Experiment 261 Chapter 9
Story and characters © Lavabat
Chapter 9 : Designed for Discomfort
The aging Doberman was uncomfortable. He had been sitting in the crappy folding metal chair in the interrogation room for too long. The room he was in was only adding to his discomfort. It was a small room with plain grey walls and blue grey carpet. It was nothing like the interrogation rooms LC had seen in the movies or on the net.There were no obvious security cameras or voice recorders. LC assumed that they were well hidden. He was sitting with his back to the wall, near to one of the room's corners. In front of him was a female Skunk. She was sitting on a leather office chair. She had been sitting there starting at him since the interrogation started. She had not said anything. She just smiled and stared.
To his right was another officer. The Raccoon bore an unnerving resemblance to Cor Bekker. He was sitting on a leather chair just like the one the Skunk was on, but he was also sitting behind a plain wooden desk. It was nothing more than a table top on legs. No draws or anything. To LC's left was a viewing mirror. LCturned his head hard to his left and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He thought his reflection looked rather pathetic and nervous. His expression hardened. He resented the police for the situation he was currently in.
When he turned to look at his reflection the Skunkfinally spoke to him. "Let me tell you a story" she began, "about a famous, respected and talented geneticist, the company that he works for, and the two hired criminals, and a Wolf named Jana de la Rey."
LC turned and snarled at the officer. The Skunk smiled, showing her teeth. Her eyes narrowed. LC's ears flattened against his head and he fidgeted nervously.
The Skunk continued. "The talented geneticist worked for a company who claimed to be able to make artificial species. The company asked the geneticist to make a chimera. The geneticist instead decided to genetically modify someone so that they looked like an artificial species. He did not want to find someone to work on himself though. He was too good for that."
LCrelaxed slightly. His ego had been stroked.
The Skunk's expression hardened. "He hired two criminals, Piet Gouws and Terence Khumalo, to find someone for him to work on. He payed them using a prepaid credit card, but he didn't know about the metadata on the credit card. Piet's financial records showed the credit card number that the geneticist payed him with...the credit card that the geneticist was found with when he was arrested."
The Doberman felt sick when he heard the names of the mercenaries he had hired. He felt even worse when the Raccoonplaced the credit card he had used to pay the two Wolves on the table. He turned and saw that it was in an evidence bag. The Raccoon also placed a printed copy of Piet's financial records on the table. The payments made from the credit card that he had been given were highlighted.
LC turned when the Skunk started speaking again. "The criminals the geneticist hired were better soldiers than criminals. When they kidnapped a wolf named Jana de la Rey, Piet was bitten. This allowed him to be identified by DNA
Terrance was well known, and was identified by witnesses who saw the kidnapping. Despite this they took Jana to 72 Anzac Road, Newlands, Johannesburg. The geneticist collected Jana from this address. His DNA and finger prints were found there. The DNA of Jana and the hired criminals were also found there."
The Doberman hunched forwards and looked at the floor. "I didn't make the credit card. I was given the credit card. Want to know who gave it to me? Make a deal with me"
The Skunkglanced at her colleague. She was clearly unimpressed. "If you want a deal, you have to give us more details."
The room was silent for several minutes. LC eventually sat up. He knew they held all the cards. All he could do was play his hand and hope for the best. "I paid Piet and the other guy to find someone for me to work on. It was for Experiment 261."
The Skunked was confused. "What's Experiment 261?"
LC explained. "Experiment 261's purpose was to make something which could be passed off as an artificial species until the technology needed to make genuine artificial species was developed. Cornelius Bekker, owner and CEO of GeneTech, gave me no choice but to work on it. He gave me the credit card that I used to pay the mercenaries."
The Skunkwas unimpressed. Years of experience in the police force had taught her never to blindly believe someone who was trying to save their own skin. "Can you prove these claims? Or is it your word against his?"
LC replied "I can prove it. I recorded our messages and calls. They are encrypted, but I have the keys to unencrypt them. I also have the files on the changes I made the test subject."
The Skunk nodded and looked at her colleague. He nodded in return. "We will put in a good word for you to the crown prosecutor when we have the unencrypted files and if you will testify against Cornelius Bekker."
