"Hello Mr Ryan, this is General. I think you should book batch 369. Another buyer has booked 368 and we would be sending them out tomorrow," he said firmly.
It seems the new buyer asked about the price because the next response the general gave was '26 million.'
"No Ryan, I don't do business like that. It's 26 million or nothing." He moved away from the phone, signifying the end of the conversation.
"Rodu, check specimen 263458, we had issues with his walking posture last time." General walks away.
In a small market by the sea, there was a big warehouse without windows. Residents of the neighborhood could not go in, and neither could they see what was going on in the warehouse. It was like a huge box and nobody knew the content.
The warehouse was like another world housing specimens before they are sold to serve and the General was the leader. He was a short stout man with few stubbles on his chin. Each batch represented a modified colony and each modification was different, depending on what the buyer was looking for.
General had two loyal workers, Rodu and Paula, controlling operations in the warehouse. They reported to him every day on the progress of each modification.
Batch 368 was in the last stage of their modification. They were humans with violent characteristics.
"Latest stats on specimen 263458 Rodu, it has to be ready before shipment," General inquired.
"The leg is working fine, it's just wobbly. But specimen 263458 has modified endurance characteristics. This means that even with its wobbly leg, he has the highest pain threshold," Rodu replied.
"Hmm, that's solid. Because the buyer wants all his specimens. I'll just have to explain this to him and convince him. Alright, you can go. Get the new boxes ready and sterilized for the new batch. We have a buyer already."
Rodu went to do all that the General asked of him. They were going to meet the new buyer on the Sweety river bank where they packed the container filled with the specimen to his ship.
The next day, Rodu spearheaded the shipment of batch 368. There were 3 new boxes in the storage laboratory. Sterilized and lighted up, the box was 75.9 meters wide and 90 meters long. It was the box for batch 369.
Mr. Ryan had called the General and paid $13 million upfront.
"Paula, gather all the lab scientists, I need to brief you guys on the new specimen for our new buyer."
In two minutes, all the lab scientists were gathered in the main hall, quietly waiting for the General to speak.
"Rodu has not come back yet," he asked.
"No General," Paula replied.
"Alright, our new buyer needs a colony that can adapt to any lifestyle like the seagull," the General started. All scientists listened with rapt attention.
"This means that all our specimens must be able to adapt to any lifestyle, drink both salt and freshwater and eat live and dead prey and human-related foods, depending on the environment. According to our buyer, they would be used in harsh conditions and various environments. So, they need to stay alive. And I need you all to get to work. Pita and Karion, get a seagull and start doing your research. Take out all the things we need, we have limited time." All the scientists leave the hall. Pita and Karion get to work.
They get a seagull and take it to the lab for testing.
Three weeks later
Paula and her team of scientists had successfully injected the SG fluid into all specimens.
Mr Ryan had called for the General to speed up the process, the police were unto him. So for the first time, the General went to meet the scientists in their labs.
"Latest stats on batch 369," he inquired.
"Oh General, you could have simply sent for any of us and we would come to you, Rodu attempted.
"Rodu, if I came to your lab, don't you think it's an emergency?"
"I'm sorry General," he replied.
"Latest stats on batch 369," he inquired again.
"We have successfully injected the SG fluid into all the specimens. Specimen 272400 down to Specimen 272509 have come together to form a large clique. They fought for each other against other specimens in each colony. Meaning that they are already showing the mobbing characteristics of the seagull. But 266850 - 266970 has shown adaptive characteristics,"Paula explained as General moved closer to examine the specimens.
"We recently put specimens 266800 - 266970 in desert-like conditions and most of them survived. We lost fifty," she concluded.
"Good work Paula, but I need you to speed up the process and go for the food adaptation. The buyer just called and said he needs his specimen sooner."
"I don't think we can achieve that General. These specimens are not ready to go," Paula sounded unsure.
"Paula, Get them ready for me." Paula and Rodu looked at themselves as the General left.
There was no way the specimens would be ready in two weeks. But they had to at least come up with something to please the General.
Two weeks later, the specimens were not fully developed and the scientists were having a hard time modifying their food adaptabilities.
General had called Rodu to get the specimens ready for shipment when Mr. Ryan came to the warehouse. The police were onto him and he wanted to take his colony and move to another country. He was waiting at the distribution hall and General came to talk to him.
"Mr. Ryan, you are alive only because you paid good money. None of my clients come here. Nobody comes here." The General was angry.
"I'm sorry okay, the police are onto me already, I need to leave asap," Mr. Ryan seemed frantic.
As Rodu and the guards loaded the specimens on the containers, they heard loud gunshots, and the police were coming in from the roof.
The guards took their weapons and tried to hold off the police. Ryan and his guards ran to look for a place to hide.
"Rodu, take your scientists and keep loading the specimens. We would take care of the rest." The General did not get an affirmation. "Rodu, I need an affirmation." No answer. The General looked back and noticed that Rodu and his group of scientists had been eaten by the specimen. They failed in the food adaptation experiment and the specimen started eating human flesh instead of dead animals. They were triggered by the loud noise.
The General could not tell the guards at the front to face the specimen because more policemen were coming. The specimens had succeeded in eating half of General's team when they ran out of armor, even the guards shooting at the police ran out of armor as more police cars arrived on the scene. The police busted through the roof and arrested the security guards at the gate. They went ahead to look for Mr. Ryan and his goons. They found them hiding behind one of the containers and arrested them. The specimens were still ravaging and seeking human flesh.
Seeing the mess he had created and envisioning what may become of him, the General ran to his secret place. He had built a small tunnel that was only accessible from a secret room in his office.
He jumped into the tunnel, never to be seen again. When the police saw that they could not control the specimens, they barricaded them and went to look for help.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend.