S.M.A.R.T. (The Subject of Mind Altering Research and Testing)

Chapter Seventeen

The General sat smugly in his office. He was writing down his version of the results of the freezing water experiment. He felt absolutely satisfied with how he had watched Michael break. He loved the look on the examiner's faces when he had pointed at Michael.

He placed his pen down, and went over to his bottle, and bucket to pour a drink. He was a few in now, and he was starting to feel a glow. As he sipped, he searched his mind, for some way he would be able to get the pills when they were delivered, without it being noticed that there were more arriving. If anybody found out, they would know he was taking it, and he would have to answer to his commander. He could kill most of the people there, if they found out, but some were valuable to more people than him, and wouldn't take it kindly. He knew, if he was going to stay one-up on Michael, he needed to have it. The drug was already starting to show it's affect on him.

Do I want this pill for those reasons, or do I want it for my own... He thought back to his father, and his drinking, and his excuses. He knew that people would say anything to make a need seem dire. His father would, at least, and he wasn't a special man, by any means.

Whatever I think, this is different. It's knowledge. I need it, to beat Michael. I need to catch up, and learn how to channel it, like he has. He had cancelled the next month of Michael's testing. He knew he could get away with it. They had to test it, without routine also, to make sure it was safe to take sporadically. He could use that as his excuse. It would be a convincing reason, and even if the doctors tried to give him any trouble, he had the authority to change whatever he wanted about the tests now.

The whole facility seemed to take a break for the next while. He stopped the testing, and the only people who were really working, were the cooks, who worked overtime because everybody had time to eat. It fit all too well with the General's needs.

He was the only one with access to the storage room where the pill was kept. They were the most high security doors in the entire place, even for the few pills that arrived each week. The doors were more fortified than the ones on the main entrance. There was only one key to the room in the whole facility, and it was under password in the General's office. He kept it safely locked away in one of the drawers of his desk.

Usually when he went to get the pill, he was accompanied by a guarantor of sorts, usually Reid, or Hall, who would sign a second signature on the papers. He would write down how many pills arrived that week and how many were used each day. He individually bottled each one for testing, and weighed it for the report. Today, he wouldn't be documenting his visit. He had told the doctors that the shipments had stopped until testing was resumed, and they believed it. They had good reason to. The commander had only been there a few times, but he was extremely strict, and wouldn't have continued to send the pill if he had known the testing had been halted, but the General had neglected to mention that to him. He didn't call for reports, so the General took advantage of the situation.

The room where the pill was kept was under surveillance, and he had to knock the cameras out. He opened the door to the room, and closed it, just to the point before it actually shut, and locked. He hoped nobody would notice it was open, but it was a crucial part of his plan.

The General went through the facility, and down an oubliette near one of the back entrances, and climbed into a small, hidden ingress, with a small ladder that led into the basement of the facility. The basement was a series of much smaller hallways, unfinished, and damp. Everything smelled of mildew, and rat piss. The conduits of electrical wiring, and plumbing ran throughout the entire basement, wrapping and turning around each corner of whole building, on the ceiling and walls of the tunnels. There was no light in the basement, so he had brought a flashlight from his office. He turned it on and started to follow the wires.