“Little did I know, on that day, that I would sign a bargain of the most terrible nature. I was willing to throw away my ethics and my soul for my daughter’s life. To bring to life creatures not for the betterment of humanity or the world, but for cold, calculating capitalism…and later, I found, something much, much worse.”
-Journal of Doctor Matthias Johnson
“Matthias, thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” crowed Raphael Faust, present CEO of Hasbio, subsidiary of the massive toy and games conglomerate Hasco Interactive.“I know a man of your stature is quite busy.” He lounged lazily in his fine upholstered leather chair, his emerald eyes fixated on the renowned geneticist before him like a cat eying a brand new toy. The dapper blonde-haired young man then gestured to the stack of mountain of legalese before him “I take it you have taken the time to read through all the necessary NDA,confidentiality agreements, and your compensation package?”
“I’m only here because of the experimental treatment you have promised my daughter,” snapped the renowned geneticist, smoothing his salt and pepper hair with his hands while he glared at the corporate suit. “It had better show results soon, or I’m gone. And yes, I’ve signed your damn papers.”
“My good doctor, ” Faust replied, voice oozing with what a fool might mistake for empathy, “I assure you that you will see a marked improvement in Jessica’s condition, and lifespan, within a fortnight. This I can assure you.”
“It had better, Faust. Tell me what exactly made you lawyer up so hard before even giving me any details. What, do you need to me to make you some kind of bioweapon? Perhaps something that will brainwash children into buying your infantile crap?” Johnson asked sarcastically.
“No, none of that Johnson…it has more to do with your work on the Neapolition Rat.”
Johnson’s gaze hardened as he waited for the CEO to continue.
“It was impressive, what you and that team from Italy managed to do, cobbling together an entirely new species. Definitely worthy of the Nobel Prize you won. A rat that exists solely to eat garbage, then transforming the waste in their stomach into prime fertilizer? They say the mob in Naples hates you for ruining their trash collection business.”
“I’m sure they’ll manage to survive,” Johnson replied dryly “after all, they are entrepreneurs like you.”
Faust chuckled for a moment, the man showing a rare smile.
“A bit more droll, my job, and decidedly less messy,” he returned as he stood up, turning his back to the doctor as he went to gaze out the window at the downpour blanketing Cleveland “what we need you to do is repeat that work, except with one of our franchises. A new species that we can sell to children as pets, based on our pony show. I’m sure you’re familiar with it, given Jessica’s age. Little horses with wings, unicorns, flashy colors, full biological functions. Like a pet, except much more disposable. A biological toy, if you will.”
“Plastic toys not making you enough? Fuck off, Faust. I didn’t make time for you to jerk me around,” Johnson replied, clearly irritated.
“I can assure you doctor, I am not.”
“What’s next? You want me to make them sentient as well? Speak like your damn ponies too? Make friends?”
“Actually…yes, with a bit more of a childish twist if you can.”
Johnson stared at the Faust, waiting for the punchline, waiting for the real deal. A minute of silence turned into two, and then five. Finally, he managed to cobble together a response.
“You’re not kidding. You’re actually fucking serious. Do you even realize how you sound right now? I’m a geneticist, a bioengineer, not God. A rat was hard enough, it took years of research with state of the art equipment, many failures, and a budget that ballooned twenty times beyond its already substantial original cost. And you want me to make a chimeric, mutated, miniature sentient horse that can speak and play games with children?”
“Funny, you know, the team I hired to treat gliobastoma multiforme said the same thing at first. That it was impossible, that it could not be done, that it was mad…and now, the very same treatment is available for your daughter. At no cost to you, should you accept.”
Johnson was silent as Faust turned around to look at him. He was quiet for quite some time before speaking, his voice low and barely above a whisper.
“I can’t promise you that what you propose will ever even get beyond theory, let alone the experimental phase. And that’s just getting the physical form down without it breaking down long before it ever sees fruition. No one, and I mean, no one has even managed to alter a current species to anything resembling that level of intelligence, let alone speech. Even Mikawa’s chimpanzees, at best, were like an infant.”
“All I am asking, doctor, is that you try. As long as you do, Jessica will be able to live a normal life, aside from visiting one of our specialists every week. Even in the event of your passing, she will receive it free of charge.”
“I…” Johnson glanced down at the dark oak desk in front of him, not meeting the eyes of the almost certainly mad CEO. “Why even do this? How does it benefit you in any way? Surely you must know what this is going to cost. Even if we somehow succeed and sell a billion of these things, there is no way you are going to turn a profit, not in this decade or the next."
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit…” the CEO mused.
“I find it hard to believe you are so forward-thinking Faust.”
“Believe what you will…are you in?”
Johnson felt a deep sense of unease permeate through his entire body. This was a ludicrous gambit, and he did not trust Faust at all. No way was this solely about selling toys to little girls. This was a project that was going to cost them billions, maybe even tens of billions and years, decades worth of research and development. And in the end, he doubted he could pull it off. But if it was to save Jessica’s life.
“Fine, Faust. I’m in, for Jessica’s sake. I don’t know why you are almost surely sinking your company to do this, but as long as she lives…I’ll do it. No promises, though.”
Faust smiled, and walked toward Faust, extending a hand.
“Shake on it?”
Grimacing, Johnson shook his hand, not knowing of the fate that would one day await him and humanity itself.