<em>Personal Log of Doctor Thomas Sabellius Steinman</em><br/><br/><strong>LOG BEGINS</strong><br/><br/><strong>Entry #731 - Date █-██-████</strong><br/><br/>GC-472 has been successfully introduced into the testing area.  Subject's vital signs read as normal, though heart rate is registering as higher than normal.  No doubt it is still becoming acclimated to its new-found existence.  Thus far it seems to be adapting quite well, unlike GC-471 and its predecessors.  No signs of sensory overload or aggression.  Subject is curious and seemingly eager to inspect both its surroundings and its handlers, though for the time being its mobility is minimal.  Further observation will be required before a solution to that problem can be implemented.<br/><br/>I have a good feeling about this one.  I have learned from my mistakes, though it has been a long and grueling process riddled with callous errors and human incompetence.  It is frustrating to depend on those that are incapable of comprehending the true breadth of my work and accomplishments thus far, though I have come to expect this from my subordinates.  Regardless of their personal failures, my work has progressed magnificently.  GC-472 is nearly perfect.  Should everything proceed as I envision it will, only a few more generations will be required before I am within reach of my True Vision.  But I get ahead of myself.  I care nothing for superstition, but I speak too hastily.  The experiment continues, and I have much work to accomplish yet.<br/><br/><strong>Entry #742 - Date █-██-████</strong><br/><br/>Dr. █████ came to me today expressing his concern over last week's incident.  He believes that GC-472 should be quarantined or, preferably, terminated.  He was intensely agitated when I told him what a preposterous idea that was, that doing so would be a tremendous waste of resources.  And all over the contamination of a mere research assistant.  Considering the heavy losses endured when GC-471 escaped its containment, I should say that this is a marked improvement.  He would have none of it, stating firmly that its aggressive behaviour towards females renders it useless to GenCorps.  I dismissed him, and later discovered that he had been copulating with this woman after hours.  Dr. █████ has since been terminated from the program.<br/><br/>It is certainly a flaw that I am somewhat displeased with, but the transformation that has taken place because of it is nothing short of fascinating.  The woman in question has had her entire genetic code rewritten, and now has more similarities with a FructaFille than a human being.  Yet it is not only capable of reproduction, but implicitly<em>designed</em>for it!  This is entirely unprecedented in all my years of research.  GC-472-1 and its variations have all shown signs of adapting based on the environment that they are grown in.  Could it be that GC-472 is capable of adapting other organisms as well?  This warrants further investigation, but GenCorps seems intent on tying me up in red tape.  It was a poor decision of mine to include in the report that the woman is still fully conscious and aware of her surroundings.<br/><br/><strong>Entry #842 - Date ██-██-████</strong><br/><br/>Certain unfortunate incidents have occurred in the past week that have required me to instate new regulations for those coming into direct contact with GC-472.  Its previous handlers have grown far too fond of it, and certain members of the staff have begun to humanize it in their research logs.  This is to be expected in this particular line of work, especially when the subject has a distinctly human appearance above the waist.  No, what distresses me are the displays of outright compassion or obsession prevalent among certain handlers and researchers.  Though GC-472 is incapable of vocalizing whatever thoughts might be going through its head, it has a habit of caressing its handlers when they come to care for it.  At first I dismissed this behaviour as natural, but I now believe that some other force may be at work.  It all came to a head several days ago, when its primary handler removed his own enviro-suit and attempted to<em>copulate</em>with GC-472.  It took several minutes to disengage him from the act, primarily because GC-472 suddenly began to show signs of aggression when anyone else attempted to draw near.  The handler has since been terminated.  As was the resulting batch of seeds, once they fully developed.  While I would normally pursue further experimentation, the perverted nature of the incident nauseates me.<br/><br/>It is my hypothesis that GC-472 is capable of pacifying organisms in its immediate vicinity, and that prolonged exposure to this effect results in feelings of sympathy or attachment within the afflicted.  In the case of the handler, this manifested as outright lust, which GC-472 seemed all too happy to encourage.  That it has never initiated copulation of its own accord perplexes me, given its aggressive reaction to females.  Perhaps it acts out of jealousy, wishing to keep the attention of all males firmly upon itself.<br/><br/>Only I know the full extent of GC-472's mental development.  It is intelligent, of that there is no doubt, and its capacity for learning is virtually limitless.  If we were to actually teach it, I fully believe that it would completely outpace the average adult human in terms of intellect in a matter of weeks.  Yet for now it seems content to remain docile in its cell.  For now.  I have seen the way it looks after its handlers as they exit the holding area.  Surely it must be curious of where they are coming from and going to.  Is it merely waiting for an opportunity?  Perhaps it is time that me and my creation meet face to face.<br/><br/><strong>Entry #843 - Date ██-██-████</strong><br/><br/>I believe that it is time to begin development on GC-473.  The ultimate goal of this project is to create an organism capable of absorbing and purifying the pollutants that we have poured into the soil over the past few hundred years.  Though that is not<em>my</em>goal, that was all that GenCorps needed to know in order to realize the incalculable profit they stood to make should the experiment prove a success.  GC-472 has proven successful beyond my wildest dreams.  