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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 13, 2009 13:58:23 GMT -6
The Government Center went down for miles. At the top, the government met to run things and below them, a million workers scurried and filed their paperwork like ants. And below them, so deep that each new level required a rarer level of access than the last, there was the Chamber, a join project by the government and military.
There had been a time when the Chamber had been the busiest place in the whole of Government Center. Races from all over the solar system had been captured and brought here in total secrecy. They had been tested, genetically, mentally and physically, to determine what their purpose was, what they desired, what their strengths were and, most importantly, what their weaknesses were. The number crunchers and headshrinkers had put together profiles and action plans for each planet. If the inhabitants of the planet were to turn against the Terran spaceport, there was a plan. If they were to resist human expansion with violence, there was a plan. And if they were to achieve space travel and decided to attack Terra, there was a plan for that as well.
But the years had passed, and the fears had not come to fruition. And so the plans had gathered dust, and so the Chamber had fallen into disuse, until about four years ago, when a new threat emerged: the Genetically Modified Individual (or the GMIs as they were more widely known). Suddenly anyone could grow an extra tail, if they had enough money. Or if they stole enough.
Paul was working two cases. The first was Cassandra Nida, rumoured to have augmented her body with prosthetics until she was less than 50% organic mass. Her father was currently in integration, but they had gotten no confession from him yet. That was fine. Some men took a long time to break, and they had nothing but time here. The second, and more important, was Unwin Visvajit, a man who had stolen from assorted genetic engineering companies and used the work on himself. He had slipped through the Terran military's fingers many times, disappearing off into the dark of space with the stolen technology. He'd often wondered what Unwin was doing with all that technology.
Now they had concrete answers.
From where Enker stood, he could look down into the Chamber. Unwin Visvajit had been stripped of his clothes and was strapped to an upright modified hospital bed. There was no mattress here, just restrains to keep him in place as a legion of doctors took tissue samples and photographs of his modifications. He had woken up about an hour ago, much to the excitement of the doctors. His body was processing the tranqs faster than it had any right to. All Enker thought was that they would have to increase the doses, or find a new and more effective brand.
Unwin was getting restless. Perfect. It would be best to keep him off-kilter. Enker headed down to the Chamber floor, stepping in. As he approached Unwin, he pulled up his eInkir, "Mr Visvajit." Enker greeted the prone and trapped Unwin. "Good evening. I'm here to ask you some questions. Any cooperation will be noted and may reduce your jail time."
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 13, 2009 17:23:43 GMT -6
Unwin had been confronted with a numerous amount of people who liked to call themselves doctors. He'd been picked at and photographed, which he wasn't exactly comfortable with. It also didn't help that any tests that were made, it seemed they purposely made more painful than necessary. The one that bothered him the most involved a scale or two being ripped off his spine to look at and do tests with. He was not impressed with the situation he was stuck in and cursed himself for not being more careful.
He had no idea what area of the huge facility he was in but it was clearly decked out with some high security. Once he spotted Enker enter he calmed himself and stared the man in the eyes. 'some respectable man, he cant even read,' Unwin smirked. "Heet," he blurted hoping the man was smart enough to pick up on his mistake.
"Can I get a blanket? It's cold down here..." He scanned the room around him. He didn't have much movement at all and being strapped to a table with nothing on wasn't exactly fun.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 13, 2009 17:51:13 GMT -6
Enker frowned. Heat? What was Unwin talking about? Then he realized what he meant: the last name. "Visvajit." He said again, swapping out the jit for a heet noise instead. He made a mental note to revise pronunciation of awkward names in the future.
"No. The doctors must do their work unhindered." Just as Enker said that, a pair walked around to the other side and began prodding at Unwin's spine. What sort of purpose was that modification supposed to serve, beside shredding his clothing.
Enker got back to business. "Where have you stored the stolen lab equipment?"
