If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead, be sure to check out my Patreon!!!
Go to https://www.patreon.com/Tang12
___________________________
Sico's hand rested lightly on the prisoner's shoulder, a grounding presence, not a restraint but a reassurance that he was not alone. The guards maintained their positions, eyes alert, muscles tensed but controlled. Every element in the room existed in a delicate balance between fear, necessity, and observation.
Then Curie began on injecting the second prototype she made after calibrating it after the first test failure. The syringe felt heavier in her hand than it should have as its weight was not measured in grams but in consequences. She lined up the needle with the prisoner's vein, the faint tremor in her fingers controlled through sheer force of will, and pressed the plunger with careful precision. The prototype flowed into his bloodstream in a slow, measured ribbon of amber, a chemical promise of both hope and danger intertwined.
The prisoner hissed through his teeth when the needle pierced skin, but he stayed still. His eyes that sharp, fearful, fractured locked onto Curie's face as though trying to read whether she believed he would survive this. Her expression was a mask of determination shrouded by compassion, a balance only someone like her could hold steady.
"There… it is done," she murmured, withdrawing the needle and applying a sterile pad with gentle pressure. "Now we observe. Slowly. Calmly. I am right here."
Sico's hand remained firm on the prisoner's shoulder, not restraining, but anchoring him to the moment, keeping panic from taking root. "Just breathe," he said quietly. "Don't fight the feeling. Let us know the moment something feels wrong."
Only a few seconds passed before something changed as at first it was subtle, then sudden.
The prisoner's brows drew together. His fingers curled. His shoulders stiffened.
"Wait…" he breathed, chest rising quicker than before. "Something's off… it… it doesn't feel right."
Curie's head snapped up, instinct taking over before fear had a chance to paralyze her. "Describe it," she said gently, but her voice carried an unmistakable urgency. "Where does it hurt? What do you feel?"
"It's… hot," he muttered. His breath quickened. "My body, it's getting hot. Too hot—"
His voice cracked just as the warmth spread across his torso, climbing fast, crawling beneath his skin like a fever being stoked from within. Sweat blossomed across his forehead almost instantly, small droplets catching the glow of the overhead lights.
Curie moved closer immediately, adjusting the sensors on his chest and neck, watching the monitors spike. "Merde… his metabolic rate is rising too fast," she whispered under her breath.
The prisoner's breathing quickened further, each inhale jagged and shallow. "Help…. help me… something's wrong… my heart… it's… it's racing—"
His fingers clawed at the armrests, knuckles whitening, muscles tensing.
And for a split second, the room froze.
Sico felt the shift first with the rising panic in the prisoner's body, the violent escalation that threatened to spiral just like the first test. But unlike the first time, Curie did not hesitate.
She flew into action.
"Mike!" Curie called sharply to the guard. "Get the coolant pack, now!"
Mike, who had stood near the door, spun instantly, grabbing the emergency cooling apparatus from the wall and rushing it over.
Curie pressed her palm to the prisoner's forehead. "He is overheating, internal reaction too rapid. We need to slow the cascade!" Her blue eyes darted to the monitoring screen. "Heart rate 142 and rising… enzyme reaction doubling… nonononono… not again—"
She grabbed the emergency stabilizer injector with a tiny silver pen like device filled with counteragents designed to slow metabolic surges. She flicked off the safety cap with her thumb, turned the dial to the correct dosage, and pressed the injector firmly against the prisoner's neck.
A soft hiss.
The stabilizer entered his bloodstream.
"Come on… work… work…" Curie whispered under her breath, voice trembling despite her composure.
The prisoner gasped, chest heaving as though trying to gulp down cold air in a furnace. "It burns… inside… all over—"
"I know," she said softly, placing one gloved hand against his cheek. "I know, mon cher… stay with me. I am here."
Sico leaned closer, steady and unmoving like a pillar anchoring the chaos. "Look at me," he said to the prisoner. "Stay awake. Focus on my voice. You're not dying, you hear me? Curie is stopping the reaction."
The prisoner's eyelids fluttered, but he nodded through the panic.
Curie pressed another control on the console, initiating an external cooling cycle. The metal frame beneath the prisoner hummed as the built-in cooling plates activated, lowering the temperature around his spine and kidneys, key points for metabolic stabilization.
Sensors beeped erratically; then one by one, they slightly leveled.
Not stopping.
But slowing.
Curie exhaled shakily but did not relax. "His core temperature is still too high," she said, voice tight. "We need another coolant pack."
Mike handed over a second pack, and Curie immediately placed it along the prisoner's ribs, her touch swift but careful.
