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Transcript of Staff Meeting (Informal)

Conference Room 3A - April 27, 2050 ? 10:00 AM

Attendees: Tenneret, Regfield, Maartens, Cattanzo

*Transcribed from previously recorded audio*

CATTANZO: Okay, it looks like everyone's here, so let's get started. I realize this isn't our regular meeting time, and there's no formal agenda here today, but I felt it necessary to convene so we can go over the current situations we're facing, and evaluate our progress in finding workable solutions.

TENNERET: I assume by situation, you're referring to the events that took place approximately a week previously?

CATTANZO: Among other things, yes. While we're on that topic, though, do you have any further thoughts as to why this happened in the first place?

MAARTENS: The fact that Tenneret, who was supposed to make this work, is an incompetent piece of-

CATTANZO: That's enough of that! This may be an informal meeting, but we are all professionals, and we are going to act like it! This meeting is not an open forum to air grievances or place blame. We are here to identify the problems that occurred, find solutions for them, and ensure that steps are put into place to ensure there are no additional problems in the future. And that is it! Are we clear?

MAARTENS: You may be the project lead, but we're all equals here. I'm not going to let you silence me.

CATTANZO: And I'm not asking for that. You are free to have your opinion, and I have absolutely no illusions that you will keep it to yourself. In fact, you have been expressing those opinions to me, repeatedly, for the past week. I am simply saying that if we are to get anything productive out of this meeting, we need to focus on what we can do, not on how angry we are at the way things have played out.

MAARTENS: Fine. That doesn't change the fact that, as you have so eloquently pointed out, it is eminently appropriate that we turn to our esteemed colleague, Dr. Tenneret, for an explanation of how this mess started.

TENNERET: I, for one, would like to stay on point here, and I am also mature enough to admit that I, along with everyone else, am capable of making errors. The fact of the matter is, working with this level of genetic recombination is an incredibly complex process, and we knew from the start that a recombination like this could produce some unexpected results. We can run computer simulations from here to eternity, and we would still have a hard time predicting precisely how the combinations would work as they assembled an entire living being.

CATTANZO: Yes, I understand that. However, if we are to eventually create further iterations of these species, have we identified what went wrong so that we can avoid it in the future?

TENNERET: I believe so, yes, to a degree of reasonable confidence. Certainly, one of the issues was the fact that our creations are not, in fact, direct recombinations - they are not, for example, a straight-up mix of human and dog DNA. In order to create the best recombination possible, all of the different "species" created were formed from a base pool of DNA, which contained markers from several species in a configuration that made it easy to add in the traits of other species, while still retaining a reliable set of core DNA that would ensure the viable creation of a living being. However, it appears that some of that base, unbeknownst to us at the time, had to do with reproduction, and as a result all of the resulting people created developed a pattern of sexual reproduction that was based around a cycle of ovulation and attendant behavior more closely based around that of certain species of animals instead of humans.

REGFIELD: I believe we discussed the possibility of this happening when we started the program, though - after all, combining in animal DNA always had the possibility of bringing some bodily functions and instinctual behaviors along with it. However, because we realized this could be an issue, we had also intended to engineer in certain factors to control that sort of behavior, to ensure that breeding would not even be an issue, and that the resulting people would be effectively sterile and free of reproductive drives until they were exposed to a very specific chemical injection that would activate their reproductive systems. The real question is, why didn't that work?

TENNERET: Admittedly, we are still trying to determine why that particular situation has occurred. I have been in contact with several of the other teams handling most of the expansion batches, and so far this issue appears to have cropped up in about 60% of the groups, while the other 40% are unaffected and show no signs of sexual awareness or behavior whatsoever. One theory I've come up with, however, is that we failed to anticipate that there may have been alternate pathways towards activation that we overlooked - after all, these are incredibly complex systems, and they can be activated in various ways. We are still trying to determine why the pathways in the females were activated, but according to my survey, groups in which the genders were separated showed no activation of male sexuality at the time the females began their cycle. This seems to suggest that, in the males at least, the "animal" part of their brains was able to recognize the pheromones emitted by the females, and this exposure on its own was enough to spontaneously activate their reproductive drives.

