Too Many Humans

by Jacob Rayne

  ‘I understand. You don’t want me here all weekend.’

  ‘No. I don’t. One nutjob scientist in the house is enough…’ she smiled after this, but it sure didn’t feel like a joke.

  ‘Lighten up. I’m just playing,’ she smiled. ‘Come on in.’

  The house was much tidier than he’d imagined from conversations with his fellow scientist.

  He sounded hyperactive, hyperfocussed, but it seemed as though his efforts and energies were all being expended upon his work.

  She must do all the housework, he thought. Maybe that’s why she’s so pissed off.

  ‘Would you like a drink?’ she asked, distracting him from his thoughts.

  ‘Oh, yes please. A coffee would be lovely.’

  Smiling, she looked him up and down, while rolling part of her long black hair between her slender fingers.

  She smiled as she felt his eyes running up her bare legs to where her dressing gown ended.

  It seemed she had the perfect revenge in mind for her errant husband.

  Nicol looked around the room while he was on his own in there.

  There didn’t seem to be any photos of his colleague in there, which he found strange as most couples had at least one picture of themselves on show.

  It seemed clear that this was not a happy marriage.

  The coffee table reading made him smile; a copy of a bionic technology textbook, along with a Grey’s Anatomy and a number of crude, hand-written notes which seemed to cross-reference the two volumes.

  Nicol hadn’t committed himself to the project as much as his compatriot had, but his dedication and expertise were already plain to see.

  He quickly had a look at the first few pages of the book, which was also covered in almost illegible notes and diagrams.

  The sound of the lady clearing her throat roused him from his investigations.

  ‘He’ll not be happy if he knows you’ve been reading through his notes without his permission, mind,’ she said. ‘I think he’d rather you seduced me.’

  She fixed him with a sultry look and smiled.

  He gulped as he noticed her dressing gown had opened all the way up her leg, exposing a shapely thigh.

  This was certainly not turning out the way he’d thought.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not here for—’

  ‘Oh come on, I can see how you’re looking at me. I’ve caught you staring at my arse on at least three occasions already.’

  He said nothing, just blushed a little.

  She smiled. ‘It’s ok. I fancy you too.’

  She leant in towards him and he got a noseful of her scent.

  He pulled back, got up off the settee and backed up, knocking the cup over in the process.

  A dark brown patch swelled across the carpet and began to sink in.

  ‘Ah shit, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I think I’d better get out of here.’

  ‘Please stay. I could do with someone in the house with me tonight. I don’t like it on my own.’

  ‘I’m sorry, but this is a really bad idea. I must be going.’

  ‘You may as well, I’m going to tell him we did it anyway,’ she said, a checkmate of a smile on her face.

  He said nothing, just made for the door.

  Back in the car, he shook his head, exhaling hard.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ he said aloud. ‘Not how I saw this turning out.’

  He thought of what his colleague’s wife had said and called to tell him what had happened, to get in there before she began spinning lies.

  ‘I just thought you’d better know,’ he said, at the end of the story.

  ‘It doesn’t surprise me,’ his colleague said. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t there for our meeting. My wife and I had one of those discussions from which it is best to extricate one’s self.’

  ‘I can well imagine. Can we meet up now?’

  ‘If you like. I’m in the middle of some tinkering, but your input would be welcome. I’m over at my workshop, it’s a few blocks east of the house. You’ll see it a mile off.’

  ‘I’ll meet you there then.’

  ‘I look forward to it.’

  Dr Nicol pulled up outside the building, a wry smile on his face.

  The place was indeed hard to miss.

  It seemed illuminated enough as to be visible from space.

  As Nicol got out of the car, he heard a rhythmic wheezing punctuated by mechanical thumps.

  He rapped on the reinforced door which concealed the source of the sounds.

  The door opened upon a tall, skinny man in a shabby suit.

  He had a tidy black goatee and a dark monocle clutched to his left eye.

