Tabula Rasa - Violated

Chapter One

Passing through an alleyway on his nightly patrol for food, the dog chose a promising smelling dumpster. After digging through it for a minute he snatched a bag and jumped out, then set it on the ground and shook vigorously. Dirty napkins and used packets of ketchup went flying, leaving his shaggy black coat smeared and matted. Grasping the brown paper bag with his teeth, he tore it apart and began to eat.

He had just finished wolfing down the remains of a burger and moved on to some French fries when he realized he was no longer alone. The scent caught him off guard, masked by the smell of the garbage. As he lifted his head he heard the clicking of clawed feet on concrete. Two sets of eyes met and locked.

As soon as he picked up the scent he recognized it as one of his own kind. He knew there were others like himself out there, but he rarely met them. Though this newcomer had more in common with him than anyone else for miles around they could not have looked more different. Where he was large and muscular, with long legs and a thick black coat, the other was small and puny looking. With his short legs and close-lying yellow fur he resembled an overgrown Chihuahua. He would have continued staring, waiting for the intruder to make the first move and introduce himself, but then he noticed the harness.

It wrapped snugly around the yellow dog's shoulders and chest. Something made of metal and glass attached in the cloth beneath the dog's throat glinted in the light cast by a street lamp outside the mouth of the alley. He could not imagine why one of his kind would want to wear such a thing. Suspicion creeping into his mind, he turned away quickly and ran down the alley, disappearing around the corner. The yellow dog followed.           

The alleyways were a maze, but he had memorized their twists and turns. Despite his longer legs the yellow dog kept pace with him. He turned and snarled, hackles rising on his neck and back. It stopped and stared at him, expression disturbingly blank. A few more paces brought him to the base of a tall chain link fence. He willed his toes to lengthen for better dexterity, gripped the cold metal, and began to climb.  

As he reached the top and stepped carefully over the pointed tips to grip the other side with his hind paws he glared down at the yellow dog, which now resembled a Chihuahua more than ever. The descent was a bit trickier, but it was still nothing new. When he stood on firm ground and reformed paws he stared at the yellow dog for a few more moments, but it made no attempt to climb after him. The hollow expression it its eyes was the same. He shivered. They were empty, more like the eyes of an animal than a sentient being. He masked his unease with a toothy grin before continuing on his way. This alley opened onto a quiet street, beyond which lay a park which was one of his favorite resting places. He made it halfway before a new scent hit him like a punch to the nose.

Panic and confusion froze him in place as two humans stepped into view and blocked the exit. The shorter man stride forward while the other followed with all the alertness of a professional bodyguard. Even in a pack this small it was easy for him to pick out that most basic of relationships, an alpha and his subordinate. In one smooth motion both men withdrew small guns from their coats.  

He trembled, knowing he could not get over the fence in time if they decided to shoot. The shorter human grinned. They left him with no other options. Letting out a desperate whimper, he pushed his body into the transformation that would reveal his true nature to them.

Their faces were impassive as they watched his metamorphosis. First he rose up on hind paws that rapidly elongated into human feet. Limbs lengthened, joints rearranged themselves, and fur retreated to show light copper skin. It only lasted a few seconds and left a naked and dirty but perfectly normal looking man standing where the dog had once been. A nervous smile crossed his face as he lifted his hands to show his bare palms, hoping to convince them that he was harmless.

"Look. See? I'm not a dog, OK, so don't shoot-"

The gunshot was strangely quiet. A blast of pain gripped the upper portion of his muscular right arm. When he raised his other hand to it he felt a cylindrical object, which he pulled out and threw at the feet of the humans.

"Damn you, that really hurt! Are you insane? You can't just go around doing things like that to people!"

The shorter man lowered his weapon. He pushed his glasses up his nose and flashed that same unsettling grin.

"But you are not a person, are you?" he said smoothly. "Not that it would make any difference; I don't discriminate between species when it comes to business."

The man chuckled to himself.

He struggled to contain the rising panic that gripped his mind. They knew. Somehow they had discovered the secret of his people and used that knowledge to set a trap. He had to escape and warn his family.