Several hours had passed since Jana had got her bed for the night set up. The sleeping bag was unrolled, the various toiletries she had been given had been neatly stored in different pockets in the beds organizer, and the pillows were where she wanted them. The officers had even been able to go to her apartment and get some of her clothes for her. Jana had been lounging, half dozing, in her bed for a while now. There was not much else to do but wait. The person who had her kidnapped was in custody and was cooperating out of self interest. They didn't mention his name, and Jana had lost interest with who he was. A warrant had been issued for the arrest of the owner and CEO of GeneTech. He had planned the so called Experiment 261 scandal as the media had dubbed it. The kidnappers were still at large after having escaped custody. The wounded officer Nicole had mentioned was improving, but he was not out of the woods yet. There were rumours going around the station that the two Wolves had fled abroad. Jana also overheard an officer mention that the international police had been notified, and the two Wolves had had red notices issued against them. If found they would be arrested and extradited to South Africa.
More important to Jana was that her parents were coming to see her. They had already hired a solicitor to help shield them from the media. A number of reporters were getting incredibly frustrated with the police refusing to let them interview Jana. While Jana could understand them wanting to interview her, did they really need to take it personally? Was it really that outrageous that the police were more interested in doing their jobs properly than their stations ratings? And why harass her family? They don't know any more about what had happened than the next person on the street! Jana's expression hardened. She did not like the way the privacy of her family and friends was being violated by reporters. And she could only imagine what it was going to be like for herself when she was allowed out of the station.
Nicole looked up from her smartphone and noticed Jana's slight change in mood but said nothing. The oriental cat had been with Janamost of the day, but her shift would be ending soon. William would be her escort after that and would be staying the night at the station. Jana lifted her head from the pillows of her bed and looked at the clock on one of the lobby's walls. It was 4:45pm. Nicole smirked. She knew what it was like having nothing to do but sit around and wait. 'Hurry up and wait' as they called it.
Jana's ears swivelled around as Major William walked into the room. Without lifting her head from the pillows she watched as he approached. She noticed that he had asmartphone anda laptop computer. The computer looked like an unusually thin high impact carrying case. It was black along the edges and the underside. The top was silver and had black reinforcement panels screwed to the edges. The sides were covered in small plastic latches which kept dust out of the various plug in points for cables, datasticks, printers and other devices.Jana knew that it would be impact resistant, like all laptops and table devices, to that the stronger species of the world didn't accidently break them. What she didn't know was that unlike most computers, this one was also spill resistant, dust resistant, and the battery and hard drives could be easily removed.
She thought for a moment that the phone may have been hers, but it wasn't. It looked like a police issue phone. She sat up as William approached her.
William handed the phone and the computer Jana. "I thought you might like a phone while you are here. We have already disabled the radio communications system on the phone, so there is no danger of you accessing or hearing police communications. I also got you a toughbook so you can access the net. Most sites will be fine but we would appreciate it if you didn't access pornography or anything like that. And don't remove the battery or the hard drive."
Jana smiled "Thanks!"
She then paused and asked "don't remove the battery or hard drive?"
"The battery and the hard drives can be removed like cartridges. This makes it easy to swap parts and drives from one computer to another, and it saves time when we have to analyse hard drives seized as evidence" said William.
Jana replied "makes sense" before she started messaging her parents with the phone. She normally didn't message people during conversations as she considered it to be rude, but she really wanted to talk to her parents. As Jana sent and answered messages the Mau turned to Nicole. "What time do you knock off tonight?"
Nicole looked up from her phone. "5:30 Sir."
William nodded. He then turned and spoke to Jana.
The Mau turned and spoke to Jana. "We will be having dinner around 4:30 if that's OK...Jana?"
Jana looked up from the phone. "Sorry. What was that?" She felt rather sheepish.
William repeated what he said moments before. Jana replied "I usually have dinner at 6:30..."
"That sounds reasonable" replied William.
He sighed. "Well I still have a report to write, and I have to get in contact with a bunch of lawyers..."
Nicole raised an eyebrow. William simply said "Jana's status as a citizen is more complicated than we first thought."
Jana ears flattened.She tried not to dwell on it and went back to reading new the messages on the phone that she had got while talking to William. And she still needed to check her favourite sites on the net...fortunately the toughbook had wireless access!
Time seemed to fly along while she was checking her favourite comics and websites. It felt like only five minutes had passed when Nicole touched Jana on the shoulder, causing her to jump.
"Sorry! I will see you another time." She smiled, but her ears were flat. She didn't think she had snuck up on Jana _that_well.
"OK! See you later." Jana replied.
