Robbie Dorman - Regrowth

They prepped the rat, putting it under sedation, while Stone prepared the injection, the computer mixing it to the exact specifications of their model. Jon eyed it as Stone carried it over. The rat, once injected, would absorb nutrients insanely fast. Andrew stood nearby with more of the liquid nutrient bath, ready to refill as necessary.

Stone looked to Jon and nodded. Jon removed the rat’s limb, blood spurting out onto prepared gauze. Mel applied pressure to the wound as Stone injected the rat with the new serum, the right mixture, the magic formula. He handed off the syringe to Mel, and he then placed the rat in the nutrient bath. Blood continued to shoot out of the wound, mixing with the nutrient bath into the dull pink of pepto bismol, but it soon stopped, as its genes changed, as it became different. Better.

Jon watched as the blood flow slowed and then stopped, the healing beginning. The rate at which it healed was incredible, matched only by the amount at which it absorbed nutrients through its skin. The nutrient bath lowered quickly, as the rat became a conduit, its body an engine, converting the liquid into stem cells into a new arm in the span of seconds.

“Andrew,” said Stone, shortly, and Andrew stepped up, slowly adding more of the milky white substance into the small tub, filling it as fast as the rat could absorb it. The arm regenerated as Jon watched, bones and muscle, and then skin forming over top. No sign of mutation or deformity.

“I don’t believe it,” said Stone.

“It’s working,” said Jon.

“No, not working,” said Stone. “Worked. It’s done.”

The level of the bath had stalled, the rat done absorbing nutrients, its body back at equilibrium. The arm had regenerated fully, identical to the limb Jon had removed minutes ago. Jon carefully touched it, and it was solid, moving and flexing just like the one it had replaced.

“Yes,” said Stone, pumping his arm now.

“Wait,” said Jon. “One more test. The real test. Bring it out of sedation, Mel.”

Mel removed the IV, sliding it out from the rat, and pulled it from the nutrient bath, wiping it down with a towel and placing it on the table again.

“How long?” asked Jon.

“A couple minutes,” said Mel.

They all watched, waiting for the rat to show signs of life again. Would the limb work? That was the true test. A limb that looked the same but hung lifeless was no better, and Jon’s mind raced between all the problems that could still be there, of misplaced nerve endings or internal mutations that would leave the arm nonfunctional.

He held his breath, and then forced himself to inhale, forcing air in.

The rat twitched then, its ears slightly moving, and then its whiskers. Its eyes opened next. The sedative wore off, its brain coming back online. Its body moved. Its breathing becoming more regular.

“Holy shit,” said Jon. The rat stood up and groomed itself. Cleaning itself with the regenerated limb. It moved fully, and the rat showed no sign of distress.

“Fucking what!” said Stone.

“We did it!” yelled Jon, extending his hand to Stone. Stone shook it. Jon hugged Mel and shook Andrew’s hand. The rat continued to groom itself, even as they celebrated.

Jon carefully grabbed the rat, which didn’t object to him picking it up. He felt the new limb touch him, move against him. It worked. It really worked.

“Success.”

Shaw invited Jon and Stone to meet within the hour. Neither of them had reported anything to him. They hadn’t had time. They were too busy recording all their results, and planning on follow-up experiments, to fine tune the serum.

They didn’t get that far, and both were in the elevator, requesting Shaw’s office, a faint drop in their stomachs as the tube dropped.

“How did he know?” asked Jon.

“You really didn’t think he hasn’t been keeping a close eye on you?” asked Stone. “Everything else in here is abstract. Help people. Feed them, heal them. With you, it’s his arm .”

“So he’s been watching,” said Jon.

“Of course he has,” said Stone. “And if he hasn’t, he’s had someone do it for him.”

They arrived at Shaw’s office, and Shaw stood up to greet them, just like he had previously, but this time he avoided a handshake and stepped in to hug them both.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” he said, hugging Stone, and then hugging Jon. Jon hugged him back, trying not to feel awkward, embracing the richest man on Earth. Shaw clapped him on the back and then rubbed. Jon’s memory of saying talking to Shaw felt like talking to his father returned. His father would do the same thing whenever Jon had accomplished anything.

“Please, sit,” said Shaw, gesturing to the chairs. He was all smiles, as much of a smile his plastic face could manage. They sat. “Can I get you anything to drink? Champagne?”

“No, that’s okay,” said Jon. Stone waved him off.

“So, you found success?” asked Shaw. Jon waited for Stone to answer, but Stone said nothing. Jon realized that Stone probably hadn’t even met Shaw in person before.

“Yes,” said Jon. “The rat regrew its limb, and it’s completely functional.”

“How long did it take?” asked Shaw.

“Maybe ten minutes,” said Jon. “The speed was astounding.”

“Incredible,” said Shaw, his eyes bouncing between the two of them. “Simply incredible. I knew you could do it. And I knew Dr. Stone was just the key to getting you over the top. You add his knowledge and research to your own, and boom, success within two weeks. Simply amazing.”

“You were right, Mr. Shaw,” said Jon. “And now we have our first success. We’re on the right road.”

“I would say so!” said Shaw, perking up even more. “The right road. Ha. You’re doing a little better than just on the right road. You’ve achieved complete limb regeneration in a mammal in ten minutes!”

“Well, thank you,” said Jon. “I just don’t want to put the cart before the horse, you know. We’ve still got to repeat the tests, and refine our variables, make the process more efficient. After that, we can start worrying about larger—”

Shaw waved him off. “No no no, I told you Jon, stop thinking like you’re still on the surface. That is the rigors of old science, slow science. At that pace it will be years before we find anything substantial, before we move onto human testing. We don’t have time for those obsolete standards.”

“I mean, that’s well and good, Mr. Shaw,” said Jon. “But we still don’t know if the rat’s long-term health is affected. The limb could stop functioning tomorrow and we would be back where we started—”

“Tut tut,” said Shaw. “There is always risk whenever you are pushing science to the limit, pressing the human body to the limit. And frankly, I think it’s time to move on from rat testing, to larger animals. To get us closer to humans.”

“Well, I was going to plan on either cats or dogs next, or maybe pigs if we’re feeling really audacious—”

“No,” said Shaw, interrupting him again. “Chimps. I want you to move onto chimps.”

Jon reflexively shook his head. He felt Stone staring at him, trying to tell him to agree with his eyes, but Jon wouldn’t go along with some plan he didn’t believe in. “That’s out of the question, Mr. Shaw. Chimps are much more complicated than rats. Their autonomous systems alone—there’s no way we can just port over our same experiment and expect it to work. The manpower alone needed to program the models. Mel would have to work twelve-hour days for months.”

“I know that, Jon,” said Shaw. “That’s why I’m moving you and your team to the special projects lab. Where you’ll have more assistants. A much larger team. You and Dr. Stone will be less hands-on, and be in a more managerial role. Delegating tasks, and overseeing research, but not doing it directly. Frankly, you’re too valuable to be wasting time down in the trenches. Even your assistants will be given a wider purview. It’s a promotion in the truest sense of the word.”