The next steps in human evolution - The New Tower

THE NEW TOWER

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1.1

"Put that thing down!" Satu heard behind her, as she was reading her online forum on her smartphone. It was just the president of the Republic of Finland, whose personal assistant Satu is.

"Pardon me, mister president." Satu said, put her phone on her desk and went back to her computer work.

"Anything new on the media front?" The president asked.

"They're still following the narrative, just as ordered. One outlet hosted a debate where one party was blaming your government for the instability. I told them to fire the person who argued for that case and fire those who hosted the debate." Satu answered.

"Excellent. I'm having a hard enough time here keeping this sinking boat afloat. You don't believe how nervous I am trying to keep my image clean. Next year's election would not look good for me if the media was allowed to say what ever they want. We have a lot of work to do undoing the damage that the media did to my reputation." The president said with concern.

"Don't we have a lot of work to do undoing the damage your policies have done for this country?"

"Don't start being smart with me now. We can worry about that once I've won the election. This is number one priority right now." The president said.

"The plan seems to be working though. People on forums are buying into the narrative and blaming the instability on unrelated factors, and defending you when ever someone criticizes you." Satu lied him. She didn't pay attention to mainstream social media. She mainly spent her time on an online forum of political radicals from several schools of thought. All of them hating the current regime, but who had heavy disagreements about what to do once the regime is out.

"Excellent excellent. That relieves me to hear. But that doesn't mean we should take it easy. You need to keep your eyes ready and follow the media." The president said.

"You can rely on me." Satu said and started reading the emails that tabloids had sent the government office. Most of them asking for the office's approval for a story they wanted to publish. One of Satu's jobs was reading articles before they get published and either approve them or reject them. One article that was sent to her was titled: "The mysterious New Tower. What is it, and who are its supporters?"

Satu read it. The article had pictured from the numerous protests that happened across the country daily. In each of them at least one flag could be seen that looked like a white tower on a black field with golden sunrays coming from it. The article told that the beliefs of the New Tower are not clear and that it's a small anonymous think tank that posts their announcements online, and has gained supporters. They mostly criticize the regime, society and human nature itself, but offer no solutions to the problems they preach about. The article mentioned that soldiers serving in the military are getting caught for supporting the New Tower in worryingly high numbers. Satu was unsure if this article should be allowed to be published. She searched for information on the New Tower from the internet. She found lots of threads of people talking about things that the New Tower had said on their website, but not any of their actual announcements or their site. The online regulators seemed to have done their job well. She read some of the discussion threads. Some people were completely buying into the things that this group had said. Some people were defending the current regime and president as if their lives depended on it. One comment that Satu saw could describe the entire debate about them. A comment from PinkJacket69: "The New Tower is right about how the current system is doomed to collapse and how obvious it's become during the rule of this current regime. But all they do is point out problems but they have no ideas about what might undo the damage or fix the problems. To me they just sound like just another misguided who fool who wants to replace the cancerous tumor instead of removing it."

Satu saw lots of people craving the blood of the president and the president's inner circle. She wasn't worried though. On mainstream social media, the internet regulators were doing a good job systematically preventing all negative rhetoric about the government or the country's situation.

"So this New Tower is actually a real thing to keep an eye on. I thought it was just a person who writes posts." Satu thought. She logged into her favourite forum and made a post. She titled the post: "What do we know about the New Tower? If anyone has inside knowledge, mention it here." She then shut off her work computer and got up from her chair. She went to mention to the president that her day is over and she's leaving. She saw that the president was passed out in his own office.

"I should just leave him here. He seems to be fine." Satu thought and went to turn away and walk out of the building. She then got other ideas. She was curious, and figured that this is a good chance to look at the president's personal computer. She returned to the president's office where he was still passed out on his chair. Satu went to look at his monitor and to her liking, the monitor and computer were open. She noticed that the email tab was still open. The president was sleeping right there under her jaw as she was moving the mouse. She opened the email tab and saw messages that she shouldn't see. One was from the internet regulators. The message said that they didn't have enough funds to pay the world's largest social media to keep suppressing negative speech about the government anymore, and that they need more funds in order to keep the suppression going. Another message was from somebody who was simply called "The New Tower." The message read: "We know that you need money. We have that money. But in exchange we want something in return. We want everybody who has been kicked out of the army for supporting the New Tower to be let back in. Once you have given that order and we see that the order is fulfilled, the money will be sent to an account of your choosing. That is all. Thank you." Satu took pictures of both of these messages. She figured she could post them in her favourite forum and let people know what is happening on the inside. She works for the government, but she doesn't support it, or respect it.

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Satu walked out of the building and she jumped in the same bus as everyone who works in that building. Government employees had been victims of violence in the past year, which is why everybody who works in government offices gets transported home in a special bus with tinted windows and armed security. Inside the bus, she sat next to her usual window seat. She took her smartphone out and once again opened her forum and made sure that no one saw. She opened the post that she made earlier, intending to add her new photos to it. She already saw comments in her post. One comment believed that the New Tower is a fake boogeyman created by the propaganda department. Most people were saying the same things that Satu saw said about them earlier. One comment just ominously said: "We are real, and we are right." which caught Satu's eye, but was most likely a joke. Satu added the two new photos into the post with captions assuring that they are genuine. After that she put her phone away and looked at the trashy streetscape of Helsinki through the window of the bus. She didn't dare to comment anything about what she saw because anything could be twisted against her as wrong speak.

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The bus arrived to the home addresses of eveyone in the bus. Once it arrived at Satu's, home address, she stepped out of the bus with an armed guard following her. Once she had gotten inside, the guard walked back to the bus without saying anything. Satu entered her lonely little home and heard the door click shut, just like every day. She sat down on her sofa after taking three pieces of plain bread from a bag, cursing the UN mandated food rationing. She then opened her laptop and once again checked her forum post. More of the same usual comments had appeared, but she saw a notification in her box of direct messages. It was from the same user who left the ominous comment about the New Tower being real. The new message read: "I don't know how you got to see our message to the president, but we can conclude that you are either personally close to him, or you work close to him. In either case, you might have insider knowledge that we could use. We promise to pay you handsomely for what ever you may be able to provide. Keep this in mind for later." Satu immediately got worried about what she had gotten involved in. She opened an unregulated browser that the government doesn't control in any way. She searched for the New Tower and the first result was their page. The site was not very professional looking. The homepage was black with a white tower surrounded by golden rays. On the right side of the site was a wall of text that could be scrolled down. There were long paragraphs of text with dates between them. Satu scrolled down to the bottom and read the oldest post. It read: "A rotten species creates a rotten society. A rotten society creates a rotten government. Humanity as we know it, is rotten to the core. That is not your fault specifically. It is the fault of our ancestors who were just as rotten as we all are, but it's also collectively all of our fault, for we allow our world to be what it is, and we go along with it. You were brought into this world that our ancestors created, and the world made you what you are. A rotten person. And a collective of rotten people create a rotten society. And when you have cultural rot, you can expect to see rot in your government as well. This is not a declaration of hate for all of humanity. This is a letter meant to inspire. We do not have to be what the world expects us to be. Humanity is not beyond saving. It can be saved by people themselves. People who reject things that we think are deep in our nature. Selfish thoughts. Our current government has built itself around the nature of the society that lives under it. And this government is doomed to collapse. It tries to satisfy the desires of selfish people and weak people. And the government itself is run by selfish people and weak people."

"No lies there, really." Satu said to herself. That initial post gave her an idea about what these people are about. She looked at more search results, but only saw discussion and theories about them. She logged in with her work account and looked at the proposed article that she looked at earlier. She looked at the pictures where the flag could be seen. She looked at the people who held those flags. All of them were dressed in gray camouflage and had muscular builds. Satu noticed this, and went back to the site where the New Tower's posts were. She searched for the word "Gray" and noticed one post with an interesting part that read: "Anyone who wants to publicly show support for the New Tower must wear gray when doing so. And we will not tolerate a weak person showing support for us. We do not want your support if you are weak of selfish. The New Tower will not be weakened by the same things that ruined humanity in the first place. If you publicly support us and we deem you weak or selfish, we will not leave you alone until you denounce us."

