The Blunders of Science

Intro, into the world, what happen in the year 2102. A denizen of the world starting his life and finding clues of became of the world.

The advancement of science and technology has ushered both suffering and relief, as history proves that it’s both a curse and a blessing, yet it’s difficult to tell if it’s one or the other. Humanity always seeks to better itself through knowledge and power, as well as destroys themselves with their own sins, nor does past or science have any influence over the sporadic nature of humans. Homo-sapiens, men, or whatever they refer to themselves before they changed the world. The clashing ideas of war and salvation have finally landed a fatal blow to each other, but none-to-little know the outcome of the battle. Almost all humans were gone, not destroyed but changed into something they did not recognize as human anymore.

The side of Salvation was working in the science that meddled with the human body, to save it from eventuality of diseases and viruses. The books and papers left to us, tell details of science’s advancement in discovering a way to preserve or extend human life with entangling itself to animal life. Biology; articles and documentaries found in the ruins of the world, show images of various methods in the trial period, where they try to replace limbs of those who have lost or had none to begin with, and the test seems to bear fruit at first but soon were exposed to be rotten in the core. The test subjects gradually turned into the beast whose limbs were stolen from, so that theory was laid to rest as failure and they moved on to the next beacon of hope. Anatomy; as before they were signs of promising result in the next theory, it was revised that instead replacing limbs, they would try to replace their organs in hope the animal’s innards would save the body. Premature delight was expressed as the test again displayed signs of success, and as the prior simulation ended in the same failure, the human body was able to adapt to the animal’s drive for a while before going into primal frenzy that was thought to be gone from human behavior. Some were able to control and survive the effects of the procedure but it wasn’t enough, for they wanted all to live rather than a few. Reports everywhere told of dozens of other blunders they sought, only to fall ever closer to despair from their own fate, for the masses of society were losing faith in their survival as a species. Hence, the answer to their despair came with no initial belief or support, but when its harvest came in a plenty, the masses came praising the discovery and stubbornness of this project. Splicing; mingling ones DNA with an animal’s, to strengthen their core and their entire body by simply injecting the modifying genome. This exhibit did no harm to the psyche or the nature of humans as presented before, the only thing that may be experienced is slight discomfort with initial dosage and little to mild change in appearance to the animal that was inserted. This blessing of the world was spread everywhere to mend the tattered bodies of those riddled with diseases and worse.

However, it doesn’t mean that all accepted this treatment; it amazes me the sporadic ideas humans have in the spur of the moment. The history books, that I found floating in a stream, have told me of a faction of humans that remained in strong opposition to the idea of splicing; this started out with small but bloated to uncomfortable proportions. Although, most narrative literature pairs two forces facing one another and ending with one side emerging victorious.  How exciting is it to find three real live forces fighting and none of them win. The first is the side of salvation, then the strong conservatives that refuse to splice themselves. Third force was seeking to make the miracle cure of humanity into a weapon that could arm an army with a few leagues of super soldiers, but the original formula is needed and there’s no point asking for it. The two forces made alliance to overtake the government that housed the formula. That was initial agreement, the force, which wanted to form armies, secretly plan to eliminate all others with a bomb. This bomb, as explained by a tape from the original engineer in an abandoned archive, disclosed its purposes to launch after one of two outcomes happened, and it was an illegal bomb that banned decades ago as “Chemical Warfare”. At the end of the tape, a squad of troops came in and shot the engineer while he was finishing the first bomb before it was mass produced. I found his plans and an intact bomb, which has no effect on us who roam the world now; the design showed that the apparatus which propels the chemical gas into the atmosphere was flawed to disperse so wide that it extended globally. The two outcomes were; if the war is lost and they cannot win, or they won but imprisoned all other forces and retreated away from the targeted air raid locations for bombing. Looking at all the insignias, they lost; the details of the bomb’s chemical didn’t explicitly say that the gas is supposed to mutate all organisms that were spliced and kill those who weren’t. All the plans say that it was a radioactive gas that kills humans, I guess it had unprecedented effects on spliced beings, but it doesn’t explain why no one remembered what happened five years ago?