  A welder’s mask was perched upon his pale, clammy forehead.

  He extended a hand.

  ‘Dr Nicol,’ he said, a smile lifting his features. ‘It’s so nice to finally meet you.’

  ‘The same here, Dr Laverick. I must say, this is an absolute honour for me.’

  ‘And for me. Come in, I’ll show you the fruit of my intense labours.’ He waved an arm theatrically into the garage.

  ‘How have you not had the police sniffing around here?’ Nicol said.

  ‘Ah, a fair portion of my funding goes towards ensuring that that is never an issue,’ Laverick said, smiling a mischievous grin and tapping the side of his nose conspiratorially.

  Nicol smiled. ‘Of course. Why am I not surprised?’

  ‘It is an obvious solution to a man of the world like myself, Dr Nicol. But we digress. I have much to show you. The principles we have both studied for decades are finally being put to practical use. I must warn you, the results are neither pretty nor sophisticated. At the moment anyway. But I am seeking new sources of funding all the time. Once I prove that my theory is possible in practice, it should be easy to recoup the necessary funds.’

  Nicol nodded, impressed.

  ‘I warn you, it’s not something you easily forget, so are you sure you want to open Pandora’s box?’

  Nicol thought about it for a few seconds, trying to picture what could be so horrific that Laverick had seen to warn him of it twice now.

  All he could imagine was the glory that their research could bring.

  ‘Open away, Dr Laverick.’

  In spite of the repeated warnings, Nicol recoiled when Laverick took the lid off what looked like a baby’s coffin.

  Clods of dirt still clung to the outside of the tiny box.

  Inside the box was a pitiful, partially rotted infant, with what looked like a miniature car battery stuffed into the back of its skull.

  ‘I did warn you,’ Laverick said, a sly grin on his face.

  ‘Does it work?’

  Laverick turned to look at him; ‘See for yourself.’

  He flicked a switch on the battery’s housing and there was a low electrical hum and the faint smell of rotting flesh being singed.

  The baby twitched a little, its eyelids flickering.

  Then it let out a hideous cry that left Nicol in no doubt as to how much pain it was feeling.

  Its right hand came up to its head, the fingers curling and splaying in time with its cries.

  Its tiny chest heaved in agonised breaths.

  ‘Alright, turn it off,’ Nicol snapped, already feeling less sane for viewing it.

  ‘Our first step on a long road to glory,’ Laverick beamed.

  Nicol felt a little sickened by the grin, and by the pleasure Laverick was taking in the infant’s torment.

  ‘Are you alright, Dr Nicol? You look about ready to toss your cookies.’

  Nicol said nothing, just took deep breaths and tried not to think about what he had just seen.

  ‘Now please understand that this was just a trial, to see if the theory was sound. As you can see, it certainly does work. The next subjects will be more aesthetically pleasing, I can assure you. The level of technology I have designed for the next generation is a total step up from this.’

  ‘I’m excited to see it but not at the same
time,’ Nicol said, smiling an awkward smile.

  ‘Ah, come on, research like this was never going to be for the faint of heart, Dr Nicol. You’ve got to get your hands dirty. Or else our shared dream may never be attainable.’

  ‘You’re right of course. I just don’t want to take as hands-on an approach as you are.’

  ‘That’s understandable. But there are other avenues you can pursue. The development of the organ modifications, perhaps? Or securing funding from other areas?’

  ‘I’m not sure I want to pursue any of this. I can’t see it ever being advanced enough to be sold. I think we’d be throwing our money down a black hole.’

  ‘I know it’s crude at the moment. But trust me, this is a prototype made at the bare minimum of expense. I have funds reserved to make a slicker model, I just needed to ensure that the theory is sound, which we now know it is.’

  ‘But it doesn’t do anything. And to be honest, the poor thing looks as though it should have been left dead.’

