Chapter 18
Seb had taken me in through NeuroWell, which was filled with quiet, almost monotonous researchers working away on their Neurovance Laptops.
There wasn’t one plant on this floor, and all the windows were shuttered closed, as if the manager on this floor was worried these poor people would be distracted by something as simple as sunlight.
I decided on the spot that if I was meant to be the leader of this department, I would look into brightening up this depressing place for these poor people.
Everyone looked up as we entered, and I expected Seb to acknowledge or even greet them, but instead, he eyed them warily, and they eyed him right back.
The entire floor sat quietly, almost eerily so, as Seb led me through their desks toward another elevator at the back of the office.
Once inside, he hit the ‘down’ button, and my stomach floated to my chest as we sped down several floors to the basement.
“Why was everyone so… quiet?”
“No speaking rule. Between 9-5, there’s no talking in workspaces unless it’s for a mandatory meeting, and those need to be held in designated rooms,” Seb said, and I frowned.
He hadn’t mentioned our almost kiss yesterday, and after The Forgotten’s warning, I was glad he seemed to be keeping his distance today… but I’d seen a part of him that he couldn’t take back.
‘Seb’s basically a puppet,’ The Forgotten’s AI had said, and the way he was frowning right now, his blue eyes dark as the arctic sea, I could tell he hated it here… so why did he stay?
“That’s… extreme.”
“Yeah, well, there were new rules implemented after… You know what, never mind. It’s not important. What’s important is that we get you set up as quickly as possible.”
Seb said, gesturing for me to exit the elevator.
“Right…” I hummed, diligently following my reluctant leader into what I knew immediately was ‘The Cave.’
The Cave was aptly named. It was dark, industrial, and the cement floors gave the whole place an echoing, cavernous feel.
There was that strange twinge of deja vu again as I took in my surroundings, but I couldn’t seem to make sense of anything my brain was clearly trying to tell me.
In the center of The Cave was a large, round desk covered in half-built extractors and manipulators. Some were plugged into computers running code, others were just strewn about as if they had been discarded.
On the far wall, there was a surgical chair similar to the one I’d been asked to sit in for my neuroscan the other day, with matching large TVs mounted above it. I imagined this was where prototypes were tested.
All of this seemed more or less standard and mandatory for the type of work I knew was done down here.
What wasn’t standard was what looked like a large, iron cage that had been welded into the wall on the left side of the space.
I froze, staring at the cage—complete with a cot and what looked like a freaking bucket —and I was hit again with a strange, fragmented moment of disorientation.
‘MILO! MILO—NO!’
“Milo?” Sebastian asked, reaching out to touch my arm.
Rage like I’d never felt exploded through me, and I swung my eyes up to meet his.
His touch burned, and I wanted to freaking slap him across the face.
The violence of the urge confused me, and I stumbled away from him, shaking my head as I tried to breathe through the confusing explosion of anger that was detonating in my chest.
“What…” I took a deep breath, doing my best to keep my voice steady as that phantom voice continued to scream my name in my head, like they were begging me to stop… doing something.
“What is the cage for?” I finally managed to rasp out, and Sebastian’s lips pursed.
We stared at each other for a long, heavy moment before he finally spoke.
“Chimpanzees. Sometimes we use them for testing.”
Liar.
You’re a freaking liar.
“Right,” I bit out.
Sebastian gave me one of his fakest smiles and shrugged.
“Yeah. So, shall I show you around?” he asked, slipping out of his suit jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt slightly.
“Luke wants you to start with this one over here…”