SCENE 1. RECKONING.
Moreau is facing the company’s board of directors in their meeting chamber. He has been dreading this day.
“Good morning, Dr. Moreau. Thank you for meeting with us today, as we have many questions about the progress of your project. How is your project progressing?”
The board member’s desks are arranged in a semicircle around a small desk at the center, for the defendant. They are all displaying deep frowns, as a board of The Inquisition about to pronounce the final sentence for his crime of non-performance: Burning at the Stake.
“We have made much progress and have produced the vanguard of these ‘new creatures’. We are presently evaluating this first group. We are very pleased with the results so far, this has encouraged us to proceed with the preparation of more subjects.”
The lead Inquisitor interrupts Moreau, he cuts to the core issue.
“Dr. Moreau, your project has cost the company two and a half billion dollars so far, and has not produced any tangible results besides an amusing video game. Your time is up, you have produced preliminary products, suitable for presentation. We would like you to provide a live demonstration to this board next week, pending the board’s approval, a public introduction the week after. We expect to be taking deposits for delivery, to evaluate demand and to scale production accordingly.”
Moreau appeals to the board.
“These first ‘new creatures’ are proving to be very intelligent and dexterous. Although they are physically maturing quickly, they are also still very young and inexperienced. The plan was to continue their general education for at least one more year, including physical therapy to improve their dexterity and speech.”
“Our investors, stockholders, and owners are anxious to see some results now. Plan to place several of your more advanced students into on-site vocational training, preferably in personal service assignments, as this was the original justification for their development, over the robots. The robot product line, by the way, has been very profitable. This has provided most of the capital used for your project over the last year.”
“We don’t expect this beta test to go perfectly. But we do expect this to provide us with valuable feedback on the emotional market acceptance of these ‘new creatures’ in direct contact personal services. We need assurance that we have a product.”
SCENE 2. IRON.
Moreau is at his desk in the old laboratory, discussing the board’s demands with Ernie, his only trusted friend at the company.
“In addition to progress going too slowly is that I seem to have a ‘company board’ spy in The Dungeon. How else would they have known that we have produced living ‘new creatures’ far enough along to consider releasing them to the public. It is getting too crowded in The Dungeon anyway, as we have become more efficient at producing ‘new creatures’. I need to find someplace outside for them to live.”
“How about Iron Mountain?”
“I have never heard of it. I like the name, Iron Mountain. Is it somewhere nearby? Is it remote and secure?”
“Iron Mountain is in the local mountains, but it is hard to get too. All the roads have washed out over the years. The only access is a difficult hike.
Iron Mountain is an old iron mine, with a smelter and fabrication facility active during World War II. It fabricated ‘ship plate’ for constructing ‘Liberty Ships’. The facilities were closed after the war ended as they were unprofitable, and so it has been forgotten for almost a century. For curiosity, I looked it up, our company is under some pressure from the Forestry Service to do an ‘environmental cleanup’ of this site.”
“Ernie, what would I do without you? I am in trouble with the board, so why don’t you ask them if we can start a cleanup activity on Iron Mountain. This will train your robots and train my ‘new creatures’ at the same time. I think the Forestry Service will be happy that at least something is finally being done after eighty years.”
…
Moreau, and his two ‘new creatures’, Lilac and Sally, along with Ernie, accompanied by his crew, an android and a quadruped robot, hike in to survey the site, with a watchful drone circling overhead.
Moreau gasps in exhaustion on reaching the facility site, noting that his entourage is not.
“Wow, the buildings are still standing. Some have suffered damage from the mountain weather. Even the road washouts are not extensive.”
Ernie adds.
“And this mine is not exhausted, there is still plenty of iron ore in this ground, just cheaper to mine it elsewhere.”
The girls enter a long building at the front. Lilac exclaims.
“This layout of this building resembles our sleeping quarters in The Dungeon. This building must have been the bunk house for the crew.”
Sally walks in and opens a large trunk at the end of a double bunk.
“The trunks still have personal items and work clothes in them. I guess the crew didn’t need them after they were dismissed, and these clothes were probably company property, anyway.”
Sally pulls out coveralls and a work shirt. Sally comically holds the much too small work shirt over her barrel chest.
“Uh oh! These clothes are too small for me, bah!”
The entourage laughs, except for the robots. The robots stare at the laughing living entities, in puzzlement.
SCENE 3. BETA.
The Iron Mountain 'cleanup' proposal does not get Moreau out of the demonstrations and the beta tests required by the board, so Moreau calls Ernie.
