Robbie Dorman - Regrowth

“What caused it to—to absorb the flesh of others?” asked Shaw.

“Dr. Stone’s research was always centered on skin permeability,” said Jon. “An ability the hagfish has, where it can digest through its epidermis. A unique ability, which could have a lot of applications in medicine. We used it to up the caloric absorption rate of the subjects up to this point. Our goal was to increase the rate of regeneration by significant margins, so we made meaningful changes to the serum. We accelerated the reconstruction rate, and to fuel it, we upped the digestion rate. And more than that, we lowered the threshold for caloric response by the skin.”

“So, if I understand you, you told the skin to recognize more things as food,” said Shaw. “And coupled with the permeability of the epidermis, and it’s accelerated regeneration rate, it could absorb human flesh, and convert that into stem cells?” asked Shaw. His eyes had turned to Jon, his plastic face betraying nothing. The security footage still played on a screen in front of him. On it, the creature absorbed a guard, armor and all, and Jon looked away.

“Yes,” said Jon. “More or less. But there’s a lot of things in there that I don’t understand how or why they happened. The way it grew, the speed at which it absorbed flesh—I really wouldn’t know unless I could look at the creature afterward. But that’s impossible. Or, by recreating the test, which I don’t think anyone wants.”

Shaw scrubbed through the footage again, back to where the guards were pelting the creature with shotgun blasts, which had no noticeable effect on its health.

Beautiful,” said Shaw, finally. “The chimpanzee soaked up 37 point blank shotgun blasts. 37. And another 95 rounds from assault rifles. Just an astounding amount of damage. Enough to kill dozens of men. And it shrugged it all off. Even better, it absorbed it. He took the damage, and just kept going.”

Jon studied Shaw’s face and realized he was happy.

“This is what I was talking about,” said Shaw. “A chimpanzee absorbed hundreds of bullet wounds, and was none the worse for wear. It took out a dozen armed guards, and could have stopped many more. A pity you had to take it down before we could see what it was truly capable of, but oh well. It was only the first test.”

“It killed dozens of innocent people,” said Jon.

Shaw ignored him. “Imagine, Jon. Imagine, one more time. Imagine, that thing, on a battlefield. That creation, let loose upon a city of enemy combatants. It would wreak havoc. Even if you could stop it, it would take dozens of men, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Now imagine, dozens. Or hundreds of them. You could take down a city full of soldiers within days.”

Jon stared at him. Shaw’s eyes had gone wide, glistening. Shaw licked his lips.

“But it’s incredibly unstable,” said Jon. “There’s no coming back from that kind of transformation. There’s no quality of life.”

Shaw looked at him, askance. “You can iron that out, though, can’t you, Jon? You’ve done so much, in so little time. You crawled at first, but now you run, covering vast ground within days. I don’t know why I ever doubted you. I was going to ask you, regardless of the result, but now I feel more confident than ever. It’s time to move forward, again.”

“What?” asked Jon. “How? We’ve had one test, and it was disastrous.”

“This is not disaster, Jon,” said Shaw. “This is raw, limitless potential. I want to push forward. I want to move onto human testing.”

“That’s impossible,” said Jon.

“Why?” asked Shaw. “This is not the surface, Jon. I make the rules down here. Why wait years for human efficacy tests, when a medication could save lives today?”

“There’s good reason for that,” said Jon. “It can cost human lives.”

“Big ideas require small sacrifices,” said Shaw.

“That’s easy to say when it’s not your life,” said Jon. He felt the anger rising in his gut, the same as when he fought with Stone. An anger that had built for months now. Shaw had pushed them, and pushed them, and now it had cost human lives, and now he wanted more.

Shaw stared at him, confused. He wasn’t used to having anger directed at him.

“Watch yourself, Jon,” said Shaw. “Don’t forget who I am.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” said Jon. “I know who you are. We all do, very intimately. You’re Eaton Shaw. The richest man in the world. Who has built his own fiefdom, deep underground, so that he can harvest research and technology from the world’s best and brightest, and utilize it in any way he sees fit. You’re Eaton Shaw, the man who lured hundreds of people down into an unknown fortress with promises of heroism. You’re Eaton Shaw, who lied to them all, to get the fruits of their labor, and then erased them when they were of no more use, or when they dared to disobey you.”

Shaw narrowed his eyes. “You have no—”

“Human testing is not only impossible, it’s irresponsible. I can’t do this anymore. I won’t do it anymore. Go find someone else. Go ask Stone. Maybe he’ll be willing to forget his ethics so you’ll let him live another day, but I’m not. I’m not doing this anymore.”

Shaw stared at him, and then looked down and sighed.

“I really thought you understood, Jon,” said Shaw. “It’s too bad.”

Jon felt movement behind him, and two armed guards were there, had been there. They waited.

“I haven’t killed anyone, Jon,” said Shaw. “Most of the researchers who’ve finished their work are under house arrest. It was the best solution I could come up with. I can’t have them going back to the surface and revealing what they know. Not yet.”

“Most,” said Jon.

“My most trusted are working in the world, getting things ready for implementation. Large-scale manufacturing is untenable down here. Not so on the surface. I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to destroy valuable resources. Not unless absolutely necessary.”

“Why did you lie about the nuclear attack?” asked Jon. He felt the presence of the assault rifles, a threat.

“Just to provide some urgency to the teams still working,” said Shaw. “A few were lagging behind. Like yourself. I thought it would help. And it did. We’ve had multiple breakthroughs since I disseminated the news.”

“The ends justify the means,” said Jon.

“Well, yes, obviously,” said Shaw. “A little extra motivation works wonders. And it’s why you’re going to continue to help me with your research, and it is also why we are going to move onto human testing.”

“You can’t make me,” said Jon.

“Oh, Jon,” said Shaw. “Of course I can. Why do you think Tommy is down here?”

Jon’s heart went cold.

“Do you think I invited anyone’s family out of the kindness of my heart? They are a resource, just like you are, and I will use that resource if necessary.”

“You bastard—” Jon coiled, ready to charge at Shaw.

“Nuh uh uh,” said Shaw, waggling his metallic finger at Jon. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“You better hope—”

“Oh, please,” said Shaw. “Stop with your threats. I am out of your purview. If it wasn’t clear before, it should be now. I have a deal for you, Jon.”

Jon stared. He wanted to kill Shaw, to deliver even a fraction of the punishment the chimp had received. But he felt the rifles at his back.

“Hear me out,” said Shaw. “Tommy is a perfect test subject. He’s young, and strong. He’s very healthy, aside from his missing legs. And you are very motivated to see him survive. So I want you to give him his legs back. Very simple. He is a test case. You did it to a chimp, I’m certain you can make it work on Tommy.”