Flash Fiction: Appreciation for Civilization is Mandatory

“Have you ever dissected a stray cat Mr. Archer?” the old mad scientist grinned deviously at the man resembling a living Greek statue, currently bound to the cavern’s rock wall by a small army of spiderbots chain-linked around him.

“Another one of your sick childhood hobbies Doctor X?” Swift Archer jutted his substantial chin out defiantly.

The doctor shrugged, busying himself with the seemingly endless sea of electronics, levers, buttons, gauges, monitors, knobs, and wiring covering the cavern walls, “If you consider high school biology a ‘sick childhood hobby,’ then yes. You see, stray cats are fascinating animals, especially the feral one–those that are surviving wild in nature.”

The doctor looked to Archer for a moment, his maniacal expression and wide eyes contradicting his calm, reasoning tone, “They are quite unlike domesticated felines. House cats are healthy, pristine creatures, just like civilized humans, while feral cats are mangy and malnourished, their bodies infested with parasites and infections.”

“What’s your point doctor?” Archer flexed his huge muscles against his bonds, and the spiderbots contracted painfully in response. An escape plan was starting to form in his mind.

The doomsday device hummed to life and a female voice began counting down. Doctor X ambled in closer to Archer, savoring these last moments for planet Earth, “House cats that are lost in the wild and become feral. Do you think they lament their loss? Does it give them appreciation for all the conveniences modern science furnished them?”

Archer had it then. If he triggered the EMP device his technicians had built into his new wristwatch, it might short circuit the spiderbots binding his arms, creating a weak link in the chain, and allow him to break free. Then he would show this madman the meaning of justice. He just needed a few more seconds of distraction, “You know doctor, what cats and dogs think about has never been a topic of interest for me. Why don’t you elaborate?”

“Too busy playing football to ponder such philosophical conundrums no doubt,” Doctor X shook his head sadly. “I was trying to explain to you the method behind what you see as madness. Why I must take it all away from human civilization.

“Oh well,” Doctor X sighed, waving his arch nemesis off. “Spiderbots scramble.”

Archer had worked his thumb onto the watch, “Now you’ll feel the sting of just–hyurk!”

Archer vanished into a fine red mist, as Doctor X sauntered away to watch the fall of civilization.