Waiting for the accursed terminal to process the data, Mayhew simply stood within the frigid lab, still fuming. It was odd that Mayhew couldn’t comprehend something, and the autopsy results fell into that category. On the rare occasion that Mayhew couldn’t crack some scientific anomaly, he couldn’t help but imagine his peers snickering and laughing behind his back, childish as it was. Gritting his teeth as he tried to push the thought from his mind, Mayhew also had the concern of Mr. York to worry about.
Mayhew knew that the heads of the Massachusetts branch were going to blame him for the loss of M-442, and the thousands of dollars that York had embezzled. Thankfully, Mayhew also knew that he wasn’t easily replaced. Any third year medical student could perform basic anatomical study and survey, but it was more than just Mayhew’s specialty, it was his passion.
Startled from his thoughts by a high pitched tone, Mayhew looked back to the terminal, the screen once again flashing various characters as it loaded. Finally, the screen displayed new text and a flashing icon.
CONNECTING VIDLINK TO GENTEK MAIN OFFICES
PLEASE TAP CONFIRM TO START VIDLINK
Taking a deep breathe, Mayhew reached over and lightly touched the monitor, the whole screen flashing for a few moments as he hit the highlighted text. A display tab appeared in the lower right corner, a gray lined square with black text that read GenTek Vidlink-9047 along the top. Within the tab was static for a few seconds before Mayhew could see a well suited man in his late twenties. He was pale but not palid or ghoulishly so and had short and well coifed hair. Looking into the terminal’s camera, Mayhew gave a nervous smile. “Hello, Dr. Underhill…”
Slumbering near several old cardboard boxes, Myriad was unaware of the danger that she was in. Suddenly startled awake by a hand lifting her by her scruff, she shrieked, face to face with the man who had been throwing out the garbage.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! NUUUUUUU!!! Wet Miw’iad gu!”
The tall and portly man sneered at Myriad, a wicked smile crossing his face. “I thought I saw a fluffy rat near the shop…”
Her mind lost to panic, Myriad stared helplessly at the angry man, his cruel and gleaming grin causing her to shake as she relieved her self from fear.
“Dr. Mayhew, I have reviewed the data you sent about Subject-235 from the MYRIAD Trials. Based on a combination of the photographic evidence and your own detailed conclusions, I have surmised what has occurred within Subject-235, as well as Myriad-442.”
Cold, thought Mayhew. Underhill was so damn cold. Straight to the point and with no pleasantries or introductions, the rumors Mayhew had heard didn’t do him justice. “So you have an explanation for the blockage, the tumorous mass? In all my years, I have never seen the likes of it Dr.Underhill.”
“You were chosen to keep lab operations going, but based on your docket, you were never given clearance about MYRIAD. One of the more admirable experiments involving biotoy DNA experimentation. Tell me Dr.Mayhew, would you find it shocking to know that in all our testing, not a single subject before MYRIAD ever developed any cancerous growths or masses.”
Pondering the question, Mayhew suddenly found it odd that while he had cut open countless fluffies for vivisection and study, he hadn’t encountered any cancers or tumors until now. “That’s bizarre sir. To be honest with you, I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it. Do you know why?”
“Extensive study has shown the biotoys to lack the genetic potential for naturally occurring neoplasmic tissue growth . Simply put, when a subject’s cells become abnormal, they refuse to divide, thus preventing the spread of abnormal cells that would normally mark the beginnings of a cancerous growth. We sought to study that phenomenon, to find it’s cause and replicate it within the human body. Imagine it Dr.Mayhew, immunity to cancer, within the span of our lifetime.”
Abnormal Cancer Cell Dividing
Healthy Cell Dividing
Nodding as Underhill spoke, Mayhew had to hide a slight grimace. Here the Doctor was going on and on about curing cancer but his tone was steady and calculating. It unnerved Mayhew how calm and composed the GenTek Scientist was compared to him. “Impressive sir! But I fail to see how that involves MYRIAD, or the mass I found. Did we give it to the subject? As an experiment for a cancer treatment or some kind of genome seeking agent?”
"Understanding why it occurred begins in understanding MYRIAD. Using enhanced artificial carcinogenic injections, test patients were subjected to roughly eighty times what a healthy adult human would encounter in their lifetime. This resulted in the subject’s growing tumorous masses, miniscule in size. This proved out hypothesis, that the biotoys were only resistant to cancerous growths, not truly immune. "
"That makes sense. While their are many variations of resistance to disease and toxins within nature, true immunity is all but unheard of. But I still don’t quite follow sir, how did the project lead to the subject’s offspring becoming a tumorous mass within her digestive tract?
“For the answer to that, we have to turn to the results of the MYRIAD trials. Once the initial subjects were successfully implanted with micro-tumors, a thirty day study revealed that when the biotoys have foreign bodies within, their immune system is only partially responsible for removing the unknown agent. It was observed that the biotoy’s body wasn’t simply fighting off the cancerous masses, it was metabolizing them.”
