“You have a proof of concept,” said Shaw. “And frankly, you’ve already done the hardest work. That is why I ask for more. Because right now, we are almost there. We are on the brink. You just need to take the final step. Should damage to another part of the body be any different from regenerating a limb?”
Jon looked to Stone, who only stared back at him blankly. “I—I don’t know,” said Jon. “Theoretically, no. But in practice, who can say? Everything gets more complex when you introduce test subjects, with an infinite amount of variables thrown in.”
“But it should work?” asked Shaw.
Jon took a deep breath. “I would think so.”
“Good,” said Shaw. “Because I ask for one other thing.”
Jesus Christ, what more could he want?
“Yes?” asked Jon.
“I want live testing,” said Shaw.
“Live testing?” asked Jon. “You mean, do the experiments on conscious animals?”
“Yes,” said Shaw. “Humans in the field will be conscious, when they regenerate. So we must test on conscious animals.”
“I—I don’t know we can feasibly implement live testing,” said Jon. “Removing a limb from a conscious animal, doing any other trauma—It’s unconscionable. It’s torture.”
“Let me ask you a question, Jon,” said Shaw, his smile disappearing. “How many chimps would you kill to give your son his legs back?”
“I—”
“It’s more than one, or two. How many have you killed so far? Sure, they’ve been sedated, so their pain was minimal. How many would you maim? How many would you deal trauma to, to erase your son’s?”
Jon stared at him, his breath catching in his lungs. He thought to the scene of the accident, of Tommy lying there, blood pouring out of his legs.
“I don’t know,” said Jon, finally.
“Well, you need to find an answer,” said Shaw. “Because I have mine. I would kill as many as it takes. March them in here, one by one. I would mow them down with machine gun fire, over and over again. Chop through them with a machete, until they piled in my office. Until the floor was thick with their blood. I would kill them until I drowned, if it meant by arm back.” He stared at Jon, his plastic face determined, his eyes hollow. “This is an end to trauma, Jon. An end to conflict. When all soldiers are invincible, war becomes impossible. The pain of a chimp is not among my concerns. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” said Jon.
“As for implementing testing,” said Shaw. “You two are bright, as is everyone on your team. Find solutions. You’ve done splendidly so far at that. Your work is getting closer and closer to real life implementation. Every step you take is one closer to solutions in the real world. And not a moment too soon. There was a nuclear blast, on the surface.”
“What?” asked Jon.
“Where?” asked Stone.
“Moscow,” said Shaw. “Sent by Pakistan. There have been small conflicts for weeks, and Putin thought that he could bluff them by cutting off their last supply chain. He thought wrong.”
“Holy hell,” said Jon, trying to catch his breath. “How many dead?”
“They’re still counting,” said Shaw. “Millions. Putin himself, they’re not sure. He might have escaped. The news is still coming in. But now everyone waits for Russian reprisal.”
“Fuck,” said Stone.
“So you see, we must act quickly,” said Shaw. “Multiple other teams are nearly complete. You are catching up, which I applaud. But believe me, my insistence is not for selfish reasons. We must intervene before the world ends. We must introduce ourselves while something still remains.”
Jon’s mind boggled at the thought of nuclear war. He had always dismissed the idea, even as more and more countries armed themselves. The threat of mutual destruction always felt too dangerous for even the most deranged ruler to pull the trigger. He couldn’t fathom the amount of life lost.
“Do you understand, now?” asked Shaw, again.
They both nodded, solemnly.
Jon’s heart hurt, and the thought of inflicting trauma on live test subjects made his stomach ache, and bile rise into his throat. But Shaw wasn’t wrong. If they could broaden the use of the serum to eliminate trauma all together, it would revolutionize the world. It would change everything.
“Good luck, gentlemen,” said Shaw, and they left. The team still celebrated upon their return. Neither Jon or Stone had the heart to tell them about the attack on Moscow. It didn’t matter, as the news hit the Shawnet minutes later, and that was all anyone talked about.
Jon and Stone secluded themselves, and drew up plans about how to institute live testing. The amount of variables increased exponentially, and not only increased pain to the animal, but increased the danger to the researchers. A creature in pain or distress was dangerous, and a chimp even more so. They could injure or kill any member of the team if there weren’t multiple levels of safeguards and protocol in place. Jon and Stone dismissed the rest of the team for the day, letting them go home and deal with the news.
Jon and Stone worked for hours, coming up with some preliminary ideas for live testing. They would bounce it off the team the next day. Stone would talk to Sherman and get some armed guards. They would need a different testing area. The theater wouldn’t get it done. They needed something stronger. Something bulletproof.
The aching pit in Jon’s stomach didn’t go away as they drew up plans. It only got worse and worse, getting so bad Jon had to excuse himself, running to the bathroom to throw up bile into the sink. He tried to drink water, but nothing made the pain go away. Because despite everything, despite the promise of healing Tommy, despite the nuclear attack and the urgency it created, he still didn’t think he could hurt the animals like they would require. This wasn’t rats, and they weren’t sedated. He didn’t know how the rest of the team would react either.
Shaw’s demands had only increased with time, and Jon’s mind worried about what he would ask for next. And Jon, when he had sat next to Stone in Shaw’s office, had thought to just say no. Because there were lines he simply wouldn’t cross.
But after his conversation with Tabby, he had went for walks as well. And he noticed just how empty the FUTURE lab actually was. There was still many people down there, but for the size of it, it was largely uninhabited. But it hadn’t been that way just two weeks prior. People were missing.
Where had they gone? Were they back in the four pillars? Were they in their rooms, resting, having reached the end of their research, having realized the fruit of their labor?
Or were they exiled? Sent back to the surface without help or lifeline?
Were they dead?
Hours passed, and Stone left him alone in the lab. They had done all the work they could do today, both exhausted from the work and from the news of the attack.
Jon sat alone. His phone buzzed. It was a text from Tabby. They had only briefly talked over the last few days, sending fleeting text messages, and one brief phone conversation before bed.
We need to talk sent Tabby.
When? Jon replied.
Tonight. Now.
About what? Jon asked in a reply, but she never answered. Jon waited on a response, but then packed up his things and went home. He talked to Tommy briefly, still waiting on a reply. It never came. Tabby always responded quickly to his texts. This wasn’t like her.
After saying goodbye to Tommy, he realized why Tabby hadn’t answered.