leejiaming
New member
and this is the final draft. Thanks? Ok, the criterion of the narrative is that it has to be on the topic of biodiversity, and has to be under 1000 words. I posted an earlier draft here, but got no response. I really need some please. Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its name was Jack. The name of the last kangaroo in Australia.
The year is 2050. 40 years ago, kangaroos were common. You couldn’t see them everywhere, but they were common enough. Nowadays, you’d be lucky to find a skeleton of one. Their species is, for all intents and purposes, extinct. It began with the dingo; their population had exploded over the last four years. Scientists are still debating the cause of such a boom. Maybe it was the temperature increase, but no one really knows. Added to that is the drought that has plagued Australia for a few years and killed off most of the plants that kangaroos feed on. Whatever the reason, kangaroos have all but died off.
John Major sat in his exclusive office. He was one of Australia’s best lawyers. But this time, he wasn’t representing a person, or a group. He was representing an entire species. The papers came a week ago. It was a formal request from the government itself.
He sat there, lost in this train of thought until his assistant knocked onto the door.
“Enter,”
“Mr. Major, the cloning draft law you requested has arrived.”
“Very well, please bring it in.”
Cloning was outlawed a few years ago, in wake of the Moornennan disaster. Nowadays, it was only used in special cases, extinction cases. However, even those have to be successfully signed off, usually by the UN national court. The world was determined that there would not be a repeat of the tragedy.
Tomorrow, he will be presenting his case to the UN court assembly. He’d better get his work together to have a shot at winning this.
There was no doubt about it. Jack, the last kangaroo, was dying. In his exclusive recuperation room in the Darwin hospital, Maria hooked Jack up to the machine. It will automatically take heartbeat readings, body temperature, and a whole other lot of readings that were essential in keeping the body alive. She consulted her handbook.
“Let’s see….. normal heartbeat rate for kangaroo is…. 200 to 300 beats per minute.” She glanced at the monitor. Jack’s heart was pumping out 270 beats per minute. Normal. She pressed the diagnose button. Nothing came out on the monitor, but at the lab, a detailed diagnosis and a list of all medicines needed to be taken would be printed out. However, any fatal diseases or infections detected will be displayed immediately on the screen. Believing all is well, Maria exited the exam room.
“Maria!”
Maria glanced backwards, and saw who it was. Heather Grendale, the hospital’s nurse, ran up to Maria and passed to her a piece of paper.
“The patient has an abnormally high heart rate.”
“What?”
Maria took the piece of paper and read it.
“But its heart rate is fine. 270 beats per minute…”
“But then why did……………oh. Was the patient human?”
“No….. it’s a kangaroo.”
“Kangaroos! I thought they were extinct.”
“Well, they obviously aren’t….”
“I see, but then why didn’t the machine….ahhhh….Oh dear, I believe the technicians have forgotten to calibrate the machine correctly. Thus, it must have measured the patient as if it were human………………. eh? Where’d she go?”
She was speaking to an empty corridor. Maria was gone.
Maria ran through the hallways as a cold and unshakeable feeling of dread manifested itself in her stomach. She elbowed a nurse out of the way as she ran towards the tech room. Once she was there, she startled a technician who was dozing in his chair.
“Can I see the logs for the machine in room 8988? Date, a few hours ago…”
“Wha…wher…ummm…. who are you lady?”
Maria fished her personnel card from her pocket. The technician took a cursory glance, and began typing on his computer.
“Ok. Here it is.”
Reading the screen, Maria found the log.
“Computer, read log entry 20,198 please.”
“Certainly,” replied the computer. “Human scan at 1215 hours on the 23rd of March. Patient room 8988, machine 18.”
After hearing this, Maria instructed the tech to recalibrate the machine, and headed for Jack’s room. Once inside, she hooked up the machine. After checking that the calibration was correct, she pressed the diagnose button. The dread building in her stomach unleashed itself, and she gripped the bedframe for support as she read the words on the screen.
-Terminal infection detected-
Then, her phone rang.
Still reeling by the machine’s diagnosis, Maria flicked her handphone open.
“Hello?”
“You may begin.”
It was John! That must have meant he won the case!
