Subject #126

by Neon Venue

Scorpius Incident

"Cloning is great. If God made the original, then making copies should be fine." -Doug Coupland

>+++<

Test Tube grinned as he typed away at the keyboard. The Director had given him full use of the Integrator, as well as a team of scientists to be at his beck and call. Test had been working non-stop for the past two weeks, barely eating or sleeping. He had to get everything ready, everything had to be perfect. Experimentation would soon begin, and Test wanted to keep failures to a minimum. He didn't want to go on creating some sort of unstoppable species of mutant ponies, although even that idea seemed not-so-far fetched. Cloning was a risky business, but creating artificial life was even worse. You couldn't just create something out of nothing, that's what they had the Integrator for!

The GZPC-X11 Mach II Integrator would sustain life within it's sleek glass walls. It breathed the very essence of life, nurtured it, built it. Raw cells would be pumped into the machine like a fine mist. The Integrator's internal component would then tell the cells where to go and what to build, beginning from the necessary structures to the simpler ones. The skeletal system would appear first, followed by the the organs, then the muscular system, then the circulatory system, then the nervous system, then the being's epidermis and hair folicles would slowly grow onto it's body. Test had the technicians modify the Integrator with a new component, a large pumping system that would add the concentrated rainbow to the subject after the previous processes were completed. Finally the subject would be hit with seven hundred volts of electricity. This started the being's heart, and was performed last in order to save it from feeling the extreme pain of it's own body being built. The whole process could take anywhere from a minute to an hour, depending on how complex the coding of the creature's DNA. Although the process seemed fool-proof, there were many things that could, and may, go wrong. In the name of science.

Test finished up the coding on the first test subject's DNA, plugging a flash drive into the computer and transferring the file. He then carefully walked over to the coding terminal in front of the machine, and placed the file inside. He then turned to his assistants, which he had just now noticed had gathered around him. "Everypony, I have finished the coding for the first test subject. We will begin testing now, based off of this coding. Please record any observations, and be ready for whatever sort of life, or lack there of, that may emerge from the Integrator." Test began the integration process.

>+++<

Upkeep sighed. "Why is it that I always have to be the one to get rid of all the experiments? I think I deserve a break, maybe cafeteria duty or something..."

Upkeep had been standing in the hallway for an hour. He was trying to coax the monster out of the vents, but was unsuccessful. To be honest, the thing freaked him out a bit. It USED to be a pony, but it didn't even resemble one anymore. Its head was rotated 180 degrees, and its front legs were absent from its midsection. Instead there were six spines, or legs, or whatever the hell you want to call them. It used these spines to scratch across the floor, and it seemed as though the spines had joint that moved in two directions. Its back legs and tail were melted into one, and sported a very large, jagged spike. It held this new limb like a scorpion, and there where a few holes in the linoleum from when it had tried to spear Upkeep. On top of this, there were rips in it's skin and patches of it's coat missing, giving the pony-turned-scorpion a zombie-like appearance. "Dammit, Test." Upkeep cursed to himself. "How is it that you made a demon out of a pony?..."

The beast suddenly exploded from its hiding place, other-worldly screeching coming from its mouth. Upkeep quickly dove to the side, the pony-scorpion landing exactly where he stood before. Upkeep attempted to stand up, but the monster pounced him, the force of the creature causing the old janitor the fall underneath the beast. Upkeep tried his hardest to kick the mutilated thing off of him, but it held him down and attempted to stick its stinger into his head. Each time the pony-scorpion brought its jagged appendage down, Upkeep would turn his head slightly, allowing it to zip past him and into the linoleum. Finally the monster appeared to get fed up with the game of "dodge the spike of death". It opened its mouth, but not like a regular pony. The beast's jaw simply ripped apart into pieces, showing that the entire inside sported jagged teeth. The monster reared its head up, and brought it down on Upkeep's face. Before the creature could reach its target, Upkeep reached behind him and grabbed his broom, swinging it upwards with his eyes closed.

The broom made contact with the back of the monster's mouth, and easily went through, puncturing its head and exploding grey matter onto the wall behind it. Upkeep gave the beast a final kick, sending it backwards a few feet, where it skittered for a moment, making loud tapping sounds on the cracked linoleum before the life left its horrendous body entirely. Upkeep stood up and checked himself for any wounds. He had a knot on the back of his head where he had ever so graciously hit the floor, and three large cuts from when the monster had landed on him. Upkeep sighed, looking at the pony-scorpion's carcass. Suddenly the body began to swell, growing larger and larger. Upkeep covered his face, just as the body exploded outwards, splattering the entire length of the hallway with its blood and guts. Then everything was silent, save the quiet dripping of blood. A drenched Upkeep grew angry. "Well, just FUCKING great!"

>+++<

Test sighed. He looked upon the body of one of his assistants. Once the experiment had begun, the Integrator's glass had fogged up. The integration process had gone off without hitch, even the rainbow serum was added. It went wrong when one of the assistants had gone to retrieve the subject, and found that it had mutated horribly. That was when the creature suddenly burst to life, sticking the assistant though the neck with a stinger-like appendage. The mutant had escaped whilst everyone attended to their fallen co-worker. Upkeep was hunting the thing down, so Test wasn't worried. Upkeep could handle almost anything, as was proved in previous incidents.

The medics in the room pronounced the scientist D.O.A., and took the body away. Nobody mourned, nobody cried. It was just another death on the job. Test was the first to speak up. "Alright everypony, so that may not have gone exactly to plan, but we'll get it right next time, am I right?" He spoke with mock enthusiasm. Apparently everybody else picked up on it, as nobody responded, instead choosing to silently go about their work. Test sighed, walking back to his computer and attempting to figure out what went wrong with his code. He had done everything perfectly, there was no indication of any chance of such a drastic mutation. Although one could never really predict a mutation, Test had double-checked the code. He growled as he went about rewriting it again. The subject had to be male, and had to be able to use magic. That was the whole point of the experiment.

>+++<

A/N: Updated dates. This chapter is a tad bit short, but the next one has a major event in it. Also found an editor. Stay tuned!

Comments

[HarbingerOfMe]

wait a second... They're making a partner for Celestia/Luna.

[Dalek IX]

Ah, the difficulties of creating artificial life...

I think I know where this is headed. [LAUGHTER REDACTED]

PRO-CEED WITH WRI-TING!!

[StrongBad_21]

ok, this should be good. enough gore, I must say.
-Never stop writting-