Touched - Order of Odium: Book One

Daniel - 3

The two guards brought Daniel to an infirmary for his finger. This place had some great doctors and some advanced medical technology that they didn't have below, as they had made Daniel's finger whole again, even without retrieving his original finger from the backpack that had bit it off.

He didn't even have to stay in the infirmary any longer than it took the doctors to fix his finger. As soon as it was attached it worked just as before. No problems or pain whatsoever. The doctors had, as far as Daniel could tell, essentially "welded" the top half of Daniel's finger back on. The doctor had held a small pen-like device close to the reattachment point on his finger and moved it along the site, and his finger looked as if nothing had ever happened to it. The only change was that the tip of his new finger did not have any fingerprints, but the doctors assured him that the prints would grow back "quickly" and not to worry.

He was back in his room within thirty minutes of the attack.

Daniel laid down on his bed and was asleep within moments.

* * *

The next day a man in a lab coat came to Daniel's room and introduced himself.

In an overly cheerful voice, that man said "Hello! My name is Aleksander. I am a scientist here at the Order, and we're going to start working together today. Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." Daniel said, sitting up and wondering what this odd man was going to have him do now.

Aleksander looked at the clipboard he had brought in. "I see they've had you experimenting with newly acquired artifacts since you've been here, correct?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what they've been having me do. They've had me stand by, touch, stare at, and other random stuff with various things. No one has told me anything though."

Aleksander sighed to himself. "Yes, they are very secretive here. All over, very secretive. Luckily for you, I am not so secretive! Given my status as a scientist I have certain liberties regarding secrecy, so I can fill in some of the gaps for you."

Aleksander sat his clipboard down and clasped his hands together. "Okay, let's start from the beginning with what I can tell you. The order has an interest in acquiring and testing artifacts from all over. When a new artifact is acquired, it has to go through some initial tests to determine where it should be placed. Safe artifacts go on a level with other safe artifacts, dangerous artifacts go with other dangerous artifacts, and so on. You were essentially testing some of those artifacts for us."

"Yeah, I figured that much," Daniel replied, staring at the index finger that had been attached yesterday. His fingerprints had already shown up on the previously blank area.

"Oh yes! I read that you had an incident yesterday. How is your new finger? Good?"

"Yeah, it's fine I guess."

"Good! Now, you have been here for eight months give or take, so I chose to have you work with me on something. You've shown that you can be trusted, at least as far as doing basic experiments with the artifacts. A couple of problems at first, but no big deal, you learned quickly."

Daniel was reminded of being tazed and hit in the stomach with the butt of a rifle. "Yeah, I sort of had to."

"Yes, the guards can be aggressive sometimes, but it is a necessary evil, unfortunately. We have learned to not be so lenient due to some past mistakes that have happened. That's not important though. The important thing is, you know what happens when you don't comply with orders. I'm sure you've noticed the armed guards spread throughout this level? Yes? We have them on every level, so please do not try to escape or anything. It would not end well for you." Aleksander looked at the ground and shook his head, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, I have no plans on trying to leave. Just tell me what I'm going to be doing now."

"A straight shooter! I like that!" Aleksander grinned broadly. "Well, as you know, we acquire artifacts and experiment with them. You also know that these artifacts can be very odd, such as your recent encounter with the new backpack shaped artifact."

"Yeah, that fucking thing bit part of my finger off. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say I know the stuff you have here is 'odd', to say the least."

Aleksander laughed loudly. "Yes! That artifact can be fierce, can't it?" He chuckled to himself before continuing, "I'm sure you are happy with your replacement finger though? We have great medical care here."

"Yeah, everything that has happened here is weird as hell, to say the least, but my finger works just fine. Like nothing ever happened to it."

"Yes, yes. Great medical team here!" Aleksander chuckled again. "Anyway, let's "cut the bullshit" as they say. Now that we are sure you know the consequences of going against orders, we are going to trust you to help experiment with artifacts of a more known quantity."

"A 'known quantity'? What do you mean?" Daniel questioned.

"It means that we know somewhat how the artifact reacts to certain stimuli. For example, the artifact that you and I are going to start experimenting with can be looked at, stood near, talked too, etc... without any abnormal reaction. Some artifacts "activate" when they are touched such as what happened when you attempted to touch the artifact yesterday. There are many different orders of lethality for the artifacts here, but that's not important right now. The artifact you and I are going to work with shows no noticeable change in the environment, people, etc... unless it is touched."

Daniel shuddered slightly, thinking of the backpack. "So there's a chance that I can get my finger or something bit off again? Or something worse?"

Aleksander frowned, thoughtful. "Well, this particular artifact has shown to be mostly harmless, although it does do some interesting things for some people. But as I said, the vast majority of experimentees have nothing harmful happen, and many don't experience anything at all." Aleksander looked at his watch. "I apologize, but I must be going for now. Rest assured, you will be perfectly safe when we begin our experiment tomorrow. As I said, I must go. I will see you tomorrow, okay?"

Daniel nodded.

"Perfect! Perfect! I will see you tomorrow then."

Aleksander left and the door to Daniel's room closed, leaving him to his thoughts.

~ ~ ~

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