One Week Later… Mid July 1860
Werner sat on a bench on a warm, sunny day underneath the arms of an old oak tree. The rust colored behemoth buildings of Leyline stood behind him, to the left of him, to the right of him, and across the park before him. He would be doing his work in doors, but it was such a nice day outside, what with the blue skies and the soft white clouds drifting through the air. Of course, the man wasn't by himself. Other scientists (mostly younger men and women) were out in the small park, sitting on other benches or on the grass, looking over their work. There was little tolerance at Leyline for laziness, but one can enjoy a day like this and still get work done, or so Werner theorized. He bit the cap of his pen as he overlooked the files sitting on the manila folder in his lap. It was the folder Duran had given him a week earlier, filled to the brim with potential applicants for the Council of Seven. He had to look long and hard, for not only did they have to be good enough for the job, good enough for himself, and good enough for Duran, they had to be good enough for the Leyline Committee and the Senate. The past week had been nothing but meetings with Duran and Berlitz about what to look for in an applicant and what would most likely pass the standards set before them.
Werner sighed. "We've got a conventional machinery expert and a translator for the Hyades code… what else do we need?" Werner closed the manila folder and set beside him, where he promptly picked up a messy notebook, filled with chicken scratch about the workings of Hyades. Werner flipped through till he found a page decorated with three dog-ear folds. It was the summary of how Yggdrasalian energy is run. Most of it was just notes and the likes that Werner had copied after viewing. It clearly stated that the energy that Yggdrasalian class machinery runs off was not any thing of the conventional manner. It worked off biological energy, more precisely, brain waves. How it all worked was still a mystery, especially to one who had little experience in Biology such as Werner.
"Ah! A biologist!" Werner spoke out loud again, closing the notebook and once again racing through the manila folder. The birds in the tree chirped to each other as brown-haired man glanced across the specialties of ever man and woman who flipped through. "…Chemistry, Advanced Criminology, Psychology, Oceanography, Geology, Paleontology (Close.), Molecular Dynamics…"
"How about him?" A high pitched, feminine voice asked as a slender hand came over Werner's shoulder and pointed to the resume of one Dr. Elliot Enduro. Werner looked over his shoulder to see a young woman, (most likely in her mid to late teens) dressed in a short blue skirt, a blue sleeveless vest, a white button up shirt underneath it, and a brownish light jacket, complete with a red bow under her collar. Her wide eyes were brown, as well as her short hair. She smiled as Werner glanced at her. "My name is Koge, Koge Donbo. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Maxwell."
Werner stood up, facing the girl and shook her hand. "It seems you already know me." Werner smiled. "Are you a scientist here?"
Koge chuckled at the notion. "No! Not at all! I'm too young to be a scientist! I'm an assistant for Dr. Enduro."
"Ah… I was about to say, you look a little young." Werner rubbed the back of his neck.
"I was walking through the park and I overheard you talking to yourself. You're looking for a biologist, right?" Koge placed her hands behind her.
"Yes…" Werner picked up the paper on Dr. Enduro and scanned it.
"Dr. Enduro is a genetic engineer! He's got a real big project going on! Everyone knows about it and they all say that it's the biggest thing ever! I can say it's huge and never been attempted before!" Koge started explaining.
"Project?" Werner asked.
"What?! You mean you haven't heard about Dr. Enduro's project! The Sample Project?!" Koge looked shock.
"I'm sorry, I only arrived about a week ago…" Werner laughed. "What's so great about this project?"
Koge stepped closer to the man, talking in a low voice. "He's creating a creature from the very genes of Filgaia!"
"A living creature from Filgaia?" Werner blinked. "How so?"
"I'm not too sure myself! But I'm learning! I'm sure that he'd be interested in talking with you, seeing how you represent the Council of Seven!" Koge explained.
"You know who I am, huh?" Werner put a hand to his chin.
"Of course! Everyone on the campus knows who you are! You and Dr. Feld are here to pick members for the Council of Seven! A lot of the scientists are hoping to be picked!"
Werner smiled. "And what about you? Do you want to be picked?"
Koge blushed and stepped back. "N-not at all! I'm just an assistant! I'm not a scientist at all!"
