Chapter 2: Experiment 625
Planet Turo, 2205 hours:
The Grand Councilwoman and Gantu peered at the slowly awakening experiment in the glass capsule. All around them, Council members were whispering to each other.
"So it is alive after all!"
"It can talk!"
"Then that mad scientist is guilty then!"
"Look at that thing!"
"It looks… harmless."
Ignoring them all, Jumba's experiment stared back at Gantu through the glass. He tilted his head at an angle to look closer at the whale like alien. "Hey, what are you staring at, big guy? You have a problem with me, huh?" he asked, jabbing his finger at his furry chest.
Gantu couldn't believe his eyes. The experiment had just been… sleeping! He had almost got into unbelievable trouble with the Grand Councilwoman all because Jumba's experiment decided to take a snooze!
"Why you little… I do have a problem with you!" Gantu snarled, "How dare you sleep on me!"
"Ohhhhh, not happy with my lifestyle choices?" the experiment shot back at Gantu. "Hey miss!" he called for the Grand Councilwoman. Once she focused her attention on the experiment in Gantu's palm, the experiment pointed his finger to Gantu, "Looks like your assistant here is an old grouch!"
Gantu was taken aback by his words. This thing had guts. It had insulted him, him, in front of the entire Council. He could already hear snickering from some of the Council members seated across the room. Glancing at the Grand Councilwoman, Gantu was mortified to see her resisting a chuckle as well.
He growled. He was not going to just take that lying down. He was going to show this thing who was in charge.
"You trog!" he bellowed with such a loud voice that some of the Council ambassadors seated in close proximity were forced to cover their ears. Even the smug golden experiment flinched. Gantu gave a savage grin at seeing the glimmer of fear that suddenly appeared in its eyes. His hands tightened his grip on the glass capsule, almost like he wanted to crush it in his palm.
"H-hey, easy there!" the experiment stuttered, his earlier bravado gone. "I was just kidding! Let up, big guy!"
"Shut up, you! I am Captain Gantu, chief of the entire Galactic Armada! Do you wish to be eradicated, you… you monstrosity?!"
"Monstrosity?"
Jumba suddenly objected from his stand across the hall, causing Gantu to glare at him instead of the experiment in the capsule.
"What do you want?" Gantu shouted. He was already annoyed with having to sit through Jumba's long speech and Jumba's own experiment humiliating him was making him lose all of his patience.
Jumba shook his head, crying out in anger, "This is not a monstrosity! This is result of my evil genius mind!"
Many of the Council members started to perk up in curiosity. Now this was interesting. Did the defendant flat out admit that he was evil? Sure, the Grand Councilwoman had already shown that Jumba was lying and did make an illegal genetic experiment, but to brag about it in front of a court was a far different story.
"Hahahaha! This is my precious Experiment Six-two-five! His primary function…" Jumba's voice rose to a crescendo. "Sandwich maker!"
There was a stunned silence after Jumba's declaration. It was so quiet that the soft droning of the machinery in the Council Hall could be heard. After about ten seconds, the Grand Councilwoman blurted out the thought that was on everybody's mind.
"Excuse me, what?"
Jumba looked incredulous at the Galactic Council's reaction of confusion. "You heard me. Experiment six-two-five, personally designed by Jumba to make most delicious sandwiches in whole wide galaxy!" he shouted triumphantly, thrusting his arms upwards.
Gantu narrowed his eyes, glowering at the pudgy golden experiment in the capsule. "You're joking."
"Oh no, I am telling truth," Jumba replied, "Perhaps you would like six-two-five here to give you a demonstration?" he asked, offering a hand in assistance to the large whale alien.
"No!" Gantu bellowed. "If I wanted a sandwich I would go to Galactic Fries!"
As if on cue, several of the seated Council members started to fidget.
"Stupid Gantu, now I'm hungry…" a Council member moaned.
"Yeah, now all four of my stomachs are rumbling," another complained.
"It's already past closing hours for food outlets in my home planet…"
"Do you have some protein shake to inject into my mouth?"
Gantu roared out. "You fools!" He gestured wildly to the Council ambassadors, "I was being sarcastic! I didn't actually want to eat fast food!"
"Well, you made us hungry."
"And take that back, Galactic Fries make the best burgers!"
There were stares from across the entire hall at the Council member who had just spoken.
"Did you just really say Galactic Fries?"
"You're wrong! Neutron Burgs make the best burgers!"
