Chapter Twenty Nine

Finding a Cure

 

            Now that the camp was evacuated, the only inhabitants were the “hybrids” as the animals and Malcolm were called, and the “transforms” as Peter, Jenny and Matthew were called.  The transforms were growing so fast that normal rooms quickly became entirely too small.  They took the equipment and a few things from the house and made their abode in the camp’s large stable.

            Days passed, then weeks.  The group tirelessly tried one thing after another. Peter, Matthew and Jenny worked in one room of the stable as best they could with the equipment purchased with, as they supposed, emergency funds.  Malcolm, the natural leader of the hybrids, worked with his group, basically keeping to themselves, working out possible remedies and courses of action, then reporting their best suggestions to Peter.  Most of the hybrids researched extensively before performing a limited amount of experiments.  Chimp, however, due to his nature, tended to spontaneously experiment and learn as he went.  By this he made more than his share of contributions.

            Peter had added sixty pounds of bulk.  Jenny, thirty-five pounds.  Surprisingly to himself,  Matthew was spared a rapid transformation.  He had gained a mere twenty-five pounds and relatively little fur.

            Day after day they labored.  Taking few breaks, the only relaxation they allowed themselves to experience was an occasional game of chess.  Matthew sat at a table, his com transmitting a virtual chess board in front of him.  He played against a chess-playing computer program downloaded from the Internet.

            “Bishop to king eight,” he said.  The virtual bishop changed positions.  In response his com commanded its rook to take the bishop.  “Pawn to queen eight,” he commanded, then said, "Checkmate.”

            “Checkmating the computer again?” Malcolm said.  ‘That’s pretty tough for even chess masters to do.”

            “It’s our enhanced brains,” he replied.  “The computer just isn’t smart enough.  I noticed that the people who wrote the chess program made the computer to covet my queen.  Every game it goes through slightly more effort to capture it than is warranted.  I found I could use this against it by setting it up.  When it takes my queen, it is under my terms.  It’s gotten so predictable that it has become the computer’s downfall game after game.  It just isn’t a challenge anymore.”

            “Pretty clever, Matthew,” Malcolm added.  “I think I’ll take a break now and try a game.”

            “Matthew,” Peter said.  “I need you to come with me.”

            “Yes, Peter,” he said.  “What do you want?”

            Peter took Matthew into one of the other stalls in which he had placed a small table and a leather medical bag.  “I had Father Janis send us some syringes.  I’m having our blood sent out for examination in some labs that have been sympathetic to us in the past.  I need to draw some blood.”

            “Still sticking me with needles Peter?” he said.  “At least I have more blood  now than ever.”

            “Yeah, and I’m going to need a lot of it.  I’m sending your blood to as many labs as I can.”

            “Mine?  Why not yours and Jenny’s?”

            “We’re giving too, Matthew.  But let’s not talk about that now.  Just sit down.  We have to fill these flasks.”

            Matthew knew better than that.  In one breath Peter had said he was trying to keep the disease a secret by sending it to certain labs that were sympathetic to us.  That would be five, at the most.  The flasks were large enough to accommodate a hundred labs.  He kept the matter in his heart.

            Peter took out several large glass containers from his medical bag.  He took a syringe and tube and a large shaving razor.  “Here,” he said, “Use this razor.  I need you to shave your arm a bit so I can get a vein.”

            Matthew complied.  Soon there was a usable bare spot on his arm.  Peter inserted the needle and began filling the flasks with blood.

            “Isn’t that enough?” Matthew asked after the second flask.

             Peter reached in and took out two more flasks.  “No.  We have to fill them all.”

            “Why?”

            “Trust me, Matthew.  The amount of blood needed for these tests is considerable.”

            “And we each are giving this amount?”

            “Well, I’m taking more from you,” he admitted.  “You don’t seem to be changing as fast as Jenny and me.  In fact you seem to have a natural defense.  Your rate of transformation has slowed while mine and Jenny’s has increased.  So more tests have to be taken from you.”

            Matthew didn’t answer.  It was logical.  His transformation was still progressing, but not nearly as fast as the others.  He sat still and watched as almost a full gallon was taken from his body.

            “So how are you coming with the serum, Jenny?  Any new progress?”

            “Not really.  I tried some interesting combinations of chemicals I thought would work but I injected myself with a little bit and became weak and nauseated.  I believe if I took a full dose, one that would do any good, it would probably be so toxic it would kill me.  It’s over there in that vial near the window.   I put a red cap on it to mark it as dangerous.  I marked it as a failure but am saving it for future experimentation.  But there is the other theory I’m working on.  It’s in my last message to you.  You should read everything I send you.”

