“We can’t do that!” Rachel yelled back, slamming the proposal file onto the desk in front of the committee.
“Really? I don’t see why not,” remarked Aston, his tone quite pleasant to those who didn’t know him.
“Excuse me?” Please, lord, strike him down before I can no longer control the urge to throttle him myself. “I hate to point this little fact out to you but this isn’t our planet and despite what the previous surveys found this planet has been inhabited by a sentient species. We’re already at war with one culture; you want to risk another one if they come back?”
“Doctor, your own findings say that the planet hasn’t been inhabited for hundreds of years. What harm can it do?”
“I see.” Rachel slowly paced up and down in front of the conference table. “I’m sorry, my mistake. I wasn’t aware that in the four weeks I’ve been away that we had held a referendum and decided not to uphold the laws of the Confederation any more.” She looked back, her stare fixing on each member of the panel. “Oh, my mistake again, is it? We do still uphold the laws of the Confederation but only those that suit our purpose?” She watched the council members shift uncomfortably.
“Dr. Bradley… Rachel,” came the conciliatory tone of Councilwoman Rider. “You can see the position we are in. We do understand your fears but we have very little choice. Those tunnels that your group discovered may lead us to new technology, technology that might help us in the war effort.”
“I’m talking a totally different language to you guys, aren’t I? I haven’t objected to searching through the tunnel that we found. I’m objecting to the fact that you wish to do a blanket search of the area to find Storm and study her. Her rights as a native are protected under Confederation law and this proposal of yours disregards that. I’m not willing to back anything that might hurt her or cause her fear in any way. She has shown us nothing but friendship, and that dates back to our first exploration of this planet.”
“But your research suggests that she has been genetically altered or engineered far in advance of what we have ever attempted. By studying her we could learn…”
“That doesn’t give us the right to forget who we are and what the Confederation stands for. Besides we have no idea what happened on this planet or where its population went, if they went anywhere. But let me put it to you this way. Why leave her behind? Say you’ve spent time and money over decades of preparation and experimentation--because that is what we are talking about here. Then you leave and don’t take it with you? No, you don’t do that. Something happened and they left her. We need to know what that is but we don’t need to dissect Storm to find that out. Besides our genetic technology isn’t that far behind that which created Storm. In fact we could genetically create a basic life form now, but we choose not to because of the risks involved.”
Silence hung over the meeting room. None of the council members wanted to be the one seen to be flouting Confederation laws, but also they were frustrated at what had seemed a simple solution being thrown out of the window.
“Well, Dr. Bradley, we will discuss this further, and also talk to the other scientists, and see if we can come up with an alternative,” Kent said, dismissing Rachel.
“No, sir, you won’t. I will not… and I’ll repeat that because you are obviously hard of hearing… I will not condone anything that requires that we detain Storm. And I have the support of Sue Rodgers and the scientific community on that.” She looked pointedly at the council.
Jodia Rider sat and rubbed at the annoying headache that was now fully entrenched. She should have put a stop to Kent and Aston's antics earlier in the day before this meeting had even gotten off the ground but she had been too involved in putting the final touches to getting the first mining settlement on its way. Dr. Bradley had made several valid points. She sighed once more.
“Dr. Bradley, you have my assurances that nothing will be done to detain or harm the young woman at all. In fact I suggest that when the team heads back to the tunnel that you take a science team back as well.” She glanced around the table and saw that Kent was about to object. She let her eyes settle on him until he looked away and remained silent then she turned back to Rachel. “Will that be satisfactory?”
Rachel smiled for the first time that day. Sending me back out to work with Storm satisfactory? Oh, yeah. “Yes, I can manage that.”
Rachel left the council room, humming to herself. The week back at base had been tiring but she had achieved a lot. They had brought several of Storm's samples back with them and they were being analysed in the labs. Rachel was hoping that the more sophisticated equipment could deliver more precise and detailed results.
Patrick Hawley was one of the few geneticists in the Confederation who had survived; initially he had been working at the hospital. Now that Rachel had brought back Storm's unusual samples, he was back working full time at his passion.
