Just a Perfect Body by Phil Clark

JUST A PERFECT BODY
by Phil Clark

This report will go some way in offering an insight into the extraordinary biological set up of our individual subject. His psyche leaves a lot to be desired. The subject in question was meticulously observed in one of our isolated testing laboratories for a period of three months, in which time this particular organism displayed many advanced and unique characteristics related to, in particular its immune system, metabolism and related aspects, such as its catabolism or its rendering of energy from sustenance.

Initially the subject’s metabolic attributes were studied closely over a period of two weeks. It was immediately concluded that the subject, for the large part had an identifiable metabolic system to that of any other human being, adhering principally to a typical organotroph. However on closer inspection and with thorough scientific research the subject also represented characteristics of a typical lithotroph or plant life.

The subject’s metabolic system was discovered to be incomparable to any other known existing example of our species. It was discovered that in the first instance the subject’s catabolic process adhered to that of a typical human in that large organic molecules consumed by the individual such as proteins, polysaccharides and lipids were digested into their smaller components. Further, akin to a usual human being the smaller molecules were taken up by cells and transformed into yet smaller molecules, producing Acetyl Coenzyme A for the function of releasing energy. Again, typically the Acetyl group was oxidised to water and carbon dioxide in the subject’s citric cycle, releasing almost immediately some of the aforementioned energy.

However, adjunct to this process it was discovered that only two fifths of the energy was released by the subject organism compared to that of any other known human being. This had a direct effect on the subject’s psychology and behaviour, more of which will be explained later.

On discovering the specimen’s energy release ratio we were forced to delve deeper into the unusual catabolic system rendered from our experiment. The results, quite frankly were astounding. We had already concluded that the metabolism of our subject was flawless, burning, no matter what the prescribed diet and regardless of how little exercise we granted our study the perfectly exact amount of calories per day for physical equilibrium, although the really remarkable part was related to the other three fifths of energy which wasn’t released within the customary timescale typical to that of the human species.

Through a series of relative trial and error, which it must be stated in this report did no harm to our subject (in fact the harm it really did was give the team an headache) we discovered that the individual’s process of utilising energy also conformed to a photosynthetic organism, or to put it simply the subject’s catabolic cycle meant that a good deal of the molecules in the electron transfer were not used in the usual process and released but were stored. With this knowledge we were then able to identify the reasons for our study’s survival on an average of forty five minutes sleep per forty eight hours with no signs of sleep deprivation or physical fatigue.

The surprises didn’t stop there. For a period of exactly one calendar month or thirty one days we analysed explicitly the subject’s immune system. Again all the usual processes were analogous to other human beings. For the most part the subject’s immune system identified and killed foreign pathogens and cells (such as tumour cells). The subject’s immune system for the most part was typical in that it was made up of the many types of proteins, cells, organs and tissues imperative to all human subjects to interact in the usual and highly elaborate and dynamic manner.

The fundamental duty for any immune system is associated with the process of adaption and constant progress. In any human subject it evolves and strengthens over time to recognise specific pathogens more efficiently, creating immunological memory which in turn forms the basis for regular vaccinations. However with this particular subject the immune system was far more complex and advanced; that isn’t necessarily to say that it was more rigorous and active, on the contrary we found it to be serene and labour saving, though extremely active and efficient when it needed to be. The efficiency of the subject’s immune system was discovered to be treble or quadruple that of any other human being, making sure that both unfortunate ends of the spectrum were a finite biological impossibility. In other words neither immunodefiency nor autoimmunity would ever occur within the subject.

In relation to immunodefiency the subject’s system characterised a self preserved and constantly evolving immunity to rogue cells and pathogens. Past medical records on the subject stated, quite conclusively that no vaccinations, including measles, mumps and rubella had ever been administered and no common viruses such as colds and influenza had ever effected or even been a threat to the subject. The immune system it appeared was always one step ahead of the game. In accordance with the latter or autoimmunity, there was also found to be no possibility of an hyperactive immune system which attacks normal tissues as if they were foreign or more dangerous pathogens, allowing rogue tissues and cells to penetrate the immune system, and so further there existed no danger, regardless of any exterior conditioning of the possibility of the subject developing rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and other such bodily conditions.

The subject’s bodily mechanism was practically untouchable unlike that of the specimen’s cerebral activity which proved to be more problematic for him. The next stage of our analysis was the subject’s psychological profile. During numerous intense sessions with the subject we discovered that regardless of the human’s requirement of forty five minutes sleep within a two day timescale, it nonetheless had an adverse effect on both his mood and temperament. We concluded the person to be borderline suicidal, revealing fundamental attributes to character bi-polarity, schizophrenia and intense depression, expressing consistently extreme angst, disillusionment and paranoia.

The early discovery of the person’s psychoanalytic attributes was the basis for our primary decision to exercise his behavioural patterns with him in solitary confinement. It consistently proved too dangerous to approach the man face to face as it were, particularly due to his status as a convicted murderer with a strong potential to recommit, so strong in fact that upon studying past psychological reviews on the subject it had been readily noted that he possessed a condition known as alixothymia, a condition which goes far beyond any known method of rehabilitation.

Conventional sleep patterns found in an ordinary human being clearly allows, to an extent for a toleration of the world and the environment around the individual, although within our particular person the balance between sleep and unconsciousness and reality and consciousness proved too much of a burden limited to his psychology.

Thus, our overall conclusion was easily decided upon, we felt bad for him. Clearly the balance between perfection and imperfection was too extreme for a member of our species to perceive and rationalise.

Author bio:

Phil Clark is a writer of magical realism and other guff. He currently lives in Manchester where he offers an helping hand co-editing the fiction section of Bad Marmalade. His work to date has appeared in BM, Sein Und Werden, Bykerbooks, Geeek and Fissure Magazine. Despite his piece, 'Just A Perfect Body,' he knows now't about science.