Project: Rampant Growth

New Life

In this society, life is governed by complex rules of do's and do not's. These rules only exist to tamper with the natural flow of life. They seek to empower the weak, while diminishing the strong. Do not kill, do not hunt, do not feast, and do not succeed. Do fail, do surrender, and do nothing to better yourself.
The mere existence of these codes of law is an affront to nature. Nature is right; nature is pure, nature reigns supreme. There are many servants and vassals to the great body of growth, life, and death. In fact, it is a group of these ungrateful mongrels that imagined these accursed laws. The humans, with their ideas of superiority have made nature herself their slave. But the fact is this is not true, Nature only bides her time. She only lies in wait for when the humans make their fatal mistake.
This time is nearing though, the foolish beings that see themselves so high, so untouchable, are near their demise. They used sciences that Nature provides, to make their tools. The trouble soon arises, though their creations soon begin to advance past their meager understandings. Their tools will become their masters, their deaths, and then Nature will have her bittersweet revenge.
Chapter 1:
Deep below the surface of the Earth, extensive research is done. Though its location is classified and hidden well, it is known by most everyone in the world. From the shores of Japan to the Mediterranean, people know. Somewhere on this planet an amazing research facility exists. Within the catacombs, within the labyrinths, within the multitude of tunnels and ducts, thousands of people dressed in white make their business.
A portion of these workers conduct medical experiments, looking for new ways to save lives. Other parts might be making agricultural breakthroughs to feed the masses. Many are thinking of the newest things to sell to the world's consumer population. Yet of all these branches of science, one dominates them all. The main subject of all experiments conducted, recorded, and revised, is that of warfare. This facility is owned by one man. This one man commands the wealth of the world, selling weapons to whoever has the funds.
Due to the profitability of his business, his power and influence quickly grew. From the seeds of his father and mother, came the world's most known and unknown force of devastation. His quarters are further down in this facility, guarded so heavily by an automated force. He trusts no one with his life.
That is all I know about this amazing place though. Despite what many think of it, the research done here has advanced us past the days of the cavemen in the 20th century. I feel so lucky to be a part of this wonderful facility. It was a chance, but I took it. While getting some schooling at a university that seems so insignificant compared to where I am now, I did something right. For whatever reason, the officials that decide who is commissioned chose me.
From what I understand, my work will be focused in the fields of medicine. That was such a relief, I doubt I could live with myself if my work lead to the death of even one person. Luckily for me, it will lead to the breakthroughs that save lives or improve the functions of living. Such rewarding work, knowing that what I do will fix the problems caused by the rest of this facility's research.
Oh, right, my name is Jack. Jack Spencer. The excitement from this whole thing had made me forget my manners.
"And I missed my stop." I sigh, as the realization dons on me. The section I am in was back towards the top, near the 100 floors. Right now the lift is deep down, in the 600's.
"Newbies..." the only other passenger sighs. I turn back and see he is shaking his head. He looks old, like he has been working here for a while. I must look a child compared to this geezer.
The old man makes his stop at floor 628. Once he is off, I quickly press back up to the 100th floor. When I was hired on the Human relations committee neglected to inform me which actual floor I was to work. They said something about my supervisor meeting me. These rides were long, and the pods we rode in were less than spacious. I wonder if any claustrophobics were hired.
As I stood for what felt like hours, the numbers showing on the panel ticked down and down, all the while I was going up and up. The lift passed the 500's, the 400's, the 300's, and the 200's. The pod slowed down as it came nearer to the 100th floor. With an abrupt stop, the doors slide open.
While the inside of the ride looked sleek, a silvery metallic look, the walls in the halls is a blinding white. Not only did they look so clean and pristine, but the laminate added a smooth reflection of the bright fluorescent lights above. The whole sight was startling, a great difference from the dimly lit lifts. As my eyes adjust I see people of varying ages, and of varying ethnicities passing through the pathways. It seemed that they had a wide base of people to collect the smartest minds.
