[Splat]

I don't know, I've only just got off holiday and you're already yelling at me to write...

Lucky for you I like you all so much!

Part four begins with a reunion of an old character, and the introduction of a new one.

Ooh, aren't I poetic?
Now I have to remember all the formatting for the start of a new part. Anyway, here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for (some I think more than others)...

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In a culture where life expectancy and the rate of aging vary so much between species, gender and even individuals, biological age has very little significance to the races of Mudos.

Part 4
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Warrior’s Birth

Chapter 20

Doctor William Krik had spent three hours deciphering several years of other people’s research and was now feeling maliciously pleased with himself, like a child who had just beaten another who had been bragging for hours. Of course, instead of a child who had been bragging for hours it was seven other vykker scientists, all highly qualified, who had been working on a highly complicated genetics project for six and a half years, but they had been very obnoxious and dismissive of Krik, despite the fact that it was they who had hired him, and having worked out an easy solution to their problem William Krik believed he had a right to feel pleased with himself.

On the other side of the desk was the vykker in charge of the whole project, a project officially named the ‘Denial of Nature Study’, who glared disapprovingly at the smug look on Krik’s face, mostly because the smug look was making him nervous. What had Emlech said? “Odd knows Krik’s a better geneticist than I’ll ever be.” And they were very aware that Emlech was one of the best geneticists around, even if he kept it a secret.

“Well I checked on what your problem was straight away of course,” Krik was saying, “A breakdown of neurotransmitters caused by the introduction of the slig hormones into a mudokon’s cerebellum. Then I checked the development from stage one, and finally examined what you had done to try and fix the problem yourselves.”

The vykker behind the desk, named Doctor Decrough, glared at Krik irritably, “What we’re asking is can you help us rectify the problem?”

Krik grinned and leant back in his chair. “I was curious as to why you brought me in, you know. The seven of you working along happily, and then you come across a problem that despite you’re best efforts you were unable to solve yourselves, so you had to bring in an outsider to help!”

“But can you fix the problem?” Decrough asked again, through gritted teeth.

Krik leant forward, “I’ll accept the position you’re offering, if you’ll let me of course, and I guarantee I’ll bring in both skills and recourses which you’re current team is currently lacking, which will certainly carry the project further.”

“So you can fix the problem?” Decrough asked with gusto.

“No,” Answered Krik benignly, and Decrough began to growl, “But… (Do stop making that noise by the way), give me a month and I’ll bring you the coding from which you can create a prototype which I know without doubt will answer your problems. Now am I in the team?”

Decrough glared at the vykker seated on the other side of his desk. He had known him only six hours, and already he disliked him. “Solve the problem in a month and I’ll personally fill out all the paperwork for your transfer. You’re free to join.”

* * *

The years had not been kind to William Krik, who had lost even more than he’d expected for crossing Queen Skillya that day almost 24 years ago. Though 68, he could have been mistaken for being in his mid-seventies; a result of an unhealthy diet and an unhealthy bank balance.

Not only was he prevented from owning scientific equipment, but he was also banned from having his name placed on any project in which he participated; in effect he was banned from building a reputation. He was one of the very best geneticists alive, and yet no one knew it.

However, despite all this he had not been idle these past two decades. Those unique samples of Skillya’s blood had come at a high price, and so he had not let it go to waste. He had tested the DNA, broken it down to its core components and spent a great deal of time working late at whatever badly paid job he had secured, or at home with stolen equipment, working out which genes were common to all sligs and which were unique to the slig queen. Then he busied himself working out what those unique genes did, what part of her biology they controlled, and finally separated them and began replicating them. Though his original blood samples were long since gone, the unique parts of her make-up were safely stored away in a variety of sample dishes Krik kept hidden about his home.

Krik had been surprised to receive the invitation to come and join the Denial of Nature Study (or DNS). He had been working at a drug-testing laboratory in the middle of nowhere, and earning a pathetic salary, when he had received the message. How long had it been since he had been a part of a private research team, he had asked himself. The next thing he had asked himself was how on Odd they had found out about him. Nevertheless, choosing between taking on this new project or staying in his current job was like choosing between a bar of gold or a pile of scrab dung. He had met Decrough and the rest of the team on one occasion, and the following week he was invited to read through their research and come to a final decision about whether or not he would join them.

