Toombs quickly interjected, “It’s important to note that only three animals were chosen and that they were all mammals! If you try to mix animals from different classifications, the DNA starts to reject the additional parts. Similarly, if you try to use more than three animals in a composite, the DNA becomes too junked up and will not combine properly.”
Parson’s sighed, “Yes, thank you, doctor. As I was saying, the thought process was that Chimera would be the first of many kaiju that our government could unofficially use to attack a hostile nation. For instance, if our intelligence was indicating that Russia was going to invade Georgia, they might suddenly have a Chimera attack St. Petersburg. The monster would appear from the ocean, attack the city and return without any connection to the US. With a kaiju wading off their shores, Russia would be forced to desert its efforts to invade a neighboring country. If the Taliban starts stirring up trouble in Afghanistan, a giant monster wades through their camp grounds, again with no connection to the US government. ”
Luke could see the pieces of the puzzle regarding his involvement in this project slowly coming together. He finally ventured to ask his first question, “You are talking about attacking specific targets. How were you planning to take a kaiju composed of three naturally aggressive animals and have it attack a specific target?”
Toombs excitedly jumped into the conversation again, “The idea is really cool. Technically speaking Chimera here was going to be a cyborg. The next step in his evolution was going to be to surgically interface a computer into his brain. That would have allowed us to program instructions into his mind from a secure location. The idea was sound and would still work except for the fact that the threat we are facing uses EMP’s as one of their first methods of attack. If Chimera was utilizing an interface, the EMP would short circuit the computer interface. At that point, we would have ancient gods attacking us and a rampaging kaiju on the loose as well.”
Luke sighed, “A Behavior Analyst with field experience in dealing with highly-aggressive subjects. That’s why I am here isn’t it? You need me to train Chimera to attack specific targets using Applied Behavior Analysis based techniques. That way an EMP will not be able to disrupt the commands he has been given. Am I right?”
Parsons smiled and nodded as Toombs excitedly pointed at Chimera, “It’s possible for that approach to work! Chimera is intelligent! In fact, he is very intelligent when compared to most animals! He is far more intelligent than the sum of his parts, which by the way are composed of three very intelligent animals to begin with. We keep him sedated for the most part for obvious safety reasons but we have tested his IQ level. It falls around thirty-five or in roughly the same area as many of your students.”
Luke was staring at the colossal beast when Parsons placed his hand on Luke’s arm, “Mr. Davis, say hello to your newest student. You have less than two weeks to train him to save the World.”
Luke’s hands began to sweat and become clammy. It was one of the reactions that his body had when he became stressed or worried. He shook his head and thought that Melissa worried when he was working with a large aggressive student with autism. What was she going to say about him working with King Kong’s big brother?
Chapter 10
It was nine o’clock at night and Luke had finally gotten the kids washed up and put to bed. Melissa had spent the majority of the day registering their oldest daughter for her new school on the military base. They were both exhausted as they headed to the family room to catch up on the day’s events.
Luke let Melissa go first. When she was done describing all of the things that she had accomplished during the day, she asked Luke what he had learned about his new position. Luke composed his thoughts. He then leaned forward, kissed Melissa, and held her hands in his as he spoke, “Honey, I need you to brace yourself. The scope of this position is much greater than we could have ever imagined.”
Her face changed to a look of concern, “What’s up? Are the hours going to be significantly more than you had thought?”
Luke forced a smile, “The hours don’t really matter.” He took a deep breath, “Honey, events have unfolded which are quickly leading to the end of the world occurring in the next few weeks and it is up to me and small team of people to keep it from happening.”
She looked at him and then burst out laughing, “The end of the world! That’s pretty funny! You almost had me there for a minute.”
Luke’s face was stoic, “It’s no joke. The world will quickly come to an end unless we can stop it.”
Melissa’s face quickly lost its color, “You are serious. What the hell is going on? Is there some kind of pending terrorist attack?”
Luke shook his head, “The truth is far more outrageous than that. What I am about to tell you is currently classified but over the next few weeks events will begin to unfold and the entire world will become aware of the danger that we are in.” He stopped talking and looked directly into her eyes. The same eyes that he had looked into and loved for his entire adult life, “Please listen to me on this point. I know that it is a lot to handle, but promise me that for as long as possible we will keep this information from the girls. Heaven forbid if we are not able to prevent this from happening. I do not want their last days with us to be spent in fear about what’s coming.”
Tears began to well up in Melissa’s eyes as she nodded in affirmation of Luke’s request. Luke hugged her then continued to fill her in on the situation, “The ancient gods are real and they have returned to Earth. I am talking about the stuff we saw in movies and TV. Zeus, Thor, and others whose names I can’t remember. The deal is that they see themselves as protectors of the planet and from their perspective we humans are destroying it.”
Melissa was still trying not to cry. Luke kissed her again as he himself tried not to cry. He rubbed his eyes and then continued to explain how he was going to help address this threat, “The government has tried to attack these gods but they can control EMPs. Any weapons that we can use against them the gods simply shut down before they can attack. The government has also tried ground troops to attack these gods but it seems that monsters from mythology are real as well and the gods are using the creatures to protect themselves. A Navy SEAL team was killed by monsters when they tried to storm Mount Olympus.”