"You're late" Another older gentleman glared at me. He sat on a bench near the elevator. The man stood up as the seating retracted back into the wall, leaving no sign that it was ever there. I stood there baffled; all the while the man berated me for my tardiness.
"This isn't acceptable work behavior young man. Only because you are new will we allow for this one slip up." He said as he began walking off. Without any direction, I follow shortly behind him. My feet did most of the walking without input from my brain. I was far too busy looking at all the sights to see, the mumblings to be heard. Because of this absentminded wandering, I crash into my already agitated supervisor.
Despite the look of the man, he was built solidly. When I bumped into him he barely budged. I on the other hand, fell backwards with an astounding reactionary force. He turned back around to me to extend his hand. He looked more disappointed and tired than angry.
"Please try to keep focused, will you?" I graciously grab his hand as he helped me back onto my feet. I felt so embarrassed, yet it seemed no one cared or even noticed. I didn't know whether to be thankful or to be surprised.
"Sorry about that. Do you mind telling me where we are going?" I ask, looking around at the blank hallway. I am just now realizing how empty the halls have gotten.
"Yes, of course. We are taking you to your work area." He gestures at a blank wall, that for whatever reason looked even emptier than the rest of the hallway. The supervisor noticed my look.
"Oh you poor fool, you don't think that I am crazy do you?" He chuckles. I do the same, if a little forced.
"Well would a crazy person do this?" Just when the last syllable passes his lips he leaps towards the segment of wall. Almost in an instance, those firm looking sides zip open. In the next second they close again, the elderly gentleman gone.
Surprised, yet not surprised at the same time, I walk forward. The walls open up quickly yet again and I step through. It was foolish, it was idiotic of me to not expect as much. For the walk we took I saw no doors, but when I looked at all the people moving back and forth I never gave a second guess.
The room I stepped into was a whole new experience. The door closed behind me, but I never noticed. I was in shock, no, in awe of the amazing sight. The ceiling seemed to reach up and up into forever. It would certainly explain the long rides through the tunnels. Not only that, but so different, so odd, the walls in this room were anything but a ghastly and overwhelming white. It was a soft brown, one that didn't blind you with the bright lights. The room was beyond large; it seemed as big as a city in there.
"Ha, looks like we got another gazer." The sound of laughter comes from a small group. The sound of the man's voice brings me back to reality. The blink of an eye sets me right once more. I slowly begin to walk towards them. Though I try to move towards them, it feels like I am only staying in place. I look down and only more laughter ensues.
"Quit messing with the child, we aren't paid to play such childish games." The familiar old man speaks to my tormentor. The younger man clicks something on tiny fob, causing the floor beneath me to stop moving me back towards the door. The sudden stop again throws me off, sending me onto the ground once more. The laughter starts up again. I never thought today would turn out quite like this.
Chapter 2:
Once everything was situated I began to do my work. Before I could begin though, they had given me my equipment. Standard with all lab workers come a lab coat, goggles, and a name tag that doubled as a keycard. The name tag looked really futuristic. The names on each of them looked holographic, not to mention the complexity of it being my key to many, many doors. I make sure to get everything ready for my work day.
Yesterday after all the torments, they handed me this stuff. Without any instructions, they sent me off to my dorm in this odd place. The room left much to be desired. It was a cold cramped space, and the white washed walls did little to make me feel at home. I did fall asleep however, due to a long day of exhausting new experiences.
When I woke up, rather, I suppose I woke up. I don't truly remember it at all. All I do remember though is that I was walking to my work area. Come to think of it, I don't think they told me what I was supposed to do, yet I feel like I do. Maybe they used some weird brain technology to beam the information into my head. I wonder how long it will take before I become a mindless tool.
"Not very long" Stated a feminine, yet computerized voice. The sound put me at a dead stop. I turn to see a small monitor with the best poker face I have ever seen.
"You can read my thoughts?" I ask as my voice trembles with the fear that is welling inside of me.
