Thicker Than Blood
Chapter 17
When Night Meets Day
___________________________
"I really must protest. We
have practiced for just such an emergency as -- "
"Yeah, I know all about practicing procedures for emergencies. And there's
always something missing."
"Ridiculous! We take great pains to -- "
"You always leave out the damn emergency."
- Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
___________________________
7,000 AD
"...Go over that again, please," Veil murmured quietly, eyes fixed on
the screen. Her hands clenched on the back of Laven's seat, and he obediently
pressed all the required buttons. Veil worked the genetics of their operation.
It was all just mush to him.
The screen flared from a dormant, subdued blue into a the bright, bubble-filled
crimson shade of blood. Numbers flashed in rapid sequence, blending together
until they formed three twisting, rotating DNA molecules, each a slightly
different shade of red. Laven knew that in reality the strands looked pretty
much the same, but he'd programmed the computer to change the DNA's appearance
in according to the different percentages of its make-up. Veil stared,
intently, orange eyes narrowed on the screen, until --
"There. Pause it."
The screen froze.
"Magnify it."
"Where?"
She pointed to a section of the center molecule, the one colored the darkest
shade of crimson. The picture zoomed in.
They watched in silence as the image rotated slowly. "What was the
farthest we ever got? Series X / 7, specimen F1-225." His sister's voice
was barely audible over the quiet hum of the machines. "Call up the
DNA."
Laven did so, and returned to the full-sized screen. Now four double helixes were
spinning leisurely on the blood-red background. The new one much smaller, much
thinner, much more simple than its grotesque counterparts.
"...How much of the Wild is in that one? The one of ours?"
"Point three seven percent."
"And in his?"
Veil glanced at the parade of numbers dancing across the bottom of the screen.
"You don't even want to know."
"Veil, please, if it's that bad it won't matter if I know or not, we'll
be--"
"Seventy seven percent."
Silence descended over them as Laven thought about what seventy seven percent
of the Wild in something's blood could do. He thought about all the years they
had put into that one skinny, pathetic little strand, all the grueling work,
all the failure. But mostly what he thought about was how...bad the
experiments turned out whenever Veil tried to ease more than point three
something of Wild into the blood.
The three monstrous strands dwarfed their own. They were darker, thicker,
larger, and so much more complex it was almost a joke. Their own strand seemed
sickly yellow against the deep vibrant crimson of the other three fuckers.
Comparing the others to their own version of the DNA was like comparing a
dragon to a newt.
"And those monsters are DNA strands? Like our little guy here? Veil...this
is sick."
She wasn't even listening, vivid orange eyes locked on the screen. Laven tried
to see what had her so fascinated, tried to read between the blood colored
lines, and only succeeded in giving himself a migraine.
Veil tapped a blue hued nail on the center strand. "This isn't one of
ours. This isn't what he stole from us. These other two..." She trailed
off, then nodded decisively. "These belonged to us, but this one... There
wasn't even something like this from the original Wild specimen."
"What?"
"He's...modified the others, I suppose, but... It shouldn't be possible,
not like this... It's almost like he's combined the other two, mutated them, to
get this little monster. Laven...this isn't even on the charts, not at all, the
computer won't even register how much power..."
Laven stared at the twisting molecules in fascinated horror.
"...That...that's possible, is it?"
Veil took a deep breath, paused, exhaled slowly. Silence filled the cabin,
broken only by the quiet hum of machinery. Then, finally, her tone laced with
quiet urgency, "We have to tell mother."
___________________________
12,002 BC
The Enlightened had not constructed much of the Ocean Palace, just the shell,
just enough to allow the Earthbound to work without a world of dark, cold water
crashing in on them. In some places, where there were still pieces missing --
engines for the elevators, networks of pipes -- only a magic shield stood
against the liquid darkness.
Despite the mostly awed and more than slightly pissed feelings of the other
Earthbound, Victor Aloc, Roderrick's older half-brother, had feelings that ran
a bit deeper than that. Still, he knew better than to fight it when the
Enlightened stuck him alone in a little hole in the wall, shoved a heavy bundle
of wires and tools in his hand, and gave him the most basic crash-course of how
to install Backup Security System Number 10223/S version 9.2, and connect it
all to the rest of the station without short-circuiting anything.
Which seemed complicated, but really he just tied red wires to red ones, blue
wires to blues ones and so forth.