 Not even me, the Chronicler, one of the few who didn’t lose their minds after the release of the gas.

No one remembers what life was like before five years ago; not a single soul knows who they are, or who they were; that’s how the “Unprecedented Era” came about. This is when the whole world started over; names, customs, relationships, all were scrambling to find themselves in this world of questions and strangeness. I manage to remember some reminisce of my past, but no name which is why I decided on a new one, Nexus. I saw it in a book when I first awoke to this chaotic realm, the word seemed to fit my circumstance, but I chose it only after I couldn’t find my name anywhere. All I found were countless cards that said “ID” and a bunch of nonsense about numbers; I couldn’t find my name anyway since my face doesn’t fit any of the pictures on the card anyway. Neither did any of the others who weren’t overtaken with feral instincts, but that was the least of their worries with the majority of the world turned into wild savages. Perhaps it’s best to transverse more efficiently by elucidating the creation of our world, the first days.

 

The first thing I recollect is a sense of unease, opening my eyes reveal the source, a creaking steel beam was hanging a few meters above me as it swayed back and forth. Nothing gets your heart pumping like a death trap, as cautious as I am; I quickly position myself away from its range. It was a good thing too since the rebar supporting it snapped and dropped it through quite a few floors. After avoiding that predicament, I try to figure out what happened, only to realize I didn’t know who or what I am. I thought logically to remember but nothing resurfaces; it seems that I still have all my skills and literacy. Memory seems to be a loss; however, I still need to analyze myself to see if I had anything that identifies me. I examine myself only to find the clothes I was wearing, a pendent that reads librarian, and a device with something plugged into them. My clothing consists of a thick jacket that was a mix of a suit and a hoody, denim jeans that were ripped into shorts, a slightly stretched white shirt that used to be a medium, and a pair of some sort of thing that was worn but I can’t wear them. I proceeded to strip down to inspect my body bare for any injuries and such, it didn’t occur to me that fur covering my body wasn’t normal, neither was the modified physique. I couldn’t understand what was strange or standard; I checked my surrounding to see if it could help me. The place I was in was called a library, a few pamphlets were advertising “Arion Public Library”, and the ad spoke of finding answers and amassing vast amounts of knowledge. I thought it ironic that a guy who needs answers; wakes up where he can find them, but it only answered a few queries about the situations. I decide to reeducate myself from the beginning to build a foundation, which I can use to fill in the scarce amount understanding I have as of now. I spend hours interpreting books from children’s picture to dictionaries, and it aided in my predicament but words can only give an idea, not experience. The only thing that the dictionary solved was my lack of a name, Nexus, it means bond, connection, or ties with anything. Commuting on society can wait; I need to find answer to why this place is like this. That is when I discover that the world is probably like this; literally dozens of history, science, and political books spout on about a great war that would destroy “humanity”. It also tells of recent discoveries in various sciences in aid of the “Survival of Humanity”. I looked at all the dates; they stopped at the year 2102. There’s no vegetation around to verify which season it is, the only thing left to do is to find out what happened to our world exactly. Looking around, the windows were covered in soot from the outside; going outside didn’t feel safe but it was safer than a slowly collapsing building. Walking was a bit disorienting, which suggests that my feet are different than before, and it also tells me that I may have missed a few things in my examination earlier. Whatever it was, it had to wait until I was somewhere more comfortable and stable. I instinctively went towards what was called an elevator and pressed a button, but nothing happened which means that this and most other buildings don’t have power. I recall from the books that all infrastructures have stairwells in them, and to use them if the elevators are out of order, whatever that means. Traversing downward on the stairwell brought me to a mirror, if I’m remembering correctly it reflects yourself in it, so I thought it could help me get a more accurate examination.