"Correct. In the night you were sedated. During this period a microcomputer was surgically placed in your frontal lobe. The purpose of this is to monitor brain activity, while stimulating creativity in our employees. The idea for this invention was from none other than..." The voice drones on, but I fail to listen any longer. Is that why I fell asleep so easily? And is that why I don't remember waking up?
Suddenly there is a small electric shock going through my head.
"It is very rude to ignore someone when they are talking to you. But if I bore you with this important information, then please, go." With that being said the monitor floats away, seeming to be propelled by a miniature jet pack. This place never ceases to amaze me.
Then it dawns on me. These people have something in my head, something to control my very life, something that monitors everything I do. I break out into a cold sweat; my body refuses to move any more. Like a miracle though, I start moving towards the room once more. I look down towards my legs, I tell them to stop their movement, yet they continue forward. As I think this, a voice raises in the back of my mind.
"It seems you are startled by the equipment we have provided to you. Does the lab coat not suit your style?" It was a man's voice. It was the voice of someone who demanded respect. I shiver at the thought, yet my body doesn't follow suit.
"As long as you play nicely with the others, do your work, and don't raise a peep about any of this to the outside world, then you will be just fine." All of a sudden my body stops. I suppose he has left me to control myself.
I decide to heed the man's advice and keep on moving forward. It seems this place just gets worse and worse. Not only do my fellow colleagues torment me, but now there is someone out there who could end my life with the push of a button. I have no idea what I have gotten myself into, but I know I don't like it.
Fear strikes me again. I am so foolish! The thoughts I begin to think could very well end me. I try to calm myself but the basic fear just drips and flows in the back of my mind. Suddenly, the fear stops. It was as if something in my brain, the part that controlled fear, just stopped. Then that dreadful voice came once again.
"I see you are having some trouble adapting to these changes. And to think I had such high hopes for you. To assist in your endeavor to live with this new voice in your head, we have disabled parts of your brain to help you continue on." With that, the voice faded. Such amazing power they hold over me. It was such terrifying power. Yet I don't feel the fear anymore, I am somewhat thankful.
Before long I am back at the familiar room where I was once tormented. I have an odd feeling my torments are long form over, but I have no choice in the matter. I am in too deep. The doors slide open, the doors slide closed once again. I am not met with silly pranks; rather I see a somewhat stereotypical lab situation. There are people in lab coats pouring bubbling mixtures into beakers and tubes. Their faces are covered with goggles, latex gloves on their hands. All around me you can see messy processes occurring. A Bunsen burner was burning, while some forceps were clamping down heated containers.
Eventually the elderly coworker notices me. He carefully places what he is doing fumbling with down onto a counter, before weaving his way through the mess that appeared just today.
"Good morning. Today we have begun work on chemicals on living matter, specifically on deadly organisms." He motions a gloved hand towards the others. For such potentially dangerous work, none of them seem to have covered up.
"What exactly are we working with? If these organisms are deadly then why aren't we using the proper safety precautions?" My question seems intelligent, yet he only finds a laugh.
"I'm only messing with you son, we just get paid to goof around here mostly. Do whatever you like. If you make a breakthrough, they take the credit and sell it. Though if you don't produce anything useful after a while, they terminate your contract and dump you back into your old life." He says these things so casually, as if his very career wasn't on the line.
"It's very easy honestly. The smallest improvements to a weapon, or a car, or just making a phone screen slightly larger makes them millions." His words are truly reassuring. I guess what they said about what I would be doing was just a sugarcoated lie to get me here. I'm sure they have some rules deeper down into the compound, but I suppose things are much more lax up in the higher levels.
I suit up, donning my goggles and a pair of gloves. I have no idea what I am doing; I don't even know where to start really. I think of all the problems that are there in the world, all the things that could be solved. Before I would have had thousands upon thousands of solutions, but now my mind draw's only blanks. I wonder if it is only a side effect of this brain chip, or if they are doing it to me. There is no use worrying about it now.
Since I am here, I decide to use some of the more interesting components of science. I look around the room and find that it is an even bigger mess than when I had come in. It is amazing how much work a cleanup crew could have. I wonder if the rest of the place has such problems.
