[Vfw-times] Story: Critter-Man (2/?)

[Oren Otter]

Part Two

	Renny wanted to scream.  It wasn't that he was squeamish.  Being a doctor,
it was a simple matter for him to gaze unemotionally at blood and gore.
However, when he saw the remains of the alien critter splattered about the
inside of its glass cage, the notion that his chances for fame and fortune
had gone up in smoke were almost more than he could bear.  After an hour
and three stiff drinks, he finally realized that the only thing to do was
to begin an autopsy.  After all, it isn't every day a creature is
discovered mangled after being kept in isolation.  He had to figure out
what killed it.
	Soon after he began examining the alien's remains, Simon walked in the
door.  "Morning, Renny!" he chimed, cheerfully.  "How's our critter doing?"
	"It's dead."
	"What?  You're joking."
	Renny pointed to the cage, which had been covered with a towel.  "I came
in this morning and found it in pieces.  See for yourself."
	Of course, Simon did just that.  He lifted the towel and reported "Uh...
Renny?  All I see is five critters."
	The doctor froze for a moment before coming over to verify what Simon was
telling him.  There in the glass tank stood five little pairs of eyes
surrounded by fuzz, and each sporting four of the wicked, three-clawed
tendrils.  It was then that he realized- the original creature had been
split into five pieces.  "Each of the pieces must have regenerated into an
entirely new critter." he mused aloud.
	"I've never seen that kind of regeneration anywhere." said Simon.
	Renny smiled hugely.  "Do you know what this means?  If we can isolate
whatever gives the aliens the ability to do this..."
	"No one ever need be crippled again!"
	"And we'll be rich!"

	* * *

	The days that followed were long ones, but full.  Early on, the government
sent officials to confiscate the critters.  A call to the national
institute of xenology stopped that.  The NIX has some very persuasive
lawyers, and were very interested in obtaining the accurate results of
Townsend's and Gerfallen's research.  Not a likely event if Uncle Sam
usurped it.
	It was Renny who declared that he had finally isolated the regenerative
hormones.  He instructed his partner to fetch the three-legged lab rat.
	Robbie the rat was almost a pet more than an experimental subject.  He'd
been crippled at birth, and Simon felt sorry for him and kept him in a cage
in the corner of the lab.  He never did any kind of testing on this animal.
 However, if Renny was indeed correct, the hormone serum would give Robbie
the leg that he never had.
	Townsend held the rat upside-down in his hand and jabbed the syringe into
its belly.  The animal squealed and kicked, but Renny held it firmly until
the injection was finished.  At first, there was no visible effect, but
after it had been returned to its cage, the changes slowly became
noticeable.  At first, it was merely a nub.  Within minutes, however, a
tiny foot like that of an infant emerged from the haunch.  In less than an
hour, the rat stood on four legs.  "Stood" was the only applicable word for
it, too.  Robbie not only had all his limbs.  He looked stronger and
leaner, and stood in a leonine stance, with his head held high and his
shoulders and hips held up off the floor.
	Simon stood and admired the animal until he heard a loud crash behind him.
 The glass of the critters' cage had been shattered from the inside!
Within seconds, the little alien monsters were wreaking havoc about the
lab.  Only now, there were no longer five.  The five critters had
multiplied again and again, becoming dozens.
	The problem became painfully obvious.  These creatures were violent enough
to completely trash the lab before they were caught, but it wouldn't end
there.  With their reproduction rate and near immortality, they would
overrun the entire planet in short order, no matter how hard anyone tried
to contain them.  They would have to die.  Simon knew what had to be done.
He would spray them down with a chlorine solution.  Their cells would
become oxygen starved, leaving none left alive to regenerate.
	"Renny!  Grab an oxygen mask!  I'm gonna gas 'em!"
	"No, you idiot!" Renny shouted.  "You'll destroy everything!"  Even as he
said this, three critters landed upon his face and sunk their claws deep
into his flesh.  He screamed in pain as Simon helped him to pull them away.
 Kicking at another attacker, Simon made for the chloride tank and turned
the valve.  Instantly, the air was flooded with a sick, green gas.  It was
all either of the men could do to hold their breath and flee, sealing the
room with an airtight seal.
	A panicking critter bounced against the glass door as Simon, on his hands
and knees coughing out poison, rasped to his partner "I'm sorry", seconds
before passing out.

	* * *

	Since his release from the hospital, Simon had taken to working in his own
home laboratory.  He'd managed to salvage a few things from the lab,
including a small amount of the regenerative serum, which he was working to
reproduce artificially.  Thus far, he was having absolutely no luck.
	One night as he entered his lab, he was surprised to find his partner
sitting in his favorite thinking chair.
	"Renny!" exclaimed the professor.  "What are you doing here?"
	"We need to talk." Townsend replied.
	"About what?"
	"About the critters."
	Simon didn't like the tone of Renny's voice, nor the color that was slowly
rising in his cheeks.  "I told you," he said in an attempt to placate the
man.  "I had to kill them, or they'd have killed US."
	"That's not the point." said Renny, rising.  "The point is, we could have
been Billionaires, but thanks to YOU, we got ZIP!"
	Renny's voice was rising, unmasking a seething mass of fury.  Simon was
starting to get nervous, but once again, he tried to reason with the man.
"Well... what are we going to do about it now?" he asked.
	That was the wrong question.  Renny's hand closed around one of the
instruments on the table next to him.  Screaming that he was going to
destroy Simon, he leapt upon him and stabbed.
	Simon Gerfallen was dead.


-Oren the Otter
8=-3
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