Animal Codes

There is an ominous feel in the air. There are bars on the windows and a strong security lock on the building’s doors. Decades ago, the planet Earth became the primary site to send mentally undesired people to keep the galaxy in order. However, by order of the higher powers, there must be sane individuals on Earth to control the ‘psyches’ from running crazy.

A young man named Marshall from Neptune, who was a certified genetic engineer has spent approximately seven years on Earth, experimenting on the psyches. He looked relatively human but had a slight alien appearance. Marshall had echolocation sonars on the sides of his forehead, used to detect sounds from extreme distances. But after that, he looked like any normal 35-year-old human man. Marshall, along with other engineers, has been using ‘psyches’ to create variations in species as a way to see if changing their genetic structure could make them less insane.

One day, Marshall was creating a male wolf-human hybrid. The male in question was only known as 2364-Alpha who was suffering from being a kleptomaniac. The man from Neptune chained down Alpha and began to alter his humanity. Holding out the wolf-DNA vial, Marshall injected the DNA serum into Alpha. Alpha slowly began to turn into a wolf. His skin became slightly tanned fur. He grew a long wolf tail and had pointy ears. Alpha jerked around on the table, struggling to get free from the restraints. Alpha’s eyes became yellow and grew sharp teeth and claws. Alpha finally stopped moving around and the only thing a person could hear from the former human was heavy breathing. Still looking human, but no longer one. He is now a wolf-human experimental project.

Alpha was placed in a room and was surrounded by objects to see if he would steal them. Marshall, in the lab room with his other partners, watched Alpha’s movements and wondered what was going through the wolf-human’s mind. The only thing he sees is Alpha’s steady breathing and small glances around the room. However, Alpha turned around and faced the glass window that Marshall was looking through, and began to slowly walk towards the window. Alpha soon came to a stop and looked straight in Marshall’s direction. Even though the glass is one-way, Marshall can feel Alpha’s gaze on him, as if Alpha is looking into his mind.

Alpha began to reflect on his life and how he got to where he was.

“Have you ever considered what’s happening in the shadows? What I mean is, do you wonder what’s happening behind closed doors?” asked a female Mars official.

A young, mid-20-year-old Mars man with short brown hair and gray eyes looked at the official with a perplexed expression on his face, wondering what the official was going within this conversation. The young man, Mason Shadows, was sitting in front of the high-leveled Mars official. He mainly thought that she was going to question him further about an incident he was in. Hopefully, with this official in front of him, Mason would be able to tell her that the charges of theft against him were wrong and would like to plead for his freedom and prevent his extrication to Earth. Yet, he got a strange feeling from this woman and thought that his chances of getting his freedom were slim.

“What are you getting at? I thought you came to this prison to further interrogate me for more information about the theft incident that I didn’t commit”, asked Mason. He looked ready to jump and attack the official as he felt that she was mocking him in a way. However, Mason knew that he wouldn’t be able to attack her as there is a glass barrier separating them and hundreds of cameras trained him. So, if he made a slight move to attack, a squad of police would come in and restrain him.

The official sighed and decided to try a new method of handling Mason. “My name is Artemis Romana. A second-class police official and the best in my department. I came to you, to strike a deal”, the official told Mason.

Mason looked both shocked and uncertain about the supposed ‘deal’ Artemis wanted to make with him. “What is the deal? What do you get out of it and what do I get?” He asked Artemis.

“I want you to go to Earth. Don’t worry, there’s more to this deal. You go to Earth and collect information on the experimentation they do on some of the ‘psyches’. In return, I get the charges against you dropped and the man who truly committed the crime arrested and sent to jail,” Artemis explained to Mason about her deal.

Mason was speechless and couldn’t accept the offer she was giving him. He knows that he could die or go insane himself. But, Mason knew that it was a good chance to find him. Before Mason said anything, a thought came to mind. Was she tricking him so that the authorities will have more reason to send him to Earth and torture him? Or was there more to this so-called deal? Mason shifted his gaze to one of the cameras. Artemis, seeing his glaze, lightly laughed. “Don’t worry. I deactivated the cameras. So, no one outside this room knows about this plan. Only you, me and my bosses, who you will meet when the time comes. If you take on the job”, Artemis reassures Mason about the sense of suspense and doubt from the situation.

Mason thought about the offer for some time. Thinking that he had no other options left. It was either take the deal or spend the rest of his life in jail or much worse, be sent to Earth. Mason sighed, “I’ll take the deal. What do I have to lose? But, if I do this, will my end of the deal be met?”

Artemis was pleased with Mason opening up to the deal. “Of course, it will. My superiors will reward you for your work. But, I must warn you of the trials you will face,” she further explained.