It is frighteningly adaptive, both mentally and physically.  Any and all synthetic enhancements have been completely integrated into its body, completely indistinguishable from organic tissue.  GC-472 and its variations have also become more advanced, more durable, and even more intelligent.  However, I believe that I have made a grievous miscalculation.  GC-472 is far more intelligent than I initially realized.<br/><br/>For the first time since the beginning of this phase of the experiment, I entered the containment area.  GC-472 reacted almost instantly, heaving its considerable bulk around until it was fully facing me.  It looked at my face in the most peculiar fashion, like it recognized me perfectly.  Like it knew who I was.  It extended one of its pedipalps in my direction.  I shook it, and it shook back with enthusiasm.  And then, extending one of its legs, it began to draw in the dirt.  I could only stand in shock as, in perfect English, it spelled out a single sentence:<em>"I've waited so long for you to come, Papa!"</em><br/><br/>GC-472 is currently on full lockdown.  Of course it is little wonder that GC-472 would be able to write or read or speak, if it possessed the ability to do so.  GenMods in the past have shown such capabilities; indeed, I have<em>created</em>many specifically to see if it was possible to replicate human intelligence in such a creature with astounding success, though I am to understand that my work has been causing GenCorps no end of stress as of late.  The key difference is a simple one.  We<em>did not teach GC-472</em>.  Though occasionally handlers would hold conversations when tending to it, it is inconceivable that it was able to work out the entire English language just by listening to what was, to it, nothing more than the idle bleating of a strange bipedal animal that fed it from time to time.  Furthermore, how could it have known that I was its creator, let alone recognize me by my face?  I have watched every second of surveillance footage over the past year without fail.  There is only one conclusion, and it is supported by a terrifying piece of evidence.<br/><br/>It has been documented that GC-472 uses its cranial feelers in order to better sense its surroundings, including its handlers.  Given its adaptive nature, there is a possibility that these feelers serve a far different purpose than originally intended.  It could be that GC-472 is capable of directly tapping into the thoughts and memories of other organic organisms by touch alone.  If this is true, the implications are tremendous.  Cataclysmic!  Imagine what insights a thorough dissection of GC-472's brain could yield.  Imagine the improvements that could be made to GC-473 as a result!  The possibilities make my skin break out into a cold sweat.  I have not felt such excitement in years!<br/><br/>But, as I mentioned, the piece of evidence.  I cannot believe it took me so long to make the connection.  How the other handlers didn't catch it I'll never know (quite literally, as they have since been terminated).  When I looked at its face there could be no doubt: it had changed to<em>resemble that of the woman that it had infected nearly one year ago.</em><br/><br/><strong>END LOG</strong><br/><br/>Dr. Steinman's spidery fingers came to a halt over the keyboard as he ended his current entry, sweeping the mouse casually across the screen to close it back to the conspicuously bare desktop.  He snapped the laptop shut and steepled his fingers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/rcburner/SteepledMan.jpg), staring off into the wide narrow space leading from his bare wooden desk to the heavily fortified door.  The Doctor enjoyed the security that his position afforded him almost as much as he enjoyed watching nervous researchers hastily scamper through the long, dark hallway to stand before him.  Most of them couldn't even bring themselves to look him in the eyes, such was his reputation.  He considered it a sign of respect, though he was well aware that there were plenty of people that wanted him dead.  Some of them were even working in this very facility, because he had put them there himself.  In rather<em>dangerous</em>positions.<br/><br/>GC-472 was not the only specimen being held at Site #144, and it was far from the most lethal.  It also served as a breeding facility for military-grade bioweapons and other GenMods that were considered too dangerous or too secret to be developed or detained anywhere else.  Site #144 was something of an urban legend within the company, and almost entirely unheard of outside of it.  It was generally considered unhealthy to know too much about it unless you were actually working there, in which case your life expectancy took a sudden and drastic plummet.  Containment breaches were rare, but devastating.  The greater the security threat, the deeper the level of the facility.  There were things that even Dr. Steinman shuddered to think of, detained in the absolute depths of the building near geothermal vents.  Abominations kept solely for their possible scientific value, or because they were too expensive to kill.  Or, in some cases,<em>impossible</em>to kill by any conventional means.<br/><br/>But they were not his concern anymore.  The lessons learned in their creation would go to good use, and that was all that mattered.  The past meant very little to him so long as the future promised new developments and surprises.  Until he was granted approval and funding to begin work on GC-473, he could only dwell upon the current specimen of the<strong>GAIA Project</strong>.  GC-472 had allowed him to make great strides in his research, but had ultimately proven too unpredictable.  Despite his best efforts to control every aspect of its genetic code, it had still somehow managed to develop along a path that he had been completely incapable of foreseeing.  Evolution at work.  Given enough time, GC-472 would have the potential to become the Supreme Organism.  But that would be its own accomplishment, not his.<br/><br/>"The Ultimate Lifeform..." he whispered tremulously, the very idea giving him pause.  History would deem GC-472 as yet another in a long line of failures, but the child that would be born from their deaths would be unlike any other.  Steinman would make sure of that.<br/>