He worked with his back against the curving floor of the tunnel, reaching
easily to the open panel bleeding wires above him. The cool metal tunnel continued
on past him for a while, then widened until it was the size of the entire cave
back home. The faint, pale blue light by which he worked came from the shield
over the tunnel's open end, the only thing between Victor's life and frozen
liquid oblivion.
The silence was complete, strangely still, as if something great and huge were
holding its breath and paused in waiting. Occasionally, beyond the pale glow of
the magic in the dark depths, an even darker shadow would ease by, slowly,
leisurely, utterly confident in its predatory skills.
Victor had no problems with this. He knew all about monsters like the shadow.
It was the monsters disguised in human flesh he hated with a kind of cool,
focused intensity.
'Unjust' didn't even come close the way Earthbound were treated. He'd seen,
before the Enlightened had pulled him away. Not all of his people were lucky
enough to be holed up in a pipe messing with wire. Most were being used to haul
heavy equipment or clean mud from the walls or build with Dreamstone too soaked
with magic to permit Enlightened assistance -- a few had even been snatched up
as personal servants.
It was sickening, how easily his fellow Earthbound submitted to their betters,
how easily they forgot what Siris had been fighting for the last two years.
Victor didn't forget.
He worked patiently for hours, without once seeing another soul, until his back
was one solid searing ache, and then he lay flat on his belly, stretched out
over the cool, curving metal. Staring at the ocean beyond the magic. The veil
of light concealing the darkness beyond. A bandage over a rotting wound. Almost
exactly, he thought, like the Kingdom of Zeal.
Victor crawled forward on his hands and knees until the tunnel rose and widened
enough to allow him on his feet. He stopped just inches away from the barrier.
Close enough to feel the electric heat. Close enough to have it drag on his
breath, tighten his chest, make his eyes water.
Victor's pale blue eyes went from the mass of wires in one hand, to the long
trail of them leading back to the active panel, to the barrier before him.
Shadows danced in the shifting light beyond.
Often, in the long, painful course of history, it happened more that a single
individual changed things in one moment much more swiftly, dramatically, than
the slow shifts brought over time by the masses. It happened that one person,
one life with nothing left to lose, with no mind to the consequences, would do
things no other human would even consider in darkness of their nightmares.
It happened again tonight.
___________________________
Left.
Right.
Left -- no, wait, a bunch of adults were in that hallway. Hide behind a plant
until they walked away.
Down the third hallway on the left and -- yes. Right there, second door to the
window.
Slowly, with an emphasis on the slow part, Janus navigated the maze of back
hallways in the Palace until he stood before a nondescript wooden door just
like all the rest.
It was common sense, really. Guru Melchior said it all the time -- keep your
friends close, and your enemies closer. Janus didn't have any friends, and all
right, she wasn't exactly what qualified as an enemy...as far as he knew.
Better safe then sorry.
He opened the door, quickly easing through and locking it behind him.
...And found himself in a room even cleaner than his own, smelling sweetly of
herbs. Cool, fresh wind blew through the room. Despite the cold outside, every
single window open as wide as they went, bundles of herbs strung across them,
leaves fluttering loosely in the breeze. Other than that, and the plain, worn
gray bag on the pristine bed, the room was entirely void of any sign of its
inhabitant.
Unless she'd hidden things -- which he doubted, somehow -- the bag counted as
the only thing in the room worth going through. He emptied it's contents on the
bed, and stared down at them, disappointed.
Old, worn books. A piece of what looked like an animal horn. Lots of jars of
varying sizes and shapes; he unscrewed a lid, sniffed delicately, then wrinkled
his nose at the sharp medicinal scent. The only other thing was a blue stuffed
bird toy, with black bead eyes, and six wings each lined in silver thread on
each edge. He picked it up, idly looking around the room, feeling, once again,
strangely disappointed.
'Janus.' Schala's crisp voice broke his thoughts. 'Where are you?
Wait -- never mind.'
Forceful magic gripped him and for one nauseating second he was nowhere,
suspend in painful white oblivion, and then, blinking away the blinding light,
found himself in Schala's room.
The heavy blue curtains had been drawn over the windows, and heavy darkness
hung in the room. Only the fireplace gave any illumination, showing his sister
leaning against the closed door, arms crossed, ice-hard eyes narrowed.