Melissa sobbed, “Then how are you going to help? You’re a teacher for God sake!”
Luke smiled in an attempt to reassure her, “You’re right. I am a teacher and that is exactly what they need. The government has made its own kaiju, a giant monster. It’s a massive creature over two hundred feet long and they need someone who has experience with aggressive subjects in shaping this monster’s behavior so that he will attack the gods and their beasts without going Godzilla on any town that he comes across in the meantime.”
Melissa leaned back in her chair, “Train a monster. How are you going to do that?”
Luke squeezed his wife’s hand tightly, “That’s both the easy part and the tricky part at the same time. The method is easy, using food and positive verbal praise from me we are going to train the monster to attack targets that I direct him to. We are also going to associate images of monsters and giants with negative stimuli to access the monster’s natural aggressive tendencies and focus them on acceptable targets.”
Melissa stood up and her voice began to increase in volume as the tears streamed down her face, “Targets that you direct him to! Are you telling me that not only will you be working with this monster but that you will also be out there with him fighting these things?”
Luke looked away from her for a minute. He knew that he could not look into her eyes as he delivered the next bit of news. He cleared his throat, “As I said, the gods can control EMPs so any electronics within range of their attack will be knocked out. I am training the monster to respond to my voice using an old fashioned speaking horn. It is sort of like a megaphone without batteries.” He laughed a little, “I also get to learn to ride a horse because I have to keep up wit
h the monster while he walks and there is no way I can run that far or fast anymore.”
Melissa slapped him across the face and screamed, “Don’t do that, Luke. Don’t you dare do that to me! You said that you would not be on the front lines of any fight, that this would be a safe job, and that this was the opportunity that we have been waiting for! Now it’s the end of the world and you are going to ride a horse as this monster you are teaching tries to fight God knows what.”
Luke hugged her and began to cry as well, “Melissa, what other choice do I have? The end of the world is coming. Everyone on the planet is going to die. I have been given the chance to make a difference, to save you and the girls! I can’t pass that up no matter the danger to me. I can’t just stay here and wait for the end to come or hope that someone else can try and stop this!” He kissed her with all of the emotion that was building up in his body and she responded in kind.
Suddenly, they heard a voice from across the room. Their oldest daughter had been awakened by the argument. The five year old shuffled forward and spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, “Mommy, Daddy, is everything OK? You guys woke me up.”
Melissa looked at her little girl and smiled, “Yes honey, we were just talking about how Daddy is going to save the world.” Melissa looked up at Luke, “Now you go, Daddy. Go and save the world.”
Luke smiled at his wife as their daughter came running over and hugged them too, “I always knew that you were a rescue hero, Daddy!”
Chapter 11
Diana took off her glasses, titled her head down, and rubbed the back her neck. She took a look around at the room full of computers and the team of five analysts that were sending any of what they had designated as vital information to her. She took a deep breath and then she walked around the room that had been her home for the past ten days. She had accepted her role in this operation but she was still unsure of what exactly she was supposed to do. She knew that her directive was to look for strange occurrences that were transpiring around the globe and to then determine if these phenomenon could be related to one three mythological sects of gods.
It was clear that the government was grasping at straws when they came to her but with the fate of the world in the balance she knew that she had to do all that she could to help out in this crisis. The issue was that she was a professor of mythology not a meteorologist or climatologist. There were literally dozens of natural weather patterns that looked strange to her but in all actuality were totally normal. So far the only unnatural phenomenon that she could identify was Dr. Toombs’s inability to accept that she was not interested in him. His comments to her were starting to border on sexual harassment and despite letting him know that he continued on with them. He knew that with the apocalypse looming, a sexual harassment complaint was not a high-level priority.
Diana shook her head to refocus her thoughts and then returned to the data streaming across her computer screens. She read about an earthquake in Chile, a typhoon that had hit Japan, and a sighting of a Sea Serpent off of the coast of South Africa. She thought to herself that according to myth Poseidon could be responsible for the earthquake, the hundred-handed Hekatoncheires could have caused the typhoon, and the sea monster could be any one of a hundred monsters. Of course, they could also have been simply the shifting of tectonic plates, a big storm, and whale seen by drunken people on a yacht. The question was how in the hell was she supposed to figure it out?
She moaned in frustration when she noticed a report about a ship calling in an SOS about a blue vortex in the Atlantic Ocean. It had caught her eye because she was sure that she had seen a similar report before. She began pouring through the stacks of papers which she had flagged as possible events involving the gods. She checked and there was another SOS that had come in! The first call had come from a merchant ship called the Mockingbird and the second ship was a cruise called the Horizon. She looked at the data and as far she could tell the reports had come in from a within a fifty mile radius of each other. She ran over to one of the analysts assigned to help her, “I need you to reposition a satellite to take a look at this area of the Atlantic Ocean.”
