Slip of the Tongue
The scientists shook their heads, looking at the bloody scene in front of them. One of their experiments had lost its temper and turned an obedience test into a massive brawl, resulting in multiple severely-injured critters. One of them sighed and looked at his boss. "They'll live, Simon, but they can't be used for normal testing anymore."
Simon shook his head in regret. "Agreed. We can still study them, see how they behave after injuries, but that's all they're good for. And AX-01 is a failure. Check his splices. He already fathered some young, right? Show them to me."
With a bit of hesitation, his subordinate led him to the pupper quarters. There, a group of black dogs were playing about, their weird genetics hardly visible. They rushed the scientists and pawed at their legs. Simon knelt and looked at one, causing it to lick his hands with their strange cat-like tongues, rough from the genesplicing experiments.
He sighed. "It's a shame, but the risk is too big. If any snap and the bosses find out we put resources into a failed line, they'll take it out of our hides. You'll have to get rid of the entire litter." Ignoring the objections, he turned away with a heavy heart.
Simon arrived home after a busy week. It's already been three weeks since the incident, and it was the first time he actually had any energy left. The cleanup and paperwork overtime had been gruelling, he didn't even get to meet his family's new pet yet. His wife greeted him with a tired smile, her own job as time-consuming as his.
With a nod to her, he walked towards the playroom. From outside, he could hear a playful bark, answered by hushes from his children. They clearly were trying to teach their dog proper manners, not entirely succeeding yet.
Simon entered, greeted by enthousiastic shouts from his children. He smiled and knelt to hug them. The dog, already not the size of a puppy anymore, joined the hug and licked Simon. The smile on his face faded as he recognised the rough texture.
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