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It wasn’t very professional in his line of work to mourn the deceased. Chester had sent dozens to die for not being as efficient and gifted as the others on his team. Did Chester think Sylvester or any of the others deserved to die? No. Did he agree with the way the Solar King chose to motivate Chester and the other necrologists? Also no. Was there anything he could do to improve the situation?

Chester ran his hand along one of the counters in the lab. The sterile surface was smooth as ever. He couldn’t detect any dust or residue.

“Perfection,” he murmured.

It was such a beautiful ideal. Such an unobtainable ideal. And yet, Chester wasn’t going to give up on the dream of perfecting the process. They were so close, he could feel it. This past week they had made great strides. For better or worse, the newest member of the team, Smythe Hark, was quite remarkable and had contributed significantly to the advances they’d all made. As such, Mr Hark was safe this week. On the one hand, Chester was glad to have such talent on his team. On the other hand, Mr Hark was…not popular among the other necrologists. There wasn’t any one thing the man did that made him unpleasant. Rather, he had a general, abrasive atmosphere that followed him around. Not everything he said was rude, but there were enough comments to add up over time. He wasn’t the most fanatically devoted citizen of the Solar King, but he didn’t miss an opportunity to contribute his praise.

His competence also meant that one of the other members of the team would be sent to die later that morning and Chester was debating within himself about who it should be.

“It shouldn’t be anyone,” he muttered under his breath even though he was alone in the lab.

The others weren’t due to begin arriving for the day’s work for another half hour or so. It was for that reason that Chester was caught off guard when the lab doors opened and Smythe Hark strode in.

“Good morning,” he said.

Chester nodded to him, somewhat confused.

“You’re here a bit early,” Chester said, making a point of it to look up at the clock on the wall.

“I had some ideas last night,” Smythe said with clear excitement in his eyes, “and I think, if you and I work quickly, we could give it a try before his brilliant eminence arrives.”

That got Chester’s attention.

“Although,” Smythe went on, “my idea requires a new sample.”

Chester looked over to the ape lying on the table. It was breathing slowly, staring off into space. Alive, after a manner, but still not able to act independently. It was also in the early stages of liver and kidney failure.

“I’m always eager to hear your new ideas,” Chester said and he meant it. “But, it’s a bit close on time to be starting a whole new sample.”

Smythe was already in motion, calling up a new ape sample and prepping the neural gel.

“I know, but I just can’t wait, since if I’m right, none of us will need to be executed for failure.”

He was reordering the compounds that made up the neural gel now, comparing the notes he’d brought with him against the computer’s readout.

“Could you prep the sample?” he asked Chester without taking his eyes off his work. “I think I’ve figured out the whole intravenous delivery for the gel.”

Chester considered the situation for a moment. If this worked, Smythe could easily prove this breakthrough was his own and potentially take Chester’s position as lead necrologist. It wasn’t that far off from how Chester had risen to this position himself. Was that Smythe’s intention? Was he angling for Chester’s job?

More concerning was the risk they both ran if this didn’t work out. The Solar King didn’t like it when Chester presented him with half-baked ideas that had been thrown together last minute.

“I’ll own the failure if it doesn’t work out,” Smythe said as he correctly interpreted Chester’s hesitation. He looked up from the neural gel console with a knowing grin, “and I’ll share credit equally with everyone on the team if it succeeds.”

“Very well,” Chester said at last. “I’ll clear the other sample to make room.”

He pressed a few buttons and the ape currently lying on the table was incinerated. Smythe blanched.

“We could have kept that, just in case I’m wrong,” he said.

“I understand that,” Chester agreed, “but the Solar King doesn’t like us hedging our bets. Only one primary sample should be on the table when he arrives.”

Smythe nodded, clearly nervous now, and Chester tried to hide his smile. If this didn’t work, Smythe would likely have suggested they incinerate that one and just show the old sample to the Solar King. It’s what Chester would have done if their places were reversed. This way it would force them both to do their best work on the sample as well.

As the other necrologists began to arrive, Chester caught them all up to speed on what was happening and assigning them their rolls.

“This is madness,” one of them whispered to Chester upon hearing what they were doing.

“It’s mister Hark who’s on the line for this one,” Chester assured the necrologist. “If he’s wrong, then my decision later today will be made for me. If he’s right, then I won’t need to make any such recommendations to the Solar King. Either way, everyone else here has nothing to worry about as far as today is concerned. Just do your best.”

