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Description
An Experiment Gone Very Wrong
By
Jonathan Brothers

Re-Edited: 4/29/23

December 20, 2134

That night the laboratory had been decked out for Christmas. Large wide screens throughout the long space had various holiday images, including a realistic snow scene. People milled about laughing, dancing, and generally having a good time. Almost everyone there had some beverage in their hand.

Yet, unlike most screens showing holiday scenes, the largest monitor in the room displayed what looked like a single strand of DNA slowly rotating. Its appearance contrasted with the rest of the happy scene.

Once the current song had finished, an older gentleman climbed on top of a long counter at the center of the space. He held up his hand for everyone's attention. As everyone quieted, "Thank you for your work on the project this year. We have accomplished the most significant achievement in the world, the reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus genome."

A cheer rose throughout the entire space.

"But that means our job has only just begun. We are ready for our next research phase: analyzing and building a virtual Tyrannosaurus. Though, this new task won't be quick. I expect much work for the next decade," the gentleman informed them. Nearly everyone looked forward to the challenge. "I am sure everyone looks forward to the challenge!"

Most were eager for that next phase, except for one young researcher standing in the back. He did not share the older gentleman’s feelings toward the research. While the man was excited that they had created an entire strand of the dinosaur DNA, he did not want to wait a decade to see what the dinosaur looked like on a computer screen.

Dr. Julian Moor was still wincing inwardly after the last conversation with the gentleman. Julian wanted to use nanobots to create an actual T-Rex. To see it, hear it, and even smell it. Yet, the head of the project shot the idea down. He told Julian that nanobots were too unstable. That it was a discarded technology and unpredictable. A virtual dinosaur was just as good as a live one.

Julian disagreed. His side studies showed how to control the nanobots. To get the most out of them. He was eager to use them in a significant project to show the research community how wrong they were. Nanobots were not a danger. The accidents were caused by people who had no idea how to control those little machines, not how he handled them.

That was why this would be his last day with the group. He had already stolen a copy of the genome and secured funding from a private source. So, in essence, Julian thought of this as his unofficial going away party, just that no one else here knew about it.

July 12, 2135

A deserted warehouse sat on the other side of the United States along the west coast. Anyone walking past paid no mind. It looked like many other structures in that old industrial sector. Yet, there were so few people around that worrying about someone stumbling upon the building was unimportant.

Inside the long rusted corrugated metal building was a different story. The tall space looked like a modern lab. Lining the walls were various machines and monitors. Each showed extra bits of information. Some beeped and whirled, while others flashed standby signs waiting to be used.

Off to one side stood a large, heavy metal cage holding a small mature brown eagle regally standing on its perch. The pen could hold a couple of elephants with room to spare.

However, for such an ample, cavernous warehouse space, only a few people were moving about performing various tasks. In front of one large computer stood Julian in a white lab coat. He was typing in multiple bits of data to see the results.

Off to one side was another researcher by the name of Milo. He seemed to be working at one long white machine. Various mechanical arms were in the center of the thing, viewed by a clear Plexiglas door. He was upending buckets of chemicals into a receiving slot off to the side of the machine and waiting for the touch panel displays next to him to show that it was ready for the following chemical.

The third person, Edgar, stood before a long lab table, working on handheld devices. He picked up one and ran it over a test object, then peered at the device’s screen to see that it had scanned correctly. "I'm all done calibrating the scanners, doctor." He called out to Julian.

Julian looked up from the coding and ordered, "Go help Milo finish loading the assembler machine."
Edgar did as he was told and went over to help Milo. Both had gotten used to Julian's no-nonsense manner. They understood how important this project was to Julian. If everything worked out, not only would Julian become famous, but so would they, and maybe a bit rich. That was enough for them to put up with Julian's arrogance.

After some time, the two finished and started preparing the assembly machinery for the nanobot construction process. One monitored the area behind the clear plastic doors while the other worked on the touch screen, reading the machine's status. The device signaled it was ready once it had finished setting itself up.

"It's ready, doctor," Milo dutifully reported.

Not looking up from his typing, "Hold on, I'm just about finished with the last bit of instructions." After a pause, he stood up and pressed enter, sending coding to the assembly machine. It began to whirl and beep upon receiving its instructions.

The two assistants watched as it began to whirl around, following Julian's instructions. Each bit began injecting chemicals into a small vat. Once each amount had been added, the vat closed and spun around. Edgar monitored the process while Milo watched the physical actions. Julian barely paid attention as he began to prepare for the experiment.

After forty minutes, the machine signaled it was done. Edgar opened the shroud and pulled out a small injector. The device's clear chamber held a deep red liquid.

"It's ready, doctor," Edger called out.

"Then let’s inject the bird and prepare for the experiment," Julian replied as he accompanied Edgar and Milo to the giant bird cage. Milo reached out to unlock the cage while Edgar gave Julian the injection gun.

Just as they were about to enter the cage, the ground began to shake. At first, it was just a tiny wobble, but soon the earthquake increased in intensity. Everyone was fighting to stand on the shuddering ground. Edgar slipped and flung his arms out to steady himself. The arm holding the injection gun slammed into Julian. The force of the slam caused the gun to inject the nanobots directly into Julian's arm.

Julian cried out as his arm felt like it had caught on fire. He swore and raged at Edgar's stupidity. The two assistants rushed over to grab the sensors Edgar had prepared earlier.

Julian finally stopped swearing and began to rub his arm by the injection site. "Ok, ok. We need to use the D5 scanner to stop the nanobots before they begin to work." Milo grabbed the bulky scanner and rushed back to Julian. He waved it over Julian's arm.

After a few minutes, the machine beeped furiously while flashing a red light. "Sir, the scanner reads that the nanobots are not responding."

"What do you mean," yelled Julian.

"Sir, um, it says that the nanobots won't stop. They are starting the experiment." Milo said, terrified of the implications.

"But couldn’t we bombard you with gamma rays as we planned on using on the bird if something went wrong? Wouldn't that stop the micro machines?" Edgar un-assuredly proposed.

"Idiot! While the gamma rays would stop the nanobots, the radiation would also kill me," Julian raged. He began to calm himself down. He needed to think of a way to stop the nanobots before they began to transform him. He ran through his mind every way he knew to stop the machines. Yet, most would result in his death, and the others weren't as effective as the D5 scanner.

It finally dawned on Julian that he would be the experiment instead of the bird. He calmed his thoughts and came up with a plan.

"Ok, if the D5 scanner won't stop them and any other methods would kill me, we continue with the original experiment. Except I'll have to be the subject instead of that damn bird! You two are going to monitor me throughout the entire process. If it looks like I will lose my mind, place me in that cage and continue the process."

"Yes, doctor," both assistants replied obediently in unison. They hurried to follow Julian's instructions. Each was stunned by the situation and how the doctor wanted to continue the experiment.

