A Gargoyle without masks

There are things that are ridiculous. I can't think of anything more absurd than a guardian captured by smugglers.

I know that atrocities sometimes occur in a genome colony and are covered up by scientists. I think the whole problem was the issue of slavery that happened on the planet during the evolution of humanity.

It was not the system dictating the guidelines of a practice that violates all rights of any living being. It was the humans themselves who created the process during the colonization of some territories. This determined the fate of the planet. Guinea pigs have never known the freedom they discussed so much in Senate assemblies.

The hybridization system remained intact as it still is today. Alien species achieve good results in creating hybrids when using the human genome.

That was the least of my problems.

After the blinding lights had lit up the grounds around the big farmhouse, everything was in chaos. It seemed that even time had stopped.

Gargoyles.

Gargoyles are counterparts who trade space time. It is an organized network of illegal trade that covers everything. Not only food, raw materials or water are plundered, we are talking about big things.

The neutral market beyond the guidelines of our civilized world is home to creatures that are destructive beasts.

My name is koriander. I am a guardian of the planet. My job in those parts is to make sure things stay calm. The news that the planet is just a colony like any other for scientific testing cannot leak among the guinea pigs.

Rebellions are useless. The system is tough. We need to preserve endangered species.

2020 will be a tumultuous time.

Some experiences were a failure. There is not just a pandemic among them that kills.

Our scientists work with WHO.

Immunization programs have been suspended. This leaves room for epidemics to spread amid a pandemic.

The first attempt to create a biological weapon against K'Aldriants was a failure. It has become a pandemic that, according to our scientists, will not have any immunization to fight. The most optimistic prospects point out that in a few months it will be another disease with outbreaks.

Another time-space pathology. And it will become a seasonal disease. Expectations are that 70% of guinea pigs will be infected.

Even so, the experiments must continue. Here in this colony, we are home to the first hybrid of these things. A female who has our latent alien genes through our immunization systems.

And the experiments should not stop there. Sometimes we create aberrations. Some speculate that the next biological weapon could become the Great Epidemic. Think of an epidemic of catastrophic proportions, something that can kill up to 2 billion guinea pigs around the entire colony in a period of just one year.

Indications based on the historical sequence of the appearance of infections with high mortality rates are there with these experiences.

There are groups that fight for environmental rights and argue about the legality of these experiences. Some of them assume the occurrence of an even greater pandemic based on theories of mutations in respiratory transmission viruses, something with the lethality of more than 50%. It would have the same rate of contamination as it does in birds.

We are talking about a virus with a respiratory system with high mutation rates, high lethality, high rate of contagion and transmitted from guinea pig to guinea pig.

Everything was going through my mind when again the azorrhagus descended harshly on my shoulders with its electron beams radiating pain.

-I can guarantee you a quick death, guardian. the voice echoed with cold and sarcasm next to me.

Truth? I don't think your chat will stick, buddy.

I bit my mouth until I could taste the blood and still refuse to give myself the satisfaction of the hearing my screams. It could be foolish. They just wanted the K'Aldriants hybrid. Because? I think it was the image of disgusted Ane and her fists hitting my chest in the midst of her anger.

I never stopped to think about those creatures. The first contact I had was full of unexpected surprises. The news that ran in the confederation's corridors spoke of guinea pigs that would be like animals. And they were not that at all. It was a species with intelligence and endowed with peculiarities that had never caught my attention before.

"In exchange for the girl you think is the first female of the K'Aldriants?" I gasped, searching for air in my burning lungs. - She is as alien as you can be considered a human.

My provocation cost more lashes.

The girl was a hybrid. Our scientists had rated that creature's dangerousness at a maximum level. A small arsonist. And they were doing tests and experiments with it, ensuring that their organism never reached biological maturity.

The child had been brought into the colony shortly after the fall of Édrin and his monarchy. The Seven Towers council itself had decided to exile when the surviving population took refuge in ship-cities, leaving behind a contaminated and destroyed world. Some of us had even speculated on the possibility of ensuring more decisively that it would never become a threat.