  ‘I’m in the business of bringing dead children back to life. Giving broken parents a second chance at the lives nature has so cruelly taken away from them.’ Laverick was extremely animated at this point, his arms gesticulating wildly.

  Spittle flew from his mouth.

  His eyes were bulging a little out of their sockets.

  ‘Which is very noble of you. But I need to invest in something that is going to give me a little money back.’

  ‘Don’t you understand? This isn’t just about the goddamn pound signs. Allow me to show you one more thing. I’m sure I can change your mind.’

  3.2

  After Nicol had agreed to see Laverick’s final revelation – with the caveat that it had better be quick – Laverick had fallen into a stunned silence.

  He moved much more slowly, deliberately.

  It was like the life had been kicked out of him.

  ‘Please, follow me,’ he said, his words hushed, a million miles from the euphoric zealot he’d been a mere minute ago.

  Nicol was puzzled by the change in his demeanour, but the doctor was strange, there was no doubt about that.

  He just put it down to being yet another character flaw.

  Laverick brought him into a room with grey breezeblock walls. It looked like the kitchen area of the converted garage.

  There was a small sink on the right hand wall.

  Next to it was a fridge that let out a loud and irritating hum.

  Over in the left hand corner was a large chest freezer.

  It was hidden beneath a tartan blanket, but even from here, Nicol could see that the freezer was perfectly clean, to the point of obsession.

  It looked to be the only thing in the entire place that had actually ever been cleaned and it stuck out like a sore thumb.

  ‘This is it here,’ Laverick said, indicating the freezer in the corner, his expression that of chief mourner at a funeral.

  Nicol tried not to show his bemusement.

  There was obviously something close to Laverick’s heart in here, and he didn’t want to further upset him.

  Already Laverick’s eyes were glimmering as though they were filling up with tears.

  ‘Are you ok?’ Nicol asked.

  Laverick ignored him.

  ‘When you see this – my motivation and inspiration if you will – I think you may reconsider. At least I hope you will.’

  Nicol stood, stunned.

  All the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up.

  His blood seemed to have dropped in temperature by a few degrees.

  Laverick let out a world-weary sigh and approached the chest freezer.

  He removed the blanket from the top, tutted as he saw what he took to be a stain – Nicol couldn’t see anything, but he got the impression that this freezer had to be kept obsessively clean – then picked up a cloth from the worktop and scrubbed at it for thirty seconds.

  He stood back, inspecting his handiwork, gave it a few extra scrubs, nodded to himself as if satisfied, then put the cloth back.

  His hand grasped the handle of the freezer, his eyes closing as if daring himself to do it.

  He took a deep breath in.

  Held it.

  Opened the freezer lid.

  Steam came out as the cold air in the freezer met the warm outside air.

  Laverick’s glimmering eyes were bleeding tears now, a couple trickling down from each eye, dropping into the freezer and its unseen contents.

  He bent down slowly, scooped something up in his arms and stood up straight.

  His body shook with sobs, his face reddened.

  He had totally lost his composure.

  Nicol tried to see what it was he held, but he could only see a white woollen blanket draped over whatever Laverick cradled so carefully.

  ‘This… is my son… Martin,’ Laverick said, his voice cracking with emotion. ‘He was taken from us one day after he was born.’

  Nicol was gobsmacked.

  He had absolutely no idea what to say to Laverick, who by now was in the midst of a full-on breakdown.

  It was as though seeing the tiny, frozen corpse of his son had renewed his feelings of the day he’d been taken from them.

  ‘This is why you have got to help me. Because one day I will hold him, watch him learn to walk, listen to him speak his first words. One day I will read stories to him, chase him around the house and listen to his sweet laughter. There’s a huge hole in my life that can only ever be filled when this little chap breathes again.’

  Nicol said nothing.

  There didn’t seem to be anything he could say.

  ‘I know that this is within our grasp. I know it. But I need the technology to be perfect before I risk defiling my son’s body. In short, it has to work for him before I’ll even try it.