Once again, I strip down and looked at the reflection. Based off of the books about the different types of biology and human anatomy, I closely resemble a “wolf” but it’s more like moderation between a wolf and human. It appears that I was spliced before any of this happened, the scar tissues on my chest above the sternum foretells a possible surgery, most likely a heart transplant or accident. My fingers were longer and thicker than an average human’s; my head was strongly similar to a wolf’s, and it became more congruent as I inspected the details matching the description. My torso and legs was a hybrid, in between the two species; my torso was too narrow to be human, but too wide to be wolf. My legs showed the same contrast as my torso; the structure was similar to a wolf’s, but it was elongated like a human. My hands and arms were more human than any other part of my body, but the wolf tail and head was clearly wolf. I took a closer look at my fur; I felt it slowly, thick smooth but swallow. My skin was unfastened compared to a human’s but noticeably thick when pinched. My reproductive organ as a male was similar to wolf but enlarged due to the human factor. I heard thunder, something I actually remember, it was after lightning in a storm. Suddenly, some chunks of rubble fell down near my foot, a reminder that the building is unstable. Quickly reacting to it, I dressed back up to leave the building before it rained too much. I went down to the lobby fairly quickly and out the doors to see the world that was left behind. Like the building I was in, the others were also damaged and were collapsing progressively. The rain seemed to make the atmosphere feel more serene than dreadful; the rain got in my ears and impulsively put on my hood of my jacket. Another human based custom, it was probable that the two, human and wolf, will both contribute to my survival. This is the start of my life, and the first thing that happens to me is being struck by lightning. I read that people are supposed to die after being struck, but this was different since I didn’t die. The lightning coursed through my body like a wire, the excess electricity was being absorbed into my physique, but lightning was supposed to be a quick flash. When the lightning struck me, it felt like I was being ripped apart, but the feeling felt like it lasted forever. The pain was agonizing, as if I was set aflame; my skull was going to burst with all my brain matter painting these buildings a new color coat. I strained to pull myself together, resisting made the pain worse; the increased pain involuntary made me grit my teeth and bare my fangs. When I couldn’t bear it any longer, I vented out a roar of rage; a pulse of electricity surged then stopped. The cease of the lightning also ended my suffering, but I remained in that stance for the lightning marred my body so I couldn’t move for a while. I couldn’t move even if my body wasn’t damaged, the lightning took everything I could muster not to die, so I stood there dazed in the rain.

Crying snapped me back into reality, I got up but the effects of the bolt hadn’t passed, yet the chance that there’s someone else here overcame my petite pain. The rain was more like drizzle; I must’ve been asleep for a while. I ran as fast as I could, I couldn’t help but feel slow, so naturally I tried to move as a wolf, instead. It seemed like my actions were divided within myself like everything else. Dashing forward, looking frantically for the source of the cry; the rain made everything a blur as I swerved around searching. A beast and a woman are easily noticeable in an empty city; I skidded trying to shift directions hastily. Moving closer rapidly, I realize I don’t remember having fought anything before but my body surely has because it propped itself up to attack. Increasing my speed so that my feet matched the dashing speed, bending my right arm back and closing my hand into a fist; I leaped in the air being dragged along as my body did all the work. A flash came to me in mid-air, a vision of what I was supposed to do, be strong. Lunging forward towards the beast; strengthening my arm for impact with its repugnant face, but it only stunned it for a split second. The beast’s focus is on me now, it howled at me in anger and I reciprocated its challenge. I howled back but I launch a bolt lightning, the same one that shocked me before; it pierced the monster’s head clean through. The blast made my throat rugged and dry, but my attention was drawn toward the beast’s carcass as it hit the ground. I walked up to the foe I’ve defeated, looking at its ugly mug revealed that it was also mutated, but this was different from me in a lot of ways. The face was clearly unrecognizable; the body was warped in various ways that made it unapparent how this creature could be counted as alive. I spread apart its fur, its skin showed folds and lines as if the skin was twisted all throughout its body. The joints were all different, like they came from different animals, but most disturbing thing is that the body began to heat up rather than getting colder. The heat of the body was becoming too intense that the constant pour of the rain wasn’t enough to cool it anymore, and after a bit the body disintegrated to ash and was washed away in the rain. Watching what had become of the human race wisp away in this cleansing rain; the sins, the joys, and the failures that they endorsed while they were alive. A truly sad thing to know that they squandered their gifts, all that’s left is the ruins of a faulty dream, but at least there’s no human alive to see the fruit of their labor. A voice startled me,

