Double Helix -- Day Two
entertaining angels
by Ryan Carroll
Slasher woke up early that morning.
Her mind told her that something was out of whack, but she couldn't figure out what it was. All her body parts were present and functioning. It was a bit cold in the room; she'd have to have a talk with Ryan about how he kept the air conditioning so cold at night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary...
...until she opened her eyes.
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It was a scream that could have split time and space.
As it was, it froze my blood where I sat. When it finally thawed back out, I dropped the toast I'd been munching on and dashed from the kitchen up to Chris' room...
...only to collide with Aeris coming from the other end of the hall and Chris just coming out her bedroom door. Tenchi and Squall had just opened their door, and Ayeka was peering out the door to the room she and Aeris shared. All were still half asleep.
"Whaz goin' on?" someone mumbled incoherently.
I extricated myself from the collision and helped both girls to their feet. "Are you okay?" I inquired, directing the question to both of them.
"I was fine until you blindsided me," Chris commented. "What's all the commotion? I heard a scream."
"So did I," I replied. "I thought it was you."
"If it was me, you would've FELT the scream. Aeris?"
The Cetra shook her head. "Wasn't me, and Ayeka just woke up herself."
"Then who could've..." A possibility hit me. "Naaaaah, couldn't be."
"Slasher? But she normally doesn't sound like that."
My ears discerned the click of a lock. I turned toward the sound and saw Slasher's doorknob jiggle. I walked over and knocked on her door. "Slasher? Are you okay?"
"No! Now scram!"
"C'mon, Slasher, I'm trying to help!"
"You can't. Go away!"
It irritated me that someone who was so calm and level-headed in "normal" circumstances could be so dang stubborn when it came to offers of help. "You know dang well I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me what's wrong!"
A muffled sigh emanated from the door, then, "All right. Have Chris bring me one of her outfits."
Huh?
Chris did so, and Slasher snagged the outfit through a crack in the door barely two inches wide before slamming the door shut and locking it again. Was it my imagination, or did it seem Slasher was having trouble with the lock?
After an interminable wait, the lock clicked and I heard a mumbled "All right, you can come in."
I'd been standing there for twenty minutes, so I had momentum. I practically threw the door open, saying, "Now what's this all ab-- Ab-b-b-bou-bou-bout... What the...?"
"That's what I'd like to know," the velociraptor replied. At least, it sounded like the Slasher I'd come to know and love. It sure didn't look like her. To fully explain would take but three words: she was human.
I understood why she asked for one of Chris' outfits before letting anyone in. "What the heck happened to you? I feel like I'm dreaming."
"If anyone's dreaming, it's me. And it's a nightmare." The (former) raptor's transformation hadn't been entirely complete. Her golden wings stood out against the colors of the room. She tested their functionality. Her feet rose from the floor, so apparently she could still fly. "I just woke up like this this morning. Last night, I'm me. This morning, I'm a freak."
"Gee, thanks," I quipped.
"Sorry. You'd feel the same way if you woke up as a raptor one morning."
"Point. Well, I guess all we can really do is try to find out what happened to you so we can figure out how to reverse it."
"So what am I supposed to do until then?" Slasher asked, sounding somewhat desperate.
I shrugged. "Cope with it."
"Gee, thanks."
"Hey, what's going on?" a small voice piped up. Pixel rounded the corner into the room, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Slasher. Her eyes widened. "Wow," she breathed, "an angel!"
THAT put a smile on everyone's face. "It's only me, Pixel," Slasher told her, smiling softly.
"Slasher?" The little chao blinked. "You look different."
"There's the understatment of the decade," I muttered to Chris. She replied with an elbow to my ribs.
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Slasher agreed to a DNA test to see if there was anythinng we could do about this whole transformation thing. I sat down in the genetics lab and inserted her blood sample into the DNA extractor. I planned to compare this sample to one I'd taken previously.
While the computer extracted and decoded the DNA strands from Slasher's blood sample, I pulled up a comparison chart on myself. The results from a sample I'd pulled just the day before were lined up next to a sample taken several months prior. A percentage blinked between the two columns, showing how alike the two DNA samples were. I did a cursory glance, then a double take.
"Strands 75% alike."
"What the?"
Pulling up a more detailed readout, I totally missed the notice that Slasher's data was finished.
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"Well, I have either good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it."
"...And?"
"You're normal."
"Please tell me you're joking."
I merely stared at Slasher.
"You're not joking."
"Nope."
"Wonderful." She started to pace the room. "So I may be stuck like this for the rest of my life! I look like... like..."
"Like an angel," I finished for her.
She turned to glare at me, but her expression softened when she saw I was serious. "You really think so?"
"You had Pixel convinced," I replied, smiling.
She chuckled at that, then sat down on the couch beside me, wings drawn about her shoulders like a feathery cape. "How is Pixel doing since yesterday, without Indy around?"
"She's handling it," I told her, "but I think she's taking it pretty hard anyway. She hasn't been her usual chipper self since last night. I dunno, if Indy's growth is accelerated, you think it'll be long before he hatches again?"
"I really don't know. I often wonder how Chalcon's been doing since the research facility took them all back to Sapphire City."
