"Specimen 121.1" by Matthew T. Summers

“It was only a matter of time, you know,” the bald man said sadly, as he gazed down at the Earth below.  It resembled none of the holophotos relating to it, however; sixty years of cellular warring had scarred the surface irrevocably.  The wondrous oceans that history bespoke of were mostly gone now, transferred into the surface clouding that pelted the environment below with a mixture of caustic liquids and poisonous gasses.  The landscape, occasionally seen though small breaks in the vapors below, was pockmarked with large craters and horrific cracks in the surface.

The man turned to the assembled group and shook his head.  “Once cellular weaponry had been developed, it simply took one wrong move on someone’s part.  Within a few years, likely ninety percent of the living population… well, was no longer living.”  He paused for a moment.  “However, those that survived, found themselves… changed.”

“Changed, Doctor Xavier?”  A low mutter followed the question, increasing in intensity as a rattle came from the other side of an ominous-looking door near the Doctor.  Doctor Xavier glanced at the door, and smiled slightly.

“Yes, Franc, changed.  You see, the cellular weaponry worked to change things on a cellular level.  It started innocuously… and with pure intentions.  Cloning was the first practical application of cellular technology, and without it, we wouldn’t have some of the medical advances we have today.”

He frowned.  “However, as you can see below me, it had some very dark aspects to it as well.  Cloning soon became cellular copying, or creating exact copies of nearly anything with a simple substitution of materials at hand for the raw physical mass required.  This led, in turn, to the first cellular weaponry.  Once it was discovered that you could decompose anything with a single burst from a simple, handheld device, Earth’s fate was doomed.”

Doctor Xavier looked back down to the devastated ball of mud and dirt below.  “So the survivors were forced to make some difficult... choices.”  He turned and nodded to the two large and burly men near the door. 

They grunted in response, opening the door and entering into the room beyond.  There was the sound of a quick scuffle, with a very loud swear indicating one of the men had received the worse end of… something.  An angry, clicking squeak was also heard, rising in pitch as the fight in the room came to an end.

The men returned to the observatory, physically dragging behind them the strangest creature any present had ever seen.  Once they’d reached the center of the auditorium, they forced the creature into a standing position, locking the ankle chains into corresponding metallic hooks on the floor and stepped back.

Now free of restraints beyond his ankle chains, the creature stood and looked at the now-nervous assembly of scientific minds.  The creature stood just under five feet tall, and though slightly hunchbacked, it stood as a human would on two very elongated clawed feet.  The upper limbs of the creature resembled human hands, though they were clawed as well, and only had four digits to them; the thumbs characteristic of humans was distinctly absent.  The creature was covered in a thin gray fur from head to toe, and had a thin metallic tail splayed behind it, which twitched occasionally as it looked around.

The most distinctive feature of the creature, however, was its head.  A large rat’s head completed the base idea behind the creature, but very humanoid eyes peered out from the rodent-like skull.  The ears were completely missing, replaced with some form of robotic protrusions that wrapped around the back of the head.  The majority of the beast’s skull was covered with the same metallic compound that comprised the tail, giving the creature a very fearsome visage indeed.

Stunned, the majority of the gathered people could do nothing more than stare.  A few shocked gasps echoed through the chamber, but Doctor Xavier breathed a sigh of relief that no one had screamed.  The creature was rather sensitive to noise, and he preferred it complacent on its own regard and not heavily sedated.

He gazed around to the audience.  “Surprised?  You should not be.  All the creatures below have been genetically mixed with humanity.  I said the survivors were forced to make some difficult choices…”  He moved to examine the man/rat closely, ignoring the creature’s hiss of warning.  “Though a choice this horrendous must have taken bravery beyond any we know.  To give up your humanity… what a final choice that must have been.”

The rat creature hissed again, his eyes never leaving the Doctor. 

Doctor Xavier continued, “But, if that was the only way to survive, perhaps I could see it.”  He turned and smirked.  “However, we know very little about what happened on the planet’s surface.  This specimen was retrieved at a great cost of life; much of the automated surface defenses guarding the planet are apparently still very much active.  So we’ve brought this specimen here…”

Doctor’s Xavier’s next words were forever lost to history when the creature spoke.  “Not a specimen.”  The words were raspy, harsh, and grating, as though his voice was rarely used.  However, the English itself was perfect, enounced in classic textbook pronunciation.  The creature glared around the gathered scientists, his gaze coming back to rest on the Doctor.

“What… what did you say?”  Doctor’s Xavier’s face had paled, and his words were stuttering and fearful. 

“I said, I’m not a specimen.”  The creature fixed Doctor Xavier’s eyes to his own.  “And you’ve got what happened down there all wrong.  So I’ll make you a deal.”

Doctor Xavier swallowed nervously.  “A.. A deal?”

”Yeah.  A deal.”  The rat creature grinned, a hideous effect on his animalistic visage.  “You stop poking and prodding me with all your damn needles and so forth, and I’ll tell you what really happened down there.”

Doctor Xavier nodded, slowly.

“I’m not done, Doctor.”  He frowned.  “I also want some real food.  I want to taste real food again; I’ve not had meat in years.  And I want some of it alive, and I want it immediately.”

Doctor Xavier blanched, but nodded again.  “Aye, we can.. can do that.  Anything else, specimen 121.1?”

“Yeah.  Don’t call me that ever again, or I’ll rip your throat out.”  The creature grinned.  “You can call me George.”