Human (52 page)

“Are you sure you can trust him?” Phil asked, looking dubious.

“Sure,” Orrin replied and shook off the chill it brought him. He had no choice.

There was a sharp knock at the door and Jayne pushed through without waiting for a response. Dale and Phil straightened in their chairs, surprised. With an anxious scan of the men, Jayne’s eyes settled on Orrin.

“I need you to see something. Come with me.”

Orrin jumped to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

Jayne twisted her hands together. She looked close to panic. “My ulterior motive. You wanted my help; this is why I’m giving it. Just come and see for yourself.”

Orrin immediately followed the blonde woman from the room. Behind him, Dale and Phil fell into step as well, intrigued. After perfunctory introductions, Jayne ignored the other men and led Orrin silently through the streaming daylight, hugging pathways and shortcuts before finally arriving at the Biology Building. Orrin noticed Phil walk taller then usual, a purposeful stride keeping him to Jayne’s right, always in her clear view. Dale fell behind a step. They took a few short-cuts through the maze of laboratories and Orrin easily guessed where they were headed. As they arrived at the steel door of Behavioural Research Laboratory 6, the stink of formaldehyde and chemicals saturated his nostrils.

The lab door was wide open and an unmarked van was parked metres away in the narrow laneway. Throwing Orrin a critical glance, Jayne stepped through the open door and led the way through dim light towards the rear enclosure. The inner mesh door was also unlocked and open, leaving only a row of steel bars separating the false habitat from the viewing area.

Two men in beige overalls bent over equipment at the far end of the viewing area, a large rifle propped between them. A uniformed security officer straightened up from where he had been lounging against the wire wall. He cleared his throat pointedly.

A man with a thin, sallow face looked up, scowling. “What the hell are you doing here again, Williams? I told you to keep out of this area. As of yesterday this room is restricted to authorised personnel only and I don’t care who you slept with to get a key.”

Jayne stiffened with anger. “You can’t do this Professor Nerov! Liam Kent is the only person authorised to transfer these animals. Without his permission…”

“No permission required,” Nerov growled. “Your boyfriend went and got himself locked up. I don't like his chances of getting his job back either.”

“He's not my –”

“It doesn't matter, he's not here!” Nerov shouted. He turned his back on them and took a deep breath, calming himself before he continued. “This authority comes from the Head of Department. As far as they’re concerned, these animals have become a liability. Perhaps Mr Kent's time would have been better spent looking after his resources, rather than setting fire to pharmaceutical buildings.”

There was a crash of noise in the front laboratory and a man came running into the viewing area. He skidded as he slowed, pushing Phil and Dale aside. There was a flash of recognition in his eyes as he stepped in front of Orrin to face Nerov.

“They’re not resources! They're here for behavioural studies and because I had no other alternative trying to keep them from the likes of you!” Liam yelled.

Nerov gritted his jaw and shot a look to the security guard, who was now standing tall with one hand on his holstered gun. “How nice to see you again, Mr Kent.”

“Wish I could say the same.” Liam was incensed. His mop of curls was dull and messy and his eyes were shadowed with dark rings. He was filthy and wearing the same clothes Orrin had seen him in at the rally a week ago. The telltale stains of blood and ash were on his jeans and sleeves and Orrin guessed he'd just made bail.

“Thank God you made it,” Jayne muttered. Liam shot her a grateful look and turned back to Nerov.

“So what's this? The minute I turn my back you slither in?” Liam said.

Nerov met his cold anger head on. “You did this Kent! I warned you they were after your little tribe down here. You pushed it too far and now they're lab fodder.”

“No! I fought against this for months! I protected them!” Liam’s face was red and his voice broke over the words.

“You failed them!” Nerov spat back.

The accusation hit Liam like a physical blow and he stumbled back. Behind him, Jayne let out a soft cry. Orrin's heart was pumping furiously and his mind raced. Dale and Phil edged around him. Dale's mouth had fallen open in horror.

“You have to do something,” Dale whispered to Orrin.

Beside him, Phil quietly scoffed. “Do what Dale? Let them go in the park? They're wild animals.”