The project was funded by some anonymous glukkon, who wanted them to create mudokons with the loyalty and mentality of sligs, while retaining the mudokons’ intelligence and work ethos, to be used as a weapon against terrorists. The premise was simple: the Cartel-loyal mudokons produced by the team would be placed in a number of factories where, should a rebellion occur, they would pretend to befriend the trouble-making mudokons before alerting a guard of the trouble or impeding the progress of the rebels. These Cartel-loyal mudokons were nicknamed ‘Dark Skins’ by the team, and were made with a mixture of slig and mudokon DNA.

Two weeks after reading through the research, Krik was invited to present a pitch of his proposal to the rest of the team, to explain how he intended to solve their problems.

“I expect you did some research into my past before you decided to hire me,” Krik informed them as he sat at a table with them. A couple of them, including Decrough, looked interested, another appeared bored and the other four all were showing him various levels of contempt and scepticism. He was not thrown, however, “You’ll know about the slightly more than humbling mistake I made with Queen Skillya,” He said, sucking up a little, “And I hope you’ll be aware of my interest in the females of mudokons as well.”

“How is this relevant to our project?” One of the more sceptic vykkers asked.

Krik gave him an unpleasant glance before replying, “I quickly discovered when I was invited to peruse your research that the problem you have been having is caused by the slig hormones you’re attempting to introduce into a mudokon brain. The hormones do appear in mudokons, but in much smaller amounts, and the mudokon brain can’t cope with the difference. My work with Skillya is relevant because I long ago discovered that the certain hormones that are causing you so much trouble occur in lower levels in the slig queen than in worker class sligs – and in higher levels in worker class mudokon females than in mudokon males.

“My proposition is to create a female prototype of your… ‘Dark Skinned’ mudokon. The prototype could then be tested and used as a model for future males, using the female’s biochemistry to work out how to build male ‘Dark Skins’ without the problems in the brain.” He reached into a black Doctor’s bag he had with him and pulled out a number of sealed sample dishes and a large file of paper. “The samples are of DNA I took from Queen Skillya. Obviously it was taking these samples that lead to my arrest and punishment, and I’m glad that after all the trouble they cost me they’re now coming in useful. And the files cover the research I did on manufacturing fertile worker-class female mudokons before I began work for Queen Skillya. The project was banned by Lady Margaret after the mudokon queen was captured, but only a small portion of it is relevant to your work, so we won’t be breaking any laws in using it.”

“You propose that we use Skillya’s DNA in the Dark Skin?” One of the vykkers demanded. Krik raised an eyebrow. “Can you think of an idea any more insane? Do you know what she would do to us were she to find out?”

Krik glared grimly at the vykker, “I’m very much aware of what would happen to us, but no one other than the eight of us here would ever know would they? Unless you suspect that one of us would tell her? Or maybe you intend to do so yourself? Ha! Trust me; you would end up in her stew pot with the rest of us.”

He addressed the others, “What Queen Skillya doesn’t know won’t hurt us. She fears a competing queen but our Dark Skin would be infertile, and the DNA would only be necessary for the female prototype and wouldn’t be present in the final version. Only the eight of us here would ever know.”

The vykker who had challenged him rose to his feet and glared at him, “We could turn you in right now for having this sample of her DNA.”

Krik nodded, “You could of course, but these samples are unique. What sort of vykker would ever turn down the opportunity to study something like this?” He glanced around at each of the vykkers in turn and saw a glimmer of scientific lust in the eyes of every one.

“That is my proposition then. I will draw up the genetic code for this prototype myself, provide the relevant samples of Queen Skillya’s DNA and we can create a prototype from which you can draw the information necessary to forward the male Dark Skin.”

“A sound theory,” Decrough told him stiffly, “But I would like to hear the science behind it, if you wouldn’t mind?”

Krik smiled cunningly, “Certainly, certainly. The prototype will be estrogen-retentive…” He began, and spent the next ten minutes explaining the basic biological differences between their previous experiments and the prototypical female.