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 13, 2009 21:07:18 GMT -6
"Yeah? Well they can go fik themselv- AYE!" he snapped at the two who started poking at him again. "Is that really necessary?! You already ripped a fiking piece off of me! What more is there to look at?!" He heard Paul's question but pretended to miss it and made it seem as if he was too distracted with the shooting pain in his back.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked as he turned his attention back to the man in front of him. He had a very clear look of discomfort over his face and he twitched a bit as one of the 'doctors' shoved a needle into him for more blood.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 13, 2009 21:25:48 GMT -6
The doctors ignored Unwin. They were used to working with mouthy subjects. The key was to keep it professional. Never acknowledge that they were there, never acknowledge that they were speaking, just keep focused on your work. They continued to take additional samples. There were plenty of tests to be run.
"I said 'where have you stored the stolen lab equipment?' We found your shuttle and searched it." Paul looked at Unwin. Criminals were bad enough when they were dumb thugs. They were even worse when they were smartasses. "You should come clean now. Everything you say is being noted and will be considered when they assess how many years you will receive in prison, or if you will even live to see prison."
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 13, 2009 22:07:36 GMT -6
"Even if I do tell you where it is, you'll never actually get to it." he smirked. He knew the government wouldn't dare set foot in the underworld. The only reasonable way for a government agent to get into get into the underworld was complete undercover disguise. But that would be risky, if anyone found out they'd be dropped in an instant. "So why even bother?"
He made a grunt at another needle. He was pretty sure that when he got out he'd collect a few needles and show these doctors how uncomfortable it really was to be constantly poked and stabbed with needles. He was curious to know what was planned for a real interrogation, as this was just tests and crap.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 13, 2009 22:58:53 GMT -6
Enker almost laughed. Did he think there was a place in all the system they couldn't reach? The military ships were only half of their force, and they were often mainly for show. Oh sure, you could bombard a planet, turn an unfriendly outpost into a crater. Or you could send in a professional and let them infiltrate the area, set up nooses for people to willingly slip their heads into. "You underestimate us Mr. Visvajit. If you give us the location, we can find it."
One of the doctors came up and blocked his view of Unwin, prying open the man's eye to take a look at it. Enker simply stepped to the side so Unwin could still see him out of his other eye. The doctors struggled to keep Unwin's head in place as they got in tight to the yellow eye.
Enker knew it wasn't too professional, but he was curious. "What's the advantage in turning one eye but leaving the other?"
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 13, 2009 23:25:59 GMT -6
"You often underestimate what we can do," Unwin snorted at Enker. As the doctor tried to force his eye open Unwin did his best to make it difficult. Last thing he wanted was a needle to the eye. The man held a small light and shone it in his eye, taking a small pause to write a few notes down.
"It was supposed to be both, but a fun little raid on one of my temporary labs didn't leave me with enough time to do both. But I kinda like it, don't you? I can design outfits around it!" It was his goal to get Enker frustrated. He'd avoid spilling what any of his modifications were good for but blabbing about useless things.
The doctor resumed his examination of the yellow eye despite the small fight Unwin was making. He hated people touching his face. Why? He wasn't even really sure of that himself. Next thing he knew the doctor was adding a case like addition to the thing he was already strapped to. It went over his head and seemed to be designed for holding him completely still. It would suck, as his head was the only free movement he had been allowed.
The doctor motioned for the other to come. Unwin caught site of what? Another needle. "Fik, if you stick that in my eye I will personally tear you apart!"
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 13, 2009 23:50:20 GMT -6
Enker wasn't surprised that Unwin was refusing to cooperate. He was, however, getting irritated by how cheery the man was. He had just been captured by the government, a little fear would be nice. Or anything but more glib comments. Sure, they would disappear soon, but it would never be soon enough for Enker.
The doctors were managing to get a reaction out of Enker. There was a reason Enker always let them continue to do their tests while speaking with the prisoner. It put them off-guard, kept them distracted, and if you were lucky, revealed fears they had.
"You won't be tearing anyone apart." Enker informed him. "But if you did give us some useful information, we could leave that eye alone. From what I understand, getting samples from the vitreous humour is a very painful process."
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 14, 2009 0:12:16 GMT -6
Unwin clenched his teeth. He wanted nothing to do with that needle. He didn't want it anywhere near his face let alone his eye. If spilling info was all it took to keep the thing away he'd share, but he knew he'd get it either way. "Bull shit," Why would he hand out important information only to get the thing shoved in his eye anyway? He wasn't stupid, he knew how things like this worked.