Since he doubted they would listen to his pleas for mercy, he decided to try a different tactic. He transformed again, but restricted the return to canine shape to take on a monstrous appearance. His fingernails grow into black claws and he growled as his canine teeth reach their maximum length and sharpness. He stood as tall as he could and pulled his lips back in a threatening grimace.

"Let me go, and no one will get hurt. I'm pretty fast. Do you really want to risk it?"

The shorter man stepped aside, allowing his subordinate a clear shot. He brought his free hand to his cheek and let his mouth drop in mock terror.

"Oh, dear me! Well, if you believe you must, go ahead then. I will warn you though, my associate is quite a fast shot himself, and the gun he is holding has not been equipped with tranquilizer darts. He will not kill you, but if you decide to attack you could come through this with a great amount of unnecessary pain."

His eyes darted to the ground, to the empty syringe and the long needle attached to it. A new wave of terror filled his mind as he realized that they did not intend to kill him, but to capture him. Drowsiness washed over him and he hoped that it was from the extra energy spent maintaining the half-form. He let go and allowed himself to slip back into his fully human body. Shaking with fear and rage, he turned away from the men and locked eyes with the yellow dog that still stood on the other side of the chain link fence.

"You traitor! How could you do this? How could you sell us out to these humans?"

The eyes were still eerily dull, and this worried him more than ever.

It was too late to try to fight back now. Exhaustion washed over him, tempting him to give in, to accept sleep as a means of escape from this waking nightmare. He fought it, standing tall and meeting the eyes of the despicable humans with a defiant stare. Then he went limp and collapsed in a heap at their feet.

The taller man waited a minute before stepping forward and poking at him with his foot. When he did not move the man gave his boss thumbs up.

"Excellent! Goodness, that one had a lot of spunk. With his size and feistiness we should get top dollar for him." Looking past his employee to the yellow dog at the other end of the alleyway, he spoke in a softer voice. "Good boy, Daniel. Very good. You can go back to the truck and tell Mr. Smith we are ready now. Let him know you have earned an extra treat for being such a good boy."

Daniel's eyes widened with pleasure and he wagged his tail. He nodded and ran quickly out of sight.

                                                                                                                                                               ***

"Rise and shine, my good canine!"

A loud bang inches from his ears dragged him out of a drug-induced sleep. A burst of laughter followed as his eyes widened and he pushed himself into the back of what he realized was a cold metal cage. Two humans stood beyond it. He recognized one as the subordinate of his captor, a gangly man with short greasy black hair and a thin mustache. The man grinned crookedly and hit the bars of the cage with a pipe, producing another bang that echoed painfully through his aching head. The other was shorter and a bit overweight with a piggish face framed by curly brown hair. He laughed hysterically and threw handfuls of something into the cage.

"Yeah, time to get up you stupid mutt! Here, have some breakfast!"

He winced as a shower of small hard objects pelted him in the face. He picked one up, and was humiliated to discover that it was a piece of dog kibble. He could not think of anything to say to that. He looked up at his tormentors, long dirty black hair falling in his wide eyes, the kibble still cupped in his hand. The fat man broke into laughter again, then turned to a cluttered workbench behind him to reach into a bag of kibble for more ammo.

He tried to ignore the men, looking instead at the room around him, trying to guess where he was. The concrete floor was mostly clean, but scraps of paper and metal lingered in the corners. A large metal table sat in the middle of the room, near another table filled with beakers and measuring instruments. The air smelled of dust and chemicals. He shivered in the cold, lacking clothing and no longer covered in a coat of warm fur.

The thin man spoke to him, grinning wider and stroking the pipe when he saw he had his attention again.

"You better be a good doggy. You know what they do to bad doggies."

He closed his eyes and laughed quietly. They snapped open again and he brought the pipe down hard against the bars of the cage.

"They chop their balls off! That's what happens to bad doggies!"

The other man laughed even harder, snorting as he tried to catch his breath, and continued throwing the kibble until the floor of the cage was covered in it.

He leaned against the far side of the cage, crouched down with his face almost touching the floor. He wrapped his arms around his head and rocked back and forth.

