LJ Idol Season 9, Week 12 - Barrel of Monkeys
This is part of a continuing story. In chronological order, the stories are:
Week 5, Week 9, Week 11, Week 4, this week, Week 7, Week 8, and Week 6
Jacob stood in front of the building, staring at it like it was about to reach out and bite him. He took a deep breath and visibly steeled himself before walking in. The long hallway held many windows but he barely looked at them as he moved past. The aviary and dog kennel held no interest for him. His focus was straight ahead, and waiting for him at the end of the hall.
“Jacob! It’s awfully good of you to come.”
“Dr. Lambert,” Jacob nodded. “You made it sound urgent, so I made the time.”
Jacob felt about 3 feet tall next to Bruce Lambert. He wasn’t short at 6’1”, but Dr. Lambert was nearly 6’7” and an ex-football player. He could probably make Arnold Schwarzenegger feel small. But it wasn’t just his size that intimidated Jacob. Dr. Lambert was the head of the entire project - avian, tursiops, canine, and primate - they all answered to him. And when you got singled out, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Well, I know you’re busy, so I’ll just get straight to the heart of the matter, Jacob. You’re running late with the estimated targets in your grant application, Doctor. Is there anything wrong?”
“No sir,” replied Jacob. “We are a few weeks behind schedule, but I expect to make up for it quickly, now. The initial hurdle has been overcome, and the subject is highly intelligent.”
“Subject? I thought you had implanted two devices?”
“We… have, yes. A second subject was implanted, but his mental capacity is a bit lower than expected. Still, it took some time to earn the trust of both the subjects and we believe that the weeks it required will be made up later in the process when we are ready to recruit more. We make progress with the second subject daily, as well, and we hope to reach agreement about implanting more subjects shortly.”
As Jacob finished his report, the two colleagues rounded the corner of the antiseptic hallway. The hallway opened up to a wide open spaces filled with trees, grass, nets, ropes and tires. Behind the fencing, several Orangs loped around the area in a playful manner. Jacob saw one especially bright looking little Rhesus dance his way across the top of some netting like a tightrope walker.
“You see, the project has proceeded exceedingly well with the Macaca program, and the Orangs are coming along nicely. Not only do we talk with them mind-to-mind, but some of the smarter monks have managed to work with the voder device and can speak directly to anyone, not just their pair-partner.”
Dr. Lambert touched his finger to his temple in a move that was purely Hollywood drama. “I’m letting my pair-partner know to come and say hello to you. He’s especially agile with the voder. I’m sure you’ll enjoy chatting with him.”
The monk who had performed the tightrope maneuver scampered down the net and followed along the fence line as they moved to the visitor’s area.
“Is that your pair-partner?” asked Jacob, stating the obvious to avoid an uncomfortable silence. “He’s a beautiful Macaca specimen.”
“Ah, so you have been studying something other than underwater species!” chuckled Lambert. “Yes, George is one of our prouder achievements. When he was first brought in, he was wild with anger. I had to work with him for days to get him to calm down and communicate.” Lambert’s emphasis on days, versus the weeks it had taken Jacob’s group, was not lost on him.
“George, say hello to Dr. Jacob. You don’t mind, of course, your first name is easier for the monks to encode.” The last was directed at Jacob, but stated as if the matter was accepted.
George’s fingers played over the encoding machine, “Good Morning Doctor Jakob.”
“Good morning, George.“
“Are your doll-fins ready to go to the stars, Doctor Jakob?”
“Not quite George, but we’re working very hard. We want them to go on the first ship with you.” He squatted down to look the animal in the eye. “We hope that all the species working together will make the best crew possible, and of course we want to be included.”
“That is good Doctor Jakob. The first planet we are going to has a lot of water. We will need you.”
George turned abruptly and left, scampering across the grass.
Lambert chuckled again as Jacob stood and watched George interact with the other monks.
“No matter how we work with them, we just can’t teach them the niceties of human interaction. Ah well, we never asked them to be human, eh Jacob? If their talents weren’t needed, we wouldn’t be taking them along. Guess we’ll just have to learn how to get along with their little vagaries, eh?”
“Yes sir, I suppose we will.” Replied Jacob, thinking privately that the dolphins had never been anything but polite. “Well, thank you, sir, for showing me around. It’s the first time I’ve been here since contact was made. It’s been fascinating. But I need to get back to work. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course, Jacob.” Lambert started across the grassy hill towards George. “And Jacob… I’d like a report Monday on your progress, and what you’ll be doing to step up your program.”