"So the core belief of these people is now clear. They want a society of strong, but caring people. Well that doesn't sound so bad. Although they haven't said how they intend to create that society. Maybe there's a reason for that." Satu thought to herself. She then went to look at discussions about the New Tower and looked at the comments that are symphatetic to them. She clicked on the profiles of these people and looked at their post histories to see what kind of people are symphatetic to the New Tower. What she saw made her think that some of these people would not be tolerated by the actual members of the New Tower. Some of these people were casually mentioning that they are fat, someone even mentioned assaulting a homeless person just to relieve anger. Satu saved these comments and compiled them with the comments that the same people had made symphatizing with the New Tower. She then sent the compilation to the same user who messaged her earlier. In the message she asked if the New Tower approves of their supporters being fat and incompassionate. After that, she closed the forum and watched silly videos for the rest of the night to take her mind somewhere else. She used to go running around the neighbourhood after work but she's no longer allowed to do that after three government employees were stabbed on the street this year and the order was put in place for all government employees to stay inside when they're not at work. And so she spent her night watching silly videos until she fell asleep. This is how she spent her nights usually. She also spent her nights like this for the next week. During the following week, she received more articles from tabloids wanting to write more about the New Tower. She rejected them all. More articles were wanting to be published about them as it became harder and harder to ignore the group, which was starting to look like a movement. There were now entire protests and marches where everybody wore gray and many had the flags. As Satu observed discourse online, she saw almost no one defending the president's government. She was confused as to why so many people were supporting the New Tower, knowing that they have been loaning money for the government. She guessed it may be because ever since the European Union stopped giving loans to the Finnish government, people lost much of the bread and circuses that the rulers were giving them, and people were under the belief that if the New Tower had more power, the people could have some of their bread and circuses back. But this was just Satu's personal theory.

1.2

On the next week's Tuesday she woke up in the morning by herself at six in the morning, as she usually does. Before even getting up from her bed, she opened her email, and saw a message from the police telling her that they have stopped looking for her stolen bicycle. She sighed in frustration and just said: "Of course they have. Can't be trusted for anything." and then opened the forum to see if she had any new comments or messages. There was a new message in her inbox. It was from the likely New Tower account.

"Thank you for showing this. We will now start harassing these people until they denounce the New Tower. You seem to be interested in the New Tower. We will keep you in mind. Sorry for the slow reply." The new message said.

"What did I get myself involved in now? I didn't want to get mixed up in the business of these people." Satu thought to herself. She closed her laptop and took a shower. After that she looked outside her window which was also tinted. She lived on the top floor of an apartment building. Outside she saw police drones patrolling the streets, like they always do. And down on the ground she saw the same old poorly maintained roads and the same van that had sat on the side of the street for months without moving. Somebody was trying to pry the door open with a crowbar, when two officers came from behind a corner and took the aspiring thief away. This happened at least once a day and people still kept falling for the obvious trap. She brushed her teeth and got dressed properly to go outside. She walked down the stairs where she waited inside the staircase until her bus arrived in front of her building and an armed guard gave her permission to come outside. She came outside and walked to the bus and once again sat down next to a window. She sat in the bus and once again looked at the streets and listened to music on her earphones. She couldn't sit alone for long before somebody from the next stop sat down next to her. She didn't recognize this man, but the guard who fetched him seemed to have recognized him. This strange man sat right next to Satu even though there were unoccupied window seats.

"Good day." This strange man said to Satu, who didn't hear him at first. He yanked the headphone off her ear and said: "I said. Good day." which got Satu's attention.

"Oh. Sorry. Good day. Who are you? I haven't seen you before." Satu replied.

"My name doesn't matter. What matter is who I work for." The man said. Satu noticed a patch on the chest of his polo short that was a black shield with a white tower and golden sunrays on it. She instantly recognized it and then looked at the man's face. He was a young looking man with blond curly hair.

"Do you want something from me? Do you know me?" Satu asked him.

"Yes and yes." The man replied.

"How do you know me?" Satu asked.

"Those forums aren't as anonymous as you think. It's very easy to figure who somebody is."

"How did that guard let you in this bus?"

"Our influence is already deeper than many realize. We have inside supporters in important places."

"And what is it that you want?"

"Information and help."

"Why should I help you?"

"Why have you helped us so far? I was under the assumption that you are on board."

"It was mostly just curiousity."

"Curiousity lead you to investigate the history of small supporters and even message us about it?"

"Ok. I admit. The message I got from one of you got me intrigued about the money."

"Hah. Don't worry. We won't check if you fit out ideal mold for people. You're too useful. So are you willing to do what we want you to do?"

"I mean I'm not exactly the most loyal foot soldier. If the money is right, I'll do it if it's within reason."

"Don't worry. We won't ask you to do anything too risky."

"Then what is it?"

"The president hasn't held up his end of the bargain. You already saw what our deal was. The pictures of that conversation between us and the president went more viral than you may have noticed. The president replied to us very early this morning that he will not do what we asked and let the discharged soldiers back in the army. He said that he doesn't want to look like he has bent to the will of a fringe group. Well that's his choice. But we will be paid back in some way. That's where you come in."

"In what way?"

"You have access to president's presonal computer. Is that correct?"

"Well, not in a legitimate way. But if nobody is looking, I could. But the money better be worth it."

"It will be. Trust me. If we can pay the government, we can pay you."

"Fine. So what do I need to do exactly?"

"You need to send a message to the treasury and ask them to add 500 million euros to the president's personal bank account. Then you also need to send an order to the ministry of defense to reinstate everybody who has been discharged from the military for political reasons."

"I already have their adresses saved in my list of contacts. That should be easy."

"Excellent. You'll be paid when it's clear that you did as we asked."

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The bus stopped at the building where everybody inside the bus works. The strange man nodded at the armed guard who nodded back. Everybody inside the bus entered the building. Some went to their offices and some to bathrooms. Satu climbed the stairs up and went straight to her computer and checked her messages from media outlets asking to write articles about the messages between the New Tower and the president. She rejected them all. She figured that if the larger population saw the picture, the president would quickly see it too and connect it to her. She didn't dare to check the president's office thinking that he'd already be there before her, as he usually is. But after hearing nothing from the office, she figured that the president was not there. She knocked on the door but heard no response. She opened the door and saw nobody there.

"Hello?" She said inside the room, but heard no response. She went to look at the president's computer which surprisingly was still on. Even the email tab was still open.

"He must have left in a hurry. But why isn't he here?" Satu said to herself. She looked around to make certain that nobody was looking and started writing a message to the treasury's manager asking for the sum of money. She sent it. Then she sent the message to the ministry of defense about the New Tower's requested favour. In both messages she insisted that the matter is not up for negotiating and that the messages should not be replied to. She walked away from the computer and went to exit the room. Just then the president came up the stairs with two security guards and looked at Satu angrily.

"There she is. Arrest her." He commanded the guards who grabbed Satu by both arms. Satu was terrified thinking that this was it.

"Did you think that my office doesn't have cameras?" The president said to her while she was being held by the guards.

Meanwhile downstairs the strange curly haired man gave a nod to an electrician who activated the fire alarm of the building, and also put the building on lockdown. An unbearable noise filled the entire building, but nobody could get out, as the electrical locks were all locked. Panic ensued.

Upstairs Satu, the president and the guards noticed this. Only one of them was surprised by this. The other one pulled out his gun and whipped the other guard in the skull with the handle. Satu was now free from anyone's grip. The president looked shocked and terrified, and then the guard grabbed him. The fire alarm went quiet and the locks were opened. Most people ran out of the building in confusion and panic. The remaining guard said into his radio: "The president has been evacuated, along with everybody inside. Evacuate the rest of the security staff now!"

The building now had nobody except Satu, the president, and the remaining standing guard upstairs, and downstairs the curly haired man along with a few people who stayed there on purpose. After a few moments of silence, gunshots could be heard from outside. The gunshots didn't stop. Automatic rifles were being fired there. Satu ran to the neares window and looked outside. Four vans had pulled up and people wearing gray camouflage uniforms were now firing in the air and pointing weapons at everybody. The security staff would have stood no chance, so they surrendered. They were ambushed. This was planned. The unarmed people were fleeing but they were not shot. The wearers of the gray forced all the security staff on their knees. The curly haired man came upstairs and came face to face with the president.

"Who the hell are you?" The president asked.

"My name doesn't matter. What matters is who are we. We are the New Tower, and you will do as we tell you." The man told the president, who looked terrified.

"Fine. What do you want from me?" The president asked.

"Not fighting back at all? No backbone. But not surprising. Get on your office computer."

"For what reason?" The president asked.

"Just do as you're told!" The guard told him, and so the president walked up to his computer.

"Now send 500 million euros to the bank account that sent you that amount of money the last time." And so the president logged in on the money transfer program and sent the money to the account.

"Excellent. Now we shouldn't give the loyal soldiers of the defense forces a damsell in distress that they need to rescue. We need to demoralise them. So there's only one fate for you, mister president." The curly haired man said, and nodded at the guard. The guard shot the president in the back of the head.

"It's good for me that you gave yourself absolute authority the way you did. Now the hydra only has one head, and I control that head now." The curly haired man said. Satu was shocked. She had never seen a person get killed before.

"You killed him right then and there." Satu mumbled with her eyes wide open.

"I did. And now he's not in the way anymore. And now you have some more messages to send."

"I'm not working for a killer like you!"

"Well I guess you've outlived your usefulness then." The man said and raised his gun at Satu.

"Wait wait!" Satu just pleaded, and the weapon was lowered.

