Chapter 11: The Kobold of Science
The Kobold had the same color of fur as Greg and wore a lab coat. She even shared the same eye color as Greg which was a dullish sapphire hue.
"Wait, what?" Greg says dumbfounded, "I mean, you're my mom, my real mother?"
"Is it that hard to believe?" Dr. Sivaris asked, "we can do a blood test if you don't believe me."
"A what?" Greg asks.
"A blood test" Dr. Sivaris said, "with just a drop of blood we can compare the DNA structures between you and me and you'll see that they match."
"Okay, whatever that means?" Greg says once again confused.
"We can do it later if you want" Dr. Sivaris said, "now that you are back I would like to talk to you. You and me, mother and son, we will meet in private soon but for now get to know what remains of the facilities staff."
"What happened to the other?" Greg asked, "did something happen here too?"
"No actually" Dr. Sivaris said, "this was a base of operations so to speak, the more unique individuals had their own laboratories here. As for everyone else they just came and went until the day my captured pack broke out from this place. Their destructive rebellion may have had something to do with teleportation cut off from other facilities. I am not sure exactly, I was not exactly amidst the others during the outbreak as you can see."
"Wait" Greg says, "you were part of a pack and you decided to stay here, why?"
"We'll discuss more later" Dr. Sivaris said, "until then my darling just get to know everyone else." Dr. Sivaris exits the room and everyone follows her, upon entering the next room Greg could see that the next room was quite spacious. It was no joke, the place did look to function as a base of main operations with consoles and monitors. The other scientists had robotic helpers to keep an eye on various consoles while they would work inside their own labs.
"Wow" Chelise said, "ain't nothing like this back above."
"No, not really" Greg says.
"Anyway" Chelise said, "she seems like your real mother huh?"
"Yes she does" Greg responds, "I think she might want me to stay here with her, I guess she really did miss me."
"Well she should" Chelise said, "she is your mother, is it really that surprising?"
"Well a little" Greg says, "most Kobolds from the wild has no concept of parents. They are just born in the pack and the pack helps raise them until they are old enough to do their part."
"Oh" Chelise said, "I feel like I should have known that."
"It's alright" Greg said, "not everyone knows everything about Kobolds. Anyway let's catch up with Garrison first, I know him somewhat." Dr. Garrison was at one of the consoles hitting buttons and flipping switches.
"Hello Dr. Garrison" Greg said, "so you are from here then? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Raisins" Dr. Garrison said, "several of raisins, one was that your mother was reluctant on the thought of you returning. Another was well, security raisins of course."
"Oh okay" Greg says, "by the way this is Chelise."
"The Princess of Sourstone?" Dr. Garrison said, "yes I have heard of you, it is nice to meet you dear."
"To you as well" Chelise said.
"One more question" Greg says, "how did you fix my head?"
"That was easy" Garrison said, "just unbruised some nerves and fixed a few endings and that was that."
"Okay?" Greg says unsure of what he meant, "I'm just glad I am okay."
"As I'm sure you are" Dr. Garrison said, "anyway go meet the other scientists, I won't keep you any longer than I already have."
"Okay" Greg says, "who's closer?"
"Who's closer?" Dr. Garrison asked, "I believe that would be Dr. Veltex, he's the twitchy one, just down that hallway and to your right."
"Thanks" Greg says and both him and Chelise walks down the dimly neon lit hallway to the lab of Dr. Veltex.
"Hello?" Greg said, "Dr. Veltex?"
"Ah yes" Dr. Veltex said, "Greg the wayward Kobold from our humble abode, back again after all of these years and with a lovely looking lass as well I see!"
"I am Chelise" Chelise says, "nice to meet you mister."
"Yes, yes" Dr. Veltex said, "likewise deary! Now Greg what do you wanna know?"
"What do you do?" Greg asked.
"Ehehe, everything electrical here!" Dr. Veltex stated quite enthusiastically, "I upkeep on everything from our lovely AI to the fizzling wires below the monitors control decks."
"I see" Greg said, "so you are quite busy then?"
"Yeah" Veltex said, "That Dr. Gerald was always a lazy one leaving me up to all of the maintenance, I barely noticed when he stormed off."
"He was from here?" Greg asked, "do you have any idea what he did up there?"
"Of course we do" Dr. Veltex said, "however Dr. Sivaris insisted that we stay hidden and that only Dr. Garrison can be trusted to be on the surface. Like, whatever fine, I guess but some fresh air would be nice every now and again. Before Gerald left I had the option of stickin my head into another universe but he also snacthed the rune powering our interdimensional arc. How annoying huh? Sorry laddies I tend to ramble on a bit."
