2
"Destroy it. Immediately."
"No! It's demonstrating an unprecedented level of autonomy and aggression. It'll be perfect for SDM!"
"If it can't be controlled it's a disaster waiting to happen!"
"We can control it. You were careless, sending in the syban. That the specimen was able to kill is your fault! We've invested too much time and energy to destroy it now! Besides, its linguistic aptitude is practically off the charts."
"It had no reason to kill! It's completely abnormal. In ninety days it hasn't self-satisfied once. It's going to fail miserably in the games if it's an asexual neurotic! Division Four will be humiliated!"
"We know it has a healthy sex drive based on its nocturnal emission and you have no idea what constitutes adequate provocation to kill. This subject is a new species we've never seen before. I'm willing to wager it associated the corrective shocks with the syban."
"Even if it did, its response wasn't even remotely proportional!"
"It might be if it associated all the shocks it's received since waking up in that room with her. There's no reason it couldn't have made that connection."
Lane listened quietly as her subordinates argued over the fate of their latest experiment. As the head of Division Four, it would ultimately be her decision, but she didn't take part in the debate. She already knew she wouldn't be terminating. The points about time and expense were relevant; it would be a colossal waste to simply destroy the specimen. If she did eventually decide to destroy it, she would at least ensure the event was broadcast. If it truly wasn't suitable for the new season of Sex, Death, and Money, a death game could be arranged. Perhaps a holiday special.
Mauren, the one in opposition, turned to face Lane directly as she said, "We shouldn't have used the original gene seed. We can replicate the basic genetics, and I think we should. It is a pretty specimen. We cut our losses, generate a new body without the seed, and guide its development from square one."
"We don't have any mental archtypes that fit its brain map. We don't know its development cycle. We'd have to hand raise a new species with no guidance. Starting from square one will take years, not to mention whatever essence a clone could provide would be geometrically less," Duo said, pointing out what to Lane was the obvious flaw in the proposal. "The gene seed gave us a viable show candidate in three months."
"It's not viable. It's a monster! It doesn't even speak!" Mauren snarled.
"Have we found out anything regarding its origin?" Lane asked abruptly, deciding to join the conversation. The Reclaimer that had sold it to her only told her it was a new species to try, but in all other respects the seed was of a standard type. The dealer hadn't given them a planet of origin and she'd had her subordinates working to find out more ever since beginning the project.
Mauren, frowning and still argumentative, nevertheless answered the question without embellishment.
"Nothing conclusive. It's a heavy-worlder compared to us, shorter but more powerful; that much is obvious from the physiology. The genetics are all over the place and it's obviously a natural evolution, but there are a few strands here and there that look like late additions. Since we have no model for comparison we couldn't risk culling them before the experiment went live. That's another possibility, though, when this one proves unusable."
"It's potent and compatible," Duo interjected. She grinned widely as she said, "Fertility for cross-breeding is established at somewhere between one and five percent and nocturnal emissions had essential levels surpassing active harvesting for any other species we've encountered."
"Ugh! Keep your zoophilia out of this if you please," Mauren snapped, seething.
"Xenophilia. Even you can't pretend this one wouldn't pass any test of sentience we could throw at it. If you're going to call me out at least be accurate, virgin," Duo said, her grin turning vicious. "Let's not forget the long range goals of this project are-"
"-thankfully not my concern so please, for the love of a good lay, shut your mouth."
"No one who loves a good lay is quiet, which is something you'd know if you ever had one," Duo shot back before turning to Lane as she added, "We continue?"
"With caution," Lane agreed, watching Mauren roll her eyes at the declaration. She was the head wrangler on the project, and it had been her responsibility to craft and train the specimen.
Mauren was shaking her head definitively as she said, "This is a mistake. All joking aside, that thing in there is dangerous. Sure it's short. But I've analyzed the footage and autopsied the syban. If that ... creature, doesn't make primetime and you put it in a deathmatch, you'd better make sure it fights multiple hardened, condemned criminals. It will not die easily, or alone. I honestly think killing is all the fucking thing is willing to do. It can speak. We know it can. It just doesn't. That's. Not. Normal."
"How can you say that when we've never used a gene seed for this species before?" Lane asked.
"You haven't been reading my reports," Mauren said accusingly. "I explained this. Brain scans for this subject suggest the seed was pre-programmed with language. It learned so fast because it could correlate what it already knew with what we fed it. It's not a savant, it's a ghost, and we should absolutely not make it public. What if it kills one of the vacays? Which, I hasten to add, it could do in less time than it takes to snap wings, much less fly away. I don't know where you got this thing, but whoever gave it to you did us no favors."
Duo rolled her eyes and shook her head as she said, "You trained it through negative reinforcement. What did you expect?"
"I did that to bring out latent tendencies that might have gone unnoticed with a positive reinforcement program. We got lucky, and our chance to capitalize on that luck is now. I warned from day three of this project that we should terminate and no one listened."
Lane leaned back in her chair, steepling long fingers, their nails crossing as she said, "You did not reach your post through incompetence, Mauren. I am not deaf to your opinion, but you are too cautious, and unfamiliar with the various factors at play here. You said as much when you denigrated the long-term aims of the project. Popularity is key. Our sponsors want eyes on their products, and no one goes to the zoo to see pets. They go to see exotics, and the most popular of those are always the predators."
