After the old man secured Sean to the pod, he made his way into the cubicle, deciding to oversee Sean's mutation readings himself.
Tapping the younger man who was assigned to Sean's pod at the shoulder, he demanded him to go receive the other batches for the next one hour that it'd take for Sean to finish his enhancement, so he could man it himself.
Although the youngster was confused by the old man's sudden interest, he still respectfully did as he was told.
It didn't take long for the process to start, the scanning blue light in Sean's pod, creating an anatomical 3D hologram of Sean's internal biology to the tiniest detail.
Then the injection pierced Sean's heart, introducing the gene into his body.
The process started out smooth, which was actually a good sign, as it showed Sean's body was not completely averse beasts genes.
Then the integration started, the genes flooded his bloodstream, to his spine, his nerves, even deep into his genetic make up, and the recalibration started.
There was a slight rejection, but in the old man's eyes, this was the smoothest genetic enhancement he had ever witnessed.
The process happened so seamlessly, that he could swear even those from Elysium wouldn't be able to replicate it... Not that he had ever been there before, or witnessed one of theirs before.
The old man had already had high hopes for Sean, which was why he had decided to watch the boy's enhancement process himself, he was determined to see it through whether the boy succeeded or died.
'It really would have been a pity, if such a brilliant seedling died to this' the man mused.
The main reason he had shown interest in Sean, was because of how the boy had reacted to seeing medicine and death, in its raw form.
Rather than fear, aversion or repulsion, the boy was instead fascinated. The old man could still recall the fire of curiosity that burned in the child's gaze.
Such a hunger for knowledge, warmed the man's heart, it reminded him of himself. But while Sean was knowledge hungry, he was also brave, passionate and zealous. And the old man knew the boy had a good future, he definitely had enough potential to enter Elysium.
He on the other hand, was way past his prime. The most recent breakthrough in Genetic enhancement, before it became legal, was less than forty years ago.
As a medical researcher, he was privy to the fact that genetic enhancements, was best done in adolescence. At that time he was already past twenty years old. A young, vibrant and hungry researcher, but denied the key to knowledge by time.
He had already given up on his lofty dreams, but seeing a young child with the same fire, it moved his old heart.
Not long after Sean's process started, Drew was led in by the young man whom the old researcher had kicked out. On the young man's coat, a name tag "Stephen", was displayed.
Drew's expression contorted as he took in the sight, the horror striking deep into his heart. Each scream seemed to reverberate in his ear like an echo, but by sheer will, he held himself from gagging.
Then he spotted Sean in a pod of his own, veins coiling and bulging grotesquely over his toned frame like steel wires, while he roared in pain and agony.
Drew clenched his fist at the sight, his heart beat spiking up a notch.
What he did notice though, was that compared to other people who had been injected and strapped to their own pods, Sean seemed to be taking it well... Way better as compared to others.
'Seems he was lucky enough to receive a highly compatible beast' he thought, a smile breaking through his expression at the thought.
He seemed to forget all the horror, feeling genuinely happy for Sean. However, fear still found its way to his psyche.
Sean's luck was good alright, but his own fate was still undecided. Would he be lucky as Sean? If he was lucky enough to get that, would he survive the process? If he survived the process, would his mind still be sane?
Lots of questions that seemed to deepen the fear, but he pushed them all down. It was now or never. Even if he died, he had nothing to live for. No family, no friends... Well, except Sean, plus gangs that were out for his blood. Either way, there was only forward.
"Thank you for waiting, I'm ready" he turned to Stephen, who was patiently waiting at the side for him to gather himself.
He was strapped and secured successfully, and the same process as Sean was repeated with him. Slowly, the needle stabbed into his heart, and the bulbous liquid of genes were pumped in.
Instantly, he was greeted with heat, and slowly introduced to a world of pain, his body tensing to the limits, and even writhing against the cuffs.
He felt his whole body was on fire, and his entire being was being torn apart. He screeched like a banshee, tears and snot running down his face, as the enhancement continued.
Meanwhile in the cubicle, the old man was still waiting, his eyes following Sean's body imaging with a genuine smile.
Just when it was five minutes left till the estimated one hour it'd take for Sean to finish his enhancement, he noticed a movement in Sean's anatomy.
"Something's wrong" the old man muttered darkly, eyes watching Sean's hologram with a pensive silence... Sharp as a hawk.
Sean's heart began to pump out a dark shade of blood, so dark it was almost black. It was small, at most a few drops.
Then, under the influence of the nanites and encoded nanophage particles, artificially introduced into the genes, to facilitate the recalibration process and reduce mortality rate, it began to break down and spread into Sean's body like a cancer.
It spread like a virus, latching themselves unto his cells, genes, and even DNA, riding on the co-tails of the beast gene, to start another recalibration.
The reaction was immediate. Sean's body reacted violently, rejecting the sudden and forceful intrusion.
In the pod, his body jerked violently, even coughing out blood. The veins running through his body like curling snakes, bulged exaggeratedly, as though they were going to burst.
From his orifices, blood began to drip out, looking dark and abnormal.
"This is absurd! What is that blood? How could it have overriden the mutative protocol?!" The old man in the cubicle, whispered frantically, his fists clenched tightly.
"This kid... Had he undergone any previous enhancement?" The man mumbled. "But why? Why would he throw his life away like this?"
The timer seemed to trickle, each second causing the old researcher's fragile heart to tighten.
"Come on...! Hold on its just one minute left! Don't throw away your future so cheaply!" The man cheered him on, his voice coming out in strained whispers. His eyes flickered between Sean's hologram, and a devices which showed his brain waves rapidly climbing down.
His colleagues who noticed his attitude, couldn't help but be curious about what got him so tense. Was somebody finally succeeding? But this wasn't the first success the man had witnessed in his career, so why was he reacting as such?
"Come on... You can do it!"
However, just when it was thirty seconds left, his brain waves turned off, his heart, seemingly the only still struggling organ in his body, until that too, weakly gave out.
"No..." The man muttered weakly, sinking into his chair in exhaustion.
"Hah..." He sighed. "So much potential... wasted" he muttered, a weak wry smile, sporting his features.