Julian, on the other hand, began to pace bad and forth. He was running through his head everything he knew of the transformation. He knew how it would start and how the nanobots tended to work.

Right on time, within an hour of the injection, Julian began to come down with a fever. Sweat ran down his body in torrents. Pretty soon, he was removing his lab coat and soaked shirt.

Edgar rushed over with a scanner and began to take readings. Milo stood back to record. After grabbing the data, Edgar put the device down and helped his boss to a cot that Julian slept on occasionally.

Pretty soon, Julian's fever had risen enough to cause him to pass out. Edgar and Milo rushed to administer a variety of medicines. Edgar hooked up an IV bag of saline water while Milo began injecting drugs into Julian's other arm.

Once they had administered all the medicine they could, Edgar returned to grab the scanner, and Milo began shooting with the video camera again. They watched silently as Julian's fever progressed. Neither knew what to do other than follow Julian's instructions.

Within an hour, Julian began to moan in pain. Edgar decided to try the nanobot scanner again. He was fiddling with some of the device's settings. "Hey, I got a connection with the bots," Edgar exclaimed. Milo attached the camera to a tripod and rushed over to Edgar.

"Can you stop them?" Milo asked.

Edgar furiously typed in a couple of commands into the device. "No, they're still not responding to any commands." He went to the main computer and tried to access the nanobots there with little success.

"What do they say?" Milo hesitantly asked.

"The bots responded that they've begun replacing the doctor's DNA." Edgar peered closely at the data before quickly replying, "There seems to be a problem?"

"What," Milo rapidly replied with fear.

"It seems the bots aren't replacing all of his DNA. There will be some fragments still left?"

"What does that mean? How will it affect what's happening to him?"

"I don't know,” Edgar paused, thinking something over. “I expect that he'll need to eat," Edgar commented.

"What type of food?" Milo unsteadily replied.

"Anything with high amounts of proteins."

"Meat and beans?"

"Yea, both."

"Ok, I'll start shopping," Milo replied as he took care of his tasks. Meanwhile, Edgar returned to monitor Julian, who felt a deep throbbing pain. Edgar removed the IV and moved the video camera to a better recording spot.

However, Julian began to feel a strange, disconcerting sensation within the throbbing pain. One that seemed as if bones in his body were starting to grow.

Edgar watched his boss. There wasn't much he could do for Julian now. After scanning him, he realized any pain medication might cause unexpected complications and hurt Julian more than help him. So, all he could do was watch.

After a moment, Edgar noticed Julian’s body growing more prominent in various spots. Julian's hips were becoming more expansive, and his chest was becoming more rounded. It began to bulge outwards in the center. At the same time, his pelvic girdle was widening and changing to accommodate the now-changing bones in his legs.

Edgar saw that Julian’s clothes might hurt him more than cover up his modesty. Without hesitation, Edgar put the scanner down and rushed to a drawer where he kept some medical shears. Running back, Edgar began cutting the remaining clothing off Julian's transforming body. Milo, meanwhile, had hurried back with two full bags of food.

"Oh my god!" Julian called out in horror as he realized his hair was falling out. Yet, when he yelled, bits of white objects skittered across the bare concrete floor. Edgar saw this and looked down to see the white things were Julian's teeth.

Within minutes Julian looked around with an open bare gum mouth. However, Julian didn't have long to contemplate his predicament as he rolled off the creaking cot onto the cold gray concrete floor on all fours.

Grunting, Julian's spine began to push out from his rear while his skull began to push forward. His nose started to flatten out, forming a blunt snout along with his rapidly expanding jawline. Both of his ears withered and fell off, dropping to the ground. His eyes moved to either side of his head as his snout became more pronounced. Soon it had the same shape as a T-Rex.

Julian continued to howl in pain as his arms began to shrink and his legs grew more robust and prominent. The extension from his spine began to take on the form of a small tail rapidly expanding outwards into a long tapered flexible tail.

Julian's underside quickly reshaped itself, forming the same cloacae that both birds and lizards share. Meanwhile, his feet reformed into three large toes like certain large birds. Each large toe ended in a newly formed black talon. While what was left of his stubby arms ended in two tiny fingers.

Another wave of pain racked Julian's body. It caused him to let out a massive howl of inhuman and animal-like pain. Within his open howling mouth, sharp spiky teeth began to push their way out of his pink gums.

Julian's once-pink skin began to get thicker. Within moments it started to turn shades of brown and black in varying patterns. At the same time, various boney ridges formed along his head and at different spots on his body.

Julian stared with his two inhuman yellow eyes at the other two men with a horrified look. He tried to move his inhuman jaw to say something, but nothing human came out.

Edgar rechecked the scanner to see that the nanobots were nearly done. As he saw the almost complete counter, Julian began to gag. Both men looked over to see Julian trying to use his stubby arms. Shortly Julian started to make all sorts of weird sounds.

"Uggg, ug, ah!" Julian choked out. "I can, I can still talk," he said with an utterly inhuman voice. It sounded deep and gravelly.

Julian stood on his two dinosaur legs, trying to catch his breath. He looked around for something. Then over at Milo. "Did you get food," he asked expectantly.

"Yes, sir!" Milo quickly replied. He grabbed two bags and hurried over. One was full of raw packaged meat, and the other was full of vegetables. Julian looked at the two bags and felt a lurch in his stomach, seeing the vegetables as if he was going to be sick. Then looking at the meat, he began to drool in anticipation.

Without thinking, Julian lunged at the bag of meat, causing Milo to jump back in fear. He first tried to use his stubby arms to open the bag of meat. Realizing that wouldn't work, Julian stuck his head into the bag, used his teeth to tear into the packages, and bit off massive chunks of meat. Each bite slid down his greedy throat. After a couple of minutes of gorging himself, his belly felt full.

"Much better," Julian told the other two. "How am I still thinking and talking like a human?"

"We're not sure, sir. There was an unexpected error near the end, and then you could speak. The bots reported early on that they would keep some of your DNA." Edgar hesitantly replied to the small human-sized Tyrannosaurus in the middle of the warehouse.

"Let me see the scanner," Julian ordered. Edgar rushed over to show Julian the device's readout screen. After a moment, Julian walked over to the large computer he had been typing in commands earlier. As Julian walked over, his head bobbed up and down with each step like a bird while his tail swayed back and forth.

Julian tried to type on the computer with his two small stubby arms, but the things were not suited for typing. He growled in frustration. He would run his tongue around his mouth absentmindedly whenever he was frustrated. As he did that to think of a solution, he noticed that his tongue was much longer and more flexible than before the experiment.

Then it hit Julian; he stuck his tongue out and used it to type in commands. The other two stood back to watch his long pink tongue typing on the keyboard. His head bobbed up and down as he pressed various keys quickly.

