Nation 27

CH 46: Fixation 1

Warning: This chapter contains disturbing and unhealthy thoughts and actions of manipulation that might be triggering for certain readers. Please read at your own discretion.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------

[Doctor Heine’s personal perspective and monologue of his thoughts and memory]

As a man of science, I have often been described as one who is indifferent and emotionless – not that that ever bothered me in the very least. Being driven by the desire to acquire more knowledge and curiosity to seek what more that vast universe had to offer that had yet to be discovered by science, I deemed it a waste of time to invest my precious time in matters of the heart. Thus, I've always taken pride in being an objective and rational thinker.

My days were consumed by the pursuit of discovery, lost in the intricate web of hypotheses and experiments. The laboratory was my sanctuary, a realm where logic reigned supreme and emotions held no sway. While others sought solace in companionship and romance, I found fulfillment in the silent hum of machinery and the whispered secrets of nature.

That was why they approached me.

Amidst the sterile confines of my laboratory, a couple of unexpected visitors came. They were clad in black suits and wore stern, solemn expressions on their faces. Whatever they had come to my laboratory for, it was certainly of high importance.

These men were apparently from Gemini Enterprise, a company I had always dreamed of working at. They explained that they needed my skills and knowledge for a confidential matter. For the first time in my life, I felt something in the depths of my chest that some would describe as happiness. It was odd, but I would admit that it was satisfying to finally be recognized for my brilliance.

It remains unclear how they noticed me. Perhaps it was the thesis on quantum physics I'd written on a whim months ago, or perhaps I was simply the smartest scientist among all nations. But I digress.

The men explained briefly about the situation they had been facing at the company's laboratory. Though I had not fully understood the exact job scope, I agreed to work with them hastily. Not even the signing of several confidentiality documents deterred me.

In all honesty, I did not understand much further about the true nature of the company's intentions even after I started working there. There were complex matters of quantum physics, but those matters had close to nothing to do with the thesis I had written. The company was not understaffed, yet it was clear that a large amount of data was kept away from me and all other personnel.

As days turned into weeks, my curiosity grew. What secrets did Gemini Enterprise hold, and why had they chosen me? Despite the lack of answers, I found myself captivated by the challenge, determined to uncover the truth hidden within the company's enigmatic operations. Little did I know, my journey into the depths of Gemini's mysteries would lead me down a path that was beyond my wildest imagination.

It happened a few months after I had entered the company. I was in the middle of computing the new data I had discovered from one of my experiments when I was informed of an abrupt assignment that required an immediate relocation. Worse and most frustratingly, it was in a field that I had absolutely neither knowledge nor experience in doing.

I was to pose as a psychiatrist at the local mental facility. Although I was promised that it was only for a short while and the facility was actually the biggest in the nation-

I was immensely displeased.

‘How could they squander my aspirations over a mere whim? The excuse of the temporary transfer being related to my current work is beyond insanity. Haha. Speaking of which, I was to waste my brilliancy amongst those of the lowest of cognitive functions, the insane? Tsk! What an outright waste of my contribution thus far! They will rue the day that they cast away such an invaluable asset as me!’

But my initial thoughts were wrong.

June 16th, 2021. That was the fateful day I met the target the company intended for me to observe and carry out a series of experiments on- Jared Lee.

As with any other person who had been admitted to the facility, the lean Asian boy expressed the expected emotions- shock, fear, denial, and betrayal. By then, I had already worked on a few ‘new’ patients and Jared’s reactions came as unsurprising to me. Although I was specifically told by my superiors again that Jared was the boy I was to pay close attention to, I still deemed the boy as no different from the other insane patients, and that someone of high rank in the company had some vendetta against me.

As I begrudgingly settled into my new role and thus, carried out the true motive of my transfer, I found myself confronted with a fact far different from what I had anticipated. Jared was not the caricature of insanity I had imagined, but an individual grappling with the complexities- or more accurately, a reality- that I had never once considered possible despite the decades of studies and hypotheses I had worked so committedly to prove.

Each day brought new challenges and revelations. I pushed and listened as Jared unwillingly poured out a number of his innermost thoughts and struggles. Although there was not much to go on and he was progressively adapting to my ‘methods’, the words he had uttered echoed with a raw honesty that shook me to my core. In our sessions, I saw reflections of my own wonder and fears that have been realized and the reason I was sent to the facility.

Jared Lee was from another reality.

I felt a shiver go up my spine at that revelation. Of course, the revelation was neither one that I reached immediately nor was it wishful thinking on my end. To be brutally honest, I can't say that I am truly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, convinced that the other reality exists. I am a man of science and for a matter as groundbreaking as this, seeing is believing.

Even so, the data gathered by Gemini Enterprise from June 10th provided undeniable proof that the theorized quantum mechanics have taken place and that Jared Lee was indeed in the vicinity when the incident occurred. The only few questions that remained were if Jared was truly from the other reality, and how is he the only one to have entered into our reality. If both ours and the other reality are parallel to an extent, what happened to the “Jared” in our reality?

Unfortunately, much to my frustration, a few hours into our first session, Jared started to clam up. My psychiatric 'methods' did secure bits and pieces, but there was not much to go on. Persuading his single mother and best friends to pull information from him proved to be useless.

Then I remembered my assistant who was also posing as a staff member at the facility-

Samantha.