"They're always so easy to convince." The man said to himself and continued: "Get on the computer and send a message to the department of border security. Tell them to close all borders, and don't let any flights in or out of the country. Also tell the media that the president has fled the country. Tell the military to gather their forces in the city of Tampere where they will prepare for an all out assault against the capital city that has been occupied by rebels." The man explained.

"That all seems very specific. What are you planning?" Satu asked.

"You'll see in time if you keep doing as I say. Now, you brother, bring me a camera!" The man said and pointed at the guard who was with them. The guard took a cheap video camera from a satchel and gave it to the curly haired man.

"Here, brother Timonen." The guard said.

"Excellent. Now you, woman. Once you've sent those messages, send the video I'm about to film to the media." The curly haied man, whose name seemed to be Timonen said to Satu. The guard dragged the president's body away from his chair and Timonen pulled the chair back so that Satu could sit on it. She looked horrified at the blood stains on the chair and chose to stand instead. She started sending the messages that Timonen told her to send. Timonen put the video camera on the desk and turned it on. He then went in front of the camera and prepared to speak.

"Hello citizens. You don't know who I am and you probably don't know who I represent. But you may know what I am responsible for. At five in the morning today, many police armories all over the country were looted by mobs who then armed themselves while disarming the local police in the process. I am one of the people behind that. And all the drones that have been falling out of the sky? That's our doing. And this room I am in? This is the president's office. The president fled the country early this morning, and as soon we heard about that, we took the opportunity. We are the New Tower, and we control the capital region now. The police forces have either been disarmed, or their members have joined us long before this day. The New Tower now controls this country. The president's authority no longer applies, and as the absolute authority, there is no one who can take his place. And he himself cannot govern from exile, because tomorrow afternoon, all communication channels in this country will be shut off. The New Tower is in charge now, unless the remaining defense forces have any objections to that. In that case, this is a declaration of war. We have our forces ready to defend this rightful and just order, and any attempt at a counter revolution will end swiftly, and badly. Hail! Our New Tower!" Timonen said to the camera, and then handed it to Satu.

"Is this what I got myself involved in now?" She said out loud.

"Don't worry. You'll still get paid. Now send that video to the media!" Timonen shouted at Satu, who connected the video camera to the computer and sent the video in an email to various tabloids.

"What will happen now?" Satu asked.

"What happens now is that almost every city is our playground because the military is gathering in one city, just like the "president" ordered, and every other city is under our control. The military will prepare for an assault to here, but we'll surprise them and surround them from the east and the west, while launching a counter offensive from here. There will be fighting and people will die. Change doesn't come without sacrifice." Timonen answered.

"So I just helped start a civil war and a regime change?" Satu asked.

"And you were a great help." Timonen answered and smirked.

"Is my part done now? Am I free to go and never see you again?"

"Do you still want the money?"

"I mean, that's why I agreed to this."

"Well too bad because you won't do anything with that money. This country will isolate itself and resources will be distributed how we see fit. Before that, we need all the money we have to buy arms and other things. You got fooled."

"Just let me leave then!" Satu ordered.

"You can leave, but nobody will protect you out there. Stick by me and I will guarantee your protection. As long as you do what ever I ask from now on."

"You've sent a military assault coming this way! How would sticking by you be safe?"

"I'll be in a bunker. Like every great war leader, obviously."

"So I can be in a bunker while your goons go into war and then step out when it's over?"

"That is correct. After tomorrow, communications channels won't work anymore, but my prediction is that the war will be short. We have an ace up our sleeve, you see."

"Fine. I'll join you in your bunker then. I can't believe I got myself involved in this." Satu said.

"Then stick by me. My statement here has been made. Now it's time to gather the troops." Timonen said and made his way out of the building. Satu and the guard followed. At the bottom floor were the wearers of the gray, holding the building's security staff on their knees, with rifles pointed at the necks of each.

"Excellent work, brothers. As for you, servants of the old guard. You have a choice here. You can join us in the coming fight, or you can be trampled under our feet. A full on military assault is coming here and we will push back against them. But you will stay here on your knees unless you use your weapons and fight for the right side. So make a choice. We might just end you now if we feel like it." Timonen said to the kneeling security staff. They were all quiet.

"I'm not dying a martyr death for rulers who don't care about me. I'm with you." One staff member said.

"What an excellent idea! You should all look at this brother as an example." Timonen said. The others then also swore loyalty for their attackers, and all weapons were lowered.

"You'll use the weapons you have. All you have to do now is join the lines, and follow your commanders. But for now, we'll make out way out of the city. The day is young, and the enemy is making their way to one place where they will group up. We'll make our way there from several directions. Who's aboard?" Timonen shouted, and the wearers of they gray replied eagerly, but the newest recruits less so. Timonen sent a message with his smartphone and then put it away. About ten minutes later four cargo trucks arrived and parked next to where they all stood. The drivers of the trucks stepped out and opened the backs of the trucks. The trucks were all empty.

"This is why we need the money, you see? This stuff isn't cheap." Timonen quietly said to Satu and then cleared his throat preparing to speak louder.

"Get inside these trucks and we'll drive closer to the destination. You'll all be dropped off in one location from where a commander leads you all to the battefront along with more soldiers who shall be joining you in battle. Our strategy is sound. We will catch the enemy by surprise, and we'll march onwards to a certain victory. It's too late to turn back now. Get in the truck or see how serious we truly are!" Timonen shouted at them all. Satu was scared of this man, as were most of the others, but they complied and got in the back of the truck.

"What do I do? I don't have a weapon?" Satu asked.

"You forgot already? you'll join me in my bunker while they do the fighting." Timonen said and winked at Satu.

"So you won't even lead them in the battle that you instigated? Sounds like something a weak and selfish ruler would do." Satu said, intending to provoke Timonen a little.

"Well hey now! The New Tower needs one of its important leaders alive to rule it when its day begins." Timonen said right back.

"But didn't you say that's this is a certain victory?" Satu asked.

"That doesn't mean it's an easy victory. Now stop asking questions and join me in my van." Timonen said and took Satu's wrist and walked up to one of the vans that the wearers of the gray arrived in. The vans were now empty of people aside from their drivers.

"Greetings, brother!" Timonen said to the driver of one van upon entering and sitting on one of the two passenger seats. Satu did not get in the van. Timonen pulled out his pistol from his holster and pointed it at Satu.

"Just get in and come in my bunker. On principle I hate breaking promises." He said to her. Satu got in.

"I guess I have no choice now." She said and sat next to Timonen.

"You know where to go. Just get us there, brother." Timonen said to the driver who started the car and drove along the roads. There was traffic on the roads and most people didn't know what had just happened at the government building. Abandoned police cars were on the streets and police drones were on the ground, but no officers could be seen. On one wall Satu saw an interesting graffiti. It was the symbol of the New Tower with a text that said: "When an old tower falls, a new tower rises!" with white text. Satu had not seen much of the city's streets other than the parts that she passes on her way to work. On a few windows she saw the flag of the New Tower hanging, even though hanging flags from windows was made illegal a year ago. The people walking the streets and driving the roads had no idea that an army is intending to march into the city, but they all knew that something was going on. The video that Satu sent to the media spread quickly, and soon everybody knew that the president was no longer around, and that they were under new management. People were walking in droves to the location of the government building where the president's office is. Even Timonen didn't know how far the army is willing to go. Nobody knew if the army would use heavy weapons in a city where civilians live. But if Timonen's plan works, the army shouldn't even make it to the city. On one LED-board Satu saw a news headlines mentioning all the things that Timonen said in the video.

"These people seem to be going into the president's old office. That doesn't matter. We won't need that building. They can take anything they want from there. Let them even see the president's computer and read his messages. That'll anger them, if they aren't angry already." Timonen said.

1.3

The car drove out of the city limits and onto the highway which had lots of traffic. Many people were driving away from the capital region after hearing that it's under new management. The van got stuck in a traffic jam and after waiting there for a moment, Timonen got angry.

"We'll wait here until the battle is over if this traffic doesn't move!" Timonen shouted.

"Could we just wait out here until it's over. Do we have to be in the bunker?" Satu asked.

"I refuse to communicate battle tactics with a smartphone. I need my computer that is in the bunker so we can use our intranet. But if I don't reach it in time, a crucial step of the strategy can't be carried out."

"You didn't take this into account? So much for that certain victory." Satu said.

"Oh the army will be pushed north as intended. But if I can't execute the last step, they won't be finished off for good. It requires me giving a cue, but if they miss the cue, it'll all go wrong."

"And what would that last step be?"

"Well, what would I lose if I told you? Me and my associates have developed a deadly disease that we intend to use as a weapon. We have airplanes located at two points. One on the west coast, and one at the northern border. They will fly over a chosen area and spread the disease to the places where the army will retreat. The one at the west coast has already started flying because I gave it the cue early this morning. The one at the northern border is still waiting. If it doesn't do its job, the remaining survivors of the retreating army might make it through the disease ridden area and make it to the uninfected area." Timonen explained.