"Please stop… stop… stop… please… Stop it!"

Nothing would make them stop. He was cornered and nothing would make them leave or let him go. Though his body remained human, something in his mind stirred and changed.

He was up and across the short space that separated him from his tormentors before they could blink. A powerful hand reached through the bars and grabbed the tall man's arm, pulling it in reach of sharp fangs while the other hand crushed his wrist, forcing him to drop the pipe. He bit down, narrowly missing flesh, shaking his head and tearing at a mouthful of the man's shirtsleeve.

While his companion screamed and thrashed in an attempt to escape the other man grabbed the pipe off the ground and reached into the cage, striking the prisoner over the head.

He released his grip and staggered back, screaming in pain. He held his hands over his throbbing head and screamed until the sounds grew into a deeper and more primal sounding howl.

The tall man rubbed at his sore wrist until he could stop shaking after his close encounter with the captive's fangs. He sneered and kicked at the bars.

"You'll pay for that, you stupid mongrel!"

The man found another piece of metal and they both attacked, creating a din that almost managed to drown out the sounds of agony.

The pain and terror drowned out all other sensations, drawing up primitive survival instincts that he had never needed to rely on before. He crouched down and gave himself over fully to his other side. In an instant a bristling, snarling dog stood in his place. He rushed at the bars, barking and snapping, but was powerless to stop the noise. It rang in his ears and drove him mad with pain. Froth dripped from his jaws as he snapped at the men. One of them grabbed a rusty bolt off the floor and chucked it at him, hitting him between the eyes.

He yelped at this new source of pain and lost control of his bladder. Ordinarily he would have found it humiliating, but his mind was no longer able to comprehend such complex emotions. Only the fear remained, burning through his store of adrenaline until he was dizzy and shaky with weariness. Unable to escape, he slunk to the back of the cage curled up in a corner.

                                                                              ***

Dr. Fredrick Jameson adjusted his glasses and smoothed his white scrub coat as the car pulled up in front of the old building. The coat was not really necessary, but he felt it couldn't hurt to try any little thing that might help improve his image with clients. It was already bad enough that he had to do business in this run down part of town from a makeshift laboratory, but the property was exactly what he had been looking for. Out here no one asked questions and no one heard the screams.

The client's spotless black suit, neatly trimmed beard, and slick hair gave him a refined appearance, but there was no mistaking the type of mind that lay behind those cold eyes. The doctor greeted him with a grin, which was not reciprocated. If anything, the client's face grew harder, his expression colder.

"Glad to see you are doing well, Mr. Vance. I think you will be really impressed with this one. My men will have him ready soon. You won't have to wait long."

Vance looked straight ahead as they approached the building.

"He's not like that runt you use to track them with, is he?"

Dr. Jameson shook his head.

"No, nothing like that! He really is magnificent. I haven't weighed him in his other form, but I would say he easily tops eighty pounds. A real brute. Trust me, this is one you wouldn't want to see coming after you."

Vance would not meet his eyes when he spoke. As the doctor opened the door the two were greeted with the sounds of a struggle engaged within the depths of the building. Dr. Jameson felt his heart sink. Pausing in the doorway, he snuck a peak back at Vance. Vance raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly. The doctor flashed a wide, awkward grin, which fell from his face as soon as he turned his back to hurry to the lab and the source of the noise.

The two goons didn't hear his approach, but the voice that boomed out behind them was more than enough to get their attention. The fat man jumped with a shriek and dropped a pipe, which clattered noisily on the floor. The tall man chuckled at his partner's clumsiness.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your minds? Look what you… You just… You know he has to be human to go through the procedure, and here you are antagonizing him!"

The tall man looked past his boss to the stranger standing behind him.

"Oh. That's today?"

Dr. Jameson removed his glasses and pressed his hand against his temple. He could feel the blood pounding in his head, reminding him that he had lost control yet again. He kept his eyes closed and focused on calming himself to avoid further embarrassment.

Vance entered the room to inspect his purchase. The dog bared its teeth as he approached and tried to cram itself even further into the far corner of the cage. There were dog kibbles strewn all over the room. Some had grown large and puffy as they soaked up liquid from a puddle of urine on the floor. Vance wrinkled his nose at the sight.