            “I’ll get right on it.  It sounds interesting.  Jenny, can I ask you a question?  It seems like something’s bothering you.  Is it your hormones?”

            “We’re being recreated in the image of apes.  Every cell is being molested.  Our hormones are going wild.”

            “I know what you mean.  It’s confusing, disorienting.”

            “I’m getting tired of it.  I look at myself in the mirror and don’t even know who I am anymore.  I don’t even know what I am.  But there are things I do know.  I know I’m smarter than I’ve ever been - at least ten times as smart.  I know I am stronger than the strongest athlete.  I know that we are destined for greatness.  I also know that it is only the prejudice of humans that will stand in the way.”

            “Jenny.  I don’t understand.  Are you getting comfortable being what you’ve become?”

            “I don’t know anymore, Matthew.  One thing I do know I am tired of living in a stall.  I’m tired of eating military rations and I’m tired of going through a nightmare.  I am beginning to accept myself for what I am.”

            Meanwhile, Malcolm’s group occupied a stall twenty feet from the transforming humans and were in busy discussion.

            “Peter’s last email was interesting,” Shep said excitedly.  “He’s right.  Introducing a new virus into their bodies could restructure their genetic code to make them human again.”

            “True,” Tam-Julius said.  “But Silver and I have been working on another theory.  You see, if Peter has his way they will all gain human features again, but they will be standard human genes, not their original make up.  They'll take on the pattern that you get when only the base set of the human genome is available, only the essential genes which define humans as humans.   And the science isn’t proven.  It’s pretty tricky.  It would cost a lot of time and money to research and who would be the test subject?”

            “So?” Malcolm replied.  “Isn’t that good enough?  If that’s all there is, I say let them chance it.”

            “Silver and I think that with a proper dose of the existing medicine Genezol that it can actually combat the virus and cause the cells to revert back to their original genetic configuration.  I would ask you to review our findings and take it to Peter for evaluation.”

            “‘Genezol’?” he repeated.  “That is interesting.  It has been used to reverse birth defects due to genetic damage for years.”

            “That’s right,” Tam-Julius said.  “One uses the bodies’ natural ability to fight genetic mutation.  The drugs can rid the virus from their systems.”

            The group discussed the merits of the new curative theory for two hours.  Finally Malcolm made a decision.  “Gentlemen, seeing that we are all in much agreement about the merits of this new cure, I have decided to table the matter and approach Peter.”

            “Here- here,” William responded.  “Good show.”

            Malcolm looked for Peter.  He was nowhere in the building.  Seeing Jenny sitting at her work station he called to her.  “Jenny, where’s Peter?”

            “He’s outside.  He said he was going for a walk.  He’ll be back soon.  He must have been out there for forty-five minutes so far.”

            “Thank you dear,” he said.

            He journeyed into the farm yard.  Peter strode from one end of the yard to the next.  He covered almost the entire yard.

            “What’s up,” he asked his friend.  “It looks like you are searching for something.”

            “Not searching,” he said.  “Just walking.  I can walk without your permission can’t I?”

            “Sir, may I interrupt your walk?” he asked politely.

            “Yes, Malcolm.  Is it about my last mail?”

            Malcolm hesitated before answering.  He eyed a small particle beam rifle Peter had in his left hand.  “A rifle, Peter?  Odd weapon to go out on a walk with.”

            “I just got it out of the arsenal.  Just a precaution.  I don’t want any surprise attack to catch us unprepared.”

             Malcolm pondered for just a second.  The military had left them with a very advanced early warning system.  He then responded to Peter’s question.  “Your mail was insightful.  I do believe you are on to something.  Your deductions were both ingenious and theoretically sound.”

            “Thank you.  The doctor’s changes on our brains seem to be aiding us all.  I’ve never thought so clearly.  You know there’s regular geniuses in the world but I must admire Dr. Lincoln.  He really had to be special to think this up.  To think, one man was able to genetically alter us so extensively . . ."  Peter caught himself in mid sentence.  “But of course, he is insane.”

            Malcolm didn’t comment at this.  He reserved judgment in his heart about Peter’s fascination with his new mental powers and infatuation with Dr. Lincoln.  Malcolm, of course, was born with this ability.  It was nothing special to him to be able to memorize entire pages of material as fast as they could be read.

            “The others and I have been thinking too.  We think that your proposed serum is quite feasible.  It, theoretically, could reduce the doctor’s genetic changes over a period of two months.  But we have an alternative that Shep brought up.  And if you don’t mind, I’d like us to meet up with Matthew so we can discuss it together,” Malcolm said.