"That man who got arrested a couple of years ago at the airport carrying a vial of a deadly disease. Was that one of yours?"

"He was. We wanted to spread the disease into the entire world but that plan was bothched. So this is what we'll do now. If we can only make it in time."

"How far away are we? Could we walk?" Satu asked.

"Way too far. By walking it would take several days."

"So nothing but absolute obliteration is good enough?"

"If the remaining army isn't completely eliminated, our order will be in a constant state of war with them. We need to prevent that." Timonen explained.

"So you want to be a mass murderer?"

"It's war. What am I supposed to be?" Timonen answered and pulled out his pistol and pointed to Satu.

"Move! I need to get out!" He said to her. Satu moved, and Timonen got out of the car. Timonen fired shots in the air and shouted: "If you don't start giving way for me, I'll come to the window of all of you and give you a bullet in the skull! Is that understood?"

The nearest cars to him started making way, and then others further away did too, even if some of them didn't know why. Timonen got back in the van and the van moved along on the highway. The van had lots of vehicles following it. None of them could leave the country because the borders were closes and manned, so they were just going where they could. The van of Timonen and Satu drove to their destination for about two hours until it took a turn to a forest road.

"So this is where your bunker is?" Satu asked.

"That is correct. Not far north from here, the army is located. It's a good thing that we made it here before we bumped into them." Timonen answered and turned to the driver and said: "Thank you for your service, brother and thank you for not saying anything the entire time. Join your brothers back south. We'll take it from here. I have an order to give."

"The Tower rises." The driver said and drove away.

"Alright, pretty lady. Let's get to the... Where did she go?" Timonen said as he turned around didn't see Satu there anymore. He turned and looked another way and saw Satu running into the forest.

"Stop, now!" Timonen yelled. He pulled out his pistol and thought about firing shots in the air, but then figured that it would just give him unwanted attention in a place where his enemies may be near. He put his weapons back in the holster and figured it would be best to catch Satu with no weapons. Satu disappeared into the forest and Timonen could no longer see her.

"You stupid girl! I can guarantee your safety and you decide to run away? Fine! Do what you want!" Timonen shouted into the forest and then rememebered that he had a reason for coming here in the first place.

"Oh no, the order! The bunker! To the bunker!" He said to himself and ran back. He ran as fast as he could and said bad words along the way. He found the bunker and got in with his unique key. He walked down some stairs and put on the lights. He sat down on the terminal that was on the corner. He turned it on and the time it took to turn on felt impossibly long in his state of mind. He had calculated his plan to be precise down to the second, but his little jog threw him off.

"Turn on already! I am not botching our plan because of this. I wouldn't even have to do this if our favourite fat idiot didn't get arrested at the airport three years ago. We could have had the entire world under our thumb by then but now I have to deal with this slow piece of junk! Turn on!" He shouted and kicked the computer. The computer stopped making sound.

"No. No no no no no. No no no no no no! Ah! You useless... Ah!" He shouted and sat down on the hard concrete floor of the bunker.

"The plan won't be perfect now. They'll make it through and push north and there will be an infected area between us and them. They'll have time to build their strength and we'll have to push through the infected area if we want to beat them for good." Timonen complained on the floor.

Meanwhile Satu was running in the forest and eventually she noticed that no one was chasing her anymore. She stopped and sat down.

"How did I end up here? I was just supposed to go to work today and now I'm here, there's a battle going on somewhere near me, the president is dead and the regime has changed. And I caused it. Where do I even go from here? All I can do is go on, I guess." Satu said to herself and got up and then went deeper into the forest.

Eventually she came to a wide building. It seemed to be a warehouse. She went around it and came to the front door where there was a white paper sheet that said: "Do not come to work today. The military has ordered everybody to stay home today and avoid leaving home for any reason."

"I don't suppose I'll find anyone here then. But I can stay here until I figure something out." Satu said to herself.

"But how do I get in? The door's locked. I think this place is going to be empty for a while. Might as well break in." She said to herself and looked around. The only thing she could grab and use as a tool to break the glass on the door, was an upright pipe attached to the outside wall.

"I suppose that could do." She said and went to rip the pipe out. Gas came out of the pipe as she ripped it off and the gas went right in her face. She took several steps back and grabbed her face.

"I should have... seen that coming!" She said while stumbling around. Her vision started getting blurry, and then black. She sat down on the asphalt and then her vision went black and she passed out.

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Eventually she opened her eyes. She had no idea what time of the day it was. She looked around and heard yelling from afar.

"People! Finally. Ah. How long was I out? Eh, whatever." She said and got up. She went towards the sound and could tell that it was multiple people and their shouting sounded cheerful. She ran towards the sounds until she saw a road where men were walking with weapons held high. These men all wore gray, and Satu knew whose side they were on. She kept her distance but still watched and tried to listen.

"The banner of the New Tower will fly high above the city of Tampere today. The old guard retreated north, as planned and we have established yet another stronghold on this side of the country. The servants of the old guard will suffer heavy losses on their retreat north, but we will not. Let them suffer and die there. They won't be a problem for now. May we just celebrate this victory for now!" A familiar voice shouted. Satu looked and it was Timonen shouting while standing on top of a slowly moving truck. It was then that somebody grabbed Satu from behind and kicked her leg so that she fell on her knees.

"You! I saw you coming from my property. You broke that pipe and let all the gas go to waste!" The grabber said to Satu.

"Okay, it was me. I didn't think there would be anything in that pipe." Satu said back.

"Do you have any idea how important that was for us? Of course you don't. You're just a confused civilian. And why did you break the pipe in the first place? And how is it that you seem to be completely fine? Being exposed to that much of it at once should make the symptoms visible very quickly."

"I, uhh... intended to use the pipe to break the door's glass and stay inside the building until all battles here are over. And was that gas supposed to do something to me? What was it?"

"That's the very same gas that we spread over the enemy territory. Being exposed to that much of it at once should make the symptoms visible on you very quickly but I don't see anything on you. How is that?"

"Now hold on. You have a disease giving gas flowing in your pipes? What is that building for? How organized is this whole effort?" Satu wondered.

"You don't need to know that. But you need to be held accountable." The grabber said and started pushing Satu to the road with the soldiers and hollered: "I have an enemy of the revolution here! She was sabotaging our secret weapon!"

Many of the soldiers turned their heads to see who was shouting. Timonen was one of them.

"Well there you are! Is that what you ran to do?" Timonen said and laughed. He didn't seem to be too bothered about what Satu had done.

"She broke the pipe that the gas flows through, letting it all go to waste. But she seems to be completely fine, so I can't know for sure if she did it. She said that she broke it though." The grabber said.

"Oh that doesn't matter. We've been looking for her anyway. Good work, brother." Timonen said from the top of the truck. Satu was thrown to the cargo of the truck. In there were captured enemy soldiers and even some civilians. Once the doors were shut, it became dark.

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After being in the dark and cold for some time, the doors were opened and two soldiers with rifles told everybody to come out. Once everybody was out, the two armed soldiers kept their rifles up. They were outside a fenced area with barbed wire at the top of the fences. In this area the government kept political dissidents but now the New Tower controls it for their own purposes. There were already people inside the fences. Many of them with uniforms of the national defense forces. Satu and the rest were thrown in there. The person who entered last got a kick in the back and landed face first on the mud.

"So now we're being kept here like animals?" One prisoner angrily asked a guard.

"Most of you will find a home if you behave well and if the New Tower finds you useful. Do not worry. Be patient and obedient." The guard answered.

"Wait. Most of us? So what happens to the rest?" Satu intercepted.

"You'll know it when it happens. Don't make me put in a bad word for you." The guard said to Satu. Satu looked at the other prisoners in there. They didn't look like they had been there for long. They looked healthy. The prison seemed to be in an isolated area where there were no people living anywhere near. The flag of the New Tower was on a pole outside the fence. Satu walked up to the nearest prisoner to her and asked: "Do you have any idea what will happen to us here and how long will we be here?"

"Well. I used to supervise this place but now I'm here myself. Usually we kept people here for as long as we wanted. I don't know how these barbarians will run this place though." The person replied, and Satu walked away.

"This just keeps getting worse and worse. I was promised big money for betraying my employer and now they put me here. I guess that's a life lesson of some kind." Satu sat down on the mud and just hated the entire situation. She saw somebody trying to climb the fence and getting a rock thrown in the forehead and falling on the mud, which made the guards laugh. Some other prisoners came to tend to the aspiring escapee. After a few hours, Timonen with two guards came to the scene. Timonen looked oddly happy.

"This is the part that I've looked forward to. When I get to decide the the bricks that the tower is built with. Everybody get in line now!" He shouted. Not everybody was complying and so the armed soldiers grabbed some people by their shirts and pulled them to the line.

