MFS - 7 (Patreon)

Dr. Davis met us at the door.

“Wow, she’s progressed much quicker than we anticipated,” Dr. Davis said.

I nodded, looking down at Emily. “She’s essentially non-verbal at this point, though she does understand me.”

“What could have happened to accelerate the—“

Emily looked up at me and ooked. I felt myself blush.

“Ahh, we wondered what might happen if she experienced intimacy.”

“Well, we thought we’d at least have a look around. I think she still wants to be home, but perhaps there’s some things you could... train her?”

“Of course!” She picked up Emily’s hand. “Right this way, Emily, let’s get you introduced to some of the others."

We made our way through the facility. I saw orangutans, gorillas, little spider monkeys, different primates of all sizes, shapes, and colors in their own enclosed habitat environment. Some were working behind glass with a staff member, some had tablets similar to Koko’s, and some were sleeping, eating, or swinging from ropes or other equipment inside their enclosure.

“I know someone in here will be happy to see you,” she opened the door and Emily and I walked inside.

A chimp walked out of one of the enclosures. Aside from a bit of height and roundness of her head still, Emily resembled him almost completely.

“Koko?” Dr. Davis said. “Do you recognize Emily?”

Koko paused and brought up a tablet.

“Emily from the Stellaris?” came the eerie electronic voice.

“Yes, this is Emily.”

Koko nodded and went up to Emily.

“Hello Dr. Anderson,” Koko’s electronic voice echoed eerily in the concrete enclosure.

“Ook ook!” Emily responded.

“Perhaps Dr. Anderson can have a tablet like this also,” Koko looked at Dr. Davis.

“Of course, we have dozens of them.”

Emily nodded, her mouth opening wide, smiling as she “ook ooked.” In return.

“Why don’t we go into the learning center,” Dr. Davis said. “There’s a lot we need to talk about.”

We followed Dr. Davis into a wide open area with some tables and outdoor carpeting. Bookcases and shelves stretched along one wall, with the other being open air to the exercise area where different types of equipment had been installed. There were nets, ropes, climbing apparatus, water stations, food bowls, and other equipment and paraphernalia strewn across the area.

Dr. Davis sat at one of the small u-shaped tables. Koko quickly took a seat to the left of her, and after a few moments, Emily took a seat to the right of her.

“Now,” Dr. Davis took out a tablet and placed it in front of Emily. “This is a pretty standard tablet that we use here at the institute. Different primates can use this to different degrees, with Koko being the most fluent on it, aren’t you Koko?”

Koko took out his tablet and pressed, “Yes, Dr. Davis.”

“It has our patented printed input layout. You can see all the words here, and if there isn’t a word on the tablet, you can pull up a simple typing interface,” Dr. Davis said. “There’s qwerty and alphabetical layouts depending on your preference.”

Emily pressed a key. “Wonderful,” the electronic voice said.

“Emily, how are you feeling?”

Emily paused to look at the keys. “I am well.”

“Are you experiencing any pain or feelings of being sick or dizzy?”

“No,” Emily’s tablet said.

“Wonderful.” Dr. Davis pulled out a little flashlight. “I’m going to examine you, if that’s okay, Emily.”

“Okay,” Emily pressed.

Dr. Davis pulled out a notebook and peered into Emily’s eyes, into her nostrils, into her ears on each side of her head, then listened to her heart and lung function.

“Heart rate is about 110, temp about 98.6, and blood pressure is about 110/70.”

“110?” Emily said. “High?”

“Nope, that is natural for—“

“It is time I faced it.”

Dr. Davis nodded. “It’s perfectly natural heart rate for a chimpanzee, yes.”

“Dr. Anderson is more than Chimpanzee.” Koko’s voice interrupted.

“That’s right, Koko. Emily is more than a Chimpanzee.”

“No more Dr. Anderson,” Emily said through her tablet.

“Emily,” I said.

“Emily, no.” Emily began to get agitated and stared at the tablet.

“Take your time, Emily.”

“Not Emily. Not Dr. Anderson.”

“Oh, I think I see what she is doing,” Dr. Davis said. “You’re feeling the need for a new identity, Emily?”

“Yes!” Emily hooted and jumped up and down.

“You are no longer Emily the human. You are Emily the chimpanzee?”

She nodded. “Not Emily.” She paused for a moment, thinking.

“Kiki.”

“Hon, I just called you that in front of Roger so he wouldn’t think—“

“Kiki.” She pressed and made a new button. “Kiki the chimp. Me.”

“But baby—“

“No baby. No hon. No wife. Now just Kiki.”

“I think this is healthy, John. She can’t be your wife any longer, and if she feels the need to separate herself from her old identity, I think it would be a good thing.”

“So you want to be Kiki the chimp.”

Emily nodded, jumping up into my arms and kissing me with her leathery lips.

“Eww, monkey germs!”

Emily... Kiki, chittered and laughed, licking me some more.

After that, it was like the wheels came off of Emily’s identity. She shucked off her clothes and joined Koko out in the yard. They bounded from tree to platform to climbing apparatus. After a few hours of playing while Elaine and I watched and chatted, Emily came up to us, holding her head. She ‘ook ooked for a few moments, then took her tablet.

“Head hurt again.”

“Aww, babe... I mean, Kiki, I’m sorry.”

She tensed again, drawing into a hairy ball on the ground. Koko came over and lay next to her, and I sat stroking her fur as she clenched, and we could hear the bones grinding in her frame.

A short time later, it was over, and Kiki was able to climb to her feet. She’d retracted in height again, and her head was now lower than Koko’s by a couple of inches.

Dr. Davis knelt in front of Kiki and examined her, testing her eyes, looking into her ears, and measuring her heart rate and temperature.

“All within normal parameters,” she said.

“For a chimpanzee.”

She nodded. “I believe she may have finished her transformation since her skull and all her soft tissues now conform to the ideal.”

I nodded, looking down at her. She seemed tired, her eyes sluggish.

“Did you want to go home, honey?”

She didn’t respond, and it made my heart skip a beat.

“Please tell me you can understand me?”

“Kiki, are you hungry?”

Kiki rubbed her hand over her belly and nodded once.

Dr. Davis glanced up at me. “It may be that certain words don’t register. Keep things simple for now until she can regenerate her intelligence level.

Koko picked up a tablet. “I believe Kiki should stay here with us now.”

“No, Koko,” I said. “She loves being home and wanted to stay there.”

Dr. Davis nodded and filled a bowl with some ‘monkey chow’ that the team had handy. Kiki immediately took a handful and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing. Her eyes blinked slowly, and I could tell she was super tired.

“I think we’ll head home now,” I said. “Kiki’s tired.”

Kiki lifted her arms up, and I picked her up. She lay her head on my chest, and we left the Institute.

Getting home, once again, I had to lift her sleeping form into my arms, then navigate the way to the bedroom. Laying her down, I kissed her furry forehead, then turned off the light so she could get some rest.

I went out into the kitchen and made myself something to eat. It disturbed me a lot that she was so unresponsive. I hoped nothing more would happen; I couldn’t bear to think about life without Emily completely.

Tomorrow I would go back to Mission Control and meet with Dr. Bennet. It was time to get some answers