Liam seemed to recover enough to harden his voice again. He stepped toward Nerov, who was still holding his tranquiliser gun with tense hands. “You can't take them Nerov, I'm here now, and they’re under my direction.”

Nerov's anger lessened slightly at Liam's bluff. “You don't even have a job here anymore, do you? You have no authority. What the hell are you thinking, Kent? You think I
want
to do this?”

Orrin could see Liam's chest rising and falling more heavily now. He looked close to collapse. “Say they're sick,” Liam implored. “They don't want defective test subjects. It'll give them false data.”

“You know I can't do that.” Nerov's face was hard again. He looked detached from his task, working to keep the emotions around him in a place out of reach.

Orrin willed his legs to step forward, not entirely sure of what he was doing. He just needed to do
something.
“You can't take them! I need them in my lab. Um – physics,” Orrin stuttered. “Um, research, on electromagnetic fields. I need test subjects -” Even though he had no intention of doing it now, Orrin felt instant shame as he remembered his eagerness to use Kyah for that very same purpose.

Nerov rolled his eyes and gritted his jaw. “Nice try. You think it really works that way? Put in a formal resource request and throw your money around. I'll bring some down to you in about
two years
.” He gestured to the security officer to hold them at bay. The overalled assistant shuffled behind him, unclear whether to intervene. Nerov waved him away and turned back to Orrin. “I have a job to do here. These resources have been allocated to the uni medical lab and from there they'll be on-sold as contracts require them.” Nerov straightened up, his slender tranquilizer gun poised between the wire bars.

“But you can’t separate them, they’re a family,” Jayne cried. “There are young in there – children – babies!” Jayne was close to tears.

“Get a grip Miss Williams or I’ll get security to throw your little rally out by force.” Nerov stared her down. “I have
no
choice in this whatsoever and neither do you. They are university property, and they're animals. Not people.
Animals.
They’ll live with it. Or not.” Nerov aimed the trigger into the shadows.

Appalled, Orrin followed the gun’s aim. Huddled in the corner, a group of eight
Homo floresiensis
stood naked and exposed. The aesthetic rocks and branches had been removed from the enclosure leaving it bare. Tiny against the wire mesh, the smallest were gathered to the back, fear and confusion clear on their near human faces. Two adolescent males stood snarling at the front of the little group, their eyes snapping back and forth between the overalled men and the onlookers. Their hands were empty. In front of the group standing alone and defiant, Orrin recognised the tiny woman he had encountered on his first visit. Her dark matted hair clung to her forehead with sweat and she looked all the wilder for it. She glared at the gun with piercing, dark eyes and then followed it upward to meet the shooter’s face. Clinging behind her shoulders, her baby whimpered. The mother twisted her too-long arms up, slowly pulling the infant down and pushed it to the ground behind her. Swiftly, it was pulled behind the group, protected by bodies. The woman’s round eyes never left the face of the gunman.

Tensed and ready to fight, she stepped forward with deliberate antagonism and spat towards the gun. Her voice broke the silence in a low whisper of sounds, suffused with hatred.

“We’re going to play this game again are we, old girl?” Nerov sighed.

Mute with repulsion, Orrin realised there were at least two less hobbits in the enclosure than there had been previously. From the corner of his eye, there was sudden movement.

Liam sprang forward, pushing Nerov with force against the steel bars and sending the man and his tranquiliser gun clattering to the ground. Liam lurched for the gun which had fallen half into the cage, tilting dangerously onto its loaded trigger. Orrin and Jayne both rushed forward to grab it but Liam was closer.

“No, you damn well don't!” The security officer leapt forward and grabbed Liam by the neck of his shirt, hauling him backwards. Liam kicked a foot hard into the guard’s stomach, and then scrambled to his feet. The guard doubled over, heaving in air, as he staggered toward Liam. His fist hit Liam's jaw head on and the latter man's head snapped back and he fell at Dale’s feet, hitting the concrete floor with a sickening thud. Dale dropped to his knees at once, his eyes wide. Liam groaned. He grabbed a fistful of Dale's shirt to try to pull himself up, but failed, falling back again to the floor.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?!” Nerov stepped forward and snatched the loaded gun from Orrin's hands. He leered over Liam, his face blotchy and red. “You think this is going to help them? Christ, Kent, you're out on bail! I should haul your arse away right now and throw an assault charge onto your time!”