After a few minutes, the computer began showing information on the screen. He peered at the data momentarily before replying, "It looks like the nanobots kept some of my human DNA, which is why I can still think. Plus, they modified my larynx so I can speak." Julian said absentmindedly before peering at the data again. He returned to typing in more data to understand what the readout meant. "Yet, it looks like the nanobots are replying to my query that they're not finished?"

Julian began to feel a rumbling in his belly again. He felt hunger pains, and his mouth began to salivate, dripping over the keyboard as he typed. "Both of you go back to the store and buy more meat, rump roasts, whatever is the largest amount of meat you can find," Julian growled to Milo and Eager. Both men jumped in fear and rushed out of the space.

He returned to the computer and tried to figure out what the nanobots were trying to do. They had already gone past their original programming and seemed to be following new instructions. He wondered who put those instructions in. Could one of his assistants have done this? Was all this on purpose? Julian quickly discarded the idea. Neither Edgar nor Milo knew how to program the nanobots.

Could this new program be an error? Could the nanobots be following their instructions? If they were, then what was their goal? What were they trying to do?

While thinking, Julian looked up to see that the counter said the nanobot's progress as it recalculated. The machine told him the nanobots were only sixty percent done.

"What do they have to do now," Julian said to an empty room as his stomach began to rumble again. Hunger pains racked his body. He had to eat soon.

Nothing else to do until his assistants got back; he began to pace back and forth, trying to get his mind off his deep hunger. His mind began to analyze the various scenarios for why the nanobots weren't done. None of them made any sense to Julian. He had only inputted the exact dinosaur genome and told them to affect a physical change based on that genome. Yet, why did they deviate, and why were they saying that his transformation wasn't complete?

He got no response when he tried to query the nanobots using the computer interface. He found errors when he ran the debug program, causing the nanobots to deviate from their original programming. Nor could he actively issue any commands to the bots.

Julian was becoming so frustrated that he let out a loud bestial roar. For a moment, he wanted to tear something apart. He was able to control himself and calm down. He had food coming and just had to wait.

While he could not do anything to stop or change their programming, Julian did think of having their actions monitored. He returned to the computer and began typing more commands with his flexible tongue. Soon he had a recording program monitoring the nanobot’s activity. He could use that program to reconstruct what happened later.

Within an hour, the two assistants were back carrying boxes full of meat. Julian rushed over to see all sorts of huge hunks of meat. While the two were moving more boxes in, he didn't wait. Sticking his dinosaur snout into each box, he greedily tore it into each meat package. Blood and gore dropped down his muzzle as he slurped each huge meaty bite.

Within ten minutes, Julian had consumed over sixty pounds of meat. His belly felt full, and sleep overcame him.

Edgar and Milo just stood there stunned. Julian had slurped down all the meat they had bought. What was left were discarded plastic bags, blood, and bits and pieces of meat that he had missed.

The two men began the slow progress of cleaning up. They were too stunned to speak and horrified at what was happening. Unspoken between them was that he would need to eat again, and they had no idea what to do. They couldn't just go and keep on buying slaughtered meat. It was expensive, and they needed to figure out how long that would satisfy Julian.

Edgar saw the computer read out on the main screen that told him the nanobot completion counter had been reset back to sixty percent. "He's not done yet?" Edgar incredulously replied.

"No, but he's a dinosaur now. What else needs to happen?" Milo whispered to Edgar.

"I'm not sure. But this is getting almost too much!" Edgar quietly replied as he went back to cleaning up the gory mess.

"Agreed."

"How are we going to feed him?"

"I'm thinking it'll have to be something living?" Milo guessed, unsure as to why he said it.

"Yes, but where will we get something large enough to feed him?" Edgar asked incredulously.

"I know of a place where we can get some livestock, but it won't be cheap."

"Agreed," added Edgar. The two began making calls. Soon, within five hours, a truck was backing up to the warehouse's roll-up door. Soon five cattle were mooing and baying in the cage that used to hold the eagle. The two men had already released the eagle and removed its perch.

While Edgar and Milo were procuring the cattle, Julian’s still-transforming body grew. He put on over a foot and a half in height and many feet in length. Along with that, his weight dramatically increased.

Before he went to sleep, Julian could still look the two men in the eye. Yet as he awoke, he saw that he was significantly larger. He had to look down to see his two assistants. The once sizeable feeling of the warehouse seemed smaller to him now.

Edgar was the first to see that Julian was awake. He almost backed up in fear when he glanced that Julian was significantly larger.

Hearing the cattle, "What's that sound?" Julian asked in a deeper gravelly voice than before.

"Um, sir, we realized it would be easier to get live animals than to continue buying slaughtered meat. Cheaper, I guess." Edgar quickly replied.

Julian eyed the fat caged cattle like a kid in a candy store. His heart began to beat faster, and feasting on one of them caused him to drool. "Good, very good. Bring one of them over here now!"

Milo and Edgar didn't want to anger the growing carnivorous dinosaur. They rushed to the cage, went inside, and selected one of the reluctant beasts. They got the cow outside the cage near Julian using a long cord and a cattle prod.

As soon as he saw the beast, Julian rushed forward with his eager jaws open and quickly slammed the cow against a machine destroying the device. Clamping down, his jaw ripped a sizeable bloody gash into the unfortunate animal's side, causing the entrails to spill onto the floor. Yet, before the two men could do anything, he had snapped off the cow's head and slovenly gulped down muscle, entrails, and other bits of gore as if it all was a delicate dish.

After what seemed like an eternity, Julian's appetite was sated. His head was covered in dripping gore, and he appeared almost languidly content with a full belly. All that was left of the poor beast was a bloody skeleton and bits of entrails that had not been eaten.

The central monitoring computer emitted a bunch of beeping. Going over, the three saw that an alert had popped up on the screen. It indicated that bots were beginning their next phase.

After a moment, Julian began to howl as fiery pain erupted throughout his body. His once stubby arms rapidly expanded outward, growing additional length and joints. The two fingers at the ends grew more significant, and a third grew in and formed a black talon thumb. His rear legs also reformed. They developed a little bit shorter. With a shift in his pelvis and spine, he was forced to stand on all four limbs.

While his legs were changing, his neck also began to grow longer. First, it grew out one foot, then another, and finally, his neck grew well over four feet from his expanding body. Julian realized he could swing his head around like a snake's body.

Meanwhile, Edgar could see that Julian's head also began to change. The ridges around his eyes began to push back as a flat space of reptile skin grew behind his eyes. Something began to push and move behind the new dinosaur skin. Soon the skin split open to reveal another yellow eye like his original right eye. When Julian swung his head, Edgar saw that another eye had also formed behind his left eye. Julian now looked about with his four-eyed enhanced vision.

