A Tale of Fur and Fangs: The Facility (working title)

Chapter 2: Sidney

 The hushed whirring of machines, coupled with the steady beep of the heart rate monitor, provided a sort of clinical accompaniment to the operating room. As Dr. Sullivan stepped inside, now dressed in his surgical scrubs, he marveled at the creature before him. The fennec fox-woman had been stripped naked like an animal and fettered to the table by her wrists and ankles. The doctor watched as his colleague administered the final injections to the subject. After the syringe was withdrawn and laid to the side Dr. Sullivan stepped up to the table and said, "Well, Rosewater? How is she?"

Dr. Geoffrey Sullivan, PhD. never addressed his colleagues by their own titles, but refused to allow his title to go unspoken. This simple fact had been the cause of much frustration among his peers when he was first assigned to this outpost. However, over time his colleagues come to respect him for his prowess in the field of genetics despite the general lack of care that he showed for them. Dr. Eugene Rosewater, DO. looked over the sleeping fennec fox-woman and said, "I've just finished administering the final injection, Doctor. With this her body should be stable enough to be transported to the Trigger testing outpost as early as tomorrow afternoon."

His face betraying no emotion, Dr. Sullivan simply said, "Good." Walking over to Rosewater's side of the table, he examined the prone figure upon it. Her chest was very flat even before the procedure, and the doctor watched as it rose and fell with her breathing. He stretched out a hand and gently lifted small patches of fur on her abdomen as he examined the micro scars that were the result of his handiwork. He poked and prodded all over her fur-covered body, but took a special interest in her head.

He checked the base of her ears first -each one of which was longer and wider than his hand-. He recalled the painstaking task of realigning the ear canals and his elation at the specimen's lack of hearing impairment afterwards. He was silently thankful that The Facility had sent him a competent osteopathic surgeon to aid him in the delicate process. Rosewater's steady hand and general input had no-doubt reduced the time it took for the realignment by hours. Once he was done with the inspection of the ears he then lifted a pen light from the table and, with his free hand, opened the creature's eyelids.

He watched closely as the pupils contracted in response to his light and noted that the response was normal given her anesthetized condition. He peered deeply into her eyes. He had left the subject her human eyes despite reshaping her skull to a more vulpine form. The eyes that stared unfocused at him were as bright and vibrant a green as he'd ever seen in any individual. Despite not being a religious man, he had convinced himself that it would be an affront to whatever gods did exist for him to simply replace those eyes and discard them as he had in other subjects such as his prized goat-man.

Remembering now his loss, he quickly finished his examination of the woman's vulpine snout and teeth -the former of which was short and the latter of which were sharp-. He then turned to the man standing next to him and said, "It looks as though all of the grafts and bone realignments have taken root splendidly." He took one last glance between the fennec fox-woman's legs and added, "And I must say that you did a remarkable job on the tail on this one. Your practice in introducing additional vertebrae is surely showing its fruit."

The other man was taken aback. He could not recall his colleague ever praising anyone's work besides his own. He was about to offer his gratitude for the comments when something large and blunt stuck the side of his face.

Sprawling on the the operating room floor Dr. Rosewater held the side of his face and looked up at Dr. Sullivan, the latter of whom's fist was clenched tightly. There was a ringing in his ears and he was sure that he could taste blood in his mouth where his teeth had cut the inside of his cheek. The head scientist glared down at the other man, a look of contempt had spread across his face. Slowly he un-clenched his fist and said, "Tell me, Rosewater. How did our goat escape from this facility? Was it not your job to make sure that he was anesthetized sufficiently before attempting to return him to his cell?"