"Uh, Ryan?" a voice interrupted.
I turned to see Rob sticking his head around the door frame. "Yeah, Rob, what is it?"
"Oh, well, if you're busy..."
"No, you're not interrupting anything. I was just talking with Slasher."
Rob looked around the room, expecting to see a raptor. "Over the intercom or what?"
I jerked my head in Slasher's direction. Rob did a double take, then asked, "Did I miss something this morning?"
"Yeah, you could say that. I'll explain later. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, I wondered if you had any tips on raising a chao."
"Huh? Why?"
Rob came completely around the door, a newborn chao in his arms. "I'm going to need the help."
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The new chao was an instant hit. Chris made sure to include Pixel in the events that followed, primarily to keep her from feeling left out.
"What are you going to name her?" Aeris inquired.
"I don't know, something really nice," came Rob's reply.
"Hey, she's changing!" Pixel exclaimed. Sure enough, the little newcomer was already forming a cocoon, as soon after hatching as Indy and Pixel had. "Hmmmm..." Rob muttered after a short while, when the cocoon began to clear up.
"What?"
"She looks kinda like an angel. I thought chao developed differently than that."
"Yeah, you got a point. So what are ya gonna name her?" Chris inquired.
"Well, how about Seraphim?" Rob suggested.
"I like it!"
We all turned at the sound of the new chao's voice. She had just emerged from her cocoon and within a split-second had latched onto Rob's neck. I tried in vain to hide a grin.
"I think she likes you, Rob," I chuckled.
"Ya think?" Rob gasped. "Can't... breathe..."
Seraphim fluttered her wings and began zipping around Rob's head at near lightspeed. "Wow-this-is-great-I-can't-believe-I-finally-have-someone-to-talk-to-it-gets-so-lonely-sitting-in-an-egg-all-day!"
"Energetic little thing, isn't she?" Slasher chuckled.
"You could say that," I replied. "You could also say she's the epitome of hyperactive."
"That works."
"This is interesting," Aeris broke in. "According to this website, a Chao can be one of two different types." We all gathered around Aeris' computer console to see what she was talking about. "See, Type 1 Chao, like Indy and Pixel, imprint on personality. But Type 2 Chao, it seems, imprint on a person's morality. Which would make Seraphim a Type 2, from all indications."
"Hey-Rob-can-we-go-outside-and-play-huh-can-we-can-we-can-we?"
Rob grinned lopsidedly and headed for the door.
"Hey, Rob..." I called after him.
"Yeah?"
"Good luck," I smiled evilly.
"Thanks," he replied sarcastically. With that he opened the door and allowed Seraphim to zip out the door ahead of him. "Poor guy," Chris commented. "Doesn't know what he got himself into."
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I had no idea what I was about to get myself into, either. The excitement of the day really started up when my Dad called.
I'd been dreading this phone call ever since I'd found myself on the run. It was normal for me to be out of touch with my parents for weeks on end, especially with my Dad's itinerant schedule, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they found out and tried to get in contact with me.
Fortunately I had prepared for such an event. A specific phone line routed the call through a dimensional microportal, beaming the call straight to a cell phone I'd rigged to work with the transdimensional technology.
And boy, was I glad I'd done it. Especially when the call came through.
"Hello?"
"Ryan? It's Dad."
Ooh boy. Easy, Ryan, just breathe, act like nothing's wrong... "Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. How are things?"
"They were fine until you decided to pull this disappearing act. What possessed you to do something like this?"
Ouch. Already put on the defensive. "Dad, I don't know who you've been talking to..."
"Chris' father, for starters."
Doh.
Dad continued. "He told me all about your little kidnapping stunt. What the heck were you thinking?!?"
"Dad, the man is a liar."
"Big talk from the person he's accusing."
"Dad, I'm serious! Look, you want to talk to Chris? She'll tell you all about her dad."
"I don't want to talk to her, I want to talk to you! You're a wanted criminal, Ryan, and--"
"DAD! Listen to me! I may be wanted, but I'm NOT a criminal! Would you please just hear me out first?"
"I had a nice long talk with some FBI agents today. I'd like to know what's going on in that head of yours. Dimensional travel? Secret paramilitary group?"
"Dad, if you don't just listen to me a minute I'm hanging up. Do you want answers or not?"
Dad sighed. Sounded like I'd finally gotten through to him. "I want to see you face-to-face. You built your transporter; meet me in the main square in Venice at two in the afternoon, local time. Can you do that?"
"Fine by me. I'm bringing Chris and Aeris with me. They'll confirm I'm telling the truth."
"Good. I'll see you then."
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The intercom buzzed. "Yes, General?"
"I want a black ops team in Venice by 2 PM Italy time. No, make it two teams."
"As ordered, General."
Colonel Ferris wondered when this would end.
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It was around noon. I was back in the DNA lab, this time with Slasher. I was going through a step-by-step analysis of her genetic data.
"I still have a hard time believing that the system thinks I'm normal."
"Well, it's right there on the screen, and... oops."
"Oops? What do you mean, oops?"
"Aaah, I accidentally activated the DNA reconstruction simulator. It won't let me exit until it's finished." The two of us watched as the double helix swirled into view. "Wait a minute..." I muttered. "Something here doesn't look right..."