These were the words Maria was waiting for. Pausing to look back at the gently snoring kangaroo, she ran to the hastily fabricated cloning lab.
“Is it done
Its name was Jack. The name of the last kangaroo in Australia.
The year is 2050. 40 years ago, kangaroos were common. You couldn’t see them everywhere, but they were common enough. Nowadays, you’d be lucky to find a skeleton of one. Their species is, for all intents and purposes, extinct. It began with the dingo; their population had exploded over the last four years. Scientists are still debating the cause of such a boom. Maybe it was the temperature increase, but no one really knows. Added to that is the drought that has plagued Australia for a few years and killed off most of the plants that kangaroos feed on. Whatever the reason, kangaroos have all but died off.
John Major sat in his exclusive office. He was one of Australia’s best lawyers. But this time, he wasn’t representing a person, or a group. He was representing an entire species. The papers came a week ago. It was a formal request from the government itself.
He sat there, lost in this train of thought until his assistant knocked onto the door.
“Enter,”
“Mr. Major, the cloning draft law you requested has arrived.”
“Very well, please bring it in.”
Cloning was outlawed a few years ago, in wake of the Moornennan disaster. Nowadays, it was only used in special cases, extinction cases. However, even those have to be successfully signed off, usually by the UN national court. The world was determined that there would not be a repeat of the tragedy.
Tomorrow, he will be presenting his case to the UN court assembly. He’d better get his work together to have a shot at winning this.
There was no doubt about it. Jack, the last kangaroo, was dying. In his exclusive recuperation room in the Darwin hospital, Maria hooked Jack up to the machine. It will automatically take heartbeat readings, body temperature, and a whole other lot of readings that were essential in keeping the body alive. She consulted her handbook.
“Let’s see….. normal heartbeat rate for kangaroo is…. 200 to 300 beats per minute.” She glanced at the monitor. Jack’s heart was pumping out 270 beats per minute. Normal. She pressed the diagnose button. Nothing came out on the monitor, but at the lab, a detailed diagnosis and a list of all medicines needed to be taken would be printed out. However, any fatal diseases or infections detected will be displayed immediately on the screen. Believing all is well, Maria exited the exam room.
“Maria!”
Maria glanced backwards, and saw who it was. Heather Grendale, the hospital’s nurse, ran up to Maria and passed to her a piece of paper.
“The patient has an abnormally high heart rate.”
“What?”
Maria took the piece of paper and read it.
“But its heart rate is fine. 270 beats per minute…”
“But then why did……………oh. Was the patient human?”
“No….. it’s a kangaroo.”
“Kangaroos! I thought they were extinct.”
“Well, they obviously aren’t….”
“I see, but then why didn’t the machine….ahhhh….Oh dear, I believe the technicians have forgotten to calibrate the machine correctly. Thus, it must have measured the patient as if it were human………………. eh? Where’d she go?”
She was speaking to an empty corridor. Maria was gone.
Maria ran through the hallways as a cold and unshakeable feeling of dread manifested itself in her stomach. She elbowed a nurse out of the way as she ran towards the tech room. Once she was there, she startled a technician who was dozing in his chair.
“Can I see the logs for the machine in room 8988? Date, a few hours ago…”
“Wha…wher…ummm…. who are you lady?”
Maria fished her personnel card from her pocket. The technician took a cursory glance, and began typing on his computer.
“Ok. Here it is.”
Reading the screen, Maria found the log.
“Computer, read log entry 20,198 please.”
“Certainly,” replied the computer. “Human scan at 1215 hours on the 23rd of March. Patient room 8988, machine 18.”
After hearing this, Maria instructed the tech to recalibrate the machine, and headed for Jack’s room. Once inside, she hooked up the machine. After checking that the calibration was correct, she pressed the diagnose button. The dread building in her stomach unleashed itself, and she gripped the bedframe for support as she read the words on the screen.
-Terminal infection detected-
Then, her phone rang.
Still reeling by the machine’s diagnosis, Maria flicked her handphone open.
“Hello?”
“You may begin.”
It was John! That must have meant he won the case!
These were the words Maria was waiting for. Pausing to look back at the gently snoring kangaroo, she ran to the hastily fabricated cloning lab.
“Is it done