"It's fine" Greg says, "it's good to just vent y'know?"
"Oh don't I know it" Dr. Veltex said, "I can tell we'll get along fine in the long run, anyway you probably should get going. You still need to meet Dr. Holoton he is on the other side from the main control area.
"Okay thanks" Greg said, "see you around." Greg and Chelise walks to meet the last scientist in the facility
"So what do you think so far?" Greg asked Chelise as they walked.
"It's still really weird to me" Chelise said, "what about you?"
"I don't know" Greg said, "I like this place and everyone seems nice so far, but I want to find Rik still. He's not my real parent but he's the one that took me in and raised me as his own."
"I see" Chelise says, "we can still find him though, that shouldn't change whether you want to go back with him or not."
"Of course" Greg said, "but what if I really have been wasting my time? If he really isn't well, around anymore how would we figure that out?"
"Perhaps your mother will help" Chelise said.
"Maybe" Greg says, "let's go and meet this last guy already then." Upon entering the lab or Dr. Holoton Greg sees that everything looked transparent besides some machines and monitors.
"Wow" Greg says, "what's up with everything looking so weird?"
"They are holograms" Dr. Holoton said sitting on a holographic chair. "Come, have a seat." Greg attempts to sit in a holographic chair but falls through and onto the floor.
"Hey!" Greg yelled, "I can't sit in this at all!"
"Oh that's right" Dr. Holoton said, "you are not familiar with holograms, you see when using anything holographic you also must act like a mime. You have to fill in the blanks yourself or the result is nothing or falling to your backside in this case."
"Well" Chelise said, "that is interesting, I am Chelise by the way."
"Nice to meet you" Dr. Holoton, "say do you like cats?" Dr. Holoton presses a button on a pad strapped to his wrist and he is now holding a cat. It is as if it just materialized from thin air, a transparent like feline glowing blue. "Now, hold the kitty" Dr. Holoton says handing the hologram cat to Chelise. Chelise of course can't hold it and it falls through her hands and the cat hits the floor and scurries away.
"Oh I dropped it" Chelise said.
"That is fine my dear" Dr. Holoton, "it takes a great amount of practice and concentration to even interact with holograms." It is at this point Greg realized that the gloves the Doctor wore were quite abnormal looking. And he did notice the cat grew more transparent looking when Dr. Holoton let it go."
"Hang on a second" Greg said, "can I see one of those gloves."
"Why is that?" Dr. Holoton asked.
"I just want to check something" Greg replies.
"Alright then" Dr. Holoton says, "here you go." Greg takes the glove and sets it on the chair arm and sits in the chair.
"Ah ha!" Greg says, "I knew it, the gloves were solidifying anything you touched!"
"Yes!" Dr. Holoton said, "yes it did, and you figured it out right quick as well, you are indeed smart even though you grew up out there."
"Yeah, wait" Greg says, "so you were testing me?"
"Of course" Dr. Holoton, "your mother asked me to test this specifically. You are pretty good with that brain of yours even after Dr. Garrison had to fix it a little."
"Well" Greg says, "glad I passed the test."
"As you should be" Dr. Holoton, "now go meet with your mother, her lab is just ahead from where you enter the main area." Greg and Chelise walks to the front doors of Dr. Sivaris' lab".
"You'll have to wait out here" Greg says, "she wanted to speak in private."
"I know" Chelise said, "I'll wait out here and if you need me I will be waiting."
"You're gonna eavesdrop aren't you?"
"Oh yeah" Chelise said.
"Alright then" Greg says, "I'll leave you to that then, see you in a bit." Greg enters into the lab and sees that Dr. Sivaris is sitting at a desk. Greg notices metal looking bits around towards the back of her neck, her collar must have covered it before.
"Hello Dr. Sivaris" Greg said, "you want to speak now?"
"Yes I do" Dr. Sivaris said, "and you can call me mother if you want to, unless of course you still do not believe me."
"No, I believe you" Greg says, "it's just that, after all this time of keeping me away, why do you let me come back now?"
"A multitude of reasons" Dr. Sivaris said, "I have been avoiding any contact with the UNI's headquarters and it won't be long now until they take action. I am going to have to let all of this go eventually and I do not want to be alone."
"Oh" Greg says, "is that all?"