"Where can a guy get some radioactive compounds around here?" I ask aloud. I look amongst them, yet they all seem so busy with their own work. I sigh. When I turn around to my piece of counter, a large leaden container hangs by a robotic arm before me. I jump in surprise. Beside the arm is the same monitor, at least I think so, that had greeted me before.
"Container holds multiple samples of elements and compounds with a long range of varying half-life. If you need anything else, please call and your request will be fulfilled." The container is placed right before me. Within seconds the hand and the monitor disappear.
"Wow." It was all I could say. I was speechless. Yet my mind did come back to me. I realize that I should be safer with these new materials. I call for a lead jacket and face shield. They were promptly brought and I quickly equipped them. I open the box of elements. The lid was crushingly heavy, yet I managed it. Inside I saw samples of everything. I suppose I should have been more specific about what I wanted.
"Take these back, and just bring me a gram or so of plutonium". The box was retrieved by the arm, yet my second request was not fulfilled. Instead the monitor paid me a visit once again.
"Access denied. Such high level materials are not easily granted without proper application." With that the floating screen disappears again. I sigh, it was only a whim. I feel that if I asked for that stuff that they would laugh, I had no reason to want it other than just to see it. I settle to just mess around with more stable reagents.
*
A week or so has passed. It's strange down here, we cannot tell night from day, nor can we know which day it is, of which month, or which year. I do know it has been a while, yet it hasn't been too long. I am in trouble though. With everything I have done here, nothing has yielded new or useful information, it hasn't given wonderful new technologies to help better or destroy a society. I am at a loss. I need something, or else I fear they will ruin me.
A sick thought pops into my head just now. If I can't make my own improvements, why not steal someone else's? There were plenty of people just in the room that had plenty of work done. They live so carefree. I could never take from my mentor though, yet I do recall someone who deserves some payment for the way I was treated. His name was Kyle or something. It didn't matter much to me what his name was.
The memory bubbles to the surface, making me angry, and the way he made me look like a fool. As if my first day wasn't bad enough knowing my head was controlled by someone in some room. Stealing his work wouldn't suffice though. In order for me to remain here, I have to remove him permanently, and take his precious works. Luckily he has been working very hard on something. To me it only looked like a ball, but he had told me it was life. He bragged that he had created life. Not only that, but it grew on its own. All he had to do was provide it with a growth medium.
I doubt he told anyone else; he seemed too wrapped up in his work. If I act quickly I could easily take over his research and claim the fame. Today I will take care of him.
I watch him. I watch him carefully as he examines the chamber that holds the ball. He does nothing but watch it, and all I do is watch him. Sometimes he writes down something he observes, other times he just stares. The time wears down towards the end of our shift. Everyone else starts packing up and making their way back to their dorms. Kyle stays though. It is odd; it seems he is entranced with his creation. He is entranced with a ball of cells. Come to think of it he hasn't even moved in over an hour. I suppose now would be the best time to strike.
"I would like a scalpel, for my work." I say the command, and soon a scalpel lies on the counter beside me. A sharp blade. A thin, sharp, flesh slashing blade. It is a perfect tool for slashing necks. I grip it tightly in my hand. I slowly step forward towards my victim. Quietly, I appear behind him. Ever so slowly I raise the scalpel to his neck, wrapping my arms around him. He doesn't struggle. He just stares are his work. This trance is unnerving, but I have gone too far now to turn back
"Goodbye." The sound of blood hitting the floor fills my ears. The life fades within the body I'm holding. I let it go. He falls to the floor with another thud, only now uttering a noise as blood bubbles from the two lips formed on his throat. I stand in shock as I look at what I have done, all so I could remain here. I react quickly.
"Please remove this bio-waste, and clean up the mess." The body is dragged away to some other room. The blood is absorbed into the floor. All that is left is the mess on me, on my hands. I throw the weapon behind me.
