Who are we? What are we? What is the limit of intellect? Questions such as these have been pondered for millenia. We seem to be bent on developing machines that emulate the human mind, but strangely we do not place as much emphasis on enhancing our own minds. At the end of human fetal development our minds cease to grow. Why? And what might happen if somehow this process could be restarted, if our minds could continue to develop. What would be become then? Perhaps it is a blessing that no human to date has ever found out what might happen. After all, we are flawed, emotionally unstable, prone to fits of cruelty and barbarism. And yet we are kind and loving, nurturing beings. Whatever the path one might imagine to take on this speculative journey, nature has a way of shaking things up from time to time. So what might happen if a person were to experience such intellectual growth as to turn thought into reality? Heaven or Hell awaits us in the end as we move inevitably closer and closer to what may be our final reality. For now, the only answer we can offer is that conjured up by our imagination.

Patrick Morris is a veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Brenda, and lives in Ramona, CA. In 1992 Patrick was diagnosed with cancer, and during treatment needed an outlet, and writing science fiction helped to keep his mind off his disease. "The Culling" is one of those stories.