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INTELLIGENT LIFE `

Our story is placed in the not so distant future. The year is 2018 and the world is much the same as it is today. Nasa having been hit with sever budget cut backs has all but closed doors. Their fruitless pursuit to find what they called "intelligent life" in the universe had proved to be a useless endeavor. They figured at the time when they started launching satellites and rockets into the heavens that someone else out there would notice, stop by and say hey. Nasa even went so far as to design and build a vast array of dishes on earth acting as a huge ear hoping that one day someone or something out there would reply. What they failed to realize at the time was that for one of these stupid feeble messages to reach an area where there could possibly be an "intelligent race" would take thousands of years and even at that this other race would have to de-code it understand it and have the means to send a message back.

For years and years they listened and shot many a metallic multi-billion dollar contraption into space telling their superiors that this was THE ONE this would be able to get results. But all they got for their hard efforts were a few sounds from far off quasars and nebula. About eight years ago there was a world wide council that was brought together to talk of these findings. Even human beings could not be so pomp as to think that they were the only ones of higher intelligence in the universe. One scientist sat listening to all this pondering the problem then stopped and sat up yelling out. "What if there is other intelligent life here on earth?" The other scientists turned looking to him smirked thinking not much of his question and continued on their silly banter. But the scientist would not stop with his question and pressed the thought saying "what if other animals are more intelligent than we give them credit for? Maybe they can talk and we just can't hear it?" With that question something strange happened all space exploration stopped suddenly and all scientists around the world began trying to find a way to communicate with animals. There had been evidence in the past that animals were more intelligent than what humans took them for such as gorillas learning sign language, parrots being able to solve math problems, and even seemingly stupid octopus who for some reason even though having a brain the size of a pea could figure out puzzles to get their food. But the human race is a different beast and wants a creature to talk to them to be considered "intelligent" so this was the prize scientists were after.

A few years after the research had began a group from ITT was working with a group of lab rats. They had implanted electrodes into their brains so as to measure their brain waves and watch how the neurons fired. One day one of the scientists was rather bored after not having recovered any meaningful data and decided to plug the out put into a speaker to hear what the rat's brain waves sounded like. Once he did this through the speaker there was the sound of static like that of listening to an old AM radio. He was tired from a long day rolled his eyes and stood about to go out side and smoke a cigarette. Suddenly through the static came a voice "may I have a piece of food?" The scientist at first simply thought he was tired from his long day and that his mind was playing tricks on him but still he turned to look where the rats and test equipment was. To his amazement one rat was sitting up pressed to the glass looking at him with his white whiskers twitching. He walked over to the cage in a moment of disbelief opened the lid and gave the rat a piece of food. The rat seemed to look at the scientist with his head cocked a bit and through the speaker crackled, "thank you." This seemingly innocent moment sparked a fire wave through out the scientific community with these findings and how they did it were sent through out the world.

Soon test animals all over the world were able to talk to humans however very little was said only basic things back and forth. It was as if the animals did not wish to speak to the humans. Scientists decided that maybe the only way to get animals to talk was to gather wild animals and test them. Different groups through out the world captured different species trying to find one that would talk to them. At first they captured the obvious animals that they felt would be of higher intelligence such as gorillas, orangutans, dolphins but no matter how they tried all they heard were basic sentences like "I want to eat, I am tired, go away." Scientists became aggravated over this as they knew that the animals were capable of more it was as though they did not want to speak.

Chapter two The capture

In North Dakota there is a large lay of land that is unspoiled. Partly because it is so riddled with mountains and deep valleys that the humans see it as useless ground to build on. Also because it has no special minerals or elements in the ground it has been left un-touched. That was how it was until a hunting party came into the north east region one spring. They had been told to gather as many different live animals as they could. If they were injured the scientists told them to kill them and keep them as they would not be fit as a specimen. The hunters trapped many animals from birds, to fish, to mammals using any way they could but knew that they would only be paid for their work if the animals were at least in somewhat presentable form.

