Man-high, smooth-coated in short blackly iridescent feathers, red of eye and each wearing a diamond-studded Regency orange collar, Washington and Moscow were delivered to Lothar IV by the Sisterhood. Thenceforth, they accompanied Lothar IV everywhere he went, standing outside his chambers when he slept, beside him as he ate. They became his trademarks, and his joys, and the agents of his Regental wrath as well.

...

"Well, my hearties!" Lothar IV stroked the long muscle-bulged necks of his arcane synes-companion, and Washington and Moscow whistled softly from somewhere deep in their throats. They bobbed their long toothed heads and flicked nictating membranes birdlike across their stony eyes as they stood there beside him.... Again the Regent winked; the scans turned to the three terrified cooks, the guards stepped away and Dyson Tessier closed his eyes as Washington and Moscow raised the feathery crests at the back of their narrow skulls and advanced to the task of sacrificing the Regent's three scapegoats.

--The Helix and the Sword, John C. McLoughlin

Closer every day.

Megafowl Inc. is proud to announce the culmination of its extensive research program in chicken biology with the arrival of the SuperHEN® II, a transgenic domestic chicken that has set new records for height and weight.

"Our first two prototypes, a cock whom we call 'Meehan,' and a hen named 'Linda,' are representative of a new generation of chicken. Advances in biotechnology have enabled us to reach new pinnacles in avian breeding," said Dr. Fritz Mazzocchi (mah-ZO-chee), founder and CSO of Megafowl Inc.

"Meehan" stands five feet tall, and weighs approximately 143 pounds, or 65 kilograms. "Linda" is four feet, seven inches, and weighs approximately 103 pounds, or 46.8 kilograms, reported Dr. Mazzocchi.

A heck of a lot closer than any posited Singularity, anyway. I wonder if Dr. Mazzocchi has had any luck with the Alligatron.