            “Don’t disturb Matthew.  He’s sleeping and in great need of it.  He’s not taking the disease well.  Too many hormonal changes make his stomach upset.  But please tell me of your solution.”

            “In your own brilliant solution you would introduce a new virus into the body which would rebuild the genetic code one chromosome at a time.  Seeing we need only a small percentage of our genes to be human, it would strip away everything that isn’t essential.  Yes, theoretically, it would make you all human just as surely as you were turned into beasts.  The problems lies in that you would all have to assume a new, basic, genetic code.  You would not revert back to what you were before.”

            “That’s right Malcolm.  But at least we’d be human again.”

            “I and the hybrids feel that is the wrong approach.  You see, we feel that your bodies are very resistant to the virus’s changes and are trying the best they can to revert back to its natural state.  Our approach is that you should work with what your bodies are already trying to do. In this way you would revert back to your original genetic code.”

            “Interesting,” he said.  “But how could we accomplish this?”

            Malcolm discussed the use of Genezol and laid out the theories behind it and why the group thought it would work.  After much discussion Peter concluded, “You know I do believe you are right. Slightly altered and taken in sufficient doses it makes perfect sense.  And unless the doctor thought of a way around this medicine as a cure, you might really be onto something.”  Peter smiled broadly - a little too broadly for Malcolm’s comfort, then patted Malcolm on the back.  This sudden lightening of mood made Malcolm curious, but he chalked it up to a mood swing brought on by hormonal changes.

            “I am glad you agree Peter,” he said.

            “I’ll tell the others of your theory.  In the mean time, get some sleep.”

            “Thank you.”

            “No problem.  And if you and the other animals have any more good thoughts you be sure to give me a call.  I’m always looking for good ideas.”

            Malcolm didn’t respond.  He just looked at Peter.  Words were not needed to convey what was going on.  No human or ape could hide emotions so carefully that they didn’t appear obvious to observant eyes and a super-quick mind.  Malcolm couldn’t help but feel alarmed.  Peter, of course, picked this up immediately.  They read each other like a book.

            “And you,” Peter said with a slight touch of sternness in his voice, “have a good night.”

             When Malcolm got back to the others he was immediately met by them. He was quiet, reserved.   “I know you are wondering what went on,” he said.  “I discussed it thoroughly with Peter.”

            “And. . .” Shep prompted.

            “And he agreed with us - that Genezol is the right solution.”

            “That’s great,” Tam-Julius commented.  “Then why aren’t you smiling?”

            “It’s something, something that I have noticed in Peter over the last few weeks.  Maybe it’s nothing, but I think something is wrong.”

            “What?” Chimp asked.

            “He was irritable.  But on the other hand he seems to have gotten quite comfortable.  He’s almost too comfortable and proud of his new mental abilities and his new strength.  And he seems to be somewhat paranoid.  He carries a particle beam rifle.  Do you think . . .”

            “Think what, Malcolm?” Shep asked.

            “That maybe he has been listening to the doctor’s transmissions?”

            “You know,” Chimp said, “I sort of noticed that myself.  That assertion isn’t as ridiculous as it might first sound.  I sort of think he might be.  I didn’t mention it to you because I was hoping it was hardly my place to form an opinion about someone I hardly knew.”

            William, silent until this moment, spoke next.  “I’ve noticed it in Jenny too.  It seems like she has become, well, arrogant.  I don’t know if she’s always been like or if it’s something new but I’m worried.  Remember that although they had normal human intelligence before, their new genetic makeup seems to make them far sharper than we are..”

            “But Peter worked hard for a cure!” Shep said.

            “That’s true,” Malcolm said. “I remember some of the doctor’s transmissions. You know they are getting through Peter’s jamming device more frequently.  I at first thought the doctor was just being clever and using different techniques to overcome our jamming signal but I wonder if Peter has been secretly letting it through from time to time.”

            The room fell silent while they all considered this development.  Finally Chimp sniffed the air, then said, “On another subject, have any of you noticed a smell?”

            “Funny you should mention it,” William replied.  “It’s a queer, pungent smell.”

            “Yes,” Malcolm said.  “But to me it is energizing.”

            “In what way?” Tam Julius asked.

            “It’s, well, it’s a good smell.”

            “I smell it,” Tam-Julius said.  “It’s something that sort of smells musty and I think that it is coming from Jenny.”

