SCENE 1. ART.
Moreau watches in fascination as his wife sketches the anthropomorphic full figure, detailed anatomy illustrations for him. She has also finished a few into detailed full colored plates.
“Wow, these are nice, I would like to use one or two for book covers and plates in my book I am writing about the project, of course, after I get the explicit written permission from the board of directors.”
“I brought you some more books, these are different from the models you have been using.”
Mrs. Moreau looks up at the small stack of several books, picks up the top volume, and stares at the cover illustration. She then begins to slowly page through the book, scowling.
“Why did you bring me these pornography books? Do you want me to draw you some porn?”
“You are correct, this project is for sex. But not for humans this time.”
Moreau draws one of the books up to himself and stares down at it.
“I want you to regard the sex organs these figures have, and the poses these characters assume for sexual congress, similar to but not identical to humans. The goal is to have final, new living entities that reproduce naturally.”
“First, internal fertilization must have good odds of occurring shortly after sexual intercourse, as it does for most existent terrestrial vertebrate species.
The physical build of these creatures must support the act of sexual congress as comfortably and as pleasurably as physically possible.
The couple must mate and form close bonds with each other.
Their mutual emotional courtship, physical contact, and climax are all necessary for this.
The mates will be required to care for each other through the long and arduous process of pregnancy, then the care and feeding of their offspring until the cubs have adult form for independent existence.”
“We are now breeding these creatures in reactors and culture vats, then surrogate mother animals are impregnated for the embryo’s development and sacrificed upon the new creature’s birth. But our goal must be to make the new creatures such that their entire reproduction process occurs naturally, ideally without any advanced medical assistance.”
“I know that studying these books will be uncomfortable for you, as will be producing drawings of models we will use for developing these crucial anatomical structures for these new creatures. You are a scientist, I know that you realize the importance of this and why I am asking you for your help.”
Mrs. Moreau looks down again, at a page of the book, and nods to her husband.
“Okay, I’ll do what you ask. But don’t publish these illustrations or put them in your book. I still have to protect my a reputation as a scientist.”
“I promise that I’ll ask you first.”
…
Moreau is impressed by his wife’s work. He has had some colored plates and rough sketches framed. Bess watches Moreau as he hammers nails for mounting brackets, then hangs his wife’s new artworks on the walls of his home office. Bess is hanging her head over the door into his office from her stall, as usual. She snorts.
“Moreau, what is it that you are doing to my office?”
“I am hanging these illustrations my wife drew for me. I think they are perfect, so I thought I would hang them up in here for inspiration.”
“Please, let me see them. I am far-sighted, so don’t bring them too close, plus I might sneeze.”
Moreau holds each framed illustration for Bess to see. The illustrations are sharply focused, appearing as frames from an old Walt Disney movie, from the ‘classic’ period. The anthropomorphic figures are standing in the foreground, dressed in 19th century style. The cat, goat, wolf, and sheep are standing on their hind legs, as a person would stand, each holding an item in a fore-hoof or fore-paw.
Bess shakes her head and nods.
“I have never seen anything like these creatures before, in my long life.”
“No one has. I am creating them.”
“They look like your species, except for their heads and tails.”
“The new creature’s body plan must be similar to ours for them to stand and remain comfortably balanced, on two feet. Many normally ‘four-footed’ mammal species can briefly stand on their hind legs, including horses, your species. But few can walk upright, on their two hind legs, any distance without falling forward on their fore-hooves. There are exceptions, rodents, rabbits, raccoons, bears, and many primates. So, these pictures only display a few of the necessary modifications.”
“Why not use the birds? They are bipeds, already smart, and some can even talk.”
“We are only using animals from the placentalia subdivision of the mammal class, as these are physiologically most similar to humans. Any animal species, outside this mammal subgroup, is beyond our current level of science. So anthropomorphizing other classes of animals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, will have to wait for now, but perhaps some day.”
“Why are you doing this? Will it be better for the animals?”
“We humans need help with many things that presently only humans can do, tasks that require spoken communication, reading, arithmetic, dexterity, and fit in spaces designed for humans, for driving and flying, for example. We don’t have enough humans, willing and able to do all the required tasks. We have the robots, but the short answer is that they aren’t very acceptable either.”
“Have any animals asked you for this ‘modification’?”
“I think it will be much as it progressed for humans, as human communication improved, tribal hunting and defense became more efficient. With improved abstract thought came tools, weapons, agriculture, and cities. Humans then had an assured diet and more comforts.”
“Unfortunately, we cannot modify an existent individual, then ask them what they think of their new look. We have to start the modification process on an embryo, before birth.”
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“I don’t think I would want that, I am satisfied to be what I am. But I would like you to make a space suit for me and then take me to the Moon. Where I could gallop around and feel like one of those little horses. But I would not want this permanently. I like being big and scary.”
A spacesuit for a draft-horse? What an image!
“Even for you, Bess, think how much better it would have been if your other owners could have communicated with you as I do, other people could communicate with you, and you could read traffic signs.”
“I can read traffic signs now. And I like using the excuse of being a dumb animal as a reason not to cooperate with people I don’t like. You’re lucky I like you, I can be pretty stubborn.”
Moreau walks over and strokes Bess’s neck.
“You are right, Bess. We don’t know what these changes will do to the animals mentally. We can measure certain emotions in animals and we plan to do this. This animal modification experiment will only be judged a success if the animals are able and willing to do the new tasks these changes physically allow them to do.”
…
Moreau returns to his wife’s study. She is hard at work on her newest rendering.
“Herbert, are you going to let me publish my art, or a paper on any of this?”