“Umm, hello?” I quickly veered at the source of the voice; it was human at a first glance; female, adult, about 166 cm tall, white ivory skin color, red hair, green eyes, freckles, and was injured. Turning my head side to side trying to analyze her thoroughly, but she backed, crawled away slowly, she was afraid of me. Listening, I heard breathing and periodic beats, I don’t know what humans are supposed to sound like, but the radiation should’ve killed or mutated humans. I couldn’t blame her for being scared, the books said that talking to someone helps reassure the frighten individual that it is safe. Perhaps if I introduce myself, she’ll calm down a little to a point that she’d open up to me.

“I’m… Nexus” I place my right hand over my chest gesturing that’s my name, she settled down a little and gave me answer.

“I’m an E.L.I, Enhanced- Life- Intelligence. An A.I” At least that proves that no human survived, but doesn’t explain why she’s bleeding with that slight gash on her left leg. I pointed at her leg, she looked and noticed it too; her cheeks flushed and she looked away. She stuttered a bit before asking,

“Can you help me?” For something that’s “artificial”, she portrayed innocence quite well, she looked at me with those angel’s eyes.

“Sure but… I need a name. Not an acronym” She thought for a second, which tells me she’s been referred to as “Eli” rather than a name she likes.

“Alice, Alice Liddell” That name is a book character. Why would she choose that name?

“Isn’t that a character’s name from a book about fantasy?” Alice’s face grew redder, which is a sign of embarrassment, if I remember correctly from a book on body language.

“You’re an A.I, one programmed to mimic human actions and feelings so it could integrate into society” She was surprised I phrased it like that, so I guessed reading all those books has increased my intelligence and vocabulary quite a bit.

“I- umm- read a lot before coming outside, trying to find out what happened here, but it only explained what, not why” I extended my hand to Alice, she stared at it then looked to me, for the fear before it was substituted by hope. Alice looked like she could walk at least, but to pick up the pace I grabbed and propped her on my back. I prepared to do a wolf dash,

“Hang on, I don’t want to get ambushed by more of those monsters” I said, she noted my stance and prepared herself by gripping around my neck tightly. I had no idea where I’m going, so I stopped abruptly after a kilometer or two.

“Umm… Alice, do you know where to go?”

“Wait, What!? You started running off in some random direction without knowing where you are!?” I stopped in the middle of an intersection.

“Well, see if you can find any places where you can repair yourself because it’s obvious that I have no clue where I’m going” She chuckled a little before peering for a beat on our location, I felt a tad embarrassed for going without a plan. I looked up at Alice, with the eyes that I have, perceiving her appearance with greater detail. The rosy lips, flawless skin, long eyelashes, those breasts hanging beneath her red-loose sweater, and the fang that was tucked under her lips… Wait, fangs? I don’t think Alice told me the whole truth, so I grabbed and set her on the road.

“Hey, what’re you doing? I was trying to find out where we are”

“Why did you lie to me?” She was puzzled.

“Aren’t we A.I? That’s what-” I interrupted her,

“You think, right? There’s a difference between thinking and knowing, are you absolutely sure that you’re an A.I?” Alice opened her mouth but quickly closed it; she struggled to remember if that what she is. I decided to make it easier,

“Is what you told me, was it written on the walls or somewhere when you woke up?” Alice was trying to recollect how she woke up; she relaxed a bit after recalling what happened.