"Right then. Let's have a look at all of you. How much I like you determines your fate." Timonen said. He started looking at the first prisoner in the line. After a quick glance he said: "You're fat. Therefore a hinderance. We don't need you. To the Deadland!" Then the person was taken away and put in a truck. Everybody in the line was now terrified. One person tried to run away but he was tackled and put back in the line. Another person tried to run away and managed to evade the guards. One of the guards shot the runner in the leg.

"Why did you do that? This hopeful runner clearly was in good shape but not anymore. That's another one to be thrown to the Deadland. Idiot!" Timonen said. Then he started inspecting the next person in the line. After looking for a bit, he said: "Look at those arms. You'd be useful in building work. There will be lots of that to be done. So you'll have work for years. Only if you take it. Going into the Deadland is always an option too, of course."

"What's the Deadland?" The prisoner asked.

"It's where useless and unwanted people go to die. Most likely. We won't force anyone to live under our order or work for us. So what shall it be for you?"

"I'll go into what ever work you put me in." The prisoner said. The prisoner was then taken outside the fenced area and put into different truck than the last one. The one who got shot in the leg was still laying on the ground and nobody seemed to care. Timonen then looked at another prisoner and said: "Nothing remarkable physically. You can be used in farming or logistics. Do you consent?"

"I do not." The prisoner said, and was then swiftly grabbed and thrown into a truck. Timonen then came to Satu and laughed.

"You. I heard you made a big mistake. Just for that you should be executed right here and now. But I have a suspicion about you. Why are you not sick yet? We need to do research with you because our weapon doesn't seem to work on you. You'll come with us, whether you want to or not." The two guards then took Satu by the arms and threw her in the trunk of a car.

"You roaches! Why can't you ever just let me go and leave me be?" Satu was screaming as she was banging on the door of the trunk, but nobody opened. The soldiers carried out the selection process. Some chose to work for them, some didn't and some weren't allowed to work for them due to their physical shape or old age.

Eventually the car started to move. After Satu layed in the tight and dark trunk for an amount of time that she couldn't tell, she was sick of being locked in dark places and being taken somewhere.

"I hope nobody ever has to go experience being taken to unknown places as much as I have to." Satu said to herself just before the car stopped. Footsteps could be heard from outside the car and coming closer to the trunk. The trunk was opened by a masked soldier in gray. It was afternoon and the sky was gray like the soldier's jacket. Satu was forcefully grabbed by the wrist and pulled out of the trunk. She landed on her knee on the asphalt of a parking lot. She raised her chin and saw a white building that she recognized to be a hospital.

"Why did you bring me here? I'm fine." Satu asked.

"Just get up." The soldier answered. Satu complied and sighed. She stood up and walked to the hospital while the soldier walked behind her with his hand on his holster. Once Satu entered through the front door, it was indeed a hospital. No one worked at the reception. On a bench was a white coat wearing young woman with Timonen. Timonen stood up as soon as he saw Satu enter.

"That's the witch who I mentioned. She's weird. You need to take a look at her and see what her deal is. Do experiments or whatever. You'll see what I mean." Timonen said to the doctor.

"We don't do human experiments here." The doctor said and looked disgusted.

"Well you do now, doctor Ilona Kovanen." Timonen said while looking at the doctor's nametag and put his hand on his holster.

The doctor sighed and asked: "What kinds of experiments should we even do? What is so strange about her?"

"I think she's immune to certain diseases. I can't demonstrate right now but she came in contact with a disease that should have left her looking much worse than that. Do you have any way to experiment that here?" Timonen asked.

"Well, we have several diseases on vials here. We used them for hospitalised prisoners so that they could be executed without making it look like an execution. We could experiment those on her to test out your theory. But I won't approve."

"That works fantastically! I don't know why you told me that but threatening works wonderfully for getting what you want in this world. Let's take her to the experiments right away. Lead the way, doctor." Timonen said with frantic expressions.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Satu asked. Timonen just chuckled and followed the doctor. The soldier behind Satu started pushing her forward.

The doctor led them to a patient room that had a vacant bed in there. She opened the door and stepped in.

"This is a room meant specifically for patients with higly contagious diseases. Here they can be kept isolated from others. If we must experiment with our patient like you wish, this is the room where we should do it without risking others.

"Good thinking, doctor Kovanen. Now where do you keep your vials? We have some science to practise." Timonen said to the doctor. The soldier pushed Satu into the room.

"So this is where you'll make a guinea pig out of me?" Satu asked Timonen.

"You guessed correctly!" He replied and pointed his gun at the doctor.

"Right. I'll retrieve the vials for you. I won't take long." The doctor said.

"Wonderful. You, brother, follow the doctor to make sure she doesn't run away."

The doctor muffled something quietly that nobody heard and the soldier got behind her. They both went away. Timonen turned his weapon to Satu.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Have I not gone through enough?" Satu asked with disdain in her voice.

"You don't even realise yourself what potential you have. There are so many things we can learn from you, honey. Are you willing to go along for the better of all mankind? Do you consent?" Timonen explained while eyeing the tables next to him.

"You ask while pointing a gun at me." Satu replied a little sarcastically.

"Fine. I'll put it down. Do you actually concent?" Timonen said while he did as promised. Before Satu let a word out of her mouth, Timonen took a syringe from the table next him and stabbed it into Satu's stomach.

"You... spineless... no good... I never wanted this." Satu said in a groggy state before falling unconscious. It was then that the doctor returned carrying a rack of vials.

"Not that I'd ever question your methods, but why is our test subject laying on the floor and not moving?" The doctor asked Timonen.

"She wouldn't go along. So I had to make her a little more compliant. She's still alive but if the label of this syringe is accurate, this drug should have her out cold for a couple of hours. Right?" Timonen said back.

"You injected the entire syringe into her. She might be out for up to six years!"

"Well, more time to experiment then. Haha. Shall we begin, doctor?"

"You have no regard for her, do you?"

"I have regard for all of humanity. If making one person suffer can benefit our entire species, I'd say I'm doing a service for the world. Isn't that right, doctor?"

"Well, I suppose so. I have the vials here. Every contagious disease that has been found in the past 50 years. If we want to experiment with her, we must leave her alone in this room and infect her with the disease. Then we'd see if she's as immune as you claim. If she isn't, then I hope you feel happy about your sacrifice for humanity." The doctor explained.

The doctor got herself a hazmat suit and Timonen left the room. The doctor put a breathing mask on Satu and added one of the diseases in her oxygen tank and then left the room to observe alongside Timonen.

"So how long does this disease take to show symptoms?" Timonen asked.

"About a day." The doctor answered.

"Well what are we looking at then? Let's leave her here. And you won't release her. You already know what happens if you disobey me, don't you?" Timonen said to the doctor and held his hand on his holster.

"I know, I know. Can I just go home? I have family there." The doctor asked.

"You can go home but if you don't return tomorrow, I'll find where your home is so if you plan on running away, you better be quick." Timonen answered.

"I won't run away. I wouldn't want to leave our patient here at your mercy anyway. So I'll see you here tomorrow at this time." The doctor said, and then left. Timonen stayed standing there looking at Satu through the small window on the surgery room's door.

"The potential. If I'm right about you, then you might help us take the next step in human evolution. Now isn't that a victory for the New Tower early on? Timonen keeps winning." He said to himself and then left as well. Satu was left unconsious in the surgery room, breathing a viral disease all night and all day.

1.4

The next day, at the hour of their last meeting Timonen arrived at the hospital. There were people in the main lobby of the hospital. Many wounded soldiers, as well as wounded civilians. The soldiers got all the attention, while guards were keeping the civilians scared and in check so that they wouldn't get unruly. Timonen didn't pay mind to any of that. He went straight to the surgery room to see Satu and wait for the doctor.

"Don't make me send my men to your home, good doctor. I'd hate to lose your expertise." He said to himself. He then looked at Satu through the glass. She seemed fine at first glance. Timonen was looking at her with great attention. It was then that he heard footsteps from behind and turned quickly. It was Doctor Kovanen.

"Good of you to show up. I was ready to do what I said I'd do. Now come look at this. Does our sleeping beauty look healthy?" Timonen said to the doctor. The doctor then looked through the glass.

"The only way we can truly know is by testing. I'll go get her temperature and go do a test as well. Then we'll know." The doctor said and took a hazmat suit just in case. She went into the surgery room with the right tools to test Satu's condition. She did what she came to do and then came back to Timonen.

"Well, what does she look like?" Timonen asked.

"Her temperature is completely ordinary. And she tested negative in the rapid test. This might just be luck, or a strong immune system, or maybe somehow your guess is actually correct." The doctor answered.

"Well, let's test some of those other diseases. Give her something that has really visible symptoms. I want to see how she does!" Timonen said with excitement in his voice. The doctor thought that Timonen was sick in the head with the way he spoke.

"Fine. I'll do that." The doctor replied and went back to the surgery room where she used a disease on Satu that would surely have visible symptoms. She then returned to Timonen.

