(Set in the SH22 universe.)
His first horrified thought on waking was that he had ended up in the one place he had never believed existed: the distorted visage leering down at him seemed straight out of Dante's Inferno...
It amused him that this Dr. Fenwick, his self-styled master – a delusion he was content to allow the man to maintain, for now – had never practiced his skills upon himself; the rogue geneticist clearly found a crude pleasure in the revolted expressions of his contemporaries. He considered himself fortunate that the man had not seen fit to subject his 'creation' to the same indignity.
His amusement at Fenwick's ego only increased on discovering the reason for his resurrection. The very notion of achieving global domination for this pitiable specimen's benefit was laughable. The goal itself certainly had merit... although, given this century's technology, achieving said objective seemed almost absurdly straightforward. The memories he retained of his former incarnation's demise were mercifully vague, but the question nevertheless remained: having a universe teeming with life at his very fingertips, why be content to rule a single planet?
For the moment, however, he must continue this tiresome charade – his knowledge of past and present was still dangerously deficient. Pawn and king would trade places soon enough, provided he was careful not to prematurely challenge the pathetic fool's comfortably flawed beliefs...