CATTANZO: And, based on that, have we identified the specific genes that allow for these alternate pathways so that we can control them in the future?

TENNERET: That research is still in progress, but I am confident we will be able to resolve this issue in future iterations, if we decide to move forward with them.

CATTANZO: And is there any way we can use gene therapy or other chemical triggers to reverse the activation in our current subjects?

TENNERET: Unfortunately, not that I know of.

CATTANZO: Very well. That, of course, brings us to our next problem - how to deal with the fact that in many of our current groups, these urges have been activated and need to be dealt with reasonably, and in a way that will not cause any actual reproduction.

MAARTENS: (coughs) Well, if you wanted to do that, you're already too late. Thanks to our belated intervention, according to chemical tests, one of the girls in our testing group has conceived.

CATTANZO: To prevent any further reproduction, then. I certainly don't need to tell you the amount of criticism we would face if it ever came to light that we were letting our subjects breed uncontrollably - the teen pregnancy issue aside, allowing further uncontrolled recombinations without knowing the consequences beforehand would take us from ethically heretical to criminally irresponsible.

MAARTENS: You don't need to remind me of that. I was informed yesterday that the Gene Ethics Council subpoenaed research notes from one of our subsidiaries, and I'm pretty sure they're not buying the research reports we've been putting out talking about the research they thing we're actually doing. The teams putting out the papers are doing a fairly detailed job - I've read the reports, and they look solid, but they're essentially vapor if anyone tries to reproduce them. We've got people closing in on all sides here, and this mess is the last thing we need right now!

CATTANZO: There are already procedures in place to monitor that situation - we have some contacts within the GEC, and we should have more than enough advanced warning if they decide to act more aggressively, or to involve other agencies with more serious investigative powers. Right now, we need to focus on the task at hand. Regfield, you've been monitoring the boys?

REGFIELD: Yes. We have been observing them throughout the day, and with low-light cameras at night. Since their urges have been activated, they do not appear to have slackened much, although they do seem to occur on a predictable daily cycle, with the most active period being during the evening, in the period of time before sleep. They seem to be dealing with it in various ways - some of them are attempting to mimic the mounting behaviour exhibited previously with each other, although there is no indication this has proceeded beyond simulated humping to actual anal intercourse, while others appear to have quickly figured out manual stimulation. None of these behaviours appear to be particularly unusual, and do not at this point appear harmful or aggressive. The only anomaly, at least when compared to human behaviour, is that none of them appear to perform the manual stimulation individually or privately, instead apparently preferring to, ah, stimulate each other in groups of two or more. Additionally, oral stimulation does not appear to be practiced as of yet.

CATTANZO: Hmm... and we're okay with them engaging in that sort of behavior?

REGFIELD: Given that the alternative is to enforce separation at night, which would disrupt their sleep pattern and potentially frustrate them further, I would be concerned that their urges could build up and lead to more aggressive and disruptive behavior, perhaps even violence. You saw some of their reactions to being denied earlier. And, looking at it another way, this is actually an important development, as it's really the first time they've had the challenge of trying to work out a complicated social situation. Looking back on this situation now, I'm beginning to realize that we made certain assumptions - given the controlled environment and presumably deactivated sexuality, we assumed that we could focus only on their intellectual development, to prove to ourselves that we had in fact produced truly sentient hybrids. However, we failed to provide instruction to promote emotional and social intelligence. In such a limited, controlled environment these skills have not really developed - while intellectually they are all on par with most high-schoolers, from a social and emotional standpoint their development is probably at a junior-high level at best, with their social behavior patterns relatively unchanged since childhood, at least until these recent events. I worry that the fact that they don't appear to achieve the stature of a normal human adult, as well as their overall fuzzy appearance, means that we may have continued treating them more like children, while they have in fact been developing rapidly towards adulthood - a fact that, mistakes or no, we can no longer ignore. It would probably be prudent to now give them some formal sexual education, if for no other reason than to ensure they have the knowledge they need to satisfy their current needs safely, without additional experimentation that could lead to injury. Beyond that... I think leaving them to their own devices is the best choice for now, with additional monitoring of course, but this situation may in fact help them to develop properly, within the necessary constraints of forced segregation.