His chest rose and fell in frantic, desperate motion. "Please… it's too much—"
Curie leaned in close. Her forehead nearly touched his. Her voice softened to a whisper only he could hear. "Listen to me. You will not die. Not today. Not while I am here. I promise you."
Sico steadied the prisoner's shoulder as tremors ran through his arm. The prisoner's muscles flexed in sharp spasms, but they were not the violent convulsions of the first subject as these were smaller, less catastrophic, signs that Curie's recalibration had mitigated the worst but not eliminated the complications.
The prototype was still unstable.
But stabilizing.
Curie wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her arm, eyes flicking nonstop between the prisoner's face and the monitor. The enzyme spike had peaked. It was plateauing. Slowly, cautiously, but undeniably.
"Heart rate dropping to 130… 126… 121…" she breathed, her tension loosening by a fraction. "Temperature decreasing by 0.2 degrees per ten seconds. Good. Good."
The prisoner slumped slightly, exhaustion pulling on every line of his face. "It's… cooling," he whispered hoarsely, as though each word weighed too much to lift. "Still hurts… but not… not like before…"
Curie nodded, her hand steady over his. "Your body reacted strongly, but it is recovering. You are doing so well… breathe slowly. You are safe."
She turned to Sico, voice low but edged with lingering fear. "He was seconds away from a cascade failure. If I had hesitated—"
"You didn't," Sico said gently but firmly. "You acted. You stabilized him. That's what matters."
Curie swallowed hard, her throat tight with the weight of both relief and dread. "But the reaction… it is too strong. The formula is still unstable. I reduced the volatility but… clearly not enough. I need to adjust again, recalibrate based on this new data."
Sico nodded once. "Then we do it. Step by step."
Curie turned back to the prisoner, brushing a damp strand of hair from his forehead with surprising tenderness. "Do you feel dizzy? Nausea? Tingling in your limbs?"
He took a moment to answer, breathing still strained but steadying. "Dizzy… yeah… like the room's tilting… but I can think. I'm not… fading."
"Good," she murmured. "That is expected. The stabilizer is working."
Sarah looked between them, tension easing from her shoulders. "Do you need anything else?"
"Yes," Curie said without hesitation. "I need to record everything and every detail. His temperature reaction curve, enzyme acceleration window, metabolic deviation range. This data is invaluable. If we analyze quickly, I can correct the formula before the next phase."
Sico squeezed Curie's shoulder briefly. "I'll help you. But finish with him first. Make sure he's stable."
Curie nodded, already turning back to the monitors, typing rapidly, capturing every fluctuation, every anomaly, every piece of the biochemical puzzle that had nearly killed another human being.
Meanwhile, the prisoner's breathing continued to slow, the sweat on his skin cooling as the emergency countermeasures took effect. His fingers unclenched, trembling slightly but no longer clawing the restraints.
Sico removed his hand from the prisoner's shoulder only when he was certain the man would remain conscious and stable. "You're through the worst," he said quietly. "You held on."
The prisoner let out a shaky laugh that thin, exhausted, but alive. "Didn't think I would… feels like my insides were on fire."
Curie turned, her eyes full of apology and determination. "And I am so, so sorry. But your reaction and your survival, it is crucial data. You may have just saved the next subject's life without realizing it."
The prisoner stared at her for a moment, then nodded weakly. "Just… make sure nobody else feels that."
She bowed her head, voice soft. "That is precisely what I intend."
Curie reached for the sterile tray, her movements precise yet trembling faintly in the aftermath of what had nearly happened. The prisoner watched her with half-lidded eyes that exhausted, wary, but still present as his breaths shallow but no longer frantic. She offered him a gentle, reassuring look before lifting the thin rubber tourniquet.
"Your body… it is stabilizing, but I need to understand exactly why it reacted this way," she murmured softly, looping the band around his upper arm. "I must draw your blood. It vill tell me everything your body is still too tired to say."
He nodded, jaw clenched but compliant. After surviving the storm that raged beneath his skin, a needle was nothing.
Sico stood close by, arms folded but jaw tense, watching every motion Curie made, not because he doubted her, but because his instincts wouldn't let him look away after almost losing another man. On the other end of the room, the second guard shifted slightly, posture softening now that the danger had passed, while Sarah maintained her post near the door, alert, protective, but relieved.
Curie swabbed a patch of skin on the prisoner's arm. Her gloved hands moved gently, almost motherly, as if she were steadying a fevered patient instead of someone forced into an experimental medical trial. The prisoner drew a slow breath, bracing himself.
