The air in the reception dome of The Citadel University's Department of Advanced Bio-Genetics (CUDA) smelled aggressively clean like ozone and expensive polish. It was the scent of perfect, antiseptic achievement and Eden Vance all twenty-three years of his meticulous ambition, inhaled it like validation. Everything he had worked for and crafted skills on had led to this moment.
He clutched the data-slate containing his formal acceptance into the highly competitive Genetic Resonance Internship Program (GRIP). This is the first step toward achieving his dream of becoming the best genetic researcher in the world to make his mark and more importantly prove to his father that omegas are not weak trophies or breeding machines.
The Vance Dynasty, that name was a heavy legacy synonymous with the Biotech empire his father founded. Eden carried the weight of it but was determined his worth would be defined by his mind, not his blood, classification or mutation. He was an Omega, and an ONR-27 carrier…more on that later.
"Vance?" A beta woman in a starched lab coat, no personal scent detectable thanks to the dome's filtration. She offered him a tight, professional smile. "Welcome. We've been expecting you. We'll skip the main campus orientation; your program is highly specialized."
She directed him through a series of increasingly narrow silent corridors, trading the sleek marble of the public university for corridors of brushed matte black metal. The change felt less like moving to a specialized lab and more like entering a vault.
They stopped at a security point, manned by a guard who moved with the unnerving stillness of a trained operative not a campus guard. He scanned Eden's genetic marker chip.
"Vance, Eden. Classification: Omega. Mutation: ONR-27.
The woman's eyes widen for a split second as the guard spoke. The guard's voice was a flat monotone. "Proceed to the Quiet Wing, Sub-level Delta."
Eden felt a flicker of unease. "Sub-level Delta? I understand the research was housed on the main floor." He queried.
"The research we conduct requires absolute control of atmospheric and neural inputs, Vance" the beta guide smoothly interjected. "It's a secure facility."
His mind sharp and meticulous, cataloged the discrepancies. The complete lack of other interns, military-grade security and the deliberate emphasis on his classification and mutation, something supposedly equal society was meant to downplay.
They descended three levels in a shielded lift. When the doors opened, the environment shifted entirely. It was quiet save for a low vibrational hum that seemed to settle in his bones. The walls were padded, the lighting perpetually dim and the air here carried a distinct clinic metallic smell, with something else. Something warm and slightly floral, but suppressed.
"This is your residence and training block," she said. "Your first order of business is the adjustment regimen. This includes a daily, mandatory supplement which is merely a customised blend of hormonal balancers necessary for sustained deep-focus."
He accepted the small, silver capsule she handed him. He knew immediately it wasn't a hormonal balancer. It was a scent inhibitor, likely stronger than anything prescribed for public use.
"And the research, specifically?" Eden asked, forcing his tone to remain polite.
"As a highly sensitive Omega, you are uniquely positioned to assist in the study of amplified empathy and receptivity, the very properties of the ONR-27 marker." He was having a battle inside to understand where she was driving at, abilities? amplified empathy? Nah…
"Your work" He snapped out of his musing "will involve mastering biological control and neural separation" the guide explained, her smile dissolving into a serious, almost challenging expression. "We study the future of genetic integrity, Vance. And the future requires highly disciplined omegas."
It finally clicked in his head, this wasn't a research facility/internship and he had just been recruited into a world he knew absolutely nothing about.
He felt the claustrophobic all of a sudden. He wasn't here to study genetics as he hoped; he was here to be studied, and trained?
"And by the way, nothing leaves these walls" she added.
Eden's elegance masks his strength; he doesn't fight loudly, but when he decides, he's immovable.
He met the guide's gaze, the defiance hidden deep behind his soft grey eyes. He was already trapped, but he was far from defeated. He had applied to learn how the system worked. Now, it seemed, he would learn how to fight it from the inside.
"Understood," Eden replied, taking the capsule. "When do we begin?"