"To get back to what we did. As I said, the technology and knowledge to do it have been in place for more than a decade. With a — "
"Excuse me, doctor," General Trollers interrupted. "Getting back to General Williams's question, I think everyone should know that there is a very strong belief that the Russians worked on their own version of the Synbat project as early as 1983, although our best intelligence estimates put them years away from achieving any sort of success. With the breakup of the Soviet Union we're not sure what the present status of their project is."
Riley had expected some sort of justification to be offered for the project. Even though the world had changed greatly in the last few years, it was interesting to see that the Russian boogeyman was still alive and well, even if in a diminished form. Riley was tempted to point out that in these circumstances they had met the boogeyman and it was ours.
Merrit tried again to pick up the story. "With a waiver from the Pentagon, we worked directly with human and baboon genes, splicing them. The splicing was easy. What wasn't easy was getting a viable splice. The Synbats you are after are the fourth generation of our first viable splice, which occurred after approximately twenty thousand attempts.
"Physically, again referring to their phenotype, the results are obvious. The Synbats are slightly smaller than the average human but far larger than the average baboon. Their feet are prehensile, which means they can use their toes for grasping and climbing. The hands, however, are mostly human, facilitating use of equipment designed for humans. They have a tail that is functional. Their skin is covered with a thin layer of brown hair.
"Their heads are perhaps the most unique part. They have extended jaws, retaining the fangs that baboons have. However, the forehead is not sloped back as in most primates. And that, General, is why you need to understand when I speak of what is visible and what isn't. We don't know the true capabilities of the Synbat. There are several reasons for that."
Colonel Hossey spoke for the first time. "Why don't you tell us about the capabilities you do know about, and then we can get into the speculative area. I'm particularly interested in their facility with weapons."
Merrit's voice settled into a dull monotone as she recited the facts. "The purpose of the project was to produce a replacement for the individual soldier on the battlefield. There were several base requirements given the project by the Pentagon. One, obviously, was the physical size and capability. We achieved that using genetic manipulation. Another was the ability to reproduce or grow these creatures rapidly. The theory was that we could create an army out of a laboratory given a limited time constraint — in effect having a test tube army always on standby. 'Minimal cost for maintenance with rapid potential' I believe was the phrase Doctor Ward used. We partially achieved that through manipulation of those genes that affect growth. That was Doctor Ward's area of expertise.
"The most critical factor, though, was intelligence. It was accepted from the start that we could not produce a creature capable of operating sophisticated machinery, such as missiles or aircraft, but we felt we could develop one that could handle an individual weapon. We wanted a creature that could follow a few simple commands and would fight. To do that, we needed a higher degree of intelligence than was currently present in the animal world or had ever been produced in genetic experiments. That is where the human factor entered. We used fetal tissue as the human gene source in the transgenic splicing. As I said — "
"Wait a second," General Williams interrupted. "Isn't that illegal?" Riley considered the question rather foolish, considering the scope of the entire Synbat project. What was one more bending or breaking of the rules?
"We received a waiver — or at least Doctor Ward said we did," Merrit continued in the same dead voice. "As I said, it took a lot of time and effort to find a viable match. It was as much a matter of luck as skill. On each generation, we continued to manipulate and improve. This was the area I focused on.
"We did achieve a high level of intelligence, but along with it an extremely high level of aggression. To deal with the aggression, Doctor Ward used depressant drugs in various combinations. I strongly felt that those drugs had a corresponding effect on the Synbats' capability to think, and I'll show you very shortly what happened when the Synbats were off their sedation.
"The Synbats' current weapons capability is very limited. They practiced handling mock-up weapons in the lab. This was the first generation that was ever actually taken out to the range. All four Synbats have spent three days on the range under the instruction of military people, practicing firing."
Lewis spoke now. "I've checked our records on that training. They can shoot; we've seen ample evidence of that. However, they don't seem capable of much else with a weapon, such as reloading or cleaning. When they empty a magazine, as far as they are concerned, the weapon is finished. Since the creatures were drugged when they were trained, there was some question as to whether the training would even hold."
"How about if they learn how to reload?'" Riley asked.
"Someone would have to teach them," Lewis answered.
"Did someone teach them how to escape or cut off their collars?" Riley inquired quietly. "The two men I lost had their load bearing equipment taken off them, which had their extra magazines in ammo pouches. There must have been a reason why the Synbats took those."
There was a brief silence as everyone considered that, then Merrit continued. "Mister Riley brings out a good point. We can't be sure what the Synbats are capable of. I don't think we should underestimate them. Just because we didn't teach them something doesn't necessarily mean they don't know how to do it.
"You have to understand reality from the Synbats' perspective. All they've ever known is the lab and the few trips to the ranges at Fort Campbell. Their instinct and sole goal right now will be survival. They attack for three reasons: their innate aggressiveness, a search for food, and what they view as defense against your attempts to track them down.
"Concerning the first two factors, the Synbats, by virtue of their rapid growth, are extremely aggressive and have a high metabolic rate. They have to eat at a rate equal to their accelerated life cycle. They are almost constantly ravenously hungry."
"If they grow quickly, then won't their life span be shorter?" Riley asked.
"Yes. These adult Synbats have only four more months left before their anticipated life span ends."
"We can't wait four months," Trollers commented.
"No, we can't," Merrit agreed. "They'll still want to survive, just as much as you or I would want to survive. They'll fight to live if they perceive a threat. You've already seen an example of that. The ones that came back attacked and tried to destroy what they viewed as a threat."
Merrit looked around the room, animation finally coming back into her voice. "My greatest concern, however, is that we have something out there totally unexpected."
"What do you mean?" Lewis asked.
"I mean there is a possibility that we've never really understood the true mental functioning of the Synbats. They are intelligent creatures — I don't think there is any denying that. I believe they are much more intelligent than Doctor Ward gave them credit for. Without the constraints of the laboratory, there's no telling what capabilities they may develop on their own or may already have that we didn't test for."
"Such as?" Riley asked.
In reply, Merrit walked over to the VCR and turned it on. "I'll describe what we're seeing, so those of you not with us can understand. This is a videotape made about three months ago. Whenever we worked in the containment area, we kept a person monitoring the video outside containment to check on what was going on inside. On this particular day I was inside and one of our assistants, Mark Donovan, was watching the monitor.