“I remember a roar or scream waking me up, the cold hard floor, something digging into my stomach. A book, it was “The Adventure of Wonderland”; I opened it but couldn’t read very well, so the only thing I remember from the book was a name. The girl’s name, Alice Liddell, I don’t know my name so I took that one. The walls were riddled with writing saying E.L.I, over and over. I saw a door and went through it trying to find others, that when the monster started chasing me, I ran but tripped and scraped my leg. That’s when I met you, and you saved me from it” Her exposition definitely explained a few things with her reaction to my answer, but given how it was not too long ago, it’s unlikely that she’s lying to me. At least, I don’t need some special equipment to fix her, I just need some appendages to seal the wound, but a hospital is also in order for that or an ambulance. After that’s taken care of, it’s adamant that I bring Alice to the library to get her some education like I did.

“Alright, sorry about that; I just didn’t want my only friend in the world to be a lie,” Alice smirked, I guess she’s happy that she’s not alone either; I picked her up and set her on my back. She was frightened the last time when I ran, so I’ll just walked and surveyed the area with her. I told her what we needed,

“Hey, try to look for a hospital or an ambulance. We need the medical supplies in them to patch you up”

“Look for a What?” I forgot she doesn’t know what half the stuff in this city is, so I needed to elaborate on what I’m justifying.

“Look for a big plus sign on the side of anything, you have the high ground so you can see further than I can”

[I didn’t know at the time that my eye sight is superior to hers, ten to one]

We searched each block on the street for an hour or two, but it wasn’t progressing as I hoped. It was apparent that we require a diagram or map of the city, yet the only question is where? I was distracted with theorizing what to do, that I didn’t sense the monster in front of us; at least one of us noticed it and it wasn’t me. Alice smacked the side of my face to get my attention, but the beast was already advancing towards us. I looked at it while it charged; the beast was running with only two legs instead of four like the one before, so I speculated that these beasts will do random but predictable actions. It was clear that it wasn’t sentient like we were, since it’s attacking without a reason, but its constitution was easier to strike unscathed. The beast’s legs were similar to mine but were at an angle that it couldn’t switch like I could, so I can attack from below with my mouth and snap its spine in half. I took Alice off in order to get a running start, so I sped off to fight the beast which is tedious to refer to as “the beast” constantly. We were nearing each other; as I got ready to bite down on its grotesque body, my mouth clamped down. The creature practically petted my fur, my attempt to chew it was foiled by own instincts, but what do they know that I don’t? I skidded along the road and pushed warped monster upward to get more distance. I need to analyze why my instinct didn’t allow me to attack, then my nose began to burn from something repugnant in the air. The continued inhaling of the odorous gas made me cry, did this horrid scent came from the creature? I observe closely to the creature, as it huffed; a color gas emitted from its nostrils. That explains why my instincts refuse to clench down, it would’ve poison me and I’m not sure if I’m immune to poisons. In which case, I need to rely on my claws or find something else to pierce its hide. Suddenly, it collapsed huffing puffing; I began to walk toward the incapacitated beast, yet another unstable subject from the mutating bomb. The only thing I don’t understand is, where’s everybody? Surely, there’s more than a few monsters in this city, I must not be getting something or I’m missing a crucial piece of information. Alice started to walk over since it appeared that I killed the creature. I stood in front of the beast, I saw what was left of a human; a primal animal with no sense of self anymore. As the beast before it did, it evaporated into ashes like the forgotten gods, and all existence of them fades along with their body. However, its clothing is another story, reminisces of the creature exposed a skirt and a small purse, yet I still haven’t realized that a skirt indicts a female. I pick up the purse and searched it for info if it had any, all I found a picture of a woman and a man grinning like they’re intimate. I did notice the date that it was taken, February 10, 2102; there’s strong evidence that it’s 2102 in late winter since I noticed how thick my coat is. Alice has a sweater; the sky is gray, and there’s ice around the windows. I asked Alice if it’s cold or not.