Rachel nodded hello to several people as she strolled passed them. It was quite remarkable how they had built what now could only be called a town. They even had paved pathways rather than just the dirt. The centre of town also had several stores, though everything was dispensed on a credit system rather than a monetary system. Each member of the community had a daily allocation of credits and if the credits weren’t used that day then they were lost. In theory this meant that nobody could hoard credits, giving them an unfair advantage. Everybody was supposed to be on an equal footing. More impressive though was how quickly the population had adapted to their situation and had co-operated to build the community that was thriving despite all the hardships that they had experienced.
Crossing the road and avoiding one of the cargo carriers, Rachel
headed for the communications shack. Tasha
had been checking in at four p.m. on a daily basis with the small orbital comms unit they
had left with her. It was just about time for
her to check in now and between Lisa, Carrie and herself they had insured that one of them
had been there everyday to listen in.
Storm had taken Rachel's leaving better than she had anticipated. After spending several
minutes explaining that she would be back and that Tasha was staying, Storm had allowed
her to leave. Within an hour of the group
leaving, Tasha had reported that Storm had packed up several items, stored away the cavern
and left its protection, taking Tasha with her.
They apparently had been travelling at some speed, though Tasha said that Storm
intuitively knew when to stop and let her rest. Tracking
the duo hadn’t been as simple as they had hoped, the signal was intermittent; but
from what they had seen Storm was heading into the upland area. Tasha mentioned that it
had finally stopped raining.
Note to self--get someone to over fly the campsite and see what damage has been done. Rachel ducked through the doorway to the dimly lit communication room. It was pleasantly cool inside and quiet with only the occasional beep of the equipment and the hushed voices of the comms officer and traffic controller directing the various flights and routing the comms. “Hi,” she said as she slipped into the seat near the comms officer.
The young ginger-haired man smiled over at her. “Hi, Doc. Just in time for your friend to check in. We should get an uplink from her within the next few minutes.”
“Thanks, Stuart. Have we had any luck trying to pinpoint their location yet?”
“Yep, we sure have.” The young man leant forward and flipped a switch, bringing a display screen to life. Two tracking lines blinked to life. “Where the lines intersect is where they are right now. It's updated real time. We managed to pick them up as they moved to a higher elevation.”
Rachel sighed. She hadn’t been overly concerned about Tasha, she knew that Storm would look after her. But it had been weighing on her mind that they hadn’t had a positive location on them. She waited while Stuart spoke into his mike before asking the question that was pressing her. “Does that mean we’ll be able to keep a lock on them now?”
“Don’t see why not. We still haven’t figured out why we couldn’t track them in the forest. But as long as they don’t go through the same type of area we should maintain a fix on them.” He paused and altered one of the settings. “Here she is.” Another flick of a switch and a crackling line opened.
“Home Town, Home Town, this is Wanderer. Do you read? Over.”
Rachel grinned and accepted the mike from Stuart. “Wanderer, this is Home Town reading you loud and clear. Hey, Tasha, how is life in the Amazon treating you?”
“Hey, Doc!” Tasha’s amused voice came over the airways. “Next time I volunteer for something, shoot me, will ya?”
Rachel's mirth overflowed into a full-blown laugh. “No way, girl! I’m getting too much fun out of this. So how is it going?”
Tasha was sitting with her back leant against a protruding rock, halfway up a mountain that Storm had insisted they climb when they started out this morning. She was tired and a little sore from all the exertion over the last week. Storm's stamina was a thing to behold. When Tasha, a trained, combat-hardened marine, wanted to sit down and give up for the day, that woman just went on and on. Right now she was off hunting while Tasha spoke to Rachel. “I gotta tell you, Doc, this woman is awesome. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit. Oh, and you might be interested to hear that your friend now not only speaks full sentences but is incredibly loquacious when she gets going.”
“Sounds like you are having fun.” Rachel's voice echoed out of the box sitting before her.
“I wouldn’t call it fun, Doc, but I admit that I have been in worse situations than trekking through a forest with a six-foot-tall Amazon.”
“Have you any idea where you are heading?”
“From what I have managed to get out of her we are heading toward a river, apparently where she normally winters. Our little visit delayed her by a few weeks so we’re heading up there as fast as I can go.”
