Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Chapter 63: Dr. Persey defrosts the leopard. The Beast is now the leopard's Other.

Dr. Persey was slowly realizing why the environmentalists were so upset about the extinction of animals. The leopard before him was a magnificent, majestic creature. Its eyes were like nothing he had ever seen – golden globes that brimmed with intelligence and ancient knowledge. The animal was graceful, yet powerful; strong, yet agile.

Licking its whiskers like that, Dr. Persey thought, it looks like a great big Hannibal. He wondered what kind of Other it would create. It couldn’t have gotten its soul back in the traditional sense, of course – assuming it even had a soul – they were extinct. A strange thought popped into his mind: Nature finds a way.

He wanted to pet the leopard and stroke its chin, but thought better of it. He turned his attention away from the cat, realizing he did have a lot of more important things to do. He would call the press in the morning, though, he told himself.

Wow, he chuckled, I’m going to be a star.

The leopard, meanwhile, closed its eyes and fell asleep.


In the MCA Biotechnology Lab, the Beast opened its eyes and woke up.

Today I get to share you with the world, Amanda thought as she prodded the Beast into its travel cage. Amanda thought it looked a little sickly today, but it was still scary. A little too scary for her taste, she admitted to herself. Still, the Church would be pleased. And surprised – nobody knew she had finally gotten it to live, even though she only expected it to survive for three and a half years.

She blew a kiss for every head – Jesus, it had taken a while to get all the heads to live – as she watched the truck pull away with her latest creation.

“Have a safe trip,” she called out.

No comments:

Post a Comment