Day 242 - Rat Story

Rat Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

He had been called many many names, “Ronald the Rat,” “Ratman Ronald,” or “Ron the Rat Man.” Ronald did not enjoy any of them. He took his job seriously and he didn’t appreciate any of the jokes. Everyone knew Ron’s job was serious, but no one could take it too seriously or leave him alone. Ron was in charge of the rats. They were operated on, tested, trained and sent out into the world. Ron realized what his job sounded like – it sounded as if he was a modern day pied piper of sorts. He supposed things could be worse; people could be calling him that or singing one of the many songs and giving him copies of Crispian St. Peters’ music. It was very easy to make jokes. Ronald hated the jokes. It almost made him hate the rats he worked with. Almost.

In the beginning Ronald loved the rats and loved the project. Loved it so much he didn’t mind the jokes and often didn’t even hear them. It was science. Brainwave scans and signals and rebroadcasted thoughts. It was telepathy. Rat telepathy. It was really amazing. Ronald was military, but he had always had a fascination with science fiction. When he first heard about the idea he was hooked. He knew it was something he wanted to be involved in. He fought for the position. He begged and called in favors and was eventually reassigned.

Ronald began by taking care of the rats. He grew quite fond of them. They were his pets. His life. They became his friends. But that wasn’t what they were built for. Their brains had implants to receive signals that could be registered and turned into movement orders. There was a lot of work also being done with Transcranial focused ultrasound, but Ronald trusted the implants to work more reliably, especially over a great distance. The rats were going to be spread out all over the world. The signals needed to be reliable over a great distance.

Ronald trained and found himself in a position to also manage the movements of his rats. They were his thoughts. They were his commands. In a way they were his actions around the world. Spy craft. Espionage. Assassination. The rats did it all. They could get in nearly anywhere. They could find the hardest to find fugitives. Some were equipped with disease. Others with explosives. Ronald saw it all and could control it all. It was a little too easy. It was a little too fun. It was a little like a video game. Ronald killed a lot of people in the name of all that was holy and honorable and right, and yet it was a little too dehumanized and twisted. Ronald didn’t care about what he was doing.

Ronald cared when they took the man out of the equation. It was determined that a computer could do the job better and more efficiently, no human decision-making required.

Ronald made a decision. For some reason it didn’t bother him that he had been sending them to die, somewhat because he was still there, still a part of it, still in control of their fates. Like a madman father, he still cared enough to be a part of their destruction. It really bothered him that he had been removed from the control seat, that they had been stolen from him. It broke his heart a little. So he decided to break the military’s little science experiment. He sent a final signal and set his rats free.