firearms discharge in a research facility and a survivor of your miracle weapon, Dr. Taylor." The first General in the assembly asked.
"And why we have a research team panicking over blood crystals, and post-mortum brain activity," The second general asked.
I flipped through the files quickly as the silence grew denser and denser, I had just looked through the last one as I shot my gaze up. The Generals grew impatient but I had solved the growing enigma that was our survivor.
"Blood type, blood type is the issue. All of our subjects have been A or B or O positive and negative, but Julie is AB Negative. It's the second rarest blood type in the world, and it's invaluable to medical science. If I am right then the weapon I have made only has a 99.4% margin of error. That being said, I've seen what it does to gas masks no one would survive that " I explained, trying to cover this tremendous oversight.
"And what about the weapons discharge?" The Secretary of Defense asked, sitting up in his chair.
"The subject seemed to show short-term immunity," I started, matching his posture.
"The subject came back to life, like his brain was still active. His blood had crystallized and began ripping through the flesh, the gas mask had fused into his skull and he was deprived of oxygen with no sign of change. He was killed, and subsequently brought back," Ward interrupted, staring the table down.
"Dr. Taylor, is this true?" The Secretary asked, leaning forward.
"Leave it to the army to believe they know how science works, no it's not. Looking over the files now it shows the subject was AB positive, it could've caused an immuno response similar to our other subjects immunity. I need more subjects of the AB Negative group to be sure of blood type immunity, but be sure that no one rised from the dead short of our lord and savior. Captain Ward is exaggerating, perhaps he's in shock, I would like a new guard who doesn't question the morality of these tests. At least give me one that doesn't question me at every success, and come up with wild theories as the dead rising from their grave," I spilled out, trying my best to convince them that Ward wasn't the best fit for my work. I needed someone fresh who could understand what I was doing.
"You'll have your request, both of them. We'll do our best to find the right subjects, and send you our next best officer Col. Zachery Blackwood, to aid in your research. He's more fitted to help you, he has a Master's Degree in engineering and robotics," The Secretary of Defense stood up, everyone in the room following suit. "Captain Ward, you are dismissed, stand by for reassignment," He continued.
"Yes. Sir." Captain Ward growled, walking out.
"The rest of your are dismissed, let's have a productive day today. Dr. Taylor, expect new subjects and your guards replacement before the days out," The Secretary of Defense said, picking up the file on Julie. "I hope you don't mind, Doctor, I'm gonna flip through this in my spare time."
"I don't mind, take your time with it. I'm gonna take a nap, long night as you know," I said, walking out the room. If only I had listened to Capt. Ward then, everything would have been fine.