Chapter 3: Human Experimentation

****

If you watch movies featuring scientists from secret organizations, that kind of scene comes up often. A doctor or scientist in a white coat conducting unethical experiments on human subjects.

Maybe it’s an experience shared by all modern people. Being dragged to the dentist by your parents as a child, receiving a procedure you couldn’t even understand.

Today, a white coat came to my containment cell. I have to survive this time too.

“Hello. I’m Cheon Gyeongchae, a physician from the Foundation’s Examination Department. Starting today, I’ll be conducting basic examinations and personnel vetting on you.”

Cheonggyeongchae? — was what I thought, but I didn’t bother saying it out loud.

“Yes.”

“Please, have a seat.”

There was a small desk in the center of the containment cell. I sat down awkwardly at the desk, and the doctor the Foundation had sent sat across from me and pulled out a tablet.

“Before you become a Foundation employee, the examinations you must undergo are as follows. You’ll need to undergo roughly fifty-odd tests, and receive 61 vaccinations required by the Foundation.”

Why are there so many.

“The list of examinations is as follows. Basic body measurements, vision, hearing, blood pressure. Liver enzyme levels, fasting blood glucose, glomerular filtration rate—”

“You don’t need to read all of them.”

“Then I’ll only go over the items that aren’t standard examination categories.”

“Yes.”

“One moment, please. Full-body CT, full-body MRI, genetic testing, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, Primrose field concentration test, doppelganger discrimination test, reality-anchoring response test, causality-anchoring response test, deep probability analysis—”

I raised my hand briefly. I had no intention of wasting the whole day listening to this. If I had to do all the tests anyway, better to get them done quickly.

“Just run the tests in order. Print me the list and I’ll look it over myself.”

“Then please follow me outside the containment cell.”

Tap, tap.

The doctor the Foundation had sent walked faster than I expected. I had to work fairly hard to match his pace.

“By the way, Doctor.”

“Yes.”

“Is it really okay to release containment this carelessly? I’m supposedly an anomaly. Yesterday someone shoved a gun in my face the moment they entered the containment cell.”

The man in the white coat stopped walking and turned slightly to look at me. With a cold gaze, like he was looking at a lab mouse.

I took a step back.

“It’s nothing. We’re being considerate because I hear you’re going to be staff. Why, would you prefer to be dragged to the Humanoid Research Department in a restraint suit with sedatives injected into your spinal canal, per protocol?”

“No.”

“You seem like a good person, so I’m especially worried about you. You have no idea how frightening the Foundation is.”

I nodded.

“I don’t know what you are. Why a girl who doesn’t even look old enough to be my niece was contained in a Foundation facility, why the Director’s Office decided to bring you on as staff. I have no way of knowing any of it.”

“That’s possible.”

“I find you very frightening.”

Let’s change the subject.

Whatever the current treatment was, I was still the Foundation’s prisoner. At least until I was recognized as staff, I had to do my best to survive.

“Understood. How do the examinations work?”

Judging by his reaction, nothing too extreme, it seemed.

“You’ll stay in the inpatient ward inside this facility for a day or two, and receive the necessary tests and vaccinations. There’s no need to worry.”

“Those. What kind of vaccinations are there?”

“Let me think. Anthrax, Ebola, SARS, cholera, meningitis, a few types of informational pathogens. I’d have to check for the specifics myself, there are so many.”

The doctor fell quiet for a moment.

“You seem to know quite a bit about the Foundation, Doctor?”

“I don’t know much myself. I’m just a physician, so there’s no need for me to know a lot. If I went out into the field, maybe I’d learn a thing or two, but…”

“I see.”

The doctor assigned to me was kind, but as expected, I failed to extract any meaningful information.

“Go into this room. Answer a few questions and come out, and I’ll escort you to the inpatient ward.”

I nodded, then opened the door and stepped inside.

***

It was different from what I’d expected. As always, I should never have trusted those damn white coats.

The first examination I underwent at the Foundation’s hospital wasn’t a blood test, nor was it a physical. No, it wasn’t anything remotely close to that kind of medical procedure.

I squinted against the fluorescent light.

