Vampires and Zombies (and Werewolves and some other stuff)

Chapter 2

Council Meeting Transcription for 18 May 2032

Subject: Genetic Modification for the Purpose of Humane and Sustainable Blood Harvesting

Panel members in attendance:

Amar Fitzroy- Chancellor

Victor Calvert –Minister of Human Relations

Richard Tennyson- Secretary

Ernest Moncrieff- Interspecies liaison

Herbert Darwin-Minister of Scientific Advancement

Lord Calvin Naser- Cabinet member

Non-council members:

Dr. Alfred Drumpf- Head researcher for project

Tennyson: We are ready to begin, your lordship.

Fitzroy: I call this meeting to order. Dr. Drumpf is here to explain to us the nature of his research with what I hope will help pacify a growing sentiment among our younger, more liberal members and constituents about the nature of the food chain.

Moncrieff: Oh, is it the food chain that has caused us to enslave some and treat others merely as a food source with no regard to them? And now you wish to exper-

Calvert: Enough, Mister Moncrieff. This is not the time to air your naïve viewpoints. If this passes, your liberal viewpoints should be mollified. No more will those poor humans with their emotions and intellect and pain be our meals. This should make you happy!

Fitzroy: Order. Mr. Drumpf, what do you have for us?

Drumpf: For many years now, we have been seeking to help assuage the consciences of our kind-

Calvert: Some of our kind!

Drumpf: Yes, quite so. In any case-

Moncrieff: Good lord, Calvert, could you be more of a stereotypical villain? Eaten any orphans lately?

Fitzroy: Order! Doctor, please proceed, with no more interruptions!

Drumpf: For the past decade we have been working to create a more sustainable food source for our species. We have had moderate successes creating synthetic bloods, but nothing so satisfies and strengthens us as fresh blood from homo sapiens. In this modern age and with our numbers growing, it has become unsustainable for us to hunt as we did once before, even were we to throw aside any ethical objects from our more liberal brethren. We decided to institute breeding and eugenics programs, much as the humans have done with plants and animals for centuries, we would now put those techniques, along with the aid of more modern genetic engineering, to quickly mass produce humans. These cloning and engineering techniques are successful, so that leaves merely the ethical ramifications. Cows are not humans, and indeed, we were all human once. It is not as though people eating hamburgers once knew what it was to be a cow themselves. This provides an ethical dilemma for many of our kind, especially among the young. Just as humans began to clone their meat when it became environmentally unsustainable to keep having monstrous hordes of cattle all over the place, as well as a growing number of people having ethical problems with eating something that was once alive and able to feel pain. Now many former vegetarians eat beef that was never actually in a living cow. Our current project seeks to address our problem with that, but it is more complicated. For the blood to truly work its powers upon us, it must be fresh, warm, and from a living body. So, what then to do? Simple: Remove everything the part of a human that makes them so human and leave them as simply a mindless being meant for the donation of blood. These creatures would be created and would never have dreams or hopes or feel pain. Strictly speaking, the only active parts of their brain will be the ones necessary for survival, such as the brain stem. Currently, we have several viable fetuses ready for implantation in volunteers, if this panel approves. So, that is a brief summation of where we are. Are there any concerns?