Ivy sat at Schala's desk, in front of the fire, a cup of what smelled like tea
in her hands.
Schala didn't seem to notice the toy in still his hand, but Ivy did. Her dark
blue gaze slid right from the bird to Janus' eyes, and this time he was the one
to look away.
"Janus, you had better have something good for this one -- "
A gasp, shattering glass. They looked at Ivy, she was trembling, blue eyes
wild. "It -- Schala, you -- "
'Schala! Gods, get down here now! Some little fucker blew a hole in the
wall, we need you, these dumbass Earthbound are freaking and we can't
control them!'
'Wait, wait, slow down -- '
'There's no time! We need you now.'
With a barely suppressed, growl, Schala glared at the two children. "All
right. I've got to go." She caught Ivy's gaze. "We will finish
this later." And with that, she was gone.
___________________________
Rast: Bllllllaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Okay. I feel better now.
I have had absolutely no time at all for writing these past weeks. Hell, I'm
lucky I had time to eat. You wouldn't even believe me if I told you what I've
been doing in every second of my spare time they could squeeze out of me. If
chapter seventeen seems off it's cause I had to force it out in two minute
intervals at such times as six AM before my day began, or midnight, when it
ended. It's just been crammed these past couple of weeks. I really,
really tried to get eighteen out as well, but it didn't want to work. I mean, I
probably could have, but then I wouldn't have had time for such things as
showers and food and sleep, and it wouldn't have been any good because I would
have been grumpy and resentful about doing it.
As a sidenote, the FF8 thing I posted when I updated this has been sittin' on
my comp for the two months it took me to persuade myself to post it, so no, it
didn't count as writing time.
I think I'm gonna start commenting on yall's...um, wait, country roots showin'
there...
I'm gonna -- going to -- start saying something in reply to your
reviews, because they're all so nice and long and there aren't too many of you
to complicate it. So far, my favorite reviews are the ones you all gave me for
chapter sixteen.
Starlie - I had just finished this chapter when I got your review and
you didn't really say much but it made me insanely happy anyway just 'cause it
proves I must be doing something right with this story, which I doubt at
times. And I was going to wait another night before I posted this, just 'cause
it feels rushed to me, but I'll put it up for you. Thanks so much for
reviewing!
Naner (AKA CheesyAss) - Thanks. But if you really like it as much as your
review claims, I wouldn't have to blackmail you into reading it.
Corry3000 - Huh. Twinkie in the Twilight Zone. I like that. I'm glad you like
the way Janus is characterized -- at times it doesn't seem right to me, but
then, I'm harsh on myself so maybe it's just me. 46 reviews certainly suggests
so but...well, there are times when it doesn't seem good enough to me and I'm
almost stupidly happy that so many people say they like the way I do Janus.
And...as to your guess, I'm not saying anything 'till chapter twenty. You'll
get it then.
#1 Fan - At times I think I've bitten off more than I can chew with this -- I
haven't even started on the plot until now, with that bit of Veil and
Laven -- and I was very, very tempted to do flashbacks like you said,
but then, Ivy would have been intrusive and -- well, damn. It'd have to
be a hell of a lot of flashbacks. You'll see what I mean, when I finally do get
to the post-game parts. I assure you, this pre-game stuff is 100% necessary.
Rachel - I don't even have to say anything. You know.
Ollen70 - I've always thought the same of Zeal, that she wouldn't have succumbed
to Lavos willingly or out of greed, but rather for her own personal reasons --
protecting her children and her kingdom. ...And, yes, the profile is original.
Not exactly real life, but mine, nonetheless. I'm glad you like it, I
thought something like that would be more original than the usual a/s/l people
put up, and I think it may actually be the first thing I've ever wrote that's
not fantasy/sci-fi or fanfiction.
FrickinEvilPoptart - I'm glad you like her, as I'm still really nervous about
her, and your review helps make me realize I'm doing okay in not making her too
prominent. I'll fade her back a bit, I'm still learning. And thanks for
reminding me to put more Janus in. I think one of the reasons I haven't is
because he makes me even more nervous, you know? I'm not sure if I'm doing his
character right either and I'm the kind of person that lives by 'better safe
than sorry' so I tend to have trouble with Janus since I'm not sure of him.
Sorry! I'm working on it.
And, for those of you that cannot find the way, the obligatory arrow should
suffice.
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