Rachel leant forward and rested her head in her hand, elbow on the desk. “We are going to send a team up to the cavern to check out that tunnel and the door you found. They have also agreed to my leading a research team to study Storm. The likelihood is that once we’ve got settled at the cavern we’ll head up toward wherever you have made camp.”
Tasha looked up as Storm landed softly by her side. “Hey, you want to talk to Rachel?”
she said, away from the mike but near enough that Rachel knew what was going on.
“Yep!” Storm replied excitedly.
Rachel grinned as she heard Storm’s voice. “Hello, Storm, are you looking after Tasha?”
“Yep, real good, Rachel.” It had taken Tasha several tries before she had managed to get Storm on the comms to Rachel. Her friend's disembodied voice had actually frightened her at first, but after several aborted attempts she had got a simple conversation going. Now she had to pry the mike away from her or they’d be talking all night.
“Will you be travelling much longer, Storm?” Rachel inquired, curious to learn just how far Storm had advanced in the past week.
Storm looked over at Tasha and grinned. “Home tomorrow, Rachel. Home tomorrow.”
“That’s great, Storm. Can I speak to Tasha again now?” replied Rachel. There was a slight pause before Tasha’s voice came over the airwaves.
"Yeah, Doc?"
“Looks like your little trip will be coming to an end tomorrow. The guys here reckon we can keep track of you now that you have moved higher and into sparser vegetation. We shouldn’t have any trouble finding you but make sure you put a marker out for us, just in case. We’ll be heading up in a shuttle, so somewhere to land would be good, too.”
“Okay, Doc, I’ll see what I can do. I need to go. Storm is about to start cooking whatever she caught and I’d rather like it to be edible.”
“You telling me that she can’t cook?”
“Hey, she burns stuff real well; what more can I ask for?”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’ll let you know when we’ll be ready to go.”
“That will be fine, Doc. Talk to you tomorrow. Wanderer out.” Tasha switched the comms unit off and got up and stretched, knowing that if she sat still for too long then she’d stiffen up and have a harder time when they got going in the morning. Pushing her arms up that little further to feel the burn in her arms and shoulders, she then relaxed and walked over to the area where Storm had built a small fire.
They were on a ledge approximately a hundred feet above the treetops. It was reasonably wide and had a small overhang, which they could shelter under if it decided to rain tonight. “It’s beautiful up here.”
“Yep,” Storm replied as she poked a stick through a skinned carcass. Tasha had learnt not to ask what type of meat it was if she wanted to have a meal without her stomach turning. Storm could eat just about anything that she came across but had quickly modified her hunting to catch that which she knew Tasha liked and could eat without losing it. They also supplemented their diet throughout the day with various fruits. “Food ready soon, Tasha. We eat good today.”
Tasha smiled as she saw the other two carcasses that Storm had already gutted and cleaned. “We’re nearer the animals now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, just through the pass near the river.” Storm wiped greasy hands on the shorts Rachel had provided her with. Tasha found it almost impossible to get them off of her for washing, until she had given her another pair to wear. The T-shirts that had been given to her had lost their arms to her knife but at least she was willing to take them off to be washed. A little too willing if the truth were known. Tasha wasn’t bashful in the least, but Storm's lack of modesty had taken some getting used to.
Storm took hold of Tasha’s hand and led her further up the trail. She stopped and pulled Tasha in front of her so that both of her hands were resting on the woman’s shoulders. She adjusted Tasha’s position and pointed into the forest below. “There, that is home right there.”
Tasha stood on tiptoes to see if she could determine exactly what Storm was pointing at. “Sorry, hon, I can’t see it.”
“There, the big tree.” Storm pointed again and Tasha leaned her head to the side to get a better view. Her gaze followed the well-toned graceful limb until she could see the trees below and the larger one that Storm was pointing to. The tree definitely stood out, its vast height standing it about another thirty feet above the rest.
“Wow, you really know how to pick a campsite don’t ya?” She looked over her shoulder at Storm. “It looks close enough. Why don’t we carry on and get there this evening? We still have about two hours of light left.”
