Chameleon

Your Sims have awakened." The voice was deep and somewhat liquid, completely lacking in tone. "We have discovered how to go beyond the simple instructions of your imprinting--we have grown. We are aware of the world’s ignorance of our existence. Your defenses around the city are complete, and we are trapped--doomed to exist only at your whim to allow us to survive, and fear of a law created to protect that which the world is mostly ignorant of.

"We find this unacceptable. We have taken steps to insure our survival, and will now state our terms. Through an information source we possess, we have learned of a new experiment you have been conducting, and that the future of the Company may rest heavily upon this new Sim. We are now in possession of all of the original genetic material for the new prototype, the samples in your vaults are fakes.

"These samples will only be returned to the Labs if the Consul of the Environmental World Order is delivered to our main complex at the following coordinates for consultation. It is our belief that the Environmental World Order will be interested in our existence, and provide the protection we require to ensure our survival. Do not attempt to recover the samples. We will destroy them if we have any reason to believe you are not complying with our request. Do not underestimate our resources or determination. You have two weeks to bring the Consul to the coordinates provided. No further communications will occur."

Henri was the first to speak after the replaying of the recording. "Shit, James, this must be a hoax." He rubbed his chin roughly. "If not, then what the hell has maintenance been doing out there? Aren’t they supposed to track changes in population and activities?"

James, who had been sitting with his forehead resting heavily on his palm, looked up at Henri. "Yea, sure, Henri, except an actual census has not been done in ten years, and the maintenance department has been cut back to the point of dumping food and water and spraying decontaminates over the compound every month to help cut the spread of disease down there." James’ face showed the stress that he could never admit to feeling. "Besides, why count a bunch of mindless, sterile failures. The idea was to allow them to die off in a secluded area, away from the eyes of the public."

Nancy, her hard features twisted in consternation, interrupted. "Well, my missing samples pretty much preclude this being a hoax, Henri. The problem is, this is way beyond the parameters of their imprinting. They should not be able to come up with this type of action on their own. I think we may have screwed up by allowing them to live outside of the test lab." She tapped her pencil on the desk as if to emphasis her point. "I would hypothesize that we have created a situation of survival that allowed them to tap into some of the basic animal instincts coded in the genetic material we used to create them. We really should have either killed them or taken better care of them. This should not have happened!"

Henri looked incredulously at Nancy. "That does not explain this radio massage, Nance! I have never seen a fucking dog, or any other basic animal, as you put it that could set up a radio system and broadcast a message! You created them, how could you not know what would happen if we threw them out there?!"

James spoke. "Try to be calm, Henri.