''What a boring day'', thought Sara. She couldn't believe that she had graduated from college with a degree to be bored and scolded by others in this lab all day. There was only one reason why she wanted to work here, and that was Professor Davis. His projects were quite interesting and successful and this time he was about to lead a way to incredible innovation.
This time, his experiment was about creating humanoid "creatures'' which can't feel any emotions. He had been working on this for some time and was going to present the first newborns tomorrow in the conference room. She was looking forward to seeing them. While thinking about this, she suddenly heard the annoying voice of the head of the nurses. "Hey you, Professor Davis is waiting for you in his office. Do me a favor and take these reports to him as you go.'' Sara was the most hardworking person here but yet her efforts were never appreciated.
She took the reports and took the elevator to the professor's room. Before she could knock, the professor opened the door. ''Hello, Sara good to see you. Come in.'' She tried to hide the joy she felt as the professor had called her by her first name. ''Do you want to drink something? I can make someone bring for you.'' Sara was too excited to drink something. ''No, sir. Thank you.'' She wanted to hear why she was here immediately. The professor read her mind. ''I am sure you want to hear why I wanted to talk with you immediately.'' She answered in a shy way. ''Yes, professor. I am very curious.'' The professor took a deep breath."I have observed you for a long time and I think have been a good student. You have always done the task given to you in the best way possible. I thought this should be rewarded and I decided to make you my assistant."
Sara's eyes widened and she almost started to cry with joy. "But...but what about Karima?" The professor was delighted at her reaction. "Nothing! You will be working with her." Sara was more than happy that she took nobody's job. "Oh my god, can I hug you?" The professor didn't want to offend her, although he found this request unprofessional. He was very happy to have this girl around.
While hugging, the professor started speaking again. ''Karima is having a hard time dealing with three babies at once. And, I am always at the lab except for the weekends. So I have one condition, Sara. You know Karima has been living with me since the babies were born. You'll have to move into my house, at least for a while, until they grow up maybe.'' Sara stopped hugging and asked in surprise, "Until they grow up? How many years are we talking about?" The professor answered with a confident voice. ''Don't worry they will grow faster than you think. They are not normal babies.'' He laughed and continued. ''Get ready and let's go. We're done here. We have to be prepared for tomorrow.'' Sara was excited. "Let me let my family know that I won't be coming." The professor, on the other hand, was acting rather hectic and hasty. "You can call them on the road, let's go as soon as possible."
***
Sara couldn't help but wonder "Why is he taking care of the babies at home?" while sitting in the front seat of the professor's car. All the same, she understood that he wanted to keep them close to himself. As he always said, the humanoid soldiers' experiment was his most important project. Along the way, the professor told her what to do. He explained how to take care of babies and warned her not to form emotional bonds with them. He said she could see them as 'animals'. This would be more convenient.
Sara had no intention of forming an emotional bond with the human-like but non-human babies. Even the fact that they looked like humans gave her goosebumps, but she didn't even want to know what would they look like if not like humans. She was very ambitious and felt like she had taken the first step towards becoming a famous scientist. She could never afford to lose it.
When they arrived home, Karima greeted them. It would take a thousand witnesses to call it a house. It was a huge mansion with guards at the entrance. They went home together. She didn't have any belongings with her yet. After tomorrow's conference, she would go home and fetch her things. After all, she was supposed to live here now. She could only go home on the weekend now. Because the professor was at home on the weekends and was going to take her place.
She had no intention of going home. Her parents were incredibly toxic people and they had never been supportive of her. Instead, they fought all the time, and Sara had her fair share of it. She would rather stay here with Karima and the professor and work on projects. They went inside and had a drink together. Karima and the professor were very kind to him. She was delighted that her value was finally recognized. The inside of the mansion was quite large. Only the hall was twice the size of his entire house.
The professor has been very useful to the world with his studies over the years, and these studies have made him rich. Then they ate dinner together, prepared by the old maidservant. They always talked about what was going to happen. The professor was very positive and excited.
