improbity
[im-proh-bi-tee]
- lack of honesty or moral scruples.
- perseverance.
**********************************
“What in
the world are you doing?” Dr. Tremlin cried.
She stared wide eyed at the scene before her.
Her colleague,
Dr. Miller, was holding a clipboard, standing over a table. His gloves and coat were stained red, but he
did not seem to care. On a lab table in
front of him was a cage, and in the cage was a cat that was bleeding out of every
orifice. It lay, shivering in its
cage. Its ears twitched weakly at the
sound of her voice, but it otherwise did not move.
“What
does it look like?” Dr. Miller replied as he quickly wrote something on his
clipboard. “I’m conducting an
experiment.”
“An
experiment? It looks more like you’re
torturing that cat.”
“Oh no,
of course not. I would never do that. Torture is baseless cruelty. This is for the betterment of science.”
Dr.
Tremlin worked her jaw in horror. She had
always known the man had a few issues, and he was almost religiously devoted to
the progression of science, but she never would have thought he would go so
far.
“What
kind of advancement forces you to do…that to a cat?”
“The testing
of various neurological stimuli and the resulting physical effects.”
“What?”
“I stimulate
the animal’s brain and see what physical effects take place.”
“And that
just happens to result in the cat bleeding to death slowly and painfully?”
“In this
case yes.”
“That…that’s
horrible. You can’t do this.”
“Why not? We use mice all the time.”
“We don’t
torture them. We don’t do things to them
that make them bleed out of their eyes.”
“Yes,
well, some sacrifices must be made.”
Dr.
Tremlin was having difficulty standing still.
Her heart was racing and her fists were clenched so tight her nails
threatened to break the skin.
“Not
like this. This isn’t science
anymore. This is just cruelty.”
“You
think so? Why? The only difference between this and a mouse
is that a cat is typically treated as a pet.
They are perfect for this experiment.
Very common and easily obtained, and with enough mental complexity to
produce measurable effects. Mice simply
don’t have the mental complexity to perform this experiment, and so, a cat must
be used.”
“No. No, you can’t do this. It’s inhumane.”
“Would you
say that if it was a mouse?”
“Yes! Yes I would.”
“I
see. So you have a problem conducting
this experiment on animals then? Very well,
for the sake of our continued association, I shall advance my time table. I was not planning on starting human trials
yet, but we are the best materials to use for this.”
Dr.
Tremlin felt all the heat from her body drain away. She was frozen in place, unable to move as
Dr. Miller made his way through the lab towards the large supply closet. He opened the door, and an old, filthy man
dressed in tattered clothes spilled out.
“Please. Please let me go.” The man said. His voice was thin and hollow, like his
throat had been scraped thin.
“Don’t
worry, sir, this is for science.”
“No!”
Dr. Tremlin said, finally finding her voice.
“You can’t! I won’t let you go
any further.”
She pulled
out her cell phone and immediately called the police while making her way
towards the emergency alert button built into the lab’s wall. Before she got far though, she felt a sharp
prick on the back of her neck. Her
vision swam and her legs seemed to loose all strength.
“I am
sorry, doctor.” Mr. Miller said. She
heard his voice and footsteps. She idly
wondered how he had drugged her from across the room. Then her thoughts drifted to other, more
important questions. “I do enjoy working
with you. You are a very capable,
intelligent woman. It pains me to do
this, but I cannot let you stop my experiments.
But, if it is any conciliation, everything that happens to you is all
for the benefit of science.”
*********************************
How do you know that a person is really evil? They do bad stuff to kittens, puppies, and babies, that's how. I suppose murdering a large number of people might also be a bit of a tip off, but the hurting of cute things is the real clincher.
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