Talk

 She wasted no time slapping a pair of handcuffs around my wrists–rather loosely I might add–and pulled me along through the prison. We passed rows and rows of iron doors surrounded by sterile white walls. Enough that I quickly lost count.

“Where the hell are we?” I asked again. Hopefully Professor Juri would be a bit more forthcoming than the pig back there.

“Iero Penitentiary, Iero’s only maximum security prison, and right under your apartment.”

“My apartment?” I asked, befuddled. “I had no idea…”

“Who would?” She said, still staring straight ahead. “The entirety of Iero has underground tunnels running through it from the founders. Where else would they store the civilians when the air was radioactive?”

“Radioactive? You mean like nuclear stuff?”

“Glad to see you at least paid a little attention in class.” With those parting words, she opened a simple black door–another sterile white hall stretching out past the door frame. Men and women in lab coats walked around, staring down at fuzzy screens and actual physical clipboards.

“I thought those only existed in movies,” I said.

“You should know from studying at Protel, but eccentrics aren't exactly one for the status quo.”

“Ain't that the truth,” I rolled my eyes. “So Professor, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on here? What the hell is this? Why do you have those torture chambers? And what the hell did you do to Caspian?” I could feel ice creeping into my voice.

Enough of this friendly chatter. I couldn’t forget the reason I came down here in the first place. One look into that chamber was enough to convince me that these people were monsters wearing human flesh.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Professor Juri said, leading me through another set of rooms.

Finally, she led me to a simple bland office. A wooden desk sat in the center, more clutter on it than even mine. Several brown bookshelves lined the walls.

“Take a seat,” she said, pulling up an office chair before sitting behind the desk. I couldn’t help but notice the very prominent silver engraved nameplate with her name sat on the corner of the desk. Even with the clutter, it was clear as day. “Oh, and don’t bother trying anything. Unlike those morons who run the prison, the guards around here are actually capable.”

I bit my lip. From the corner of my eye, two men in uniforms guarded the door, and unlike the men from before they could clearly fight. “Fine.”

“That’s the spirit. Coffee?”

“I'll pass.”

“No need to have such an attitude,” she said while pouring herself a cup. “Despite how it looks, if everything goes well you won’t be a prisoner for much longer.”

“What does ‘if everything goes well’ mean here?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“That depends on you.” Professor Juri took a sip of her coffee. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but let me shoot one at you first. How much do you really know about the founding of Iero? No need to hold back.”

I scoffed. “What do you think? There was a war, the people afterwards came together and built Iero, the same dull story they tell us in every class I’ve had.”

“If only it was so simple,” she sighed. “That’s not wrong per se, just a very short summary. World War ll was the worst war mankind had ever seen, and the Allies and Axis were locked in a horrid war caused by the Axis powers, and by every metric, if they lost, so would everyone else. Especially when both sides invented the nuclear bomb.”

“The what?”

“A bomb so powerful a single one could wipe out a quarter of Iero, not to mention the radiation. The countries of Old America and Germany both developed these bombs and gave them liberally to their allies, causing an all out frenzy of nuclear bombs. They completely destroyed almost all of the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and by the end only a few remaining governments were still standing.

The only reason we're here today is the fact the Allies had secretly planned for this, and created Project Iero–a city situated on the one surviving continent of Australia where humanity could start anew.

But there was one problem that they faced. All the bombs had created permanent weather changes to the Earth, a nuclear winter so to speak. The city’s foundations were mostly built by this point, but powering it was nearly impossible. That’s where Project Prometheus came in.”

I held my breath as she took another sip of her coffee. “So it has to do with power after all.”

“You’re correct. At the time, the available methods for powering such a city could only work without the sky being permanently blocked off by ash and dust. So, after the Axis powers fell, they raided their research and found a solution.”

She took a deep breath, the air seeming to cool by the second. “Do you think humans have a soul Asta?”

“A–A soul,” I asked, thrown off. What the hell did she mean by this? “I guess?”

“Scientifically there's something akin to that, a bundle of energy tied to each of us, and they had found a way to harness that power. But, extracting that energy took something unimaginable–torture, and the more pure the soul, the more energy we could extract. There was no other way to power Iero.”

“So what? All those people out there are just… batteries?” I growled.

“In a sense. Even with all our technology and modern advancements, we still don’t have enough power to completely keep the effects of the war out, not even seven hundred years later, unless we borrow some from civilians.”

“That sure sounds like a lot of excuses to torture people,” I said. “And you still haven't said how Caspian was involved.”

“We do the best we can, three year shifts then we wipe their memories of everything that transpired. It’s like the torture never happened. But your brother… He figured it out years ago, and wasn’t afraid to confront us about it. For well…”

“Well? I'm waiting?”

“Back when you two were kids, your mother was chosen as a subject.”

“You mother f–” I shot from the seat, hands aiming for her throat as I launched myself over the desk. Yet, she just stood still, face neutral, as the guards from outside burst the door down and shoved me back. “Let me go!”

“Your mother was a wonderful woman, but… well accidents happen as they say. Her body reacted poorly to the treatment, and due to that she passed away peacefully before we had a chance to hook her up to the machines.”

“Oh, so you murdered her before she was tortured? Much better!” I scoffed, trying my hardest to shove the two muscular men off.

“Your brother reacted the same way.” The Professor took another sip of her coffee, face still blank as a sheet. “We don’t like it either, but what would you have us do Asta? We could either torture and wipe their memories or let the nuclear winter in and everyone freeze to death.”

“Maybe not hide it under fifty layers of concrete? Or you know, not kill my mother and brother!”

“Look, Caspian was a disappointment, but we did what we needed to do to warn you off.”

“Clearly that worked so well!”

“Well, there's always some things we happen to… miscalculate.”

“Is that all my family is to you? A miscalculation?”

“Everything is a calculation Asta, including you.” She sighed. “Listen, now that you know there are two options, either promise to keep your mouth shut or make this place your permanent home.”

I finally shook off the guards. “W-what do you mean keep my mouth shut? You’re going to just let me go?”

“I have no desire to keep a promising student of Protel locked away.”

“Fine. Not like I have any family to lose.”

“Very well. Guards, let her go near Protel. And Asta, just remember we're keeping an eye on you. Next time we won't let you get away so easily.”