Sure enough, the computer backed me up on my suspicion. The DNA chain was just too thick. There were too many base pairs in the string.
By scrutinizing the information in the diagram, I discovered that Slasher was human. Then again, she was also still a raptor.
It seemed like a fluke of genetic engineering, but according to the system, nothing had been altered since birth beyond the addition of her wings.
"Now this is just getting freaky," I commented.
"Yeah, no kidding," Slasher agreed.
A thought suddenly hit me. "I wonder if... Nah, that's not possible. Is it?"
"What?"
In reply I pulled up my own file and ran the reconstructor on it. Again, a three-dimensional diagram appeared on the screen.
My DNA had the same traits as Slasher's.
My brain threatened to overload on me. I slumped back in my chair. "Do you even want to think about the implications of this?"
"No."
"Good. Neither do I. Let's find out, shall we?"
I loaded up the program which compared two DNA records. Setting the program to check for possible relation rather than single-person comparison, I entered the two files and poised my finger over the enter key.
"You know, we don't have to do this. We might be better off just not knowing," I told her.
"I'd rather know than wonder for the rest of my life. Go for it."
I hit enter.
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Was I shocked? No. Surprised? A bit. Happy?
Well, maybe after I woke up from falling backwards out of my chair and conking my head on the desk behind me, I was a bit happy. And I'm not talking about being doped up on asprin, either.
"You okay?" Slasher inquired as she stood over me, applying ice to the back of my head.
"Okay? Okay? I've never felt better in my life!"
"You must still be delirious."
"Nope. Never felt better. How about you?"
"Shocked, maybe, and more than a little perplexed. I'm almost fifteen years older than you are, for crying out loud! Almost as old as your parents!"
"And how much time traveling have you done?"
She stopped short.
"Uh-huh. I thought so. Let me do a little research."
A little probing and prodding did the trick. I managed to get what was almost a life story out of Slasher, but what I was most interested in were the jumps through time, as well as anything that would cause a person to live a life longer than what was normally possible. She looked like she was nineteen, my age, and yet she had lived a life nearly twice as long as mine. The thing was, the proof was right on the screen: twin siblings.
What was really crazy about her life was how much of the timeline spectrum she covered. Dates ranged from the Creataceous and her earliest memories (mine were from mid-1980s Minnesota. Yay.) to her time of service to the Cocytans a couple hundred years in the future. The thing was, three years still remained unaccounted for: the first three years of life which not one person ever seems to remember.
The Internet, despite all the trash and filth in cyberspace, is a Godsend. So much information can be found there, whether newspaper articles or biographies of the latest celebrities. The former is what I was really looking for, and after what seemed like hours of searching (turned out to be about twenty minutes, give or take) I found the article I sought.
"Toddler vanishes from front yard, no trace" read the headline.
The article awakened a deep, dark memory, one that had been blocked away and subsequently lost in that three-year span of forgotten memories. A synapse that hadn't fired in ages sparked, and I saw what happened anew.
I'd always thought I was an only child, and my parents never acted like they'd lost one. I'd had a pretty normal life.
Well, as normal as I can get, anyway.
The memories were of a sister. Chestnut hair, green eyes, cheery disposition. Playing out front in the yard. Tossing a ball back and forth. A flash of light. The ball bounced right through the space where she had just been.
My brain returned to reality with a jolt, and I realized that I had broken into a cold sweat.
"Are you all right?"
"No. No, I'm not all right. Slasher... It's MY fault!"
"What?"
"The Dimensionalizer! The merge! The zipper effect! The transdimensional rifts that popped up all over the place! Slasher... My invention is what sent you to prehistoric times."
"What?!?"
"Look, our DNA shows that we're siblings. Twins, even. But there's too much genetic data. The answer? We're shapeshifters, to an extent. Limited to one form, kinda like that hunter guy that GUN sent after you."
"Right... You're making sense, which scares me. Go on."
"I've never exhibited this trait. It's been pretty dormant, but if what you said about what happened yesterday is true, then it fits. Now you've been a raptor all your life. But what if you weren't born that way?"
"What are you getting at?"
"Here's the short version. The dimensional merge caused the zipper effect. The zipper effect sent you into the past, and the physical shock of being torn out of reality triggered your change into a raptor. You were, I guess 'adopted' for lack of a better word, by a family of raptors. Then you lived your life and I lived mine, each unaware that the other had ever existed. With all the time traveling you've done, that's how you've lived so much longer than I have. And your time spent in Space-Time Six explains why you haven't aged that much. You spent so much time in a purely mental existence, your body never aged during that time. It all fits, Slasher. And there's the birth certificate to prove it," I finished, pointing to a document on the screen.
The name on the document? Heather Michelle Carroll.
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Venice was crowded. Not that I minded, really. Fugitives tend to like crowds, as I was discovering.
There were five of us altogether. Chris and Aeris were there as testimony to my dad that I hadn't kidnapped them, Slasher came because she wanted to see her birth parents, and Squall came along for backup.
