Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-24787553-20140417170843

Science. It’s what moves us forward. Science is ever growing ever changing, it gives and takes as is necessary for development. And we, the scientists, must be willing to sacrifice in order to gain it’s knowledge. Some of us have been called great while others are called evil, but all of us have done what is necessary, the “Great” ones were simply the lucky ones. Not having to sacrifice for the achievement, the world gladly accepted their contributions. I am not one of the lucky ones. I had to give what I held most dear to give the world that which it needed, I had to give Science that which it demanded. I gave her. I never wanted to do what I did, but I had little choice, now I’m leaving this message for whoever should find it in the future. I’m leaving it so that you know I am not to blame, science is.

I am a scientist, as I’m sure you have already concluded, I’ve been spending the last few years researching the regenerative abilities of animals such as lizards, starfish and even the human stomach. I’ve been looking, as most scientists have, for a way to apply this ability to the human anatomy, allowing us to heal cuts in seconds, regrow limbs, beat disease and things that the fiction stories talk so much about. I finally found it.

I managed to combine these abilities and formed a series of serums that, when injected, would give these capabilities to whomever was injected. But, as all great discoveries have, there were repercussions. I originally tested the formulas on rats and even a few monkeys, they were always successful, but when I moved to human application something happened that I couldn’t have accounted for.

Finding willing subjects was always a challenge, especially when you don’t have approval from CDER, but science finds a way.

Her name was Jessie, she had been beautiful once, but that was before she got in a car accident that took her arm and left many scars on her face. Even if she hadn’t had the scars I still wouldn’t have cared about her appearance, I am a man of science, not the body. All I’ll cared about was that her genetics were unflawed.

Once we had worked through the mountain of contracts and safety waivers I explained what the trial would be like. She was okay with it. “Whatever gives me back my body,” she said.

Vanity, woman’s greatest weakness.

We started the trial and I injected the first serum, the reptile gene mixed with the DNA of the subject, this would start the regrowth process while keeping the new limb the same species as the subject. This serum alone probably could have healed her arm, but not the scars and there was always the problem of it having weaker connections to the skin due to the lizard’s ability to remove its tail. I’d have to inject her with the starfish gene next to strengthen the arm and slightly speed up the process.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">We waited about an hour as I monitored her vitals and watched the new limb start to sprout for her stump of a right arm. “It’s working!” she shouted excited as her heart rate went up.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Yes, it is,” I said, “now calm down, you need to keep your heart rate normal.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Okay, sorry.” She closed her eyes and did her best to calm herself, but it was difficult, she was too happy.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Alright, I’m going to inject the second of the three serums now,” I explained slowly for her to keep up. “Stay calm, this should stabilize the regrowth and possibly speed up the process, do you understand?”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Yes, let’s do it.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">I mumbled my annoyance under my breath as I injected the starfish stabilizer into the infant arm. The serum worked as wonderfully as the first. In just a few short hours her arm was already halfway to where it should be.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“I can’t believe this,” she said staring in awe at her arm, “it’s like something from a sci-fi movie.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Yes, but this is real,” I said annoyed by her constant stating of the obvious, “Now there’s just one more serum, this one is for the scars.” She winced a little at the mention of her scars. “It’s not necessary to the arm’s regrowth, but it will speed up the process significantly faster as it forces your flesh to regenerate at an amazing rate. Your scars will disappear in less than an hour. Are you sure you want to try this?” I asked the last merely for the sake of asking, I already knew her answer and if it had been anything else, I would have lied telling her it was necessary so I could get the full results from this test.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Yes, I’m ready,” she said with full confidence. I didn’t respond, I simply took the third syringe and filled it with the isolated stomach gene. I pressed the needle into the vein of her old arm and released what I didn’t realize as poison into her system. No going back now.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Nothing happened. At least, not immediately. there was a good few minutes of silence as the formula worked its way through her body. Then her scars began to peel away. It looked like she had a sunburn that was falling off. “Ugh,” she exclaimed pulling off dead skin, “What is this?”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Dead skin, your body is replacing all of the old flesh with new layers. Don’t worry, the effects should stop once they’ve completed a full cycle.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“It’s disgusting.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Oh grow up, it’s not that bad.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Well you’re not the one who’s peeling like a snake.” She pulled off more skin and revealed a layer of bright pink. “What the Hell! I’m pink!”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Calm down, it’ll go away after awhile.” She pulled more skin revealing more pink skin. Then she doubled over and puked on my laboratory floor. “Come on!” I said, “It’s not that bad!”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“No it’s not the skin,” she said weakly, “it’s something else. My stomach...it hurts.” She puked again.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">“Just stay calm, it’ll subside in a little bit, just stay calm.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">She screamed out in pain. “Ahh! What did you do to me?” Her skin started to molt uncontrollably revealing layers of pink then gray then pink again, then they started to ooze some strange liquid which I could only assume to be stomach acid. As she screamed and doubled over more and more, she fell from her chair and curled into a ball on the floor. She continued to scream as I backed away slowly. The ooze was melting her skin, but it kept growing back, there was no doubt that whatever she was feeling was unimaginably painful.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Her head snapped up as she looked at me with animalistic hate. Some inhuman sound came from her mouth as her screams became directed at me. She pulled herself to her feet using the chair and leaving burn marks on its leather padding. She had become hideous! Her skin was a clash of bright pink and dull gray with that ooze flowing freely from her and leaving marks all over the floor. Her clothes had melted off revealing more hideous skin. I stared in fear at what I had made. She screeched again, no longer able to talk, and I backed away as she stepped closer and closer.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">I turned and ran into the closest room I could find, the animal containment room. I slammed the door shut behind myself and blocked it with the few empty cages I could move. The animals were going insane! They were all shouting and screeching as best they could, some seemed to match the girl’s own screams.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">That was when I found this paper, I figure that the best thing I can do now is write out what happened and ready myself for death. She’s banging on the door, she knows where I am and she wants me dead. I’m not sure that the door will hold her, I can hear her acid melting it away as she bangs on the door, but that might be paranoia at this time. And even if she doesn’t get in I’ll still die.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">The animals are going wild, their screeches now match hers, they’re starting to change, to molt like she did. Some of the older subject are starting to ooze and their acid is melting away their glass cases. It won’t be long before they get out.

<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:'Times New Roman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Science gave me my serum, vanity gave me my subject, pride gave me drive. <ac_metadata title="Alright, I&#039;ve written another Pasta and I would love some feed back on it. I like this one so much more than my last and I&#039;m sorry for the lack of a title, I never was good at naming. Thanks to those "> </ac_metadata>