The Werewolf Principle

10

Excerpt from proceedings of senatorial inquiry (regional, Washington, North America) into the proposal for a programme of biological engineering as the basis for a colonizing policy on other solar systems.

MR PETER DOTY, committee counsel: Your name is Austin Lukas?

DR LUKAS: Yes, sir. I reside in Tenafly. New Jersey and am employed at Biologics, Inc. in New York City-Manhattan.

MR DOTY: You head up the research department of that company, do you not?

DR LUKAS: I am the chief of one of the research programmes.

MR DOTY: And this programme deals with bioengineering?

DR LUKAS: Yes sir, it does. At the moment we are especially concerned with the problem of developing an all-purpose agricultural animal.

MR DOTY: Would you please explain.

DR LUKAS: Gladly. Our hope is to be able to develop an animal which will provide several different types of meat, that will give milk, provide wool or hair or fur, perhaps all three. It would replace, we would hope, the many specialized animals which man has used in his animal husbandry since the Neolithic Revolution.

SENATOR STONE: And I take it, Dr Lukas, that you have some indications your research may result in some practical success.

DR LUKAS: Indeed we do. I might say that we have the basic problems licked. We actually have a herd of these animals. What we are trying for now are certain refinements. We have as our goal the development of a single animal which will replace all the other farm animals, supplying everything they now supply.

SENATOR STONE: And in this you also have some hope of success?

DR LUKAS: We are very much encouraged.

SENATOR STONE: And what do you call this animal that you have now, may I ask?

DR LUKAS: We have no name for it, senator. We haven't even bothered to try to think of one.

SENATOR STONE: It wouldn't be a cow, would it?

DR LUKAS: No, not entirely. It would have some bovine aspects, naturally.

SENATOR STONE: Nor a pig? Nor sheep?

DR LUKAS: No, neither of those. Not entirely, of course. But with some characteristics of both.

SENATOR HORTON: I think that there is no need to go through these long preliminaries. What my distinguished colleague wants to ask you is whether this creature you are developing is something entirely new in the way of life — a synthetic life, let's say — or whether it still can claim some relationship to present and natural forms?

DR LUKAS: That, senator, is an extremely difficult question to answer. One could say, in all truthfulness, that the present and natural forms of life have been retained and used as patterns, but that what we have is essentially a new kind of animal.

SENATOR STONE: Thank you, sir. And I wish also to thank my fellow senator for his quick perception of the direction in which my questioning was leading. So here we have, you would say, an entirely new kind of creature, distantly associated, perhaps, with a cow, a pig, a sheep, perhaps with even other forms of life…

DR LUKAS: Yes, with other forms of life. There may be a limit somewhere, of course, but at the moment we do not see it. We feel we may be able to keep on drafting various forms of life, fusing them together into something viable…

SENATOR STONE: And the farther you go in this direction, the farther you take this life form from its association with any present form of life?

DR LUKAS: Yes, I suppose you could say that. I'd have to think about it before I gave an answer.

SENATOR STONE: Now, doctor, let me inquire into the state of the art. You can do this biological engineering with animals. Could the same thing be done with human beings?

DR LUKAS: Oh yes. Certainly it could.

SENATOR STONE: You feel certain that new types of humanity could be created in the laboratory. Perhaps many different types.

DR LUKAS: I have no doubt of it.

SENATOR STONE: And once this had been done — once you had engineered a human to specific specifications, would that human breed true to the form you had created?

DR LUKAS: There is no question of that. The animals we have created have bred true. It should be no different with a human. It is simply a matter of altering the genetic material. That is what must be done in the first place, you understand.

SENATOR STONE: Let us get this straight now. Suppose you did develop a new human strain, then that strain would reproduce other humans of the self-same strain?

DR LUKAS: Exactly. Except, of course, for the tiny mutations and the variations which are implicit in the evolutionary processes. But that occurs even in the natural forms. That is how all life today evolved.

SENATOR STONE: And say you did create a new type of human being. Say, for example, one that would be able to exist under a condition of much higher gravity than we have here on earth, one that could breathe a different kind of air, one that could thrive on food which might be poisonous to the human being as he now exists, would you… Let me rephrase that question, if you don't mind. Would it be possible, would you say, to engineer such a life form?

DR LUKAS: You're asking only for my considered opinion, of course.

SENATOR STONE: That is right.

DR LUKAS: Well, then, I'd say it would be entirely possible. First, you would have to take into consideration all the factors involved and then draft the biological blueprint and…

SENATOR STONE: But it could be done?

DR LUKAS: Without any doubt at all.

SENATOR STONE: You could design a being which could exist under almost any planetary condition?

DR LUKAS: Senator, I must make it clear that I couldn't. The bioengineering of humans would not fall into my particular field. But yes, it does lie within the state of the art to do this. There are men working with the problem today who could do it. Not that there is any serious attempt at the moment to actually create such a human, but the problems, I understand, have been worked out.

