Genres: Genetic Engineering, Humor, Medical, Technology
Escape Pod 708: Into the Paddock
Into the Paddock
by Nathan Susnik
I.
“We need a shitload of Bunnies®. How fast can you get me a shitload of Bunnies®?” says Schneider, walking into my office.
Sort of.
Okay, fine. I don’t have an office, and Schneider is calling on ShareSpace™ over the ol’ intercerebral implant, so she’s not walking.
I’m in The Orchard scraping gum off of my shoe and watching a bunch of kids pluck ripe apples from plastic trees. A kid throws an apple at The Barn. It goes wide. I laugh. Another one hits the side (plunk), and then (ping) Schneider just sort of appears. She hovers in the air all ghostly for a while until I pinch her down on the Dirt Path and answer the call. That’s when she says the Bunnies® thing.
Schneider has three moods:
- Depressive
- Belligerent
- Depressive/belligerent
She’s belligerent ninety percent of the time, so I throw on VulgaBlock™.
“What happened to the Bunnies®?” I say.
She shrugs. “They died.”
“How?”
“Do I look like a [fornicating] veterinarian?”
“It’s Friday,” I say.
She shrugs again. “So?”
“I get off in an hour. De novo Bunnies® will take at least two.”
“So?”
“I have plans.”
Schneider laughs. “Good one,” she says. “Look, we need Bunnies®. If we don’t have Bunnies®, our billable animal count decreases for the whole weekend. If our billable animal count decreases, our ticket prices drop on VacationApp™, which means that we lose money on every visit, which means you lose money on your paycheck. Also, people write angry reviews, especially people whose children have been disappointed because we don’t have any Bunnies®. Angry reviews are bad for our stats, and you know how Rick feels about our stats.”