Free Encompassing Reality by Richard Lord Page B

back, without any doubt in his voice.
    Venetia looked at him and produced a knife.  “I knew this was going to happen.  You’re very predictable.  Fine, go in.  You’re going to go regardless of what I say.”
    Brian had already opened the door and was on the other side, closing it slowly.  Venetia pushed her back to the wall as if it made her more invisible.  Then she sighed as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.  Brian noticed a rafter and clicked up to it quickly.  He looked down and noticed that this room was quite large.  He listened, but he wished he could get a better view of what they were looking at.
    “We have all the models we need.  We have decided on all of the category lines we want to continue.  The rest will make food for the continued lines.  As for those that have evaded the hunters and the sky crawlers so far, this line of hunters will be interesting.”
    “What did your team do different with these, Dr. Pilnisky?”
    “We found an interesting set of genes in one of the ones we have on the line now.  We’re not the only ones who have noted she is different.  The security team has noted a young man coming in and sitting by her every day.  We don’t know why, but we assume she is family to him.  I’ve told them to leave him alone, for now, but at some point we need to capture him and look at his genetic profile too.  I’m going to assume he is among the few who escaped from here some time back.  The security team agrees.  They’ve seen him in other parts of the city and he seems to know it pretty well.”
    Dr. Tenari looks at him.  “So what are the genetic anomalies?”
    “I’ll show you.  A demonstration will explain better than I can.”  Dr. Pilnisky goes on to explain what they are going to see.  “These are the latest round of hunters.  They handle very high levels of adrenaline and multiple stimulants well.  They are the most aggressive of what we have produced so far.  They are very high in testosterone, as you know, which is why they are very hairy like their predecessors, but we got around the calming factor in testosterone surges by increasing their cortisone levels.”
    Dr. Sadar notes, “So basically, their psychotic?”
    “Yes and no.  They still take basic orders through the synaptic connection.  What I want you to note may not be obvious at first.”  Dr. Pilnisky reaches down and presses a button.  The secondary door opens leaving only 15 inches of Plexiglas between them and what he is about to release into that staging area.  “Don’t worry, it sufficient, it’s pliable, so no matter how strong they are, it has a tendency to radiate the impact.”  Then he reaches down and pushes to more buttons, one with each hand, simultaneously.
    The room burst with action as two similar looking models burst towards each other at lighting speed.  They begin to rip at each other, throwing each other and tearing at each other.  The room echoes with the sound of it, even through the acrylic barrier.  Dr. Pilnisky raises a hand and points.  “Now notice the depth of the gash on that one’s arm.  Note the midsection rip on the other.”
    They all concentrate on those areas.  They’ve seen these battles before.  While not quit as agitated as this one seemed to be, they all had the same result.  One would kill the other or they would eventually both bleed to death.  The acrylic was becoming covered in blood, but they focused on the two areas the Dr. suggested.  Then they watched them both fall.
    Dr. Tenari said, “What were we supposed to notice?”
    “Wait for it…”
    Then they saw both of them jump back up and continue fighting again.  The midsection wound on one seemed to have healed a bit and the arm of the other was healing as they watched.  The two things tore at each other more and then Dr. Pilnisky spoke into a microphone.  “Ok, order them back now.  We don’t want these two dead.”
    Dr. Sadar said. “Regeneration.