“You’ll have it, sir.” Jacob barely restrained the urge to salute as he left.
Week 5, Week 9, Week 11, Week 4, this week, Week 7, Week 8, and Week 6
Jacob stood in front of the building, staring at it like it was about to reach out and bite him. He took a deep breath and visibly steeled himself before walking in. The long hallway held many windows but he barely looked at them as he moved past. The aviary and dog kennel held no interest for him. His focus was straight ahead, and waiting for him at the end of the hall.
“Jacob! It’s awfully good of you to come.”
“Dr. Lambert,” Jacob nodded. “You made it sound urgent, so I made the time.”
Jacob felt about 3 feet tall next to Bruce Lambert. He wasn’t short at 6’1”, but Dr. Lambert was nearly 6’7” and an ex-football player. He could probably make Arnold Schwarzenegger feel small. But it wasn’t just his size that intimidated Jacob. Dr. Lambert was the head of the entire project - avian, tursiops, canine, and primate - they all answered to him. And when you got singled out, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Well, I know you’re busy, so I’ll just get straight to the heart of the matter, Jacob. You’re running late with the estimated targets in your grant application, Doctor. Is there anything wrong?”
“No sir,” replied Jacob. “We are a few weeks behind schedule, but I expect to make up for it quickly, now. The initial hurdle has been overcome, and the subject is highly intelligent.”
“Subject? I thought you had implanted two devices?”
“We… have, yes. A second subject was implanted, but his mental capacity is a bit lower than expected. Still, it took some time to earn the trust of both the subjects and we believe that the weeks it required will be made up later in the process when we are ready to recruit more. We make progress with the second subject daily, as well, and we hope to reach agreement about implanting more subjects shortly.”
As Jacob finished his report, the two colleagues rounded the corner of the antiseptic hallway. The hallway opened up to a wide open spaces filled with trees, grass, nets, ropes and tires. Behind the fencing, several Orangs loped around the area in a playful manner. Jacob saw one especially bright looking little Rhesus dance his way across the top of some netting like a tightrope walker.
“You see, the project has proceeded exceedingly well with the Macaca program, and the Orangs are coming along nicely. Not only do we talk with them mind-to-mind, but some of the smarter monks have managed to work with the voder device and can speak directly to anyone, not just their pair-partner.”
Dr. Lambert touched his finger to his temple in a move that was purely Hollywood drama. “I’m letting my pair-partner know to come and say hello to you. He’s especially agile with the voder. I’m sure you’ll enjoy chatting with him.”
The monk who had performed the tightrope maneuver scampered down the net and followed along the fence line as they moved to the visitor’s area.
“Is that your pair-partner?” asked Jacob, stating the obvious to avoid an uncomfortable silence. “He’s a beautiful Macaca specimen.”
“Ah, so you have been studying something other than underwater species!” chuckled Lambert. “Yes, George is one of our prouder achievements. When he was first brought in, he was wild with anger. I had to work with him for days to get him to calm down and communicate.” Lambert’s emphasis on days, versus the weeks it had taken Jacob’s group, was not lost on him.
“George, say hello to Dr. Jacob. You don’t mind, of course, your first name is easier for the monks to encode.” The last was directed at Jacob, but stated as if the matter was accepted.
George’s fingers played over the encoding machine, “Good Morning Doctor Jakob.”
“Good morning, George.“
“Are your doll-fins ready to go to the stars, Doctor Jakob?”
“Not quite George, but we’re working very hard. We want them to go on the first ship with you.” He squatted down to look the animal in the eye. “We hope that all the species working together will make the best crew possible, and of course we want to be included.”
“That is good Doctor Jakob. The first planet we are going to has a lot of water. We will need you.”
George turned abruptly and left, scampering across the grass.
Lambert chuckled again as Jacob stood and watched George interact with the other monks.
“No matter how we work with them, we just can’t teach them the niceties of human interaction. Ah well, we never asked them to be human, eh Jacob? If their talents weren’t needed, we wouldn’t be taking them along. Guess we’ll just have to learn how to get along with their little vagaries, eh?”
“Yes sir, I suppose we will.” Replied Jacob, thinking privately that the dolphins had never been anything but polite. “Well, thank you, sir, for showing me around. It’s the first time I’ve been here since contact was made. It’s been fascinating. But I need to get back to work. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course, Jacob.” Lambert started across the grassy hill towards George. “And Jacob… I’d like a report Monday on your progress, and what you’ll be doing to step up your program.”
“You’ll have it, sir.” Jacob barely restrained the urge to salute as he left.