SCENE 1. SIMULATION.

Moreau sits in his old office, watching his computer screen with rapt fascination at Aurora’s latest three-dimensional simulation animation of a ‘new creature’, sent from L2 today.

Shown head to toe, the ‘new creature’ stands proudly bipedal, facing the virtual camera with a smile. She stands with her torso forward, fit and athletic, as a mature, anthropomorphic, female white goat-woman. She is dressed in gym style clothes, a light violet and white, strapless top wrap, short skirt, and high-heeled gym shoes. Her brief clothing covers her sensitive areas but reveals most of her body, covered with her short-napped, bright white fur. Her white fur and gym outfit is brightly highlighted against the dark green gymnasium wall in the background.

According to Aurora’s instructions, the figure can be rotated and zoomed from any angle, and her limbs positioned, using the mouse wheel and buttons.

A dropdown menu, lists a selection of pre-programmed exercises for her to perform: push-ups, squats, dumbbells, running, jumping. The menu also has a list of musical selections to demonstrate her dancing abilities. Custom body movements can also be programmed.

Moreau sees that Aurora has incorporated his request for cutaway views into the muscles, bones, and organs. Control icons along the side of the image screen allow an interior view of any part of the subject’s body muscles, joints, and bones, while under static strain lifting dumbbells or during motion exercises. Moreau moves the cut-away tool forwards and backwards across the moving body of the image, zooming in and out, pleased with the new creature’s smooth movements.

I hope the actual ‘new creatures’ can move as smoothly and naturally as is shown in this animation.

Moreau moves the mouse cursor and the figure moves her other appendages, with the scroll wheel controlling the distance. He notes the limitations in the range of motion of the figure in the simulation, predicting what a ‘new creature’ with this anatomy would have.

Moreau notes that Aurora and his wife have addressed his suggestion about making the sex of the figure obvious. She is a female, identified by her narrow waist above her wider hips, thick thighs, curved legs ending in her shoes. Her shoes are designed with a platform heel to fit her unguligrade, rear hoof-foot. Her dance routines demonstrate how her special shoes help with her balance.

Aurora has rendered this 'new creature' as an obvious mature female. Her breasts are shaped, and positioned on her chest, similar to a human woman’s. Her breasts independently move slightly, beneath her shirt, as she moves. She is staring into the camera with her right eye, her light violet iris centered with a black barred pupil. The figure, with unshakable eye contact towards the viewer, is slightly scowling, as if she is catching a voyeur leering at her, while she works out at the local gym.

Did my wife and Aurora plot to have the figure stare askance at me, as if I am a leering pervert?

Moreau is impressed with the detail Aurora has incorporated from his wife’s drawings. The ‘new creature’s’ head has her white horns curving up from their attachment to her forehead, above her eyebrows, then up over her large cranium. Her thick eyebrows, white fur as the rest of her body, arch above her large, light violet eyes with long black eyelashes. Below the chin of her long, goat snout grows a short white ‘goatee’, as her flexible white ears lop down along the sides of her cheeks. A mane of white hair flows down from the top of her head and down the back of her long neck.

Ernie, knocking at Moreau’s office door, breaks Moreau’s trance.

“What are you watching so intently?”

Moreau shakes his head to exit his fantasy and smiles up, sheepishly, at Ernie.

“Take a look at this, the latest 'new creature' simulation from Aurora. I can’t think of anything left to test by simulation, so we are ready to dial up an actual 'new creature'.”

“Finally, we have enough information available for validating the results of the simulation algorithms on living specimens.”

“Wow, Herb. Can I try it?”

“Sure, you can rotate the image and have her move around with the mouse, like this. She will exercise or dance autonomously, select a workout routine or a tune from the pop down playlist, custom routines or tunes can also be added.”

Ernie pulls a chair to the screen and manipulates the image.

“Wow, this is hot! May I get a copy of this from you, Herb?”

“It isn’t mine, and it isn’t a local program. What you see is a simulation running in ‘Real Time’, hosted on Aurora’s great server located at L2, in outer space. Technically, the rights to everything produced by Aurora belong to The Consortium, as this is licensed to our company for exclusive use. But I’ll ask Aurora about it. If she gives us ‘the okay’, I’ll have Bert work with her to create an ‘RPG’ style video game, small enough to run locally, on a PC. The game will, of course, be limited in scope, no cross-section views, but maybe with more character species.”