"Not entirely" Dr. Sivaris said, "I also felt some guilt letting go of my only kin. I know our kind usually does not have a conception of parenthood. But at the end you were all I had left besides the other scientists and I had you sent away.
"I see" Greg says, "so you want me to just live with you then?"
"Live with me?" Dr. Sivaris asked, "no Corvin, I want you to much more and help me carry on with both of our knowledge to help this world as best as we can. If I was to teach you what I know we could be the ones who benefit this world for eons to come."
"Sounds tempting" Greg said, "but I still want to find my adoptive father Rik. He went missing a year ago and I want to know what happened to him."
"Rik" Dr. Sivaris said, "that is the name of who raised you? I owe him for giving you a proper upbringing. We'll find him my child, and then we can begin our work."
"I dunno" Greg says, "I might still go back home with him."
"And that is just it then" Dr. Sivaris said, "I could stop you and force you to stay with me but I would not ever consider doing that. The choice is entirely up to you, if you feel happier living a more simple life then you can have it.
"Thank you mother" Greg says, "my mind is not made up yet, perhaps I will stay, I do not know yet."
"Take your time" Dr. Sivaris said, "there is still plenty of it left."
"Okay" Greg said, "another question though, what did happen? How did you become the one running this place?"
"That is a long story" Dr. Sivaris said, "back then I was not Dr. Sivaris, I was Gera, me and my hunting pack was captured by these scientists. Dr. Sivaris, the real Dr. Sivaris before I took on the name was the one in charge and head of the experimentation conducted on us. After weeks of trial and error she eventually was able to make me, the most improved Kobold to exist."
"What about your pack?" Greg asked.
"Most perished" Dr. Sivaris said, "but after the success of me she began her plans for engineering the perfect Kobolds."
"And that didn't work huh?" Greg asked.
"Yes and no" Dr. Sivaris said, "yes because you are the only one and no because you are here. Soon after the fact, what was left of my pack escaped back into the world above. I stayed behind because I knew I could never be with my own again."
"What about the original Dr. Sivaris?" Greg asked.
"Oh yes" Dr. Sivaris said, "the original Dr. Sivaris, she deserved what was coming. She allowed me to act as her servant thinking I was domesticated, that was a costly mistake. It was what the remainder of my pack needed to finally escape."
"So" Greg says, "you took her name to rub salt upon the wound?"
"No" Dr. Sivaris said, "the main control to the facility is voice activated, by her voice. I had a module attached to my neck to alter my voice to the original Dr. Sivaris."
"Can I hear your original voice?" Greg asked.
"No" Dr. Sivaris said, "it was difficult to tune to the right frequency, I fear I will not be able to recreate it."
"Okay" Greg says, "say do the other scientists know any of that?"
"No" Dr. Sivaris said, "they think the original Dr. Sivaris was killed by the rebelling Kobolds. I only took charge because they thought her personality was imprinted on me. I did what I could to make things better, only the UNI will have to find out sometime about my insubordinate nature."
"You are quite smart" Greg says, "I am sure we can figure something out. Heh, I can see where the intelligence comes from now when it comes to me."
"Indeed" Dr. Sivaris said, "you are my kin, it's only natural." Dr. Veltex enters the laboratory and walks to Dr. Sivaris' desk at a power walking pace.
"Dr. Sivaris!" Dr. Veltex says, "come to the main control, you have got to see this!" Oh the old 'you have to see this clique', something bad is afoot, or not, usually though it does not bode well. They enter into the main control area and on the large screen a clean man in a very expensive looking black suit could be seen. He had a little curly mustache and had thinning hair but enough bangs for an olde style cut.
"Dan Daniel Danielson" Dr. Sivaris said, "nice to speak to you again."
"Dr. Sivaris" Dan said, "as the founder, CEO and ultimate head of our organization you have no right to ignore me for so long. You and your team has been too quiet and every other facility seems to have gone under. There is a threat to us and he is in this world, as we have come to find out from the untimely demise of Dr. Gerald. We have no choice but to ask you all to come back home."
"And why is that?" Dr. Sivaris asked.
"Is it not obvious?" Dan asked, "it is over, nothing of use has come from here for years now. On top of that we for the longest time thought this facility was also abandoned and fell into disrepair. So to cover our tracks and destroy our enemies we are destroying the world with our orbital laser cannon."
"What?!" Dr. Sivaris yelled, "that is insane!"
"I am sorry" Dan said, "but it is the only way, our enemy is unsuspecting and time is futileā¦"
End of Chapter 11
Chapter 12: A Desperate Hope
out now
