“Are
you sure you are all right?”
A
well-dressed doctor asked Cloud. Cloud nodded and moved his arms around. He
punched into the air a few times and nodded with a smile.
“That
day when we found you, you were in a near-death condition. You have cuts and
slashes all over your body and sustain heavy blood loss. If it wasn’t because
of your curing materias, you might had been death by now.” The doctor said and
make sure Cloud was really ready to go.
“Thanks
doc, but I had fully recovered. I have been in bed a few days and I really had
to get out of here.” Cloud replied and started packing a few belongings Tifa
brought him. He was ready to go.
“Say...doc,
what happened to the body you found not far away from where you all found me?”
Cloud inquired about Aeris’s body.
“It
should be in the autopsy room. Go in and ask for Dr. Jackson. He is in charge
of whatever we found there.” The doctor replied. Cloud nodded and walked
towards the door.
“Don’t
you want to wait for your wife?”
The
doctor asked and stopped Cloud from walking out. Cloud stopped for a while and
spoke.
“Tell
her I am in the autopsy room.” Cloud finished and walked out. He is going to
meet Aeris.
Cloud
walked down the corridor and hunted for the autopsy room sign. It was an
unpopular room and it wasn’t very easy to find. Cloud had to go through many
corridors and study many directory board before he finally found the room. When
he stepped into it, he saw a thin, tall and dark man wearing goggles, had an
operating knife in his hand and was slicing a piece of meaty like thing. He
looked obsessed with what he was doing.
“Ah!
Mr. Cloud I presume?”
Cloud
nodded after greeted by the man with a strange accent. The put down his operating
knife and went to shake Cloud’s hand. Cloud shook his hand and found out that
his hand was covered with blood and fluid that really stinks. The man apologize
for his carelessness and took off his surgeon gloves.
“Mr.
Cloud, you came at the right! Come here, there was something I would like to
show you!”
The
man leaded Cloud towards the piece of meat he was operating. It look familiar,
it had four claws and looked like a headless body. It looked like it was...
“Isn’t
this monster I killed back there?” Cloud asked the man.
“Yes,
indeed! I wanted to say what a stroke of luck I had! For years and years of
operating dead bodies, I finally had a chance to open up something so amazing!
I, Dr. Jackson, will become famous after I complete a full report on this
thing!” The man raised his arms high up and shouted in joy.
“I
was nearly killed by this thing and you only think that you can be famous by
operating this?” Cloud shouted back in anger.
“I
didn’t mean that...ah never mind. Let me show you what I discovered.” Dr.
Jackson use a scalpel and pointed at the lower part of the creature’s body.
“As
you see here, this creature was small and could fold itself up and compress
itself, making it capable of placing itself into the human body. Here, let me
show you how.”
Dr.
Jackson folded up the creature by folding up it’s legs and releasing the air in
it’s body. The compressed creature’s size was so small that it could fit into a
human’s body.
“That’s
not it. I done some research on this creature and found out that this creature
doesn’t need to breath nor eat while in it host’s body. It sort of shuts down
it’s entire system and only become active when it was exposed to air.” Dr.
Jackson continued.
“And
this is more interesting. Look at this beauty!”
Dr.
Jackson removed the cover of a box, revealing the creature’s head in it, with
it’s brain exposed and it’s eyes still wide open. Cloud looked at it and felt
disgusted.
“How
in earth could you can this thing a beauty?” Cloud said while pointing at the
creature’s head, still covered in blood and fluid. Dr. Jackson shook his head.
He knew that Cloud wouldn’t appreciate what he was doing.
“Let
me explain why. Look at this network of blood vessels here?” Dr Jackson pointed
at lines and lines of red, blue and different color blood vessels covering the
entire creature’s brain.
“This
creature had very high intelligence, probably even more than us humans. By
studying its host’s body, I could tell that this creature has the ability to
move and control the host’s actions, besides just staying in the host’s body.”
Dr. Jackson explained even more.
“The
host?” Cloud questioned.
“Here,
this way.”
Dr.
Jackson said and lead Cloud to another operating table covered with a white cloth.
Dr. Jackson opened it and Cloud got the shock of his life. It was Aeris, but
she was covered with blood, her major organs such as the stomach and intestines
were exposed and her body was cut from the abdomen right up to her neck,
exposing a lot of flesh and blood.
Cloud
was petrified to see this. Dr. Jackson had done some operations on her and he
didn’t care whether the cuts were good or bad. Dr. Jackson just open up Aeris’s
body like a dead chicken and poke instruments into her body. Boy, will Aeris’s
funeral be ‘pleasant’.
“What
in the world...” Cloud pointed at Aeris’s body and his voice came to an end. He
was so furious because Dr. Jackson didn’t even get his permission to operate
Aeris’s body.
“Calm
down, Mr. Cloud. Let me show you a few things. Bt looking at the marks from
farinks right down to her abdomen, I could tell that this was the place the
creature over there stay. It leaves a tiub that connects to the brain and
controls her every movement. Besides that, it also...”
“Who
the hell gave you permission to operate Aeris?!” Cloud shouted at Dr. Jackson.