MAARTENS: Well, it's all fine and good to make claims that the boys are using this as a "development" experience, but when it comes to the girls, it's more like they're regressing into animals than developing into responsible adults. This isn't some, "oh, they get horny some times, beat off, and then they're done," which is what you're apparently dealing with. These girls are in heat - H.E.A.T. - and they are completely out of control! We can't get them to focus on their studies, or go outside and play, or even just sit still and read so we can get a minute's peace. No, instead, they barely venture away from their sleeping area unless it's to find some surface to rub themselves against, and they shamelessly present themselves to anyone who walks into the room, male or female. Hell, we can barely even convince them to eat! This is real, animalistic heat we're talking about, not some sexual urge that can be trivially satisfied. An assistant went out and purchased one of those rabbit-style vibrator things to see if it would do anything. One of the girls used it for hours on end, and it barely made a damn bit of difference - while most animals have some period of relief after engaging in mating behaviors, ten minutes after the batteries ran down, she was yowling and rolling around again.

CATTANZO: So you're saying there's no way to control this?

MAARTENS: Oh, sure there's a way to control this. If we'd just let things take their course and let them breed, I'm sure that the heat would take care of itself. However, as should be obvious, there's absolutely no way we can let that happen. Beyond that... it's already been about a week, and it hasn't stopped yet. It could be a few more days before this resides and they go back to normal. It could also be another week, or another month, who knows? I'd rather not sit around and wait to see which gives up first, the heat, or my sanity. (Sighs) At the very least, we might have stumbled on something that might help keep things under control earlier today. One of the assistants started wondering if it wasn't the direct sex act itself, but something about the presence of the male that had to do with keeping the heat under control. Apparently he's good with a needle and thread, so he went out and bought one of those huge stuffed animals like the kind you'd see at a county fair, sewed some strategically placed weights into it to mimic a male's weight, and stuffed an electric motor with an offset weight attached into its belly, to at least partially mimic the humping motion. When one of the girls started presenting today, he placed it on top of her and activated the motor, and it appeared to calm her down, although it's too soon to tell how effective it will be. We'll probably know by this time tomorrow, though.

CATTANZO: Well, at least it's something. We should continue to monitor both situations, of course, and hopefully once the girls return to normal we can get things back on track.

TENNERET: I'm sorry, but I really must interrupt. Really, I cannot be the only one here who finds this entire topic disturbing, can I? This is not some basic laboratory study, and we are not talking about some animal specimens here. These are sentient people we're talking about here, teenagers, and we're sitting here calmly discussing watching them have sex and effectively using sex toys on them? We're essentially talking about our own children here!

MAARTENS: Yeah? And what would you have us do, then? Leave them to their own devices, with who knows what kind of consequences? I'd like to see you try to handle eight girls who are all simultaneously trying to convince you to mate with them! And you're really one to talk, given that if you'd done your damn job right in the first place, we wouldn't even be in a situation where we have to make these sorts of considerations! You created this mess, and then you want to accuse me of being a pervert? I should walk over there and smack the stupid out of your-

CATTANZO: Enough! We can argue until the sun goes down, but the fact of the matter is that these issues aren't going to go away on their own, and we're all doing the best we can to make things work in a very difficult situation. We've discussed just about everything we need to, and it sounds like we have at least a basic plan for mitigation, so I move that we end this meeting and do something more productive that squabble amongst each other.

MAARTENS: And what about the GEC? It's not like they're going to go away. What are we doing about that, really?

CATTANZO: We'll discuss that, I assure you, when it is actually relevant, and when you can exhibit something that at least resembles a professional demeanor. For now, everyone is free to shut up and get back to doing their jobs. This meeting is DONE.