Delta-531-B “Project Erasmus” Chapter 1- Intro
We thought we could control it. We thought it was for the greater good, that it would help so much more than it would hurt. But we were fools, and we paid dearly for it.
I still remember the meeting where the initial briefing for the project was given. There were 5 of us, all the highest ranking in our respective fields, except for myself. Among all those that had excelled and advanced to become the very best of the best, I felt more than slightly out of place. Little did I know, regardless of our worth to our superiors, every one of us at that table would be remembered only as the ones chosen for what would be the biggest fuck up in the entire history of our organization.
First was Dr. Thompson, the director of psychology. He was a plain man, but well liked for his good attitude and humor, something that was rare in our line of work. Despite his informal outlook, he took his work very seriously and it had landed him the top spot amongst all the EIS shrinks. He knew when to lighten up and when to drop the comic relief, and it had served him well.
Next to Thompson was Dr. Decker, the director of physiology. Her reputation painted her as a cold, mechanical woman with little to no time for anything but analytics and autopsies. I had never met her prior to the first meeting, but one look into those steely grey eyes was enough to confirm she did not fuck around. She was the oldest out of everyone involved at the age of 56, and her experience and expertise would be invaluable.
With basic human emotion and anatomy covered, Dr. Ukiyo would be the one to set the foundation of the project into motion. Little was known about the inner workings of the esteemed director of robotics and artificial intelligence, but without her none of this would’ve been possible. She was fluent in more languages than I could name off the top of my head, and if the rumors were true she had never once lost her shit in the 19 years she’d worked for EIS. That in itself was an impressive enough feat to earn her a seat at the table before us.
The last of the directors was Dr. Wurzburg, the grizzly old man at the head of our extensive social sciences department, and my personal mentor. It was him who had approached me at the shitty coffee shop I worked at to keep myself afloat through college, simply stating “you have the look of someone who needs a purpose”. He left nothing but a phone number scrawled on a napkin, but it was enough to change my life forever. His presence made me nostalgic for the days of learning things like how to load a gun, and when to aim for the chest instead of the legs.
Once we had all assembled and the shuffling of paperwork and half-hearted greetings had ceased, a voice came over the loud speaker. It was an unfamiliar voice, but it was obvious it belonged to an older man, someone who was very, very important. Important enough that measures were taken to make sure everyone involved never had a face to put with the name we were about to hear.
“Hello. I am Dr. Baranoski, and I’m sure all of you are wondering why you have been gathered here this morning. I’ll get to that momentarily, but first it must be established that everything, absolutely everything, even the very existence of this project itself, is to never leave this room.”