  ‘This is my obsession, my purpose. The reason I was put on this earth. To stop others from feeling this emptiness that I feel every day. It stains my soul. It corrupts even my happiest moments. And I will not rest until I see him draw his first breath. Now do you see why you have to help me?’

  Nicol looked up at him gingerly, scared to meet his eye and see the sorrow and heartbreak and madness that dwelled there.

  Laverick was staring down at his son, muttering to him, stroking his frozen cheek like he was a normal living baby.

  His tears fell, making tiny sounds as they landed on Martin’s forehead.

  He scowled and hastily wiped it off with his thumb.

  ‘I’m sorry, Martin,’ he said. ‘Not today, my love. But one day… one day.’

  He held him close for a minute, his entire body shaking with the force of his grief, then he reverently wrapped Martin’s body in the blanket again and placed him back into the freezer.

  He blew a very tender kiss to him then closed the lid.

  Again, he picked up the cloth and scrubbed at the same section he’d cleaned before.

  After replacing the cloth, he knelt beside the freezer for a second, his forehead bowed against it, in a manner that reminded Nicol of a mourner beside the coffin of a loved one.

  He then kissed it, stood back and replaced the blanket.

  ‘Dr Laverick, can I first say that I am deeply, deeply sorry for your loss. I can see your dedication to your work. And now, having seen Martin – he’s beautiful by the way – I can understand it. But I have a number of concerns about what we are doing here.’

  ‘As any sane man would,’ Laverick smiled, thumbing tears from both eyes. ‘I apologise for my loss of control a moment ago. It’s just… so hard.’

  ‘Not at all.’

  ‘Yes, I agree this is not your everyday situation. But, in terms of your concerns about money, if I could have Martin alive and breathing in my arms, I would happily give every penny I have ever made. We could charge pretty much what we wanted, especially as we have got the market cornered.’

  ‘That is a fair point, and one I hadn’t considered until now.’ Nicol got the impression that Laverick was
steering him away from the awkward questions that he was going to ask.

  And doing a damn good job of it too.

  ‘Dr Laverick, may we please address the concerns I have?’

  Laverick looked around the room for a second.

  It was clear by his body language, which had become very stiff and awkward, that he didn’t want to answer these questions.

  This put Nicol on edge already.

  He got the impression that he didn’t want to know the answers.

  ‘Ok, first of all, the child that had the battery in its skull. Where did it come from?’

  Laverick shifted from foot to foot, tutting loudly.

  ‘Where do you think it came from, Dr Nicol?’

  Nicol debated coming straight out with it and decided that it was the best course of action.

  ‘Well, judging by the little coffin-shaped box and the muck on the handles, I’d say you dug the poor mite up out of the graveyard.’

  Laverick let out a low chuckle that chilled his colleague’s blood. ‘Very astute, Dr Nicol. I neither deny nor acknowledge this accusation.’

  Nicol felt a jolt of alarm.

  ‘Did you have the parent’s permission to bring him back here?’

  Laverick shook his head, a smile on his face. ‘I thought it would be a lovely surprise for them.’

  Nicol could feel himself becoming angry.

  Despite the honourable intentions behind his research, Laverick wasn’t within a transatlantic flight of his right mind.

  ‘But surely you must realise that digging up someone’s dead baby and experimenting on it might be something that the parents would find upsetting?’

  ‘Of course. But it’s a case of omelettes and eggs here, isn’t it, Dr Nicol?’

  ‘Omelettes and eggs?’ Nicol spat.

  ‘The risk of offending the parents is more than worth it if the child is successfully brought back to life. Imagine their faces when I tell them their child is once again drawing breath.’

  ‘You’d really show them that pitiful fucking thing in there?’ Nicol snapped.

  ‘Well, probably not that one, but, once we’ve established the methods, the future generations of my digital children will be something that would inspire awe in even the most immovable of people.’