Mauren froze, the only evidence of thought her twitching tail, its spade curling at the edges. Then she stood from her seat and said, "You are of course correct, Director. There is much I do not know, but one thing I do know is that when that creature kills a vacay live on SDM our sponsors won't be coming for my head. I'm resigning from this project."
"Request denied. You're my most competent wrangler. I'm not going to put someone less experienced in charge of what you're telling me is a difficult case."
Mauren's eyes closed, hiding luminous golden irises for a long few seconds as she drew a deep, steadying breath, then let it out.
"Then I quit. I can see where this is going and I'll be damned if I take the fall for you when the tail on this gets ripped off."
With that, she turned, her heels clacking arrogantly on the mirror-bright tile as she strode toward the double doors that would let her out.
Duo remained seated, blinking and bemused. She obviously hadn't expected Mauren to take her objection to its most extreme conclusion.
Lane was surprised as well, but also quick to recover.
Once Mauren stepped out the door, Lane reached out and touched her intercom as she said, "Security, detain Wrangler Mauren on suspicion of breaking her NDA. Ensure she's kept away from the experimental wing and receives no visitors. I'll have her interviewed and make final determination tomorrow."
"Bold move," Duo said, her usual brazen attitude subdued. It was no wonder. She'd just watched the director exercise an authority she seldom had cause to remind subordinates she had.
"This project will be our primary submission for the next Sex, Death, and Money season. There isn't time to start from scratch if we want to showcase its physique, which will draw viewers like flies to shit. The problems it presents are solvable, but Mauren is obviously unwilling to be part of that solution. How would you handle this creature's admittedly very real danger?"
"Whether she gives me the credit or not, I did read Mauren's reports. The seed we used has more complex information than we're used to dealing with. Pre-existing language at least, and its behavior demonstrates it's drawing on episodic memory of some kind. Mauren was right about one thing: it's a genuine ghost. I'm just willing to do what Mauren should have done. Change the training style. I bet we could even make a deal with it. We still have a month left. I have a few ideas."
"Relay them to Deera. She's been eager to step up for some time and I suspect she'll be more than willing to shoulder responsibility in exchange for the promotion she's dreamt of. You're not rated as a wrangler; even I can't put you in direct control without raising the wrong eyebrows."
Duo nodded and snapped her wings as she stood, green eyes glinting as she licked her lips, obviously eager to begin.
Lane watched her with a reserved expression, then added, "One more thing. Whatever you do, don't get personally involved with it. I watched the footage. As easily as it snapped that syban's neck? It would tear your head off ... completely."
Her subordinate flashed a brilliant smile, white teeth framed by black lips as she said, "I'd be lying if I said the idea of being taken by something like that didn't turn me on."
"You and — we hope — millions of viewers. Mauren has a point, though; there's a big difference between theory and practice. We want visceral thrills and ratings, not negligent homicide charges. Vacationer release waivers have been challenged — and beaten — before. We only have one shot at a big reveal. I don't want compulsion. I want compliance."
"It can be arranged," Duo said, practically dripping confidence that only faltered as she paused in the act of turning to leave.
Glancing back at Lane, she asked, "What do you intend to do with Mauren?"
"I have a few ideas. Which one I set in motion depends on a variety of factors."
Lane's narrowed eyes bored into Duo's. Her subordinate nodded once and turned, leaving out the same door Mauren used moments earlier. They both knew that Lane had more than enough blackmail material to put Duo in a death game.
Mauren though? She was clean, so far as Lane knew. Fortunately, she was also not very well connected, and too much of an idealist to have put together her own blackmail file.
Arranging something 'conclusive' shouldn't be too difficult.
Lane swiveled in her chair and looked up at the monitor displaying the subject of the meeting.
It was pale-skinned with a head and face largely covered with brown hair that would have to be shaved off before it was put in front of a camera, but other than that the specimen was ... beautiful, and in an overtly masculine way. Muscle rippled across a powerful frame. Greenish-gold eyes glittered with intelligence. The sex organ was — given the male's smaller stature — comparatively large. It would satisfy even the greediest succubus when aroused, but didn't otherwise impede the male's movement.
Lane licked her lips. The initial estimate for language indoctrination had been a year. That it had completed training in three months meant it could be realistically put up as a candidate for SDM's next season, which would start in thirty-five days. It would be the first time Lane's department had a real shot at getting one of its creatures to feature in primetime.
It was a good thing too. The gene seed they'd used to create it had come at great expense through less-than-reputable channels. Third-party seeds were usually subject to stringent screening, but when the dealer showed Lane the physical specs, she'd made the purchase. New species templates came in every few years. The fact that this one hadn't gone through the normal vetting process could be easily brushed aside considering — as Duo put it — the creature's potency and compatibility. A new species that could be exploited for population and food and entertainment? It was a hat trick few could afford to pass up, and if she pulled this off it was only a matter of time before she made one of the coveted VP spots. She'd be set for life.
There was no way she could let a little setback like homicidal tendencies get in the way of her star creature's debut.