"I will be quick," she promised.
The needle slipped into his vein with practiced accuracy. Dark blood flowed through the tube and into the collection vial, warm and pulsing with the residual chaos still echoing through his system. Curie lifted the vial toward the light, her eyes narrowing with the intensity she reserved only for scientific puzzles and for moments when lives depended on them.
Already she could see abnormalities: a slightly iridescent sheen, the faintest shimmer of metabolic overactivity, residue from a chemical cascade that had come dangerously close to spiraling out of control.
"Merci…" she breathed, more to the sample than to anyone else. "This… this will help so much."
She slid the full vial into the secure analysis chamber of her portable scanner. The machine hummed to life with a soft vibration, lights pulsing as it began breaking down the blood's biochemical signatures.
Sico stepped closer, glancing at the prisoner. "How's your breathing?" he asked quietly, steady voice grounding the man as the worst of the heat drained from his limbs and the cooling plates continued regulating his temperature.
The prisoner exhaled shakily. "Better… feels like waves now. Comes and goes. But the burning's mostly gone."
Curie nodded without looking up. "That is good. Very good. The stabilizer is working as intended. It vill stay in your system for another hour, regulating the reaction." She finally turned her eyes to him fully, gaze soft but burdened with emotion. "I know what you felt vas terrifying. I vill use everything from this sample to ensure the next one does not suffer the same."
The prisoner managed a faint, weary smile. "You care. I can tell. That makes it… easier to deal with."
Her eyes glimmered, the compliment landing deeper than she expected.
"Merci," she whispered, returning her focus to the scanner as it chimed softly, displaying its first wave of data.
Lines of numbers, graphs, chemical markers as they reflected everything that had gone wrong and everything she needed to correct. Curie leaned closer, almost pressing her forehead against the glass as if doing so would help her decode the information faster.
Sico placed a hand on the edge of the workstation, leaning in beside her. "What are we looking at?"
She exhaled slowly, a soft, trembling breath. "His enzyme response vas far more aggressive than the simulation predicted. The Rad-X compound triggered metabolic acceleration… too quickly. His cells reacted as if exposed to an extreme radiation stressor. But the stabilizer, it… it slowed the chain reaction before it reached the lethal threshold."
Sarah stepped forward slightly. "So it's not a total failure?"
Curie shook her head. "Non. Not at all. It is progress. It means the second prototype is capable of protecting the body… but the dose, the delivery, and the cascade triggers must be refined. If I calibrate properly, the next version should… should react less violently."
Sico watched her face carefully. "And if you don't?"
Curie lowered her eyes.
"Then the third subject may suffer what the first and second did," she admitted with a heavy breath. "I refuse to allow that. Not again."
The prisoner shifted weakly in the chair, glancing between them. "If… if this helps other people in the Commonwealth… you should keep going. Just… make sure it works."
Curie stared at him with astonishment and a rising swell of respect. "You are brave," she said softly. "Braver than you know."
"Or stupid," he muttered with a hollow laugh. "Depends on how you look at it."
Sico stepped closer to Curie, lowering his voice so that only she could hear him. "You should eat something before working again."
She shook her head before he finished the sentence. "Non. Not until I complete the recalibration. There is no time for rest."
Sico knew better than to argue outright, but the concern in his eyes deepened.
The scanner chimed again as this time was louder. A new cluster of data appeared, showing chemical breakdowns, enzyme interactions, cell stress levels, and internal temperature rise curves.
Curie's eyes widened.
"This… this is it," she whispered. "This data is exactly vhat I needed. It shows the precise activation threshold vhere his metabolic system began to lose stability. If I alter the bonding chain in the Rad-X molecule… if I adjust the secondary inhibitor concentration by nine point, no, ten point eight percent… then I can delay the cascade long enough for the body to adapt."
She spoke quickly, fingers already moving across the digital console, typing commands, cross-referencing charts, pulling up old research notes she'd written months or years earlier.
Sarah stepped back, giving her space. Sico remained at her side like an immovable pillar.
The prisoner watched with bleary eyes, still sweating but no longer trembling. The cooling plates had done their work, and his body was slowly reclaiming equilibrium.
Curie pulled up the chemical model of the Rad-X prototype. It hovered in the air as a holographic structure: a three-layer molecule composed of organic shielding chains, synthetic enzyme regulators, and a stabilizing crystalline lattice designed to mimic the body's natural radiation defense mechanisms.
"This part…" Curie pointed to the lower chain, fingers brushing the hologram with reverence. "It responded too aggressively. It vas meant to activate only under extreme exposure… but instead it triggered immediately, overwhelming his metabolic system."