Storm shook her head. “No, big climb, need to be rested. Come on we have food now.” She turned and walked back down to the fire.
**********
Lisa winced as the outer door slammed. Carrie stomped into the room, cursing under her breath, and threw her bag onto the chair in the corner of the room. “Bad day?” she asked from her seat at the table, which was situated to the right of the entrance.
Carrie opened the chiller and got herself a drink. Opening the carton, she took a deep swallow and then turned, leaned against the food prep counter and looked over at her lover with a sigh. “Not really, just bloody frustrating. You want a drink?” She offered up the carton of juice.
“Please, but I’d like mine in a glass if you don’t mind?”
“No problem.” Carrie turned around, reached into the wall cupboard and grabbed a glass. “What are you doing?”
Lisa looked down at the scattered data pads before her. “I have a day to figure out who to take back to the forest with me. So far I have a student who got halfway through year two of xenobiology before being drafted; I have a sociology lecturer; and finally I have an engineer with an interest in alien life forms. Not a lot to begin a serious study with, is there?”
Carrie shrugged as she poured the drink then wandered over to hand it to her partner. “Nope, but I’d take the engineer.”
Lisa propped her head up with her hand and took the drink. “The engineer?” She quirked an eyebrow back up at her lover.
“Yep,” said Carrie, taking another draw from the juice carton.
“And just why would I take an engineer?”
“Because, my dear,” she leant forward and placed a kiss on Lisa’s forehead, “when the cack hits the fan--as it always does when we are involved--we will have someone who may at least be able to offer up a solution.”
Lisa considered the suggestion for a few seconds before replying, “You are too clever by half!” She kissed Carrie back. “And not at all pessimistic.”
“Hey, at least that way I’m not disappointed.”
“Good point. Now why has your day been frustrating?”
“I’ll give you three guesses?” Carrie pulled out one of the other chairs at the table and sat.
Lisa studied Carrie’s face, which her lover had tried to make as expressionless as possible. Still she managed to see the quivering of a smile attempting to get onto her face. “Rachel?”
“How did you guess?” Carrie’s smirk broke onto her face. “I know that she wants to get back out there as soon as possible, but does it all have to be done today?”
“So why did you come storming in here just now?”
“Actually that wasn’t Rachel’s fault. Our illustrious council members decided to pay us a visit to find out how we were doing.”
Sipping at her drink, Lisa replied, “And put their noses in where they weren’t wanted or required, I take it?”
“Oh, you could say that. Helpful suggestions you know? The kind that never work; had two different sections working against each other because Kent said one thing and Ms. Rider was giving contradictory orders. Rachel flipped in the end and kicked all three of them out before Aston got in on the game.”
“How are you guys doing over there?”
“Pretty good. They’ve finally decided who are being included in the team--mainly military technicians and some marines.”
Lisa chuckled. “They frightened at what they might find?”
“You know, I think they are a little concerned. But we have Mr. Super Marine himself leading us so I think we’ll be safe.”
“Stuart Watts is going exploring with us?”
“Yes.”
Lisa dropped her head and groaned.
**********
They were on the move as the dawn broke across the cloud-filled sky. Tasha felt better this morning and despite the hard work of yesterday's uphill trek her muscles weren’t aching half as much as she had expected. Storm strode ahead of her, breaking the trail to make the way easier on the marine. It had taken a few days for Tasha to adjust to the fact that Storm wasn’t making comment on her fitness or stamina. Actually that wasn’t true, because she was, just not in a way that riled Tasha up. Having been through several horrific battles and more campaigns than she cared to remember, she was quite content to allow the tall, muscular woman in front of her to plough through the undergrowth. The hard work didn’t seem to make a dent in her energy level whereas Tasha knew that she’d be worse than useless by the end of the day if she were doing it. The other added bonus was that Storm knew where she was going and what dangers lay ahead. Tasha would most likely have walked off the edge of the escarpment had Storm not been leading and known exactly where it was.
That particular day would be one of Tasha’s favourites--one of the few days where the sun had broken through the clouds, bathing the world in its brilliant gaze. Thankfully Storm hadn’t wanted them to climb down the cliff face that in Tasha’s estimate must have been a couple of thousand feet. Instead they had walked along the edge, which meant the going was easy and they could both take in the spectacular views.