Werner laughed and patted the girl on the shoulder. "No, of course not. So… when can we meet with this Dr. Enduro?"
"I'll see what I can do!" Koge bowed.
** *
The next Day…
Duran and Werner walked down a long hallway, dimly lit by fluorescent lighting above. The hallway was rust colored, as all the campus was, and the floor metal. Werner had a smile across his face, as Duran looked puzzled.
"So Werner, what made you pick out this certain one for nomination?" Duran asked. "His qualifications, specialties, skills?"
"His assistant pointed him out to me. She said he was a rather skilled individual." Werner replied.
Duran dug through the papers below his arm until he found Dr. Elliot Enduro's resume. He looked it over. Elliot was a lanky, thin man with dark hair. Not exactly the most handsome guy alive, by far. "Genetic Engineer, eh?"
"I figured it would be best if we had someone knowledgeable in biology, seeing how Yggdrassil is powered by brain waves." Werner stated.
"Yes, that would most likely be a good idea…" Duran smiled. "We don't want to kill every man, woman, and child on Filgaia, do we?"
"Or not have the machines work at all." Werner responded. " Duran, do you know what this Sample Project is about?"
"From my understanding, it's an attempt to create a living being from the genes of the planet. It's a test of the Filgaia Theory." Duran answered.
"Filgaia Theory? Filgaia is one giant living entity…" Werner mused.
"Kind of hard to believe, I know." Duran grinned. "Rocks are rocks and sand is sand. Nothing alive about those two. Well, look at this."
"Yes?"
"According to this file, Dr. Elliot Enduro has had several bouts of insanity in his lifetime, currently has an anger management issue, and has a superiority complex."
"Sounds like an interesting fellow." Werner crossed his arms. "Leyline will allow anybody on their staff, don't they?"
"More like if you're a genius, they'll ignore your faults… It was lab 77A, right?"
"Yes. We're here." Werner pressed the call button, waiting for an answer. It wasn't long before the heavy steel door was pushed aside, revealing Koge in a lab coat.
"Ah, Dr. Maxwell, Dr. Feld. So good to see you." She bowed.
Werner and Duran stood there, looking puzzled. She was strange all right. "Is Dr. Enduro in?" Duran asked.
"Ah, yes, allow me to get him for you!" Koge trotted off a bit into the laboratory. "Dr. Enduro!"
"Tell whoever it is I'm busy right now." Came an angry voice from a room within the lab.
"But Doctor!" Koge shouted.
"But nothing Ms. Donbo! No disruptions! How many times must I tell you this?!" Dr. Enduro shouted.
"Is now a bad time?" Werner asked Koges' back, which was facing him.
"I thought we had an appointment…" Duran pondered.
"As did I…" Werner sighed.
"But Dr. Enduro! It's Dr. Maxwell and Dr. Feld from the Council of Seven!" Koge screamed.
"Dr?" Werner raised an eyebrow.
After a moment, Enduro's voice came to Koge. "The Council of Seven? Tell them to wait a moment. I'll be with them shortly."
Koge nodded to the darkness and trotted back. "He'll be with you in a moment."
"So we heard…" Duran stated.
"Ms. Koge, you called me Dr. Maxwell. I think there's a mistake…" Werner shook his head.
"Dr. Enduro is a bit eccentric and won't take anyone seriously who doesn't have some kind of title." Koge explained this. "So just play along."
"Ah." Werner looked to Duran, who shrugged.
"Please excuse my tardiness gentlemen." And from the darkness came Dr. Elliot Enduro. He was a bit taller than Koge, but shorter then Werner and Duran by far. He was wiping his hands with an old rag and smiled to the two. "I am Dr. Elliot Enduro. Won't you two please come in to my office?"
"Of course." Werner replied. "I'm Dr. Werner Maxwell." Werner extended his hand out to be shaken, as Elliot received it.
"And I'm Dr. Duran Feld." Duran shook his hand.
The four walked into the laboratory, which was quite the messy place. Rust colored walls, dim lighting, and tools and notes of all kinds littered about.
"Excuse the mess gentlemen, I was busy with a little research before you arrived." Elliot stated with a bit of a chuckle. He then turned to Koge and shouted. "Koge! Get this place straightened up right away!"