By this point, Julian's entire body had grown nearly double the size he had been thirty minutes ago. But his change began to slow down. He was panting as if he was out of energy.

"More food!" Roared Julian in an even more resounding voice. He glared at the two assistants with his four eyes.

"Yes, sir!" They called out in fear and rushed over to the cage. By now, all the cattle were out of their minds with fear and tried to get as far away from Julian as they could in their cage. The two men struggled to pull another beast out. Julian grew impatient with the two men's struggles. He hurried over on his four legs and pushed his long neck into the cage.

He swung his neck about, batting both men out of the way. He snapped at whatever animal was closest. Finally, his jaws clamped down on another cow. Teeth sunk into the beast's hide and dragged the thing out of the cage, leaving a bloody trail behind. Once out of the cell, he quickly devoured every bit of the beast. He was crunching some of the cow’s bones in the process.

Blood ran all over the floor like a spilled bucket of water, and a wet gore smell pervaded the space from the sticky mess. Edgar had to watch his step to keep from slipping while Milo lost his balance and fell into the carnage. Getting back up, he was covered in stuff.

Both were too stunned to contemplate how dangerous the situation had become.

With more food in his belly, Julian's changes picked up, and his body expanded again.

Two strange growths began to form on either side of his long neck. They pushed out from his shoulders and grew outward. Once they had reached the same length as his neck, boney growths began to form at each end. Within moments each end formed a new head and was precisely like Julian's original down to their four eyes.

Julian was amazed at the new sensations these heads brought. He found he could see out of all twelve eyes, smell out of each set of nostrils, and independently move each mouth. It would take some getting used to being able to look at one thing while simultaneously looking at something completely different. He had three independent views of seeing things now.

"Very interesting," Julian said out of all three heads simultaneously. He focused momentarily before trying to speak out of just one head. Within moments, he spoke with his right head, "This is an interesting development!"

But his attention was pulled away from his recent growths. He felt something forming on either side of his body next to his shoulders. Julian bent both heads to watch as new bones began to form under his skin. Soon they pushed outward and downward toward the ground. He saw that the bones were creating limbs like his forelimbs. Before long, they ended with the same three fingers. He found he could move and flex them like his first two arms.

Other things began to change. Julian felt the tongues in his three mouths start to grow longer. Moving them around his mouth told him they were becoming relatively flexible. Sticking one tongue out, he saw he could push it nearly two feet beyond his jaws. Then he began to feel something grow under each tongue. It was soon revealed that those growths were even more tongues growing in. He now had two nearly three-foot-long tentacle-like tongues in each of his mouths.

Along with the changes to his head, his tail grew longer and more flexible, balancing out his three heads and necks. The very tip of his long tail split in three. Those splits ran up to his hind quarters, forming three full-length prehensile tails.

Julian began to grunt a little as he felt things start to push out from under his skin. He saw foot-long spikes form at the end of his snouts while more prominent horns grew behind each pair of eyes. More horns grew at each joint, and long sharp points grew at each tail’s ends.

Whatever pain Julian had been feeling began to subside. His body was starting to feel whole, almost complete. He did, however, feel some strange feelings coming from around his groin area, as if organs were growing within his body and rearranging other unchanged organs. Finally, even that strange feeling began to pass.

The computer console monitoring the nanobots in Julian's body began to chime repeatedly. He swung one of his heads over to see that it signaled that the bots were finished.

Ignoring Edgar and Milo momentarily, Julian moved his massive body closer to the computer. He lowered his head to the console and used all six of his flexible tongues to type in more commands. Hitting enter, he saw the machine respond that the nanobots had received the order and were complying by destroying themselves.

His transformation was complete.

While contemplating what he had changed, Julian realized why the scientific community had shunned nanobot technology. They would always deviate in some form from their original programming. Yet, on the other hand, he did like what they had done to him.

This new monstrous body was exciting. It meant he wasn't human anymore. But did he want to return to being a human after transforming into his?
Then a thought passed through his mind. He looked at Edgar and Milo, who were still too horrified to think of much. Julian swung his neck around to look at the assembly machine next to him that they used earlier to create the nanobots.

Trying to sound sympathetic, "Can you two help me load the assembler so I can return to normal?" He asked them with a deep voice.

That seemed to snap them back to reality and focus their minds. Realizing their boss wanted to become human again, both men rushed over to begin prepping the machine to start the reverse process.

Julian lashed out as soon as both men came into range of both heads. He didn't attempt to grab them with his jaws; instead, he wrapped his tongues around each man’s neck. Edgar was seized with Julian's right head while Milo was captured by his left head.

Julian lifted both men off the ground. Both fought to get out of the grip of Julian's wet tentacle-like tongues. Julian’s hot, stinky breath washed over their faces as each horrified man looked down at his vast open cavernous, fanged maws.

But before he did anything, Julian swung his center head to each man. Looking them in the eye before speaking, "You've both been loyal to me. Had helped me out when I required it. However, your services are no longer required, and I cannot permit you to live any longer," he said with his deep inhuman gravelly voice. Julian rapidly pulled both men into his mouths and snapped each jaw closed. He could feel a torrent of warm blood rushing down both throats as he finished chewing each man.

Not satisfied with those two tiny humans, Julian walked over to the cage and used one of his four arms to rip it open. Using his bulky body to block the exit, he darted both heads towards a frightened caged animal. Soon he was gorging himself on all three cattle at once. Each head dove in and grabbed as much meat as it could.

Finally satisfied, he returned to the lab’s center and sat to think. His six limbs curled up under his massive main body. Julian realized that while he was large enough to kill any human that might get in his way, he knew they still had enough weapons to kill him. He had to leave the building and escape humanity for a while.

Besides being an area devoid of humans who would discover his experiment, the industrial location also allowed him to move about unseen, even for a gigantic, evolved being like him. However, there would be very little food for him to eat in the area.

Some feelings from near his hindquarters told him that more of his new kind might be coming. He needed to find a spot where he could hide. Then when his numbers were large enough, they would return in strength. Humans would become food for their kind.

Julian went to the central console and began to type in more commands with a tongue. After seeing the information, he typed in a couple more orders. The machine started to flicker and sputter before going black and dead. Other computers linked to the main computer throughout the warehouse started to sputter and spark before dying. He began to destroy everything with his heads and tails systematically.

Assured no traces of his research were left, he went to the roll-up door and toggled it open. He poked a neck out to see if the coast was clear. Then he hurried out of the warehouse on his six legs.

He knew he needed to trek somewhere with enough large prey to keep his hunger sated and feed his coming young. He could hide someplace north with a large expanse of forest and yet let him hunt unimpeded.

With that, the monster that used to be Dr. Julian Moor began his long trek to a new life.