“And then you’ll be able to dance with her.”

“Perhaps a video game like this has a commercial value?”

SCENE 2. FLESH.

Moreau and Ernie are walking past the rows of the large and complex DNA synthesis machines in The Dungeon. Moreau gestures toward the machines.

“All this expense for these machines and nothing to show for it, so far. But that is about to change.”

“Up to now, the only cultures that have been created were to demonstrate and confirm the proper operation of the complex equipment. No attempts have been made to culture cells or embryos beyond the culture dishes and vats of the biological synthesis equipment, nothing has yet been implanted into any living surrogate mothers to produce living organisms.”

“However, at last there is a reasonable genetic map for the development of the ‘new creatures’, derived from the simulations, and the group has decided the new genome is ready for testing in actual living embryos.”

“So, cells were implanted with this new genome, cloned and stem-cell reproduction began. The first small stem-cell colonies were placed into swirling culture plates, here in The Dungeon on Earth, and also on the International Space Station in zero gravity, to observe development.”

“Few of the cell cultures survive initial embryo formation of stem-cells and the beginning of cell differentiation and formation into a blastula. Microscopes can witness the beginning of a creature’s life in the formative fetal cells after a few weeks, as cartilage forms that will become bone. Also, the cells are beginning to form the main exterior muscles. The curve in one side of the blastula is the beginning of the formation of the alimentary canal.”

Moreau walks out from behind the machine access barriers and into the animal yards. Long rows of pens and cages with a cacophony of animal calls, barks, bleats, grunts, and moos. The stock of donor animals are kept in standard farm conditions, although their enclosures are kept very clean. The animals are ‘house broken’, trained to use sanitation facilities built in their pens.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The first row houses the cows. The friendly animals walk to the fence, hoping for treats from the visitors. Moreau reaches in his coat pocket and produces a small ear of corn. The cow’s expression clearly brightens with a grin as Moreau presents the small ear of corn to the heifer.

“We also brought in chickens to help control the insects. This next row of pens houses several varieties of domestic sheep and goats. We have established a farm for keeping and caring for all these farm animals, kept here as donors and surrogates. However, our side business of farm products is also doing quite well: fresh milk; wool; eggs.”

Moreau walks down the aisle into an area separated by a barrier. The rows of pens are similar to dog runs. The canines are at the fence, barking at the approaching figures for attention: wolves; foxes; domestic dogs. Moreau reaches over the enclosure to pet the heads of the wagging entities.

“Okay, you all, now sit.”

The canines dutifully sit down on their haunches, still wagging and barking. Moreau produces a small dog cookie for each of the animals.

“We have had to establish a breeding center for dogs on site. Initially, we thought the local puppy mills would supply us, but they became suspicious when they discovered that none of their puppies were ever seen again.”

“When I walk down here among these happy creatures, I do indeed feel myself becoming a demon. Because I know that these creatures are going to die young. I will sacrifice them to science, and to the New World we are creating. At least the bovine animal sacrifices can be harvested for their meat, so nothing from them is wasted.”

Moreau and Ernie then enter a doorway into an isolation suite-up room required for passage into the areas beyond. Beyond this doorway are individual, isolated pens containing only one animal. There is fear that the new animal hosts could be infected by pathogens from outside. Moreau walks to the side of a pen to face a female dog, but he does not touch or feed her this time.

“Good morning, my friend. I am sorry, but there are no treats or pets from me today.”

Moreau turns to Ernie.

“These are the brooding pens. These animals have the new embryos implanted, they are the surrogate mothers for these ‘new creatures’. It is sad that they will nether see their offspring nor feel the joy of motherhood. The surrogate mothers of the original species are incapable of safely naturally delivering these abnormally large young new entities, with their abnormally large heads, through their birth canals. So, the young must be surgically removed from the womb before birth contractions begin, sacrificing the host mothers.”

“But these mothers will be bringing us the first generation of the ‘new creatures’.”

At the end of these pens is a clinic for health checkups on the mothers and an ultrasound machine for examinations of the developing fetus. A goat mother stands with fore-legs on a table, eating from a trough while the technicians scan her abdomen with the ultrasound wand.

A small bean-shape appears in the center of the screen. A control is pressed and the image of the bean is enlarged. The screen image shows a fold of tissue between the womb and the developing fetus, the placenta. Also shown are the stem-cells that are developing into the muscles that surround the cartilaginous bones, and a dark area within, where the internal organs will form.

