Chapter 0: Epilodge
It was hatching now. Tonight. The man felt like running through the lab, shrieking with uncontained joy, but he had a name to keep, yes he did. And if everything succeeded, one day his name would be known everywhere for this impossible task he had succeeded.
The man came to a set of thick double doors. He swiped a keycard on the scanner, the only keycard that could open these doors. The man would rather he and his experiment die then let an enemy get any blood or the experiment itself. The man shook himself back down to the present as he entered a wide, empty hallway. There were four doors, and the man swiped his keycard again to enter that room.
The man was greeted by the sight of an incubator with a single, pale egg. No one else was in the room. It was completely silent. The man swiped his keycard yet again on the incubators side, and the glass screen opened up.
As the man watched, a soft crunching sound was made as small cracks began to appear in the eggs surface. He smiled and sat down in a chair. This could take a bit.
It took ten minutes for the first hint of the creature to be revealed. Pale claws burst through the shell, making a gap big enough to revale green scales. Then a few minutes later the creature fully emerged. The man felt his smile grow as he viewed the small creature covered in egg goop and shell. Scales the color of fresh leaves, and a golden underbelly. Branching off from the side were delicate looking wings like bats, with pale gold webbing between each finger like part, and a long, graceful neck. Four legs, the front two slightly thinner. A narrow snout, with a small horn on the end. Larger horns on the back of the head. When the creature opened its mouth, it revealed small, sharp ivory fangs. The most stunning feature was the golden and green eyes that seemed to be full of wonder and intelligence and things the man could not place.
The man grinned, watching his creation. The creature stumbled around, chirping softly for a mother as it bumped into walls. The man finally picked up the creature, amazed at its lightness, while it made a yowling sound similar to a cat. "Hush." The man scolded, to excited about what this meant to scold more.
The man put the hatchling in a different kind of incubator for creatures that already hatched. The man wasn't planning on feeding the creature because he thought it would have still be full from the yolk. However, the small creatures snaked forward and nipped at his hand. The man let out a startled sound as tiny fangs sank into his finger, however they hardly drew blood. The man watched the creature lick its lips and decided to feed it...no her, if only to make her sleep.
The man tiredly grabbed some recently thawed raw turkey and offered it to the creature. After staring judgmentally at the meat, the creature snapped her head forward and grabbed the meat, eating it quickly. The man sighed and fed her the rest until she curled up, seemingly sleeping.
Then the man opened up his laptop. He knew now was the time they were supposed to call. "Just on time." The man whispered to himself as the other face popped up on screen.
"Good morning doc." A voice purred out. "Any updates?"
The man grinned. "DG-8 is out and healthy. Already ate."
The person on the laptop screen leaned forward eagerly. "Ohhh. Okay now. Give me a rundown of what is in DG-8."
"From what I can tell, lots of velociraptor, probably some kind of monitor as well. I also sprinkled in the DNA of other medium sized dinosaurs like baryonyx and ceratosaurus. And…" the man trailed off. "...Indominus Rex."
There was a shocked silence. "Why Indominus?" The voice asked. "I thought we wanted to avoid large carnivores, and the I Rex is very large."
The man smiled again. "Well, as you know the two Indomini hatched about almost two years ago. I was just wondering if I could carry over some of the features to this creature, and I was not disappointed. We needed a creature with a strong bite force, so I went there. And, may I mention, DG-8 has a perfect pair of wings. And I believe the body is light enough to allow flight eventually."
The other voice seemed to be grinning when they responded. "Excellent! Remarkable job, as always...Dr. Wu."
Dr. Wu ended the call, and stood above over DG-8 for a moment, breathing in victory. Victory smelled like dinosaur goop but still. Wu had created a creature never even alive. A dragon.
Not far away, a dinosaur grieved for her dead sister.