"Disgusting."

Dr. Jameson sighed.

"It's all right, we'll have this mess cleaned up soon enough. You can go wait in the break room if you like. It won't take long."

"No, I think I shall stay and watch."

The doctor clasped his hands before his chest and attempted to regain his cheerfully enthusiastic demeanor.

"Very well. I'll, uh, explain what we are doing then. Mr. Smith, would you kindly sweep up this blasted dog food? Really, I would have expected more civilized behavior from preschoolers. Mr. Hare, I would like you to prepare the sedative. Now that you've riled him all up I want you to increase the dose by two ccs."

Smith nodded apologetically and quickly hurried away to find a broom. Hare retrieved a bottle from a cabinet and drew some of the clear fluid into a syringe. He shrugged as he handed it to the doctor.

"Yeah, sorry about all that. We just thought he needed a little learning in respect and manners and all that, you know? Can't be having a disrespectful dog, now can we?"

Dr. Jameson glared at him as he took the syringe.

"Mr. Hare, since you frightened him so badly I want you to go over there to where Mr. Vance is standing. This is Samuel Vance, by the way. Make some noise to keep the dog's attention focused on you."

Hare walked across the room to the other side of the cage and tapped on the bars. The dog growled as Dr. Jameson approached, but kept his eyes focused on Hare. Dr. Jameson knelt down and plunged the needle into the furry hindquarters that were pressed against the bars. With a shriek the dog leapt up and spun around, growling and snapping at the stinging spot. Ears pressed firmly against his head and tail tucked between his legs, he slunk along the back portion of the cage that was placed against the wall, putting himself halfway between his enemies. Dr. Jameson stood up and smiled again as he walked around the cage to stand beside Vance and Hare.  

"Won't be long now. We'll have to shock him though, so you better go set up the table, Mr. Hare."

Vance raised his eyebrows and met the doctor's eyes for the first time.

"Shock him? What's that supposed to do?"

Behind him Smith snuck in with the broom, trying to be inconspicuous as possible as he went after the kibbles. Dr. Jameson relaxed, pleased to see his customer thinking about technical issues associated with the mindwipe instead of the blunders of his employees.

"Ah yes, that. It, uh, changes him back. We can't do the procedure with him in this form, but we also can't ask him to change back right now. His mind has entered a state of, uh, mental lockdown. Yes. Under the influence of stressors such as fear or pain it can be impossible to reason with the subject on a human level. They enter a sort of defense mode where they are guided by their survival instincts. I have discovered, though, that I can force a change from one form to the other with the help of a quick jolt of electricity. It triggers the bioelectrical signals within the brain that are responsible for the subject's control of transformation. Nothing harmful, I assure you."

Vance watched Hare as he finished strapping a large foam rubber mat to a metal table in the center of the room.

"Fascinating."

Dr. Jameson kicked the bars of the cage. The dog did not move.

"All right, ready for the next step then. Mr. Hare, get one of those muzzles off the wall. Mr. Smith, you can finish cleaning up later. Now remember, he is only sedated. No loud noises or sudden movements."

The two reluctantly approached the cage. Hare opened the door, shoved the muzzle into Smith's hands, and pushed him in. The dog did not get up, and Smith managed to place the muzzle without being bitten. Seeing the dog rendered harmless, Hare stepped into the cage to help Smith carry it out and place it on the table. Dr. Jameson and Vance moved to get a better view.

Hare took a wire from a machine beside the table. He wetted the fur on the dog's left forelimb with alcohol and secured a clip at the end of it to the skin above the elbow. He stepped back and pressed a button on the machine. The dog jerked once, violently, followed by smaller muscle spasms as the transformation began. The paws slowly melded into human hands and feet. The fur coat receded until naked skin was revealed once more. The tail drew back into the body, disappearing as the arms and legs took final human form. When it was all finished the muzzle fell off the man's face.