Description
An Experiment Gone Very Wrong
By
Jonathan Brothers

Re-Edited: 4/29/23

December 20, 2134

That night the laboratory had been decked out for Christmas. Large wide screens throughout the long space had various holiday images, including a realistic snow scene. People milled about laughing, dancing, and generally having a good time. Almost everyone there had some beverage in their hand.

Yet, unlike most screens showing holiday scenes, the largest monitor in the room displayed what looked like a single strand of DNA slowly rotating. Its appearance contrasted with the rest of the happy scene.

Once the current song had finished, an older gentleman climbed on top of a long counter at the center of the space. He held up his hand for everyone's attention. As everyone quieted, "Thank you for your work on the project this year. We have accomplished the most significant achievement in the world, the reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus genome."

A cheer rose throughout the entire space.

"But that means our job has only just begun. We are ready for our next research phase: analyzing and building a virtual Tyrannosaurus. Though, this new task won't be quick. I expect much work for the next decade," the gentleman informed them. Nearly everyone looked forward to the challenge. "I am sure everyone looks forward to the challenge!"

Most were eager for that next phase, except for one young researcher standing in the back. He did not share the older gentleman’s feelings toward the research. While the man was excited that they had created an entire strand of the dinosaur DNA, he did not want to wait a decade to see what the dinosaur looked like on a computer screen.

Dr. Julian Moor was still wincing inwardly after the last conversation with the gentleman. Julian wanted to use nanobots to create an actual T-Rex. To see it, hear it, and even smell it. Yet, the head of the project shot the idea down. He told Julian that nanobots were too unstable. That it was a discarded technology and unpredictable. A virtual dinosaur was just as good as a live one.

Julian disagreed. His side studies showed how to control the nanobots. To get the most out of them. He was eager to use them in a significant project to show the research community how wrong they were. Nanobots were not a danger. The accidents were caused by people who had no idea how to control those little machines, not how he handled them.

That was why this would be his last day with the group. He had already stolen a copy of the genome and secured funding from a private source. So, in essence, Julian thought of this as his unofficial going away party, just that no one else here knew about it.

July 12, 2135

A deserted warehouse sat on the other side of the United States along the west coast. Anyone walking past paid no mind. It looked like many other structures in that old industrial sector. Yet, there were so few people around that worrying about someone stumbling upon the building was unimportant.

Inside the long rusted corrugated metal building was a different story. The tall space looked like a modern lab. Lining the walls were various machines and monitors. Each showed extra bits of information. Some beeped and whirled, while others flashed standby signs waiting to be used.

Off to one side stood a large, heavy metal cage holding a small mature brown eagle regally standing on its perch. The pen could hold a couple of elephants with room to spare.

However, for such an ample, cavernous warehouse space, only a few people were moving about performing various tasks. In front of one large computer stood Julian in a white lab coat. He was typing in multiple bits of data to see the results.

Off to one side was another researcher by the name of Milo. He seemed to be working at one long white machine. Various mechanical arms were in the center of the thing, viewed by a clear Plexiglas door. He was upending buckets of chemicals into a receiving slot off to the side of the machine and waiting for the touch panel displays next to him to show that it was ready for the following chemical.

The third person, Edgar, stood before a long lab table, working on handheld devices. He picked up one and ran it over a test object, then peered at the device’s screen to see that it had scanned correctly. "I'm all done calibrating the scanners, doctor." He called out to Julian.

Julian looked up from the coding and ordered, "Go help Milo finish loading the assembler machine."
Edgar did as he was told and went over to help Milo. Both had gotten used to Julian's no-nonsense manner. They understood how important this project was to Julian. If everything worked out, not only would Julian become famous, but so would they, and maybe a bit rich. That was enough for them to put up with Julian's arrogance.

After some time, the two finished and started preparing the assembly machinery for the nanobot construction process. One monitored the area behind the clear plastic doors while the other worked on the touch screen, reading the machine's status. The device signaled it was ready once it had finished setting itself up.

"It's ready, doctor," Milo dutifully reported.

Not looking up from his typing, "Hold on, I'm just about finished with the last bit of instructions." After a pause, he stood up and pressed enter, sending coding to the assembly machine. It began to whirl and beep upon receiving its instructions.

The two assistants watched as it began to whirl around, following Julian's instructions. Each bit began injecting chemicals into a small vat. Once each amount had been added, the vat closed and spun around. Edgar monitored the process while Milo watched the physical actions. Julian barely paid attention as he began to prepare for the experiment.

After forty minutes, the machine signaled it was done. Edgar opened the shroud and pulled out a small injector. The device's clear chamber held a deep red liquid.

"It's ready, doctor," Edger called out.

"Then let’s inject the bird and prepare for the experiment," Julian replied as he accompanied Edgar and Milo to the giant bird cage. Milo reached out to unlock the cage while Edgar gave Julian the injection gun.

Just as they were about to enter the cage, the ground began to shake. At first, it was just a tiny wobble, but soon the earthquake increased in intensity. Everyone was fighting to stand on the shuddering ground. Edgar slipped and flung his arms out to steady himself. The arm holding the injection gun slammed into Julian. The force of the slam caused the gun to inject the nanobots directly into Julian's arm.

Julian cried out as his arm felt like it had caught on fire. He swore and raged at Edgar's stupidity. The two assistants rushed over to grab the sensors Edgar had prepared earlier.

Julian finally stopped swearing and began to rub his arm by the injection site. "Ok, ok. We need to use the D5 scanner to stop the nanobots before they begin to work." Milo grabbed the bulky scanner and rushed back to Julian. He waved it over Julian's arm.

After a few minutes, the machine beeped furiously while flashing a red light. "Sir, the scanner reads that the nanobots are not responding."

"What do you mean," yelled Julian.

"Sir, um, it says that the nanobots won't stop. They are starting the experiment." Milo said, terrified of the implications.

"But couldn’t we bombard you with gamma rays as we planned on using on the bird if something went wrong? Wouldn't that stop the micro machines?" Edgar un-assuredly proposed.

"Idiot! While the gamma rays would stop the nanobots, the radiation would also kill me," Julian raged. He began to calm himself down. He needed to think of a way to stop the nanobots before they began to transform him. He ran through his mind every way he knew to stop the machines. Yet, most would result in his death, and the others weren't as effective as the D5 scanner.

It finally dawned on Julian that he would be the experiment instead of the bird. He calmed his thoughts and came up with a plan.

"Ok, if the D5 scanner won't stop them and any other methods would kill me, we continue with the original experiment. Except I'll have to be the subject instead of that damn bird! You two are going to monitor me throughout the entire process. If it looks like I will lose my mind, place me in that cage and continue the process."

"Yes, doctor," both assistants replied obediently in unison. They hurried to follow Julian's instructions. Each was stunned by the situation and how the doctor wanted to continue the experiment.