Although his experiment was criticized by humanists, he would prove to them that their worries were in vain. Because these humanoid soldiers would have neither reason nor emotion, except to resemble human beings. After dinner, they went to the professor's private experiment room. They took care of all three babies as they talked together. They were like normal human babies. She somehow expected no cries and movements.
For a moment, she remembered that they will be trained to fight in deadly wars. She felt that she was starting to feel sorry for them, but then if the professor knew that she felt pity for them, he wouldn't have kept her here, so she shook that thought out of her mind and focused on her work. This is how the night ended. Sara moved into the guest room that Karima showed her. She would stay here from now on. It was a very nice and large room. She had to wake up fresh for tomorrow. So she tried to sleep but couldn't after trying for a while. Instead, she got up and started walking around the house. She thought that if she got tired, she would be able to sleep. Somehow dealing with all three babies didn't tire her enough. She entered various rooms.
There were interesting things in each of them. It was hard for her not to vomit in one of the rooms. Because the inside of the room was filled with baby corpses preserved in jars with special liquids. It was clear that these were failed experiments. She couldn't stay in that room any longer, but her curiosity about the other rooms had doubled. Then, in the two rooms she entered, there were experimental materials. "How many rooms are there in here?" She couldn't help thinking.
When she got to the last room, she just stood in front of the door. When she opened the door, she saw that the room was bright. She didn't have to turn the lights on like in other rooms. She thought they had forgotten to turn it off but was shocked by what she saw. Inside the room was a glass cage, and inside it was a man! He was just sitting in the cage. Sara started walking towards the cage. She was trying to figure out why he was closed here. As she approached the cage, she noticed that the man was also getting up and walking slowly toward her. When she got right in front of the cage, the man came right in front of her as well. Just then, Sara noticed that the man's eyes were pitch black. There were no pupils! Just black eyes.
As much as this frightened her, she wanted to help him. She knew that some crazy mad scientist was detaining poor people and experimenting on them. Professor Davis might have been one of them. This poor man must have been kept here in this cage for a long time. She tried to talk to him.
"Hello...Why are you here?" It was impossible for the man to hear his voice through this very thick glass. However, the thick glass had round and very small holes. She thought he was being contacted from here. She tried to speak again. "Why are they keeping you here?" The man just stood there looking at her. He was watching her mouth movements as she spoke. ''I can help you if you talk to me'' He was studying her face. Sara stared into his eyes as if hypnotized by that look. She felt things that she couldn't make sense of, or that she was ashamed to make sense of. She also began to study the man's face. His lips were quite attractive for a man. He looked very attractive with his pale skin and stubble. She could tell from his large build that he was well taken care of here. But why was he here? She was startled by a sudden voice behind her.
"First soldier of the experience." Sara quickly turned around and saw the professor. Without giving her a chance to speak, he continued. "Let's call it the first and only successful one." Sara just froze where she was. "It is a great honor for me that this creature has grown and thrived. This gave me great courage to present my work to the world. All countries will line up to buy my soldiers. The people, who do not want to lose their sons and husbands in wars, will give me great support and pressure their government to add my soldiers to their army."
Sara was frightened by the anger in the professor's voice. ''To the humanists to shut up, I will prove that my soldiers are creatures more callous and emotionless than even animals.'' He was staring at the glass when he said that. He continued. '' They are nobody's sons, husbands, relatives, school friends. No one will remember them.'' The creature was staring at them as well. When the professor said his last sentence, he snarled, opening his mouth wide, and showing them shark-like fangs. Sara was relieved that she hadn't just tried to get him out of the cage.
***
The next morning they hurried to the laboratory. The conference room had already been prepared by the staff. While the preparations were going on, the babies were in the back getting prepared for the presentation by Karima, the professor, and a few staff members. They were placed in a clear glassy box. There were no beds under them. It was the same treatment as animals in pet shops. She became uncomfortable with this and went to the conference room. Journalists were already packed for the evening's presentation. What she saw last night was haunting her.