Damian feels a peculiar combination of horror and awe as he stands in front of the glass cage. Inside, there is a lovely young woman with large, trusting eyes, red lips pursed in curiosity as she peers at him. Her giant white wings flare out behind her, like an angel. Except he knows she's not an angel because there are papers in his office telling him when and how she's made.
~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~
Damian's first memory of her on a picture printed on a huge file. She was just a ball of cells then, so small that she's barely visible in the large tank she's kept in, floating in the middle of a mass of orange goo that appears to glow because of the twin light sources at the top and bottom of the tank.
She was so small that they zoomed into the picture and magnified the picture in a separate section, making sure he can see there's something in the tank- that it's not empty.
The man in charge, a businessman who had gotten the project going under the guise of something else is explaining all the things they'll be doing with her.
There are werewolves in the world, why shouldn't there be other shifters, he says. She will be the first bird-human hybrid, because people have always been obsessed with flight and wings and she will be able to have both.
He can't see it yet, but she will have wings soon and they're accelerating her growth process until she'll be at growth in a few weeks. Once she's fully grown, they're going to study her, and then take her apart to study her, clone her, sell her as a sort of exotic pet for the rich.
He tells Damian many things, but he's not listening because he's staring at the papers in his hand in horror. He didn't approve of this. He has no memory of approving this experiment- very much the opposite, in fact. When the first proposal was laid on his desk, he had fired the man who suggested it. And now- now it had gone ahead regardless in a department that didn't know when to stop.
It's an experiment, a life form created in a laboratory by splicing the best of human genetics with animal genes that will make her more animal than human. Make her animal enough that she won't have basic human rights.
Genetic manipulation of this sort just isn't done. It's playing at being God.
He had assumed that the department would be disbanded after his clear rejection of the very idea. He thought too highly of his team, perhaps. Everyone knew it was wrong and shouldn't be done, but they can't help but be curious as well. What would happen if the program wasn't shut down? The first steps have been taken already, after all. It is not as though they don't have the equipment or the money to get it done. They didn't even need to do much. Just close one eye and let it happen.
And now-
He flips through the rest of the pages. It's a thick file, a documented progression of her growth from one tiny ball of cells.
Now, there is a team of scientists who doesn't know that he's here to tell them to pack up and go home because he's shutting down the program once and for all after discovering something wrong in the numbers. It's not tallying up. There's a whole separate department that he thought he had put a stop to months ago.
Now, there is a living being in a cage, blinking up at him with innocent large eyes.
~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~
Damian's first memory of her on a picture printed on a huge file. She was just a ball of cells then, so small that she's barely visible in the large tank she's kept in, floating in the middle of a mass of orange goo that appears to glow because of the twin light sources at the top and bottom of the tank.
She was so small that they zoomed into the picture and magnified the picture in a separate section, making sure he can see there's something in the tank- that it's not empty.
The man in charge, a businessman who had gotten the project going under the guise of something else is explaining all the things they'll be doing with her.
There are werewolves in the world, why shouldn't there be other shifters, he says. She will be the first bird-human hybrid, because people have always been obsessed with flight and wings and she will be able to have both.
He can't see it yet, but she will have wings soon and they're accelerating her growth process until she'll be at growth in a few weeks. Once she's fully grown, they're going to study her, and then take her apart to study her, clone her, sell her as a sort of exotic pet for the rich.
He tells Damian many things, but he's not listening because he's staring at the papers in his hand in horror. He didn't approve of this. He has no memory of approving this experiment- very much the opposite, in fact. When the first proposal was laid on his desk, he had fired the man who suggested it. And now- now it had gone ahead regardless in a department that didn't know when to stop.
It's an experiment, a life form created in a laboratory by splicing the best of human genetics with animal genes that will make her more animal than human. Make her animal enough that she won't have basic human rights.
Genetic manipulation of this sort just isn't done. It's playing at being God.
He had assumed that the department would be disbanded after his clear rejection of the very idea. He thought too highly of his team, perhaps. Everyone knew it was wrong and shouldn't be done, but they can't help but be curious as well. What would happen if the program wasn't shut down? The first steps have been taken already, after all. It is not as though they don't have the equipment or the money to get it done. They didn't even need to do much. Just close one eye and let it happen.
And now-
He flips through the rest of the pages. It's a thick file, a documented progression of her growth from one tiny ball of cells.
Now, there is a team of scientists who doesn't know that he's here to tell them to pack up and go home because he's shutting down the program once and for all after discovering something wrong in the numbers. It's not tallying up. There's a whole separate department that he thought he had put a stop to months ago.
Now, there is a living being in a cage, blinking up at him with innocent large eyes.