"You've no taste!"
"What about our local planet's fast food chain?! They deserve credit too even if they are limited to a single planet!"
"You're all incorrect. I deduce that there is a high probability of Sunshine Cafe being the best."
"No one asked you!"
"Hey, I still think Galactic Fries is great!"
Sighing as the entire Council Hall erupted into a furious debate over which was the universe's the best intergalactic fast food chain, the Grand Councilwoman chose to ignore the dumb debate and lingered her gaze on Jumba. "How do we know you are telling the truth, Dr. Jumba? You have already proven yourself to be a consistent liar if the past half an hour has told me anything."
"Heheh," Jumba chuckled. "Why don't you be finding out for yourself? Be letting six-two-five out to demonstrate his skill?"
Gantu, who had been arguing with a beetle alien about fast food, immediately dropped his argument to make his opinion on Jumba's suggestion clear. "No! Grand Councilwoman, it's an obvious trap! Do you really trust that idiot scientist Jumba, and by extension," he pointed at 625, "that abomination?!"
The Grand Councilwoman weighed the odds in her head. She could listen to Gantu and choose to decline Jumba's request, of course. It would be the easy option. Just say that he had to be lying and use the charges of lying to the Council and illegal genetic experiment against him.
But there was one small problem.
"Hey, big guy! I have ears, I heard all of that! You didn't have to make it personal!" 625 crossed his arms, locking eyes with Gantu. "What, you doubt my sandwich capabilities?"
And experiment six-two-five was that problem.
Captain Gantu had claimed that getting an illegal genetic experiment from Jumba's laboratory would be more than enough proof to warrant a guilty verdict. The Grand Councilwoman resisted a groan remembering the captain's boast.
That couldn't have been further from the truth.
Coming into the trial, she was convinced that Jumba was just a mad scientist, another potential threat to the galaxy that must be wiped out. But now she and the Council weren't too sure. At first glance, Jumba was not power hungry. Unlike many dictators or criminals, he was just simply eccentric.
Maybe closer to insane.
"It gives him levity", she thought. "We were all willing to listen to his nonsense for the past half hour after all…"
It would have been easier to sentence a normal criminal to prison. Jumba didn't act like a criminal at all. He even claimed that he was an evil genius. Who would do that? No normal person would confess their crimes and gloat to the jury! He would have to be either extremely evil or extremely stupid to do that, and he seemed like neither.
The Grand Councilwoman realised that the Council would hesitate in sentencing him because of these facts. Some probably thought he really was a harmless scientist at Galaxy Defence Industries who was wrongly indicted. Others may believe that Jumba might be evil, but he had to be so dumb that it didn't make a difference if they sentenced him to community service or a prison asteroid.
Either that or they will think they were being hoodwinked, all because of Jumba's experiment. She hated to admit it, but the experiment had its charm.
If it was some deadly looking thing, then perhaps the Council would have been more likely to immediately sentence Jumba. That was the impression Gantu had given her when he said that the experiment would instantly prove Jumba guilty.
But of course not, that would have been too easy.
Experiment 625's fur was dyed golden-yellow, and his nose was red. He was even pudgy. It was almost like he was made to be adorable, not evil. Not only did it not look evil, it acted like a normal being as well. It was grouchy at being woken up, poked fun at Captain Gantu, and was being sarcastic and making wisecracks.
Just like a normal person.
All because of that, now the Council was curious, just like a toddler being attracted to a plasma gun.
Nothing had prepared her for this. The artificial lifeform was behaving like a real life living creature. Some of the more civilised ambassadors would certainly use this to turn the entire trial around. The trial would definitely attract unwanted media attention at this rate. Despite what she and the Council personally thought of Jumba, to the public, creating artificial life would be a miracle.
Not to mention, if all his experiment could do was make sandwiches, then they had absolutely nothing on Jumba. Maybe lying to the Council, yes, but making sandwiches wasn't even close to an intergalactic evil threat at all.
If Experiment 625 was truly harmless, then her original plan of sentencing Jumba harshly would backfire. She had to call Jumba's bluff on his experiment or the rumours would start spilling. The Grand Councilwoman sighed. She could see the tabloids headlines already…
'CORRUPT COUNCIL WRONGFULLY IMPRISONS INNOCENT SCIENTIST!'
The resistance would just love to get their claws on this. The Grand Councilwoman grimaced at the very thought.