Jana heard Nicole's footsteps get fainter and fainter as she walked down the passageway. Her loaned phone emitted its distinctive notification tune. It was like a series of off tune gongs, and it sounded sinister and weird at the same time. She would have to change it. She opened the message. It was from William.
"I will be out as soon as my meeting is finished. The next shift of officers should be in soon. They have had a memo sent to them about you, but I can't guarantee that everyone read. Let me know if anyone gives you any trouble. Maj. William."
Jana stood up and stretched. Her eyes were getting a little sore from being on the net for so long. She strolled over to the sofa and smiled mischievously. She looked around the room. No one was there. So ran up to the sofa and jumped onto it, landing flat on her stomach. She rolled over and scooted up one end. She didn't want to take up too much room. Others might want to use the sofa. Well, she hoped that others would want to use it. She hoped they would not be weary of her.
Jana fiddled with the phone William had given her as she heard a group of furs in the hallway outside the lobby. She tried to figure out the number and species of the officers before they entered. But at there was no wind inside the building, and because so many officers went through the building every day, she was unable to determine much by scent. Two sounded like they were females, two were clearly males. But it sounded like there were more than four.
Her ears flattened against her skull and she smiled as the officers entered the room. She was trying not to show too many teeth. The last thing she needed was for them to think she was being aggressive...
There were three female officers. One was a young Fox, one Opossum somewhere in her mid twenties, and the other was a Panther. Her black spots were almost invisible against her dark brown fur. She was a little older than the rest. If Jana had to guess her age she would have said mid thirties to early forties. The other officers were male. One was a Longhair. He was a tabby like cat but had distinctive long hair. His ginger and white tiger striped fur looked very well kept. There was a Wolf in his early thirties, a Mixed Breed canine and a Jaguar. The Mixed Breed looked like he was a cross between a Dalmatian and a wolf. The Jaguar looked much like the panther, but was a little sleeker in appearance. Like all of his species his fur was black, with darker spots that were almost invisible against his fur.
The Panther was the move observant of the group. She had noticed Jana and smiled back. She was walking towards Jana when the Fox spoke. "That must be the thing we were told about."
The Panther's ears flattened as she turned around. She was going to scold the Fox but the Jaguar beat her to it. "That's a little insensitive. Not to mention unprofessional."
The Fox was quick to justify her comment. "What? It's not like mean to offend her!"
The Panther's face curled into a sneer. "You could have fooled me."
Seeing that she was getting nowhere with her colleagues the Fox decided to say nothing. She had a particularly sour look on her face as she went to get her meal before she started work.
The Panther went over to Jana and sat nearby. She tried to be pleasant, but she could not hide her distain for that damn brat vixen. "Don't worry about her. Nothing is ever right for her, or is good enough."
Jana made no effort to hide her feelings for the vixen. "How did someone with her social skills get to be a cop? A clerical error?" While she did not shout, Jana did speak loud enough for the vixen to hear what she said. The Fox turned around. She was seriously thinking of insulting the creature until she saw the look on its face. Its pupils were dilated and its snout was wrinkled with a snarl. Its ears were erect, and its main was standing up on end. She turned around and started fidgeting nervously. 'I hope it's just a look and is not intent...'
The panther changed the subject. "What's it like? Being a Chimera? Sorry, is that the right term? My name's Thandeka."
Jana smiled. "I prefer Hyena. And it's...different. My sense of smell has improved. The scents of...certain things stand out more now."
The Panther had a feeling she knew what Jana meant by 'certain things' but she did not ask. Instead she asked about Jana's family, which Jana was happy to talk about. Anything conversation about something other than her being a Hyena was a good conversation as far as Jana was concerned.
William hung up the phone. The Mau slowly stood up from his padded leather office chair and moved away from his office desk. He winced with pain. His lower back was hurting somewhat. The call had taken over an hour. But the call had to be made. Jana's legal status was much more complicated than he had hoped. She wasprobably was still a citizen, but the way the laws were worded made it a grey area. Thankfully the civilian government was already making plans to fix the problem. The laws would be amended to make it clear that genetic alterations did not affect ones status as a citizen. But changing the laws takes time. It would likely be a week or more before a single change to any given law was made. And then the civilian government had the problem of how the changes would be made. Would they change all existing laws one by one? Or would they make a new act to define the rights of genetically altered people? Regardless Jana would have to play the system for a while. And William was determined to give her all the help he could to that end.