Sico nodded slowly. "So you need to slow the chain's activation."
"Exactement. And strengthen the inhibitor sequence here," Her hand traced the crystalline lattice. "so the body has more time to adapt before it reaches critical reaction levels."
She worked through the calculations aloud, the rhythm of her voice a steady metronome that soothed even the guards who had no idea what the chemical jargon meant.
"The inhibitor must activate earlier… but not too early. The compound must remain dormant until needed. The delay window must be narrow… perhaps three seconds? Maybe four… yes, four. And the secondary cascade trigger must—merde, I must check that again."
Sico exhaled through his nose in a quiet show of patience. "Talk me through it."
Curie blinked, then nodded, as if grounding herself in his voice. "The stabilizer you saw me inject? It works by introducing a competing enzyme that slows cellular heat production. But in a finished version of Rad-X… that process must happen internally. Automatically. The drug must stabilize itself."
"So the final version needs an internal emergency brake."
Curie smiled faintly. "Oui, exactly so. A chemical emergency brake. And now… with his blood sample… I know how his body attempted to activate its own compensatory mechanisms."
She pressed a hand briefly to her forehead, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen from her bun. "This tells me how to build a stronger foundation."
She reached for a second analysis tool, a compact centrifuge designed for rapid chemical separation. She loaded a measured amount of the prisoner's blood into it, closed the lid, and set it spinning. The whirring sound filled the room, almost comforting in its mechanical regularity.
Sico moved to check the prisoner again. "Do you want water?" he asked.
The prisoner swallowed thickly. "Yeah… yeah, please."
Sico nodded to the guard, who handed over a small canteen. The prisoner drank with trembling hands.
Curie continued working, her fingers dancing across screens, adjusting sequences, rewriting notes, building the framework for the third prototype.
But beneath her focus… there was fear.
The first man had died. The second had almost followed. One mistake in the next round could bring disaster again.
Sico stepped beside her without interrupting her work. He didn't try to tell her to take a break this time as he could see such a suggestion would snap her concentration like a thread pulled too taut.
Instead he spoke softly, in a tone meant only for her. "You're doing everything right."
Curie's breath hitched. Just a little. But enough for him to notice.
"I must do more," she whispered, still examining enzyme markers as they separated in the centrifuge. "I must do better. If I rush, I kill someone. If I am too slow, the Commonwealth vill continue to suffer. And if I make the wrong choice—"
"You won't."
She finally tore her eyes from the data, looking up at him.
"How do you know?" she asked quietly, almost brokenly. "How can you be so certain when I nearly—"
"Because I watched you save him," Sico said simply. "I watched you think faster than any scientist I've ever seen. You're not infallible, Curie. But you're brilliant. And you are not doing this alone."
Her breath trembled, but she didn't look away.
"You carry more than anyone should," he continued. "But you don't have to carry it without support."
Her eyes softened, glistening faintly, but she blinked the emotion back and returned to her console before it could overwhelm her.
The centrifuge slowed to a stop with a soft click.
Curie lifted the samples carefully with plasma separated cleanly from cells and transferred them to the spectro-analysis device. A cascade of colorful holographic chemical patterns appeared before her.
Sico watched over her shoulder as she began marking the irregularities in glowing white circles.
"These abnormalities…" Curie murmured, tapping two clusters that pulsed with faint red halos. "This shows the exact moment the metabolic acceleration overtook the inhibitor chain. If I strengthen the bonding here, and here…"
Her fingers moved faster, confidence rising with every pattern she identified.
"—then the third prototype vill be significantly more stable."
"Can you do it today?" Sarah asked, voice neutral but tinged with awe.
Curie hesitated only for a heartbeat. "Oui," she said. "I must. We cannot afford delay. Every hour counts. There are thousands or tens of thousands in the Commonwealth who desperately need radiation protection. If this version succeeds… it vill be a revolution."
Sico stepped back. "Then we help however we can. What do you need?"
Curie inhaled deeply, grounding herself. "I need privacy for the next hour, maybe two or three. I need silence. And I need the third subject prepared but not brought forward until I give the word."
Sico nodded at Sarah. "Make it happen."
Sarah signaled the guards immediately.
Curie pressed her palms flat against the workstation, gathering her thoughts. Her shoulders relaxed, not in exhaustion, but in determination.
She was ready to build the third prototype.
But first… she turned to the recovering prisoner.
His eyes met that tired, frightened, but strangely hopeful.
