A Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Short Stories - Special ...

his work area. His lab coat was hanging on the back of his chair and he was sitting in a
sort of slump. He figured he probably looked like he hadn’t slept in a week; but even so,
George looked back at him with sagging bloodshot eyes that closely watched the man’s
every move.
“Oh…What did you do then?”
He stared at him until the other man broke under the pressure and looked away.
“We injected different things into him when he was still an embryo.” He sipped his
coffee, grimacing as he swallowed it. “This coffee tastes like crap even when it’s cold.
God I hate this place,” he muttered. But the coffee was tolerable and he needed the
caffeine, so George tilted his head back and swallowed what was left.
He walked over to Shelly. The dog’s ears perked up and her tail thumped an
excited beat against the concrete floor as she caught George’s approaching scent. “You’re
here for one of those prototype tests, right?”
“Yeah.”
George chuckled. “So, how did you get lost? You even make it to the testing
room?”
“Heh, yeah I did, but I think I stepped into a teletube when I was trying to find the
bathroom.”
“I told them to put up a sign or move the telematt, but they never listen to me.”
George shrugged, his slim shoulders bunching under his wrinkled white shirt.
They talked for a while longer about simple subjects and George learned the
young man’s name and age and his reasons for taking up the advertisement job.
“You ever think about college or the military?” George asked.
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