“I can’t go through with it.”

“Chelsea, you must. You knew the details of the experiment before you signed on as my assistant.”

“But Dr. Riley, that’s when I still thought they were… you know… stupid animals.”

“What’s changed?”

“I have. They have. I don’t know. But you heard it too! The results were incontrovertible: mice are intelligent.”

“We already knew that. The labyrinths—”

“Yes, I know. You’ve done labyrinth tests for decades, but listen! This was the first time with neurotransposers. And it’s clear we’re not dealing with some mindless organism anymore. This mouse has a sense of humor… an appreciation of music… even a rudimentary understanding of the human world!”

“Chelsea, it’s a mouse.”

“I just can’t go through with it.”

“You don’t really have a choice.”

“I do! I do have a choice! I’m not killing Mikey.”

“You gave it a name?”

“He wanted to give ME one. Didn’t you hear him ask what it was? I thought it only fair.”

“We have many other mice, equally intelligent ones.”

“Goodbye, doctor.”