            “I don’t know what it means,” Malcolm replied.  “It seems to be rather new. Almost nothing is known about us as a new species.  For all I know it could be anything from a natural secretion to an undesirable side-effect.”

            In Peter’s chamber the secret of the smell was quite evident, for most animals during some days of each year produce special odors which. . . .

 

            “Honey!” Peter called to his wife as she lay in one of the stalls.”

            “No need to shout, Peter.  I’m awake.”  Her breathing was heavy, her heart pounding.

            “Ah, Jenny!  You are driving me wild!  I don’t know what the doctor might have done to us, but I think there’s at least one good side effect.”

            “Yes!”  Now she stood.  “Peter, it’s wonderful.  It’s powerful.  It’s. . . .”

            “It’s animalistic.”

             Jenny nodded.  “Analyzing it takes the fun out of it!” she said as she held her hand over his mouth.  “Less talk and more action.”

            Back in the other stall the animals were still discussing the matter.  “I know what it is,” William said.  “I know because I’ve experienced something like that.  And if you are honest, each of us has. And, Malcolm, being of their species, you must know what it is but are shy in telling us.”

            “Well don’t keep everyone in suspense, William,” Malcolm said.  “Tell them.”

            “It has to do with a female in heat, doesn’t it William?” Chimp asked.

            “Being an ape, yourself, you hardly had to guess.  It is a sex stimulant.  It is secreted, I believe, to induce mating.  We’ve just never been able to really experience our natural animal instincts since we have no access to mates in heat.”

            The animals all looked at Malcolm.  Silver walked over to him and asked, “Do you feel that this is right?”

            Malcolm answered shyly.  “Yes.  You are right.  I have had an urge to be around Jenny,” he said slowly.  “But I resisted because of Peter being her husband.”

            Everyone looked at Chimp.  “This is embarrassing. Okay, I admit it.  It makes me horny, alright?”

            “I wonder,” Moo continued, “if this means we’ll have a little monkey running around soon.”   The group chuckled at the thought.  But then the implications of that thought quickly sobered them.  “They have to be warned,” Moo said.

            “Warned?” William replied.  “What good would it do?  They’re smart enough to figure it out.  They are probably beside themselves.”

            “They still have self control,” Shep said.  “They aren’t animals.”

            “But why should they control themselves?” Malcolm answered.  “They’re married.  And besides that I don’t think Peter and Jenny are in the right attitude to listen to anyone right how.”

            The animals knew what that implied.

             “What are we to do then?” Shep said.  “If Peter and Jenny are no longer in control of themselves because of the disease then maybe . . .”

            “No!” Malcolm responded.  “I don’t believe it’s the disease entirely.  Maybe it’s human nature.  Think of it.  They are genuinely superior for the first time.  They can think better.  Their bodies are huge, strong.  Greater ability breeds greater ambition.  Haven’t you heard that power corrupts?  Why shouldn’t they succumb to human nature?”

            They all stood silent as none had an answer.

            “We’d better watch their moves,” Chimp said.  “I don’t know if I can trust them anymore.”  The others nodded in agreement.

            A full hour passed.  Matthew awoke from a troubled sleep.  It was 2:00 AM.  He got up from his spot on the floor and lumbered into the stall at the far end of the massive barn that had been converted into a crude bathroom.  In the room were all the necessities.  A huge commode crudely constricted out of wood, one faucet connected to a garden hose for cold water and another one coming from the farmhouse that supplied hot water.  There was a cabinet for toiletries, soap, shampoo, and Jenny’s make-up. On the wall was a full length mirror, a necessity for those who must check the progress of their transformation.  Matthew looked into the queer image before him.  His hair had grown another half-inch and had spread down his forearms.  Now he was covered with fur from his head to his toes.  His hand-sewn toga, was already bulging and tight-fitting.  And his face - his very features were changing.  He began to look more and more like Malcolm, as were Peter and Jenny.

            Matthew pondered his visage for several long minutes. “Is this really me?” he asked.  He stroked the fur growing on his arm.  A chill ran up his spine as he saw the darkening skin underneath.  He touched his nose.  “That’s not my nose,” he said.  “Yet it is.”

            It is easy to become unnerved when the face you see in the mirror is not only unfamiliar, but also one that is a beast of an undefinable species.  In times past he tried not to think about his change.  He was hoping that after a while there would be a cure to stop its progression.  But now he stared in the mirror and a freak stared back - the hodgepodge masterpiece of a distorted mind.  Now the change was not ignorable.    Matthew’s chill turned into a series of chills, one quickly following the other.  His spine began to quiver.  His breathing was now short and irregular.