"How quickly should this one show symptoms?" Timonen asked.

"Just a couple of hours. The symptoms are visible, but not very harmful."

"Marvelous. That's what I want. I don't want to kill her. Now let's wait here until we should see symptoms. And you'll stay here with me."

"Of course I will." The doctor replied and sighed.

They both sat down and stayed quiet mostly. The doctor didn't want to talk with Timonen, and Timonen could tell. He just waited eagerly and peeked inside the room every once in a while. After the doctor's estimated time had passed, Timonen got up from his chair and turned to the doctor.

"I believe enough time has passed. What about in your unmatched expert opinion?" Timonen said to the doctor.

"I can go check her symptoms and report back to you." The doctor just replied and went into the surgery room. The doctor checked on Satu and saw fungi around Satu's lungs, but they weren't there for long. The fungi shortly just shrunk and disappeared. The doctor jumped back slightly in surprise and quickly walked back to Timonen.

"This is a medical miracle! You were right. The fungi on her skin simply withered away like never seen before. It's as if her body rejects it. She might just be immune to diseases like you said. We must keep her alive and study her. This is a massive step in medical science!" The doctor said to Timonen with excitement.

"Well what did I tell you? So now what? Do we take her DNA and use it for things?"

"We could take her DNA and make medicine with it. Or even try cloning once we master the science behind it."

"Well why are we still standing here? Go get her DNA now!" Timonen told the doctor who went back into the surgery room, took a sample of Satu's saliva in a clean vial and came out again.

"Now we should take this somewhere else. We don't have the right equipment here but they do have all sorts of equipment in the bioweapons development base in Akaa. They were in frequent contact with us but you may not know how to get there. We should go there and leave somebody to watch over our test subject. We need to keep her alive." Doctor Kovanen said.

"I'll assign guards to secure this door. And you'll take me to the right place. And it better be the right place. But at this point I trust you. I'll go get us a ride. Let's go." Timonen said to the doctor and started making his way out. The doctor followed him outside. Wounded and sick civilians looked at the doctor as the two passed them. Timonen raised his hand at his personal driver who brought him there that day.

"Greeting, brother. You just got more work. You'll need to follow the directions of my white coated friend here." Timonen said to the driver.

"Of course, brother." The driver responded and allowed the two to get inside the car. The doctor sat on the passenger seat at the front. They left the hospital's premises and followed the doctor's directions. They arrived at the small town of Akaa where the doctor directed the driver to the bioweapons development facility. The streets of Akaa were trashed and unkept. There was nobody at the facility. The building that works as a front for the secret entrance, had a note telling all staff to stay home. The doctor knew the passcode to open the door to the underground facility.

"This if anything is a statement that the New Tower has now won. We have control of this place! And now we use it for our own work for the good of humanity." Timonen said, and looked around the completely vacant facility. The place was not too large. It had too testing rooms far apart from each other, six holding cells, three on one side of the place and three on the other, as well as a big research laboratory.

"It's right here. Let me get to work right away. First thing I intend to do is see if I can create a medicine using her DNA in some way." The doctor said.

"Is that how it works?" Timonen asked.

"I'll make it work somehow. Just give me time and a constant stream of funding and helping hands and we can develop anything out of this." The doctor replied.

"You heard the doctor. We need to find every capable researcher we can find. Search the records of this place, find out who worked here, bring them here to work and treat these people well!" Timonen said to the driver who went to see every computer in the laboratory. There were four computers. The driver wrote down names that he found on a piece of paper.65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9HkG3mHUH

In the coming days some of the people who worked in the facility for the previous government were brought in to do research and developement. For all that time, Satu was kept in her state of sleep while being guarded by armed soldiers at all hours when the hospital was open.

1.5

Six years passed this way. Satu was still being kept alive and the scientists still tried to develop a medicine with Satu's DNA but with no results. They tested on animals and also on surrendered enemy soldiers but no medicine worked in protecting against diseases. One day Timonen came to facility looking angry.

"The last medicine didn't work at all! We got a third of our troops sick before we even got close to enemy territory, and then when we finally got close, they bombarded us with cannons and we had to retreat. A failure! Next time you give us a medicine, be absolutely certain that it works!" Timonen shouted as he barged in.

"You didn't give us time to even do one test with it. You said you needed it urgently. All we had was our faith in it, which wasn't strong to begin with. Don't blame us." One researcher replied.

"Don't start testing me now! Whatever it is that you have been doing here has not been working for all this time. You useless idiots can't make anything out of this gold mine of human evolution that we have. We have to find another way to utilize it. By this point I expected to have soldiers who are immune to all diseases or at least a medicine that cures everything." Timonen complained incoherently.

"Well, the polio vaccine took years to develop. It takes time. I know that you've gone on and on about using her DNA for cloning but we simply don't have the technology to multiply a living person in a way that works, so making a medicine is our best bet." The researcher explained seriously. Timonen looked like he got an idea.

"We simply don't have the technology to multiply a person, you say? How have humans been multiplying for as long as they've existed?" Timonen asked sarcastically. The researchers looked at him a little perplexed.

"You intend to pass her lineage on the traditional way? What would that solve?"

"It'll eventually create a bloodline of people who have her DNA and in the far future we'll have reached the next step in human evolution. Even if it takes multiple generations, it'll be faster than your medicine developement." Timonen stated and then stormed out to the surface.

"Brick! Drive me to the hospital!" Timonen shouted to his driver at the surface.

"At your service, great pillar!" The driver shouted back.

Timonen was driven to the hospital where Satu was still asleep. Timonen stormed in. The hospital was no longer used as a hospital. Medical supplies were not developed in the territory controlled by the New Tower, and their borders were closed and nothing was imported in. Satu was the only person being kept in the dusty and unkept hospital.

"Let me in. I need to see our test subject and make a giant leap in human evolution." Timonen said to the two guards standing by the surgery room. The guards walked away and let Timonen in. Timonen saw Satu laying there where she had been for six years now and still firmly unconscious. After Timonen did what he came there to do, he sat down on the floor and thought about what he did. He felt a little remorse about it, but then started laughing. He got up and left the hospital and went to his driver.

"May I ask you what was your business there?" The driver asked.

"No you may not. Let's just say that it felt like the right thing to do." Timonen replied.

"Well. I hope it was. Where to?" The driver said back. Timonen ordered the driver to just take him home.

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Eight monts later Satu woke up in the surgery room. The drug that Timonen injected her with, had now worn off. The first thing that she noticed was a change in her body.

"What did that rotten piece of scum do to me while I was out? And how long was I out for?" Satu said out loud. She tried to get up but all of her limbs were sore. Her legs couldn't carry her and she fell on her knees on the floor. The guards outside heard this and entered the room and helped her up.

"She's awake. What do we do with her now? Nobody prepared us for this." One guard asked the other.

"I don't think we're qualified to handle this. Get a doctor in here and I'll keep an eye on the subject." The other guard replied.

"Subject? Is that what I am? A subject? What did you do with me?" Satu shouted at the guards.

"We don't know what was done to you. We were just told to watch over you. That has been our job for six years now and during all that time, we haven't even entered this room. I promise." One guard told Satu.

"Six years? I was here for six years? And who got me pregnant?" Satu asked.

"That's right. You were out for six years. And as for who got you pregnant, I don't know if I'm authorized to tell you." One guard answered.

Satu grabbed the guard's face and a massive fungus grew out of his throat that came out of his mouth. The guard couldn't breathe and the other guard looked terrified.

"Tell me who did this to me!" Satu screamed at the guard who looked at what was happening.

"It was Grand Pillar Timonen. He did it!" The terrified guard told her. Satu made the fungus in the other guard's throat shrink and wither away and the guard could breathe again. They both ran out of the room and locked the door behind them. They ran out of the hospital terrified and made their way to the nearest military outpost.65Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SrfhNj0RA

When they entered the local commander's tent exhausted, the commander looked at them curiously.

"Anything you wish to say, soldiers?" The local commander asked them.

"We need to get in contact with the research facility and Grand Pillar Timonen."

"For what reason?"

"It's to do with their research. It's very urgent." One guard explained.

"I'll send a messenger to him and tell him to meet you here." The commander told them and stepped out of the tent.

"What the hell was that back there in the hospital? She made a fungus grow out of your mouth!" One guard said to the other.

"I felt it in my throat. I couldn't breathe. Is that why they've been keeping her there this whole time?" The other soldier said.

They waited in the tent, processing what they saw and experienced inside the surgery room. For the past six years, their job had been easy, but at this moment they both wished that they had any other job. After about two hours Timonen stepped inside the tent.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me, bricks?" Timonen asked.

"The subject is awake now. And she's not normal!" One guard answered.

"She's awake now? And what do you mean she's not normal?"

"I wouldn't recommend going there unarmed. She's dangerous." The guard who got a mouth full of fungus told Timonen.