I saw Dad standing around a vendor's cart, apparently pretending to be interested in the vendor's wares in order to look inconspicuous. The five of us walked up to him.
"There someplace we can go to get some privacy?" I asked him, lowering my voice a bit. All five of us were wearing sunglasses and trench coats, so I think we kind of startled him. Until he realized it was me I think he thought we were a mafia gang or something.
"Five of you? What happened to three?"
"I'll explain when we can get out of the open. How big's your apartment?"
"Big enough for all of us, I guess--" A loud bang cut him off. We all looked across the square to see a cloud of smoke appear out of nowhere.
I had a bad feeling about this. Turns out I was right.
I glanced at Chris for a split second, then saw an armored agent aiming a rifle at her back.
"Look out!" she and I screamed simultaneously. All six of us hit the deck. When I looked up, I saw that someone had been aiming at MY back. Both agents had fired just as we all ducked and had wound up shooting each other with tranquilizer darts.
I pulled out my power-staff and finished the job the tranquilizer started. Nothing feels quite like applying the business end of a big stick to the cranium of some loser who just tried to shoot you.
Slasher and Squall were busy getting Dad to safety, but the rest of us had been blocked off from that route. A circle of agents was slowly pressing in on us.
"Any ideas?" I inquired.
"Just one," Chris replied. "Duck."
We hit the dirt for the second time that minute. I saw that Chris' pendant was glowing; apparently she'd been able to see something neither Aeris nor I had.
Whatever that something was, it was moving fast enough to leave a sonic shockwave in its wake. The blast knocked everyone within a fifty-foot radius off their feet, clearing a path for us to get out of there.
We met the others in an alley. Rob was there as well.
"What are you doing here?" Aeris asked him.
"Chasing a sugar-happy chao. Dang, she moves fast! One minute she's sipping a cola, the next, BOOM! Lightspeed city."
"So that's what that was." I looked over Rob's shoulder, where Seraphim had appeared out of thin air. "Thanks, Ser."
"Hey-no-problem-I-always-try-to-help-out-whenever-I-can!"
Chris and I exchanged a glance. "I have a feeling we're going to be switching to diet soda fairly soon," I commented.
"Well, at least GUN's not getting off scot-free this time," she replied, holding up a patch she'd torn off an agent's sleeve. GUN's logo was emblazoned on the patch.
"Nice work, Chris!"
"Thanks. I try."
Dad looked around at us, expecting an explanation. Seeing that he wasn't going to get one right away, he said, "I think we should get back to my apartment. They can't follow us there."
"NOW do you believe me?" I asked him.
In reply, he held up a feather. One of Slasher's. "I really don't know what to believe..."
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After making the rounds of introductions (I tripped over Slasher's name a bit, making it sound like "Sasha", but it worked out well) it took about three hours of explaining, but by the time dinnertime came around, Dad was thoroughly convinced of the truth of my current situation. He treated us all to dinner back in the States (even though he had to stay in Italy, with my teleporter, he could be on call anywhere in the world). I forwarded his phone to my D-Comm and we headed for a great little Italian place he'd found in New York City one time.
It was over dinner that I breached the subject of "Michelle".
"Dad, are you sure I'm an only child?"
Dad dropped his fork onto his plate. I'd hit a nerve. "What makes you ask that?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe the fact that something prompted me to do a little digging. I found the birth certificate, Dad."
"Oh, boy." I could tell Dad had NOT been ready for this subject to come up.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Honestly? Your mother and I were glad you didn't vanish into thin air like your sister did. We wanted to feel like we still had a complete family."
"But we didn't. Why live a lie for so many years?"
"We were afraid that you'd go off on your own and try to find her. You've always been the kind of person who'd do something crazy like that."
"Well I wish you would've at least said something to me. I hate finding out these things myself ten to twenty years down the road."
Dad must have REALLY wanted to change the subject; I could read it in his face. "You're afraid I'm going to go running off to try to find her, aren't you?"
He nodded. I burst out laughing.
"Dad, I don't HAVE to. I found her! I didn't realize it was her at the time, but I found her!"
THAT got his attention. "Where? Where is she?" He looked about ready to go bursting out the door of the restaurant in search of her himself.
"Right at this very table," I grinned. Everyone looked expectantly at Slasher, whom I'd intentionally seated right next to Dad. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Dad?" she attempted to say. She nearly broke down over that one syllable.
The embrace was automatic and instantaneous. I sat there, holding Chris' hand, happy to see my family coming back together after so many years apart.
When they finally let go of each other, Dad pulled a feather off of his shirt. One that hadn't been there a minute ago. Slasher looked nervous.
"Anything else I should know about my daughter?" he quipped, examining the feather.
"Uh, er, well, that is, um..." I stammered, looking for a logical explanation somewhere in my brain. It refused to supply me with one.
"It's all right, Ryan. I think I can explain, but only if you're all willing to sit through another three-hour story," she grinned.
"We've got all night. Let's hear it."
I'd heard it all before, but it fascinated me so much I didn't mind hearing her story twice in one day. She could've written a book (heck, a dozen books) about her history and never repeat the same event twice.
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One "Day" to go. Dark vs. Light coming soon.
entertaining angels
by Ryan Carroll
Slasher woke up early that morning.