"Remove that as well, and this filthy coat and gloves. Bring me a new coat." I remove the blood stained clothing. While those are being destroyed, cleaned, or trashed, I get ready to leave. I am unable to take a step towards the door before a resounding laugh enters my head.
"Oh my, it seems we have a trouble maker here. This is not a recording like most of the messages you have heard before. This is your boss now. I like your tenacity kid. I hope you will keep up the good work, but do try to keep your messes to a minimum." I stand there frozen now. How could I forget? Was I truly that afraid of losing my job that I forgot about them? I'm a murderer. I'm a cold blooded murderer. I turn around to where the body was. The vision of blood fills my eyes, yet the room is completely clean. I shudder at what I have done, at what I have become. I look to what I had done it for. That ball of flesh.
But it wasn't just a ball of flesh. It is now my work. It is the result of all the research I had done, all the work I had put into it to give it life. It is now my responsibility, and it is mine. I don't feel very proud, but now I don't have much choice. Suddenly I feel eyes on me. I look around the room, expecting another witness to the crimes I had committed. I see no one. I look back to the tube of life. Inside the ball of flesh looks the same as it ever had. Yet something changed. In the center of its spherical form, an ocular growth could be seen. Amazing, the thing had grown an eye! But wait, how long did it have that? Did it see me murder its master?
Chapter 3:
"He was useless anyway; all he would only stare at it. Yeah, he would just stare; he didn't do anything with it. It was a mercy for me to take over the project." I repeat to myself, but the guilt hangs on me. I wonder if anyone else had ever done something like this here. I wonder if it is going to happen to me.
It has been a week so far. The others didn't notice their missing co-worker. It bothered me, but it also reassured me. For now I just stare at my adopted creation. In the time between it hadn't made any changed. All it seemed to do was blindly stare at some spot or another. The eye wouldn't move, it would only dilate and constrict to varying lights. I wasn't even sure what I was going to do with this thing. All the possibilities it had, I could see none that would help with medical research.
Upon closer observation the eye was much like that of a cat's. It had a slitted pupil, and the iris had interesting hues and colors. Throughout the day the iris' color would go from a darker shade of blue, until it was almost gray in the night. I observed this under many different lights to ensure this was not an illusion caused by the surroundings. This organism has some already interesting qualities, despite it being so inactive.
Eventually I just decide to measure its physical attributes. I carefully take it from the suspension. It has never left its fluid home, so I am unsure how it will react. In my gloved hands the thing feels very amorphous. In my hands the once perfect sphere begins to droop and sag. IT quickly loses its shape, looking much like a deflated basketball.
This scares me. I may have just destroyed this piece of work. I quickly drop it into the suspension, returning it to its calming incubator. I look at it for a moment before I sigh.
"I have become such a failure. I should have known I would never be cut out for this." I drop my head into my hands, and almost immediately whip my head back up. I had forgotten to remove my gloves, and now my face was covered in the dead animal's flesh, and the repugnant suspension.
I nearly lose all my stomach's contents. I quickly get to a sink and remove the disgusting gloves from my hands. Soon after I splash water on my face, both to clean myself and wash away the failure of today. When I am satisfied with the cleanup, I slowly slump to the floor. I repeatedly beat my head into the floor, punishing myself for all the stupidity. No one else in the room paid any mind, which gave me some solace.
Either I beat all my self-loathing out of my head or at least the sadness. Regardless of which I stand up and face that which I had destroyed. Oddly enough it had reformed, looking like a plump ball. It probably wasn't even alive when I had taken it out the first time. Maybe it died a day or so ago? Maybe it wasn't my fault.
Just as relief comes over me, even more reason for relief appears. The thing, that creation, had blinked. I am almost certain that was a sign it was alive. I must not have noticed before but it seems to have generated some form of an eyelid. This was wonderful! This was amazing! Not only have I not thrown away all my work, but now it was making progress. Of course I scold myself for not having noticed the advancement my little creature made, but I was too happy to be mad at myself for long.