Julian, on the other hand, began to pace bad and forth. He was running through his head everything he knew of the transformation. He knew how it would start and how the nanobots tended to work.

Right on time, within an hour of the injection, Julian began to come down with a fever. Sweat ran down his body in torrents. Pretty soon, he was removing his lab coat and soaked shirt.

Edgar rushed over with a scanner and began to take readings. Milo stood back to record. After grabbing the data, Edgar put the device down and helped his boss to a cot that Julian slept on occasionally.

Pretty soon, Julian's fever had risen enough to cause him to pass out. Edgar and Milo rushed to administer a variety of medicines. Edgar hooked up an IV bag of saline water while Milo began injecting drugs into Julian's other arm.

Once they had administered all the medicine they could, Edgar returned to grab the scanner, and Milo began shooting with the video camera again. They watched silently as Julian's fever progressed. Neither knew what to do other than follow Julian's instructions.

Within an hour, Julian began to moan in pain. Edgar decided to try the nanobot scanner again. He was fiddling with some of the device's settings. "Hey, I got a connection with the bots," Edgar exclaimed. Milo attached the camera to a tripod and rushed over to Edgar.

"Can you stop them?" Milo asked.

Edgar furiously typed in a couple of commands into the device. "No, they're still not responding to any commands." He went to the main computer and tried to access the nanobots there with little success.

"What do they say?" Milo hesitantly asked.

"The bots responded that they've begun replacing the doctor's DNA." Edgar peered closely at the data before quickly replying, "There seems to be a problem?"

"What," Milo rapidly replied with fear.

"It seems the bots aren't replacing all of his DNA. There will be some fragments still left?"

"What does that mean? How will it affect what's happening to him?"

"I don't know,” Edgar paused, thinking something over. “I expect that he'll need to eat," Edgar commented.

"What type of food?" Milo unsteadily replied.

"Anything with high amounts of proteins."

"Meat and beans?"

"Yea, both."

"Ok, I'll start shopping," Milo replied as he took care of his tasks. Meanwhile, Edgar returned to monitor Julian, who felt a deep throbbing pain. Edgar removed the IV and moved the video camera to a better recording spot.

However, Julian began to feel a strange, disconcerting sensation within the throbbing pain. One that seemed as if bones in his body were starting to grow.

Edgar watched his boss. There wasn't much he could do for Julian now. After scanning him, he realized any pain medication might cause unexpected complications and hurt Julian more than help him. So, all he could do was watch.

After a moment, Edgar noticed Julian’s body growing more prominent in various spots. Julian's hips were becoming more expansive, and his chest was becoming more rounded. It began to bulge outwards in the center. At the same time, his pelvic girdle was widening and changing to accommodate the now-changing bones in his legs.

Edgar saw that Julian’s clothes might hurt him more than cover up his modesty. Without hesitation, Edgar put the scanner down and rushed to a drawer where he kept some medical shears. Running back, Edgar began cutting the remaining clothing off Julian's transforming body. Milo, meanwhile, had hurried back with two full bags of food.

"Oh my god!" Julian called out in horror as he realized his hair was falling out. Yet, when he yelled, bits of white objects skittered across the bare concrete floor. Edgar saw this and looked down to see the white things were Julian's teeth.

Within minutes Julian looked around with an open bare gum mouth. However, Julian didn't have long to contemplate his predicament as he rolled off the creaking cot onto the cold gray concrete floor on all fours.

Grunting, Julian's spine began to push out from his rear while his skull began to push forward. His nose started to flatten out, forming a blunt snout along with his rapidly expanding jawline. Both of his ears withered and fell off, dropping to the ground. His eyes moved to either side of his head as his snout became more pronounced. Soon it had the same shape as a T-Rex.

Julian continued to howl in pain as his arms began to shrink and his legs grew more robust and prominent. The extension from his spine began to take on the form of a small tail rapidly expanding outwards into a long tapered flexible tail.

Julian's underside quickly reshaped itself, forming the same cloacae that both birds and lizards share. Meanwhile, his feet reformed into three large toes like certain large birds. Each large toe ended in a newly formed black talon. While what was left of his stubby arms ended in two tiny fingers.

Another wave of pain racked Julian's body. It caused him to let out a massive howl of inhuman and animal-like pain. Within his open howling mouth, sharp spiky teeth began to push their way out of his pink gums.

Julian's once-pink skin began to get thicker. Within moments it started to turn shades of brown and black in varying patterns. At the same time, various boney ridges formed along his head and at different spots on his body.

Julian stared with his two inhuman yellow eyes at the other two men with a horrified look. He tried to move his inhuman jaw to say something, but nothing human came out.

Edgar rechecked the scanner to see that the nanobots were nearly done. As he saw the almost complete counter, Julian began to gag. Both men looked over to see Julian trying to use his stubby arms. Shortly Julian started to make all sorts of weird sounds.

"Uggg, ug, ah!" Julian choked out. "I can, I can still talk," he said with an utterly inhuman voice. It sounded deep and gravelly.

Julian stood on his two dinosaur legs, trying to catch his breath. He looked around for something. Then over at Milo. "Did you get food," he asked expectantly.

"Yes, sir!" Milo quickly replied. He grabbed two bags and hurried over. One was full of raw packaged meat, and the other was full of vegetables. Julian looked at the two bags and felt a lurch in his stomach, seeing the vegetables as if he was going to be sick. Then looking at the meat, he began to drool in anticipation.

Without thinking, Julian lunged at the bag of meat, causing Milo to jump back in fear. He first tried to use his stubby arms to open the bag of meat. Realizing that wouldn't work, Julian stuck his head into the bag, used his teeth to tear into the packages, and bit off massive chunks of meat. Each bite slid down his greedy throat. After a couple of minutes of gorging himself, his belly felt full.

"Much better," Julian told the other two. "How am I still thinking and talking like a human?"

"We're not sure, sir. There was an unexpected error near the end, and then you could speak. The bots reported early on that they would keep some of your DNA." Edgar hesitantly replied to the small human-sized Tyrannosaurus in the middle of the warehouse.

"Let me see the scanner," Julian ordered. Edgar rushed over to show Julian the device's readout screen. After a moment, Julian walked over to the large computer he had been typing in commands earlier. As Julian walked over, his head bobbed up and down with each step like a bird while his tail swayed back and forth.

Julian tried to type on the computer with his two small stubby arms, but the things were not suited for typing. He growled in frustration. He would run his tongue around his mouth absentmindedly whenever he was frustrated. As he did that to think of a solution, he noticed that his tongue was much longer and more flexible than before the experiment.

Then it hit Julian; he stuck his tongue out and used it to type in commands. The other two stood back to watch his long pink tongue typing on the keyboard. His head bobbed up and down as he pressed various keys quickly.