“I’m up for it. As I said, I have nothing to lose. I already lost everything, not only because of the false accusations. But also, I lost someone I was extremely close to. He helped me through everything, but he’s gone,” Mason stated as he was holding back his tears as he remembered his friend. Artemis looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. “We know about him. We read through his records and discovered that he’s on Earth as well. So, it looks like you have another goal in mind besides your freedom,” she told Mason. Looking at his options, Mason made his final decision and told Artemis “I guess so, but I’m ready. I am ready to take on whatever they’ll throw at me. It won’t change me. I’ll help those trapped there.”

Artemis looked at Mason, approving of his spirit to accept her and her bosses’ deal, but she had to at least give him some warning of the deal. She told him, “I’ll take your word for it. But, I have a feeling that after the deal has been met. You’ll be a shell of your former self. You won’t be you anymore. You’ll come out of this as a different ‘person’”.

Alpha, or Mason, sadly realized what Artemis meant by coming out as a different person. Even if he could consider himself a ‘person’ now. Mason continued to look straight at Marshall and spoke as if someone successfully taught a wolf to use human tongue. “I once lived on Mars and was wrongfully charged for a crime committed by a former friend. However, before I left to come to this planet, a Mars official came to me and asked me to become an agent for them to talk about their experiences on Earth. She added that she would help me have the charges dropped and go back to live my life. But for a small price.” Alpha looked at himself through the glass and said softly. “I gave up my humanity.”

Marshall just looked at the wolf-human, no, he looked at the wolf and felt anger. “So what? Did you give up your life to become this? What? What did you win from this experience?” said Marshall. Mason looked at him silently. “Nothing. That’s what I thought. Well, I hope you enjoyed the ‘experiences’ you were looking for.” Marshall said.

Mason responded, “I did. You made a mistake. And I need these flaws in this program, so do the others.” Marshall replied, “What was that?” Mason simply smiled and jumped through the glass and held Marshall in a chokehold. “You created us and we can destroy you, ″ explained Mason.

Marshall looked at the humanoid wolf with fear. He couldn’t breathe and soon Mason killed his creator and his other partners.

Mason quickly walked through several doors and looked inside to see people who went through the same trauma as he endured. “Don’t worry. We’re going to take this place and finally be treated right” the wolf-human told them. Mason walked further into the room and found who he was looking for. In the corner was another male wolf-human hybrid. His back was to the door and turned when he heard Mason’s voice.

Mason knelt to his friend and hugged him. “We’re going to get through this and go back to the way things were,” Mason told the other wolf. The humanoid wolf looked at him and said, “I don’t think that is possible anymore”. Mason lightly chuckled and pulled away, “We’ll see, Dante. Trust me; we’ll see”, he said as he walked out of the room.

Mason left the door open and walked into the transmission room and dialed a private code. He soon sees the same female Mars official, with who he agreed to this life change, appear in front of him. “Operation Relife-Niner is a go. We’re going to take this world and fix it with your help”, Mason reported to the official. “Good, I’ll see you soon,” said Artemis.

*****************************************************************

It’s been six months since Mason killed the creators and allowed Artemis entry onto Earth. The planet was taken over and turned into a place where psyches can live freely without judgment by others. Artemis was able to hack into the computers from the lab and discovered several experiments, past and current. Some of the people who were experimented on, like Mason, were innocent people, but either had no power to free themselves or were placed there because of personal reasons by the higher powers. Those reasons were sealed by the higher powers, so Artemis and her superiors leaked all of the information to the other planets. People across the galaxy were angry with the information that was presented to them and began to challenge the higher powers.

News reached the higher powers of the incident and the leak; they were furious that a psych had done such an atrocity. Arrest warrants were issued for Mason, Artemis, and anyone associated with them. However, civilians were not following through with the orders; only those in the higher powers’ inner circle were struck by them.

The head of the higher powers believed that they wouldn’t get anywhere with the warrants and made a visit to Earth, to speak with Mason and Mason alone. The head of the powers arrived at the planet and was met with 3 lion humanoids, acting as guards and greeters for any who arrives on Earth.

“I requested an audience with Mason.” said the head of the higher powers. The lion humanoids looked at each other and slightly stepped aside, allowing the head to walk towards the building.

Inside the building, the head of the higher powers viewed the status of the building as a garden-esque style of a building. Sunlight rains down on those who enter the building through the glass windows and the tree branches connected to the building. Plants nearly surround every inch of the room. The furniture is made either entirely out of wood or out of steel; making the room feel as though the warm tone of nature is bleeding into the cool tone of modern life. It’s almost as if both worlds are joining to make a new reality.