“I think so, we have to get the company to agree. I think they will agree, as they want the project to get as much attention as possible, once we go public and introduce the products.”
SCENE 2. SHOULDER.
Moreau approaches his wife’s desk and examines her new batch of sketches. The top sketch is of an anthropomorphic white male goat, standing bipedal, and facing out. Moreau’s eyes are ‘drawn’ to the non-human details of the figure’s bare upper torso. The figure has a thick neck-ruff, a fluff of long white fur around the base of the neck, flowing over the collar bone down its chest to the sternum. The figure also has shoulder-boards, fluffs of white fur, over the ends of the shoulders, ending part way down the fore-leg, now the fore-arm.
Good, My wife has designed this figure to be physically functional as a biped, but still appears as distinctly non-human with fur covering the body, the neck fluff, and shoulder-boards fluff.
Moreau nods in approval at his wife’s sketch.
“We may have enough Ideas about the general body plans for all the species we have on trial. I would like to concentrate on specific anatomy elements. I am concerned that I don’t have enough detail on specific body parts, extremities, and organs the new creature’s looks and their activities will demand, and also for their comfort and convenience.”
Moreau produces several envelopes, the first is marked “Human Hands” and contains x-ray radiographs of human hands of various sizes, from various angles. A second envelope is marked “Hooves” and contains x-ray radiographs of the forelegs of the unguligrade, or hoof walking animals, a pig, goat, sheep, horse, and cow. The third envelope is marked “Paws” contains x-ray radiographs of the digitigrade, or toe pad walking animals, fore-paws of wolves, foxes, cats, and, the tiger.
The x-ray radiographs in the other envelopes are also of anatomical structures of the human and animal bodies that require the most significant changes.
“I caution, however, these new creatures cannot resemble humans too closely. Avoid making any changes more than what is required to accomplish our goals of bipedal stance, human language, and fore-appendage dexterity. Making these creatures look and act too human will elicit sympathy and cause problems with their acceptance and adoption. We want them to appear and be regarded as domestic animals, or as service animals, such as dogs.”
“The trick here is to give them all of these abilities, but not have them lose the charms of the natural species. Leave the heads, ears, tails, and fur unchanged where possible. Of course, the cranium size will need to increase, but the face and the long muzzle should only be modified to allow some clarity of spoken diction.”
A strange partnership forms between Mrs. Moreau and Aurora. Aurora searches large databases of libraries of art and anatomy images to select models for what may become the desired result. Aurora takes ‘before and after’ images of a structure, then creates an animated movie of the original structure morphing into the new creature’s structure. Mrs. Moreau draws illustrations that show what the change in the size and shape of various body structures will look like on the exterior images of the new creature.
Moreau sits at his desk at his command position at the front of The Dungeon. A thick veterinary anatomy textbook is open on his desk. He is carefully reviewing prints and x-rays of the upper bodies of several animals, making measurements with a protractor.
For a biped, the shoulders must be spaced further apart, to allow the forelegs to project out to the side, as 'arms'. So, a wider, flatter chest, wider spaced hips, slightly bowed back legs are also necessary for balance, range of motion and strength. Many animals can stand, and even walk, on their hind legs, but few are built to do it continuously. Bears and raccoons being the exceptions, but their builds are not ideal for continuously working in this stance. Moreau reflects.
Sexual dimorphism is pronounced in humans. The humans’ upright stance dramatically displays the front of their entire body for display.
Moreau calls Aurora in space…
“Aurora my dear, I read your proposal, I heard that it was approved, what is the status of the project?”
“A satellite, already in orbit around Ceres, is surveying locations for the pilot factory. The consortium thinks that construction work can begin within this year. Base development will start with them placing a nuclear generator on the surface, digging my chamber, and then moving my satellite there. Once I am supplied with a body, I can do some work myself.”
Moreau anxiously rustles papers on his desk.
“I have another confusing request for you, my dear Aurora. I have asked you not to make these new creatures appear ‘human’. But could you suggest modifications we can make to the new animal’s external anatomy that will give them some readily identifiable sexual identification, male and female, using the typical human male and female model.”
“The shoulders are already moved to the sides and the chest broadened to allow the extension of the fore limb to the sides. But for the males, make the chest even more broad and more muscular, for the females move the primary two mammary glands to the top of the nipple line with significant development even when not pregnant or nursing. Larger butts are also required, for balance and ease of maintaining an upright stance, but make the waistline narrower to emphasize the wider hips of the female and showcase the narrow hips of the male.”
“The new creature’s proportions should allow them to wear men’s and women’s clothes, for protection and covering, and will help with familiarity for acceptance. The lower body coverings will be altered to accommodate tails, which should never be hidden from view. Their tails, along with their ears, are their animal identities, making them appear unique from the tailless humans.”
Moreau has said what he wanted. He is drumming his desk with his fingertip again, reflecting.
This list of issues is more than I will remember. I must write it all down and send it as a written order to Aurora, my wife, and Ernie.
Moreau, still brooding.
I know that I have left something important out of this conversation.
Aurora breaks the silence, apparently reading his mind.
“Moreau, please help me understand the purpose of this request for these modifications. These modifications are intended to improve human perception of, and thus the acceptance of, these new creatures. I know you have said that these features will make the new creatures appear more familiar and thus more acceptable in the close contact of personal services. Is it your intention to also make these new creatures physically capable of ‘physical relationships’ with humans? I know that you have always had ‘attendants and companions’ on your list for their potential service applications.”
“In this context, does ‘companion’ include ‘intimate’ companionship?”
“Yes.”
End of Chapter 9.