Tina Chan - imperfect

This is where everything starts to spiral down to hell, Kristi thought to herself. The guards were going to find out the three Cleandows weren’t supposed to be in the South Wing and they’ll end up getting asked questions they couldn’t answer without giving away the truth.

“Hello? This is Hilton,” a guard spoke into his walkie-talkie.

“This is Julia,” the secretary replied. The sound quality of the walkie-talkie was so faultless Kristi would’ve sworn Julia was standing in the room next to them if she was blindfolded.

“I would like to verify three Cleandows workers with the names of Dakota, Kennedy and Helen are authorized to enter the South Wing for window cleaning,” Hilton said.

“I don’t remember any of the South Wing windows needing a repair or wash job. Hold on a second while I check on my electro-slate.” There was a pause, then Julia spoke again. “Never mind—I was wrong. It seems like ten of the windows in the South Wing need to have their panels cleaned.”

“Thanks, Julia.”

“No problem.”

“See, what did I tell you?” the first guard said to the second. “We’re not breaching any security measures by letting them into the South Wing.”

They stepped aside and allowed Kristi, Troop and Chelsa to file between them and into the South Wing. Kristi was expecting to step into a long hallway like she did in the West, North and East Wings. Instead, the South Wing was really just one huge, open room. The ceiling was a minimum of three stories high, even though the South Wing only had one level. The entire learning center could’ve fit into the room with space to spare.

Out of the blue, Kristi felt the urge to sneeze build up inside her; she pinched the bridge of her nose and eventually the urge faded away. On the other hand, her eyes were as irritated as ever.

“I think I’m allergic to something in the lab,” she said in a low enough voice so that only Troop and Chelsa could hear; Perfects didn’t have allergies and she would immediately stand out if she had an allergic reaction.

“Don’t rub your eyes,” Troop said when she raised her hand to her face. “It’ll only make it worse.”

That was when Kristi noticed parts of Troop’s clothing were covered with feathers. “Troop, why does it look like a bird decided to molt on you?”

“I snuck into the East Wing in crate shared with chickens,” he said.

“Crap.”

“What?”

“I’m allergic to birds.”

“Crap,” Troop echoed her words.

“Don’t sneeze,” Chelsa advised.

“I’m trying not to,” Kristi said. “Come on, let’s wrap up our business here before snot starts dripping down my face.”

Chelsa made a face. “Lovely thought. Thank you for the imagery.”

“Anytime.”

They nonchalantly wandered throughout the room. Documents covered several smart-glass desks.

“Think of those poor trees that were killed to make all these papers. What a waste of resources,” Troop said.

Most of the desks had a person seated over it, so they couldn’t read what was written on those papers. But, by pure chance, a scientist a few desks away from them stood up from his desk and let out a huge stretch. Then he walked away, presumably to stretch his legs or answer the call of nature.

Kristi hurried over to the unguarded report left lying on the desk. She skimmed over the contents:

Name: Dr. Leemers

Experiment: DNA Alterations for Stronger Teeth

Test Subject #: 216

Results: Doubling the genetic material on section K of chromosome 23 does indeed result in stronger teeth on subject 216. However, subject 216’s teeth grew continuously and constantly needed to be filed down. Subject 261 also experienced loss of appetite after the DNA alteration. Subject 216 was injected with the final sleep shot on November 17 th.

Conclusion: Doubling the genetic material found on section K of chromosome 23 is not a viable option for usage among citizens.

The rest of the report was a thorough account the entire experiment. The procedures for the experiment were well documented with pictures and descriptions. Subject 216 an Accident who had died at a young age of two months. Reading the report made venom towards Dr. Leemers boil up within Kristi.

“This is sick,” she said. “How can they kill an infant?”

“Oh, my god,” Chelsa said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Kristi said.

“No, you don’t understand what I mean.”

Kristi realized Chelsa wasn’t even looking at the report anymore. “What is it?” she asked.

“Look.”

Kristi followed her gaze. On the far side of the room were rows of cribs. A number was pinned onto each crib and a tranquilized baby slept in each one. Further to the right of the cribs were toddlers kept in pens; most were fast asleep. The few that were awake seemed pretty groggy, so she suspected their sedatives were just beginning to wear off. There weren’t many toddlers—thirty at most compared to at least a hundred infants.

Some of the Accidents looked normal while others did not. A small, freckled toddler no older than three was babbling a string of meaningless words. Another Accident was fast asleep in her pen; her hair was a turquoise color. The girl woke up and looked at Kristi straight in the eyes, as if it was she who had woken her up from a nap. When the girl grinned at Kristi, she recoiled back in surprise; the blue-haired toddler’s teeth were fang-like and carnivorous.

Troop cast his eyes around the room. “This is so freaky.”

Kristi nodded in agreement. She shuddered to think how close she had been to being experimented upon. All these lives sacrificed to satisfy the indulgences of a perfect society , Kristi grimly thought.

Without the Accidents to test on, there would be no progress in DNA perfectionism. The government depended on a society where everyone was a Perfect to run seamlessly.

A movement in the corner of her eyes snapped Kristi back to reality. She looked up in time to see the woman in the white lab coat who had given her the disturbing smile earlier. Her stomach clenched in response and she swallowed nervously.

“Are you even listening?” Chelsa asked.

“Sorry. What did you— ah–choo! ” Kristi let out a huge sneeze.

The sound reverberated around the room. Everyone became absolutely still and silent; it was as if a magician had thrown a freeze over the South Wing. Kristi fidgeted beneath five hundred pairs of eyes.

“Ha-ha,” Troop said loudly, diverting some of the attention off her and onto him. “That was a funny joke, Helen, pretending you were allergic to me. I didn’t know you could sneeze so loud. Maybe you should save your pranks for a more appropriate time though.”

Some of the tension melted away in the room and gradually people returned to their work.

“Good save,” Chelsa whispered to Troop.

But creepy-smile-lady was still staring at them. Chelsa lifted her head up and looked in the direction Kristi was looking.

“What is she doing here?” Chelsa asked more to herself than to Kristi.

“Who is she? I feel like she’s been following us for a while,” Kristi said.

“She’s Zala’s assistant. Her name’s Rosa.”

Rosa saw the three of them looking at her and marched over. Following behind her was Officer Zala and a guy Kristi didn’t recognized. He looked to be a few years older than her.

Troop met the guy’s eyes. “What is he doing here?”

He looked different since the last time Troop saw him—he had obviously gotten a haircut—but the guy behind Officer Zala was, without a doubt, Mason.

What in the world is going on? Troop thought.