As the head of the higher powers walks deeper into the room, she hears movement in the tree branches above her. The head of the higher powers looks up and sees two human wolves jumping from branch to branch. One was moving around on all fours, while the other was moving on its hind legs as if trying to maneuver its way through the branches as a normal human would.

Laughter can be heard between the two. “Come on, Mason. It’s been months since you’ve changed and you still prefer to not move around on all fours.” said the one who was on all fours. “It’s more effective than being on twos most of the time.” He continued seating on the branch.

The human wolf, named Mason, the one the head of the higher powers was looking for was right above her. Mason appeared to start a reply when he looked down and saw the woman. The other wolf followed his gaze and saw the woman as well. Both jumped down and walked towards her.

“Who are you?” asked Mason as he assessed the woman to determine if she’s a threat or not. Lately, the humanoids on the planet were on guard because of unknown outsiders trying to come in and regain control of the planet. Regain control of the humanoids and continue making them suffer.

“I am one of the heads of the higher powers. You may call me Ava.” the woman replied. “And you must be Mason. I’ve been hearing stories of what you have done. Quite interesting to meet a psych face to face.” she continued. The other wolf growled lowly at her, signaling that he didn’t trust her. Even Mason wasn’t pleased when he discovered the woman’s identity.

“You’re with the higher powers?” the other wolf growled out. “Why did you come here? Did they order you to try and persuade us to end our new life here?” The wolf continued until he was nearly in front of her. Until Mason stopped him.

“Dante, step down. The higher powers wouldn’t be foolish enough to send one of their own here without protection.” Mason said to the other wolf, named Dante. He gave out a breath as he slightly turned towards the woman. “They must be desperate, considering what is happening in the galaxy.”

“We are not desperate, but we do want answers and a resolution,” Ava stated to Mason. “Now, I requested an audience with Mason. May I speak with you in private?” she said as she threw a glance at Dante, hoping he would leave them.

Dante, none too pleased with her tone, growled loudly at her. “I don’t follow the orders of the higher power. Not anymore.” He whispered the last part of his sentence.

Ava was able to feel the hostility coming from Dante and knew that the powers must’ve done something to him, but merely brushed it off and returned her focus on Mason.

Mason looked conflicted about the situation, but he knew what needed to be done. He, too, wanted answers and the only way to get them was through this woman. Mason turned to Dante, “I know how you feel, but there are some things that we still don’t know. The only way we can figure out how everything came to be is through them. Through her.” said his fellow humanoid.

Dante looked defeated but understood and supported what was said. He left the room and left Mason and Ava alone.

“Would you like to sit down?” Mason asked Ava as he gestured towards the seats in the corner.

“Yes, I do” Ava replied and walked towards the seats with Mason and sat down across from him. “So, why” she simply asked.

“Why what?” Mason asked. He was confused with how simple the question was from this woman. But, he believed that it could lead to any more than she was letting on. “Can you be more specific in your question?”

Ava leaned in closer to the wolf and repeated her question, but with more information behind it. “Why did you kill the scientists and take over the planet? What did you have to gain from your actions?” She said to him, hidden behind an invisible mask. Ava desperately wanted to know what were this humanoid’s motives behind it all.

Mason sat there in silence and pondered to himself; he asked himself the same question. He didn’t have a real motive or at least one that will be appealing to the human woman in front of him. At the time, he wanted to be freed from the false charges that were placed on him, but when Artemis offered him the deal and informed him about where Dante was; his main goal was to find Dante. Find his friend and better half who was lost in the dark and dooming planet. Everything else that followed was beyond his control. He wasn’t looking to cause this massive rift in the universe; he just wanted his partner back. Of course, some things were connected with what Artemis wanted him to do where he arrived on Earth, but again that wasn’t his true motive.

“Honesty at first, my motive was to get the false charges off of me and to avoid being sent to Earth. But once I found out that someone I care for was on this planet, that became my main motive.” Mason explained to the woman. “But slowly as time went on, I noticed the true horrors of this planet and what you and the rest of the higher powers were trying to do.”

Ava looked on with interest, waiting to hear more from the humanoid. “What did you learn about us in such a small amount of time here?” she asked.

“I learned that you all are so desperate to have your utopia. Your picture-perfect world at the expense of innocent lives who merely wanted to live their lives.” Mason went on to say, “You’re willing to remove the undesirables, so you and your friends can parade around, pat yourselves on your backs and praise each other for doing what? Doing good that’s what you wanted everyone to believe.”