The major sighed as he left his spacious office. It was a nice office, with plush carpets, a bookshelf filled with various books, manuals, documents, and photos of his family and children, but it did get depressing being surrounded by the same four walls all the time. And his back was feeling better now that he was walking around. William walked slowly down the hallway outside his office and pasted the conference room on his way to the lobby. He was in no hurry and had always had a laid back nature. As soon as he entered the lobby he looked to his left and right. Then he scanned the room, noting who was there and what they were doing. It was a habit he got into back when he was a patrol officer, and it had served him well.
He quickly noticed Jana and Thandeka were getting along well. They were happily engaged in a conversation. He couldn't hear what they were talking about though.There was an Opossum, a Wolf, and a Longhair sitting together eating their meals. William had seen them around enough the station enough to recognize them but he couldn't remember their names. A Mixed Breed canine, one of the new officers at the station, sat closer to Jana than the others. He seemed fascinated with the Hyena.'I really need to find out his name' though William as he noted Louwrens, aJaguar, sitting down with the MixedBreed and introducing himself.
And there was Danielle, the Fox who with an unrealistic sense of self entitlement. She seemed more sour than usual for some reason.
Jana was enjoying the conversation she was having with Thandeka.Jana was more than happy to talk about her family and her job as an archivist in one of Johannesburg's museums. While she had studied to be an archaeologist, her current job was not too bad in her eyes. Not what she truly wanted but it was something for now.
Major William strolled over to the sofa where Jana and Thandeka were sitting. He slowed as he neared the sofa, not wanting to interrupt Jana's conversation. After several minutes he softly cleared his throat. Both Jana and Thandeka stopped talking suddenly and looked at Major William.
"It's6:30,Jana. Do you want to get something to eat?"
Jana quickly got to her feet. "Yes please!"
She turned to Thandeka. "I'll talk to you later if you are still here."
Thandeka smiled. "OK!"
Jana followed William to the kitchens serving counter. They both looked over the menu on the back wall. William was in the mood for something different for a change. He chose a meal of wet biltong, potbrood, with a large apple as a kind of side dish. The biltong was cut into manageable lengths so that the textured and cured meat did not hang off the edges of the serving dish. It was very dark on the outside due to the ingredients it was cured with, but the inside was still red and soft. The potbrood, a type of bread baked in a Dutch oven on a South African barbeque, the braai, was streaming hot. It smelled great. Jana was in the mood for meat. Her serving tray was piled high with blue steaks and nothing else. William rolled his eyes. _'Canines. The rawer the better'_he mused to himself.
William and Jana sat down together on the smaller table in the corner. She poured herself a glass of water with the glass pitcher which was already on the table. There were still other officers milling around the lobby. Some had only just arrived, while some were simply waiting for their shifts to start. Most were trying to get a good look at Jana without being too obvious about it. While William did have his reservations about this, it was understandable, and as long as Jana didn't mind he would not press the issue.
Jana hardly noticed the various officers come and go from the lobby. She didn't even care about the ones who were watching her more closely than they really should have been. She could understand their interest in her. It was not every day you say a walking talking Hyena!
And she was too busy eating her steaks. They were delicious! Cooked enough to make sure that there were no bacteria or parasites, but not so well done that the taste of the blood was gone.
William was waiting for his potbrood to cool down so he could make a sandwich with the biltong. He couldn't help but chuckle at Jana. A trueWolf, or perhaps that should be true Hyena, she was eating so quickly it could hardly have touched the sides! After a while Jana realised that she was eating too quickly. She was starting to feel tired. 'Easy there girl. You will make yourself tired or sick. Slow down. Don't finish eating before William.' Jana told herself in her head.
She began eating at a more socially acceptable pace. Soon she felt more awake, and was feeling fuller. William smirked as he made his meal into a sandwich. It was still nice and hot when he bit into it. He had forgotten when he had last hat biltong. He took a moment to savour the well seasoned meat before swallowing.
Jana was having trouble eating at a slower pace than William and started eating faster. She forgot her earlier resolve to not finish her meal before William and started eating a little faster.When she had finished William had only just finished his potbrood and biltong sandwich. She had a drink of water while she waited patiently for him to finish his apple just in case he wanted to speak to her again. Her patience was soon rewarded.
