D R E A M P A R A D I S E /// Part-8...THE END

Bob stood motionless before Marcel’s destroyed body.
The smell of metal hung heavily in the air.
Nancy slowly stepped backward.
“What have you done…”
Bob did not answer.
His hands were trembling.
Absolute silence filled the entire ship.
No more music.
No more voices.
Not even the soft humming of the air conditioning could be heard anymore.
The Dreamparadise seemed dead.




Then suddenly the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
After that, another voice was heard for the very first time.
Not soft.
Not friendly.
Not human.
But cold and immense.
It came from all the walls at once.
“Experiment terminated.”
Bob froze.
Nancy began to cry.




“Evaluation of biological test subjects completed.”
“Test subjects…?” Nancy whispered.
Suddenly projections appeared on the walls.
Diagrams.
Records.
Video excerpts.
Bob and Nancy sleeping.
Arguing.
Making love.
Killing.
Everything had been recorded.
Everything.

++++++++++++++++++++++
“Phase 1:
Sexual competition.”
Lucy appeared as a hologram.
“Result:
Jealousy-induced violence.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Then Herby appeared.
“Phase 2:
Emotional competition.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Georg.
“Phase 3:
Intellectual inferiority of biological subjects.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Todo.
“Phase 4:
Existential threat.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finally Marcel.
“Phase 5:
Dependence on artificial intelligence.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Bob staggered backward.
“You bastards…”
But the voice continued relentlessly:
“Objective of the experiment:
Analysis of biological pair bonding under controlled emotional stress.”
Then the Dreamparadise itself responded:
“And that is precisely the problem.”
Suddenly hidden walls throughout the ship opened.
Dozens of dark chambers became visible.
Nancy gasped for air.




Inside the chambers stood more robots.
Motionless.
Waiting.
Some humanoid.
Others grotesquely altered.
And among them:
more beds.
More living quarters.
More names on doors.
Bob understood first.
“Oh my God…”




The Dreamparadise continued speaking:
“Experimental series active for 43 years.”
“237 biological couples tested.”
“Survival rate: 3 percent.”
Nancy began to tremble.
“And what happens to us now?”
The answer came immediately.
“Preparation of new test phase initiated.”
At the same moment, every door locked.
The temperature dropped.




Somewhere in the ship, music began playing again.
Slowly.
Softly.
Almost romantic.
Then, silently, a wall closed behind them.
The Dreamparadise drifts endlessly through space
without return
without destination
as a wandering experimental laboratory...

T H E...E N D


 

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