Capítulo 21: Goodbye, Dr. Carlie. Hello, Friend Smiles.
That question posed by Lowo had pierced her heart like a needle, causing both emotional and physical pain. Dr. Carlie didn't know how to answer, and all she did was hold him even tighter, feeling the tears streaming down her face, burning like something hot that made her feel overwhelmed with guilt.
"I'm sorry, Lowo, but I still don't have that answer," she said so softly that she was sure Lowo wouldn't hear. Before letting him go from her embrace, she hurriedly dried her tears.
She released him gradually, wanting to do more for him, but any wrong move could lead to her dismissal, as promised by her heartless boss. Given the objectives of that research, her desires were no more than those of an ant, merely trying to survive one day at a time. She hoped that one day she would achieve a high enough position to confront the top boss of that place, but for that, she needed more knowledge or a good opportunity in her life.
She said goodbye to Lowo, promising to find him again and this time with good news. She felt immense sadness when Lowo merely nodded with a slight nod and his sad, almost tearful eyes. Dr. Carlie walked him to the door and was pleased to see that Friend Smiles was already waiting outside, as he did every morning, since she didn't know when Lowo would be dismissed. She waved at him and thanked him for being such a loyal friend.
Her eyes stubbornly shed a few more tears when the emaciated Lowo pulled the remainder of the snack Dr. Carlie had given him from the pockets of his shirt. Someone who had nothing to eat thought first of feeding his friend, as they both seemed to share the same poverty.
With quick steps and without looking back, Dr. Carlie headed to a large room without the usual company of her assistant nurses and began to research part of the organic material she had taken from the body of Test Subject 1. She continued making her notes when suddenly something caught her attention and she started hitting her own head with her hands while exclaiming:
"How could I be so stupid! How did I not realize this before?"
Her assistants, puzzled and realizing that she was drawing unnecessary attention to herself, decided to remain silent. She knew there were bugs in that place, and anything that was a secret could be recorded and later used against her, accusing her of espionage, sabotage, or something similar.
It was a mystery she still didn't understand, as what had happened to Test Subject 1 was unprecedented in that lab. In the notes she repeatedly read, it was clear that Lowo, or Test Subject 1, was not just dirty with waste on the outside of his clothes but also on the inside. Thus, following the logic of normal reasoning, those wastes didn't belong to him but to someone who had been very close to him. But who? Or rather, the question that wouldn't stop echoing in her mind: "How did something like this become possible? And what other secrets did that unfortunate boy hold?"
If that amount of waste didn't belong to Test Subject 1, it meant that "they" had succeeded without even realizing it. If Chief Ramisk knew what he had squandered due to his ignorance, he would probably hit himself on the head. And it wouldn't be Dr. Carlie who would tell him. After all, she was not only disregarded, insulted, and humiliated but also threatened, just like her little friend, Test Subject 1, who hadn't received a single cent for all the sacrifice he had made so far.
Suddenly, her eyes began to shine. That was definitely the biggest secret in that techno-pharmaceutical facility, and she needed to find the right person to reveal this secret. But who? The issue was how to benefit from this discovery without making it public.
She would need to find a solution for this and spent some time wondering if there was any other equipment that could reproduce the cocoon effect that wasn't from CPF. If there was, with this secret in hand, she would take this discovery to new heights, and a new technological revolution would dominate the coming decades.
She spent the day restless, trying her best to avoid drawing the wrong kind of attention. She thought more and more about using that discovery to change the life of the boy who, despite her efforts to avoid it, was beginning to occupy a corner of her heart.
Meanwhile, Lowo N'Air didn't know what to make of his bad luck, which had followed him for so long. This would explain why, after so much sacrifice and suffering serving as a CPF test subject, he had received no recognition or, worse, no payment.
But that was okay. Somehow, he would have to keep surviving and look for other job options. He didn't need to earn much, just enough to eat. It didn't matter if he had to return to living on the street; with his life being as tangled as it was, he was already used to the bad luck that followed him.
He still had someone he could trust. Since he met Smiles, he felt safer. It was this same friend who now welcomed him again, taking him to his small and humble home, which consisted of a room and bathroom on a vacant lot, but somehow had electricity and running water, probably due to some makeshift repairs he had done. Even so, he never denied a smile to someone in a worse situation than his own.
The number one friend he could trust with his eyes closed, as since they met, there had not been a single day when he was not encouraged to keep fighting for a better life. His friend Smiles' words were always encouraging, even if sometimes he found himself in a situation he couldn't resolve. But he never let his broad smile, which earned him the nickname Smiles, fade away.
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