With joy I quickly note this on the mostly blank paper. I had used it to record observations, but for the most part this thing was more boring than a potato. At least a potato grew more than one eye. Now it has changed though, now the ball of flesh was growing. It was small, but it was a change. I write down that not only does it have an eyelid now, but it is using it perfectly. It appears it is having no trouble with it. This is odd though. Now that I think about it, what did my predecessor use to make this?
I look at the ball. Did he just create it from scratch? If so then what does its DNA program it to do? If he used another animal as a base, shouldn't it resemble an embryo or a fetus? This creation was very interesting indeed. I would have to get a sample of its DNA. I look around for the gloves I had taken off. Maybe they had some trace of this ball's cells.
My search is futile of course, for it seems the cleanup system was one step ahead of me. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I am certain I will eventually be able to get some shed cells, or get a gentle scraping sooner or later. For now everyone leaves me to my thoughts. My curiosity sends me on strange day-dreams. The more I think about the origins of this inactive beast's life, the more it bothers me.
Upon further observation and a few scans of the gelatinous creature, it can be concluded that in fact the eye does not function. I would laugh if this impasse wasn't so startling. Why could this organism grow an eye, which looks like a perfect eye, that doesn't work? It has all the proper structures of an animal. It had sufficient cones and rods covering the retina, along with the lens and the cornea. The only thing it lacked for was a nerve. In fact, it lacked a brain of any sorts. It had no central nervous system at all.
The entire existence of this creation is baffling. When outside of its little tube it deflates. I assume it is mostly hollow because of this, with a very porous exterior. I am sure this thing would be dead in minutes if I ever took it out again. I climb up beside the top of the container and pop the lid off. I glance down at my creature. The smell of the nutri-juice was overpowering. It mingled with the smell of the ball's waste and it nearly blew me off my feet.
I begin to drop back down to the floor but it seems I misjudged the number of steps. With a splash I fall face first into the canister. My waist catches onto the edge while my upper body is submerged. My hand grazes the growth. I bring my hands to the rim of the container and pull myself back out. I gasp as the putrid smell of the waste and nutrients drip off of my face. It takes all of my willpower to keep from voiding my gullet. I quickly drop down to the floor.
Luckily for me, no one was around to see that horribly embarrassing act. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of my usual coworkers recently. For the past few days it seems I was alone with just my creation. Maybe they were just reassigned. Anyway, I need to get cleaned off.
"Get me a new set of clothes and find me a place to clean off..." I talk the interface that inhabits the labs. I am led to a side room right off the main area. It appears just out of the wall, like most of the rooms in this confusing place. The room has one shower head and drain right below it. The room looks more like a closet truly, like a small showering stall. I shed my disgusting garments and step in for a short scrub down. After the shower and a quick pat down with a complementary towel, I step back outside and don the new fresh clothing that the computerized lab assistant brought me.
Since I am back in some new clothes I feel better already. With my mind at ease I quickly remember that I had left the top off of the bio-container. It is very possible that because of what I have done I may have exposed the creature to a multitude of airborne pathogens, or even those on my own body. I rush to seal the lid back on as a small comfort for the potential failure I had just committed. Well, with any luck the beast would still be ok...
"What in the..." I utter the words. My mind is drawing blanks as I stare at my ball of flesh. Yet, it is no longer a ball. It has sprouted another pseudo eye, and from it's center sprouts 5 buds, giving it the shape of an oversized starfish. The change is startling. What is more startling is that the change occurred within only minutes of me being unable to observe it. I sit there stunned for what felt like an hour, watching to see any more changes.
It feels like the subject recognizes my presence, that it remains inactive while I'm able to observe it. Yet that is a crazy thought, and it is forced from my mind in only seconds. My mind begins to wander about the possibilities of where the next change could be, what will happen to this little ball, no, star of mysteries.
Seeing as the little thing has given me a fair share of scares and mysteries, I think I would only be fair to give it a name. Officially, I shall call it the blob, but to me, it shall forever be known as my own little Star. I know it sounds a little cheesy, and vaguely unimaginative, but it felt right. It seemed like the best choice looking at the state of the being. Besides, sooner or later this thing is going to me a star too. Though for now, I will just have to watch over the blob as it grows and nurture it whenever it needs it.