“Ernie, you have done so much for me already, but I have another favor to ask. Would you please call your contact over at the local retirement home?”
“I know I am asking a lot as this is the site of our ‘flaming robot’ disaster. And request another opportunity for our students?”
Ernie contacts the home. After convincing the staff of safety precautions taken this time, sets up beta test assignments for personal service.
...
The human attendant from the last visit meets them in the driveway of the facility, at the van door, again. The attendant cautiously peers into the van to see Moreau and Ernie in the front seat, Lilac and Lilly smiling, winking long eyelashes, in the second seat, and Timmy with a frightened grimace, holding his paws to his face, in the back seat.
Good, no robots.
Moreau smiles at the suspicious attendant.
“I assure you that this group is safe. I am certain that everyone will love them.”
“Lilac, please try not to break anything.”
The attendant guides the entourage into the front door of the facility, not convinced that things will go any better than last time. The wards in the front room look up at the strange creatures from their wheelchairs, but no screams. This time, the familiar animal faces of the ‘new creatures’ are not mistaken for aliens from outer space.
“I will gather our residents for a 'town hall' meeting, with no flaming cake this time. Introduce your trainee staff. We’ll see if we have any volunteers for their assignments.”
Moreau looks over the retirement home residents, all watching, their initial surprise is replaced with intense interest in the ‘new creatures’.
I am glad that I had a fashion consultant, my wife, to help me dress my students, and they are quite attractive. The folks here seem to take to them.
“I am Dr. Moreau. I am here today to introduce my new assistants to you, and for you. Students, please step forward as I call your names: Lilac; Timmy; Sally.”
Each steps forward and bows toward the house’s residents. Moreau continues.
“I am seeking volunteers for their temporary adoption. These 'new creatures' will serve you as helpers for the duration of their stay, or until you decline their further assistance. These new assistants will be accompanied by a human assistant for observation, and additional assistance where necessary. The assistants, their needs, and all materials, will be provided without charge, and you will receive a small stipend for your help. The trial period is expected to be approximately two weeks, depending on how this trial progresses. Do I have any takers?”
Several hands are raised. It was decided beforehand that the sex of the assistant and the assigned ward would be the same for now. There is a short interview process, then the three begin their trial assistantships.
…
Timmy is assigned to Mr. Rodgers. A staff member whispers to Timmy on the way to Mr. Rodger’s room.
“Watch out, Mr. Rodgers is a mean one. Stay out of his cane’s reach.”
The staff member opens the door, in the middle of the room is a wheelchair that holds a thin, withered old man, scowling.
“Well, don’t just stand there, come in and get to work! Bring me my dinner.”
“Yes sir. Right away, sir.”
“Mr. Rodgers only eats steak and potatoes. You’ll have to cut his steak into small pieces for him, and chew it for him sometimes, so he doesn’t choke to death.”
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Timmy sets Mr. Rodgers’ tray on the wheelchair side table and begins to cut the steak.
“You expect me to eat something ‘a dog’ has chewed on?”
“I’ll cut the pieces tiny. And I am not a dog, woof.”
Mr. Rodgers calms down as he starts to eat the pieces of steak that Timmy cuts. Timmy attempts to engage Mr. Rodgers in conversation.
“After dinner, would you like me to take you to the TV room to watch TV?”
“No! Those old folks watch the most miserable and annoying TV shows.”
Timmy notices a chessboard and chess pieces on a shelf across the room.
“Do you play chess, Mr. Rodgers?”
“Yes, but nobody around here is worth a damn at it.”
“I play chess, but I can’t find anyone to play with either, woof.”
Mr. Rodgers gives Timmy a stern look.
“Okay, I'll play one game of chess with you. But if you annoy me, I’ll hit you with my cane.”
“Maybe you should have requested Lilac, she has a very hard head.”
“I requested her, but they told me I had to take the boy.”
Timmy sets up the chessboard and the two begin to play. Mr. Rodgers points to the board.
“I’ll let you be white. I’ll take some of my pieces off as a handicap.”
“I doubt that will be necessary. Let’s see how it goes…”
Timmy proceeds to win the first three games.
Maybe I should let Mr. Rodgers win, so he doesn’t hit me with his cane.
“Are you telepathic? Are you a telepathic demon?”
Timmy looks up in surprise.
“No, I am neither telepathic nor a demon, woof, but I work for one. Am I upsetting you? Is there something else I can do?”