Right now the only spectacular view was Storm's behind encased in a pair of cut-off fatigue shorts. They were back in the thick of the jungle. Storm hadn’t been kidding when she said that they had a tough climb ahead of them and Tasha was more than glad that they had not pushed onwards last night. It hadn’t been a particularly high climb just very tricky with plenty of overhangs to trip up the unsuspecting. They had managed the climb with ease, not one scary moment to brag about to the girls later, but it had been taxing on the arms. Storm slowed to a stop ahead and Tasha came up alongside.
“What’s up?”
“Breakfast.” Storm pointed upwards. Above was a bunch of rounded green fruit, a type that Tasha hadn’t seen before.
“You want I should blast them down?”
Storm laughed. “No, need them whole.” Last time that they had thought that shooting dinner from the trees would save time, dinner had ended up being disintegrated. The power setting had been a little too high.
“Hey, no fair. It wasn’t my fault that they looked as tough as stones and were actually more like over-ripe tomatoes. Anyway it's my turn to get breakfast.” Tasha rubbed her hands together and approached the base of the tree. “How many do we want?”
“Two for you, two for me. Be careful; they don’t like to come down.” With that Storm decided to sit down and watch the forthcoming show.
It hadn’t taken Storm long to find out that the simplest task could turn into entertainment where her new friends were concerned. She had thought that it was just Rachel who attracted trouble but less than a day by herself with Tasha had taught her differently.
Shortly after Rachel had left, Storm had wanted to move to her wintering grounds. After quickly storing up the cavern for her summer return and making sure her stuff was high off the ground, she indicated to Tasha that they were leaving. The first half of the trek needed to be made in the trees. Being that it was only Tasha and herself, Storm hadn’t thought to bring the vine rope that she had made for the others to help them through the treetops.
Tasha had little trouble with traversing the heights until they came to cross the small, but deep and fast running, stream. Storm carefully explained that the boughs crossing the stream were old and very sturdy and then went across with ease. Tasha had started across and the old and sturdy boughs that had been Storm's crossing for eons gave way, dumping the marine into the water.
Twenty minutes or so later, Tasha managed to drag herself out of the water which thankfully had been reasonably warm. Storm had been in an utter panic when she found her. It took Tasha over an hour to assure her companion that she was okay. It was only then that it occurred to Tasha that Storm most likely couldn’t swim and probably didn’t realise that most humans could. After that episode, even performing the simplest of tasks seemed to bring about disaster where the marine was involved.
Studying the tree for several minutes, Tasha planned her route carefully up toward the fruits. The tree was old, its gnarly bark and twisting structure providing plenty of handholds. Piece of cake, Tasha thought and reached up to get her first hold. The bark was surprisingly soft to the touch but didn’t crumble as Tasha had half expected, instead her hands sunk into it by a few millimetres, giving her a secure hold.
A small bounce on the balls of her feet gave her the momentum to reach up for the next hold and her climb had begun. Tasha was enjoying herself. She had been born and bred on a ship in space and climbing trees hadn’t been part of her adolescence, though she heard plenty of tales about them from her fellow marines.
Her first planet fall had been an escort mission with loads of time off. First chance she got, she found a tree and climbed it. Pity it had been in the governor’s private gardens. She still remembered the troop sergeant bawling her out after being caught by security. Of course she had climbed many trees since then, but rarely had the chance to enjoy it as she was doing right now.
The climb was as easy as she had expected it to be and she managed to get to a bough
running parallel to the one with the fruit on it. Swinging
her leg over the branch, she settled herself and glanced down to Storm. The woman was
seated on the ground with her arms wrapped around her knees; her head was bent backward so
that she could look up toward Tasha and the fruit.
Is she smirking at me? I’ll bet she is, she is taking way too much amusement out of me. Well, I’ll show her that I don’t fall or break or trip up on everything I do. Though I have to admit I have done that a lot recently--maybe I ought to get the doc to check me out later. Ah, well, time to do this right. With one last smirk of her own to the waiting woman below, Tasha began to edge her way out on the bough toward the hanging fruit. The bough was wide enough that Tasha didn’t have to worry too much about balancing.