Her mind told her that something was out of whack, but she couldn't figure out what it was. All her body parts were present and functioning. It was a bit cold in the room; she'd have to have a talk with Ryan about how he kept the air conditioning so cold at night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary...
...until she opened her eyes.
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It was a scream that could have split time and space.
As it was, it froze my blood where I sat. When it finally thawed back out, I dropped the toast I'd been munching on and dashed from the kitchen up to Chris' room...
...only to collide with Aeris coming from the other end of the hall and Chris just coming out her bedroom door. Tenchi and Squall had just opened their door, and Ayeka was peering out the door to the room she and Aeris shared. All were still half asleep.
"Whaz goin' on?" someone mumbled incoherently.
I extricated myself from the collision and helped both girls to their feet. "Are you okay?" I inquired, directing the question to both of them.
"I was fine until you blindsided me," Chris commented. "What's all the commotion? I heard a scream."
"So did I," I replied. "I thought it was you."
"If it was me, you would've FELT the scream. Aeris?"
The Cetra shook her head. "Wasn't me, and Ayeka just woke up herself."
"Then who could've..." A possibility hit me. "Naaaaah, couldn't be."
"Slasher? But she normally doesn't sound like that."
My ears discerned the click of a lock. I turned toward the sound and saw Slasher's doorknob jiggle. I walked over and knocked on her door. "Slasher? Are you okay?"
"No! Now scram!"
"C'mon, Slasher, I'm trying to help!"
"You can't. Go away!"
It irritated me that someone who was so calm and level-headed in "normal" circumstances could be so dang stubborn when it came to offers of help. "You know dang well I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me what's wrong!"
A muffled sigh emanated from the door, then, "All right. Have Chris bring me one of her outfits."
Huh?
Chris did so, and Slasher snagged the outfit through a crack in the door barely two inches wide before slamming the door shut and locking it again. Was it my imagination, or did it seem Slasher was having trouble with the lock?
After an interminable wait, the lock clicked and I heard a mumbled "All right, you can come in."
I'd been standing there for twenty minutes, so I had momentum. I practically threw the door open, saying, "Now what's this all ab-- Ab-b-b-bou-bou-bout... What the...?"
"That's what I'd like to know," the velociraptor replied. At least, it sounded like the Slasher I'd come to know and love. It sure didn't look like her. To fully explain would take but three words: she was human.
I understood why she asked for one of Chris' outfits before letting anyone in. "What the heck happened to you? I feel like I'm dreaming."
"If anyone's dreaming, it's me. And it's a nightmare." The (former) raptor's transformation hadn't been entirely complete. Her golden wings stood out against the colors of the room. She tested their functionality. Her feet rose from the floor, so apparently she could still fly. "I just woke up like this this morning. Last night, I'm me. This morning, I'm a freak."
"Gee, thanks," I quipped.
"Sorry. You'd feel the same way if you woke up as a raptor one morning."
"Point. Well, I guess all we can really do is try to find out what happened to you so we can figure out how to reverse it."
"So what am I supposed to do until then?" Slasher asked, sounding somewhat desperate.
I shrugged. "Cope with it."
"Gee, thanks."
"Hey, what's going on?" a small voice piped up. Pixel rounded the corner into the room, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Slasher. Her eyes widened. "Wow," she breathed, "an angel!"
THAT put a smile on everyone's face. "It's only me, Pixel," Slasher told her, smiling softly.
"Slasher?" The little chao blinked. "You look different."
"There's the understatment of the decade," I muttered to Chris. She replied with an elbow to my ribs.
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Slasher agreed to a DNA test to see if there was anythinng we could do about this whole transformation thing. I sat down in the genetics lab and inserted her blood sample into the DNA extractor. I planned to compare this sample to one I'd taken previously.
While the computer extracted and decoded the DNA strands from Slasher's blood sample, I pulled up a comparison chart on myself. The results from a sample I'd pulled just the day before were lined up next to a sample taken several months prior. A percentage blinked between the two columns, showing how alike the two DNA samples were. I did a cursory glance, then a double take.
"Strands 75% alike."
"What the?"
Pulling up a more detailed readout, I totally missed the notice that Slasher's data was finished.
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"Well, I have either good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it."
"...And?"
"You're normal."
"Please tell me you're joking."
I merely stared at Slasher.
"You're not joking."
"Nope."
"Wonderful." She started to pace the room. "So I may be stuck like this for the rest of my life! I look like... like..."
"Like an angel," I finished for her.
She turned to glare at me, but her expression softened when she saw I was serious. "You really think so?"
"You had Pixel convinced," I replied, smiling.
She chuckled at that, then sat down on the couch beside me, wings drawn about her shoulders like a feathery cape. "How is Pixel doing since yesterday, without Indy around?"
"She's handling it," I told her, "but I think she's taking it pretty hard anyway. She hasn't been her usual chipper self since last night. I dunno, if Indy's growth is accelerated, you think it'll be long before he hatches again?"
"I really don't know. I often wonder how Chalcon's been doing since the research facility took them all back to Sapphire City."
"Uh, Ryan?" a voice interrupted.