"Merci," she said softly. "Your suffering today… it vill save lives tomorrow. I promise you I vill not let it be in vain."
The prisoner nodded slowly, gratitude flickering through his expression. "Just… make sure it works, Doctor."
Curie placed a gentle hand on his arm. "It vill. Because of you."
She turned back to her equipment, eyes blazing with renewed fire.
From the blood she had drawn.
from the data she had collected.
from the near-fatal reaction she had barely prevented.
Curie began crafting the third, most stable prototype yet hopefully.
Then for the next five hours, Curie immersed herself in the creation of the third prototype, a meticulous, painstaking process that stretched far longer than she had anticipated. Time seemed to blur around her with the hum of the spectro-analyzer, the faint whir of the centrifuge, the rhythmic clicking of her keyboard that melding into a constant, almost hypnotic pulse that anchored her to the work at hand. Each second felt simultaneously urgent and fragile; one miscalculation, one misstep, could render the entire prototype useless or worse, lethal.
Her lab, a combination of hospital grade instruments and the cluttered chaos of her relentless tinkering, bore the marks of intense focus. Petri dishes lined up like soldiers, each containing tiny samples of chemical stabilizers and synthetic enzymes. Vials of unfinished compounds stood in precarious clusters, some labeled in Curie's elegant handwriting, others marked with hastily scribbled notes from late-night experiments. Machines hummed, fans whirred, lights blinked in steady rhythms, and monitors displayed scrolling numbers and graphs that no outsider could hope to interpret. Amid it all, Curie moved like a conductor, orchestrating every piece into a precise, synchronized symphony.
She paused occasionally to study a holographic model of the Rad-X molecule hovering above her workbench. Her gloved hands hovered over the interface, her fingers trembling slightly as she made micro-adjustments to the bonding chains. Every alteration required careful calculation: increase the inhibitor too much, and the compound would fail to activate in the presence of radiation; increase it too little, and the reaction could spiral violently as it had with the second prototype.
Curie muttered to herself under her breath, switching between French and English as if the two languages could help her think more clearly. "Non… pas trop… yes, but not too little… no, four point five percent… perhaps four point seven… merde… recalibrate… recalculate…"
Sico remained nearby the entire time, silent, watching her movements with steady vigilance. He knew better than to interrupt her; even the slightest distraction could disrupt the delicate focus she needed. Still, he made occasional small interventions and handing her a vial, checking a monitor, adjusting a clamp and his presence was both grounding and protective, a constant reassurance that she wasn't alone in this impossible task.
"Curie…" he said softly at one point, not looking at her, merely observing. "You've been at it for hours. Are you sure you're keeping track of your own energy?"
Curie did not look up. Her eyes, blue and burning with intensity, stayed locked on the holographic molecular chain. "I… I cannot stop now. Not yet. One wrong move, even a fraction, and this… this fails. I must be precise. I must… I must ensure that every part of the molecule, every inhibitor, every enzyme response… all of it is correct."
Sico let out a quiet sigh and simply nodded. He knew there was no reasoning with the fervor that drove her. Her obsession was both her greatest strength and, sometimes, her greatest danger.
The first few hours were devoted to recalibrating the basic structure of the Rad-X compound. Curie adjusted the crystalline lattice to provide more structural integrity, fine-tuning its ability to mimic natural cellular radiation defenses. Then came the painstaking work of altering the synthetic enzyme regulators. These regulators had to strike a delicate balance: they needed to activate quickly enough to protect the body under radiation stress, but slowly enough to prevent the body's metabolism from spiraling out of control.
Each adjustment required testing, simulations, cross-referencing against data from both the first and second prototypes, as well as the blood sample of the second prisoner. Curie constantly switched between screens, monitors, and holograms, sometimes standing on tiptoe to reach certain controls, other times crouching low over the console to get a closer look at reaction curves. Sweat beaded on her forehead, dripped down the sides of her face, and dampened her hair. She wiped it away with the back of her gloved hand but never paused her work.
Her own exhaustion was beginning to make her hands tremble. For a brief moment, she caught herself staring at the syringe she had used earlier, remembering the flash of pain on the prisoner's face, the heat in his body, and the almost catastrophic enzyme surge. Her heart skipped slightly at the memory with her own fear and guilt mixed with determination. She could not, would not, allow the third prototype to repeat that moment.
Around hour three, she leaned back slightly and closed her eyes, taking a fraction of a breath, then opened them again, refocusing with renewed precision. "Every microgram matters," she whispered to herself. "Every millisecond… the delay window… must be exact. Do not fail, do not fail…"
Sico approached cautiously, noting her tight jaw and intense concentration. "Do you need assistance?" he asked quietly.
