Exiled to Lunar Lakes - Chapter 7, Part 1 - The Lie and the Liar

It's been a long time since this story has been updated! As this is a longer chapter I had it split into two parts. (I also couldn't wait to see what you guys thought of it. Heh.) This was actually meant to go up on the anniversary of Exiled to Lunar Lakes, but I got too excited and have no impulse control. Happy early anniversary! *Throws confetti*

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Walking through the lab felt like a death sentence, whether she would be the one to deliver it or the scientists would depend on the day.

The sterile hallways narrowed as the lights flickered and the woman eyed them curiously.
Everything about this lab was stranger than usual, even to her.

She found herself pausing as the darkest corners of her mind told her to look up.
Her eyes drifted back to the light right as a scientist tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, her eyes narrowing as her movements were faster than what should have been normal, yet felt jerky to her.

She would have to get use to being a human again. Well, close to one.
“Has his majesty sent another to check on us?” The scientist asked nervously, fidgeting.
His peculiar tick of wringing his hands was fascinating and so human-like that she couldn’t help but focus on it as it became more evident. “Yes, his majesty is wondering about the progress you have made regarding the experiment.”

“ With the drastic cut and funding and the chance of us being found getting greater every day-”
“-I didn’t ask you to tell me what is needed for the experiment to continue, I want to know what progress you have been making with the funding you’ve been generously given.” 

The woman replied back with the wave of her hand as the man walked forward, anxiously trying to outpace her.
Fool.

She wasn’t one of the majesty’s ambassadors.
She had been sent to find out why their magic, not his majesty’s, was acting up around here.
This experiment and others like it screamed trouble.
The man nodded. “We’ve found out that the patients can now perceive time differently and we have the power to slow it down inside the simulation. We also have the power to control the movements of certain patients who are...more submissive to the simulation and…”

“...and?” The woman tried to say more gently. It seemed to make more sense to approach him like a wounded creature. She would try to keep up the guise of being one of the majesty’s ambassadors, but she could tell she wouldn’t be getting anywhere with this man if he kept being this terrified.
He looked like he might wet himself.
The woman felt a bang of pity for him and tried not to show it in her eyes.
He was no wounded creature; he was one on the brink of death and in his eyes, she saw it.
“There are a few patients that aren’t taking well to the simulation.” The man said, collecting himself again.
Good.

“You know what his majesty wants to be done in regards to that.” She, replied her voice hard. While he may have known, she did not and was hoping to find out.
What she did know was bits and pieces of a few files already caught, clutched by sweaty hands that were transferred to hers. She spent countless nights looking over those papers with others, trying to figure out how a hundred prisoners could disappear so easily within two years. Deaths were faked, broken pieces of bone and blood following suit as some meager evidence.
She had no idea what shape these prisoners were in when they arrived at the experiments.

The man’s hands started shaking. “We can’t. Not here. Not in this situation.”
“What do you mean you can’t?” The woman met the man’s eyes. His mouth was set in a grim line as his eyes filled with resolve.
That would get him killed.

“Do you mean you can’t or you won’t?” Her voice fell to a whisper, silence surrounding the space around them. Her footsteps echoed against the tile, the lights starting to flicker again.

The man pursed his lips as he looked up the lights. “We need more funding...if we had more funding we could-”
“-show me why you won’t do what you’ve been ordered to do and maybe the majesty can..forgive this show of disrespect. He is a merciful man and perhaps he’ll let your little experiment continue.” The lies dripped with venom.

No, the king was not a man of forgiveness and had he known at all, he would have burned the place to the ground.
Nothing would be left except the ashes of all the prisoners within it.
For his credit, the man nodded, and started walking with steady steps. “I’ll show you patient 0587 and 0298. Ever since patient 0587 entered the simulation, her appearance had noticeably change. She appears to have white hair and green eyes in the simulation and..a temper we didn’t see her developing. She was supposed to be one of the more submissive patients, but her subconscious fought against the simulation and still is even despite our best efforts.”

The man paused at a door as a nurse rushed out, muttering apologizes.
Her face was flushed.
How odd.

They stepped inside the room as a sickly pale woman laid in the bed, several machines attached to her, beeping at different times. Furniture was pushed aside as chairs had taken up the room and a whiteboard had been pushed back into the corner.
With the different notes written on the board and the clipboards hastily placed next to it, it made it all to clear what was taking place; they were studying this woman.

They were studying her and she didn’t know.
She didn’t sign up for this, just another poor prisoner chosen to have their memories messed with and what little freedom they still had taken.
 The woman looked down at her oddly pale hands, so similar to the woman’s, trying to find a way to approach the emotions she was feeling right now. They were all so loud, so demanding-so human.
She wouldn’t think about it.
Not right now.

“What crime did she commit?” She asked, her voice steady.
“We’re not sure. All we know is that his majesty promised us she was up to our experiment. She was a volunteer.” His eyes clouded with emotions.
Lies. It was all lies.
She was a lie and he was a liar, making them both have something in common in this deadly masquerade.
“That makes no sense.”

“I do not question our majesties ways.”
Our.
Such a carefully crafted sentence, such a delicate way of trying to find out why she was truly here.
“Of course. Our majesty has the best intentions for all his subjects.” She replied back smoothly, thoughtfully as she eyed the lights again. “Can you show me patient 0298?”
The liar nodded. “This way.” He turned around briskly and started walking out the door.

It was all she could do to keep from turning around and staring at the woman with machines attached to her again.
She would help her, once she got her answers.
If only she would get that chance.

Chapter 7, Part 2 - The Lie and the Liar --->