Erotica Harem

Title: CHIP 13.5

Chapter #:8

Author:Max


General:

Bill,

As always, my suggestions are offered in the kindest way. I tend to read/review things wearing my copy editor hat. When I suggest using another word, it’s just what I would do for my own writing. You may be happy with your original choice, and that is fine

This chapter was very clean with only a few areas that I commented on in the line edits. Finally, we get to find out what the CHIP project is all about! I like the way you used a reference to Baghdad, which ties the project in to current events.

I also like the way Sam is behaving: he’s a total professional on the outside yet he’s going nuts with worry over Allen’s disappearance.

Good stuff here. Can’t wait to read more!



Setting:

The project lab.


Referencing:

All seems in order here.


Characters:

Sam, Seth (project veterinarian), Dr. Sarnok


Plot:

Sam continues his investigation of the campus murders. Seth describes the CHIP project to Sam in detail. He then meets Dr. Sarnok, who is perturbed at the intrusion but then sees an opportunity to test the project by sending Teena to search for the Allen, who has been missing for 12 hours.


Grammar:

Just a few typos and missing commas. All addressed in the line edits.

Line Edits:


CHIP 13.5
Chapter 8


Sam waited in the conference room at the CHIP lab with the project veterinarian, Seth Harzik. Like the entire CHIP facility, the lab was new and sleek, jammed with chrome and stainless steel and teak paneling. A floor-to-ceiling window filled one wall of the conference room, looking out on a groomed campus that gave way to the College's forest preserve beyond. Late fall drizzle misted the windows. Outside, empty trees had alredy already begun their winter sleep.

"Dr. Sarnok will be with you shortly, Detective." Seth lounged in a conference room chair. One of his shirt tails trailed under his white lab coat, flopping over his stained slacks. "His class should be out in ten or fifteen minutes. Meantime, how can I help you?" He slurped at a diet soda.

Sam sipped at the gourmet coffee that Seth had served him. "You can start by telling me what happens in this lab, Dr. Harzik."

"Seth. Please call me Seth." He leaned back even further and put his feet up on a leather conference room chair, folding his hands over his abundant belly. "Well, you know this is an Army project?"

Sam nodded. "Top secret, I understand."

"Oh no, not at all." Seth chuckled and scratched at his fringe of gray hair. "Our methods are classified, but not our project." He shook his head. "I just don't know where these rumors get started."

"So then, tell me what the project is about."

"Well, it's simple, really. We're developing animals to help with search and rescue missions in urban warfare. Specifically, we're developing dogs with enhanced intelligence that can operate independently of human handlers."

"Superdogs?" Sam put his designer coffee cup on the conference room table and got out his notebook.

"Well, sort of. With training, a normal dog can acquire a vocabulary of as many as 200 words. But without enhancement, animals can't grasp grammar or syntax. They also generally don't have very good problem solving skills. These all seem to be related, controlled by the same genetic sequence. That's what our project is about." Seth stopped and guzzled about a quarter of his diet soda. "Our genetically enhanced dogs understand as many 800 words, and can follow grammar and syntax as well. And they can gather data and solve problems."

"You're telling me these dogs can talk?" Sam's tone dripped with skepticism.

"No, no." Seth chuckled again, indifferent to the scowl that earned him from Sam. "Dogs can't possibly talk. They don't have any of the necessary anatomical structures. What our enhanced dogs can do is understand what is said to them. They can recall and follow complex instructions. And they can figure things out and act independently."

Sam frowned. "You gotta be kidding?" Then he thought about how Allen talked about Teena. Maybe it wasn't so far fetched after all.

"I'm not kidding at all, Detective. There's a long tradition of using animals in combat, even after horse cavalry became obsolete. The Brits used carrier pigeons in the Second World War, and the Germans trained falcons to track down and kill the pigeons." Seth took another hearty swig from his soda. "Surely you know about police using dogs? In drug enforcement, for example?"