One species that had eluded them was the wolf. Although an ancestor of the modern K9 this beast still possessed the ability to elude man and not be so easily drawn into his traps. In the past the only way to hunt for a wolf was to either use a trap snapping its legs, or by poison. But because the scientists wanted the specimen to be unharmed this meant they would have to try something different. The winter in this area is rather harsh to say the least. It is a bitter indifference to the rest of the year where green and warmth over come all. But still the animals of these forests are used to such a climate and have had to deal with such conditions for many a millennia.

One such creature was a rather plain looking Grey wolf. He was still a proud creature even in these formidable conditions however he had one thought on his mind as he plodded through the snow and that was to provide food for his pack. Along side him were his hunting party made up of six others. He was their leader, their alpha and they watched his every muscle movement and twitch of his head. Suddenly he stopped with his long thick tail draped neatly behind him. His body taught as he caught a scent in the distance. The others stopped as well lifting their sensitive noses to the air smelling the warm blood that ran inside the prey. The alpha moved forwards they were only a few hundred feet behind but had to move slowly as not to give away their position. He looked to his beta and nodded for him to flank out the others to form a blanket of coming death. The others moved as instructed and all knew what soon was coming.

After another hour passed of following the caribou the alpha stopped with a single paw in the air. He had been tracking one who had been straggling at the rear of the herd. He sensed it was sick that it was ready to die and would not survive through the bitter cold. With out warning he sunk his long black claws into the soft snow and lunged forwards with his pack quickly following in from all sides. The caribou all raised their heads towards the many sounds of shifting snow under paw and instantly fled. Within and instant the alpha was upon his sickly prey and pressing his weight into the snow leaping into the air with his salivating jaws wide open landing grasping the animal by its throat. He dangled for a moment being pulled along by the beast till he could get a better grasp closing off its ability to breath which caused the caribou to become tired and fall to the snow with a thud.

The hunters who had all been sitting around their camp talking many grand and still more grand stories trying to impress one another heard the commotion off in the distance. One smiled "looks like we got a pay day boys". With that they all picked up their riffles and headed towards the sounds moving slowly through the woods. They all wore white outfits to better hide their true forms and even their gear and guns were painted to hide their true identity. The leader stopped behind a fallen log turning his arm back to the others to get down. They all obeyed as he lowered with his riffle aimed forwards over a log. He had the foresight to exchange his normal full metal jacket round with a tranquilizer as the scientists were tired of receiving squirrels, and raccoons from this area. He knew that they would pay top dollar if he brought home a predator alive and that was his aim. Ahead of him 200 yards was quite a sight for those who think of wolves as cute and cuddly. Around the dead caribou seven wolves were busy cutting apart the flesh with their razor sharp fangs eating some for their selves but mostly so that they could take the rest back to their pack. There were the normal wolven arguments over some parts of the body which were quickly resorted with a curl of the lip, flash of fangs and a snap.

Suddenly the alpha stopped his partake in the feast raising his bloody head sniffing the air. Something was wrong he could not put a claw on it but he sensed it. He snarled to his beta butting his head into his side to get his attention and sniff the air as well. For that moment the woods fell silent to the point that it was almost deafening. The alpha then growled deeply leaping in front of his beta when a pop was heard far off in the woods followed by a sharp stinging pain in the alpha's side. He yelped as the pain coursed through his body and his fellow pack all jumped back from him watching. He turned his head baring his long blood covered fangs to them, to which they nodded and ran off. His beta stayed for a moment padding to him growling back showing his fangs as well. The alpha turned to his beta watching him with his yellow orbs, then opened his jaws and with his last ounces of strength lunged to him grasping his throat and pulled him to the ground. The beta yelped rolling over belly up submitting and stared as he saw his leader grow tired. His pupils not equal one fully dilated the other tight. The alpha snorted as his four legs became weak and he stumbled back hitting a tree with a thump. All the beta could do was to obey his leader's wishes and return home with the hunting party.