A look of shock overtook Mayhew as he stared into the monitor. “Her body broke them down?! Calorically?!” Shaking his head in slight disbelief, Underhill only slightly nodded, continuing his explanation.
“Correct. Macrophages are ordinarily the primary method in which dead cancer cells are broken down, through a process referred to as Efferocytosis, in which the dead cancerous material is broken down, cell by cell, into harmless materials that are lost via waste.”
Macrophage
“However, when measuring the initial MYRIAD subjects Metabolic Rate versus their Basal Metabolic Rate, it was soon discovered that even in what seemed like a resting state, the subject’s bodies were found to be burning calories at double their Basal Metabolic Rate or resting state. This was due to their bodies actively breaking down the foreign masses for caloric energy. As the trials continued, we included subjects that were impregnated and at various stages of gestation. Unfortunately, these tests were inconclusive as many subjects expired far faster when both injected with the tumor causing agents and expectant. However we were approaching week three for some of the surviving subjects, such as Myriad-442 and Subject-235, before the latter expired and the former escaped the facility. Tell me Dr.Mayhew, are you familiar with the concept of metastasis?”
Nervous at how callously Underhill had skipped over M-442’s escape, it took the Doctor a few moments to shake it off, stumbling over his response. “Well…it’s…it’s been a while since I was in Cancerous Studies but…I mean…” Cutting him off calmly and without a hint of the pitch of his voice rising, Underhill continued.
“Tumorous cells break off and spread throughout the bloodstream, still dividing as they travel throughout the body. This can lead to the cancers spreading seemingly unconnected areas of the body. With the previously discussed MYRIAD data and your findings, I surmise that the subjects broke down their unborn progeny the same way that that previous subjects broke down their tumorous growths, with the underdeveloped foals and the cancerous cells being shunted throughout the body, clearly affixing themselves within the cecum of both subjects.”
“But sir, I don’t understand. That’s a clear-cut explanation for why the cadaver’s foals were within her stomach, but how can you know that M-442 has them there as well?”
“In addition to the failings of Mr.York, as well as your own oversights, those chimeric growths within her cecum are how M-442 eluded you Doctor.”
Several of Mayhew’s autopsy photos suddenly displayed on the screen adjacent to the video screen, specifically the avascular cuts of the foal remains, and the portions of the cecum where the tumorous mass had grown.
“Sir…about what happened…I…” Whether Underhill was ignoring him purposefully or simply hadn’t heard Mayhew’s meek start of an excuse, the Doctor went on.
“Within the human digestive tract, there are autonomous neurons that work in tandem with the synapses of the brain to communicate stomach related issues. Several studies have concluded that these neurons result in the unpleasant sensations a subject experiences under extreme stress. Our biotoy subjects are no different, they too have a pathway of autonomous neurons within their digestive tracts. Now, look where the tumorous mass has supplanted itself onto.”
Neural Activity within Digestive Tract
The photo of the various cuts into the cadaver’s cecum zoom to the forefront of the screen, a series of red highlights showing a pathway passing through the tumor.
“While it is impossible to determine whether M-442 has identical chimeric growths, it would support my thesis. Here we can see that the chimeric mass is directly along a series of autonomous neurons, truly no different than a neural pathway in and of itself. Now, that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary except…”
The screenshot dissolves, with the foal remains now center focus, with several photos of the dissected remnants of what was fused into the tumor. Several veins and arteries that connect to the removed brains of the foals are highlighted with a red circle.
“…the vascular cuts you made have clearly shown that while the subject was alive, the chimeric mass allowed the foal remnants to pass blood and oxygenate the brain. In short Dr.Mayhew, I theorize that while they were fused within a fleshy mass of cancerous cells, these foals were quite alive. More so, I believe that due to the unusual placement of the chimeric mass, these foal remnants were uniquely capable of manipulating neural activity within the cecum, passing along actual data to the subject’s brain.”
Stifling a laugh, Mayhew blanched as he suddenly covered his mouth, feigning a cough. “Sir that sounds more like science fiction rather than science fact…”
“Using a lightly radioactive agent, as well as a series of electric probes applied to a subject’s exposed brain, I have discovered specific neural reactions within the stomach in direct response to synapse manipulation. In nine out of ten subjects, these results were identical. This allowed a rudimentary chart to be made of what neural pathway is connected to which cluster of autonomous neurons within the stomach. For instance, this portion of the deceased foal remnant was connected to this neural cluster, which is connected to a specific region of the frontal lobe that is related to anger and aggression. While most subjects are clearly docile and compliant, the concept of rage does exist within their minds.”
