Restarting Project Chimera to uplift more unusual animals has resulted in several interesting Animalians. There have been animals that were considered bizarre just by their unusual nature as well animals that had mutated in some manner. While two-headed animals and albinos have been very prominent examples, this next uplifting may be the most notable yet.
Polymelia is a rather rare condition in which a human or animal is born with more than four limbs. Sometimes, it is the result of twin embryos conjoining before one fully absorbs the other, leaving a few extra, vestigial parts. Sometimes limbs forked by some other birth defect. Often enough, these extra limbs don't debilitate the human or animal and they can be surgically removed.
In this case, a male cow calf had been born with a pair of extra legs growing out of its shoulders. For once, the mutation resulted in a symmetrical set of extra limbs. The hooves of the extra legs couldn't touch the ground, but the calf was still able of moving them. Most farmers would have removed the extra legs or castrated it, but this farmer thought that perhaps it would make an interesting breeding bull. However, the other cows were spooked by the extra legs and more than a few have tried to take a bit out of him. The farmer was thinking of taking either the young bull's legs or balls when Horizon Labs made him a more profitable offer.
==========
"So how young is this calf supposed to be?" asked Judy as the young bull was being led to a changing room. His horns weren't as big as the ones Judy has seen and he didn't seem nearly full-grown.
"Well, bulls are ready to start breeding when they reach 7 months old and this calf doesn't look older than that," said the other scientist.
"So how do you think that would translate to in Animalian form?" asked Judy.
"My guess is he'll probably be at the start of pubescence, let's say 14," said the scientist.
"And we're only giving him one dose, right?" asked Judy.
"To start off with," said the scientist, "He may need time to adapt to having multiple arms, if that's how it'll manifest. We'll see if he'll get a second dose sooner than later."
The young bull was led into the changing room, which didn't have much besides a metal table in it. Judy injected the bull with a dose of the Animalian virus before they quickly left. The young bull looked around in confusion at his surroundings, but his attention was soon diverted to the unusual sensations going through his body. He lowed as his bones suddenly started shifting inside of him. There were several uncomfortable clicks as his rib cage flattened and broadened. His hind legs were becoming much stronger as they adjusted to carrying all of his weight.
But the biggest changes were with his front legs and vestigial legs. There were several loud cracks as his shoulders got broader and broader. His vestigial legs were waving with more energy as they were receiving more strength than ever before. Then with a loud crack, they moved downwards, squarely onto either side of his big shoulders while the front legs he used to stand on were forced down lower. The back flexed as two pairs of shoulder blades formed, giving both sets of forming arms stability and range of motion. His chest wasn't as deeply muscular as grown bulls, but he did have light indentations of abs as well as two pairs of defined pectorals to power his arms. The arms themselves bulked up, but didn't become too large. The front hooves finished forming into hands, sending new neural transmissions to his enhanced brain.
The young bull did look to be about only 14 years old in human terms. While still smaller than grown bulls, he was certainly bigger than human boys of the same age. He looked at his new twenty fingers with amazement. "I have four hands," he said in amazement. One of his hands reached up to feel his neck, which wasn't so burdened with holding vestigial legs anymore. "I can talk too," he said. His curiosity soon drove him to open the door.
Judy and the scientist were waiting for him outside. "Hello," said Judy, "You've just been made into a member of Animalia, a community of uplifted animals, like me."
"You're like me," said the bull before looking at his arms, "But not like me."
"Yes, you are rather unique," said Judy, "But there are a lot of unique members of Animalia. My name's Judy, do you know what your name is?"
A name immediately came to the bull's mind. "My name's Dan," he said.
"That'll do finely," said Judy, "Now, I think we should get you started on acclimation as soon as we can. You have a lot to learn."
"Are there other bulls and cows?" asked Dan.
"Yes, though none of them are quite like you," said Judy.
"They won't be mean to me, will they?" asked Dan, remembering the cows that tried to bite him before.
"Don't worry, everyone's really nice here," said Judy, "They'll like you for your extra arms."
"And you'll not be the only one with extra limbs," said the scientist, "We'll be uplifting a frog with polymelia before long."
"Say what?" asked Dan in confusion.
"Don't mind that yet," said Judy, "Let's just see how well your four arms work first."