The One-Room Apartment on the Sand

y proceeded cautiously by slicing off tiny portions of it at any given time.

There was a lab rat.

Its stomach had been cut open and implanted with trace amounts of “Cor Ouadae”.
The “Cor Ouadae” mutated before their very eyes, differentiating into the abdominal cells of Mammalia Rodentia Myomorpha and undergoing cell division.
Within 52 minutes, the wound had closed completely, without even a scar left behind.

’

After that, an abnormality was observed—the rat’s behavioral patterns had started to change.

The speed at which it performed certain actions in an operant conditioning chamber​ had clearly risen.
In addition, it had even developed a certain degree of foresight based on past patterns.
In a classic maze experiment, the rat displayed greatly above-average learning speed.
Not only had it not shown the increased aggression commonly observed in such experiments, it in fact started behaving more cautiously.

Short-sighted members of the staff came to a conclusion: the treatment had increased the rat’s intelligence.
This was fantastic news; not only had“Cor Ouadae” repaired the damaged organ, it had also activated(?) the neurons(?) in its brain(?). What a marvelous discovery! This will surely bring humanity to the next level!

’

The more prudent staffers rejoiced in moderation.
Cells of unknown origin had caused a change through some unknown mechanism. Whatever the reason, we can surely gain more insight by studying this further.
We ought to be thankful for that.

However, a small fraction comprising the rest grimaced.
They were well aware of the many parasitic organisms in the wild that were capable of inducing changes to the mental faculties of its hosts.
If “Cor Ouadae” were one of those, an astronomical effort would be needed to cross the colossal barrier of its conversion into a practical medical procedure.

Lastly, a few said nothing.
They averted their gazes from the rat which stared at the humans with its unfathomable eyes, and asked with a tinge of fear in their voices:

Can we really still call that creature a rat?