"Now is probably a good time to bring you up to speed with our investigation" said William as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
William placed the napkin down on the table and "Our understanding is that Cornelius Bekker, the owner and CEO of GeneTech made a claim a while back that his company could make artificial species. They are, or were, developing the technology to do this, but word got out that they already had the technology. It is alleged that he instructed his company's best scientist, Doctor Van de Wetering, LC for short, to make something which could be passed off as an artificially made species to dupe his company's investors while until the technology was developed. It was code-named Experiment 261."
Jana tensed up. "And I am what they made to fool their investors..."
William nodded. "Correct. LC hired some criminals to kidnap someone for him to use for Experiment 261. It was not a targeted kidnapping. You were simply the first who was willing to help the kidnappers who were posing as lost travellers."
Jananodded and her expression hardened. She had mixed emotions. She wanted to hear this as much as she didn't want to know.
"LC has been arrested, and he had admitted to his role in Experiment 261. He has agreed to testify against Cornelius Bekker."
The Mau received a message on his police issue phone. He could tell by the specific tone that it was important. "Sorry...this is important."
He quickly read the message and then put his phone down on the table. He grinned. "Cornelius Bekker has just been arrested."
"We can expect the prosecution to oppose bail, as they are flight risks. But they may get bail if they surrender their passports. If they do get bail they will have to wear tracking bracelets. There is really not much we can do now other than to submit our evidence to the prosecutors and let them do their jobs."
William continued. "LC will also get a lighter sentence when convicted, probably ten or so years, as he has agreed to testify against Cornelius Bekker."
Jana nodded. The sour look on her face told William that she was not happy with the idea that LC would only get ten years imprisonment. William wondered if any sentence would have made her happy. And he hoped she would not take what he was about to tell her too badly.
"Due do the way the laws are currently worded you won't be able to testify against LC. Long story short, there are only a few laws which cover genetically altered people. And they were never designed for peopleas genetically altered as you. You are essentially a new species. It's a grey area, and his defence will use that to their advantage. The government is working to change the laws, but it will take time."
"We should be able to submit your interview as evidence without too much difficulty. And the officers involved in your case will testify."
This was small consolation to Jana. She had hoped that she would still have been a citizen. And what did he mean by 'legal grey area'? Was that just some way of softening the blow? Jana tensed up and turned her head. She stared at the wall for what seemed like an eternity. She wanted to speak, but she didn't. Her emotions were running rampant. At first she was angry, but this quickly gave way to bitterness. That in turn gave way to a sullen depression. She eventually turned her head back towards William. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were closed and her head was bowed. "Am I a person? Or am I an animal?"
William reassured Jana "You're a person, Jana. You're not an animal." He wanted to hug her, to try and comfort her. But he didn't know how she would react to that. He couldn't risk it.
"Were almost finished Jana. We expect Cornelius Bekker to get ten or more years in prison, and he will probably be barred from owning or managing companies in South Africa. If this happens he will have to sell his company." William then abruptly changed the topic. "I have heard that your parents are coming to see you"
Jana looked up at William. "Yes. They are should be here tomorrow some time. Dad wants to see me sooner rather than later. And once he decides he is doing something, that's the end of it. Mum seems to be taking it well. I think she is a little upset though."
William inquired "do you have other family, Jana?"
Jana's tail wagged slowly. She was glad to be talking about other subjects again. "Yes. I am the youngest of a litter of four, my father has several sisters and a brother, my mother has a younger brother, there are four grandparents."
Jana could not help but think something was wrong. Something in had changed. She looked around. The other officers had gone. She had not even noticed them get up, never mind leave. William's ears moved back slightly. Jana smiled and said "I just noticed we're the only ones in here now."
The Mau looked around and was slightly surprised. 'I got so engrossed in our conversation I forgot to maintain situational awareness of my environment' thought William. It was not something he liked doing, but it was only in the station. So no harm was done.
William smirked and scratched the side of his chin. "It does tend to get pretty quiet around here when everyone goes on their shifts."
Jana was somewhat amused by the Mau's comment. "I guess there won't be much for me to do between now and whenever I go to bed."
"I am afraid not" replied William.
"I guess I will find some way of amusing myself before bed. Speaking of which, what's the time?"
The Mau looked at his phone. "It's 7 o'clock."
"I will probably go to bed sometime around 11."
The Mau smiled and stretched as he stood up. "That sounds reasonable to me. I will be here overnight to make sure you don't get up to mischief."
Jana playfully poked out her tongue at the Mau.