An expansive tale

You take a seat near the end of the table, shaking Harold’s hand as you do. The older man smiles, nodding at Emi and Lili as they sit too.

“I’m so glad you agreed to come over, and on such short notice. Sylvia is just finishing up in the kitchen, and she’ll be joining us momentarily.”

You nod, looking around the room. “I’m a bit surprised she’s there at all. From the looks of things, I doubt she needs to do much around here.”

Harold chuckles. “Yes, we have a staff that handles a lot of things. Perks of being an eccentric old rich person. But she truly enjoys cooking, and she’s fantastic at it.”

Something pops up in your mind. “I don’t mean to pry, but Hybrids haven’t been around very long, and with Sylvia unable to speak, I’m amazed at her capabilities. How did she discover and develop her talents so quickly?”

Harold smiles, looking at you appraisingly. “You caught on quickly. Very good. You’ve touched on my reasons for inviting you, reasons that also touch upon miss Emi here.”

Emi looks surprised. “Me? But why? What do you know about me?”

He lifts a hand to quiet her. “A moment, dear. I’d like to wait until Sylvia joins us, as this is her story as much as mine. Ahh, here she is.”

Sylvia walks into the room, a smile on her face. Though she’s clearly been in the kitchen from her attire, the sort of outfit you’d expect to see on a chef, the way she carries herself exudes a dignified air, as if she were dressed formally. She sits beside Harold, giving him a peck on the cheek. Harold smiles at her, and folds his hands on the table.

“Well, now that we’re all here, I suppose it’s time to start talking. First things first, though. I should tell you who I am.”

He takes a deep breath, looking a bit nervous all of a sudden. “I am the one who developed the technology used to create Hybrids.”

You stare at him, stunned. Emi is shocked as well, her mouth dropping open. Even Lili is surprised, though it seems to affect her less.

Harold nods. “That’s about the reaction I expected. You have to understand, Hybrids are the culmination of decades of work. And what they are now is vastly different than what I was working to create.”

You shake yourself from your stupor. “What do you mean? What were you trying to do?”

Harold glances at Sylvia. “To put it simply, I was trying to cure cancer. Sylvia’s cancer.”

Emi’s brow furrows. “What? I’m getting lost.”

Harold sighs. “I will explain. When I was younger, I was one of the top genetic scientists in the world. A bit of a rock star in the field, if I do say so myself.”

Sylvia rolls her eyes, playfully shoving him. Harold chuckles. “Ok, so maybe that’s too far. Regardless, the field was advancing rapidly, and I was at the forefront. And my personal life was on a similar trajectory, marrying a beautiful woman, making lots of money. Life was good.”

He sighs. “Nothing lasts forever. Tragedy struck my life, just as I was nearing a breakthrough in genetic merging. Defense contract, they wanted stronger, faster soldiers. I had no qualms about it back then, I just wanted to continue my work.”

He shakes his head. “That was the groundwork for what would become the Hybrid project. And then we found out that my wife had cancer.”

Sylvia places her hand on his, and he looks down as he continues. “We tried everything. Nothing worked. And so I had an idea. Using my research, I came up with a way to rewrite a person’s genetic code. But the only way it would work is binding it with code from an animal. Something of an entirely different species.”

He looks over at Sylvia. “And there would be costs. They would be no longer entirely human. Their appearance changed. But the changes would also restore their body. Mostly.”

He looks back to you. “The cancer had its heart in her larynx. When she underwent the procedure, the cancer was removed, but so was her ability to speak. And so…”

He gestures to Sylvia, who nods to you. You shake your head. “But…she looks so young. How long ago was this?”

He sighs again. “Sylvia was the first, nearly ten years ago. Hybrids do not visibly age the way humans do. Regardless, my development was regarded as a massive success, but not in the way I expected. You see, the people who I worked for weren’t interested in the medical applications of this, they just saw dollar signs. They began looking for **** people, willing to undergo the procedure, and used them as guinea pigs. Failures were discarded like trash.”

His fists clench. “I should have known. But I was **** out. ‘Ethical incompatibilities’, they said. Bullshit. They didn’t want me meddling. But even with all my money, I couldn’t do anything. They had connections, I was just an oddball scientist. Easily discredited.”

He relaxes as Sylvia touches his shoulder. “So, Sylvia and I came here, and basically went into hiding. I invested, made some more money, but we were just hiding out.”

He looks at Lili. “And then the news broke about CompanionCorp. Naturally, I followed the news, and did what research I could. Their process is similar, but somehow they create Hybrids from scratch, with no human to use as a baseline.”

Emi leans forward. She coughs, then speaks. “But how do you explain me?”

Harold shakes his head. “You were created with the older process, mine. From your cough, I’d wager you were a human with some kind of lung disease. Possibly tuberculosis, but I don’t know. Likely, based on the experiments they clearly did to you, you’re the basis for the new process. You, and others like you.”

He leans back in his chair. “Anyway, that’s my story. And here’s dinner.”

Several people come through the door, bearing platters of food. Almost immediately, Sylvia begins dishing things up.

Harold smiles as he watches her. “Old habits die hard. Sylvia has always been a good host. Let’s eat, you can digest the information as you digest the food. I’m sure you have many questions for me, but I’m quite hungry!”

Your mind is reeling from the story you just heard, but your stomach is rumbling as well. You suppose you can tell wait until after you eat. Harold isn’t going anywhere.