Therefore I am

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any transformed shadow warrior chelonians. I do own the song that Rama sings in this chapter, as I've never heard it anywhere before or after writing of it.

Chapter Thirteen: The Mystery Of A-23

Catherine:

When A-23 had first arrived, I had taken the recorded disks home to check on what her nocturnal activities were like, what I saw was very little, she would sleep, and spend a bit of time sitting in a cross legged fashion that some people might use for meditation. She would also perform very slow moving exercises, similar to tai chi. All of us had discussed these things as a group and felt that A-23 was only mimicking these moves, that it really meant nothing. Of course David felt that the night activities showed little, he felt no need on me wasting my time going over them.

Tonight I took home the recorded disk of the hibernation test and the hours following it, up to and including my talk with her that morning. I had all ready gone over the hibernation test, and had just finished reviewing the disk where A-23 had out right attacked Jerry. I had been startled with how fast she moved, and then shuddered a little as I recalled she had also made those quick moves to retrieve a drink and muffins while we talked. The supple way she dodged and moved, the way she almost seemed to know how to move and when. Something told me this was not just mimicry.

Did A-23 actually have some understanding, of a form of martial arts, was it even possible for her to know it or use such a thing?

I had rewound, slowed down and watched the attack scene by scene, feeling an uncertain amount of fear close in around me, it was like watching an animal turn vicious killer in front of you. A-23 words about having killed before, now seemed to carry far more weight then I would have given them justice to before.

I had paper and pen where I scribbled down a few things, but now it was time to review the talk I had with A-23 and I knew I would have plenty to write from that. It was late at night and I had a few dregs of cold coffee sitting in a coffee cup on the side table next to my reclining chair, I gently got up and walked over to the television and DVD player, putting in the new disk and walked back over to my chair.

My place was small, but the furnishings nice, I spent very little time here, so it was sparingly decorated, but what was here was fine stuff, prints of animals from various wildlife artists, some of them very well known. A book case filled with scientific books about animal studies, with titles like Do elephants weep, The Intelligence of Dogs, Gorillas in the Mist, and some school books about behaviour and other heavier style reading.

At first it was quite clear that A-23 was angry and frustrated, it showed in her posture, movement and in her very words themselves, it especially came through in her cursing, and I had always found that humans were the only ones who cursed in such a way. Of course A-23 mimicked humans to other degrees, so her cursing should not be a total surprise.

It was only when we began to discuss if she was as intelligent as humans that I knew was where things had really began. I was still confounded by the audacity she had to even compare herself to us humans, as if she would know. True, I didn't think of her as the average dumb animal, but to compare herself and to consider herself equal in intelligence to many humans, was presumptuous at best.

Still she wanted to know what the difference was between experimenting on a normal animal as opposed to human. She had wisely pointed out that some people never go beyond a five year old level, but animals who had the same amount of intellect as a young child, wasn't treated with the same respect.

Most humans had the ability to learn, and grow. A-23 had clearly made a distinction between the two.

As far as I knew, no animal, save for one, could think or reason in that fashion. Humans. So what differentiates humans from an intelligent animal? A-23 had demanded to know, it was around that point she had suddenly moved for the food. I rewound and did frame by frame but even that seemed to show little more then a blurry form.

I paused the recording scowling, how was it possible for A-23 to move faster then the recording?

I shook my head, realizing suddenly there was more to A-23 then any of us could guess at. I had started to give her what I thought was a fairly reasonable answer, explaining about scientist and the risks of them anthropomorphizing the animal subjects they worked with.

She had given me the word I was trying to inform her of simply, proving she had knowledge of that word from somewhere, she had then gone off on a tangent about people who felt they were the only ones who had a right to feelings or emotions. She slyly pointed out I, and the other scientists were making excuses for our actions, in the same way humans often blamed someone else when things went wrong.

Clearly, she was saying that it was easier for us to accept these excuses then take responsibility and admit that A-23 and possibly many other test animals shouldn't be used in the first place. True, she didn't come out and say it, but it was there. It was inferred to.

I suddenly had the feeling she was mocking me to some extent.

Then she remarked about trees sending distress signals, and carrots screaming when you bit them or threw them in the pot. It was true that plants were living organisms too, they grew, and yes some trees could and would, send out distress signals to stop pests. Or at least there had been tests on such things, now with pesticides and stronger pest who knew if the trees distress signals could actually stop the pests.

Where had A-23 learned these things? She knew a great deal. There was times she seemed so young and vulnerable, and other times when she seemed so wise, and knowing. Turtles were long lived animals, perhaps A-23 was a lot older then she looked.

She debated, argued using valid facts that were hard to dispute. Proving, not only knowledge of the subject at hand, but showing what a reasoning, intellectual creature she was.

I saw a confused baffled look on my face on the screen. I hadn't recalled making it, and yet she had seen it clearly interpreted it for what it was, and then quickly she gave me a run down of our conversation as if she had been keeping minutes of the talk. While we had been sidetracked from the original conversation, she knew what had been covered, and now returned to the point in question.

I had felt lost thinking that she had been erratically jumping from one conversation to another, not really focusing on any one thing, and yet now, as I looked over everything, I could see the link, that line which she had followed.

' There is no possible way she is a dumb animal.' I mused in shock, 'I'm willing to think that she is at least, one of the smartest animals I've ever met...or else.' I paused considered, ' It is possible she has a human like intellect.'We all knew there was human in her but to what extent was the real question, for it was clear that she wasn't fully human.