Luke held his breath as he picked up one of the one hundred pound slabs of squid, beef, and bamboo that had been put together as food reinforcers for Chimera. Luke carefully placed the slab into one of the pouches on the side of Jason the Clydesdale horse that been assigned the task of being Luke’s method of transportation when working with Chimera. Agreeing to train a kaiju was difficult enough but Luke didn’t think that he would have to train a horse as well. Luke kept a supply of carrots and apples in his pockets to reinforce Jason for working with Chimera. The horse’s natural inclination was to run away from the kaiju. To have the horse accept working with the monster, it had to be constantly reinforced as well. The past week of training Chimera had gone well. Toombs had been slowly reducing the amount of sedative that the kaiju was being given. The training started by having Luke ride around Chimera on Jason and using his speaking horn to send positive verbal praise to Chimera. Basically, Luke rode around the kaiju and shouted things like. “Good boy, Chimera,” or “Good Morning, I am glad to see you.” After riding around beast and delivering the praise, Luke would leave one of the reward slabs near Chimera’s mouth.
During this process, Chimera was still barely awake and Luke was in little danger, but these first steps were extremely vital to the kaiju’s training. Luke was establishing that his voice meant positive things for Chimera. When this was established, the sedative was lessened again and Luke started placing simple demands on Chimera prior to delivering the verbal praise and food reinforcer. The first set of directions was to have Chimera follow Luke and Jason for three steps prior to praising him and giving him the food slab. By the end of the first day, Luke had been able to space out the reinforcement enough that Chimera was able to follow Luke for three trips around the compound prior to receiving a food slab.
After establishing simple commands such as, “Follow me!” Luke introduced more difficult commands. Several large trailers and farm equipment were placed around the compound and Luke would direct Chimera to pick up a piece of equipment and then place it down. Luke found that the best method for Chimera to learn a new task was by modeling it for him first. If Luke wanted Chimera to pick up a forklift, Luke would first pick a toy forklift. He would then point to an actual forklift and direct the kaiju to pick it up. Luke was amazed at how intelligent the beast was and how quickly that he learned new skills. Luke found that he only needed to model a new direction on the first trial. Once he had shown Chimera something once, a verbal directive would suffice to get him to repeat the move again. During this process, Luke had gained an appreciation for what a truly magnificent creature Chimera was. Additionally, Parson’s and Toombs were also impressed at how well Luke’s behavior modification techniques were working for Chimera.
Today would be one of Chimera’s most important and most dangerous tests. Today was the day that Chimera would be instructed to attack an enemy and more importantly cease attacking after destroying his target. Given the natural aggressive tendencies of the animals that comprised Chimera, getting him to attack should not prove difficult but making sure that he did not destroy everything else in sight after defeating his enemy was crucial to his effectiveness in the field.
Toombs had made up a mock adversary of steel beams and canvas. It looked something like a giant upright turtle. Luke had heard Diana say something about a Gamera movie. Luke didn’t really care; as the long as the target served its purpose, it could like a giant Cookie Monster for all that he cared.
Luke had a human-sized dummy placed in front of the target. He rode Jason up to the dummy and commanded Chimera to follow him. The kaiju lumbered after the horse as Luke rode up to the dummy. Luke jumped off of the horse, lifted up his speaking horn, and then shouted “Attack!” Luke then charged at the dummy and began hitting and kicking it. He then lifted his horn and yelled “Stop!” Luke then backed away from the dummy. He quic
kly moved Jason clear of the danger zone, then he pointed at the massive mock turtle, and screamed, “Chimera, attack!”
Upon hearing the command, Chimera savagely beat his chest and unleashed a roar that shook the entire compound. The kaiju then charged at the target. When he reached the turtle, Chimera first lifted both of his fists above his head and then brought them crashing down onto the target’s shoulders, crushing them instantly. Chimera then grabbed the target by its arms and dug his claws into them. With his grip locked on the target, Chimera roared again and began smashing his bulky head into the target’s chest causing it to cave in. The kaiju finished the attack by biting into what was left of the model’s head and tearing it off.
Luke raised his speaking horn and shouted, “Stop!” At hearing the command, Chimera immediately backed off of the monster, sat down on the ground, and looked toward Luke. Luke shouted through his speaking horn, “Good job attacking, Chimera, and even better job stopping!” He then tossed the kaiju one of the food slabs which Chimera quickly devoured.
Luke returned Jason to his stable and then he took the elevator up to the observation deck where Parson’s and Toombs were observing the training session. He was surprised to see them speaking with Diana. When Luke walked over toward them, Parsons quickly spoke up, “Ms. Cain believes that she has identified the method that the Olympians are using to attack us. Everyone get yourselves and supplies ready. Chimera goes into action in six hours.”
Chapter 12
Diana sat in the briefing room of the massive ship and put together the last few pieces of her presentation to review with the team prior to mission launch. The last twelve hours had been a whirlwind of activity and she was already exhausted. Their target was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the process of transporting Chimera to the location was a vast undertaking. First, Luke, had to ride his horse and have Chimera follow him to an area where the kaiju could be loaded onto the Argos. It was the largest ship ever constructed and like everything else that was part of this mission it was given a name with a mythological connotation. While the team took the most remote route possible, literally hundreds of people still saw Chimera and had recorded his walk through the forest on their phones. Those videos were then quickly posted to the web.
Chimera: Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Thriller Page 5
