Research Note: Seven. (Video.)
[Helloooooo, Paradise. Have an Aster. It looks like the video's turned on -- and he's diligently working on something important, it seems. Oh, well. Let's just--
...wait, was that a loud screech of pain?
A closer look reveals a few things that weren't there before. Definitely not. Like the blood dripping off of the operating table that he's hunched over. The electric wires hooked up to... whatever monstrosity is strapped to said table. The rhythmic, almost nightmarish silence as the only sounds that can be heard being a panicked squeak of whatever animal that Aster brought back. Above him, the loud hum of electricity as a machine above him generates electric arcs that seem to fly all over the lab with little disregard to its destination.
Suddenly, a squelch of blood, followed by the low hum of electricity and various machinery as the creature goes silent for good.]
...tch. Yet again, the solution to my current quandary eludes me. Whatever.
[A clatter as Aster slams his hand against a nearby table -- wait, why's his hand sound metallic...? Either way, his voice sounds almost emotionless as the machine above him -- a magnetic transmitter, it looks like -- slows to a stop.]
Subject 00219, a local mammal weighing in at about 13 pounds. Withstood the addition and grafting of prototype mechanical system, codenamed Ares, for a full 9 minutes and 24 seconds before succumbing to its wounds. Project Typhon remains at a standstill.
[Finally, we get a view of Aster as he turns to look at the camera -- he's totally sporting a slasher smile on his face. Not only t hat, his hair and clothes are in disarray, covered in all manner of blood and animal parts as he stretches his right arm -- revealed to be a hulking piece of automail that has all manner of surgical tools and other devious objects welded into it.
He smirks a little at the camera, grabbing it with his normal arm and staring into the lens as he regards it like he would a specimen.]
I'm sure that you all saw that, but I quite frankly don't care. There's only so much science we can commit to under petty morality before progress grinds to a halt, you know. Only by freeing ourselves from the bonds of such can we truly reach scientific nirvana.
Now, who wants to be my next test subject?