Before Perfection
by The Great Red Dragon


Chapter 10
"The trees that whisper in the evening,
Carried away, by a moonlight's shadow,
Sing a song of sorrow and grieving,
Carried away, by a moonlight's shadow

Four AM in the morning,
Carried away, by a moonlight's shadow,
I watched your vision forming,
Carried away, by a moonlight's shadow
"

-mixed text of Moonlight Shadow,
Mike Oldfield
Ohhh...I can honestly say that I've never felt such pain. I couldn't move, I was barely conscious, and I wasn't able to tell what was going on around me: blackout.

Two figures coming towards me. One of them was large, the other much smaller. The large one held a plasma gun.
Oh God, it was Jumba!
I tried to run, to get away, but my limbs just wouldn't move. It was like I had been paralyzed! But.....before they could reach me, the dream vanished, and I was left in infinite darkness.

The next time I regained consciousness, I was in a very considerable amount of pain. My back felt like my spine had been torn out. My eyes hurt as if they had been punctured with needles. All four of my arms...huh?
I then noticed that only two of my arms were visible...I couldn't feel the other two.
I'm guessing that they had been retracted upon reflex when that car hit me, as well as the spines on my back and my antennae. This was all too strange and (dare I say it?) frightening for me.
I was in the hands of humans, Homo-sapiens, with no means to defend myself, and I couldn't move my body at all.
What if they were going to research on me? What if I became the center of surgical-study? Would they cut me open to see how my body functions? What were they going to do to me?

When I finally was able to gather enough strength to open my eyes, I found that I was lying in some kind of cage. It wasn't too big, not much room to move around. I was atop a squashy white cushion. I couldn't see anything beyond that.
Hours passed. It was dark, but I could see almost perfectly with my enhanced vision. That didn't help me much, though. I wasn't strong enough to turn myself over, so I had to rely on my other senses. There were no unusual sounds...just silence. But the smell of anaesthetic was overwhelming. It smelled like a surgeon's glove in this room.

But I also smelled animals. Dog and cat hairs were all over the place. There was a leftover Popsicle melting away in a nearby garbage-can, which was giving off a sweet stench of its own. Here and there were the common aromas of everyday Earth-life, mixed with that of complex chemicals. Nobody else could know what I knew about this place, simply because they weren't Experiment 541.
For a moment, I felt strong again.
But that feeling passed quickly. Even 541 had his limitations, and I had just reached them. Much as I tried, I was unable to keep myself awake. My eyelids felt like twin anvils, and my brain was going drowsy.

"No...no...", I muttered to myself in my native language.
"Must...stay...awake..."

But that wasn't to be. As short as it may seem, the next second I was sound asleep on my comfy, white cushion.
I awoke the next morning as small, delicate beams of sun danced upon my face. I opened my eyes and groaned quietly. I was still where I had been last night (no duh), but I wasn't alone. I knew at once that there was somebody else in the room with me. I could hear this person moving around and about the place. A few footsteps here, a cough there, the tinkle of breaking glass over there...
Then he finally came over to my cage. I was turned the other way, so I didn't see him. Not that I really wanted to, anyway. I was observed for a few minutes by shifty eyes. The person sighed heavily and moved away. Just then, a door (probably the entrance to the room) opened. I recognized who it was at once.

"Oh hello, Riley. Come in."

The Shark. It was The Shark. What was he doing here?

"How is he, doctor?", I heard him ask; there was worry in his voice.

I strained to hear…

"Perhaps you'd better sit down", the 'doctor' said.

I heard the sliding of a chair being pulled up, but I didn't hear anybody sitting down. There was a moment of silence.

"He's alright, Riley", the doctor said reassuringly.
"I just need a while to explain the circumstances to you."

"...Oh", Riley said quietly, and finally sat down.

"So, where shall I begin?", I heard the doctor say to himself.
"Oh yes, well...you say it was last night that he was hit by a car?"

"That's right, doctor."

"And the driver fled the scene, correct?"

"No doctor; I was the one who hit him."

I sensed some grief on his part.

"Yes, yes, that's right. Oh don't look like that, Riley. Cheer up; it's a miracle that he's alive: a blessing of God!"

I noted to myself that this doctor wasn't too clean behind the ears.

"Please, go on", Riley urged.

"Ah, yes. Well, you hit him dead-on at 25 mph, which is enough to kill any person. Not only that, but most of the impact was directly to his head...but he didn't break a single bone!"

"WHAT? He didn't-?"

"No! And that is what baffles me! It is completely impossible, but our little friend here has shone us otherwise!"

Another moment of silence came.

"...So what's keeping him in that cage and under medical care?", Riley asked, past his bewilderment.

"I took an x-ray", the doctor explained.
"And it appears that there might be some damage to his brain: a concussion perhaps, but nothing life-threatening. He didn't even need to have stitches! Come, take a look!"

They came closer to my cage. I shut my eyes tight and stopped moving altogether.

"That's our little wonder!", the doctor said brightly.
"Take a look!"

The elderly man stepped aside and allowed The Shark to peer in at me. I was something he had never encountered before: something new, something different, and something radical.

"So, what do you think, Riley?", the doctor asked.
"Isn't he grand?"

"...Uh, doc?", I heard Riley ask.
"What is he?"

"Well, it's quite obvious that he's a, um, a, a...", the doctor began to stammer, and I chuckled to myself.

"That's right", I thought.
"You don't what who I am."

"...Well, I would think that he's some kind of species of dog...", the doctor guessed.
"Yes, yes, that's it! He's obviously some sort of cross-breed! A basset and a...koala?"

(Get yourself a pair of glasses, doc)

When Riley looked at me, it was different than the doctor. I wasn't seen as any kind of specimen, or an attraction in the zoo. I was an equal. That's saying something, considering that he had nearly decapitated me the night before.

"Uh, doctor?", I heard Riley ask.

"Yes, Riley?"

"Can...can I come back and see him again tomorrow?"

Surprise on my part!

"Why of course you can! I can always use an extra set of hands here at the pet shelter!"

The Shark was coming back? Because of me?
What in the world is happening here?!

"Would you like to work full-time?", the doctor continued to ask.

Riley turned around to face him.

"Full-time, doctor?", he asked breathlessly.

"Well, yes", the doc said.
"I heard your unemployed now...and I know you need to support your family..."

He paused.

"So I was just thinking-"

"Of course I will!, Riley exclaimed happily.

The doctor smiled.

"Good, good! That's what I wanted to hear! Let me get your coat!"

They walked back to the end of the room and I heard the rustle of fabric.

"-Nasty sport it is, 'wrestling'!", I heard the doctor say.
"A bunch of hoodlums dressing up and throwing each other around like a group of wild chimpanzees! You're better off without that, Riley."

"Yes doctor, you're right", The Shark said obediently.

The door was opened.

"Come now, we could go get some brunch!"

"Just a sec."

While the old man left the room, Riley crossed back over the room to my cage.

"You're gonna be alright", he whispered to me.
"I'm gonna help you get better."

...

"I'll see you again tomorrow, buddy."

I thought that was it; that he was going to leave there. But before he did, he did the unthinkable, something nobody had ever done before: he reached through the bars of my cage, and, carefully, with one finger, stroked my back gently before leaving.
...Somehow, I didn't want him to go. I didn't want The Shark to leave me...but it felt good to know that he would be back tomorrow.