            A cry filled his throat.  “It’s not happening!” he called out.  “It’s an illusion!  A nightmare!  God help me!” Yet the stark reality of the transformation was still indelibly etched in the mirror’s glass.  It wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how much he prayed for it to go away.  When he looked at his reflection he saw something nonhuman. 

            The thought gripped his mind and wouldn’t let go.  Soon his arms shook.  Now his torso.  Terror gripped the young ape-man.  Terror that had a real cause.  The doctor had done something to him that was so horrible, so demonic, so evil and treacherous that his mind and courage could not, this time, prevail. He stared eye to eye with the beast in the glass as he averred, “I swear by God, I’d do anything, anything to become human again.”

            The horrified transform closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.  “This can’t be,” he said to himself over and over again.  “This is not happening.  I am human!  I am human!  I am Matthew the human!  I am not an animal!”  He opened his eyes again.  The glaring truth belied his mind’s dire hope.  The thing that he was becoming could in no way be labeled human.  This time it was not just a mere legal distinction defined by grey-haired judges in black robes.  Dr. Lincoln had done it.  Matthew had been transformed into a non-human.  A simian.

            Matthew continued to shake for some time until his body, exhausting itself of nervous energy, began to weaken then became limp.  He sat against the wall for many minutes before being able to come to his feet.

            Matthew regained his composure.  He resigned himself to the fact.  He was transformed.  Yet, something was different about him.  His transformation was somehow not as complete as with the others.  On a venture, he grabbed the hairs on his chest and pulled on them.  “What’s this?” he said to himself.  He stared at his fist.  His hand was full of loose hair.  “Don’t tell me I’m shedding,” he said aloud.  “I’d better not sit on the couch.  Jenny will get mad if I get hair all over it.”

            The humor was all that he had left to fight against the mental strain.  He giggled a bit, then cried.

            “I’m not human,” he said again  “I have become a numan again.   I’m never going to revert back, I’ll be like this forever, until the day I die.”

            A voice came from behind.  It was the same beast-like voice that was his own, only quiet, with feminine intonation.  “Matthew, it’s not that bad you know.”

            He turned to find Jenny standing at the door.  “I’m a beast, Jenny,” he said. 

            And am I a beast?” she replied.  “Can you really say we have suffered for this disease?  I was sad like you.  Peter snapped me out of it.  He explained that we are really better off.  Our brain,” she said with a nod.  “is super human.”  She smiled at this.  “It is not a curse.  I have thought thoughts and imagined things I could never have as a human. The depths of understanding, the incredible swiftness of thought.  Sometimes Peter and I anticipate each other so perfectly that we go hours without uttering a word . . .”

            Matthew interrupted.  “Yes.  Although I’m- not changing as fast as you are, even I have noticed - and that scares me.”

            “Scares you, why?”

            “I desperately want to be human!   Look at our bodies!  Look at us!  We are strong but we are apes!  We are not human!”

            “But we are.  We’re human if we think we are human.  You might say we are 'better' humans.”

           The two stood motionless and silent for a few minutes.  Jenny was right. What could mere words do to describe what they both knew by instinct?  Jenny continued  “With benefits like this, why go back to the way we were?  Even if it is possible, why lose all we gained?”

           “Are you saying that the mad Doctor has actually done us a favor?”

            “I - I’m not sure,” she said softly.  Again, the two paused to consider the thought more fully.      “Maybe.  Peter seems to be leaning toward that.”

            “Peter is?  Jenny, are you willing to be a beast for the rest of your life - even knowing that your mere existence is dangerous to all who come in contact with you?”

            “Dangerous?  How?  They will be transformed too.  How is that bad?”

            Matthew couldn’t speak for a second.  Could he argue against this point?  He, too, knew the contrast between being human and being what they had become, yet he could not let go of the desire to revert back.

            “And what was it the Father said,” Jenny continued.  “About not being bovine or equine but . . .”

            “But being divine,” he finished her words.

            “Yes,” she said with a telling smile.  “Divine.”

            “Is that what we have become?  Divine?”

            “Let us say we are no longer mere humans,” she said.  “We have evolved beyond that.  In that sense the doctor’s goal becomes easier to understand.  We have taken a quantum leap above what we were.”  She spoke slowly, deliberately.  “And I’m not so sure I want a cure.”

            These last words stabbed Matthew’s heart.  “Jenny,” he said firmly.  “You have to stop thinking like that.  We need to become human again.  We have the minds of humans.  You said it earlier.  It’s our bodies that are diseased.”