The Science Wars (Legacy)

April 20, 1969

I said goodbye to my younger cousins, and headed back to the facility. You didn't expect me to actually live at the facility, did you?

I drive my car up the mountains, and stop at the parking lot. I get out, and the enormous vault door, guarding the entrance opens. Time to do some science...

* * *

Walking through the hallway, I notice Doctor Potato working on his second job, yelling at several junior staff members.

"No, No, No!" he mumbles. "The five hundred pounds of Snakeycolas were supposed to be delivered to Kalamazoo! Not Timbuktu!"

I assigned him the job of not just being my assistant, but now he is the Chief Inventory Manager too.

"Oh! Hey Professor!" he says, as I walk by. He continues yelling at his staff. "No! Send the 25 gallons of liquid Uranium Chloride back to Toronto!"

As I mentioned previously, we are doing some testing on our Hyper-Evolution serum. The idea is simple. It's like normal evolution, except the genes are rearranged in minutes, based on the enviroment the subject is in.

The serum contains no mutant DNA. It simply simulates what humans would look like if they stayed in the same environment for millions of years. How does it work? It simply speeds up the frequency of random mutations.

It isn't very accurate, though. Sometimes we get what we want, other times we get new types of cancer, and sometimes results that are just plain weird. (I won't get into details.)

I walk into the testing shaft, and type in a code near a door. The door opens, and I head into the Hyper-Evolution testing shaft. Each room in the shaft is made based on an enviroment. We also call this experiment Instant-Adaptation. I walk onto the observation deck above the swimming pool.

George, a test supervision associate leads the first wave of test subjects out, they all dive into the pool. George asks them to simply swim around, and try to catch and eat live animals. It's not like this is our first trial. We've been doing these tests for about a week at this point. Here are the results:

4ml : Slight change in skin texture, minor suffocation in air

8ml: Rough skin, hair loss, can't survive for too long in air, webbed feet and hands, etc...

12ml: Scaly skin, Dorsal fin, legs still intact, gills...

I think you get the idea. We've created fish people. Think Black Lagoon-esque, except this is no guy in a mask.

The former testing subjects are covered in slimy scales, with rayed dorsal fins running down their backs, and sharp ridges across the top of their fish-like heads. They have gills on the sides of their necks, and have webbed and clawed hands and feet. They also have spiny fins on their arms, as well.

Keep in mind, these are the average results. Some of the test subjects have ended up becoming dolphins.

These Fish Men an are a unintended, but brilliant test result. Unfortunately, the idea I've pitched to the SSAM has been turned down. The idea is simple: With global warming getting worse, and the sea levels rising, humanity will not be able to adapt to the ever-changing climate. Solution: Use the Hyper-Evolution serum as a vaccine delivered to all humans, so everyone can thrive as fish people.

Wait. That does includes me, and my parents. I'm pretty sure that the president of the SSAM, Judson Hendrickson isn't to excited about having that happen to him either.

Heck, if the earth becomes a volcanic wasteland, we should be allowed mutate everybody into lava creatures if we want.

Well, I guess the deal with Snaketonium was different. Perhaps it's because Snaketonium was never marketed as a worldwide emergency vaccine. Still, the SSAM won't let us market this.

Despite our disability to release the serum to the world, we still continue the tests, to see what science we can do.

Some of the test subjects begin mutating, and glare at me. George leaves the room and slams the door. The skin of one of the test subjects begins to completely peel off, revealing slimy, dark green scales underneath. He stares at me, in disbelief, as his fingers begin fusing together. He begins to scream.

"Something smells fishy here, and it's not me!" He roars.

"Are you suspicious of something, or was that just a lame pun?" I ask.

It then hits him. He growls at me, as his skin finishes peeling away, revealing webbed feet and hands, and a rayed dorsal fin. He tries to jump onto the walkway, but George and a security team arrive to pull away today's group of mutated subjects. Did I mention that the pool had chlorine in it? I've created chlorine-resistant fish men! Fascinating, no? Anybody?

I head down the catwalk to the next room. This one is a desert environment. Some of the test subjects have evolved to be cold-blooded. Others are full reptiles . You know how I said that some of the results were too disgusting and weird? Well, sometimes the mutation fails, creating two organisms in one body, causing the non-human life form to attack itself.

* * *

I'm in my office now. Doctor Wayne and George walk in. George is not only the swimming supervisor, but he is also a Junior Biologist. We double up on a lot of jobs here.

"Wayne?" I ask. "What is it?"

"Sir, I have some bad news. I dissected one of your 'monsters' from today. Not only can the lifeform live in water, but it still has a working lung. It can survive on land,"

"Are you sure the lung isn't vestigial?" I ask.

"I watched the security team take them out of the room. The creatures have been fine out of water all night."

I won't argue. We may have a security risk on our hands. Wayne and George leave the room. I decide to sleep in my back bedroom tonight. I'm scared. What might happen if the fish people escape?