“Oh!
That doesn’t matter. She’s not Aeris.” Dr. Jackson replied.
Cloud
was silent for a moment. He was freeze onto his position for quite some time.
That wasn’t Aeris? What the hell did Dr. Jackson meant?
“As
you see here, this body doesn’t have a complete system of organs. It had a lack
of nerves, the digestive system isn’t complete, the respiration system looked
as it was patched up, heck! Even the reproduction system screwed up!” Dr Jackson
pointed at a few parts of Aeris’s body.
Cloud,
still not knowing what Dr. Jackson meant, listened carefully. He wasn’t good in
science, he need a more direct approach.
“I
too done a DNA test on her body cells. You see, some cells in a person’s body
could tell the age of the person. By judging from her looks, she looked like a
girl in her early twenties. But from her DNA test, her cells only showed that
she was two years old. Unless she was born two years ago and grew up in such
rapid speed, she was a... how should I put it...”
Dr
Jackson scratched his head and thinking of the right term to say.
“A
clone?” Cloud suggested.
“No,
not a clone. A clone is a exact copy of a person who could actually think too. This
body looked more like a bunch of system and tissues patch up just to support
the creature inside it. If I would name it, I would name it a bio-mechanical
host. Yea! That’s it! A Bio-Mechanical Host!” Dr Jackson shouted in joy.
“So...there
is a possibility that the real Aeris is alive?!” Cloud asked for confirmation,
still not believing what he actually heard.
“Yes,
there’s a possibility. This is just a pathetic clone of her. The real her might
be somewhere else. Say, could I continue doing research on this body?” Dr.
Jackson asked, hoping that Cloud will allow.
“Do
whatever you want with her. I am outta here.” Cloud replied and head towards
the exit. Dr. Jackson leaped in joy, thinking what fame awaits him.
“Say,
who did you think is capable of creating such a bio-mechanical host?” Dr.
Jackson wondered.
Before
Cloud closed the door, he paused for a moment. Then he uttered,
“An
old, old friend of mine.”
It
was night time again. Like usual, the bar in Kalm was packed with locals and
travelers dying for a drink, after a busy day of work and stress. Like any
other bar, this bar was dimly lit and was filled with cigarette smoke and smell
of alcohol. This is the perfect place to hang out.
At
every table there are drinks and cigarettes ashes. Patrons sitting around table
boasting about their day and laughing at each other. But there was a table
where three people in blue suit sat. Two guys and one girl. One of the guy was
red-haired, had a sunglass hanging on his forehead and his shirt tucked out.
The other guy looked smarter and cooler, especially with the dimly lit light
shining off his bald head like his sunglasses. The girl was blonde haired and
looked disturbed with her surroundings. She wished she never visited this
place.
“How
on earth could you two come to a place like this?” The girl asked the two. The
read-haired guy leaned lazily on his arm chair and enjoy his mug of beer. The
bald one just kept quiet, and observed the crowd behind his sunglass, as if he
was waiting for something to happen.
“Relax,
chick! This is the place relax! Get a beer and knock yourself out!” The
red-haired guy said. The girl shook her head and muttered.
“Hey
lady! Care for a drink?”
A
many around six and a half feet tall approached the girl and offered her a
drink. He looked tough, well-built and looked like he had a short temper. The
girl ignored him and looked away.
“I
say, care for a drink?” The man’s voice grew louder and pushed his drink
against the girl. The girl still ignored him and acted cool.
“She’s
with me. Buzz off!” The red-haired guy said and sent the large man off. The
large man got angry and the crowd started to eye on them.
“It
seemed that you all are new. You didn’t know who’s the boss here right?” The
large man said with an angry tone.
“Yea,
like you are the boss!”
The
girl insulted the large man. The large man got so furious and threw his fist at
the girl. But the girl turned around in a flash and kicked the mug in the large
man’s hand upwards, dodged his attack, smashing his face twice, kick him and
sent him flying across the bar, and caught the mug with her right hand, with
even dripping the drink in it.
This
made the crowd amazed with what they saw. They haven’t seen anybody beat up the
large man, which they call him the boss before. The boss pushed himself up and
charged himself against the girl. The girl evaded and the bald man stopped him,
with just a finger, pressing against the boss’s forehead. Then, he used a
little strength and sent him flying across the bar, smashing against a table,
leaving the boss unconscious.
“Come
on, we are leaving.”
The
red-haired guy said and led his company out of the bar. Before he left, he
threw something at the bartender and it dart towards the bartender. The
bartender was frozen and then he heard a loud thack, turned around and saw a
thin, metal plate stuck a whole inch beneath the wooden cabinet. When he turned
back, the three person was gone and the crowd was helping the boss up. Then, a
man with spiky hair came in.
“What
happened?” Cloud asked the bartender about the incident.
“Three
people came, beat up the boss and left this. Look!” Cloud looked at the metal
plate stuck in the wooden cabinet and pulled it out. He read it carefully and
it says, “Need something investigated? Look for A trailer nearby, We will be at
your service.”