Chapter 2
Nothing can scare us as much as what we keep inside that dark corner in the back of our minds.
He felt all the pain again, as he did every night. But this time, he wasn’t alone. <What is this?> the new mind thought, as the scenes of pain replayed again in his mind, never to leave. The final scene came back again, the same leering face, the drawn knife, the sudden rush, and the same scream, only, this time, not by him.
Dakarth woke up screaming, something had that never happened before. Covered in sweat, panting, having to watch those scenes of horror, and being unable to look away or escape it. His lover, Melody, had woken with a suddenness of her own.
“What, what is it?”
“I-I’m not sure”
“You were screaming. You never have nightmares. I’ve known you for at least ten years, and you’ve never been this shaken.”
“ I saw… you don’t want to know what I saw. And the thing is, I wasn’t having the nightmare. That was someone else’s.”
“You sure?”
“I’ve never dreamt myself as a mountain dragon before, and never dreamt doing such things. I dreamt… I killed so many… and all in the name of vengeance… but that last part… I can’t see how anyone who has these dreams can live with themselves.”
“Maybe you were just being too sensitive to everyone, and picked up a bad dream.”
“Maybe. I’m gonna take a walk, clear my head.”
“You sure that dream wasn’t yours?”
“Unshakably sure. Don’t worry, I’ll be all right. Get some sleep, you need it more than I do anyway.”
“Allright, but be careful. I don’t want you to lose yourself again.”
He gets up, and kisses Melody. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just be a few minutes.” He gets dressed, and walks outside to the apartment complex for group 1A, welcoming the cool blast of night air on his face. Keeping his thoughts to himself so Melody could get some sleep, You know, that aura, that dream-essence, it feels… familiar. And the only new person I’ve felt in a while is that crazy mountain we found in that thresher nest yesterday. I’ll see about it later. Those cell cultures should be done by now. I’ll go check on them.
Dakarth takes the short walk down to the Genetics division, and sure enough, some of the new researchers and interns were still at work, even at 2 in the morning.
One of the interns, a young claw dragon, looks up at him.
“Hey, Dr. Terrus. What’s got you up? I thought you employees were entitled to some sleep.”
“A privilege I would gladly exercise, if I could get to sleep.”
“What, couldn’t wait to get on the new cell cultures?”
“Are they ready for the tests? I’d like to get this over with.”
“Uhh… yeah, I guess so.” He gets the cell cultures ready, loading them into the scanner for analysis.
“Run the chromosomal scan first. I’d like to clear something up.”
“Uhh… okay.” The intern types rapidly on the scanner’s console, and a group of lasers scan and rescan the cultured embryo cells. A promoter is introduced to the culture, causing the cells to divide, the lasers scanning the chromosomes of the dividing cells.
“Allright, display them.”
“They’re coming up now.”
The scanned chromosomal images are displayed on the screen near the console, and Dakarth looks through them, not finding anything that could point as to why the embryo’s mother was a half-breed. “Hmm… display the 50th chromosome.” The image enlarges on one point, and the individual pairs come into clearer focus. “What’s this? There are three pairs of number 50. Hmm… could this be it?”
“Could be what?”
“The answer to an old question I asked myself. What would enable a half-breed to reproduce.”
“But, that’s impossible. We all know that their 50th chromosome’s shut down.”
“Why not? The evidence’s right in front of us. Display chromosome record for subject 22S.”
“Coming up now.”
Dakarth looks them over, excitement taking over as all his powers tell him he is on the verge of discovery. “Yes! I was right! The mother ALSO has three pairs of the 50th chromosome!”
“What’s that got to do anything?”
“When a half-breed is made, both pairs are shut down, and they are rendered sterile because the sperm and egg can’t cooperate with their protein locks. But if they have three pairs, then the chances are pretty good that the third is useable. And all mutations for the 50th chromosome are prominent in all generations of a line, so these hatchlings will be able to reproduce as well! It’s a little funny, too!”
“Huh? You’ve lost me.”
“Down syndrome works the same way, with three pairs of #21.”
“I get it, I think. Too late for humor.”
“You get some sleep before you dry out from exhaustion. I’ll shut down here.” And get back to Melody.