The Lab Rat Clause

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTIONS

Lindsey was startled, shocked as the shackles electronically clamped together, down around her ankles. They automatically locked tight as a guarantee to thoroughly restrict the movement of her legs; to preclude her from somehow breaking free and escaping the imminent outcome of the execution chamber. It was a very tight, uncomfortable fit, but Dr. Stavek, Dr. Charles Stavek, the primary execution doctor, was not at all concerned with her comfort. Lindsey’s attention quickly turned to her wrists as Dr. Stavek manually, forcefully pinioned them down and locked them in place, one at a time, with painfully restrictive, metallic cuffs. Dr. Stavek looked directly into her eyes; he had a devious, treacherous smile, with thick, black eyebrows over dark hideous eyes. “No problems now dear, just take a deep breath, sit back, and relax. It will all be over in just a little while.”

Dr. Stavek stepped back, away from her and turned to get out of the execution chamber. He unknowingly started humming the tune to ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, as the heavy foreboding, steel door automatically swung shut. The latches sealing the door, could be plainly heard. Immediately as they closed tight, the grotesque hissing sound of gas could be heard as the air in the chamber was being pumped out and carbon dioxide was pumped in. Because of the air-tight lock no sounds escaped from the inside of the chamber as Lindsey vainly struggled in anguish.

So many thoughts were racing through Lindsey’s mind as she sat, shackled to the execution chair. Fear, sadness, apprehension; there were so many things she could no longer do, a few things that she could, and many that she still wanted to do; all in spite of her disabilities.

Lindsey could be seen through the small, thick, round chamber window, choking and gagging due to the lack of oxygen. Dr. Stavek watched intently to be certain of the final demise. She wriggled a bit, constrained under the bindings of her restraints. A few forceful convulsions ended in a contorted, lifeless sag. Dr. Stavek smiled, “another job well done.”

Cheryl’s focus moved to the chamber itself. Dr. Stavek pushed a small blue lever at the edge of the door and a gust of air could be heard as fresh air was blown into the chamber, forcing the carbon dioxide out the exhaust vent. Dr. Stavek then unsecured the front steel door and reopened the chamber to remove the corpse. Cheryl took note as he stooped to enter the chamber pushing the gurney in ahead of him. The ceiling of the chamber was only a bit higher than the steel execution chair anchored to the floor, off center of the chamber. Dr. Stavek unlocked the shackles from the chair. The body slumped over to one side like a large bag of farm seed. He quickly grabbed the shoulder, anticipating the motion of the body. He looked up at Cheryl and nodded his head directing her to help. Cheryl stepped forward, lowered her head and entered in on the opposite side of the chair from Dr. Stavek. Cheryl spoke up as Dr. Stavek lifted the body up in the chair, “a bit of a tight fit in here.” Dr. Stavek turned his head back toward Cheryl as he spoke, in spite of the struggle he was having, moving the body.

“It was designed specifically to conserve space, to minimize the amount of carbon dioxide needed for each execution.” As he spoke, he pointed toward the corpse’s shoulder as the initial lifting point. He reached down below the lower edge of the chair on his side, and pulled a small black lever. The chair eased back to a prone position. Cheryl put her hands under the shoulders; it felt very awkward to her. She had never done this before; the body was lifeless but warm. The eyes were only partially closed as Dr. Stavek reached up with a single finger and closed each of them for eternity. Yet, Cheryl somehow kindled the thought that they were going to reopen in surprise or apprehension. The two shifted the body from the chair onto the gurney. Dr. Stavek worked his way around the chair to more conveniently locate himself. Here, they both lifted to get the lower extremities up over the edge of the gurney. Cheryl gently positioned the body, in spite of the fact that the care and compassion would have neither been noticed or missed if it hadn’t been used. Cheryl still felt uncomfortable, almost disrespectful, knowing all the details of this situation. Water welled up in her eyes. She vainly fought off the tears. She turned her head a bit to try to hide this from Dr. Stavek; but he still took note of her expression.