The next day a strange thought comes to me. What exactly spurred the growth of my Star? The eye came after I had taken it out of the growing pod, and the budding came after I had all but swam in the growth broth. During that little dip I had even touched Star with my bare hand, if not accidentally. So maybe what it needs is a little kinetic encouragement to start growing. Since that sounds a lot better than just staring at the glass, I decide to do it.
I initiate a gentle stirring sequence in the gestation pod. It was almost funny watching Star bob around inside its home. Occasionally it would collide with the walls of the container, causing it to distort its shape, but only momentarily before the gelatinous structure pulls itself back together. After exactly 5 minutes I stop the function. Slowly and slowly Star floats back to its normal position in the suspension. Now the truly entertaining part happens, where I wait for an hour or so, however long it takes to get Star's metaphorical butt in gear.
After about an hour and a half, I grow tired of waiting of this thing to do something. Another disappointment, but now I don't know if it was me, or if it was my deadbeat child. True, Star really isn't my child, nor is it even my creation, but hey, some things can grow on you. Not literally hopefully. Maybe I just need to give it a spanking? Hell, it is worth giving it a try. If I am going to treat it like a child, I may as well punish and abuse it like one.
I climb back up beside the tube and immediately remember yesterday's affairs. It seems I had forgotten to get the steps cleaned off after the ordeal. No matter, that could be taken care of later. I reach for a slender rod of metal. I found it lying around here and have thought about using it as a probe. Once the lid is off I brace myself for the traumatizing smell. Once I feel I am able to stomach it, I lean over the opening and stare at Star.
"You know son, this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you." I snicker to myself. Oh how awful of a parent I will be, if I ever do become a parent. With a quick stroke of the piece of metal I make a quick dent into the side of Star. It quickly deforms under the strike from my tool, the force sending it against the side of the pod. I step back down and seal it once again. Again, I sit and watch.
Something is different this time at least. It seems I have damaged my child. Where I had struck it with the rod had left a deep indentation into Star. Unlike the collisions inside the pod that mildly changed his shape, this change did not reverse. The indentation stayed there. With growing worry and panic sinking in, I stand up quickly.
"Oh for the love of...What have I done now?" I sigh to myself. I didn't think it was too hard of a hit. I suppose I really would make a terrible father. I pace back in forth, new thoughts worming their way into my mind to sow seeds of doubt. It finally comes to me that I might have killed my child. No, not child, test subject. I have to remember that.
With haste I quickly find myself at the top of the tube. Reaching into the pungent soup of nutrients I grab hold of Star. I gently begin pressing in the sides of the starry shape, hoping to pop out the dent I had caused. Little by little Star began to take its regular shape, filling back out into the almost blobbed form from before. Once the dent is completely massaged out, I begin to relax. Fixing the wrong I had caused I release Star back into the disgusting filth that feeds it. Returning the environment to normal I sit back and stare at that small accomplishment.
"You are some kind of stupid, aren't you?" a startling voice states. I turn to look around by find no one there.
"In your head genius. Anyway, what were you thinking? Beating it until it changed? That isn't science. If you destroy this advanced specimen with your stupidity you will find yourself in a most painful position." he finishes. I look back at Star and sigh in agreement. It was very stupid of me, and it very well may have killed the most interesting thing in this facility. I should be a lot more protective of it.
While I think about the potential travesty that could have occurred, a short glance at Star shows another interesting change. The 5 appendages become more defined from the center mass of flesh. The two non-functioning eyes remain in the center, blankly staring out into the lab. Yet with the next moment, one of the eye begins to shift. As I watch in awe at the new development, the other eye begins to look around as well. Both of the feline eyes glance around, looking at 2 different items or places. Their odd erratic glances lead me to believe they still do not see, but the fact that the eyes are moving is still an improvement.