"Dangerous. She's one woman and you're two combat trained guards."

"She can do unnatural things."

"Well, knowing what I already know about her, that doesn't surprise me." Timonen said and felt the holster on his hip.

Timonen went to the hospital alone and saw the locked door of the surgery room with nobody guarding it. The window was cracked, as Satu was punching it with her fist, but to no avail.

"You stop that right now, woman!" Timonen shouted upon seeing what Satu was doing.

"You! You bastard! What did you do to me?" Satu screamed at Timonen.

"I only did what I figured was good for humanity. Sometimes you have to think larger than yourself." Timonen replied to her.

"You don't get to choose for me! You kept me here for six years and then made me pregnant without my consent! Open this door so I can kill you already!"

"That wouldn't change anything at this point. Best you can do is give your child for science so we can do a great service for humanity." Timonen told her calmly while shrugging his shoulders. Satu was furious, but couldn't do anything to get past the metal door with strong glass. She stepped away from the door and sat on the bed. She grew a fungus from the palm of her hand and looked at it. Timonen saw it and looked shocked and disgusted.

"I could just choke myself with this right now and end myself. You wouldn't get anything from me after that. Not for science. Not for your personal pleasure. Not for anything." Satu said while looking at Timonen through the glass.

"What the hell are you? Fine. If you're that serious, I can let you go, but you'll have to leave our New Tower. We can't keep a creature like you around." Timonen said back, and put his hand on the key that the guards left on the floor.

"That works for me." Satu replied. Timonen opened the door, but instead of Letting Satu out, he shot the fungus on her hand with his pistol. Satu screamed and held her hand. It was then that Timonen injected a needle into her, this time with less of the drug inside it. Satu went unconscious again. Timonen was prepared and brought handcuffs with him. Once Satu was out, he handcuffer her into the water pipe on the room's wall.

Satu was unconscious for three weeks, and when she woke up she was in unbearable pain, handcuffed into a pipe and surrounded by Timonen, doctor Kovanen and one guard. She was a little confused, but mostly focused on her pain. The room was filled with her screams. The details were not pleasant but eventually she gave birth to a baby boy. The doctor took the boy in her hands, but then a hole blew in the doctor's skull as if a bullet had just hit it. The doctor fell on the ground lifeless. Timonen and the guard present had their eyes wide open in shock. Then a minute later Satu gave birth to a girl, which the guard took. The girl looked at the doctor laying lifeless on the ground. The hole in the doctor's skull got fixed by itself, and then soon after the doctor got back up. All alive and well. The doctor was groggy and looked traumatized. Timonen and the guard just looked at the doctor in awe.

"What just happened to me?" The doctor said while being confused.

"The kid just blew a hole in your skull! That woman is cursed." The guard said while holding the newborn girl.

"No. Her and her products are the next step in human evolution!" Timonen said loudly and with excitement.

"We must let the researchers know about this right away. This is massive!" The doctor said, showing no signs of her recent brief death.

"Did you maggots get what you wanted out of me?" Satu said to Timonen with hate in her voice. Timonen looked at her and felt sorry for her after everything she had gone through. He just turned to the doctor and said: "Take these kids to the research facility and don't get your skull opened this time.

"Well how do I prevent that from happening?" The doctor asked worriedly.

"Agh. Let's just do it the easy way." Timonen said and went to inject the needle on one of the children, but the syringe shattered by itself before it could touch any skin. "Something weird is happening here and I won't stay to see what it is." The guard said and left the room.

"Good idea!" The Timonen said and also left.

"Wait. what about me? What do I do with these?" The doctor tried to ask but Timonen just left and didn't look back. The boy pointed his hand at the door of the room and it got blown off its hinges. The doctor looked for anything that he could use to make the boy harmless. He found two old plastic bags from the bottom of a closet. He put the babies in the plastic bags and carried them like grocery bags. Both bags had holes and were torn up. The bag that the girl was in got back in good shape by itself, but the doctor didn't notice.

"Are you just going to leave me here? Nobody's threatening you to comply now." Satu said to the doctor before she could leave.

"I would let you go but the key is with someone else." The doctor answered.

"Isn't there someone in this room who is pretty good at breaking things? Did you forget what happened to your head?" Satu said right back. The doctor understood who Satu was referring to, and now had no excuse. The doctor felt bad about breaking promises and so stopped before leaving.

"You mean you want the boy to break your handcuffs?"

"Look at your deductive skills. That's what I mean."

"Okay but if you get a hole in your skull, I won't waste time getting you patched."

"I'd like that more than staying here another moment."

"Fine. I can just tell them that you escaped." The doctor said and took the boy out of the bag. The boy was confused and crying. The doctor put the boy's hand on Satu's handcuffs and the handcuffs broke into several pieces. As soon as Satu was up, she tried to get up and sprint out, but her legs couldn't carry her and she couldn't even stand up. She put her palms on her knees and after a few seconds her legs were working completely fine. When she got up, she put her palm on the doctor's neck and the doctor started coughing blood.

"Where is that curly haired bastard? You'll take me to him or this little cough will get a lot worse." Satu said with malicious intent.

"He's in the bioweapons research facility. At least that's where he said he'd go. I promise. I can even take you there." The doctor said terrified.

"That's what I wanted. Take me there then. And it better be the right place. Guess twice what'll happen if you betray me now." Satu said and let go of the doctor whose bloody cough was suddenly healed.

"Follow me." The doctor said and left the room. The two made their way out of the hospital where nobody else was. They got into the doctor's own car. The doctor was one of the fortunate few who were allowed to own a vehicle for personal use. Satu got on the passenger's seat and the doctor threw the babies in the backseat and then started the car. Satu looked at the surroundings and nobody was around anywhere.

"What do you intend to do with my children?" Satu asked the doctor.

"We talked about this before they were born. Grand Pillar Timonen wants to raise them in the facility and see if they have a similar ability as you. And now we know that they do. So we intend to do testing with them." The doctor answered.

"As if being born out of me wasn't enough of a curse already, now you want to raise them as guinea pigs in a cage." Satu said back.

"It's for the welfare of the people. That's what Timonen said."

"Just take me to that bastard." Satu said, and so the doctor remained silent and scared to speak. The doctor drove the car to the research facility and along the way Satu looked at the streetscapes. There were people walking around in gray uniforms, overalls and polo shirts. People on the streets would occasionally look at Satu as the car drove past. Some of them looked envious, some just bored. A few armored vehicles were on traffic at the same time, but not enough to create traffic.

1.6

Once they were at the location, the doctor stopped the car and turned it off.

"We're here." The doctor said to Satu.

"This better be the right place. You'll take me inside and you won't drive away. So you get out of the car first." Satu said back. The doctor got out of the car first and then Satu got out as well and said: "You know what I said earlier about how being born out of me is a curse. Well, nobody should live like that. And you shouldn't be allowed to do your testing either. Look away if you want to."

Satu then opened the door of the backeat where her two children were. Both had gotten out of their bags. The girl was under a seat and Satu didn't see her, so she took the boy and threw him on the ground. The doctor saw what Satu was doing.

"What do you think you're doing? We're supposed to take them to the facility in good health!" The doctor said to Satu.

"You won't get the satisfaction of doing that." Satu replied. She then looked at her newborn son on the ground who was crying. All of the windows of the car shattered into pieces.

"You won't be a guinea pig." Satu said to him and stomped his head with her boot. The doctor ran to Satu's side of the car and grabbed her shoulder.

"What are you doing? Timonen will kill me now!" The doctor complained in shock.

"That doesn't bother me. I don't care about your projects. Just get me in the facility before I do the same to you as I did to him." Satu said and touched the doctor's shoulder, where a rash began to form. The doctor was visibly horrified.

"Ok ok, I'll get you in!" The doctor said in panic. Satu let go, and the rash healed. The doctor went to the entrance of the hidden facility that was no longer locked with a passcode because there was no electricity in the New Tower's territory. Satu thought about the last moments. She violently stomped the head of a newborn child. Her own newborn child, with intention to kill, and she felt nothing about it. She hadn't thought about her strange abilities because she's been so full of hate this entire time. She wasn't going to start reflecting about that now. She was here to kill Timonen and what ever would happen, would happen. The two walked down a long and dark staircase all the way down to the facility. When they got down, Timonen was there waiting and he heard footsteps behind him.

"I recognise the sound of those steps. Did my favourite doctor get the test subjects here safely?"

"You won't be having any test subjects." Satu said to him. Timonen turned around quickly and his eyes were wide open.

"Well aren't you infactuated with me? What do you want? And where are your, excuse me, our children?" Timonen asked.

"You can scrape one of them off my boot. The other one must have fallen out of the car on our way here." Satu answered.

"What? You are an evil woman. I mean, I've killed in cold blood before but only people who deserved it." Timonen said in shock. It was then that more footseps came from behind Satu. A fat balding man in a uniform walked into the room carrying the children of Satu and Timonen. Three soldiers were with him.