“It’s freezing out here, when can we go inside?” It seems that my pelt is shielding me from the frigid air, so locating a clothing store and other places is in order. For now, best that I warm up Alice, I don’t know what animal she was spliced with; or if it’s sensitive to the cold. This feeling of worrying makes me uncomfortable, so I offered her my jacket since it gets in the way when I run. Although, there’s a better way to get both of us warm; if I take off my jacket and Alice gets on my back. Then, she wraps her arms around my neck; I would tie my jacket like a cape, and I loosen the belt around my waist to tuck in the bottom edge of the jacket. Finally, button up my jacket till its tight enough to hold up on its own. This allows us to move more efficiently; shields her from the cold, and enables me to run without the sleeves restraining my arms. I zoned out again, Alice slapped me to get my attention,

“Hey! Stop staring at me it’s embarrassing!” She looked away from me, crossing her arms like she was covering herself as much as she could. Alice was pouting and blushing, so it seems Alice has subconscious memories of the social norms and interactions. I need to watch her responses towards things, or she might get uneasy with me and runaway. In this world, a girl as weak as her would die easily without much chance of surviving. I proceeded with my plan and stripped off my jacket. Alice noticed me stripping and blushed,

“Uh… wha- what are you doing?” She covered her eyes with her hands but wedged her fingers open to peek at me. I replied,

“I’m going to help you get warm” I’m not sure how she computed that but it looked funny the Alice was muttering things while blushing. While she was having her little panic, I took off my jacket but I noticed how torn my shirt is from stretching, so I ripped it off to avoid hindrance later. Alice exclaimed,

“Kyaaa!” I looked over to see what Alice was doing; she was still blushing but was staring at my midsection. I thought there was something wrong with my stomach I brushed my hand against it to see if there were any cuts or something. Alice’s reaction were misleading, she constantly stare at me with hungry eyes with a smirk. I walked towards Alice; she has the most bizarre reactions.

[I’m an idiot, you all probably know why she doing that]

Alice was fidgeting with her fingers and was blushing a lot, but her words made no sense. I could only make out one phrase.

“-you’ll be my first” I have no idea what that means, I said,

“Get on my back”

“Eh…?” I had my back facing her, and I peered around to find a dumbfounded expression. Alice simply said,

“O-okay” She looked a little disappointed, it was curious why is that?

[Again, sorry for my ignorance]

Alice climbed onto my back and latched on, but each time she rubbed against fur, it sent a shock of electricity up my spine. The feeling made my heart beat more steadily, and Alice rubbed her face beside the rear of my neck and said

“It’s so soft and warm, it’s like a bed” She persisted with the abrasion of my fur; it felt so exceedingly good that I could stop waging my tail. I quickly fasten my jacket as I devised earlier, she stop when I finish wrapping my coat. Alice finally settled down and she sounded like she fell asleep. I veered around for any hint on where to find any medical supplies, but everywhere looks the same and the sense of danger is beginning to grow. I need to collect my thoughts and figure out what to do, and in the midst of the silence I heard a voice.

“Go left” It startle me, frantically looking for the source only to be in a small panic. Alice woke up from the shaking,

“Hmm…. What’s going on? You found it or something?” I threw my attention to Alice,

“Didn’t you hear a voice?” She looked at me with disbelief and confusion,

“No, just you moving around really fast” Curious, but now isn’t the time for bewilderment, I choose a path that seems more intact verse the vast amount of rubble everywhere.­ I fear lingering will attract more creatures. I progress slowly since I don’t know what I may encounter and I certainly don’t want to make loud sounds running around. It’s most likely we’ll live here for a short while in order to get our bearing on what happen and where we are, but survival is more important right now. I feel like a newborn, unable to understand the world; that only expresses level of danger we're in if we don't adapt quickly. 

(Chapter end, Chapter 2 in the works!)