SENATOR STONE: And the procedures, also?

DR LUKAS: That is my understanding. The procedures also.

SENATOR STONE: And these men, working with these procedures, could design and create a human which would be able to live under any planetary condition?

DR LUKAS: Well, not quite that sweeping, senator. Not any condition. Eventually, perhaps, but not now. And there would, of course, be certain conditions which would be entirely incompatible with life of any sort.

SENATOR STONE: But a form of human life could be created which would exist under a number of conditions which at the moment would prohibit human life as we know it.

DR LUKAS: I think that can stand as a fair statement.

SENATOR STONE: Then let me ask you, doctor… if such a life form were created, would it still be human?

DR LUKAS: It would be based, so far as possible, upon the biological and intellectual pattern of a human being. This would be necessary. You have to have a starting point.

SENATOR STONE: Would it look like a human being?

DR LUKAS: In many cases, it would not.

SENATOR STONE: In most cases, perhaps. Wouldn't that be right, doctor?

DR LUKAS: It would depend entirely upon the severity of the environmental parameters which would have to be met.

SENATOR STONE: In some cases, it would be a monster, would it not?

DR LUKAS: Senator, you will have to define your terms. What is a monster?

SENATOR STONE: All right, then. Let us say a monster is a life form that would be repugnant for a human being to look upon. A life form in which a human being could see no relationship to himself. A life form, confronted with which, a human might find himself terrified or horrified or filled with loathing and disgust.

DR LUKAS: Whether a man would be filled with loathing and disgust would depend, to a large extent, upon what kind of man he was. With the proper attitude…

SENATOR STONE: Let us forget about the proper attitude. Let us take an ordinary man or woman, any one of the people sitting in this room. Might certain people look upon this hypothetical creation of yours and feel loathing and disgust?

DR LUKAS: I suppose some of them would. And I want to correct you, senator. You say monster. This is not my monster. It is something you have conjured up…

SENATOR STONE: But some human beings would regard such a creature as a monster?

DR LUKAS: Some of them.

SENATOR STONE: Many of them, perhaps.

DR LUKAS: Yes. Perhaps many of them.

SENATOR STONE: Thank you, doctor. I believe that is all the questions that I have.

SENATOR HORTON: Now, Dr Lukas, let's take a little further look at this synthetic man I know that description is not entirely right, but I think it may please my colleague.

SENATOR STONE: A synthetic man, yes. Not a human being. What this so-called bioengineering proposal calls for is to colonize other planets, not with human beings, but with synthetic creatures which would bear no resemblance to human beings. In other words, to release upon the galaxy, a horde of monsters…

SENATOR HORTON Well now let's see, Dr Lukas let you and me agree with Senator Stone that such a creature might be fairly horrible to look upon. But how it might look would seem to me to be beside the question. What is important is what it is. Do you agree?

DR LUKAS Most emphatically sir.

SENATOR HORTON: Aside from how it might look, would you say it still would be a human being?

DR LUKAS: Yes, senator, I would. Its bodily structure would bear no relationship to what it would be. Its identity would rest within its brain and mind, its motivations and its intellectual outlook.

SENATOR HORTON: And its brain would be a human brain?

DR LUKAS: Yes, sir.

SENATOR HORTON: Therefore its emotions and motivations and outlook would conform to the human framework?

DR LUKAS: Certainly they would.

SENATOR HORTON: Therefore, it would be human. No matter what its form, it still would be human.

DR LUKAS: Yes, human.

SENATOR HORTON: Doctor, to your knowledge, has such a creature ever been made? By creature, I mean, of course, a synthetic human.

DR LUKAS: Yes. A matter of two hundred years ago or so. Two of them were made. But there was a difference…

SENATOR STONE: Just a minute, there! Are you referring to that old myth we hear occasionally…

DR LUKAS: Senator, it is not a myth.

SENATOR STONE: Have you documentation to back up your statement?

DR LUKAS: No, sir.

SENATOR STONE: What do you mean — no, sir? How can you come before this hearing and make a statement that you can't backup?

SENATOR HORTON: I can back it up. At the proper time I shall place the necessary documents in evidence.

SENATOR STONE: Perhaps, then, the senator should be sitting where the witness is.

SENATOR HORTON: Not at all. I'm perfectly satisfied with this witness. You say, sir, that there was a difference…

SENATOR STONE: Just a moment, there! I object! I do not think this witness is competent.

SENATOR HORTON: Well, let's find out. Dr Lukas, under what circumstances did you come upon this information?

DR LUKAS: About ten years ago, when I was doing some research for a paper, I applied for clearance to have access to certain records in Space Administration. You see, senator, I was following up what you call a myth. Not many people knew of it, but I had heard of it and wondered if it might not be more than a myth. So I applied for a clearance…

SENATOR HORTON: And you were given clearance?

DR LUKAS: Well, not right away, Space Administration was — well, you might call it reluctant. So finally I took the tack that in a matter a good two centuries old, no clearance was needed. That it no longer was a matter of clearance, but a matter of historical record. I don't mind telling you that I had a rough time making anyone see the logic of my argument.