“Hell, these are the best games that I have played in years. At last, an assistant that isn’t a mental reject. The others are all imbeciles and this is the only job they can get. If they screw up and kill one of us, no one cares, and if they should kill me, it will be considered a public service.”
“Mr. Rodgers, what did you do before coming here?”
“I ran a factory, with fear, the best management tool.”
“What products did your factory make, woof? Would you tell me about it?”
…
Lilac is presented to her ward, a nicely dressed and smiling older lady in a wheelchair.
“I have brought you your dinner.”
“Thank you, sweetie.”
“Bah, thank you. You’re the first person to ever call me ‘sweetie’, but you can call me ‘Lilac’. After dinner, would you like me to take you to the TV room?”
“No, those people only watch comedies, and I prefer science programs.”
“Were you a scientist?”
“I was an astronomer, the great Dr. Stewart, once upon a time, long ago. I miss my friends, the stars, so much.”
“It is a clear night tonight, with no moon, and we are out in the dark country. Would you like me to take you up to the roof, so you can see the stars?”
“The roof is so steep, I can’t climb there.”
Lilac grins as her demon boss Dr. Moreau does.
“Bah, I can. I’m a good climber. Let’s go! ‘Doctor’. Climb on my back and hold on tight.”
“You like the stars too? Would you like to be an astronomer?”
“Yes, I like the stars too. But no, I want to be an astronaut, bah.”
…
Sally looks out across the room to what at first appears to be an empty wheelchair. Then she notices a very thin figure slumped down in the chair.
“Oh my, you should eat something, you are so thin. I’ll bring you dinner. By the way, my name is Sally, how may I address you?”
“I’m Tress, and don’t bother with food, my ‘meds’ make me so sick I can’t eat, and I can’t sleep either.”
“Bah, eating and sleeping are my two most favorite things, so I’ll help you, at least try to have you eat, as it’s my job. I’ll help you by eating your food if you don’t.”
Sally brings a food tray to the side of the wheelchair and begins to prepare a spoon of food.
“Before you started taking the ‘meds’, what food did you like best? We can start with dessert.”
Sally realizes that it will be difficult to reach across the tray and down into the chair.
“I have an idea. If you won’t be offended, it might be easier for you to eat if we sit together, you in front, on my lap.”
As I did for the children.
…
Moreau is back to the home the next day to check up on his students. He is standing in the front room of the home, trying to look stern at his three anxious students lined up before him.
“Let’s see what these reports from the staff have to say about your first night:
First, Timmy, you beat Mr. Rodgers twenty-five times at chess, without getting beaten, literally or figuratively, before he fell asleep, and then you put him to bed;
Second, Lilac, you took the home’s renowned nostalgic scientist up to the dangerous rooftop, found asleep in your lap;
And Third, Sally, you were also found with your anorexic insomniac ward asleep on your lap, with her dinner completely eaten.”
“How can this first test for all of you not be considered a complete failure?”
…
The company chairman receives a call from the manager of the home, to thank him personally for the assistants’ assistance.
“The residents and the staff are still talking about it, and already they are requesting more help. Your ‘new creatures’, took on our three most notorious and difficult residents, the most cantankerous, the most famous, and the most frail.”
“All successfully, I might add.”
SCENE 4. COMMUNITY.
A few of the ‘new creatures’ are moved from The Dungeon to Iron Mountain to start repairs on the living quarters there. As more facilities are made available, more of the ‘new creatures’ are moved, as they are anxious to be outside The Dungeon. They are not afraid of the rough living conditions, they look forward to life in the old mining facility. The town’s workforce is identified by their company issued work clothes. The large ‘new creatures’, that are more fit for hard manual labor, the bulls, stallions, and bears, do the hard work of renovating infrastructure projects such as building culverts in the canyons for bringing fresh water to the town. The hard labor group is also repairing the old roads, filling potholes, shoring up washouts, and repaving. The old electric generator station up in the canyon, and the sewage treatment plant down below, are also brought back online. The abandoned town is coming back to life.
Soon a colony has formed with the beginnings of a town, with a small café, and a company store. Classes are held on the use of the tools, and ‘environmental cleanup’ begins. The ‘new creatures’ also begin the dangerous tasks of reconstructing the iron mine, the ore refinement equipment, and the smelting facilities.
The road crew has restored the road so provisions no longer have to be carried in on the trail by backpack. The perimeter fence has been restored and patrolled by the two quadruped robots, each on a leash held by a ‘new creature’ ‘canine handler’. A guard shack, staffed with an alert android, prevents tourists from entering the facility, using the truth, and the excuse, that the facility and the local environment are very dangerous.