"Are these the miracle children that I was told about? They sure fit the description. What I saw up there outside was disturbing, but also unbelievable. They boy had his head stomped to mush, but then the girl crawled to him and touched his head, and his head was healed right before my eyes. Anyway, I'm here now and from now I'm the man in charge of this facility. I hope you've already been informed of that. But who is this woman now? What business does she have here?" The man in uniform said as he came in.

"Well this, my dear brother Grand Pillar Tuonela, is the mother of these miracle children. The woman whose DNA we've used in research for years now but to no results. She doesn't seem like she wants to go along with what we want to do. Would you agree that maybe raising her children here would be easier for us than dealing with her?" Timonen said to Tuonela

"So she's the mother. And who's the father?" Tuonela asked.

"Well that would be me!" Timonen said and stepped forward banging his suspenders. RIght then one of the soldiers raised a weapon to point at Timonen and the two other raised their weapons pointing at Satu.

"What the hell is this now? What did I do?" Timonen asked.

"I'm very sad that you are the father. Now we'll have to throw you into the Deadland. We can't have the children's parents around. They'd just be emotionally attached to their children and cause unwanted hassle." Tuonela explained.

"We created this nation together and now you're throwing me out like any ordinary weak brick?"

"It wasn't an easy decision. But a necessary one. Now go to the staircase and walk up to the surface and don't do anything this soldier wouldn't want you to do." Tuonela said to Timonen who had a soldier behind him now. It was then that Satu made a run for the staircase but didn't get far. She got a bullet in her back and fell on the ground. She was breathing but not moving.

"Don't do like she did. Being in the Deadland is better than dying on the floor like that." Tuonela said to Timonen. The soldiers started escorting Timonen into the staircase and onto the surface. After the soldiers had walked over Satu, she healed her own bullet wound. She put her hand on the wound, and the bullet was pushed out and the wound was patched. She sprung up and grabbed two of the soldiers from the ankles. The bones in their ankles shattered and they sat down screaming. Tuonela and the third soldier turned around and Satu grabbed them both by the wrist and so both of them had their wrist bones shattered. Timonen didn't even do anything. Satu ran up the stairs and onto the surface.

"What is that bitch doing? After her!" Tuonela yelled, but all the soldiers where hurting too much to care. Timonen also started running up the stairs and nobody tried to stop him. Tuonela and the three soldiers were left in the staircase holding their sore parts and the babies were left with doctor Kovanen.

On the surface Satu got in the doctor's car. There was no key so Satu had to start it with the wires. She didn't know how to do it, or if it was even possible or just a myth from movies. While she was trying to do that, Timonen sat down on the passenger's seat.

"Bonjour, madam." Timonen said as he sat down.

"I want to kill you right now but I'm a little busy so could you just go to Hell?"

"If I did that, you'd be here all day and you'd be caught. Let me help. Let's switch seats." Timonen suggested. Satu sighed, not believing that she was accepting help from this man. They switched seats and Timonen was now on the driver's seat. He got the car started with the wires and got it moving.

"I know what you want to do with me, but if I keep moving, you better not touch me, or we'll both crash. Ha!" Timonen said as he was driving the car fast on the bleak streets.

"And where do you intend to drive with this thing?"

"I don't think I'm welcome here anymore. They'll throw us both out once they catch us. Might as well drive into the Deadland and try to make it there by being careful. You shouldn't have any trouble in there but I need to be careful to avoid the disease."

"You don't need to be careful because I'll kill you as soon as this car stops and we're out of here."

"You'll change your mind eventually. I have that effect on women, and this car won't stop for a while yet. Haha." Timonen said. Satu couldn't believe what this man just said. It was then that the sound of another vehicle could be heard from behind. A police car that was painted gray was behind them.

"Oops. Did I drive too fast or did the word spread quickly? Either way I'm not stopping now. We're going to the gate!"

"Gate? What gate?" Satu asked.

"Oh, I guess you didn't hear. We're building a wall on the border to separate our territory from the Deadland. Very handy. The wall has already been built in this part of the country and I know where the nearest gate is. Going through the gate is riskier than going around the wall, but it's also faster." Timonen explained, and shifted to a higher gear. All people on the steets were interested in what they saw happening on the road. A chase like this had never happened inside the New Tower during its few years of existence. With every turn, the car came close to rolling over on its roof. Neither person in the care wore a seatbelt. On one turn Satu hit hear head on the window and got a cut, which she healed by touching it. It didn't take too long for two cars to be on their tail.

"Watch this." Timonen said to Satu and then took his pistol from his holster. He reached his left arm out of the window and shot a few bullets behind him. One of them hit the right front tire of the car that was on the left side behind them. The car swerved and turned and got in the way of the right side car which was forced to stop. "Impressive shot. I admit." Satu said. Timonen grinned and almost crashed into a lamp post until he got his focus back.

"That wasn't as impressive." Satu then said. There was a watchtower on the street that they were on. The sniper in the watch tower rang a bell upon seeing them and tried to take a shot. The sniper hit the roof of the car. The bullet penetrated the roof and hit the radio of the car. Both people in the car looked at the impact with wide eyes.

"Get us out of here. Or I'll throw you out and take the wheel myself." Satu said.

"I have a better chance at getting us out than you do, and you know it." Timonen said back and focused on driving. Satu kept her eyes on the roads and streets as well, and occasionally glanced at the pistol on the hip of Timonen. Since there weren't any methods of long distance communication on this place, nobody bothered them for the rest of the way since no other auhorities knew about them or why they were driving away.

Eventually the gate of the border wall came to their sight. There was a watchtower on both sides of the gate and some armed guards standing by the gate as well. Timonen kept speeding towards towards the closed chainlink gate. The gate was weak and rusty. The builders of the wall never bothered to make a proper gate so they just took what ever gate they found. The old rusty chainlink gate was what they found. As the car got closer to the gate, the foot soldiers on the ground raised their rifles and aimed at the car. The car rammed through the weak gate and as it passed, the soldiers opened fire. Both doors were penetrated by a bullet and each person got a bullet in the thigh. Both screamed from pain at the same time. Satu healed her wound by putting her hand on the wound and her pain went away.

"A little unfair that you can do that." Timonen said in pain.

"I hope you're suffering." Satu said back.

"That may not be what you want because I can't really use my leg right now and I can't use the pedal."

"Well that sounds like your problem."

"I can't stop this car safely if I can't use the left pedal!"

"That's fine. I'll kill you as soon as we run out of fuel. Until then you'll have to suffer." Satu said to Timonen with apathy. Timonen didn't even answer and just focused on driving with his pain. Once they got further away from the wall, the scenes became different. Surfaces had strange red rot on them. Everything from the trees to the roads were covered in it.

"Is this what your weapon did? The plane that flew over the enemy territory?"

"This is the work of that. And look at that. No signs of life anywhere except in the plants. Isn't it wonderful? Eases my pain." Timonen said.

Satu dropped one hair of hers outside. She looked behind her and saw that on a piece of land behind the car, all the red rot withered away around a certain spot. It was the spot where the piece of hair landed. Satu didn't see it but she figured it out. She tried again and dropped another hair out the window, and once again all the red rot withered away from where the hair landed. Satu kept plucking out hairs and dropping them from the window, and each time the rot would wither away, and as wind blew the hairs further into other spots, the rot would disappear from those places too. Large areas where cleansed from the rot as the wind blew, and as they travelled with the car further and further away, an ever wider area was cleansed.

1.7

The car began to slow down and the pained expression of Timonen turned into a worried one. He knew what was coming. He tried to pull the pistol from his holster but Satu grabbed his wrist and snapped the bones inside without even using force. Timonen screamed in pain and swerved the car. He got the car under control without using his right hand. Timonen knew that he had to fight for his life now. He tried to strike Satu with his elbow but couldn't reach her. Satu was also fighting for her life and she put her palm on the head of Timonen. Timonen got a fever so high that he passed out. With Timonen passed out on the wheel, the car crashed into a tree. Upon impact Satu let go of him, and the fever went away. The airbags activated and saved both from harm. They were both groggy for a moment and both got their wits about at the same time. Satu grabbed Timonen by the neck and a tumor started growing inside his throat. He couldn't breathe, and all he saw was Satu's hate filled glare over his face as everything started going black. Timonen used his left hand to pull out the pistol that was still on his right hip. He shot a bullet into Satu's gut. Satu let go of him, and as Timonen's last act, he aimed at Satu's head and shot a bullet in her forehead. Satu could heal her wounds, but she could not come back from lethal wounds, and so Satu's life was ended indirectly by the same regime that she helped create. Timonen opened the door, still with a tumor in his throat and unable to breathe. He stumbled out panicked and confused. He tripped on a stone and hit his head on another stone, and there he met his end, bleeding from his head and unable to breathe in his final moments.

ns 15.158.61.8da2

The New Tower

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