When he was done there was a thoughtful silence around the table. It was obvious that Krik knew his subject like a rat knows its burrow. The concepts and idea he had explained were complex, yet with the way he explained them they seemed to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and left all but one of the other vykkers wondering how thy had never worked all that out for themselves. The only one not thinking this was the team’s psychologist, who knew very little biology and had spent the latter half of Krik’s explanation scribbling in a notebook.

Eventually Decrough spoke. “Do you really think you can make this work Krik?”

Krik nodded.

“Can you make us something that’ll work on the first try? Do you really think you can?” Decrough asked. He had not admitted it to any of the team but the glukkon commissioning their work was growing impatient with their lack of progress and threatening to sack them all. They had all invested money in this job and if they didn’t get paid at the end they would all be left in financial trouble.

Krik sat back and was silent for a few seconds, “Give me three weeks and I’ll have the necessary coding for a prototype on your desk. As long as your current biological theory is sound she’ll live to a fair age.”

Decrough nodded, “There are creases to iron out, but she should live between five and thirty years if you remove the main problem as we’ve discussed.” He smiled a greasy smile, “This prototype of yours should give us the opportunity to work out a lot of the current problems.” The room seemed to grow lighter as the stress of their last few years of difficulty began to ease from the seven vykkers.

“Well,” Added Decrough, almost jauntily, “If she’s going to live that long she’ll need a proper name. We can’t just call her ‘Dark Skin Prototype’ all the time!”

“How about Skillya the Second?” Someone suggested and there was a titter of laughter from the other vykkers. To all but Krik it seemed as if the female was already a finished success. Krik, however, was the one who would have to do the hardest part of the work, and so he was taking a slightly more realistic view of events.

“Oh, the name will be no problem,” Bragged the team’s psychologist. He scribbled something down on a new page in his notebook and turned it around so the rest of the vykkers could see. He had written:

Denial of Nature Study: Estrogen Retentive.
D-N-S-E-R

“Dee-en-ess-ee-ah. Dionysia,” He said aloud.

* * *

Three months later, Dionysia hatched.

Her skin was genetically engineered to appear very dark grey, just a shade away from black, so that she stood out from other mudokons. This was simply so the vykkers could keep track of her and was a feature that would not be included in the final model. Her short, undeveloped feather was dark red and her eyes were big and yellow, like a normal mudokon child.

Krik’s popularity had not improved much in the time since he had joined the group and when all the vykkers gathered round to examine the child he found himself pushed to the back of the group, separated from his creation!

Despite his annoyance he found it hard to conceal his smirk. He had added more to that child than the other vykkers would know, and he would do more still to turn her to his ends. He had not been idle these last 24 years, and when the time was right he would step forward and reclaim the fame he had lost all those years ago.

Dionysia was his prototype in more ways than one. She was just another stepping stone to the glory he deserved!

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When i was writing that I was worried about it being a bit confusing in places, so let me know your thoughts. Did you understand the name thing? was there any time you were confused?

That chapter was almost entirely backstory for Dionysia. I needed to set out her origin, and Krik's plans, as well as what he'd been doing since his arrest. My original plan was to have Dionysia appear somewhere near the middle and focus on her until the end, but there was too much to say about the vykkers. However, now all that's out of the way the rest of this part should focus on the mudokon girl herself, explaining most of how she gets from a child to how she is in W@RF, and trust me: that's not an easy task for me! The other day I thoguht of something key to Dionysia that I'd completely forgotten about when i was planning this, so I have to find somewhere to stick it in.

The ending section, after she hatched, was more or less stuck on cus I wanted the plot to develop at least a little bit, and I didn't want to end this chapter in the same place as I ended the first chapter of part three (with the new protagonist getting named). I was also happy to show this new side of Krik; its something that wasn't there when we last saw him; he's more manipulative, subtler. I sometimes think that vykkers may actually be the driving force behind the Magog Cartel, actually more evil than the glukkons. They're just more sneaky about it.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter. W@RFers, no spoilers please (not that there's anything huge to give away at the moment, but just be careful).

Reply, or baby Dionysia will eat you!