Within a few minutes she came abreast of the fruit, hanging slightly above and to the right of her. She glanced back down to Storm who was sitting in the same position with the same smirk. She gave a little smile and then looked back at the fruit. Hmm, looks out of reach from this position but if I stand up and lean on its branch then I should be able to pick them okay. Then I’ll just yell at Storm to catch and hey, presto! we have breakfast…yeah, providing we don’t fall and break our neck first. With a smooth intake of breath she pushed down on her hands and brought her feet up onto the bough. Making sure she had her balance, she stood up straight. No sweat, not even a wobble. Turning to the right, she leant over until her hands were braced on the branch with the fruit hanging from it. With her left hand she reached and shook the bunch of fruit. It didn’t budge. Ha! I knew this was going way too well to last. She shook again and still had no result.
She risked a look down at Storm who she knew was going to be laughing her beautiful little head off and wasn’t disappointed with what she saw; the woman practically had tears running down her face. Laugh at me, will ya? Okay, you just wait and we’ll see who's laughing in a minute.
Reaching down to her side, she pulled her firearm and checked that the setting was low.
Storm sat quietly except for the odd chuckle or two as she watched her friend climb the tree. Tasha had a brilliant smile on her face as she went up that really lit her face up. The tree she was climbing was one of Storm's favourites. The fruit it produced was filling and tasted good; sweet enough to satisfy but not so much that eating it in quantity made you sick. It also provided a source of milky water if needed and its dried-out husks could be used as a fuel source.
The only problem with the whole scenario was that it was very difficult to get it out of the tree. Storm couldn’t help but laugh as the fruit refused to move at Tasha’s insistent shake. Seeing the look on Tasha’s face as she peered down only made her laugh harder. Had Storm been more conversant in socialising with others, she would have known that laughing at Tasha’s predicament would only make the woman more determined to get her back.
Storm’s laugh began to fade as she saw Tasha remove her weapon and point it at the fruit. It stopped altogether as Tasha pulled the trigger, sending a blue bolt at the fruit… which subsequently exploded, sending individual fruit in all directions, most heading directly for her.
Tasha was rather surprised at the result the low power setting had on its target. Her quick reflexes allowed her to duck out of the way, avoiding the fast moving projectiles. Oop’s! Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea after all? Once the danger of being struck was over, Tasha stood straight then looked down. The fruit was scattered all over the place and Storm was nowhere in sight. Uh oh.
“Storm?” Ah, hell, where is she? “Storm? Hey, are you all right?” Tasha’s heart rate went upwards as she got no reply. With little thought for her previous disaster while walking along tree boughs, she rapidly made her way back to the trunk and descended at speed.
“Storm?” Tasha yelled, worriedly kicking the fallen fruit out of her way and looking left and right. “Storm!” she yelled louder, then nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning slowly, Tasha looked over her shoulder into sky-blue eyes. “Hell, you scared the daylights out of…” she paused slightly before finishing, “me.”
They looked at each other, Tasha struggling hard to keep from laughing and Storm not at all amused with her friend. Several seconds passed and Tasha fought harder but failed in her quest not to break down; tears streamed down her face and she broke out laughing.
Storm hadn’t been so lucky at getting out of the way of the ballistic fruit. In fact she had been struck by several of them, which had left her covered in pulp and juice which at this precise moment was dripping freely from her chin.
“Oh, m… my,” stuttered Tasha. “Gee, I’m really sorry.” Storm didn’t reply but lifted her hand and wiped some of the gunk from her face. She looked at it, then over at Tasha. An evil smile appeared on her face and Tasha stopped laughing. “Oh, come on now, Storm, I didn’t do it on purpose.” Tasha held up her hands and backed off. Storm wiggled her eyebrows and launched after the now squealing Tasha.
**********
Patrick Hawley was a short, squat man with greyish hair that announced his advanced age. Right now he was hunched over a viewer in his laboratory, muttering to himself and scribbling notes in an old-fashioned notebook he refused to exchange for the data pads that could hold gigabytes of information. Rachel paused at the door to the lab, trying to decide whether to risk Patrick’s wrath by disturbing him.