SENATOR HORTON: But you finally prevailed?

DR LUKAS: Yes, finally. With considerable competent assistance, I might add. You see, the records at one time had been under the highest top security such material could be given. Technically, this security still applied. It took considerable argument to make it apparent that such a situation was ridiculous…

SENATOR STONE: Now, hold up a minute, doctor. Before you go on, one question. You said you had assistance.

DR LUKAS: Yes, I did.

SENATOR STONE: Could a considerable part of that assistance have come from Senator Horton?

SENATOR HORTON: Since the question concerns me, I'll answer if Dr Lukas will consent. I am quite happy to admit that I did lend him some assistance.

SENATOR STONE: All right, that's all I wanted. Just so it's on the record.

SENATOR HORTON: Dr Lukas, if you'll please continue.

DR LUKAS: The records showed that two hundred and twenty-one years ago — 2266, to be exact — two synthetic beings had been made. They were in the shape of humans and they had human minds, but they were constructed for a very special purpose. They were to be used in initial contacts with life on other planets, to be carried aboard exploratory and survey ships and used to gather data on the dominant life on whatever new planets might be found.

SENATOR HORTON: Now, Dr Lukas, without going into details at the present moment, can you tell us exactly how it was planned they were to do this sort of job?

DR LUKAS: I'm not sure I can make myself entirely clear, but I'll try. These synthetic humans were highly adaptable. You might have described them, for want of a better term, as plastic. The concept of open-endedness was employed — it couldn't have been developed earlier than ten years or so before, and it is unusual, to say the least, to find a concept as intricate as this bent to practical purpose in such a length of time. All the basic components of the constructed human bodies involved open-endedness — completed, you understand, and yet, in a sense, essentially incomplete. The amino acids…

SENATOR HORTON: Perhaps, for the moment, you will only tell us what these bodies were intended to do, without going into the principles involved.

DR LUKAS: You mean simply how they were intended to function?

SENATOR HORTON: If you will, please.

DR LUKAS: The idea was that once an exploratory ship landed on a planet one of the dominant species of that planet would be captured and be scanned. You are familiar, I think, with the biological scanning process. The structure, the chemistry, the metabolic processes — all the data which made the creature what it was — would be determined. This data would be stored in a memory core. Once this was done, the data would be transmitted to the simulated human which, because of the uniqueness of its biological open-endedness, would change into an exact copy of the creature which was described by the data in the tapes. This would not have been a slow process. Any delay would have been fatal. It must have been an uncanny thing to watch — a human being almost instantaneously changing into an alien creature.

SENATOR HORTON: You say the human would have changed into the alien creature. Does that mean in every respect — mental, intellectual, if the term implies, as well as…

DR LUKAS: The human would, in fact, become the creature. Not one of the creatures, you understand, but an exact copy of the creature from which it had been patterned. It would have that creature's memories and its mind. It would be able to pick up immediately where the other creature had left off. Released from the ship, it could seek out that creature's fellows and rejoin them and could carry out its investigations.

SENATOR HORTON: You mean it still would retain the human mind as well?

DR LUKAS: Well, that would be hard to say. The human mentality and memory and identity and all the rest of it would still be there, although perhaps deeply sublimated. It would exist as a subconscious that could be triggered to the surface. A compulsion would be planted for the human-turned-creature to return to the ship after a stated interval of time and once returned, it would be induced to revert to its human form. Once back in human form, it would be able to recall the memories of its existence as an alien creature and data which otherwise might have been impossible to obtain would be made available.

SENATOR HORTON: And, may I ask, how did this all work out?

DR LUKAS: That, sir, is hard to say. There are no reports as to results. There are records of them — both of them — having been sent out. But after that there is only silence.

SENATOR HORTON: Your surmise would be that something went wrong?

DR LUKAS: Yes. But I can't imagine what it might have been.

SENATOR HORTON: Something to do with the simulated men, perhaps.

DR LUKAS: Yes, that could be the case. There is no way of knowing.

SENATOR HORTON: They didn't work, perhaps.

DR LUKAS: Oh, they would have performed their function. There could have been no reason for them not to perform as they were planned. They would have had to work.

SENATOR HORTON: I ask these questions because I know that if I do not, my distinguished colleague will. Now let me ask you one of my own. Could such a simulated man be constructed today?

DR LUKAS: Yes, with the blueprints in our hands, there would be not a bit of trouble to build another one.

SENATOR HORTON: But no others were ever built, so far as you know, that is.

DR LUKAS: So far as I know.

SENATOR HORTON: Would you care to speculate…

DR LUKAS: No, senator, I would not.

SENATOR STONE: If I may interrupt. Dr Lukas, do you have some sort of descriptive term for the process which was employed to make such men as these?

DR LUKAS: Yes, as a matter of fact, we have. It is called the werewolf principle.