But how would Enker hold up seeing it happen? Unwin kept his eyes locked on the needle. The doctor seemed to be waiting for Enker to give him the go ahead.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 14, 2009 0:29:47 GMT -6
And there it was. No snappy remark, no glib comment. The idea of a needle going into his eye was enough to make the ever chatty Unwin go quiet. Most people were the same.
"It's the truth." Enker said, tapping the eInkr against his fingers, "From what I understand, eye fluid isn't necessary to understand what you've done to the eye. It falls under one of the optional samples. Of course, I've gone ahead and said they could take whatever they want from you but... if you gave me some real information, I would see no reason to go ahead with the procedure."
Would this be the break? It might be. There had been a few times people gave in and started cooperating this early. If he did, that would be more than a win for Enker. That would be a guaranteed promotion and pay raise. He kept the doctor waiting a little longer, just to see if he would get lucky.
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 14, 2009 0:57:58 GMT -6
He didn't trust him at all, besides the research was important for Unwin. He needed it. He closed his eyes tight and only gave very vague information, "It's not on Terra-" He started then stopped. He wasn't sure that would be enough to stop the needle but at least he managed to stop himself from saying anymore.
He kept his mouth shut and refused to say anymore. That was it. It was only enough to rule out one planet. 'Enker you son of a bitch...' Unwin could take more physically than most but for some reason this was something that he just found hard to take.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 14, 2009 2:12:08 GMT -6
Enker carefully considered what Unwin had said. It wasn't much. In fact, Enker had already been sure the research was not on Terra. The man would not have been that stupid. But, it was a truth. And that was a start.
You didn't need to know everything at once. While the promotion would have been nice, and the pay raise nicer, Enker was not an idiot and he did not get his job by being an idiot. You could torture a man all you wanted and eventually he'd tell you what you wanted to hear him say, but not what you needed him to say. This was the better way, the one that took longer but guaranteed you the truth, real information. It was all about getting them to understand that there were rules and if you played by the rules, you would get rewarded.
He waved the doctor off, "No samples from the eye." Enker stepped closer to Unwin, "Mr. Visvajit, I am a man of my word. If you're willing to tell me more, I'm sure we could find some other ways to make this less uncomfortable. I see here a spinal tap is on the list for tomorrow. I'm sure we could make that disappear if you narrowed the location down a little further. Heck, if you give us the place it is, rather than the place it isn't, I'm sure we could see about getting you some clothes, maybe even a blanket or two."
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Post by Unwin Visvajit on Sept 14, 2009 12:14:16 GMT -6
Unwin opened his eyes slowly and glanced around in surprise. It worked? He made a small sigh of relief and the head brace was also taken off. It was only needed to keep him from moving while they worked on his eye, so once the needle was called off the brace wasn't needed.
He didn't plan on sharing any more but a spinal tap could possibly change that. He wasn't sure if it would be less painful or even more so since the modification. After all, a strengthened bone structure might be a little more difficult to penetrate. 'No body spinal taps in an interrogation... Fik these damn experiments are turning out to be more painful than an actual interrogation would be...'
A thought hit him that moment, if they were collecting so much data from him they'd probably have information he could use. When he got out, he'd make a point of taking a bit with him. Maybe letting them go for the spinal tap would come in handy later. He could figure out which part of his restructuring had gone wrong and caused the physical mutation on his back. Did all his bones now look weird like this? Or was it just his spine? He often wondered but didn't feel like trying to open himself up for a look.
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Post by Paul Enker on Sept 14, 2009 13:49:52 GMT -6
Unwin seemed to be deep in thought. He was no doubt considering Enker's kind offer. Enker felt rather proud of himself. Some of the other investigators would have gone ahead with the eye sample, but Enker was of a higher calibre. He was a man of his word.
The eInkr beeped. He idly looked at the message and then went still. Cain was arriving. And wanted to see Unwin first thing in the morning. This... this was really bad.
"You know, if you could just narrow that down a little further, that would be really useful. I think I might even be able to get you a bed to sleep in instead of leaving you hanging." Paul tried to keep his face and voice from revealing anything, but he could feel the way his voice had crept up a register.
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