Human at Heart

To the League of Higher Living,

I understand that your establishment is not as appreciated or well-funded as your sister establishments, the Institute of Higher Living and the School of Higher Living. In view of your excellent work with the limited funds and test subjects which you have, I am willing to aid your research in any way I can. As a token of my great esteem for your work I am donating a sum of 1000 dollars to the League. I hope it will do for now. Also, since your organization has few such things available to experiment on, I am donating an item for your use. Her name is Kayta.

Sincerely,

A Friend

People take a lot of things for granted. They don't notice all the common, wonderful things they have been gifted with. Like sunshine. Old Sol's warming rays never entered the cold rooms. Or moonlight either; it never breached the thick walls to caress the calm faces of the sleeping inhabitants of the claustrophobic cubes: the only time the pale, small faces were ever calm.

One of these faces in particular was not calm. Gold-green eyes cut like daggers as the girl brooded over the short-sightedness of those who took things for granted. How could they ignore the brilliant joy of sun on their faces? Of course, she knew she would prefer the soft moonlight of the night. It was her instinct, it was in her blood. Margays were nocturnal animals and their DNA was what had gifted her with two rounded, furry ears nestled in her mouse-brown hair as well as a tail, soft padded feet, and assorted spotted fur patches.

Other than that she looked human, but she knew that her DNA was what decided what she was. A freak. Her DNA told the sorry story: 4 margay, 96 homo sapien. Human was the majority, but the beast, the wild cat, was still there, in her heart. "And 100 strange," she muttered to herself.

A voice spoke up from the cramped cubicle beside her. "Feeling sorry for yourself again, Kate?" Lilika asked. Lilika was a 2 ewe experiment; she grew a sheep's white ringlets which had to be sheared periodically and while her knuckles and feet looked normal, they were as hard as a sheep's hoof. Lilika was Kayta's one solid friend, they'd been caged side by side for as long as either of them could remember and their friendship had remained strong no matter what happened to each of them. Even though they were in separate cubicles, they still thought of one another as their shoulder to cry on.

"I have a right to, don't I?" Kayta replied, her fingers curling around the thin metal. "Lika, we're in cages with DNA grafted onto us by psychotic scientists who have nothing better to do than torment and examine us."

This was a common discussion between them; sometimes they began it only because of the familiarity and safeness of it. The arguments were always similar; each girl had developed strong opinions. Lilika was always optimistic, hoping with all her part-human heart and never faltering. She believed in ideals like nobility and decency and other things Kayta had never seen or believed in. Kayta herself was realistic and skeptical, trying not to beat on Lilika's shiny ideals, but doing it anyways.

Lilika continued the argument, repeating familiar concepts. "Well, we have food, don't we? Shelter, relative safety, that's all a body really needs to survive, we just have a few extra issues to deal with."

"Like the fact that we are at the complete mercy of a group of crazed and obsessive scientists?" Kayta replied, leaning back to survey the ceiling through her cage door. There were 76 tiles on that ceiling. She'd counted them enough times in the hours when they were left in their cages. "And I don't know if that slop actually counts as food."

"Not completely at the mercy of them, Kate," Lilika said.

Kayta sighed. "Lika, do you know how likely it is that they are gonna show up and free us? It's a long shot. I'm sorry, but I'm not betting on it. And, come on, it could all just be some League-started lie." They were an anti-League organization who periodically raided the League of Higher Living building and freed experiments. Lilika always spoke of their raids with a glowing admiration. She loved the whispered tales of self-sacrificing heroes who broke in and freed poor suffering experiments. Kayta tried her best to be realistic and not get her hopes up, but sometimes it was hard not to.

Kayta heard Lilika's sigh. "I know, Kate, but still… I can't help hoping." And at that moment, Kayta, eyes downcast, agreed completely, a feeling she soon banished. Wrapping thin arms around her knees, the girl continued fixing the world outside her cage with a margay's green-gold glare.