Chapter three The facility

Itt was a sterile place, a large square building of concrete with many halls connecting the many rooms painted pure white as though that alone may change their findings. In the basement it was a bit of a different story as this is where they received the wild animals. It would take awhile for them to be broken of their will and submit to the new life they were forced to live. One day a beat up rusted pickup truck blaring sweet home Alabama on the radio whipped into the facility. In the back was a dog crate that had been modified with wooden boards to try and keep the occupant inside. The man opened the door and a few crushed Budweiser cans fell to the ground as he stumbled out from the cab. He shook his head laughing for a moment and slammed the door walking back to the receiving area. Behind the glass sat a women filling out paper work. She had become accustomed to people like this bringing in specimens and had become numb to it. "Well ain't you a sight for sore eyes, hey I got something for ya'll." The women looked to the man and handed him a clip board with paper work to fill out saying, "if you need help reading the document just let us know." He snatched the papers chuckling and began to fill them out. "I got ya'll a good one this time I got ya a wolf. Caught the stupid son of a bitch eating off a kill and BAM." The women listened and raised a brow to his story then asked "well is it alive because you know we only want live specimens." The man raised his head from the paper work that he was concentrating to fill out and smirked, "well go look for yourself I used a trank not a bullet I remember the last time I brought ya one I trapped guess three legs ain't good enough. " She shivered for a moment then took the papers from him looking them over.

She walked out from her booth towards the back of the beaten truck towards the cage. Inside a deep growl emanated as she approached. She reached into her white pants pocket looking for her flashlight only to glance at the hunter who was busy watching her from the rear and had a sickening grin on his face. She closed her eyes and sighed finding her flashlight then pulling it from her pocket. She pointed it towards a gap between the boards of the cage and turned it on. For an instant her breath was taken away as a single yellow eye met her's. But she had become immune to such things thinking that animals were just savage beasts and marked in the specimen column wolf, and specimen name "Grey."

The building had many different floors some containing areas for lab work such as blood work, diseases control, and such. Then there were the research areas which made up much of the building containing many cages to hold the animals each one wired up to a speaker by their cage. In the middle of the room was a microphone that if one of the animals spoke it would pick it up and relay it to the observation station. The humans had noticed that they could get responses out of the animals by starving them, or by showing them a picture of a predator that would eat them. However amazingly no matter what, the animals were always polite in saying "please I am hungry, or please that scares me." It was the simplicity of these answers that angered the scientists who knew there was more to what they could say but could not figure out how to communicate.

Each level was dedicated to certain species by that meaning rodents were on one, parrots were on another, fish were on another and so on. Then there was the predator floor which was special. For one being that if the animals got loose it could look bad on itt, and second scientists had long felt that these animals might be able to be the breakthrough. Dr Sarah Estilo was a few years out of college and looking to better her career. She had finished top of her class in animal biology and was a major in psychology. 28 years old and she wanted desperately to make her name among the scientific community to etch her name in history. As luck would have it she was assigned to the predator level which she hated. She was a vegetarian and found the constant stench of raw meat hanging in the air to be over whelming at times. Her duties were simple enough only to go from cage to cage with her paperwork ask each animal questions and write if they answered or not. She had been doing this for months with nothing but static coming back through the speakers and had wondered if the break through had been a hoax put on my some of that scientist's frat buddies.

The questions were very simple such as "who are you, what are you, who am I, why are you here?" She was walking down the row of cages one day asking these same questions directly to each animal when a speaker a few cages down barked out "shut up bitch." She stopped for a moment thinking she had just heard the voice in her head. Looked a bout then continued upon her work asking "what are....." "I am a fucking wolf you idiot." She raised a brow looking up not even realizing what animal she was asking questions to. She was on no. 075 which was a rattle snake. The snake was coiled in the corner of its cage not caring at all of what she was saying. So she stood and walked a few feet down to where the next cold black cage was.

