Page 71 of Mutant Mine

“I said yes. I signed the papers: swearing to keep everything confidential, giving my consent. I said goodbye to my family, telling them that I was doing a tour abroad, and did not know how long I would be gone for. Then the authorities put me in the back of a truck and drove me out to the laboratory. It was hidden underneath a dull government office called—”

I whisper it before he can speak: “Watergap.”

He nods, and grips his teacup.

“You told me they were holding people captive there,” I say. “Hurting them.”

“Yes. Rory — yes.”

Roth’s voice gets tighter, but he pushes on.

“I was a willing subject at first,” he says. “The things they did to me were painful and challenging, but I understood the need. They tested my physical strength, my resilience, my ability to solve strange puzzles.

“Then the experiments changed. And when I asked what was happening, why it was happening… they locked the doors.”

“What did they do to you?” I croak.

“Long ago, in the twentieth century, there was an incident at Watergap. The military claimed that it was a crashed weather balloon, but really, a craft of some kind was shot out of the sky. It was…” Here, for the first time, Roth looks up and meets my eyes, bracing himself to grind the word out. “…extraterrestrial.”

My eyebrows shoot up.

“What? Like, proper aliens?” I ask incredulously. “That traveled to Earth?”

Everyone knows that humanity has never encountered sentient alien life. Kids are taught about it in school. It’s the Fermi paradox: with billions of suns and planets in the universe, it’s highly likely that humans aren’t the only intelligent lifeforms ever to evolve. So, where is everyone? We’ve found microbes, plants, and even animals — all amazing in their way, but nothing likeus.

Roth nods again. “Nothing survived the crash, but the government recovered a deceased specimen from the debris and kept it frozen in a vault at Watergap. They were just waiting for technology to catch up and make their experiments possible.”

Ice slides down my spine. I know what he’s going to say. I don’t want him to say it.

“They spliced our DNA with samples taken from the extraterrestrial body.”

It was always obvious that the Watergap attackers had fucked around with genetic modification, but I would never have guessedthis. Roth’s eerie blue skin, his horns, his superhuman abilities — it all makes sense now.

He’s unearthly. Otherworldly. And it was done without his consent.

I swallow, feeling sick.

“Why did they do it?”

“The alien species had extraordinarily long lifespans and healing abilities, as well as considerable size and strength. The early testing had just been to get a benchmark of my own strength and durability. After that, the real experiments began.”

“The real experiments?”

“First, the splice itself. That was brutal work. Many subjectsdid not survive the process — but I did. Then, they wanted to test the results.”

His voice grows rougher.

“They needed to see… what level of pain I could withstand. How much damage I could heal from. So they had to hurt me. Mutilation. Torture.”

“Roth…” I whisper.

“They also wanted to see what other abilities they had unlocked. Could I survive for longer than average underwater? At freezing temperatures? Boiling heat? High pressure? How much blood could I lose? How long could I last without eating, or drinking, or sleeping? How much g-force could be applied before I blacked out? Could I survive exposure to toxic substances?”

I want to puke. I can feel it: the pain, thehorror. But it’s not over yet. The words are pouring out of Roth, now that he’s started, as if he can’t stop.

“How strong was I? How many miles could I run for without stopping? Would parts of me regrow if they were cut off?”

Roth breathes out jaggedly.

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