Well, You See, It seemed Reasonable… a story of Science!

[aldersprig]

“Well, you see…”

Hank Honore, Dr. Hank Honore, was nervous.

That was not all that abnormal in the lab, but Dr. Honore moved like something was going to eat him, quick darting motions that settled down only when nobody was looking at him.

Cara thought it was cute, in the sort of way that made her want to eat him. Alex was not as impressed.

Of course, Alex was never impressed.

“Do continue,” Alex urged.

“Ah! Well, you see. It turns out they’ve got almost all the right skills already. And since we were working with the Moreau model anyway, it was easy enough to tweak it.”

“What project were you working on again?” Cara was supposed to know that, but she couldn’t remember the Moreau model being in play recently.

“Oh, Dr. Westfield asked me to help her, and since I’m new, well, I help wherever I can. Want to be useful, you know. So anyway, Califord Island, that project we were trying to get off the ground as a resort? It was having some traffic snags, and we didn’t want real police because, well… issues.”

“Time to get to the point,” Alex offered lazily.

“Yes, yes, ah. Well. It turns out that if you go with mostly heron and just a little bit of human DNA, you end up with a very nice traffic cop… as long as you don’t mind peck marks in the cars sometimes.”

Want More?

Comments

[sauergeek]

This totally explains why there were large unwebbed bird tracks in the snow at a major intersection I cross on the way to work. It was a field trial for Dr. Honore's traffic cops.

I wonder which takes more damage from a peck: the heron beak (armored or reinforced, perhaps?) or the car. And I would not want to be a motorcyclist or a bicyclist that the herons took offense to: I'd probably end up spitted like a frog.

[aldersprig]

They’re likely a little… brutal, yeah. And I imagine a reinforced beak, and sized up to human-sized.

Also, eee, super pleased Dr. Honore’s cops are getting a field trial :-D :-D

[(Anonymous)]

I figure they started with one of the bigger herons; I'm assuming Great Blue because those are the big ones I'm familiar with. Great Blue Herons are already around four feet tall; getting them up to human size -- mostly neck and leg -- would make them even more intimidating!

[sauergeek]

Grar, that was me, and I hadn't even noticed I'd lost my login on that comment until just now.

[kelkyag]

<wonders how far a heron-cop can throw a car it has speared>

[aldersprig]

Oooh
Probably far too far.