The Pug Named Jim

The Others

Jim had woken up.
'Where am I?' Jim thought to himself. He felt a strange pressure on his neck, as though something was put inside.

Everything felt heavier. Jim could only move his head. Around him, he realized he was in a research lab. 'This room was either just built, or recently abandoned.' Jim concluded. Behind the glass of all the cabinets were nothing but shelves, and the counters bare. The only item in the room was the metal cart Jim sat on.

To the left of him, Jim heard the door open. He looked to see a woman wearing a lab coat step in, followed by a man wearing a suit.

"Hello there." The man spoke first. Jim made eye contact with the man, but couldn't speak.

"Can you talk?" The woman asked. Jim shook his head.

The man looked at the woman and said "Well he seems to understand you, so the narcotics must not have worn off yet. Stay with him, and fill out the form when he can talk." He looked back at Jim. "My name is Dawson Hill, but you will call me Director. Welcome to the team, number 03." He smiled and left the room.

The woman watched him leave, and then smiled to Jim. "I'm Aza. We are going to check your level of understanding now. I'm going to ask you a question, and then show you several different cards. When you see the card with the right answer, nod your head."

Jim nodded, and Aza began to ask questions.

"What color is my hair?" She started with. She began showing different cards. Each card had a different hair color written on it
Blond.
Black.
Brunette. Jim nodded when he saw the card.

"Good!" She responded. "Next question: What are you?"
Car.
Building.
Horse.
Door.
Robe.
Human.
Book.
Pug. Jim nodded.

"Excellent! Last question: What is 7 times 9?"

"6... 63..."Jim croaked before she could flash any cards. He coughed a few times, but he finally found his voice.

"Perfect! You probably have some questions."

Jim had many questions. "Where am I?"

"I found you by he road on my walk here." Jim remembered the walk. She continued, "I picked you up and brought you with me. The building you're in now is Fictive HQ."

"And why am I here?"

Aza made a gesture to all of Jim, indicating him being a pug. "We recently developed the technology to give animals human intelligence. We ran several tests and took several measurements to make sure you were a perfect candidate, and once confirmed, put you to sleep. In your head there's a device. You can probably feel it. This device allows your brain to function like a human being. We connected you to an advanced program that would simulate 25 years of human life, starting at birth. The process is lengthy, though. You took nearly 3 weeks to develop, actually."

"Why am I not surprised that I'm a talking pug?" Jim had only just realized, "This shouldn't feel normal, and yet it does."

"It's probably the drugs we administered. They'll wear off shortly." She told him. "You're one of the first of your kind, too."

"That's why he called me 03; because I'm the third one?"

"Well, the third animal we found. You are the first dog, though."

"How many animals do you plan to recruit?"

"Depending on how successful it is, we may stop of 5, we may stop at 100. The Director will be the one to decide what happens."

"What's with that guy? Why did he welcome me to the 'team'?"

"Director Dawson and I are scientists. He studied theoretical inter-dimensional travel for a while before he started the program. He inherited a lot of money from his parents. I was working on my own experiments when we met. He was intrigued to find out what kind of work I was doing with animals. I showed him my progress, and he offered me a job to develop further. He took an interest in my theories on evolution. You see, evolution occurs when there needs to be a solution to a problem. Humans found solutions with their mind. They use the world around them. Animals, however, adapted physically to find solutions. For instance, a certain snake would use venom to kill it's enemy, while a human would look for or create a weapon. It's a lot more complicated to make several different modifications to many humans, than it is to give different animals the same modification. This gives you the upper-hand to most other humans. Director Dawson did more than just study theoretical inter-dimensional travel, though. He actually discovered a way to do it. He wants the animals to be the pioneers."

There was a brief pause.

"That seems very complicated and far-fetched." Jim played a mental 'badum-tss' for that pun. "What does he gain from an animal going instead of a person?"

There was a pause.

"Alright, fine. So we thought it would be cool to send talking dogs to different worlds!" She admitted. "The point is, you'd get to explore new worlds! You don't have to of course, we wouldn't force you, but it's an excellent opportunity. You know what, here, how about meeting the others before you decide?"

"Alright, sure. I never told you my name though. It's Jim."

"Well Jim, it's nice to meet you. You can just call me Aza." She beckoned Jim to follow her as she left the room.

Jim followed Aza out into a white hallway.  There were 3 doors on each side of the corridor, and an elevator at the end. Jim's claws tapping on the white tiles as he walked.

"We use these other 5 rooms for the various processes of making your kind. This is where we worked on you." She led him into the elevator. There were 7 different floors, 3 of which were underground.

"We are going up to the fourth floor." Aza told Jim. "The fourth floor is where we house our agents. This was the third floor, where I do my work on animal intelligence. Below us, the second floor, is where Dr. Matthew works. You'll get to meet him if you join us. Ground floor is mainly reception and security. Then you have the underground levels: U1, U2, and U3. U1 is where you can train and U2 is mainly storage and building maintenance." She pressed the button for the 4th floor.

"And what about U3?" Jim asked.

Aza smiled. "That's where the dimensional travel happens." The elevator opened. "I have paperwork to fill out, so why don't you go ahead and meet everyone, and I'll be back in about an hour to talk more."

Jim exited the elevator, and turned around to ask one more question. "If I do join you guys, how am I going to use the elevator by myself?"

Aza smiled and the door closed. Jim turned around to find 3 different creatures in front of him: A cat, an eagle, and a squid.