Moreau stands back up, folding his arms and grinning his characteristic demon smile in satisfaction.

“So far, so good. Keep up the good work.”

SCENE 3. BLOOD.

Once the characteristic red cells of the blood are visible with the formation of a nascent blood stream, the blastula cannot be maintained in a cell culture any longer. As the development and formation of the placenta proceeds, it must merge with the wall of the surrogate mother’s uterus to survive. At this stage of development, the endoscopic microscope can identify the formation of interior organs, the lungs, stomach, the intestines, and the heart.

Some fetuses perish and are expelled during their experimental development. Dissection reveals a variety of issues, but the major one is circulation cutoff during the development of the brain. The genetic model is adjusted from this experience for incorporation into the next generation of the 'new creatures'.

The ultrasound inspections reveal large figures developing inside the bellies of the hosts, the surrogate mother animals. The new creature’s brain is developing faster than the rest of its body, and the cranium is not large enough.

This will be a continuing problem in all species of the ‘new creatures’.

SCENE 4. MONSTER.

Moreau is on his daily walk outside The Dungeon, this morning he is at Ernie’s desk in the old laboratory. Ernie has the head of one of the new androids on his desk. He is examining it with a large magnifying glass.

“How is the android project going, I noticed that you had a new product release meeting a few weeks ago, I am sorry that I couldn’t attend.”

“That’s alright, I know you are busy. You were there for the first product introduction, that was important.”

“I would like to review your progress one of these days.”

“Android sales, to the police and the military, have been good. Drone and quadruped sales to security services have also been good.”

“Well, I hope we will have products for everyone else very soon. That is why I am here today, I would like to show you a new initiative I have been working on in The Dungeon.”

The two walk to the elevator, then the long hike to the rear section of The Dungeon’s large main hall.

Another enclosure appears behind the brooding pens. This area of The Dungeon is completely screened off from the outside. A massive steel door leads into an alcove, double door to the inside. Moreau motions the hesitant Ernie inside. At the center of the compound is a large steel-barred cage. Inside the cage, a large tiger lies motionless in the center, facing the cage door.

“You remember the tiger from our expedition, don’t you, Ernie?”

“How can I forget, capturing a wild, live tiger was your only goal for the expedition? The other accomplishments were trivial.”

Moreau motions for Ernie to follow him further in to the dark back area where biological apparatus is set up and operational.

“Welcome to my own personal laboratory. What mad scientist doesn’t have his own personal laboratory?”

“What are you doing in here that you are unwilling or unable to do out there in The Dungeon?”

“Making monsters.”

“Sorry, just kidding, Ernie. In here I am creating new creatures of larger size. I am doing this out of sight to keep this new project from distracting my people from completing the original ‘new creature’ project as soon as possible.”

The board is mad enough at me now, as all they have seen so far, for their billions of dollars, is a perverted video game. Ernie has produced more results on less money.

“These will be the new, ‘new creatures’: Bear; Bull; Horse; Elk; and Tiger.”

“I would have preferred to start with these large species, as they are easier to treat medically. I believe these large animals are strong enough to endure the physical change. Also, females of the original species are large enough to carry and deliver their ‘new species’ offspring naturally.”

Moreau’s wife has made illustrations of these ‘new creatures’ and Moreau has the illustrations taped to the wall of the enclosure. Ernie stares at the drawings. Each species of ‘new creature’ is standing as a biped, with a fore-leg, fore-arm, draped over the shoulder of its human friend, to illustrate its relative height and mass, compared to an adult human. The ‘new creatures’ tower over their diminutive human friends. Only the bear seems comfortable in the stance of a biped. Ernie cringes.

“This one really is a monster from old legends.”

Ernie points to the illustration of the Bull-man, appearing as a tall, muscular Minotaur, the monster of legend.

SCENE 5. HEART.

Moreau sits at his computer in his old laboratory office as he reviews recent ‘in vitro’ ultrasound movies of the three surviving, not so little, wiggling forms: Wolf; Sheep; Goat. The figures in the ultrasound images are now coming into sharp focus as internal organs form. In the image, the fetus is constantly in motion, but the drama is the heart. The heart appears as a tiny machine-like shadow pulsing at the center of the upper body of the fetus. The blood is highlighted in the image on the screen, red or blue, indicating the direction of flow.

Demonstration day is upon us.

End of Chapter 10.