25 February 2013
"Experiment 283a is commencing. All non-employees please exit the building through one of the marked doors. Have a good day."
Jon sat at the stainless steel control panel. It was wholly empty, save one small square button, designed to look as similar to the rest of the panel as possible. In front of him was a quad-glaze, bulletproof, sterile glass rectangle. Beyond it was Cerebrum 07, hanging from its hold in all it's glory. Almost no one was allowed into the actual room 07 was held in, and even being separated from it by a wall was not enough to satisfy the government. Sterilisation was standard procedure. Experiment 102 had uncovered the fact that Cerebrums (as they were nicknamed) were six times more susceptible to diseases than human beings. A small bacterium next to the cerebrum could result in a cough or cold in time, and having a cerebrum out for even a few days was considered a disaster. Sometimes though, it couldn't be helped.
Jon pressed the small button on the control panel, and the whole surface suddenly lot up with screens of data on all sorts of things that to any other person would seem crazy and over complicated, but to Jon, who had been training for six years, they all made perfect sense. An experiment briefing came up onto the panel.
"Experiment 238: Secrecy level 2
In this experiment, we shall be testing the pain threshold of a Cerebrum. This should bring us a step closer to one of our ultimate goals, which is to roll out Cerebrum to the public, offering people the chance to become one of these giants. If the pain threshold is designated to be too low, the project will be scrapped.
You will proceed to fire one bolt of electricity equivalent to 100 volts through Cerebrum 07. You shall then measure the relevant brain waves in the relevant areas of the brain. Once finished, you shall send this information directly to your superiors. Briefing over."
Jon smiled. This was easy. He would probably be done within the hour. What he didn't know however, was that this experiment was to set off a chain of events that would change his life.
Cerebrum Chapter III • Opuss № I