Her concern about the hibernation test endangering her life also had merit. But the thing was animals lived in the here and now, they didn't think of the future, or the fact that they might die in some battle, or due to insufficient food, or merely as part of the food chain that all animals consisted of. A-23 hadn't just understood the implications of the hibernation test, she had clearly pointed out and acted on the fact, that we were now a threat to her.

She had even clearly pointed out that she was aware David, didn't want her dead, but now she questioned that, as she questioned so much else. Animals could be curious about things, the more intelligent ones like apes would actually, test things out and do their best to break free from cages, often achieving it. The natural curiosity provided learning possibilities.

But many of A-23's questions were not merely based on curiosity, that much was clear even to me as I reviewed the disk.

I saw her now wiping away tears with her hand, and asking me to call her by her name Ramiela, protesting that I hadn't given her the name, she had for all intents and purposes come with it. "It is who I am, like you are Catherine."

Ramiela was a strange name, it wasn't common, had she picked this name for herself, or had it been given to her by some caretaker who, also provided her with a fairly good education? Had she possibly grown up around people who treated her like she was a human.

It could very well explain her very human tendencies, as well as, how she had gained the knowledge of language, reading, writing, science and math. True, she was aware she was a mutant turtle, but where had she learned this? Someone, somewhere had to have shown or taught her these things at some point in her life. I doubt a lot of her knowledge came to her just from observing humans.

I mentally reviewed all I had seen tonight on the disks, and was almost coming to the conclusion that yes, A-23 was right in her assumption that she was human, which meant that she was a sentient being and we had no right to be doing what we thought we had done with her, nor any right to keep her.

"David is going have to learn about this," I thought to myself.

XXX

I didn't sleep very well, that night, my mind was in constant turmoil over A-23 - AKA Ramiela- when I arrived at the lab in the morning with a large cup of coffee in hand my eyes still feeling heavy with grit, I saw A-23 sitting on the floor in her cage. She was singing softly though none of my other co-workers seemed to be paying her any heed.

She was singing one song, I'd heard her sing at least once before, one about being free, and how she'd fight with all her might. David nodded my way and gestured to her.

" She seems to be in a better mood today, we might actually be able to get some work done." he grumbled, then as an afterthought " Good work with her Catherine."

She had all ready finished her one song and was now singing a softer, melancholy song, but I didn't recognize the tune or the words.

"Butterflies are free,

That's how I want to be.

Flying carefree on a breeze.

But I have to be me.

Birds flying high,

Far up in the sky

can't be caged, nor can I

I'm wild and free.

You can't tame a wild heart

I'm a shadow in the dark

Not gonna be held by lock and chains

Gonna break free it ain't a game.
Come play hide and seek

I won't be found at your feet.

Night shadows fade away,

with the light of the day.

And I'll be gone,

when you look away."

I went over to the cage and sipped my coffee out of the styrofoam cup, "Where did you learn that?" I wondered as the last note faded.

" I made it up." She said casually.

" You've been trained in martial arts, haven't you?" I asked next.

She grinned wide, " Took you long enough to figure that out," she quipped rolling her eyes, " and I thought I was a turtle."

A sense of humor, something that was supposed to be a human trait. "What type of martial arts do you know?" I prodded.

" You're the scientist, why don't you tell me." A-23 replied, "I've given you clues you know."

I had no idea if she had or hadn't offered some sort of hints on what she knew. I simply shook my head, " So how long have you been doing martial arts?"

"Bout ten years now, and I'm still learning" A-23 announced she glowered at something, or someone behind me and I turned to see David closely scrutinizing me. I shrugged it off, " Who taught you how to do martial arts?"

"My Sensei, and my Master. Two different people. Both part of my clan." She said in a riddle like way.

"Clan?" I echoed.

"It isn't a big clan but we are honourable and powerful." She assured me with a quick nod of her head.

I smiled and turned on my heels going over to talk to David about what I had learned from the DVD disks last night, the two of us headed into his office where I showed him the disks and areas in question and then I gave him my theories. He sat behind his desk with the air of one who was paying close attention, his hands steepled under his chin giving him a thoughtful air.

David arched an eyebrow, " Catherine, you know as well as I do, that we can't go jumping to conclusions, there may be many valid reasons why A-23 acted, responded in certain ways. We need to have proof, not just theories, and we don't have enough proof to back up your statement at the moment."

"What happens when we do have enough proof, enough to prove things to your satisfaction as well as to others? What if she is far more human then animal, in spite of her looks?" I challenged.

"Catherine, let's get one thing straight. I am not going lose the chance to study her" David declared, his tone firm and full of conviction, "She isn't human, and there is no way she could ever be classified as such, not with the amount of reptilian DNA in her. I will find a way to continue to study her. A-23 is far too valuable to lose."

" But if she is sentient David." I began.

David gave me a cold look, " I hope you aren't letting yourself become too attached to her. I'd hate to take you off the program due to you becoming too emotionally attached to allow for unbiased testing of A-23.

I took a deep breath and halted what I was going say, a part of me denied allowing myself to get attached to A-23, and another part still insisted that there was more to A-23 then we were willing to accept, and by denying that we were going against what science was to stand for.

I couldn't deny that I felt something for A-23, maybe David was right and I best cut ties with her now before it was too late.

TBC