"Yes sir!" Koge saluted and fell to the floor, picking up notes and tools.
"This way to my office, gentlemen." Elliot began walking down the hall before they came to what resembled a large cubicle. Inside the space sat a desk and several chairs. Elliot sat himself down behind the desk as the two took their seats before it. Elliot cleared his throat. "Now, how can I help you?"
"Well, as you probably know by now, Dr. Feld and myself represent the Council of Seven, and we are searching for scientists to fill in the positions as Council Department Heads." Werner introduced the matter.
"Ah, and you've come to me? I'm very flattered." Elliot chuckled.
"Well, your marks are incredibly high." Duran placed the resume on the desk. "Werner, don't you have something to add?"
Werner twiddled with his thumbs as he thought. "Can we see this "Sample Project", Dr. Enduro?"
"The Sample? Of course!" Enduro stood up. "The Sample is my finest work yet. If you will follow me."
The exited the cubicle, walking deeper into the laboratory. Large cables came from every direction, all leading behind one solid door. The three walked to it and Dr. Enduro came to what appeared to be a typewriter mounted the wall. He tapped in a few letters and a hissing sound exploded from four vents on the door. Elliot turned to the scientists. "We must keep him under lock and key at all times. You don't know what will happen if someone who did not know what he was doing could do."
The two nodded as they walked inside. It was a small circular room, encased completely in thick cables. The centerpiece of this room, surrounded by thick cables, was a red capsule with green tinted glass. The capsule was filled with a clear liquid. Several monitors were around the room, and keyboards to match. It was overall dark. Elliot walked over to the capsule and walked up a small flight of stairs so he could reach the glass. He gazed in, inviting the other two to do the same. "The crowning achievement of all these years… The sample project is a project that deals with life. From my own hands, I have created him, a life form." Werner and Duran climbed the stair well. Werner narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the liquid. Elliot continued. "Leyline was captured using a special device. I took that energy and converted it into a single egg cell."
"Just how did you do that?" Duran asked, not trying to see through the glass. He could tell Werner was having a hard time, and Duran's old eyes couldn't even keep up with Werner's. "Using the Filgaia Theory, right?"
"Yes, as practiced by the leading expert in Filgaia Theory, Dr. Leehalt Alceste. The theory states that Filgaia is a living creature complete with a cellular structure. However, Filgaia is a silicon life form, not a carbon based one such as ourselves. Do you know what Panakea Fluid is, Dr. Feld?"
"The blood of the planet, That call it…" Duran replied.
"Those people are fools. Panakea isn't blood at all! Panakea is extra-cellular liquid, filled with cellular waste, debris, and nutrients. When cells lyse, their parts slip into this extra-cellular liquid, where the parts are used in other cells. Panakea fluid is extra-cellular fluid within Filgaia."
"But you said so yourself you crafted it from Leyline." Werner spoke up, still trying to find the Sample.
"Very observant, Dr. Maxwell. However, Panakea slips in and out of Leyline, dumping wastes in the leyline so it can be removed or dumping nutrients within to be taken to a different tissue structure. After several years, I was able to collect enough Panakea from a leyline fissure to start the Sample Project. There was enough Deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid within the Panakea to create a genetic code. By bonding a strand of DNA with RNA, I was able to create a strand. And afterwards, I inserted that strand into an empty, unfertilized egg." Elliot crossed his arms.
"But you said Filgaia was silicon based, right?" Duran asked.
Ah, very good. Using genetic engineering, I was able to switch several genes from the strand with strands of DNA from a carbon-based life form. Thus, he has the genetic coding of Filgaia, but the attributes of a carbon based life form…"
"How far in this project are you, Dr.?" Werner asked.
"Oh my…" Elliott glanced at his pocket clock. "It's time for recycling the Panakea." Elliot walked down the stairs, telling the Drs. to stay put. He tapped in a few keys on a keyboard and the fluid inside the capsule began to drain. Werner stepped back as he saw what lied inside. The sample. It appeared to be a human child. The liquid was being recycled at a constant pace, so the creature was never without Panakea. The new Panakea was much easier to see through then the last batch. The creature looked about fourteen or so, complete with white hair and closed eyes.
"Abram Almighty…" Werner gasped.
