The hiss of the bulkhead door filled Amalia's ears, and she looked up at the silhouette in the doorway. It was Atlas once again. She didn't know how long it had been or whether Requiem would ever release her from this room. The room itself was completely sterile and devoid of any kind of color, except for the red hue that the lights gave off every now and then.
Amalia was tired and weak; she couldn't move. "You and Requiem just pull all the strings, huh?"
"If that was true, you would've never made it out of the republic in the first place and unfortunately we don't have that kind of influence over nations. Anyway, The Nova Genesis Project. Explain the process." The silhouette spoke.
Amalia looked up at him. "What?"
"Requiem is not a secret organization here to control the world, every leader knows about it. That's an entirely stupid idea to have when you know how dangerous the Meteorn are. It was founded during the first war to oversee threats to humanity and enact disaster prevention protocols to keep us from being wiped from existence. Every nation collaborates to run this organization and it's in all of our best interests to have an independent body similar to the United Nations for that purpose. Especially in dealing with overly ambitious assholes like you who make things worse, understand? Now, the Nova Genesis Project, explain." Atlas replied.
Amalia shook her head. "You don't need to know."
"Answer." Atlas commanded.
Amalia's eyes narrowed. "I can't tell you."
"Defiance will only lead to suffering. Answer."
"I will not. Not to you, not to Requiem." Amalia spat.
Atlas immediately struck her across the face. She felt her lip split and her head was ringing. The blow snapped the binds on the chair and knocked her to the floor; she didn't expect him to use so much force in his blow.
"Do you think I'd just execute you? That'd be nice wouldn't it? An escape from accountability and explaining what exactly the 'Project' was?" Atlas's voice was cold and distant, as though he were reading from a script. "But you will explain yourself."
Atlas grabbed Amalia by the throat and put her back in the chair and secured her once again. "Go ahead."
She sat there, her head drooped down, her vision blurred. She felt the warmth of the blood trickle down her chin; if it wasn't for her enhanced body, the hit would've surely killed her.
"I had several goals for the Nova Genesis project." Amalia finally started. Her voice was hoarse. "To improve our understanding of resonance and how to harness it, the subjugation of the Meteorn, and finally the hybridization of humanity and resonance in the same way Meteorn utilize it."
"Go on."
"The first was to harness Resonance as a power source, and we succeeded in that." Amalia said. She felt her body tremble, but she forced herself to continue. "The second was the subjugation of the Meteorn. They are powerful beings and have immense potential, but are too powerful to control directly. Instead, I wanted to use them as a weapon to be aimed at our enemies. I gathered the best individuals in robotics and cybernetics to design and craft bodies the meteorn's cores would inhabit and allow the indoctrination of a Meteorn's mind."
"And?" Atlas asked.
Amalia felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She couldn't bear to speak the next part. "I wanted to use the bodies I'd made to create an army of obedient Meteorn. They'd serve Argentia's military and would be used in battle. The bodies would also limit their abilities and prevent them from rebelling. To an extent it bore some success..."
She looked at him, wondering what kind of expression he had underneath his visor. He didn't respond; he just stared at her. "We tested them, over and over. Starting with cores of little meteorn then moving on to stronger ones, but the results were mostly the same. The indoctrination or fusion process usually failed, and the meteorn always rebelled or rejected the android body. They wouldn't obey orders, and we had to kill them every time."
Atlas nodded. He seemed satisfied with the information, but then he leaned closer to Amalia. "The first time humanity fought the meteorn proved that they have the capacity to wipe us off the face of this earth, yet you thought that using them to your own advantage would work? The original humans nearly went extinct trying to defeat them."
"Original... humans?" Amalia asked, her eyes widened.
"I'm genuinely surprised you don't know. The Exalted, those who have the capability to adapt to resonance. That is their true identity. What you know about them publicly is a deliberate misrepresentation to justify the concealment and protection of the few that remain. They can't be used . You didn't know that humanity was rebuilt with synthetic born lives? Even after stealing Qin's files? Did you throw that part out thinking it was useless?" Atlas said, his voice had an air of condescension in it.
Amalia felt her heart sink; she had no idea. "I... I..." Her voice trailed off.
"The continent of Karus was removed from the face of the planet. And you still believed you could succeed in controlling the Meteorn? The sheer arrogance." He shook his head and left the room, leaving her in the darkness of her cell.
Amalia's mind was spinning, and her body was shaking; she felt the guilt and the anger rising in her.
She had no idea.
The knowledge that she and many others originated from artificially constructed lives that were the remnants of a nearly-extinct human species, and had no true origin... It was a bitter truth. And that meant that what she knew about the exalted was fundamentally incorrect and several parts of her research were completely invalidated by that.
She started laughing; the laughter was a mix of despair and disbelief. "God... dammit..."
After a while, Atlas returned and stood in front of her again, his silhouette looming in front of her. "Soon we'll turn you back over to the Charstire Republic, and there you'll be convicted of your crimes against humanity. But before that, how many facilities do you have for the Nova Genesis Project? I'm going to find them sooner or later, or you can tell me now."
Amalia sat in silence.
"So be it," Atlas replied. He left her, and she remained alone for a while until she fell asleep. When she woke up, she heard the familiar sound of the bulkhead door opening. Atlas had returned with various equipment used for operating on androids. "Let's see what that body you've given yourself is truly made of."
She looked at the items he had brought in and felt her blood freeze, and she knew that this would not be pleasant.