“Don’t worry about her, she is inconsequential, she simply doesn’t matter,” he said calmly. “Just relax, after doing this over and over again, it gradually becomes a mindless, required chore.”

Cheryl wiped her sleeve across her eyes. “I guess,” she said hesitantly. In her mind she couldn’t possibly imagine something like this ever becoming a mindless chore.

The thought of doing anything even close to this had never crossed her mind when she had applied for this job. It was described as paperwork processing related to lawful penalty; including typing, filing, and organizing. The thought of doing anything even close to this had never crossed her mind when she had initially applied for this job. In her initial interview they had mentioned that she could possibly be working with people with disabilities and had asked her if she had any issues with it. She had told them she didn’t. The previous week she had even worked with three women with disabilities. She had helped to escort them to a training session and filled out some paper work related to a medical test that they were currently involved in. She had only heard rumors about the executions prior to this and wasn’t even sure if they were true. This whole situation removed all doubt and left her feeling very uncertain about the appropriateness of accepting this particular job. This position was with the Justice Department. Where on earth was the justice in any of this? It made no sense at all to her.

After Dr. Stavek had a chance to center the corpse on the gurney, he secured it in place with the staunch leather belts on either side, and then wheeled it out of the chamber.

As Dr. Stavek turned the gurney toward the large exit door in the back of the room, he looked up into the observation balcony. Ben had been seated there throughout the execution. “Benjamin Thomas, meet Cheryl Turner. She has just started training here for execution assistant. Obviously, she won’t be executing anyone, she’s not a doctor. She will be preparing the chamber, prior to the executions, and dealing with all of the required paperwork for this process. In any case, why don’t you take the time to show her around, Ben, and let her know everything you know about what goes on here; regardless of how little that may be,” Dr. Stavek spoke the last statement in obvious sarcasm and gave his belittling smirk as he turned to leave the room.

Ben had observed the entire execution. He knew the doctor’s desire was ultimately to remove everyone with disabilities from society. Throughout the execution Ben had been thinking about his usefulness to society in spite of his own disabilities.

Cheryl walked back toward the observation balcony and up the steps to where Ben was seated. She asked, “why was it that Linsey was executed? Those others, last week, had disabilities too, at least as bad as hers, but they were spared.”

“That’s what the ‘Lab Rat Clause’ is all about,” Ben responded. “Some of society have deemed that people with disabilities cost the society more than they are worth, they are an excessive financial burden. They consider them a detriment to the economy and they are in the process of trying to get rid of them; they are trying to eliminate the problem.”

“How are they going to do that,” Cheryl asked hesitantly?

“You just saw it,” Ben said, “by execution. However, if there is some medical research or experimentation going on that the people with disabilities would qualify for, they are released from the possibility of execution so that they can become test cases: ‘Lab Rats’. There was in fact, a time when prisoners on death row, scheduled for execution, were used for these very same tests.”

“By who,” Cheryl asked?

“They were used by chemical and pharmaceutical companies to test possible cures and other medications.”

“They were specifically selected for medical testing?”

“Not only that, they were even used to test an assortment of other health and beauty aid products.”

“That sounds like cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Well, initially it was considered inhumane treatment, but then, also, the problem that convicted prisoners were being retried and found innocent, specifically because of all of the DNA testing that is currently being used.”

“What do you mean, what happened?”

“It became an incredible concern that these prisoners could possibly have been found innocent if they hadn’t been killed.”

“How often could that possibly happen? You make it sound like it’s a fairly common occurrence.”

“No,” Ben replied, “it is in fact a very rare situation. But, because it is possible, regardless of how probable, they stopped using prisoners for these tests.”

“So, now what?”

“Now it’s all done with folks like me, we people with disabilities; we people who just burden our society beyond benefit. What the heck, why waste us all together when you can economically kill us with pharmaceutical testing? Just ask Dr. Stavek,...