Human

by Hayley Camille

  “You have to do something,” Dale whispered to Orrin.

  Beside him, Phil quietly scoffed. “Do what Dale? Let them go in the park? They're wild animals.”

  Liam seemed to recover enough to harden his voice again. He stepped toward Nerov, who was still holding his tranquiliser gun with tense hands. “You can't take them Nerov, I'm here now, and they’re under my direction.”

  Nerov's anger lessened slightly at Liam's bluff. “You don't even have a job here anymore, do you? You have no authority. What the hell are you thinking, Kent? You think I want to do this?”

  Orrin could see Liam's chest rising and falling more heavily now. He looked close to collapse. “Say they're sick,” Liam implored. “They don't want defective test subjects. It'll give them false data.”

  “You know I can't do that.” Nerov's face was hard again. He looked detached from his task, working to keep the emotions around him in a place out of reach.

  Orrin willed his legs to step forward, not entirely sure of what he was doing. He just needed to do something. “You can't take them! I need them in my lab. Um – physics,” Orrin stuttered. “Um, research, on electromagnetic fields. I need test subjects -” Even though he had no intention of doing it now, Orrin felt instant shame as he remembered his eagerness to use Kyah for that very same purpose.

  Nerov rolled his eyes and gritted his jaw. “Nice try. You think it really works that way? Put in a formal resource request and throw your money around. I'll bring some down to you in about two years.” He gestured to the security officer to hold them at bay. The overalled assistant shuffled behind him, unclear whether to intervene. Nerov waved him away and turned back to Orrin. “I have a job to do here. These resources have been allocated to the uni medical lab and from there they'll be on-sold as contracts require them.” Nerov straightened up, his slender tranquilizer gun poised between the wire bars.

  “But you can’t separate them, they’re a family,” Jayne cried. “There are young in there – children – babies!” Jayne was close to tears.

  “Get a grip Miss Williams or I’ll get security to throw your little rally out by force.” Nerov stared her down. “I have no choice in this whatsoever and neither do you. They are university property, and they're animals. Not people. Animals. They’ll live with it. Or not.” Nerov aimed the trigger into the shadows.

  Appalled, Orrin followed the gun’s aim. Huddled in the corner, a group of eight Homo floresiensis stood naked and exposed. The aesthetic rocks and branches had been removed from the enclosure leaving it bare. Tiny against the wire mesh, the smallest were gathered to the back, fear and confusion clear on their near human faces. Two adolescent males stood snarling at the front of the little group, their eyes snapping back and forth between the overalled men and the onlookers. Their hands were empty. In front of the group standing alone and defiant, Orrin recognised the tiny woman he had encountered on his first visit. Her dark matted hair clung to her forehead with sweat and she looked all the wilder for it. She glared at the gun with piercing, dark eyes and then followed it upward to meet the shooter’s face. Clinging behind her shoulders, her baby whimpered. The mother twisted her too-long arms up, slowly pulling the infant down and pushed it to the ground behind her. Swiftly, it was pulled behind the group, protected by bodies. The woman’s round eyes never left the face of the gunman.

  Tensed and ready to fight, she stepped forward with deliberate antagonism and spat towards the gun. Her voice broke the silence in a low whisper of sounds, suffused with hatred.

  “We’re going to play this game again are we, old girl?” Nerov sighed.

  Mute with repulsion, Orrin realised there were at least two less hobbits in the enclosure than there had been previously. From the corner of his eye, there was sudden movement.

  Liam sprang forward, pushing Nerov with force against the steel bars and sending the man and his tranquiliser gun clattering to the ground. Liam lurched for the gun which had fallen half into the cage, tilting dangerously onto its loaded trigger. Orrin and Jayne both rushed forward to grab it but Liam was closer.

  “No, you damn well don't!” The security officer leapt forward and grabbed Liam by the neck of his shirt, hauling him backwards. Liam kicked a foot hard into the guard’s stomach, and then scrambled to his feet. The guard doubled over, heaving in air, as he staggered toward Liam. His fist hit Liam's jaw head on and the latter man's head snapped back and he fell at Dale’s feet, hitting the concrete floor with a sickening thud. Dale dropped to his knees at once, his eyes wide. Liam groaned. He grabbed a fistful of Dale's shirt to try to pull himself up, but failed, falling back again to the floor.