The main resistance to the United Galactic Federation had been born because of her predecessor's incompetence. The group felt that the United Galactic Federation held a monopoly over the cosmos, and wished to break its stronghold by being an opposition group.
But besides the main resistance caused by lingering resentment over the war, there were a smaller minority of planets who had refused to join the Federation because of claims of power and balance shifts. They were worried that the Federation would absorb their culture, or that the top were corrupt, or otherwise.
Hence, something like this would be excellent propaganda for the resistance. They could claim that Jumba's trial was rigged. They would just need to twist a few words around. It was all politics.
Too bad she wouldn't ever give her enemies that ammunition.
"Yes," she thought to herself. "This genetic experiment must be seen as a threat to the Galactic Federation."
She had no choice. She had to chance it and let Experiment 625 out of the capsule to disprove Jumba's claim. If she sentenced Jumba without doing that, there would be rumours and whispers about corruption.
So instead, she would let Jumba play right into her hand. She would oblige his request.
The Grand Councilwoman straightened up. She made her decision.
"Gantu, open the capsule containing Specimen A."
"But ma'am..." Gantu started.
"Hey, that is Experiment six-two-five!" Jumba shouted. "Do not be calling my precious experiment that generic name!" he pouted.
Gantu's annoyance was clear on his face as he shouted back, "You stay out of this!" Turning to the Grand Councilwoman, he then took on a more formal pose and voice. "Grand Councilwoman, you cannot possibly let this thing out. I assure you, this—"
"Gantu!" she stomped her feet down, cutting off any further arguments from the whale alien.
Seeing the exchange, 625 let out a chuckle. "Heh, looks like you lose. Gotta listen to your boss, blubby."
"B-Blubby?!" Gantu spluttered. Hearing another bout of laughter from the seated Council ambassadors, he yelled in embarrassment, "You trog!"
"Gantu!" the Grand Councilwoman retorted, seeing the captain start to lose control of his temper, "The experiment is baiting you! Do not get distracted, release him!"
"But ma'am! What if it escapes! Or what if it tries to help Jumba escape?"
The Grand Councilwoman wanted to facepalm. "That is the whole point, Gantu." she mumbled softly so no one could hear.
If Experiment 625 used the opportunity to escape, she could show its true colours and disprove Jumba's 'harmless scientist' personality in front of everyone.
And if it couldn't make the best sandwiches in the galaxy, as Jumba had claimed, then she could claim that Jumba was lying and that 625 must have been made for some other purpose.
There had to be some trick. Judging by all the technobabble Jumba said earlier, she was convinced that so much work went into the experiment's creation that there had to be no way that its purpose was simply just to create sandwiches. Jumba had to have made this experiment for another reason. And once she called out Jumba, the Council would unanimously toss him into prison, no questions asked.
Control. She was the one in control. And she would remain in control.
"Just do it, Captain Gantu." she commanded in a tone so harsh that no sane Council member would dare defy her.
Despite wanting nothing more than to strangle the experiment, Gantu obliged and unfastened the digital lock on the capsule. He gently placed the open capsule on the podium floor, with the opening facing the Council Hall.
Seeing his way out, Experiment 625 slowly crawled out of the capsule. Walking out onto to podium, he saw thousands of alien Council members, all looking at him. This unnerved the experiment as he started to look apprehensive at being the centre of attention.
"Very well, then. Experiment six-two-five, was it?" The Grand Councilwoman stood tall, looking down at the experiment with an air of authority.
"Yes?" 625 replied with a bored reaction.
The Grand Councilwoman grinned a bit seeing his reply. From her close proximity to him, unlike the others, she could actually see the insecurity in his eyes.
"He isn't dumb," she thought. "Being addressed by me directly must have made him scared of what's about to happen."
All she needed to do now was to make 625 panic. Then the truth would be revealed. This messy trial would be wrapped up cleanly.
She raised her voice so that the entire Council Hall can hear her next sentence. "To prove to us that what Dr. Jumba says is of the utmost and absolute truth, I want you, Experiment six-two-five..."
The Council members leaned forward, wanting to hear what order the Council Head had in mind.
None of them would admit later that they guessed the next words that would come from her mouth correctly.
"...to cook a sandwich for everyone in this entire room!"
Author's Note:
No fast food restaurants or burger joints were harmed in the making of this chapter.
Happy 15th Anniversary to Lilo and Stitch! Sure, it is a few days late, but it's the thought that counts!