Chapter 1: Xen Labs
"As the contract stated your child will be kept safe with us until we are fully able to cure him completely, thank you for putting your trust with us Mr. Smith."
"I wouldn't still be here if I wasn't, the procedure will be exactly as how you described it before yes?"
"Yes, of course, Mr. Smith. Your son will enter our ice pod to be cryogenically frozen for the future. The whole process will be painless."
"Mhm, good. I've paid good money, so you have to do this well understood?" Mr. Smith asked in a serious tone.
"We are the leading company in cryogenics Mr. Smith," The old Scientist replied." You don't have to worry; everything will be perfect throughout your son's experience here at Xen Labs. We will do everything in our power to cure him, I can assure it."
"Now mister and misses Smith." The scientist said as he gave a bright smile. "As we have discussed before we would need to go through a counseling session with your child before he can be allowed to go through with the procedure."
Mrs. Smith replied, "Shouldn't we be doing the procedure immediately?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Smith but this is required for all children as the process could be traumatic for some." The scientist replied, "Now Mr. Smith, you may relax with your wife in the lounge as we proceed with your child's counseling session."
Mr. Smith looked to his son and sternly said to him before leaving: "Victor, you behave when you go with them understand? They are professionals and know what they're doing so listen to them well!"
Victor nodded his head in silence as he watched his parents exit from the Scientist's office.
"Now then Victor, come and have a seat as we wait for the counselor to arrive." The scientist said as he pressed his touch-screen tablet. "Would you like some sweets? They taste great."
Victor looked cautiously at the Old scientist as he thought of a reply and said: "I was taught not to take anything from strangers, sir."
"You've been well taught young man, but I'm no stranger to you. After all your father is paying me to take good care of you." The scientist replied as he took out a bowl filled with various candy. Looking at the bowl, Victor couldn't find a single candy he could recognize increasing his cautiousness.
He didn't know what to do in such a situation; he would usually run back to his parents but with his father telling him to behave he had second thoughts about that option.
Victor tried to judge the old scientist to see whether he was trustworthy or not. The scientist was completely bald but had a full beard that covered the lower portion of his face. He had a face that looked serious when he wasn't smiling and had visible wrinkles on his face. His posture was straight and made the old scientist look professional. He could see why his father had taken a liking to this old scientist, but he was still skeptical.
Seeing that Victor still looked tense, the scientist wryly smiled as he said: " Do I look that scary to you Victor? If so I apologize for what my parents gave me." He said as he placed the bowl back under the table. "Most of the children enjoyed the sweets when they ate them, what a shame."
Victor stayed silent as he looked at a digital clock to the left of him above a low shelve filled with books. He had only stayed in the room for three minutes, but it felt like he'd been in there for an hour.
Observing Victor's behavior, the scientist realized something and smiled. "I think we may have started on the wrong foot here Victor, let's start from the beginning by introducing ourselves, shall we? My name is Dr. Matthew, the head researcher of Xen Labs and a doctor of Cryotherapy. Now your turn."
Victor thought about his words before answering. "As you know my name is Victor Smith, I'm 14 years old and a student of Kingsway high school."
Dr. Matthew lifted a piece of paper before nodding as he replied: "Mhm, that's correct according to the documents your father gave me."
"Do I have to do this counseling session, sir?" Victor asked
"You don't have to call me sir, just call me Dr. Matthew," Dr. Matthew replied as he placed the paper down onto the table. "We need you to do this counseling session as you need to understand what your parents are making you go through, as a minor you don't have much say in this matter but the least we can do for you would be to tell you what is going to happen."
While Dr. Matthew explained why Victor had to go through this counseling session, Victor taught about why his parents made him go through this cryogenics thing.
'Dad had said this was for my sake but never explained why to me. He could have at least gave me an idea of what this was all about." Victor wondered as his palm started to sweat, he was beginning to get worried about the procedure.
Dr. Matthew noticed Victor's looking worried but before he could say anything to him there was a knock on the office's door and a voice was heard.
"Dr. Matthews, I'm here to receive the child Victor Smith for his counseling session with me."
"The door isn't locked, you may enter Ms. Jacklyn," Dr. Matthews said as the counselor opened the door. "This is Ms. Jacklyn the counselor, and she will be helping you understand the process you and your family will be going through."
"That's exactly right Victor," Ms. Jacklyn smiled as she reached out a hand to Victor. "Now follow me, we should talk at a more comfortable place."
Victor looked at Ms. Jacklyn and felt she was a much kinder person to be around compared to the serious Dr.Matthew.
The door closed behind them and walked down the hallway with windows on each side. Victor looked to his left and saw the beautiful sight of the ocean and the packed beach filled with people. On the right, he could see a quiet garden filled with flowers and trees with a river connected to a small waterfall which made it look amazing and peaceful.
Ms. Jacklyn stopped and let Victor take in the view as she spoke: "Do you like the view, Victor? To our left is Orwell Beach owned by the owner of Xen Labs Doctor Steven Orwell. It's used as a tourist spot and a place for the residents of this lab to relax. On our right would be the Xen Garden, is for calming patients that come here for our services."
Victor nodded as Ms. Jacklyn gave him information about their surroundings. It was so amazing that he wondered how much it all cost for them to create the beach and garden.
But as he wondered Ms. Jacklyn spoke again: "Did your parents not let you walk around our campus when you were visiting Dr. Matthew? Maybe after everything is over, you can walk around the campus freely. But let's keep moving."
Victor nodded and followed Ms. Jacklyn further down the hallway. The first time Victor was walking around here, he was too busy trying to follow his parents as they made it through the campus towards Dr. Matthew's office since his parents had been and experienced Xen Labs before they didn't feel the need to walk slower to take in the view.
After walking through a few corridors and up an elevator to the 10th floor, they had made it to a door that had the plaque "Dr. Jacklyn" "Department of Mental Health."
Ms. Jacklyn pressed her thumb onto a screen and had a laser-like light that scanned her thumb before the door opened, it looked futuristic which made Victor curious.
"You've never seen a fingerprint scanner before Victor?" Ms. Jacklyn asked, "We even have them on our phones you know."
Victor blushed before replying: "I know what a fingerprint scanner is, Ms. Jacklyn. But I've never seen one so cool before!"
Hearing Victor's enthusiasm over the fingerprint scanner made Ms. Jacklyn smiles as she spoke: "Well it was a design choice by Dr. Matthew, we were going to have just normal fingerprint scanners without the lights, but he said if we put in the effort into designing even the smallest detail of the facility it would improve its visual look by miles. If you like this sort of stuff, you could talk to him again before the procedure."
Hearing how Dr. Matthew was the one who came up of the idea of making things look cool made Victor respect him more. However, he was still cautious about meeting Dr. Matthew again.
Dr. Jacklyn opened the door to the room, and Victor saw the room only had a desk with a chair behind it and a couch in front of it, like Dr. Matthew's office. The only difference was that the large windows behind the desk showed the Xen garden below them.
"The view is nice, isn't it? You can relax on the sofa as we go through the counseling session." Ms. Jacklyn said as she walked towards the desk.
Listening to her instructions Victor sat on the sofa which was soft and comfortable.
"Are you feeling comfortable yet, Victor?" Ms. Jacklyn asked as she took out a brown file and a laptop.
"Yes, Ms. Jacklyn. The sofa is comfortable." Victor replied as he slightly bounced on the sofa.
"Well let's start then," Ms. Jacklyn said as she smiled at Victor.
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