Being dangled near the horrifying man’s face, Myriad panicked as she began to mewl for mercy, not wanting to be hurt…
“NU WET DUMMEH HOOMIN GIB YU HUWTIES!!! GIB HOOMIN BITIES!!! NAO!!!”
Suddenly lunging forward, Myriad opened her mouth and bit down onto the man’s lip, prompting him to scream loudly. While not painful, the thought of a feral fluffy’s mouth next to his put him into a fit of hypochondria, dropping Myriad instantly.
""Or this foal, pressing on a cluster that deals with reasoning and problem solving. Most would describe the biotoys as unintelligent, but they clearly are on par with most children who have passed the Sally Anne Test. With enough stimulation however, who knows how smart a subject could become.
Sally Anne Test
Falling through the air, Myriad screamed as she saw the ground approaching quickly.
“Nu faww wike dis! Woww ovah! Wet wegs gu woose!”
Suddenly righting herself, Myriad fell to the ground, untensing her legs as she did, the alicorn rising afterwards sore but unharmed.
“These two are closely interconnected, with one close to the flight response of the subject and the other related to anxiety and fear. Combined, this would mean that while most biotoys are needlessy scared and panic in response to most mundane stimuli, this subject would be able to analyze a potential threat and make a critical decision within moments.”
Breathing hard as she tried to recover, Myriad looked up to the man, wiping his face aggressively as he shouted profanities.
“*huuu…huuu…huuu…nu wike scawy hoomin…”
“Wun! Wun Way’! Nao!”
Dashing past the angry and scary man, Myriad quickly ducked out of sight, the screaming worker now looking for her.
“This placement is intriguing. In biotoys, there is an extreme occurrence of failure to process contradictory information. What a subject is told and what they experience are often at odds and they, on average can be deluded to believing something disproven over and over again, even if they saw the evidence with their very eyes. With this area so stimulated, I deduce that the subject could have been able to experience a form of cognitive dissonance, and be able to determine fact from implanted suggestion.”
Cowering under the dumpster, Myriad could hear the man screaming for her, kicking several nearby bins over and stomping as he yelled. After a few minutes, he suddenly sounded calm and even nice, as he spoke sweetly to the unseen alicorn. “Sweety…come on out. I’m sorry I scared you. I won’t hurt you…” Excited as the man began to call to her, Myriad nearly stepped out to greet him…
“…hoomin wiaw…wan gib yu huwties…”
Suddenly backing up, Myriad made a mad dash out of the other side of the dumpster, fleeing the alleyway.
“So that is my hypothosis. As is with our cadaver, M-442 most likely has these chimeric growths that are stimulating specific portions of her brain, heightening her instincts and responses to outward stimuli.”
“But…there isn’t any way that these…these foal remnants could tell her anything helpful like that. Even if they could communicate, how would they help her?”
“The human subconscious can process over twenty million bits of data per second, compared to the active or conscious mind, which can only process forty bits per second. Due to the constant stream of data traveling from both the synapses and the autonomous neuron clusters, it isn’t beyond the realm of understanding that the chimeric masses could react to subconscious information. Imagine Dr.Mayhew, being able to garner feedback on the unmeasurable stream of data you take in every second.”
“So, these chimeric masses…they told the subject how to escape?”
“A crude comparison. Tell me Dr.Mayhew, do you hold any belief that you could hold a conversation with say, a newborn child?”
“No. Of course not.”
“And yet without a single word between them, a newborn knows to feed from it’s mother’s breast. Instinctual knowledge Dr.Mayhew. In truth it is no different than the knowledge supplanted within the mind’s of the biotoys during their initial creation. Nothing says the words you are hungry, there is milk to the infant, but the end result is no different, the infant hungers, the infant feeds.”
“This is…this is a lot to process sir.”
“I don’t require you to understand it Dr.Mayhew. All GenTek requires of you is to do your job. And as of this moment, that job is to locate M-442 and either capture or destroy her.”
“Destroy it sir? Why? What about the resources that went into M-442?”
“M-442 represents a significant step forward in the treatment of cancer in humans. The monetary resources used to create her are insignificant compared to the gains GenTek would see if her return garnered a cure, or the losses it would suffer if another research company found her and reversed engineered our secrets from her DNA. You will be assigned a small task force, at your expense, to expedite locating M-442. Sewn within her epidermal layer is a small tracking device with a limited power source. Once you have rendezvoused with your team, we will activate the device, which has a battery life of 48 hours and an active range of ten miles. Do you understand Dr.Mayhew?”
“Yes sir, I…I understand…”
“Good. Because this is the last chance GenTek is giving you to prove your value to the company. Do not fail us Dr.Mayhew. After all, there is always more room in Section-28.”
Damn this was longer than I though it’d be. Had this in my head for a while and finally got it down. Added some reference pictures as I worried it might have gotten a tad wordy here and there. Hope you enjoy. 