That seemed to satisfy the ones who were concerned by the sudden change in plans.

They all had their areas of expertise and as Chester reviewed Smythe Hark’s notes, he had to admit it was well thought out.

“Injecting neural gel now,” one of the necrologists announced.

The new gel, much thinner than previous iterations, flowed through the tubes and into the ape’s neck.

“Initiate bio-electric dampening field,” Chester said.

The ape, which up until this point in time had been struggling against the straps holding it down to the table, went limp.

“We have full cardiac arrest,” Smythe said a few moments later. “Neural gel is flooding the brain now. Stand by to initialize reanimation.”

All eyes were on the screen where the neural gel’s progress was being displayed.

“We’ve reached full saturation,” Chester said, “deactivate the dampening field.”

A few wires ran into the ape’s chest, connecting directly to its heart. As soon as the bio-electric dampening field was off, electrical pulses through those wires began to jolt the heart.

“Sample is responding,” someone said, though Chester wasn’t paying them much attention anymore.

The ape was moving, or trying to. It was still strapped down to the table. Its eyes opened and it strained against the straps, trying to sit up. Chester activated his neural up-link and was immediately able to connected to the ape.

“It’s all right,” Chester told it, “you can relax.”

The ape stopped straining.

“Incredible,” Chester whispered.

“It’s working?” Smythe asked, breathless as he looked from the ape to Chester and back again to the ape.

“Slaves!” Boomed a familiar voice, catching them all of guard and making several of the necrologists jump. “Out!”

Quickly, everyone besides Chester hurried out of the lab.

“It is always an honor to be in your presence, my Solar King,” Chester bowed.

“What is your report for this week?”

“I cannot yet determine the longevity of the sample’s organs,” Chester began, “but the neural connection is strong and the sample has been acting autonomously on the instructions given to it.”

The Solar King looked, for the first time in Chester’s experience, impressed.

“Show me,” he commanded.

“Blink,” Chester told the ape.

It blinked.

“Show me your teeth.”

It widened its mouth into a toothy grin.

“How much training have you needed to run this sample through? The Solar King asked.

“None, your Radiance.”

“What about mobility?”

“We haven’t yet tested that parameter,” Chester admitted and then explained. “This sample was only completed this morning, Solar King.”

“Then have it walk for me.”

The Solar King stepped back from the table and Chester disconnected the straps, hoping the ape would at least be able to get off the table on its own. As soon as it was free, even before Chester issued it a command, the ape sat up, looked around the room, and then hopped down to the floor.

“This is all spontaneous behavior, your Golden Eminence,” Chester said.

Together they both watched the ape as it moved about the lab, sometimes picking instruments up, sniffing them, and then moving on.

“Incredible,” the Solar King said. “And you can control it as well?”

“Of course, Solar King. Is there a command you would wish for me to give it?”

“Have it use its voice, a territorial display or something.”

The ape was poking around the back of the lab, reaching for something neither Chester nor the Solar King could see when Chester issued the command.

The ape immediately rose up into a standing position and bared its teeth, shouting and pounding the counter beside it.

“Impressive,” the Solar King said, studying it with an intense gaze.

The ape met his gaze and repeated the threat, banging down onto the counter so hard that Chester worried it might leave a dent.

“How strong is it?” the Solar King asked.

“Fairly strong, your Golden Eminence. This one could easily lift several hundred pounds.”

“What’s the range of the the neural connection?”

“The short range connection is only a mile or so, but as long as it’s within range of a data relay we could theoretically communicate with it at any range within the solar system. Although we’d be limited by the speed of light for those long range communications.”

The Solar King continued to stare at the ape, which was getting more and more aggressive. Chester made sure it didn’t do more than posture though. The last thing he wanted was for the sample to attack the Solar King. He wasn’t worried for the Solar King’s safety, since the Solar King’s golden armor was more than enough to protect against any such assault. No, he was worried that such an event would result in his own execution for losing control of the sample.

“Every week,” the Solar King began, “I’ve had you tell me who among your staff I should execute for their failure. Well, this week it would seem you have not failed me. So now I give you the opportunity to name any one person in the empire and I will have them executed for you.”

He turned to face Chester, a proud expression on his face as though he were giving Chester the greatest gift imaginable. It was the last thing in the world that Chester wanted. The Solar King waited patiently while the ape in the background continued to shout and bang on the counters.

“Do you really have that many enemies that you must consider which one to have killed for so long?” the Solar King asked after a while.