  “What the hell do you think you're doing?!” Nerov stepped forward and snatched the loaded gun from Orrin's hands. He leered over Liam, his face blotchy and red. “You think this is going to help them? Christ, Kent, you're out on bail! I should haul your arse away right now and throw an assault charge onto your time!”

  Liam's skin had turned a nasty shade of grey and his breath was fast and shallow. “They deserve better than this, Nerov. You know it.”

  Nerov's scowl sank a little and the grit of his jaw softened reluctantly. He turned to the security guard, who was standing behind him looking thunderous. “Just restrain him until I leave.” The guard pulled Liam to his feet a little more roughly than he needed to. He snapped a set of handcuffs onto Liam's wrist, pulling the other arm behind his back and joining them together.

  The sallow professor turned back to the hobbits. The mother was still in front, her long arms out to either side pushing the others back. Nerov sighed and set his face with a steely resignation. He aimed the gun at the woman’s naked middle as she leapt toward him. The shot was almost silent. A furious cry strangled in her throat and she fell to the concrete floor mid-stride, her body pathetically small. The tranquiliser dart punctured her chest with a tiny hissing sound. She gasped as she fell, the dart working quickly on her impoverished muscles. Behind her, the two adolescent males lunged forward to break her fall. Before they could reach her, they fell at the mercy of the gun and crashed to the floor behind her, twitching and drowning in unconsciousness.

  “Jesus Christ, man! You can't just -” Orrin pushed forward toward Nerov, but the cock of a gun’s hammer caught him short.

  “Damn right he can,” the security guard said.

  Liam was trembling with fury, his eyes shut tight.

  Nerov looked back to the cage. “Sorry boys, you’re up today. They’re after some healthy males.” He followed the steel bars back to where Dale and Phil were still standing near the entrance to the viewing room and unlocked the cage door. Nerov stepped over the female’s unconscious body. Against the back wall, the remaining collection of young ones whimpered and sank to the floor.

  His assistant followed Nerov into the cage. Deftly, the professor plucked the darts from his victims.

  “Will they be a problem?” The other man nodded at the remaining hobbits before lifting one of the drugged males easily over his shoulder.

  “The juveniles? No. They’re easy to control when they're scared.” Nerov gathered the other male and led the way back through the cage door. He kicked the door closed behind him and returned to where two transport carriers were sitting. The men lay the unconscious males at their feet and began preparing their trolley and paperwork. Jayne stifled a sob.

  Phil stepped closer to her, looking appalled by the entire situation.

  “I know it sucks, but you realise these are just animals right? This stuff has been happening all over the world for hundreds of years. You’re putting human emotions on these things, you’re anthropomorphising them and that’s why you're upset. Don’t do it to yourself. They don’t think like us. They’re not intelligent like us. They’re not human.”

  Jayne looked to the Homo floresiensis female still unconscious on the floor then regarded him coolly, wiping her eyes. “And what exactly is ‘human’? Enlighten me.”

  “Well,” Phil shrugged. “Humans are smarter.
We've got bigger brains.”

  “A Neanderthal had a bigger brain than you Phil, and to be honest I don’t doubt it was more intelligent too.”

  Phil rolled his eyes, unperturbed by her insult. “Fine. We're more intelligent than hobbits. We have weapons and make tools to create things we need or want. Think about it Jayne, a human can create something from nothing – we can turn an abstract thought into a physical creation – an artwork, a piece of music, an invention or even a city.”

  Liam looked up angrily and took a deep breath. “Phil, is it? You seem to suffer from what I like to call 'The Human God Complex’. Yes, we humans have greater control over our environment than other animals. We’ve developed more complex connections within our brains and higher intelligence is attributed to that. We are smarter.” He took a step toward Phil, but the security guard stopped him, pulling him back by his handcuffs. Nerov looked over from his ministrations and shook his head as Liam continued. “I’m not denying human intelligence,” Liam said, “I’m denying our understanding of its complexity – for ourselves, other hominids and animals in general. Think about it Phil, what is intelligence and how do you quantify it? And are we talking about academic intelligence? Emotional intelligence? Social intelligence? If there are cultural differences, or even species differences,” - he nodded toward the cowering group of hominids - “How do you measure intelligence if it’s a different kind of intelligence to what you’re used to?”

