Rats: Shai's Story

A Few Samples

 Kirby had brought Joyce back to their apartment. She talked the whole way home about Juno. She had planned to redo the nursery and wanted the two of them to go out shopping for her. Kirby said he had to go back to the hospital to do some research.

Kirby dug his fingers into the case of his tablet. A few doctors and technicians were hustling down the hall with their eyes locked on the screen in their hands. Cendrowski's office was at the end of the hallway, and the door was wide open. He knew that Cendrowski liked to keep it open to survey everyone walking down the hallway. He saw Kirby walking toward his office, and leaned over his desk.

"How is everything going, Derek?" he asked him. Cendrowski was the only one who referred to Kirby by his first name in the hospital. It was like a slap in the face to Kirby. If he ever called Cendrowski Leon, he would be fired in an instant.

"It is going great," he said taking a seat. "All the subjects have seemed to survive the AQ57 virus. I'm about to assess the males and take a few samples to see if they are free of infection."

"You have not got them yet? Then why are you in my office?"

"I have a question about the baby that the two Rats had."

"Little Juno? What about her?"

Kirby could feel his stomach twist. If he had to go home and tell Joyce that they weren't allowed to have Juno, she would never speak to him again. He finally has her happy again, and he doesn't want to lose that.

He knew that Cendrowski wouldn't give him Juno just because he wanted her. Cendrowski would want to put her into some kind of experiment. Kirby knew he had to make up an experiment so that he could bring Juno home with him.

"I want her," Kirby said. "I want to analyze something, but it is more of a psychological type of thing."

Cendrowski leaned back in his chair.

"What is your idea?" he asked.

"You know about Joyce's pregnancy," Kirby started to say.

"We all know about it," he said. "The first baby to be lost in this hospital in the last fifty-seven years. We all feel bad for poor Joyce."

"Yes, well I know Joyce is very upset about not being a mother. I want to bring Juno home and see if she will transfer her feelings to Juno.It would also be an experiment on Juno. Both of her parents are Rats, but if she was raised in Bright she may not act like a Rat."

Cendrowski was a hard person to read. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and seemed to be staring out into space. Kirby knew that he was deep in thought.

"It's an interesting idea," he said. "Lynch asked me today if he could use her in an electrical shock therapy procedure. I told him I'd think about it, but I like your idea a lot better. This could be revolutionary to increasing the population of Bright. If we're able to assimilate at children into the city we could increase the population."

"So I have Juno?" Kirby asked.

"Yes, you can have her for the analysis," he said. "You can take her tomorrow morning."

"Thank you so much." Kirby's lips lifted into a smile. "Just, don't tell Joyce about me analyzing them. I don't want there to be any kind of bias."

"Of course, I'm excited to see your results."

"Me too."

--

Lynn couldn't stay in the bed. She was pacing around the room and banging on the glass wall. She wanted it to shatter so that she could run and find her baby, but it was useless. Eden stayed on her bed with her knees curled up to her chest.