"No," she said sharply, though not unkindly. "Only… space. Only time. And focus."
The hospital lab had become a universe of its own. Vials, tubes, and syringes littered the benches, some filled with test compounds, others still awaiting integration into the new prototype. Small monitors blinked with data streams; larger screens displayed graphs of enzyme reaction spikes and metabolic rates in real time. The faint smell of antiseptic mixed with the chemical tang of synthesized compounds, and the soft hum of ventilation was the only ambient sound beyond the occasional hiss of machines.
Curie bent closer over a tray of tiny samples, pipetting precise amounts of enzyme regulators into micro-vials, then adjusting the concentrations with micro-precision. "Non… not enough… increase slightly… no, too much… just a fraction… okay… perfect…" she murmured. Her hands were steady now, though her mind raced, calculating, recalculating, simulating every possible variable.
By hour four, she had completed the main structure of the third prototype. It was far more stable than either of the previous versions. She ran simulations again and again, watching the curves of predicted metabolic response carefully. Each test built her confidence, but she did not relax. She knew simulations could only tell part of the story; real human physiology was far more unpredictable.
Sico watched her with a quiet mixture of admiration and concern. "Do you realize how incredible this is?" he asked softly.
Curie didn't look at him. "Incredible is irrelevant. Accurate… stable… survivable… that is all that matters."
She began preparing the final mixture, combining the molecular structure with the enzyme regulators and the internal stabilizers. Every vial she filled was triple-checked against her notes, the measurements painstakingly verified. She labeled each container meticulously, her hands moving with the precision of someone who had memorized the rhythm of life itself.
By the fifth hour, Curie had completed the prototype in its entirety. She leaned back slightly, allowing herself a rare moment of reflection. Exhaustion pressed against her body, her muscles trembling from hours of tension, her eyes sore from staring at monitors, yet there was a spark of triumph in her gaze.
Sico came closer again, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder. "You did it," he said simply. "You've created it."
Curie let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Oui… it is complete… finally."
The prisoner from the second test, now fully stabilized and seated quietly in a chair nearby, looked at her with a weak, grateful smile. "You… you did it?" he asked hoarsely.
"Yes," she said softly, almost reverently. "Because of you… because of the data from your blood… and your survival… this prototype vill work where the others… failed."
Sarah, standing near the door, allowed herself a brief smile. "Then the Commonwealth may finally have something that works."
Curie did not answer immediately. Instead, she moved carefully through her lab, surveying every vial, every monitor, every carefully labeled piece of equipment. Everything had been touched, measured, checked, recalibrated. She had pushed herself to the limits of endurance, both physically and mentally, but she had done it.
Sico followed her silently, sensing the intensity of the moment, the immense weight of responsibility that rested on her shoulders. "You've earned a moment of rest," he said softly, though he knew she might not take it.
Curie's eyes softened as she glanced at him, a fleeting glimmer of vulnerability breaking through her stoic exterior. "Perhaps… a brief one. But only a brief one. The next phase… the testing… it will be the true measure of our work."
Her hands lingered over the vial of the third prototype. She held it carefully, as though cradling a fragile life, and whispered to herself, "You will not fail… not this time… not ever…"
Sico placed a hand lightly on her back. "We'll face the next phase together," he said quietly. "And this time, we have the advantage of knowledge, of preparation, of… survival."
Curie nodded, eyes never leaving the vial. "Oui… knowledge and preparation… but also courage. The courage to try again, and to protect life."
Curie's hands hovered over the vial of the third prototype, her fingers brushing its smooth glass surface with a reverence that made Sico feel as if she were holding something sacred, more precious than any treasure in the Commonwealth. The lab was quiet now, almost unnervingly so as the hum of machines and the faint beeping of monitors the only reminders that this room had been the epicenter of near-disaster hours before. Outside, the world continued in oblivion, unaware of the painstaking hours that had been spent here, the lives at risk, and the fragile hope now condensed into that tiny vial.
"Sarah," Curie said softly, her voice steady yet carrying the weight of expectation and caution, "please bring in the third prisoner. Carefully. Slowly. He must not be stressed. He is… the key to this stage."
Sarah nodded immediately, signaling to the two guards stationed at the perimeter. They moved with quiet precision, knowing better than to disturb Curie's focus. Moments later, the third prisoner was guided into the lab. Unlike the previous two subjects, this man's demeanor was cautious, his eyes wide with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety. He had heard whispers of what had happened to the first and second volunteers, though no one had given him the full picture. Even so, he trusted Curie or perhaps he had no choice but to.