After a few minutes, the computer began showing information on the screen. He peered at the data momentarily before replying, "It looks like the nanobots kept some of my human DNA, which is why I can still think. Plus, they modified my larynx so I can speak." Julian said absentmindedly before peering at the data again. He returned to typing in more data to understand what the readout meant. "Yet, it looks like the nanobots are replying to my query that they're not finished?"

Julian began to feel a rumbling in his belly again. He felt hunger pains, and his mouth began to salivate, dripping over the keyboard as he typed. "Both of you go back to the store and buy more meat, rump roasts, whatever is the largest amount of meat you can find," Julian growled to Milo and Eager. Both men jumped in fear and rushed out of the space.

He returned to the computer and tried to figure out what the nanobots were trying to do. They had already gone past their original programming and seemed to be following new instructions. He wondered who put those instructions in. Could one of his assistants have done this? Was all this on purpose? Julian quickly discarded the idea. Neither Edgar nor Milo knew how to program the nanobots.

Could this new program be an error? Could the nanobots be following their instructions? If they were, then what was their goal? What were they trying to do?

While thinking, Julian looked up to see that the counter said the nanobot's progress as it recalculated. The machine told him the nanobots were only sixty percent done.

"What do they have to do now," Julian said to an empty room as his stomach began to rumble again. Hunger pains racked his body. He had to eat soon.

Nothing else to do until his assistants got back; he began to pace back and forth, trying to get his mind off his deep hunger. His mind began to analyze the various scenarios for why the nanobots weren't done. None of them made any sense to Julian. He had only inputted the exact dinosaur genome and told them to affect a physical change based on that genome. Yet, why did they deviate, and why were they saying that his transformation wasn't complete?

He got no response when he tried to query the nanobots using the computer interface. He found errors when he ran the debug program, causing the nanobots to deviate from their original programming. Nor could he actively issue any commands to the bots.

Julian was becoming so frustrated that he let out a loud bestial roar. For a moment, he wanted to tear something apart. He was able to control himself and calm down. He had food coming and just had to wait.

While he could not do anything to stop or change their programming, Julian did think of having their actions monitored. He returned to the computer and began typing more commands with his flexible tongue. Soon he had a recording program monitoring the nanobot’s activity. He could use that program to reconstruct what happened later.

Within an hour, the two assistants were back carrying boxes full of meat. Julian rushed over to see all sorts of huge hunks of meat. While the two were moving more boxes in, he didn't wait. Sticking his dinosaur snout into each box, he greedily tore it into each meat package. Blood and gore dropped down his muzzle as he slurped each huge meaty bite.

Within ten minutes, Julian had consumed over sixty pounds of meat. His belly felt full, and sleep overcame him.

Edgar and Milo just stood there stunned. Julian had slurped down all the meat they had bought. What was left were discarded plastic bags, blood, and bits and pieces of meat that he had missed.

The two men began the slow progress of cleaning up. They were too stunned to speak and horrified at what was happening. Unspoken between them was that he would need to eat again, and they had no idea what to do. They couldn't just go and keep on buying slaughtered meat. It was expensive, and they needed to figure out how long that would satisfy Julian.

Edgar saw the computer read out on the main screen that told him the nanobot completion counter had been reset back to sixty percent. "He's not done yet?" Edgar incredulously replied.

"No, but he's a dinosaur now. What else needs to happen?" Milo whispered to Edgar.

"I'm not sure. But this is getting almost too much!" Edgar quietly replied as he went back to cleaning up the gory mess.

"Agreed."

"How are we going to feed him?"

"I'm thinking it'll have to be something living?" Milo guessed, unsure as to why he said it.

"Yes, but where will we get something large enough to feed him?" Edgar asked incredulously.

"I know of a place where we can get some livestock, but it won't be cheap."

"Agreed," added Edgar. The two began making calls. Soon, within five hours, a truck was backing up to the warehouse's roll-up door. Soon five cattle were mooing and baying in the cage that used to hold the eagle. The two men had already released the eagle and removed its perch.

While Edgar and Milo were procuring the cattle, Julian’s still-transforming body grew. He put on over a foot and a half in height and many feet in length. Along with that, his weight dramatically increased.

Before he went to sleep, Julian could still look the two men in the eye. Yet as he awoke, he saw that he was significantly larger. He had to look down to see his two assistants. The once sizeable feeling of the warehouse seemed smaller to him now.

Edgar was the first to see that Julian was awake. He almost backed up in fear when he glanced that Julian was significantly larger.

Hearing the cattle, "What's that sound?" Julian asked in a deeper gravelly voice than before.

"Um, sir, we realized it would be easier to get live animals than to continue buying slaughtered meat. Cheaper, I guess." Edgar quickly replied.

Julian eyed the fat caged cattle like a kid in a candy store. His heart began to beat faster, and feasting on one of them caused him to drool. "Good, very good. Bring one of them over here now!"

Milo and Edgar didn't want to anger the growing carnivorous dinosaur. They rushed to the cage, went inside, and selected one of the reluctant beasts. They got the cow outside the cage near Julian using a long cord and a cattle prod.

As soon as he saw the beast, Julian rushed forward with his eager jaws open and quickly slammed the cow against a machine destroying the device. Clamping down, his jaw ripped a sizeable bloody gash into the unfortunate animal's side, causing the entrails to spill onto the floor. Yet, before the two men could do anything, he had snapped off the cow's head and slovenly gulped down muscle, entrails, and other bits of gore as if it all was a delicate dish.

After what seemed like an eternity, Julian's appetite was sated. His head was covered in dripping gore, and he appeared almost languidly content with a full belly. All that was left of the poor beast was a bloody skeleton and bits of entrails that had not been eaten.

The central monitoring computer emitted a bunch of beeping. Going over, the three saw that an alert had popped up on the screen. It indicated that bots were beginning their next phase.

After a moment, Julian began to howl as fiery pain erupted throughout his body. His once stubby arms rapidly expanded outward, growing additional length and joints. The two fingers at the ends grew more significant, and a third grew in and formed a black talon thumb. His rear legs also reformed. They developed a little bit shorter. With a shift in his pelvis and spine, he was forced to stand on all four limbs.

While his legs were changing, his neck also began to grow longer. First, it grew out one foot, then another, and finally, his neck grew well over four feet from his expanding body. Julian realized he could swing his head around like a snake's body.

Meanwhile, Edgar could see that Julian's head also began to change. The ridges around his eyes began to push back as a flat space of reptile skin grew behind his eyes. Something began to push and move behind the new dinosaur skin. Soon the skin split open to reveal another yellow eye like his original right eye. When Julian swung his head, Edgar saw that another eye had also formed behind his left eye. Julian now looked about with his four-eyed enhanced vision.

