Physical strength, outstanding mental abilities, plasticity and adaptability are just some of the qualities that the next intelligent and promising civilization will have, having a high chance of survival on our planet. However, it is possible that in order to get comfortable and thrive in the Earth's ecosystem, they do not need to create and implement complex strategies for its capture. Perhaps they are already close to us - for now, deliberately remaining invisible.

The biological and psychological similarities between humans and rats underlie the intense scientific interest in rodents. Man involves the rat in many areas of his activity, using it in the role of a “pioneer” even in space flights; A lot of experiments are constantly carried out on rats: from cancer research to targeted pharmacological tests.

Impressed by the long history of relations between our species, I decided to try to find out more about these animals - in particular, about the so-called mutant rats that supposedly exist in a parallel universe of urban subways, occasionally coming into contact with linemen in the tunnels. Some media outlets even had photographs of strange creatures with hypertrophied forelimbs and large heads. Most often, information about alien rodents was posted by a blogger under the pseudonym “Rattus_physicus” - as it turned out, a former employee of a scientific laboratory. Agreeing to share his story on the condition of maintaining anonymity, he showed me an entire floor of an abandoned research center, once equipped for the purpose of breeding a special type of rats, ready to found a new intelligent civilization in the event of the death of humanity.

As it turned out, the experimental project is not a myth, but a reality. Articles in the tabloid press and eyewitness accounts are not so far from the truth.

I learned that serious experiments on rodents began back in 1929 in the strictest secrecy in Saratov. Tasked with raising super-beings capable of following orders, a team of geneticists and doctors were able to achieve remarkable success and breed both females and males of amazing strength, endurance and flexibility, capable of very rapid evolution. The training continued until June 1989, when the laboratory management unexpectedly received an order to urgently liquidate the project. All documentation was destroyed, but the animals managed to escape. “Rattus_physicus” admitted that he still has a terrible picture before his eyes: a concrete wall in the enclosure gnawed through and a hole in the ventilation tunnel, which the laboratory assistants discovered at the beginning of the shift. Someone suggested that the test subjects knew in advance about the plan to destroy them and organized an escape. “The 183rd generation of mutant rats is still at large,” the informant summed up. “And, understanding how many years have passed since then, it is possible that they already have rich and even more developed offspring.”

Returning home and once again re-reading a selection of materials on the topic of mutant rats, I came across a comment dated January 2010. In a discussion on a forum dedicated to the risk of an alien invasion, there was speculation about a possible continuation of the Saratov experiment. "A closed project is being sponsored again! But who?"

Thanks to their extraordinary features, rats have successfully spread throughout the planet. They have adapted to life side by side with us and develop in constant confrontation, successfully solving emerging problems - no matter how complex they may be. Perhaps homo sapiens is no longer the only highly developed intelligent species?