Darkness swallowed the room.
Only a single section remained illuminated.
The weak light hanging above the centre of the chamber cast long shadows across the floor.
Genido stepped forward.
The hidden room was larger than it appeared from outside.
Cold air lingered within the chamber.
Not the ordinary cold of an air conditioner.
Something heavier.
Sterile.
Artificial.
The kind of cold found in places where living things were never meant to stay.
Three long tables stood ahead of him.
Together they formed a U-shaped arrangement surrounding the centre of the room.
His footsteps echoed softly as he approached.
The suitcase remained in his hand.
His eyes moved across the objects resting on the tables.
Glass Bottles.
Metal.
Pipes.
Containers.
Equipment.
The room looked less like a laboratory and more like a place built around a single purpose.
At the centre stood an iron cylinder.
Large.
Industrial.
A label remained attached to its side.
Oxygen.
The word reflected beneath the light.
Around it stood twelve glass bottles.
A thick pipe at the top of each one.
Every one of them was sealed tightly.
And every one of them contained something floating within a transparent liquid.
Genido stopped.
His eyes moved from bottle to bottle.
The figures drifted slowly inside the fluid.
Some appeared only a few centimetres long.
Others were larger.
More developed.
More complete.
Yet none of them looked normal.
None of them looked fully human.
The liquid distorted their shapes.
Making them appear almost dreamlike.
For a moment the room remained completely silent.
Then Genido walked toward an empty space on the table.
A large bottle waited there.
Unlike the others, it contained only liquid.
Nothing floated inside it.
Not yet.
Genido carefully placed the suitcase beside it.
His gaze remained fixed on the container.
Several seconds passed.
Then he reached toward the locks.
Click.
The first latch opened.
Click.
The second followed.
His movements were slow.
Deliberate.
Almost respectful.
As though he understood the importance of what rested inside.
Yet even after unlocking it, he didn't immediately open the suitcase.
Instead he paused.
Silence filled the chamber.
The bottles continued drifting softly behind him.
One second.
Two.
Only then did he lift the handles.
A sharp hissing sound escaped immediately.
Cold vapour burst from the suitcase.
White mist spilled over the edges and drifted across the table.
The temperature around it seemed to drop instantly.
Genido remained expressionless.
The vapour slowly cleared.
And the contents became visible.
Inside rested something similar to the figures floating inside the bottles.
Yet one glance was enough to reveal the difference.
It was larger.
Much larger.
Genido stared down at it.
For a brief moment even he remained motionless.
The thing inside resembled an infant.
At least from a distance.
But the resemblance faded the longer one looked.
Its proportions felt wrong.
Certain features appeared unfinished.
Incomplete.
Like something abandoned halfway through its creation.
The shape carried enough humanity to be recognised.
And enough abnormalities to be feared.
The sight would've horrified most people.
Genido simply reached inside.
Carefully.
Slowly.
Both hands supported the figure.
Its weight was surprisingly light.
Almost fragile.
He lifted it from the suitcase.
Cold liquid dripped from its surface.
The vapour followed.
The figure remained motionless.
Silent.
Sleeping.
Or perhaps never awake to begin with.
Genido carried it over the bottle.
The transparent liquid reflected both of them.
The scientist.
And the thing he had created.
For several seconds he simply stood there.
Watching.
Evaluating.
Thinking.
Then his hands moved downward.
The figure entered the liquid.
Slowly.
The surface trembled gently.
Small waves formed inside the container.
The fluid swallowed the body little by little until nothing remained above the surface.
Genido released it.
The figure drifted downward.
Then slowly floated upward again.
Suspended within the liquid.
Exactly like the others.
The final empty bottle had become complete.
Now twelve figures floated throughout the chamber.
Different sizes.
Different stages.
Different attempts.
Genido stepped back.
His eyes travelled across the room.
Bottle after bottle.
Experiment after experiment.
Failure after failure.
And perhaps...
Success.
The faint hum of machinery echoed through the darkness.
Tiny grains hovered beneath each floating figure.
Small particles suspended near the bottom of every container.
Blue.
Only Blue.
Moving slowly through the liquid.
Like stars drifting through a silent universe.
Genido stared at them.
The reflection of the bottles filled his eyes.
For the first time that day, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Almost invisible.
Yet undeniably there.
And somewhere beyond the walls of the hospital...
No one knew what had just been created.
---