Curie stepped forward, her gloved hands clasped in front of her as she offered a reassuring smile. "Bonsoir. You… you are here to help others, yes? To ensure that people across the Commonwealth can survive when exposed to radiation. Do you understand the importance of this?"
The prisoner swallowed hard, nodding slightly. "Yes… I… I understand. I just… hope it works."
"You hope?" she asked softly, tilting her head, her blue eyes studying him. "No… it vill work. It must. And with your courage… we may finally succeed."
Sico remained close by, his presence a solid, silent anchor for the room. He could see the faint tremor in the prisoner's hands, the tension in his shoulders, and the way his eyes flicked repeatedly toward the vial Curie held. "Just breathe," Sico said quietly, his voice low, grounding. "You're not alone. You're in safe hands."
The prisoner nodded, still tense, but his breathing began to even out slightly under Sico's calm influence.
Curie took a deep breath herself, steadying her trembling hands, and reached for the syringe. The vial of the third prototype gleamed under the harsh overhead lights, a promise and a threat intertwined. She filled the syringe carefully, watching as the amber liquid slid smoothly into the chamber. No bubbles, no hesitation as she had spent hours perfecting every microgram, every drop, every element of timing.
"Sit," she instructed gently, guiding the prisoner to the chair where the previous subject had recovered. She adjusted the restraints lightly that not to bind, but to ensure that sudden movement would not interfere with the injection or destabilize the initial reaction.
"Relax your arm," she continued softly. Her voice was calm, soothing, carrying a warmth that contrasted with the clinical precision of her actions. "I will be quick. You may feel a small pinch. Nothing more… for now."
The prisoner exhaled shakily, nodding. "Okay… I trust you."
Curie's fingers brushed against his skin as she swabbed the injection site with alcohol. Even this small contact seemed to make him tense, but she held his gaze, offering reassurance in silence. "Vous êtes brave," she whispered, almost to herself, but loud enough for him to hear. "Very brave."
With practiced precision, she inserted the needle into his vein. This time, there was no flinch, no immediate surge of pain. The amber prototype slid smoothly into his bloodstream, a slow, controlled ribbon of chemical promise. She pressed the plunger fully, holding the syringe steady for several seconds to ensure the dosage entered completely.
"Done," she said softly, withdrawing the needle and applying a sterile pad to his arm. She exhaled slightly, already moving her hands to the console to start monitoring his vital signs in real-time.
For a few minutes, the room was quiet except for the soft hum of the monitoring equipment. Sico remained close, watching the prisoner with steady eyes, ready to intervene if needed, though trusting Curie's precision implicitly. Sarah stayed near the doorway, alert, protective, but allowing Curie the space she required.
Then, almost imperceptibly at first, the prisoner's body began to react. A bead of sweat formed at his temple, then another, and another, tiny droplets glimmering in the light as they ran down his forehead. His face paled, eyes narrowing, and he brought a trembling hand to his stomach.
"I… I feel… uncomfortable," he muttered, his voice barely audible. "It… it's… strange… my stomach…"
Curie leaned closer, eyes fixed on the monitors and the subtle signs his body was giving. "Describe it," she said softly, her tone urgent but not panicked. "Tell me what you feel."
"It… it's… hot… and… and… I feel… dizzy… nausea…" His hand clutched at the chair's armrest, knuckles whitening. "My head… it hurts… and I… I feel like I'm going to… vomit…"
The words came in broken gasps, each one punctuated by a small tremor of his body. Sweat now ran down his neck and soaked the collar of his shirt. Sico immediately stepped closer, his hand lightly resting on the prisoner's shoulder. "Breathe," he said quietly, deliberately. "Focus on my voice. You're safe. You're in safe hands."
Curie's hands moved over the console rapidly, her fingers flying as she adjusted monitoring thresholds, recalculated reaction curves, and checked the infusion rate of the prototype in real-time. Her face was tense, lips pressed together, yet her movements were smooth, controlled, precise.
"Temperature rising slightly… heart rate… 110… 115… okay, still within tolerable range… nausea… yes… expected mild reaction…" she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, though her voice carried authority. "It is a controlled activation… the body must adjust…"
The prisoner groaned, bringing a hand to his mouth before vomiting lightly into a disposable tray Sico had quickly provided. His eyes squeezed shut, pain and discomfort written clearly across his face. "Ugh… it's… it's too much… my head…"
Curie's eyes softened as she placed a gloved hand lightly on his shoulder, her touch reassuring without being forceful. "I know… I know it is uncomfortable… it is supposed to be… the prototype is active… but your body… your body is adjusting… and that is the sign that it is working."