“What… is that?”

Honestly, I had a rough idea of what it was.

A polygraph test. A type of lie detector, one I’d heard was used for personnel vetting in places like intelligence agencies.

A Foundation employee in a suit gestured.

“Please have a seat over there.”

A chair fitted with complex machinery. I quickly scanned it, checking what kind of devices were attached.

The Foundation employee began attaching sensors to my body one by one. A pulse oximeter, portable ECG leads for my limbs, a galvanic skin response monitor… That’s enough. Not like knowing will do me any good.

Whatever the case, there were a lot of them.

I let out a sigh, and the Foundation employee sitting across from me offered a businesslike smile.

“There’s absolutely no need to be nervous.”

It was scarier than when they’d shoved a gun in my face. These people were the Foundation’s Human Resources Department. They weren’t wearing sunglasses, but… Black suits, black shoes — unmistakably Men in Black.

“I’m Min Ari, HR Section Chief. I know you’re busy, so let’s not waste time. First, try to relax a bit — you’re quite tense.”

Not “you seem tense” or “you look tense” — just a flat declaration: “you are tense.”

They could see my tension in the numbers on their end. I wet my lips.

I had to survive.

“Would you state three true statements about yourself, and three false ones?”

I thought for a long moment.

****

“If you don’t mind my saying—— you look awfully young. At least, for someone working as a Foundation researcher.”

“This isn’t my original appearance.”

Some time passed, and HR Section Chief Min Ari looked up from the tablet, notes finished.

“Yes, you answered well.”

This is exhausting.

“Next question. Do you know why you were given a Classification of anomaly? And how much do you understand about the Foundation?”

I paused to think.

“I’m not sure. What I understand is that my body changed like this, and I was contained as a Foundation anomaly… That’s about it.”

“You’re remarkably calm. Your biological sex changed, didn’t it?”

“I knew my body had changed, but the memories from before and after the change were erased with amnestics. So that’s why.”

The Human Resources Department employee looked at me.

“I have no intention of playing psychological games with you. I’ll speak plainly.”

“Ah?”

“First. The Foundation suspects you might be an anomaly like a mimic or a doppelganger. If that turns out to be true, the Humanoid Research Department will probably dissect you.”

“I’m not.”

“Second. You’ve volunteered to work in the Director’s Office. As it’s a position of great responsibility for the Foundation, we must vet you thoroughly — I ask for your understanding.”

I nodded.

“Third. The Foundation’s screening process is normally extremely complicated, and with the Director absent… It’s even more so now.”

Come to think of it, I’d forgotten to ask Nanami. What exactly the Foundation wanted from me.

What specific position they intended to put me in. She’d said they wanted me working in the Director’s Office rather than handing me over to the Research Department, hadn’t she?

“You’ve worked hard.”

The HR Section Chief stood up first. She removed the sensors from my arms one by one.

“Can I go now?”

“You can head to the inpatient ward now.”

I let out a small sigh of relief.

***

A few hours later.

I stared at the crowd gathered outside my room. White coats — one, two… Six of them had come. After a moment’s wait, the Foundation doctors walked up to me.

“How are you feeling?”

I nodded.

“Yes. You passed most of the other tests, but we found something unusual in your genetic screening. Do you happen to know what it might be?”

I shook my head. How would I know — you’re the ones who ran the tests, and you’re the ones who are the doctors.

“We cannot verify the origin of the second X chromosome the patient possesses. Additionally, the X chromosome sequence found in the fingernails differs from that found in the hair, which suggests a possible chimerism. However, since the cell populations perfectly share the remaining 45 chromosomes, we believe it is not visible to the naked eye.”

“Ah, I see.”

“This is a highly unusual result. Since the body shares 45 chromosomes with the pre-transformation genetics as well, it is inconsistent with findings of a mimic or body snatcher, and we judge that your statement is highly likely to be true—”

I raised one hand.

“Professor, professor. You must be busy—I’ll just read the report later. Thank you.”

These doctors sure talk a lot.

When I made it clear I wouldn’t listen to the explanation, the Foundation doctors gave me a brief nod and filed out in a hurry. I blinked blankly.