I turned to see Rob sticking his head around the door frame. "Yeah, Rob, what is it?"
"Oh, well, if you're busy..."
"No, you're not interrupting anything. I was just talking with Slasher."
Rob looked around the room, expecting to see a raptor. "Over the intercom or what?"
I jerked my head in Slasher's direction. Rob did a double take, then asked, "Did I miss something this morning?"
"Yeah, you could say that. I'll explain later. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well, I wondered if you had any tips on raising a chao."
"Huh? Why?"
Rob came completely around the door, a newborn chao in his arms. "I'm going to need the help."
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The new chao was an instant hit. Chris made sure to include Pixel in the events that followed, primarily to keep her from feeling left out.
"What are you going to name her?" Aeris inquired.
"I don't know, something really nice," came Rob's reply.
"Hey, she's changing!" Pixel exclaimed. Sure enough, the little newcomer was already forming a cocoon, as soon after hatching as Indy and Pixel had. "Hmmmm..." Rob muttered after a short while, when the cocoon began to clear up.
"What?"
"She looks kinda like an angel. I thought chao developed differently than that."
"Yeah, you got a point. So what are ya gonna name her?" Chris inquired.
"Well, how about Seraphim?" Rob suggested.
"I like it!"
We all turned at the sound of the new chao's voice. She had just emerged from her cocoon and within a split-second had latched onto Rob's neck. I tried in vain to hide a grin.
"I think she likes you, Rob," I chuckled.
"Ya think?" Rob gasped. "Can't... breathe..."
Seraphim fluttered her wings and began zipping around Rob's head at near lightspeed. "Wow-this-is-great-I-can't-believe-I-finally-have-someone-to-talk-to-it-gets-so-lonely-sitting-in-an-egg-all-day!"
"Energetic little thing, isn't she?" Slasher chuckled.
"You could say that," I replied. "You could also say she's the epitome of hyperactive."
"That works."
"This is interesting," Aeris broke in. "According to this website, a Chao can be one of two different types." We all gathered around Aeris' computer console to see what she was talking about. "See, Type 1 Chao, like Indy and Pixel, imprint on personality. But Type 2 Chao, it seems, imprint on a person's morality. Which would make Seraphim a Type 2, from all indications."
"Hey-Rob-can-we-go-outside-and-play-huh-can-we-can-we-can-we?"
Rob grinned lopsidedly and headed for the door.
"Hey, Rob..." I called after him.
"Yeah?"
"Good luck," I smiled evilly.
"Thanks," he replied sarcastically. With that he opened the door and allowed Seraphim to zip out the door ahead of him. "Poor guy," Chris commented. "Doesn't know what he got himself into."
------------------------------------------------
I had no idea what I was about to get myself into, either. The excitement of the day really started up when my Dad called.
I'd been dreading this phone call ever since I'd found myself on the run. It was normal for me to be out of touch with my parents for weeks on end, especially with my Dad's itinerant schedule, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they found out and tried to get in contact with me.
Fortunately I had prepared for such an event. A specific phone line routed the call through a dimensional microportal, beaming the call straight to a cell phone I'd rigged to work with the transdimensional technology.
And boy, was I glad I'd done it. Especially when the call came through.
"Hello?"
"Ryan? It's Dad."
Ooh boy. Easy, Ryan, just breathe, act like nothing's wrong... "Hi. Haven't heard from you in a while. How are things?"
"They were fine until you decided to pull this disappearing act. What possessed you to do something like this?"
Ouch. Already put on the defensive. "Dad, I don't know who you've been talking to..."
"Chris' father, for starters."
Doh.
Dad continued. "He told me all about your little kidnapping stunt. What the heck were you thinking?!?"
"Dad, the man is a liar."
"Big talk from the person he's accusing."
"Dad, I'm serious! Look, you want to talk to Chris? She'll tell you all about her dad."
"I don't want to talk to her, I want to talk to you! You're a wanted criminal, Ryan, and--"
"DAD! Listen to me! I may be wanted, but I'm NOT a criminal! Would you please just hear me out first?"
"I had a nice long talk with some FBI agents today. I'd like to know what's going on in that head of yours. Dimensional travel? Secret paramilitary group?"
"Dad, if you don't just listen to me a minute I'm hanging up. Do you want answers or not?"
Dad sighed. Sounded like I'd finally gotten through to him. "I want to see you face-to-face. You built your transporter; meet me in the main square in Venice at two in the afternoon, local time. Can you do that?"
"Fine by me. I'm bringing Chris and Aeris with me. They'll confirm I'm telling the truth."
"Good. I'll see you then."
------------------------------------------------------------
The intercom buzzed. "Yes, General?"
"I want a black ops team in Venice by 2 PM Italy time. No, make it two teams."
"As ordered, General."
Colonel Ferris wondered when this would end.
------------------------------------------------------------
It was around noon. I was back in the DNA lab, this time with Slasher. I was going through a step-by-step analysis of her genetic data.
"I still have a hard time believing that the system thinks I'm normal."
"Well, it's right there on the screen, and... oops."
"Oops? What do you mean, oops?"