He was human again, but under the influence of the sedative only vaguely aware of what was happening. The transformation had never been forced on him before. It felt weird and wrong. He saw the muzzle lying on the table in front of him and stared at it in confusion, giving Hare and Smith the perfect opportunity to pounce. Each taking hold of an arm, they yanked him from the table and dragged him through a door on the other side of the laboratory. He moaned and wriggled in their grasp, but he was too weak to break away and escape. They held him down in a chair and secured his arms and legs with restraints.

The doctor described the next step to his client.

"This room will act as a sort of sensory-deprivation chamber. After the drug has been injected we will close the door for about, oh, ten minutes. The complete darkness and lack of sound will help to make the mindwipe go more smoothly. After we have let that take effect he will have no memory of his past life whatsoever. Even traumatizing events like his experience with Mr. Hare and Mr. Smith will be completely forgotten. Isn't that wonderful? In this new, impressionable state he will form a sort of imprint on the next person he encounters. That is where you step in. No matter what you tell him he will believe you. I have found that these subjects do respond best to a bit of praise and encouragement in the molding phase, but that will be entirely up to you of course."

"Do not worry, I know how to train a dog."

"Excellent. Mr. Hare, the Tabula Rasa, please. Three ccs should do it."

Hare opened a small refrigerator set in the back of the room and withdrew a bottle of green liquid.

"One vial of blank slate, coming right up."     

"Tabula Rasa? Really?" Vance said. "They told me you had a flare for the dramatic, but I had no idea. Going for a bit of a mad scientist feel, are you?"

Dr. Jameson shrugged.

"They cut my funding and forced me to finish the formula on my own in secret. It was a lot of work. I figured I might as well have some fun with the name when I got through with it."

Hare handed him the syringe. The captive tried to pull away as the doctor cleaned a spot on his arm where a vein could be found, but Smith held his arm still enough for the final step to be preformed. Dr. Jameson stepped back and clapped his hands triumphantly.

"All right then! Good. Very good. Now you just sit tight and we'll be back in a bit to introduce you to a whole new life."

They left the room and closed the door behind them. Hare looked at Smith and winked conspiratorially. He snapped his fingers to catch the doctor's attention.

"Say, boss, now that you don't need us any more do you mind if we head on out for a drink?"

Smith nodded.

"Yeah, we could sure use one. That guy gave us a bit of trouble, didn't he, Will?"

Dr. Jameson sighed and waved them off.

"Fine, go. But don't forget the mess. And you can consider your next paycheck reduced after that ridiculous stunt."

Smith opened his mouth, but Hare elbowed him in the ribs before he could protest.

"Thank you, boss. Don't worry, it won't happen again."

After the two left Dr. Jameson invited Vance back to the break room for some coffee. The room was small and utilitarian, but the doctor refused to skimp on the coffee. Only the finest brands would do. He was pleased to see that a little drink and idle conversation seemed to be loosening his visitor up. They were almost through with their waiting period when Vance grew more serious again and asked an unusual question.

"I am sure that men like Mr. Hare and Mr. Smith are valuable employees, but do you think you could possibly part with them? I would pay you extra, of course."

Dr. Jameson laughed.

"Ha! Hare and Smith, valuable employees? Good one. I am rather curious though, what could you possibly want them for?"

Vance set his coffee down on the table and leaned back in his chair.

"When he has settled in I would very much like to test him. I'm sure you understand. It is one thing to tell a dog to attack, but quite another to know that he will do it in exactly the way you ask him to. I am not questioning your methods; I simply wish to see it for myself. Do you think your men could help me with that? I would invite you to come watch, if you are into that sort of thing."

Dr. Jameson sipped his coffee and nodded slowly.

"Yes. Yes, certainly. I'm sure they would be happy to cooperate. I rarely ever get to see my subjects in action after they are sold off, so it would be quite thrilling to watch him at work. Speaking of which."

He glanced down at his watch.

"Looks like he should be just about ready now."

The doctor let him go alone to make sure the subject imprinted on the right person. Relieved for a few minutes of peace and quiet, he sat back to enjoy his coffee and let his mind wander. New employees were always pain to find, what with having so many secrets to keep a lid on. No worries though, these things happen. Nothing to get bent out of shape over.