Experiment One: Feeding Habits
"Haha. Really ugly, isn't it."
-Kreeeeeeeek!!!!-
The creature roared from inside its cage, whether because it disliked the researcher looking down on it or because it understood the words themselves. When that wasn't enough to vent its rage, it slammed its body against the bars in a desperate attempt to break free. The only result was a third-degree burn from the plasma barrier.
"So? How would you like us to handle them?"
A middle-aged woman, the lead researcher among the group, turned to me.
"Dissect them. We need to figure out how they detect communications."
That was the most urgent matter. If we understood the mechanism, we might find a way to block or circumvent it.
"After that, observe their physiology. What they primarily eat. Whether they defecate... or even mate."
"Hahaha." The lead researcher gave an awkward laugh before stopping. She, like everyone else gathered here, knew I wasn't joking.
"Hoo..." I exhaled and looked down at the monsters. Their bodies were twisted, enlarged, and scorched, yet they still bore enough resemblance to humans that the transformation was unmistakable. What could possibly turn people into such grotesque, wretched forms? Virus? Bacteria? Fungus? Prion? There was still far too much we didn't know.
"Can we determine how people are changing like this?" I asked the lead researcher.
She hesitated for a moment before answering.
"If you provide the time and budget, we'll find out anything you need."
The standard reply from any researcher, technician, or scientist. Yet somehow, that very predictability made her seem more like a true scientist.
"Ha. How reassuring. Begin the experiments today. I'll support you as much as I can."
"Yes! We won't let you down!"
The lead researcher called after my retreating back. How many times had I heard that promise? I could no longer remember.
It had been six months since humanity retreated into the Arks. In that time, Earth—now a nest for monsters—had completed half an orbit around the sun. The climate outside was growing steadily hotter, and the Ark's AI had adjusted the internal cooling systems accordingly. Few people inside the Ark were sweating, yet I couldn't shake the sense of alienation from this artificial climate.
How long would it take before humanity could leave the Ark again? Once the barriers were complete, civilians might be allowed outside under strict precautions, but it would never feel the same. What meaning could forests, trees, grass, or anything humanity had built hold on a land so thoroughly ravaged and defiled? Nothing remained but to mourn the dead and the things that had been lost.
*
"First study: Diet."
The researcher tapped at her tablet, entering the title of the experiment log. True to its name, the experiment focused on what foods—or substances—the monsters could digest.
"Is the feeding chute ready?"
"Yes. It's operating without issue."
"Good. Deploy the first food item."
"Understood."
Following the lead researcher's instructions, the team prepared their cameras and visual observations. The first meal was delivered to the monster.
Chak-! Chak-! Chak-!
-Krrrrrk?!-
A pile of cabbages tumbled into the enclosure. The test was meant to determine whether the monsters could survive on vegetables alone and whether their physical capabilities would decline or improve. The creature approached the sudden appearance of the cabbages, pressing its twisted face into the pile to sniff them. After a moment, it opened its mouth and began chewing one.
Crunch! Crunch!
Every movement of its jaws sent cabbage fragments flying in all directions, but none of the researchers paid it any mind. They wouldn't be the ones cleaning it up anyway. In moments, the massive monster finished one cabbage, but showed no further interest. It merely rolled the remaining cabbages into a corner.
"Cabbage... ingestion confirmed..."
Even after an hour of observation, the monster continued to pace calmly. Eventually, seeming bored, it chewed a few more cabbages. At the very least, cabbages were something the monsters could digest.
"Deploy the next food item."
"Yes."
Next came potatoes and sweet potatoes.
-Krrrk....Kuhng! Gack!-
The monster reacted similarly to before. It approached the chute, sniffed the potatoes first, then—apparently deciding they posed no threat—gathered the smaller ones in its hands and shoved them into its mouth. It chewed noisily once more. After swallowing the potatoes, it prodded the pile a few times before turning its attention to the sweet potatoes, apparently displeased by the bland taste. This time it didn't bother gathering them with its hands; it simply scooped several into its mouth and began chewing.
Then came a rather surprising reaction. Whether the monster had discovered the sweetness or simply liked the texture, it began digging through the sweet potato pile with its hands, devouring them greedily.
"Oh? So even monsters can't resist sweet flavors?"
Tap! Tap-tap-tap!
The researchers' fingers flew across their tablets at the unexpected behavior.
-Kereeeek...-
Once the sweet potato pile had been reduced to scraps, the monster licked its lips and smacked its mouth. Then, apparently full, it curled up in a corner and stopped moving.
"It's begun sleeping. REM sleep waves detected."
"Hmm... So at least it has a brain capable of producing detectable brainwaves."
Afterward, the same experiment—cabbages, potatoes, and sweet potatoes—was conducted on the other large, medium, and small monsters. The results were identical. Once the monsters discovered the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, they ignored the other vegetables and reacted violently to them. Afterward, they all fell asleep in much the same manner. Even monsters grew drowsy when full.
The researchers saved the results and uploaded them to the Ark's mainframe before preparing for the next experiment.
*
"Hmm..."
After receiving the report from the research wing, I flipped through the documents, lost in thought. Not all the monsters roaming outside the Ark were transformed humans. The first creatures to appear when the incident began had no connection to humanity whatsoever. They possessed the kind of appearance one might expect from what people called "aliens." But they were few in number. Once the infection spread, a significant portion of the monsters now wandering Earth were mutated humans.
The so-called Originals that had first appeared were located at the epicenter of the initial infection event. Due to the Ark's distance from that center, we had yet to encounter them. I mentioned this because once the Ark's power grew strong enough to head toward the infection's origin, there was no guarantee that the tactics developed against the current monsters would work. If the Originals possessed different characteristics from the human-derived monsters, the Ark's military forces—whose strategies were built around the latter—would suffer devastating losses.
Therefore, the experiments currently underway were unlikely to apply to the Originals. We didn't even know whether their blood was red or blue, so assumptions were dangerous.
"But... we have to eliminate these ones first before we can deal with either the Originals or their knockoffs..."
That didn't mean the research was pointless. Even monsters derived from humans showed no mercy toward humanity. Setting aside the delusion of domesticating them, if we could identify their preferred foods or pheromones, we could lure them into a single location and wipe them out with one well-placed bomb. Understanding their physiology was far more important than it first appeared.
The only concern was that agents like pheromones might unknowingly affect us "normal" people who shared the same fundamental nature as the monsters. That was the greatest worry. Even Botox, touted as a wrinkle remover, was fundamentally a toxin capable of killing all of humanity in minuscule doses. If a disgruntled researcher decided to commit some atrocity against Ark society, there would be nothing I could do to stop it.
Fortunately, such an event could be prevented. Placing my trust in my researchers, I signed the approval for the next experiment.