"Aaah, I accidentally activated the DNA reconstruction simulator. It won't let me exit until it's finished." The two of us watched as the double helix swirled into view. "Wait a minute..." I muttered. "Something here doesn't look right..."
Sure enough, the computer backed me up on my suspicion. The DNA chain was just too thick. There were too many base pairs in the string.
By scrutinizing the information in the diagram, I discovered that Slasher was human. Then again, she was also still a raptor.
It seemed like a fluke of genetic engineering, but according to the system, nothing had been altered since birth beyond the addition of her wings.
"Now this is just getting freaky," I commented.
"Yeah, no kidding," Slasher agreed.
A thought suddenly hit me. "I wonder if... Nah, that's not possible. Is it?"
"What?"
In reply I pulled up my own file and ran the reconstructor on it. Again, a three-dimensional diagram appeared on the screen.
My DNA had the same traits as Slasher's.
My brain threatened to overload on me. I slumped back in my chair. "Do you even want to think about the implications of this?"
"No."
"Good. Neither do I. Let's find out, shall we?"
I loaded up the program which compared two DNA records. Setting the program to check for possible relation rather than single-person comparison, I entered the two files and poised my finger over the enter key.
"You know, we don't have to do this. We might be better off just not knowing," I told her.
"I'd rather know than wonder for the rest of my life. Go for it."
I hit enter.
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Was I shocked? No. Surprised? A bit. Happy?
Well, maybe after I woke up from falling backwards out of my chair and conking my head on the desk behind me, I was a bit happy. And I'm not talking about being doped up on asprin, either.
"You okay?" Slasher inquired as she stood over me, applying ice to the back of my head.
"Okay? Okay? I've never felt better in my life!"
"You must still be delirious."
"Nope. Never felt better. How about you?"
"Shocked, maybe, and more than a little perplexed. I'm almost fifteen years older than you are, for crying out loud! Almost as old as your parents!"
"And how much time traveling have you done?"
She stopped short.
"Uh-huh. I thought so. Let me do a little research."
A little probing and prodding did the trick. I managed to get what was almost a life story out of Slasher, but what I was most interested in were the jumps through time, as well as anything that would cause a person to live a life longer than what was normally possible. She looked like she was nineteen, my age, and yet she had lived a life nearly twice as long as mine. The thing was, the proof was right on the screen: twin siblings.
What was really crazy about her life was how much of the timeline spectrum she covered. Dates ranged from the Creataceous and her earliest memories (mine were from mid-1980s Minnesota. Yay.) to her time of service to the Cocytans a couple hundred years in the future. The thing was, three years still remained unaccounted for: the first three years of life which not one person ever seems to remember.
The Internet, despite all the trash and filth in cyberspace, is a Godsend. So much information can be found there, whether newspaper articles or biographies of the latest celebrities. The former is what I was really looking for, and after what seemed like hours of searching (turned out to be about twenty minutes, give or take) I found the article I sought.
"Toddler vanishes from front yard, no trace" read the headline.
The article awakened a deep, dark memory, one that had been blocked away and subsequently lost in that three-year span of forgotten memories. A synapse that hadn't fired in ages sparked, and I saw what happened anew.
I'd always thought I was an only child, and my parents never acted like they'd lost one. I'd had a pretty normal life.
Well, as normal as I can get, anyway.
The memories were of a sister. Chestnut hair, green eyes, cheery disposition. Playing out front in the yard. Tossing a ball back and forth. A flash of light. The ball bounced right through the space where she had just been.
My brain returned to reality with a jolt, and I realized that I had broken into a cold sweat.
"Are you all right?"
"No. No, I'm not all right. Slasher... It's MY fault!"
"What?"
"The Dimensionalizer! The merge! The zipper effect! The transdimensional rifts that popped up all over the place! Slasher... My invention is what sent you to prehistoric times."
"What?!?"
"Look, our DNA shows that we're siblings. Twins, even. But there's too much genetic data. The answer? We're shapeshifters, to an extent. Limited to one form, kinda like that hunter guy that GUN sent after you."
"Right... You're making sense, which scares me. Go on."
"I've never exhibited this trait. It's been pretty dormant, but if what you said about what happened yesterday is true, then it fits. Now you've been a raptor all your life. But what if you weren't born that way?"
"What are you getting at?"
"Here's the short version. The dimensional merge caused the zipper effect. The zipper effect sent you into the past, and the physical shock of being torn out of reality triggered your change into a raptor. You were, I guess 'adopted' for lack of a better word, by a family of raptors. Then you lived your life and I lived mine, each unaware that the other had ever existed. With all the time traveling you've done, that's how you've lived so much longer than I have. And your time spent in Space-Time Six explains why you haven't aged that much. You spent so much time in a purely mental existence, your body never aged during that time. It all fits, Slasher. And there's the birth certificate to prove it," I finished, pointing to a document on the screen.
The name on the document? Heather Michelle Carroll.
----------------------------------------------------------
Venice was crowded. Not that I minded, really. Fugitives tend to like crowds, as I was discovering.
There were five of us altogether. Chris and Aeris were there as testimony to my dad that I hadn't kidnapped them, Slasher came because she wanted to see her birth parents, and Squall came along for backup.