Sam nodded. "But this is an Army project. These superdogs will be used exactly how?" Sam wasn't bothering with notes, but kept his notebook open in case Seth happened to reveal something useful to the investigation.

"The idea is that the dogs will be sent into urban warfare settings, to find kidnap victims or even terror cells. They can move about without a human handler and will be equipped with radio locator collars. When they find the target, they can bite on a transmitter on their forepaw and the US cavalry comes to the rescue. Just like the movies."

Sam tried to keep his face impassive. "So you're breeding dogs for combat? Like pit bulls? Are they dangerous?" He remembered Brad's story about a dog putting a graduate student in the hospital.

Seth looked appalled. "No, no. These animals are trackers, not warriors. Their training suppresses any residual instinct they might have to attack. Their job is to hunt, to point. That's the great thing about dogs, their genotype is so malleable. They have so many instinctive behaviors to choose from."

"And the Army pays for this?" He waved his pen at the luxurious conference room and the manicured campus. "For all of this?"

"They sure do. And our results are showing it's worth it. The dogs have a, uh, high success rate in search simulations. Very high. When they're deployed, they can be used in places that troops can't go. They will save lives."

"How high is the success rate?"

"That is classified, Detective." An older man stood in the doorway to the conference room. He wore a tailored suit underneath his white lab coat. He held out his hand. "I'm Dr. Sarnok. I trust Seth has been helpful to you?"

Sam shook his hand and showed his badge. "I'm Detective Sergeant Sam Sondergard. Yes, he has been quite informative."

Sarnok favored Seth with a cold glare then looked back at Sam. "I trust he has been discrete as well. Our project is not exactly secret, but we don't hand out press releases either. I hope you understand."

"Of course, sir." Sam dropped the evidence bag with the CHIP tag on the conference room table. "Do you recognize this, sir?"

Sarnok poked at it with one finger, turning it over so he could read it. "It's one of our animal tags. It identifies a specimen from over three years ago." He glanced at Seth over his glasses. "That particular specimen was superseded by more advanced genotypes. Dr. Harzik would have been in charge of disposing of it."

"Uh, disposing of it?"

"Surely. It was an obsolete design, no longer needed. Our protocol calls for obsolete designs to be humanely disposed of." Sarnok stared at Seth, who concentrated on his soda can, turning it around and around in his hands. Seth now perched on the edge of his chair, not saying anything, not meeting Sarnok's gaze.

"You mean put to sleep." Sam wrote in his notebook.

"Exactly. Dr. Harzik will have records on the date and time for this specimen. That controls the experimental genotype, keeps it out of the general population." Sarnok poked again at the tag. "May I ask how you happened to come by this? It should have been destroyed with the specimen."

"It was found at a crime scene." Sam didn't see any reason to be more explicit.

Seth looked up at that. "A crime scene? You mean Dr. Eckhorn's habitat?" Sarnok snorted, but Seth ignored him. "Is that what this is about, those bodies they found at Dr. Eckhorn's site?"

"I can't comment on an active investigation. But what if it were found there, Seth?" Sam sipped at his coffee and put it down. It was cold.

"Well, look, the papers said those bodies were maybe from a serial killer? Someone who targeted young men?" Seth leaned forward and peered at Sam.

Sarnok snorted again. "Really, I don't see what this..."

"What if that were true, Dr. Harzik?" Sam ignored Sarnok, his eyes boring into Seth.

"I was thinking, one of our graduate students is missing."

"He's not missing, Dr. Harzik." Sarnok sniffed as he said it. "He's just derelict in his responsibilities and didn't come to class or work this morning. Really, he has no idea how inconvenient that is for me."

Seth nodded. "Exactly. Allen never misses class and certainly never misses a day at the lab. We were supposed to do the quarterly med check on Teena this morning, and he didn't show up. We'd even talked about it yesterday afternoon. It's not like him at all to miss an appointment like that."

