[And when the screen switches on, he's juggling. No reason, apparently. Just juggling.]

Occasionally I come across an interesting story or two when I'm making my rounds from world to world. A few interesting cautionary tales. Of course, I can't go into explicit detail because two younger versions of me are here and somehow that knowledge might be passed on, but here goes...

There once was a scientist who ran a facility. He wanted to help people, because they needed to win a war. Because that's why you fight wars, right? To help people.

[Still juggling casually, think nothing of it, not even really looking at the camera.]

So he took a group of loyal soldiers, all willing, intelligent young men because that's what good soldiers do! They fight for their country, and they give themselves for it. He changed them, ounce by ounce, bit by bit, to make them more perceptive. To make them something else. Until they became violent, that is, and infectious.

There was no vaccine for what he'd made. Just violence, disgusting angry violence. And what happened to this scientist? Was he unceremoniously devoured? Was he destroyed? Did he become one of them?

[He catches the balls between his hands. Now he gives the camera an earnest look.]

They gave him a pay raise. [That "r" gets a special roll.]

[Private to Martha]

I have a question for you. I'll stop by the clinic and ask it in person.