Sico continued to hold his gaze, keeping the prisoner anchored in the moment. "Stay with me," he said firmly, but gently. "You are doing exactly what you need to do. Focus on my voice. In… out… slowly. You can handle this. You're strong."
The prisoner's breathing was uneven, rapid, but under Sico's steady guidance, it began to find a rhythm. Curie monitored every heartbeat, every enzyme spike, every minor fluctuation with an intensity bordering on obsession. She adjusted the prototype's infusion slightly, micro-correcting to minimize the sudden surge that caused the initial discomfort.
Minutes passed, though in the lab it felt like hours. The prisoner sweated, vomited lightly again, and groaned intermittently. His face contorted with discomfort, head bowed, as he murmured, "I… I feel… dizzy… it's… it's burning… my stomach… my head…"
Curie's voice was calm, soothing, yet threaded with urgency. "Yes… you feel it… this is expected. You body is… adapting. The Rad-X is… engaging… slowly. It is activating… but safely. I am here. Sico is here. You are not alone."
Sico adjusted the chair slightly, keeping the prisoner upright, careful not to exacerbate the nausea. "Look at me," he said firmly. "Focus on my eyes. That's it… you can do this."
Curie's fingers danced across the controls again, monitoring temperature curves, enzymatic reaction rates, and metabolic adjustments. Her lips moved silently in concentration, recalculating micro-adjustments to the prototype in real time. "Okay… okay… slight delay in inhibitor activation… adjust by 0.2 milliseconds… yes… balance restored… heart rate stabilizing… nausea peak approaching… begin decline…"
The prisoner's body shuddered as another wave of discomfort passed, but slowly, imperceptibly, the intensity began to ebb. Sweat still dripped from his hairline, his lips were pale, and his head throbbed, but the severe distress he had first experienced began to decrease. His vomiting slowed to occasional dry heaves.
"You see?" Curie whispered gently, still monitoring every detail. "Your body is adjusting… responding… the prototype is working. Just a little longer… just a little longer…"
Sico's hand on his shoulder remained firm and grounding. "In… out… slowly… that's it… you're doing it…"
The prisoner's eyelids fluttered, then opened slightly. "It… it hurts… but… less… I think… I think it's… stabilizing…"
"Yes," Curie said softly, her voice carrying relief yet never relaxing fully. "It is stabilizing. Your reaction is within predicted parameters. That… is very good. Very promising."
The prisoner exhaled shakily, leaning back slightly as his body began to find a fragile equilibrium. His hands trembled, but he was conscious, aware, and breathing more evenly. Curie continued to adjust monitoring thresholds, ensuring that every variable remained within safe limits.
"Stay still," she instructed gently. "Do not move. You are safe… you are adjusting… it will pass… and then… you will be fine."
Sico gave the prisoner a small, encouraging nod. "Almost there… just hold on… you're strong enough. You can do this."
Minutes stretched on, a tense, almost unbearable silence broken only by soft beeping and the prisoner's occasional murmurs of discomfort. Slowly, imperceptibly, the sweating diminished, vomiting ceased, and the headache, while still present, began to lessen.
Curie exhaled softly, finally allowing herself the briefest flicker of relief. "Yes… yes… this is working. He is stabilizing… the Rad-X… the third prototype… it is… functioning as intended."
The prisoner slumped slightly, exhausted but alive, pale but conscious. "It… it worked? I… I survived?" he whispered hoarsely.
"You survived," Curie said softly, brushing damp hair from his forehead. "Because you trusted… because you endured… because your body responded… just as we predicted. You are… remarkable."
Sico's hand squeezed the prisoner's shoulder lightly. "And thanks to your courage, Curie can finally move forward with confidence. You helped make this possible."
The prisoner's lips curled into a weak, grateful smile. "I… I just… wanted to help."
Curie's eyes glimmered faintly with unshed tears. "And you did… more than you know. Because of your suffering… others… many others… will live."
The lab, once a scene of near-catastrophe, now held an almost sacred quiet with a tense, fragile, but undeniable victory. The third prototype had survived its first human test. The Commonwealth's hope rested delicately in amber vials, in the knowledge painstakingly extracted from human courage, and in the relentless determination of one scientist unwilling to fail.
________________________________________________
• Name: Sico
• Stats :
S: 8,44
P: 7,44
E: 8,44
C: 8,44
I: 9,44
A: 7,45
L: 7
• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills
• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.
• Active Quest:-