-Say just where she is? Just a location! - my executioner demanded grabbing my hair forcing me to face him.

There are some advantages to my job, in being what I am. I can easily sense when something is wrong. It is not just the image of a humanoid in front of me that holds the object of torture. There is something else.

I can feel that there is no pleasure in him in causing pain. It does not mean that her fury should be ignored. I open my eyes with some effort, breathing hard and controlling all the pain that is now unbearable with my torn and burned skin.

-You are not a cold-blooded creature. Not like the others here.- the comment is unreal.

The figure seems to assess my serious countenance for a moment under the mask it bears on its face.

-I can guarantee that I have more cold blood than this gang if you dare to violate the guidelines and experiment with such young guinea pigs. - he rages irate.

The warning is charged with bitterness. For the first time, it crosses my mind that this thing has personal interests in the creature we protect. Absurd nonsense if her own people decided to abandon her after we managed to rescue her alive from the clutches of the K'Aldriants.

-What do you want with the girl? Can you imagine making a fortune with the reward that Ravenack placed for your capture?

Ravenack ... I sighed miserably. We were all inevitably paying dearly for a disastrous mistake. Lemurians ...

- More than a miserable fortune. - the dry reply was not followed by new scourges. - You can believe that we are barbarians, but nevertheless, I assure you that the majority here have more principles and honour than their people.

More principles? More honour? The stranger has particular interests in that creature. I know this from the frequency of your heartbeat that reveals your emotional state.

A moment of endless silence between us extends into that miserable, closed place lost in the gloom. And my surprise is total when I see that creature take the hand to the mask and pull it with violence and frustrated.

The image of a golden-skinned face appeared before me with deep bronze eyes. I can't believe how fair an Edrian is before me.

-I've seen enough death for a lifetime. - he starts to speak slowly and runs his hands through his hair. - But that does not mean that I will not do it if necessary.

The crazy idea that he spoke the truth makes me aware. Gargoyles usually don't show their own faces.

-It's an Edrian, isn't it? - I asked surprised. After Édrin's fall, they hardly interacted with each other. - But what an Edrian ... Damn! Release the unfortunate cuffs from my wrists. I don't intend to hand over the girl so they can kill her ...

The stranger looked at me with livid expressions. My accusation hit him in a way that I didn't even believe in the face of his strained features.

-The girl ... There was a female guinea pig next to me when I was captured ... If you do something to her or touch her ...- I continued in a single breath.

The Edrian shook his head thoughtfully. It may be that he does not release me and even kill me, but I can only capture in his feelings confusion, anger and pain. Somehow that hybrid matters to him. I see his throat dry as he touches his wrists thoughtfully and distantly.

-I'm not that wild and animal yet. - He assured her in a tone more bitter than before. - The human girl is safe. Although I must confess that I have no idea where to keep a human here in space, knowing that humans don't roam around our parts. At least she was saved from her people and will not be another creature to suffer from the miserable experiments they do in the laboratories.

Miserable experiments they do in the labs? Damn it! This guy is far from another of those radical environmentalists in the fight for the rights of guinea pigs.

-She was in no danger and ... - I shut up knowing it was the biggest lie.

There was something that had escaped our control in the cages in the most dangerous sector we kept. Something lethal that had been impossible to tame, and yet our scientists had chosen to keep him as a test subject.

-You don't really believe that!

-But of course ...- I started to reply and stopped again.

Perhaps it had been his anxious look. I am usually never mistaken in these cases. It was an instinct that warned me that the Edrian acted on his own.

-The Seven Torres council doesn't know it's here, does it?

He stared at me quietly and thoughtfully before turning on his wrist the computer system that kept me locked in chains and falls to his knees on the floor in disbelief.

- I am the Council and legitimate representative of the Seven Towers. I'm Zorack of Igneous. He's onboard the Alvorada. The hybrid that you keep in your possession belongs to me.

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