"This will be marking my twentieth year in the project. Jet here is nearing completion; his bones have almost completed ossification at this point. I'm guessing another five years of research before he is ready." Elliot stood at the monitor, impressed with himself.
"Th-this isn't it's natural form, is it?" Duran asked, pointing to the child in the capsule.
"Please Dr. Feld, he is not an "it". He is Jet Enduro, my son. And to answer your question, he is in a modified state. I altered his genetic structure to match my lost son. He will be pure, clean, and the perfect being."
"Intriguing…" Werner stepped back to the class, gazing into it.
"I can hear the human rights groups already…" Duran mumbled. "But still… Filgaia…"
** *
"Here's your tea, Dr. Maxwell, your tea with extra lemon Dr. Feld, and your coffee, Dr. Enduro." Koge gave each scientist a teacup as they sat at Elliot's desk.
Elliot sipped his coffee and placed the cup down, visibly upset. "Koge, I asked for black coffee!"
"S-sorry sir!" Koge swallowed as she grabbed the teacup and walked off to fix Elliot a proper drink.
"I swear, I should have left that girl with her kind building railroads…" Elliot sighed.
"Besides Koge, and yourself, is there anyone else involved with the Sample project?" Duran asked, getting to business.
"Dr. Pete Inkapalia." As Elliot answered, Werner set to finding the name in his manila folder. "He's been involved with this project for the last year and half. The man works nineteen-hour shifts and likes it. When he joined on, the project's rate of completion skyrocketed."
"Ah, Dr. Pete Inkapalia, Anthropology, Human Anatomy…" Werner found his man.
"The nervous system is his forte, really." Elliot added.
"Where is this man right now?" Duran asked.
"He's tending to a project that the Committee threw at us. He's been most fortunate to take care of it while I tend to Jet." Elliot stated.
"Threw at you?" Werner somehow didn't like the usage of words.
"Yes. The President of Pullman Railroads Corporation, a lady Samantha Trefeison, appealed to the Leyline Committee to save her child. The boy is a member of the race Homo Sapian Superior, or as the unintelligible crowd calls them, demons. She's given the Committee a rather large sum of money, so the committee threw the project at us. We've been trying Genetic Therapy, a process where we inject a DNA altering hormone into harmless viruses that we inject into the boy, but the reverse keeps occurring. When we first received him, he looked like a normal eleven year old boy, but after half a year of genetic therapy, he's gained anorexia, pail skin, sweaty palms, gangly hair, and a patch of chrome skin on the right side of his face, complete with a red eye. We're bringing out the demon in him more than we are hiding it. At this rate, the Committee will be sure to cancel the renewal of the Sample project's funding.
Koge walked in just then, with coffee in hand. She set the cup before Elliot and smiled. Elliot took a sip. "Much better Koge. Why don't you go check on Dr. Inkapalia and the boy in lab 76C?"
"You mean Zed? A-alright…" Koge swallowed and walked out of the cubicle.
"She was awfully afraid…" Duran noted.
"Well, the boy… Zed… has inherent abilities to download applications into ones mind, basically subduing you to any reality he can conjure up. His father took a climber's piton to the skull in order to save himself from the boys nightmarish programs. We here keep him drugged at all times to protect ourselves from it…" Elliot explained.
"According to this file, Dr. Inkapalia came from practically nowhere before joining a lab in Jolly Roger several years back. No place of birth, no indication of family…" Werner told.
"Pete's never talked about his past, and always keeps it hidden. I suspect something happened to him a long while back, and he keeps himself working these long hours to forget it…" Elliot said.
"Would you look at those marks though…" Duran whistled. "He's the smartest man in the region."
Werner took in a breath and smiled. "Elliot, if you don't mind me calling you that, I think you have what it takes. I believe that if not the Sample project alone, your marks could get you as a Department Head. The Sample Project really is something amazing. If you are council member, your project will definitely get the funding it requires, and you could drop the demon child case. But first, I'd like to meet Dr. Pete Inkapalia…"
"Well, yes, of course…" Elliot mumbled. "I'll see what I can do to schedule an appointment. The man doesn't have a lot of free time."
Duran leaned over to Werner. "Are you sure about this, Werner?"
"We'll see…"
** *