By this point, Julian's entire body had grown nearly double the size he had been thirty minutes ago. But his change began to slow down. He was panting as if he was out of energy.

"More food!" Roared Julian in an even more resounding voice. He glared at the two assistants with his four eyes.

"Yes, sir!" They called out in fear and rushed over to the cage. By now, all the cattle were out of their minds with fear and tried to get as far away from Julian as they could in their cage. The two men struggled to pull another beast out. Julian grew impatient with the two men's struggles. He hurried over on his four legs and pushed his long neck into the cage.

He swung his neck about, batting both men out of the way. He snapped at whatever animal was closest. Finally, his jaws clamped down on another cow. Teeth sunk into the beast's hide and dragged the thing out of the cage, leaving a bloody trail behind. Once out of the cell, he quickly devoured every bit of the beast. He was crunching some of the cow’s bones in the process.

Blood ran all over the floor like a spilled bucket of water, and a wet gore smell pervaded the space from the sticky mess. Edgar had to watch his step to keep from slipping while Milo lost his balance and fell into the carnage. Getting back up, he was covered in stuff.

Both were too stunned to contemplate how dangerous the situation had become.

With more food in his belly, Julian's changes picked up, and his body expanded again.

Two strange growths began to form on either side of his long neck. They pushed out from his shoulders and grew outward. Once they had reached the same length as his neck, boney growths began to form at each end. Within moments each end formed a new head and was precisely like Julian's original down to their four eyes.

Julian was amazed at the new sensations these heads brought. He found he could see out of all twelve eyes, smell out of each set of nostrils, and independently move each mouth. It would take some getting used to being able to look at one thing while simultaneously looking at something completely different. He had three independent views of seeing things now.

"Very interesting," Julian said out of all three heads simultaneously. He focused momentarily before trying to speak out of just one head. Within moments, he spoke with his right head, "This is an interesting development!"

But his attention was pulled away from his recent growths. He felt something forming on either side of his body next to his shoulders. Julian bent both heads to watch as new bones began to form under his skin. Soon they pushed outward and downward toward the ground. He saw that the bones were creating limbs like his forelimbs. Before long, they ended with the same three fingers. He found he could move and flex them like his first two arms.

Other things began to change. Julian felt the tongues in his three mouths start to grow longer. Moving them around his mouth told him they were becoming relatively flexible. Sticking one tongue out, he saw he could push it nearly two feet beyond his jaws. Then he began to feel something grow under each tongue. It was soon revealed that those growths were even more tongues growing in. He now had two nearly three-foot-long tentacle-like tongues in each of his mouths.

Along with the changes to his head, his tail grew longer and more flexible, balancing out his three heads and necks. The very tip of his long tail split in three. Those splits ran up to his hind quarters, forming three full-length prehensile tails.

Julian began to grunt a little as he felt things start to push out from under his skin. He saw foot-long spikes form at the end of his snouts while more prominent horns grew behind each pair of eyes. More horns grew at each joint, and long sharp points grew at each tail’s ends.

Whatever pain Julian had been feeling began to subside. His body was starting to feel whole, almost complete. He did, however, feel some strange feelings coming from around his groin area, as if organs were growing within his body and rearranging other unchanged organs. Finally, even that strange feeling began to pass.

The computer console monitoring the nanobots in Julian's body began to chime repeatedly. He swung one of his heads over to see that it signaled that the bots were finished.

Ignoring Edgar and Milo momentarily, Julian moved his massive body closer to the computer. He lowered his head to the console and used all six of his flexible tongues to type in more commands. Hitting enter, he saw the machine respond that the nanobots had received the order and were complying by destroying themselves.

His transformation was complete.

While contemplating what he had changed, Julian realized why the scientific community had shunned nanobot technology. They would always deviate in some form from their original programming. Yet, on the other hand, he did like what they had done to him.

This new monstrous body was exciting. It meant he wasn't human anymore. But did he want to return to being a human after transforming into his?
Then a thought passed through his mind. He looked at Edgar and Milo, who were still too horrified to think of much. Julian swung his neck around to look at the assembly machine next to him that they used earlier to create the nanobots.

Trying to sound sympathetic, "Can you two help me load the assembler so I can return to normal?" He asked them with a deep voice.

That seemed to snap them back to reality and focus their minds. Realizing their boss wanted to become human again, both men rushed over to begin prepping the machine to start the reverse process.

Julian lashed out as soon as both men came into range of both heads. He didn't attempt to grab them with his jaws; instead, he wrapped his tongues around each man’s neck. Edgar was seized with Julian's right head while Milo was captured by his left head.

Julian lifted both men off the ground. Both fought to get out of the grip of Julian's wet tentacle-like tongues. Julian’s hot, stinky breath washed over their faces as each horrified man looked down at his vast open cavernous, fanged maws.

But before he did anything, Julian swung his center head to each man. Looking them in the eye before speaking, "You've both been loyal to me. Had helped me out when I required it. However, your services are no longer required, and I cannot permit you to live any longer," he said with his deep inhuman gravelly voice. Julian rapidly pulled both men into his mouths and snapped each jaw closed. He could feel a torrent of warm blood rushing down both throats as he finished chewing each man.

Not satisfied with those two tiny humans, Julian walked over to the cage and used one of his four arms to rip it open. Using his bulky body to block the exit, he darted both heads towards a frightened caged animal. Soon he was gorging himself on all three cattle at once. Each head dove in and grabbed as much meat as it could.

Finally satisfied, he returned to the lab’s center and sat to think. His six limbs curled up under his massive main body. Julian realized that while he was large enough to kill any human that might get in his way, he knew they still had enough weapons to kill him. He had to leave the building and escape humanity for a while.

Besides being an area devoid of humans who would discover his experiment, the industrial location also allowed him to move about unseen, even for a gigantic, evolved being like him. However, there would be very little food for him to eat in the area.

Some feelings from near his hindquarters told him that more of his new kind might be coming. He needed to find a spot where he could hide. Then when his numbers were large enough, they would return in strength. Humans would become food for their kind.

Julian went to the central console and began to type in more commands with a tongue. After seeing the information, he typed in a couple more orders. The machine started to flicker and sputter before going black and dead. Other computers linked to the main computer throughout the warehouse started to sputter and spark before dying. He began to destroy everything with his heads and tails systematically.

Assured no traces of his research were left, he went to the roll-up door and toggled it open. He poked a neck out to see if the coast was clear. Then he hurried out of the warehouse on his six legs.

He knew he needed to trek somewhere with enough large prey to keep his hunger sated and feed his coming young. He could hide someplace north with a large expanse of forest and yet let him hunt unimpeded.

With that, the monster that used to be Dr. Julian Moor began his long trek to a new life.