I saw Dad standing around a vendor's cart, apparently pretending to be interested in the vendor's wares in order to look inconspicuous. The five of us walked up to him.
"There someplace we can go to get some privacy?" I asked him, lowering my voice a bit. All five of us were wearing sunglasses and trench coats, so I think we kind of startled him. Until he realized it was me I think he thought we were a mafia gang or something.
"Five of you? What happened to three?"
"I'll explain when we can get out of the open. How big's your apartment?"
"Big enough for all of us, I guess--" A loud bang cut him off. We all looked across the square to see a cloud of smoke appear out of nowhere.
I had a bad feeling about this. Turns out I was right.
I glanced at Chris for a split second, then saw an armored agent aiming a rifle at her back.
"Look out!" she and I screamed simultaneously. All six of us hit the deck. When I looked up, I saw that someone had been aiming at MY back. Both agents had fired just as we all ducked and had wound up shooting each other with tranquilizer darts.
I pulled out my power-staff and finished the job the tranquilizer started. Nothing feels quite like applying the business end of a big stick to the cranium of some loser who just tried to shoot you.
Slasher and Squall were busy getting Dad to safety, but the rest of us had been blocked off from that route. A circle of agents was slowly pressing in on us.
"Any ideas?" I inquired.
"Just one," Chris replied. "Duck."
We hit the dirt for the second time that minute. I saw that Chris' pendant was glowing; apparently she'd been able to see something neither Aeris nor I had.
Whatever that something was, it was moving fast enough to leave a sonic shockwave in its wake. The blast knocked everyone within a fifty-foot radius off their feet, clearing a path for us to get out of there.
We met the others in an alley. Rob was there as well.
"What are you doing here?" Aeris asked him.
"Chasing a sugar-happy chao. Dang, she moves fast! One minute she's sipping a cola, the next, BOOM! Lightspeed city."
"So that's what that was." I looked over Rob's shoulder, where Seraphim had appeared out of thin air. "Thanks, Ser."
"Hey-no-problem-I-always-try-to-help-out-whenever-I-can!"
Chris and I exchanged a glance. "I have a feeling we're going to be switching to diet soda fairly soon," I commented.
"Well, at least GUN's not getting off scot-free this time," she replied, holding up a patch she'd torn off an agent's sleeve. GUN's logo was emblazoned on the patch.
"Nice work, Chris!"
"Thanks. I try."
Dad looked around at us, expecting an explanation. Seeing that he wasn't going to get one right away, he said, "I think we should get back to my apartment. They can't follow us there."
"NOW do you believe me?" I asked him.
In reply, he held up a feather. One of Slasher's. "I really don't know what to believe..."
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After making the rounds of introductions (I tripped over Slasher's name a bit, making it sound like "Sasha", but it worked out well) it took about three hours of explaining, but by the time dinnertime came around, Dad was thoroughly convinced of the truth of my current situation. He treated us all to dinner back in the States (even though he had to stay in Italy, with my teleporter, he could be on call anywhere in the world). I forwarded his phone to my D-Comm and we headed for a great little Italian place he'd found in New York City one time.
It was over dinner that I breached the subject of "Michelle".
"Dad, are you sure I'm an only child?"
Dad dropped his fork onto his plate. I'd hit a nerve. "What makes you ask that?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe the fact that something prompted me to do a little digging. I found the birth certificate, Dad."
"Oh, boy." I could tell Dad had NOT been ready for this subject to come up.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Honestly? Your mother and I were glad you didn't vanish into thin air like your sister did. We wanted to feel like we still had a complete family."
"But we didn't. Why live a lie for so many years?"
"We were afraid that you'd go off on your own and try to find her. You've always been the kind of person who'd do something crazy like that."
"Well I wish you would've at least said something to me. I hate finding out these things myself ten to twenty years down the road."
Dad must have REALLY wanted to change the subject; I could read it in his face. "You're afraid I'm going to go running off to try to find her, aren't you?"
He nodded. I burst out laughing.
"Dad, I don't HAVE to. I found her! I didn't realize it was her at the time, but I found her!"
THAT got his attention. "Where? Where is she?" He looked about ready to go bursting out the door of the restaurant in search of her himself.
"Right at this very table," I grinned. Everyone looked expectantly at Slasher, whom I'd intentionally seated right next to Dad. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Dad?" she attempted to say. She nearly broke down over that one syllable.
The embrace was automatic and instantaneous. I sat there, holding Chris' hand, happy to see my family coming back together after so many years apart.
When they finally let go of each other, Dad pulled a feather off of his shirt. One that hadn't been there a minute ago. Slasher looked nervous.
"Anything else I should know about my daughter?" he quipped, examining the feather.
"Uh, er, well, that is, um..." I stammered, looking for a logical explanation somewhere in my brain. It refused to supply me with one.
"It's all right, Ryan. I think I can explain, but only if you're all willing to sit through another three-hour story," she grinned.
"We've got all night. Let's hear it."
I'd heard it all before, but it fascinated me so much I didn't mind hearing her story twice in one day. She could've written a book (heck, a dozen books) about her history and never repeat the same event twice.
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One "Day" to go. Dark vs. Light coming soon.