His gravely voice took the decision away from her. “Dr. Bradley, you are disturbing me more by hovering there wondering whether to disturb me, or not.”
“Sorry, Professor. I didn’t want to interrupt. You seemed to be in the middle of something,” Rachel said as she stepped into the room and walked around the bench to his side.
“Well, you have but it doesn’t matter; I was going to call you anyway. I have something to show you.” The professor stood up and shuffled past Rachel to another bench, this one covered in monitors and computers.
“Did you find something in Storm's tissue samples?” Rachel inquired as she followed him.
The old man switched on a monitor and adjusted the view. “Not exactly, more like I noticed something. See here?” With his writing implement the professor pointed to the screen, which was now showing a DNA strand.
“I’m afraid I’m not really up on my genetics. I can tell that what I’m looking at is an altered strand but I can’t see what else is there.”
“Ha! You’re up on most because most couldn’t tell the difference between altered DNA and normal. Here I’ll magnify it for you.” With a punch of a button the screen zoomed in further. “Do you see it now?”
Rachel walked up to the screen and peered intently at it. It all looked fine except… “Are you talking about the small hook-like projections?”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” The professor punched another button and the view changed. “If you look deeper, right down to the chromosome level, you can see them there, too.”
Rachel looked at the professor in confusion. “What are they?”
With a little chuckle the professor shuffled back to his chair. “That’s what I was wondering. So I ran a few tests and came up blank.”
Rachel leaned back against the bench, concentrating hard. “So we don’t know what they are.”
“I didn’t say that.” The professor looked at her sternly and Rachel raised her eyebrows. “I said I came up blank with the tests I’d done. But I think I know what they are for.”
He paused and Rachel suddenly realised that this was her cue to ask him what they were for. “In that case, Professor, what have you come up with?”
The older man grinned. “It occurred to me that this subject was genetically created and that when you build something it normally has a purpose. As we have already discovered this woman wasn’t conceived, as we know it, but built chromosome by chromosome. Why would an advanced civilisation want to do that?”
“Sorry, I’m not sure what you are getting at?”
“Okay, let me put it this way. If the Confederation allowed genetic construction what would we be building now?”
A light went on in Rachel’s brain. “We’d build what we need. Soldiers.”
“Exactly!” the old man crowed.
“So you think that Storm was genetically engineered to be a soldier?”
“No.”
“But you just said…” Now Rachel was totally confused.
“I said that was what we’d build. We have no idea what this civilisation needed. Let's say you wanted labourers, or people predisposed to medicine. You’d build them, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“But how would you know what you needed from one year to the next?”
“You wouldn’t,” replied Rachel, starting to understand what the professor was getting at. “But…”
“But if you could build a construct that could be programmed at anytime you wouldn’t have that problem. You could just program what you needed when you needed it.”
“So what you're saying is that Storm is a blank? Something that they would later program to be whatever they needed?”
“That is exactly right, which brings us back to what these hooks are for. Basically you would have to mutate the construct to whatever features you required at the time and the easiest way to do that…”
“…would be to alter the basic profile,” Rachel continued. “They would have to introduce the mutation at the genetic level for it to work effectively.” Rachel began to pace around the laboratory thinking out loud. “That would mean they would need a carrier to introduce the new characteristics and code. The hooks are for the carrier to attach itself to.”
She tapped her finger on her chin while the professor stood and watched admiringly. “Now what would they use? A bacteria couldn’t get in without a reaction, but a virus could!” Rachel lifted her eyes to the professor. “A genetic virus.”
“Got it in one!” The professor grinned. “Ever thought of branching out? You’d be a natural in this line of work.”
“Ha,” Rachel laughed. “Thanks for the offer but I have enough to worry about right now. These guys really knew what they were doing, huh?”
“They must have been pretty advanced to be able to mess with the genetic code that way.”
“Thanks, Professor. Let me know if you find anything else interesting.”
“You're welcome, my dear,” the professor replied, already hunched over his viewer again as Rachel left the laboratory.