The crowd was so loud this time it was almost deafening. The cat girl scrunched her face and lowered her ears, holding them to her head with her hands. Two of the scientists who had noticed her distress began to roll her backstage. When she opened her eyes the bright lights were gone but she could still hear the crowd and Doctor Shaffer talking. However, they were a little quieter now. Tears started to well up in her eyes. She was lost and scared. She wasn't sure why but something just seemed wrong and unnatural about this.
"It's hard to believe it has been just over 30 years since we launched that Kickstarter. Without it, none of this would have been possible! We would have never had enough to start this massive project or gotten seen enough to warrant receiving private donations, which help keep this project going. When our first try failed, I was almost ready to throw in the towel. It was so disheartening thinking of all of you supporting us. You believed in us and we had just failed you. It was so hard telling you time and time again we haven't cracked it yet, that we had to once again postpone the release. What you saw tonight was our first success. Hopefully the first of many, many more to come."
Nicholas Shaffer paused briefly before continuing, "I am beyond thrilled to be able to show her off tonight. We still have a lot of studying to do and changes to make. We believe in the next 10 years we will be able to start delivering on rewards to our top backers. Within 15 years we will be able to fulfill the rest of our rewards where your very own cat girl was promised. As for our many other backers, your promised rewards of watching our experiment grow and learn will start being delivered in just a few months, now that she is awake. Our top backers and anyone who paid extra on top of their admission will be let backstage for a closer look shortly. I say this on behalf of every employee at Cyto Science, we appreciate everything you all have done to make this possible! Thank you all so much!"
He handed the mic off to a Female with Mousy brown hair. "I am Phoebe Barrett," She stated. She then went on to explain in detail about the process they had gone through to achieve the cat girl they saw tonight. She was nervous and a little fidgety unable to stop herself from swaying back and forth slightly. She stumbled through her explanation about how they made embryos by splicing together genes and letting them grow.
"It took us a while to get the combinations of g-genes just right so the embryo could grow and live. Th-this experiment is the first to make it past the age of 18. They seem much more susceptible to our diseases then w-we are. We believe she will have a, um, l-long and healthy life, now that she has been, uh, brought out of st-stasis and have given her every advantage we can to assist her in fighting off disease. Once again, we would like to thank you again for all y-your support we hope you continue to do so! Thank you," She concluded as fast as she could.
Everyone cleared the stage as the crowd gave one more roaring round of applause. Phoebe felt horrible about lying but those people would never understand the cost of advancement in the science industry. How many sacrifices you had to make for the tiniest ounce of improvement.
One of the scientists opened the box. Out of fear and panic, she pressed herself against the back wall and just started crying. Everything was so new and strange and she couldn't understand anything.
"It's okay," said Phoebe. She seemed calm and that helped soothe the panicking cat girl a little. "It's okay," she repeated, seeing it had the effect she wanted the first time she said it. The scientist reached out and stroked her suyarm a little. "It's ok, One-one-two-nine," she said before plunging a needle into naked girls thigh. "Don't worry, you won't remember any of this."
1129 let out a yowl as her eyes widened with fear. She felt betrayed. How could someone seem so calm and then hurt her? Not even a hiss or growl as a warning. The cat girls eyes quickly grew heavy. She fought to stay awake but it was no use.