“No, your Radiance, “I have quite the opposite problem. I don’t know of anyone I’d wish to see executed.”

“No one at all?” the Solar King balked. “Come now, everyone knows of at least one other person this universe would be better off without.”

In that moment, a name flashed across Chester’s mind. Perhaps it was because the way the Solar King had phrased it, someone the universe would be better off without, or maybe it was simply the result of all the times the Solar King had made him choose one of the necrologists to have executed. Whatever the reason, he did think of a person.

From across the room, the ape lunged, catching them both by surprise. It swept Chester to the side and then took hold of the Solar King, lifting him up and then bashing him down onto the floor.

“What’s this?” the Solar King demanded. He sounded upset but not hurt. “Call it off at once.”

Chester was scrambling to get up from where he’d been knocked over. His mind was racing, trying to figure out if this was his fault or not. If the Solar King would have him executed or not.

“Stop!” Chester shouted at the ape but he felt his command just bounce off the ape’s mind. “It’s not responding, Solar King,” he said. “I think the heightened emotional state is preventing –

The Solar King, whom the ape had continued to throw around like a rag doll and pummel with its fists, finally got his feet under him and caught the ape’s arms as they came down for another blow. He gripped the ape’s wrists and held them for all of a few seconds before the ape pulled back and hauled the Solar King back off his feet. His golden armor might make him resilient and strong but the ape could still just pick him up and throw him across the room, which it did.

“You have failed this week, it seems,” the Solar King announced as he struck the far wall before landing on the floor in a heap. “I will expect you to name one of your team for execution once we’ve dealt with this sample.”

The ape leapt across the room and was screaming as is tore and bit at the Solar King in its madness.

“This sample is significant progress so we shouldn’t waste it,” the Solar King said as he finally got behind the ape and began to pin it down. “Activate the bio-electric dampeners on the sample table,” he said. “I’ll bring it over in a moment and place it there. Once it’s deceased again you will strap it down and then reanimate it. I want it for my menagerie.”

Chester had only heard rumors regarding the Solar King’s menagerie, and the horrors it held. Still, it was an honor to have something he’d helped to create get added to it.

“It’s ready,” he shouted over the noise of the Solar King’s fight with the ape.

The two fought their way back across the lab, the ape still with the decided advantage in both size and strength but the Solar King had decades of training in his golden armor, fighting against creatures that would make this ape seem tame.

As soon as the Solar King and the ape were beside the table, the Solar King ducked behind the ape, gripped it around the waist, and began to lift it up so he could drop it back down onto the table where the bio-electric dampeners would do the rest.

Chester knew what was about to happen, and as he knew it, he saw the ape turn its attention to the table and, Chester realized too late, the ape knew what was about to happen as well. Was the neural link between them somehow sending more information than Chester was intending? Or was Chester’s own subconscious activating the neural link and giving the sample these unintended pieces of information?

In the fractions of a second it took for Chester to process these thoughts and concerns, the ape twisted in the Solar King’s grip, causing him to overbalance and begin to fall. The resultant crash as the two massive bodies came down threw tools and debris everywhere. Chester had to shield his face from being cut as scalpels, bone saws, and other implements went flying.

“Get…off,” Chester heard the Solar King grunt.

Chester was cut in several places but nothing was bleeding too badly. One of the other worktables had been knocked over and it was on top of Chester’s legs, slowing him down as he struggled to get back up. All the while there were electrical pops and buzzes as well as continued grunts and growls from the ape and Solar King, although those were becoming less pronounced.

“I…no, Chester,” the Solar King sounded, for the first time, worried. “You must…deactivate bio…dampener.”

Finally Chester wriggled free and as he got to his feet he saw what had happened. The ape had spun them in such a way that it was the Solar King who landed on the table with the ape then on top of him. Sparks were flashing from within the Solar King’s armor as it fought against the bio-electric dampening field but it was clearly losing as color drained from the Solar King’s face.

The ape was unresponsive as it’s heart and brain were already shut down within the dampening field. The golden armor was shielded from outside interference, but either the ape had actually done some damage to it, or it wasn’t designed to protect against the dampening field. Either way, the armor was no longer providing the Solar King with added strength and he couldn’t so much as shift the ape’s heavy bulk off of himself.

“Chester…” he gasped.

The console that controlled the bio-electric dampening field had been knocked over and it took Chester precious seconds to find it. By the time he did, and shut it all down, he looked up into vacant eyes.

The Solar King was dead.