The three walked into the station, passing a man sweeping the floor. This man was about 23. He had black hair and large muscles, as well as hazel eyes, and short chin hair. The man looked longingly at the three men. His partner nudged him, quickly looked up, and whispered. He was an obese African American with an afro.
Partner: "Jason! Whatta ya' tryin' ta do, gettchaself thrown out! Face it, you n' me'll nevah be s' important s' dey aw!" Nah' keep ya' eyes onya work!"
Jason: "I know, I know Rodney. I just…"
Jason kept sweeping for a few seconds, and followed the three as they turned the corner. He followed silently, unnoticed by Rodney. The three men finally stopped in the middle of the hallway facing the airlock to a set of clean rooms. A young scientist with glasses walked eagerly through the clean room airlock and into the corridor facing the men. The scientist spoke.
Scientist: "You made it! I'm Dr. Carpenter, head of genetic research here at the Perseverance. You must be-"
Captain: "Captain Griswold. Whatever you have make it quick because we have just been making great breakthroughs on Europa"
Dr. Carpenter: "Yes, yes the shellfish fossils. However, what I have is much more interesting. Heh, heh, heh! It's been very exciting."
Consultant: "Listen Doc, the exploration, and research that we have done on the Leviathan is more than you can dream of accomplishing in your career! Those shellfish, as you so arrogantly put it, are the first life forms that have been found outside Earth! Whatever you have cannot have merited the complete halt of our mission, PUTTING US BEHIND BY SEVERAL WEEKS!"
Security Head: "With all due respect Captain Griswold, I think we should just see what the man's got if time is of the essence."
Captain Griswold: "Yes, yes. Let's see your important find."
Dr. Carpenter, who had been shocked by the consultant's rave, regained his self-awareness, as if emerging from a long blinking contest.
Dr. Carpenter: "Uh, sure yes. Well, follow me."
As the three enter a clean room airlock, and continue through a research hallway, Jason moves forward. A motion sensor beeps, and a female voice says: "Please state name and rank for voice identification." Jason pulls out a sound recorder, and plays it at the microphone. A voice says: "Mr. Wang Yokamoto, lab assistant." The clean room airlock hisses open, and large vacuums suck all the small particles from Jason's person. He follows the three, unnoticed by preoccupied scientists, into a small room with a platform covered by a bubble of glass. Dr. Carpenter turns around to talk to the three.
Dr. Carpenter: "Now this is the part we've all been waiting for! I present to you, the "Arm of God" as we call it!"
He motions with his hand to show the thing on the platform. It was a severed, very human looking arm. The three look in disgust and outrage.
Captain Griswold: "Am I correct in saying that you brought us here because you found a human arm?"
Dr. Carpenter: "Well actually, it's not-"
Consultant: "You brought us way the #$ out here, discontinuing a $10,000,000,000 research project, for something that is to be investigated, not by the research crew of the Leviathan, but by the authorities!"
Dr. Carpenter: "It IS supposed to be investigated by you! Because this, is not human!"
Captain Griswold: "It certainly LOOKS human!"
Dr. Carpenter: "But it's not, not by 1 anyway. We found it while making a hull check for the station; it was lodged in one of our docking arms. We would have sent it to the proper authorities, but we decided to do some pre-investigation forensics. Moreover, what we found was amazing. Its DNA is different from ours by one percent, but just as with other primates, it makes all the difference. It was human, to an extent. The other percent was run through our genetic functions computer, and it came up with redundant meanings. Things like, hair color and length changing from whatever color to golden blond, and oddly enough, the creature is born with a long tail, that somehow ties in with an effect of moonlight. But the astounding thing is this! The creature is extremely durable, and a single cell from its body has enough raw energy in it to fuel the city of New York for over a week!"
He stopped talking. The entire room was in silence, at the absolute shock of this announcement. Jason was rooted to the spot where he was crouching.
Captain Griswold: "Go on."
Dr. Carpenter: "Well, I've brought you here for the examination of the creature itself. You see the platform you see behind you is our own invention, the rejuvenator. This can recreate a dead living organism, as long as there is a single nerve cell among the remains, the creature will live-"
Consultant: "I believe we are all familiar with cloning Dr."
Dr. Carpenter: "It is like cloning, but even better! You see, cloning takes an organism and makes a copy of it, but it has to grow and adapt on its own, not having the memories the original had. However, you see a nerve cell, keeps a memory of every thought, command action, injury. Therefore, the rejuvenator takes these memories and rebuilds the body to exactly the way it was before it died, having the same memories, the same intelligence, and the same secrets! In addition, we have increased the amount of energy each cell carries, allowing even more astounding power! And now, you will see this creature for the first time!"