Inside was a grey wolf pacing back and forth along the rear of the cage. His yellow beady eyes fixed upon her as he strolled which was the only thing that had kept him sane during these months of capture. Dr. Estilo looked to the wolf for a moment not saying a word then shook her head thinking that this job was getting to her and about to ask her same set of questions. Just as she was about to begin the speaker sparked to life " who are you, what are you, who am I, and why are you here? Her jaw dropped looking to the beast watching him. He stopped pacing staying at the back of the cage and sat looking back at her as well. She regained composure and spoke "how did you know I was going to say that?" "well simple I have been asked the same damn questions for the last five months so call it a lucky guess." The two stared at one another and then he turned away from her as the speaker cracked to life once again, " hmmm well now that you know I am special I guess that means you will let them know and I will be sent off to some shitty smaller cage and tested more huh?"

Sarah did not know what to say to the wolf other than for a moment she felt sorry for the animal and knelt down in front of the cage and lowered her head. " I am sorry I did not do this to you I was hired by the university to conduct this testing." She was interrupted by the wolf as he turned from the back of his cage and lunged at her hitting it with all his feeble might. "As sorry as you may well be I was the alpha male of my pack on a hunt to gather meat for my family when I was taken. I was taken from my home land, then thrown into this cage and expected to perform on command, I am not a fucking dog that follows the hunters. They have betrayed their kind and chosen a life with you humans." He huffed for a moment then resumed his pacing in front of the cage watching her with his yellow eyes that for a brief moment looked upon her soul. "I have been here long enough to know the routine and you now know I am more than the others but you have no proof, because you forgot to press play on the recorder in your pocket. Now you have two choices one you can continue to talk to me on your own no tricks, or try to force me to talk and you will get nothing from any animal on earth and you stupid humans will have gone through all this work for nothing."

Sarah regained her composure made a few marks in her book and continued on as though nothing had happened. The next day she returned to her duties walking along the row of predators asking then the same questions as before with normally the same answers although predators were different in asking for food. They normally asked for live food which Sarah could not understand being a vegetarian. When she got to the cage with the grey wolf she watched him for a moment. He was pacing the back of his cage as the day before and then he stopped in a corner and sat looking out. The speaker crackled, " do you wonder why us predators ask that?" She watched him for a moment then decided to speak to him "no why please tell me and as you asked I am not recording." He looked over his shoulder to her and smirked "I know I have friends in here to tell me if you are recording. At any rate imagine for a moment you sit down for dinner in your home. We know where you eat because we have seen you. Your dinner is brought to you on a plate and suddenly it runs away. You have to catch it, kill it and eat it raw. "Sarah looks to the wolf in disgust "I am a vegetarian and I do not eat meat and so I do not relate to you at all." "hmmmm oh really well then starting tonight I want you to throw everything away in your house go to the forest find some plants and eat them then".

" Oh and another thing, get these fucking things off my head I don't need them, I can communicate to you with out them. If I am to die in here so be it but I will not die with this crap on my head." "Well for that we would have to think that you were higher than the computer and you would surely be sent for more testing. I can remove it myself but you will have to come to me and I will have to touch you." he paced awhile thinking to himself as he felt the computer chasing his thoughts. " fuck it as long as I can think alone it is worth it to let you touch me..... I will not bite, you have my word." He turned from his pacing and walked to the front of the cage where she was standing. He lowered his head slightly so that she could remove the small electrode that they had implanted. This was the first time she had seen his true size that close up. Every bit of 180 pounds of pure wolf she knew that it took every ounce of his being to bring himself to submit to this. She reached in with her slender white fingers which were quivering nervously. He could smell her fear in his presence which was justified because one turn of his jaws he could have easily removed either of her hands. She grasped the coupler turned to the left and pulled out the four inch long probe. For a moment the wolf shivered and curled a lip from the pain showing his white fangs. Then he looked to her after it was removed and lowered his head in gratitude. Suddenly a warn sensation came over her brain as the alpha wolf's eyes were locked onto her's, "come back tomorrow now we may talk."