Ficlets

The Researcher's Friend

“I can’t go through with it.”

“Chelsea, you must. You knew the details of the experiment before you signed on as my assistant.”

“But Dr. Riley, that’s when I still thought they were… you know… stupid animals.”

“What’s changed?”

“I have. They have. I don’t know. But you heard it too! The results were incontrovertible: mice are intelligent.”

“We already knew that. The labyrinths—”

“Yes, I know. You’ve done labyrinth tests for decades, but listen! This was the first time with neurotransposers. And it’s clear we’re not dealing with some mindless organism anymore. This mouse has a sense of humor… an appreciation of music… even a rudimentary understanding of the human world!”

“Chelsea, it’s a mouse.”

“I just can’t go through with it.”

“You don’t really have a choice.”

“I do! I do have a choice! I’m not killing Mikey.”

“You gave it a name?”

“He wanted to give ME one. Didn’t you hear him ask what it was? I thought it only fair.”

“We have many other mice, equally intelligent ones.”

“Goodbye, doctor.”

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