Liam's skin had turned a nasty shade of grey and his breath was fast and shallow. “They deserve better than this, Nerov. You know it.”

Nerov's scowl sank a little and the grit of his jaw softened reluctantly. He turned to the security guard, who was standing behind him looking thunderous. “Just restrain him until I leave.” The guard pulled Liam to his feet a little more roughly than he needed to. He snapped a set of handcuffs onto Liam's wrist, pulling the other arm behind his back and joining them together.

The sallow professor turned back to the hobbits. The mother was still in front, her long arms out to either side pushing the others back. Nerov sighed and set his face with a steely resignation. He aimed the gun at the woman’s naked middle as she leapt toward him. The shot was almost silent. A furious cry strangled in her throat and she fell to the concrete floor mid-stride, her body pathetically small. The tranquiliser dart punctured her chest with a tiny hissing sound. She gasped as she fell, the dart working quickly on her impoverished muscles. Behind her, the two adolescent males lunged forward to break her fall. Before they could reach her, they fell at the mercy of the gun and crashed to the floor behind her, twitching and drowning in unconsciousness.

“Jesus Christ, man! You can't just -” Orrin pushed forward toward Nerov, but the cock of a gun’s hammer caught him short.

“Damn right he can,” the security guard said.

Liam was trembling with fury, his eyes shut tight.

Nerov looked back to the cage. “Sorry boys, you’re up today. They’re after some healthy males.” He followed the steel bars back to where Dale and Phil were still standing near the entrance to the viewing room and unlocked the cage door. Nerov stepped over the female’s unconscious body. Against the back wall, the remaining collection of young ones whimpered and sank to the floor.

His assistant followed Nerov into the cage. Deftly, the professor plucked the darts from his victims.

“Will they be a problem?” The other man nodded at the remaining hobbits before lifting one of the drugged males easily over his shoulder.

“The juveniles? No. They’re easy to control when they're scared.” Nerov gathered the other male and led the way back through the cage door. He kicked the door closed behind him and returned to where two transport carriers were sitting. The men lay the unconscious males at their feet and began preparing their trolley and paperwork. Jayne stifled a sob.

Phil stepped closer to her, looking appalled by the entire situation.

“I know it sucks, but you realise these are just animals right? This stuff has been happening all over the world for hundreds of years. You’re putting human emotions on these things, you’re
anthropomorphising
them and that’s why you're upset. Don’t do it to yourself. They don’t think like us. They’re not
intelligent
like us. They’re not
human
.”

Jayne looked to the
Homo floresiensis
female still unconscious on the floor then regarded him coolly, wiping her eyes. “And what exactly is ‘human’? Enlighten me.”

“Well,” Phil shrugged. “Humans are smarter. We've got bigger brains.”

“A Neanderthal had a bigger brain than you Phil, and to be honest I don’t doubt it was more intelligent too.”

Phil rolled his eyes, unperturbed by her insult. “Fine. We're more intelligent than hobbits. We have weapons and make tools to create things we need or want. Think about it Jayne, a human can create something from nothing – we can turn an abstract thought into a physical creation – an artwork, a piece of music, an invention or even a city.”

Liam looked up angrily and took a deep breath. “Phil, is it? You seem to suffer from what I like to call 'The Human God Complex’. Yes, we humans have greater control over our environment than other animals. We’ve developed more complex connections within our brains and higher intelligence is attributed to that. We
are
smarter.” He took a step toward Phil, but the security guard stopped him, pulling him back by his handcuffs. Nerov looked over from his ministrations and shook his head as Liam continued. “I’m not denying human intelligence,” Liam said, “I’m denying our understanding of its complexity – for ourselves, other hominids and animals in general. Think about it Phil, what is intelligence and how do you quantify it? And are we talking about academic intelligence? Emotional intelligence? Social intelligence? If there are cultural differences, or even species differences,” - he nodded toward the cowering group of hominids - “How do you measure intelligence if it’s a different kind of intelligence to what you’re used to?”