He didn't show up to work? Fear stabbed at Sam's heart and his breath caught in his throat. Cool, stay cool, Detective. He jotted meaningless scribbles in his notebook. "What was that name again?"

"Teena. Really." Sarnok glared at Seth. "Dr. Harzik means CHIP.13.5, the experimental animal that's the subject of Mr. LeClerc's dissertation." Sarnok's mouth turned down and he looked disgusted. "There is nothing suspicious about this absence. Can we please get on with this so I can get back to my work?"

Seth's news smothered Sam's breath and ice filled his stomach. This can't be happening. He can't really be missing. He must be sick or something. Worry clogged his brain and fogged his senses.

As if from a distance, Seth's voice pounded through his fear. "But his roommate said he never came home last night. I called, when he didn't show up this morning." Seth stood for emphasis and his forefinger clicked on the table as he made his points. How about saying it like this: ‘Seth stood for emphasis, his forefinger tapping the table as he made his points.’ "He wasn't at work today and didn't go to class either. He doesn't have any friends or social life except for that dog. The lab is his whole life. He and Teena have a special bond."

"Graduate students don't need a social life. It gets in the way of their research." Sarnok turned to Sam. "Really, Detective, I'm quite busy. Do you have any real questions for me?"

Sam's head spun. He heaved a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heartbeat. "Dr. Sarnok. Seth. Is there someplace Allen might be? This could be serious, if he really is missing. We're hunting a serial killer who targets young men, men just like Allen. I think we should launch a search for him." That's it. Get the whole department looking for him. Shit, this is nuts.

Sarnok's dour expression didn't change. "Dr Harzik can take you to the administrative office for his file." Then his expression did change, becoming more animated. "Did you say a search, Detective?"

"Yes. Apparently Allen, I mean this LeCLerc felow fellow, has been missing for more than twelve hours. That's enough to warrant concern." Stay cool. That's what I'll tell the Chief. He pictured his reaction, and shuddered. The chief would never let him launch search for someone missing only twelve hours.

"A search. A search in an urban environment." Sarnok's eyes flashed as he sat down, at last invested in the conversation. "Please, let's talkcomma Detective. We're ready for an experimental real-world trial. Perhaps we can assist you in your search."

Harzik's mouth gaped. "You're not ready for this."

"I'm the sole judge of thatcomma Dr. Harzik. How about it, Detective? This is the perfect opportunity for CHIP.13.5 to prove the value of my research." He glared at Seth, who seemed about to speak. "And if the specimen and Mr. LeClerc really do have a 'special bond' as Dr. Harzik so romantically asserts, then so much the better, no?"

Sam sat frozen in his chair and reflected on Sarnok's words. "You mean send your superdog out to look for Allen?" He thought about the Chief, about his fellow cops. No way they'd search for Allen, not without a clear link to the serial killer investigation, not with him only missing fortwelve hours. This might be his best hope. "Tell me more. How do we know when Teena, when the dog, finds something?"

Sarnok's face split in a delighted smile. "We'll give you a transponder, Detective. Chip.13.5 will notify you when it has LeClerc in visual range, and the GPS unit will give you the exact location. It'll work here just like it'll work in Baghdad." Sarnok nodded and rubbed his hands together.

"Right, just like Baghdad." Seth's tone of voice did not make that sound like a ringing endorsement.

Maybe this'll work. At least it's a plan, Sam thought. "We're pretty short-handed, Dr. Sarnok. I’m sure the department will be glad for the help. Thank you, sir." Sam closed his notebook and hid his trembling hands under the table. "What are the next steps?"

Sarnok stood. "Follow me to the lab. I'll get you the equipment, and there will be some non-disclosures agreements for you to sign. Standard Homeland Security and DoD stuff." He glanced at his wristwatch, then peered over his glasses at Seth. "Dr. Harzik. Please see me in my office at, shall we say, three?"

Seth's face showed no expression. "Sure. Three."

Sarnok and Sam left the room together. Seth sat at the conference room table and finished his soda, staring out the window.