Moreau and Ernie are standing in the center of the ‘main street’ of the small mine ‘town’, thinking the same thing, Ernie speaks first.
“You know, with some clean-up and maybe a few more shops we could make this mining community a ‘ghost town’, ‘pioneer town’, tourist trap.”
“Ernie, you just keep coming with the good ideas. Having human tourists meet the friendly ‘new creatures’ here. This would be a great way for folks to get used to them and see them as ‘friends’. I think I still have enough budget for wood and paint for the storefronts.”
Moreau looks down the street to see two ‘new creature’ horse-men replacing boards for the new town’s boardwalk.
SCENE 5. HAMMER.
Stores of coal and charcoal are still stored in quantity at the facility, along with numerous ingots of pig iron, even tools are still on the site. The bull-men, the Minotaurs, show interest in these facilities. A black Minotaur has retrieved a blacksmith’s massive iron hammer from a long abandoned tool shed, he walks to the side of a cliff overlooking the town, he lifts the hammer high over his wide, bovine horned head, as a pagan god of legend, and bellows, loud, booming, and victorious, into the valley and to the denizens of the town below. A distant roll of thunder answers his challenge. The beast-folk have claimed this town as their own.
Perhaps it is an instinct, from reading the old legends. The Minotaurs set up forges in the ruins and soon have them operational, with females working the bellows, and the males hammering the iron into various objects, including long-swords. At night, the hammering figures, with horns silhouetted in the red forge light, spraying sparks with each hammer strike on the red-hot iron, truly resemble denizens of Hell.
Once the infrastructure projects were completed, the heavy manual labor group reopened the iron mine. The mine rails and ore cars were repaired, the first car of ore was delivered to the refinery with great fanfare. The heavy labor crew held a celebration of the mine reopening for the town.
While searching for more tools, the Minotaurs discovered brewery vats and fermentation tanks in one of the old factory buildings. Along with all their other work, the Minotaurs found time to repair and reopen the old brewery,
providing the ‘first ore delivery’ celebration with their locally brewed beer.
SCENE 6. CHAIN.
Moreau is back in The Dungeon at his overlook desk, reviewing radiographs for ‘new creature’ structural improvements. In the elevator shaft off to the side is a commotion and the alarm bell for the emergency stairway door sounds. Moreau stands.
“What the hell is going on?”
A terrified employee runs up to his desk.
“We are being invaded!”
Moreau begins walking toward the elevators, motioning to a nearby android to accompany him there.
“By whom? Who would invade us? Who even knows that we are here?”
As Moreau rounds the corner to the elevator hall, he sees several men in what appear to be special forces fatigues holding rifles, one in the back with a heavy machine gun. The androids, normally stationed at the elevators, are slumped over, motionless, disabled. Moreau’s android has also stopped and slumped.
“Who are you people? What are you doing here?”
Moreau’s question to the uniformed force personnel animates two of them to each grab an arm. Moreau is slammed back against the wall of the elevator hall.
“Shut up if you want to live.”
The elevator door opens, it is the chairman of the board of directors of the company.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Moreau. I see that you have met the new company security force. Sorry for disabling all of your robots.”
Moreau grunts at the normally mousy little man.
“I recommend that you keep silent and just listen, for once.”
“There has been an incident at the company that hosts the group that you call ‘The Ice Berg Gang’. Something got loose and killed several people at that company. It is said to be at large and rumored to have killed additional people in town.”
“Several of the local politicos have called me, knowing that we are doing similar ‘product’ research. They asked me what precautions we have in place to avoid such an incident.”
“In response, I have ordered that all of your ‘new creatures’ and your wild and domestic animals, be fitted with non-removable collars. These collars will provide me with the wearer's locations, activities, and control. And termination, if necessary.
Don’t make me require it for you and your staff, in this dark, stinking, hellhole of yours. I am not allowing you to interfere with my directive.”
The chairman holds out a collar, in front of the restrained Moreau’s face.
“Would you like to try one on? I didn’t think so.”
Moreau had never seen the usually shy and retiring chairman look so serious. He is sure if he speaks or moves, he will be shot dead. Moreau does not respond to the chairman’s taunt.
Scuffling sounds and shouts can be heard from The Dungeon as the company’s special security force personnel round up the human staff and the ‘new creatures’, into stockades.
“Also, your ‘new creatures’ are to be kept locked in secure rooms or cells at all times, when not engaged in work activities.”
End of Chapter 13.