“We wanted stability for the universe and if we need to remove those who were a threat to the people then so be it,” Ava argued back at Mason, to verify her and the higher powers’ stance on the psyches. “If we..”

“A threat?” Mason said, interrupting Ava before she can continue. “That’s what people who don’t follow or obey you are? A threat? Maybe the higher powers truly need to be removed. If that’s the mindset, you’re instilling in the people.”

Mason got up and begun to walk away from Ava. “I know that I angered you.” He heard Ava begin to speak. Mason stopped in his tracks and turned around, waiting to hear what else she might have to say. “I know that my presence angered everyone on this planet, but you must understand that what we did was to preserve the structure and stability of society that was once vibrant on the planet that you and your fellow psyches rule over.” Ava continued, walking towards Mason. A sense of pride and hope radiant off of the woman as she spoke in defense of her position and those who she viewed as colleagues. “We wanted to not only preserve it but also improve upon it. Make it better than it once was. Provide the galaxy with a perfect world. Free from all the imperfects that ruined this planet and caused all of us to seek out stability on other worlds”

Mason looked on as Ava walked towards him until she was standing directly in front of him, almost at arm’s length. “You see we want what you all want as well,” she whispered to him, a hint of sadness coated her words.

Mason looked into Ava’s blue eyes and saw sadness, want, and desperation. It felt like looking into Dante’s eyes when Mason was trying to get him adjusted to the new changes on the planet. But Dante kept voicing how he cannot adjust and constantly wished to return to his former life with Mason before all of this. However, the key difference between Dante and Ava was that Dante was the product of the society that wanted perfection at the expense of its people, and Ava was the enforcer, who wanted nothing but to build society anew for certain individuals.

“You’re right. We all want the same thing,” Mason stated. “But you and the higher powers went about it, the wrong way. This is why we will never see eye to eye on anything.” Mason looked straight into Ava’s eyes and made his next statement clear, “Tell them that we will never submit to their rules and we will continue to live out our lives here” Mason pointed to the ground, “and out there,” he pointed to the sky, “regardless of what you all expect from us.”

Mason moved back and began to fully walk away, without looking back. Ava watched as the wolf humanoid….the man walked away from her. She turned and exited the building, thinking about the words and views that they exchanged with each other. Ava concluded that she and Mason were alike in many ways if only she hadn’t accepted and submitted to the higher powers. She walked pasted the lion guards, boarded her ship, and left the planet with a new perspective on psyches.

Mason walked out into the gardens and found Dante, sitting by a lake, watching the small fishes swim about. Dante heard the approaching footsteps and turned to see Mason heading towards him. He stood up before Mason was before him. “So how did it go? Did you get the answers we’ve been looking for?” Dante asked.

Mason looked at Dante and then to the skyline, “I did. But it wasn’t something I was expecting to get.” He replied as he remembered Ava’s sadness and desperation as she tried to justify her and the higher powers.

“Every society and its people want to be perfect. More perfect than those around them. Than their predecessors. But they fail to realize two important things,” Mason said. “The first thing is that striving for perfection leads to downfalls. The pursuit to be that ideal society can end up blowing up in their faces and causing greater problems. Ones that cannot be fixed, no matter how hard they try to correct it or wish to forget about it.” Mason finished and watched the sun. He, then, closed his eyes.

Dante turned from the sunset and looked at Mason. “And what is the second thing?” He ushered Mason to continue.

Mason opened his eyes and looked at Dante. “The second thing is that perfection is boring,” Mason replied with a light laugh. “Being perfect sucks and is overrated. So much pressure to be the ideal for other people.” Mason continued, “I would rather be different. Be this.” He gestured to himself, “Then be forced to be someone’s little trophy to highlight their achievements to society.”

Dante smiled. He made his way to Mason and stood by his side. He sighed, “So what now? We continue to live out our days here and hope that someday things change.” Dante asked.

“Yes and no,” Mason said, wrapping his arm around Dante’s shoulder, “let’s go live out our lives out here,” he pointed to the ground underneath them, “and there.” He said, pointing to the stars that are slowly revealing themselves. “Like I said, so much pressure on being ideal. We already have the galaxy shaken. Let’s shake it some more.” Mason continued with a wide, bright smile.

Dante laughed at Mason’s cheery reply and brought him closer to him. Both of them know the struggles that were brought before them. The betrayals and angst that were thrown their way. However, they knew and understood that they had won a greater battle and that a hidden war was coming to an end. Hopefully with some good results. Regardless, the psyches might be the imperfections of society and may still be seen and treated as such; they were still beings in a greater picture and they knew that they had a unique play in life that the perfections will never achieve no matter how much they try.