  Phil looked between Liam and Jayne, annoyed. “So, test them. Isn't that what you do here? Teach them something and make them read,” he said.

  “I see. If the hobbits learnt symbols and words in your language, then you would find this -” Liam nodded to where Nerov and his assistant were lowering the males into travel crates - “less acceptable? The concept of measuring a higher intelligence in some humans over others is entirely subjective. Those sorts of tests are only appropriate to people measured within a shared cultural background and education standards. These people have their own culture. And they have every evolutionary right to do so.”

  Jayne turned back to Phil. Her eyes were like ice. “Can't you see past yourself?”

  “Throughout history,” Liam interjected, “Perceived ‘higher intelligence’ has led to unspeakable atrocities against other humans, not to mention, against other species. It’s a superiority complex that justifies slavery, sexism and the Holocaust.”

  Jayne scowled. “You can’t measure intelligence if you don’t understand the way another creature thinks,” she said.

  Phil stepped forward angrily. “You don’t know how they think Jayne, any more than you know how a cow or a cat or a goldfish thinks! You’re pushing your feelings onto animals that aren’t like us! They're born with innate behaviours. They do what they need to do to survive, to eat and to reproduce – that’s life! Do you think a tiger gives a second thought to its prey? Chimpanzees have been known to rape and cannibalise their own young. Polar bears will play with a dying seal relentlessly before they eat it. Where’s their empathy?”

  “So essentially you’re saying that other animals have no concern for the welfare of other species or even some of their own?” Jayne raised her eyebrows. “Sounds familiar - sounds pretty human to me. In fact, that sounds practically universal. I can tell you’ve never had a pet dog and I pity you for it. Anyone who has would tell you they feel emotion.”

  Liam cut in, this time more quietly. “That's what I do here, Phil. I mean what I did.” He corrected himself, shooting a glance at Nerov who was loading the transport carriers onto a cart. “It’s been proven that animals can form incredibly close bonds. They can recognise and discriminate between hundreds of individuals. Denying them the possibility of emotion simply provides justification for committing violence and atrocities against them. It makes our lives easier. But how do you know that other animals, including these,” he nodded at the female’s body still lying on the cage floor, “don’t feel pain, loss, fear and love?”

  “How do you know that they do?” Phil argued.

  Liam stood quietly for a moment, his shoulders sagging beneath his filthy clothes. “One of the greatest scientists I know once said, that if you don’t understand other primates from a human emotional viewpoint, then you can't understand them at all. There are countless examples of animals sacrificing themselves or their safety for other creatures; including humans. They show true friendship, regardless of species; they show concern and love for one another and grief when they experience loss or death. What’s more definitive of the kind of humanity we aspire to, than being so humane?”

  Phil shook his head. “Fine, so they show glimpses of what we consider to be humane. But these hobbit creatures here are clearly not human. We don’t mate with them; so they’re an entirely different species. Sorry, but I’m not buying your one-family love-in.”

  Jayne rolled her eyes. “Maybe they aren’t human, but even so, we still share 99% of our DNA with them.”

  “Sure, and we also share 60% of our DNA with a banana.”

  Liam growled and flexed his wrists against the handcuffs behind him. Nerov walked over and pulled on the cage door, checking it was securely locked. The unconscious female was still sprawled on the ground by the steel bars and the juveniles remaining were huddled together, terrified to come closer to the men to be near her. From the middle of the group, the baby that Orrin had seen her try to protect, whined quietly and broke out of the group. The others hissed, clearly conflicted as it crawled toward its mother on shaky hands and feet. It couldn't have been more than a few months old, far younger than a human baby could posses such advanced gross motor skills.

