Chapter 13

With meticulous care, Eoin delicately put together two slides, labelling them E and A with a dot of blood from each of them. Ally watched with interest as he positioned them in the microscope then called the remote back up. Punching a few buttons, the wall of steel vanished, replaced with the alien images of what the 'scope projected. Eoin made a noise of satisfaction at it before turning his attention back to the remote, selecting a further few buttons. A secondary image appeared beside the first and a foreign metallic voice rang out as the projection on the wall in front of them began to automatically compare the two samples; Eoin's blood, and the human blood on record.

Slipping into teacher mode, Eoin began pacing the wall, indicating the images as he did so. Ally stepped back out of his way and cocked her head, listening as she stared at the strange images, just managing to keep up with him.

'You'll see here and here,' Eoin jabbed at the wall, mouth twisted as he openly debated his theories. 'Very, very similar, as if on a certain level humans intended to one day be able to intermix the species. As it stands, with the few variants here we are very alike. They've simply made improvements based upon their own genetic make-up. When we shift to a cellular view, we again see strong similarities. The documents already on this system,' Eoin paused to lunge back to the bench, recalling the remote and quickly changing the screens before continuing. 'They show the improvements. Lighter bones with a different structure that also makes them stronger. An immune system that reacts at over ten times that of a human, faster when the nano-virus is triggered under a level of stress. An ability to re-grow limbs. Many of these abilities, like the electro-plaques in our hands, have been inspired by animals. But with all these straight forward adjustments, they kept the base genome similar enough that means, in theory, interspecies breeding should be possible! In fact, with all this information, I don't understand why it isn't? We know Prometheans CAN reproduce. I'm sure,' Eoin paused to consider that then reasserted it. 'Damn sure it must be the nano-virus.'

Ally nodded equably then thoughtfully suggested, 'Perhaps not for interspecies breeding. Could the similarities be to allow organ transplants?'

Eoin's eyes went wide and his jaw hung. He blinked a few times. 'Ally… Hell, it COULD be! Not enough to create us for their own intentions, but as walking, talking organ donors?'

Ally shivered at the thought, skin prickling at the idea of being just another creature humans farmed. 'Tell me again why we're trying to achieve interspecies breeding?'

Shaken from his reverie of discovery, Eoin regarded her dry question with an ironic but sad look. 'We've managed to cling on for five millennia, love. I'd like to think I'm giving our child, maybe even children, a better chance. I do believe that Prometheans could help bring the human race to a higher level.'

Ally snorted in derision. 'They don't deserve it.'

'But WE do. If we do this we'll be blending the species, stopping the ridiculous hatred against us, and saving both species. They can't survive the super bugs, and their cancer rates are astronomical in comparison to ours. They're lucky they can breed so prolifically, otherwise they'd be extinct.' Eoin smiled wryly at her. 'We are almost never sick, have long life spans and strong bodies. But our birth rate will eradicate the species in another two centuries.' Turning from her to the wall again, staring at the images of cellular make-up, Eoin continued. 'They created us to be nothing more than pawns. I'd like to turn the tables on them, and finish what they attempted to start with us. To create a true humanoid super species.'

Ally considered that softly spoken sentence and thought of something. 'Holi?'

Eoin turned in surprise as the projection flared to life in the middle of the room.

'Yes Alyssa?'

'We are trying to understand the major differences between humans and Prometheans. What would prevent interspecies breeding?'

Standing sharply to attention, Holi regarded Alyssa for a moment, eyes flickering. The flickering cleared and in an almost monotonous voice the blonde explained.

'Begun as an experiment to predict the next step in human evolution, the Promethean project was intended to be theory only. However, as technology progressed so rapidly, a Dr Mathias proposed considering an attempt to create a single Promethean. The proposal brought worldwide condemnation. A second proposal was suggested. The concept of creating a race of peacekeepers, to act as military and police. In order to satisfy the demands of the concerned populous, certain instructions were added to the nano-virus already designed into the species. It would prevent interbreeding of the species, and limit the number of births amongst peace keepers.'

'How,' Eoin asked hurrying to stand in front of Holi, his alert and voice anxious. 'How does it limit the births?'

'When a Promethean female experiences her first complete birth the nano-virus is programmed to fuse her fallopian tubes completely. Eradicating any future pregnancies.'

'What!' Ally cried indignantly. 'Why not fuse the males' tubes?'

Eoin leaped into an intense conversation with Holi, drowning out Ally's question. With a huff she turned her back on them both, stalking to the bedroom quarters.

A cupboard in the short hallway between the main room and bedroom quarters revealed exciting contents when Ally discovered it. Torches, like nothing she'd ever seen before, and various kits – according to their labels. A first aid kit, an exploratory kit, a mechanics kit, and several others, all carefully slotted into narrow shelves that could be dragged up or down, conveyor belt style, to an easy height. There were far more shelves than the height of the door, vanishing high within the wall. Ally tried to wedge her head alongside to see, but it was a tight seal, nothing visible.

Ignoring the kits for the moment she turned her attention to the torches, ears pricking when Eoin muttered away to himself in the main room. She was done with study for the time being, she wanted to stretch her legs, to explore the jungle. That word twigged in her mind and she reached up, pulling the shelves down until the exploratory kit came into view. Sliding it out of the shelf, she set it by her feet then returned to examining the torch.

Ally knew it was a torch from the label, but without that label she'd never have recognized it. Palm sized, curved but thin, and moulded in a diamond shape. Lifting it, she turned it this way and that, trying to understand how it worked. Holding it close to her chest, she attempted to twist it to see if it opened. A hum vibrated through her hands and an instant later the device flattened against her chest. With a gasp of surprise she tried to tug it off but it didn't budge, fixed firmly to her shirt. Running her fingers over it, Ally triggered something, making it hum again then a sphere of light appeared before her. A thrilled smile of delight flashed across her face as she realized that this was the torch. Hurrying to the bedroom quarters, she deactivated the lights. The sphere of light projected at the perfect height, illuminating the room to a level comparable to the normal lighting. Satisfied, she left the room and grabbed the exploratory kit which was handily contained in a simple backpack. Rummaging through the contents she decided they should suffice her intent and without calling out to Eoin, not interested in debating whether or not she should, climbed the stairs and exited the lab.