  “You don't get it do you?” The sight of the baby's single-minded need to be near its mother, seemed to give Liam renewed courage. “I’m not saying they are human Phil; I’m saying your definitions of humanity are unresolved. The way you define what makes us human is entirely subjective. The majority of defining characteristics that you’ve attributed to humanity – strength, skill, intelligence, the ability to feel love, fear and grief, the ability to create and use tools, language and communication, the ability to understand abstract concepts and experience spirituality in some form, having a complex social or kinship system – none of these abilities are unique to humans!” Liam was jolted back by his handcuffs as Nerov and his assistant began pushing the trolley toward the wire exit. Loaded on top, the two heavy cages sat side by side, an unconscious body in each one. As they left, pitiful crying came from the huddled juveniles.

  Liam shuddered violently, trying to break free from the guard. He faced Nerov. “Look at them! That's a god-damn baby, Nerov! How can you be so callous? You used to have a heart! What the hell happened to you?”

  Nerov stopped, staring him down with cold eyes. “That's your problem right there, Kent! It's not a baby. It's an animal. Genetically - socially - physically - they're not like us. They're not human.” Nerov's chest stiffened and Orrin knew Liam had hit a nerve. “You want to know what happened to me, Kent? I grew up. I live in the real world now. The real world where I have my own god-damn babies and mouths to feed. This is a job. This is reality, Kent. Grow the hell up.”

  Orrin glanced at the female's body in the cage. The baby was now sitting in the cocoon of space where her legs curled up to her belly. It pulled itself forward across her chest, trying to rub its face against her forehead. She didn't respond. Nerov's assistant drew the professor’s attention.

  “What about that female there? I think you hit a lung with that dart.”

  Nerov turned and surveyed the body still lying in the cage. He narrowed his eyes at Liam then continued walking. “Leave her. Maybe she’ll be a little more cooperative next time.”

  “You bastard!” Liam spat at him, his face twisted and angry. He launched himself forward, pulling the security guard behind him. All three men fell sprawling to the concrete, sending the trolley and assistant into the cage bars with a crash.

  Nerov scrambled to his feet, wiping his hands on
his overalls. “That's it!” He and the security guard wrenched Liam roughly from the ground. “Charge him! Make sure he never sets foot in this lab again!”

  The men pushed past Orrin, Dale, Phil and Jayne, dragging Liam with them back through the laboratory to the waiting van as he yelled obscenities at them. The assistant and his trolley quickly followed.

  After a few moments, they heard the engine start and the van drive away. Jayne turned to Orrin.

  “Do you still think that you did this Orrin? You honestly think you created this reality?” There were tears in her eyes but her voice was hard.

  “Yes.” Orrin wished more than ever that he could deny it.

  “Good.”

  “Good?” Orrin was stunned. “I’m admitting to inadvertently causing species genocide and you think it’s good?”

  “Of course it’s not good. I mean good that you think you did it,” Jayne said. “If you did it, then maybe it can be undone. If there is an alternative to this existence, then I’ll do whatever you need to help bring it back. You said I was here, alive in the last one. So I’ll be here again. Hopefully though, these poor wretches won’t.” She pulled a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the open cage door. Gently, Jayne arranged the unconscious woman’s limbs into a more comfortable position, leaving the baby clinging to her while she slept. Stepping back into the viewing area, she locked the enclosure door behind her. “Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing. And now that Liam's gone… even if he hadn’t been arrested again, he’s lost his job here. I’m an archaeologist for god’s sake. And a student at that. I don’t know how to deal with this.”

  Phil stepped forward, looking honestly confused. “I just don't get it, Jayne. You’ve always lived this life. This is your reality. Why change it now? Why help Orrin? Do you actually believe this crap about sending a woman to the Stone Age and messing with evolution?”

  Jayne looked tired. “You’re helping him too, Phil. And I’d rather believe his crap, than believe that this is all the integrity we have left in the world.” She turned away, and then faced him again, changing her mind. “And it’s not the Stone Age for the record, it’s a Stone Age. There have been many, depending on which culture and region you're referring to. Go buy an encyclopaedia, you might learn something.” She turned to Orrin. “I'm going to the vet department. I know someone there that might help her.” She glanced at the female on the floor, beginning to stir feebly as the tranquiliser wore off. “You know where to find me.”