The grablite was inactive after it moved into the bigger concrete area for hours before the grablite started to go into a feeding frenzy. Since the grablite was soft and rubber looking, it was a good basis that the grablite was waiting for the exoskeleton to harden. The only reason why the grablite had an ability to move through the ground was due to the soil content. It was prime soil with more sand in it for that reason. The mice and rats were all gone within minutes of the feeding frenzy.
The grablite was different in body compared to an adult graboid. It has spikes running along side its body instead of all over. They are widest starting just behind the beak tapering down, similar to adult graboids. At the tail end, are two long spikes. It reminded the scientists of centipede tails. The grablite could project itself out of the ground with rapid force, catching a prey in midair. Grablite speed underground was thirty miles per hour. Depending on feed available, the grablite's body, which seemed to be made up of carapace-like plates after hardening, can be shed as the grablite grows. It continues to vibrate vertically bringing prey underground. No tentacles as of yet but one scientist made the comment about how the tentacles could be there but have not formed since there is no need for it yet. That was plausible. The grablite stage is eating and growing stage. It can get air by the speed it can do and its small body, it would not need tentacles to snatch prey. Tentacles would be needed when the body is big enough to eat larger prey that could escape easier.
The team of scientists asked the guards to move the grablite into the next concrete box so they could hatch another one. The guards followed their request. The slab was moved so the grablite could move into the other concrete box. They shut the box door. It was an idea to see if the growth rate would be different if there wasn't much prey. That was proved correct. The scientists put enough prey for the grablite to catch up with the other grablite. The grablites grew between three to five feet. When two or more grablites were put together, they formed up as a pack and hunted one another. They could tackle big prey by grabbing a limb and burying it quickly to be eaten underground. The grablites had thinner skin on the side of their bodies where the plates didn't cover. This could be due to the growing phase.
The scientists hatched six eggs. Six grablites turned into graboids over a course of three months. The graboids adapted to their environments as some were branched off into single cement boxes while other graboids were left together.
One graboid was being fed continuously. It was there that it peaked its threshold. The graboid beached itself making all sorts of noises. Lewis saw that this affected the other graboids. He knew that they could communicate thanks to El Blanco. He would stay up later than the rest to record the clicking noises. The grablites established the clicking early on. When they were together, the clicking increased. Whole graboid language was recorded. The bellowing from the graboid in the metamorphosis staging made the other graboids stop. Each graboid then moved away from the graboid even though that graboid was by themselves.
That single graboid had infrared, MRI scan, and radiology recordings. Some of the off-chute boxes were equipped with different things like that. The graboid bellowed, panted, and seemed depressed during the metamorphosis stage. The graboid no longer seemed to be moving. After a moment, the widest part of the body seemed to move back and forth. Like a scene from a horror movie, three shrieker mouths were eating away at the graboid. The shriekers were covered in internal graboid juices. Each shrieker ate so much that each one reproduced another shrieker. Six shriekers were then figuring out their surroundings. Screaming out. Lifting up their flaps. One shrieker that was born, was all white. An albino shrieker. Lewis had his eyes on that one. An albino shrieker just like El Blanco.
"Beyaz," One of the scientists muttered.
"What does that mean?" Lewis jerked his head to him.
"White," the scientist explained. "In my language it means white."
"Someone protect that shrieker!" Lewis spoke to a henchman. "I want that shrieker moved away from other shriekers and protected! Its albino. It will be great since it can no longer produce other shriekers."
The shriekers were all moved into the newly built shrieker and assblaster hatchery. There were off chutes like the graboids hatchery. That albino shrieker now named Beyaz was alone by themselves. That shrieker would serve as a study of what would happen if a shrieker is by themselves compared to in a group. Along with other experiments.
Lewis actually wanted that shrieker alone because of the rarity. That shrieker would not do any harm like El Blanco. It could be protected in its own habitat. Anything to keep saving the species but also to keep the danger down to a minimum.
"Can we follow up doing Dr. Flint's work?" One of the scientists spoke up.
"Yeah, how did she get those shriekers by the way?" Another scientist joined in.
"It was government funded," the first scientist explained as he shrugged.
"Dr. Megan Flint," Lewis spoke that name with familiarity, it left a distaste in his mouth every time. "She procured those four shriekers. Any time Burt Gummer, the famous monster hunter, went hunting, she would scour the hunting grounds after he was finished for any remains. She was a compy."
"A compy?" The first scientist titled his head to the side.
"Compsognathus," the second scientists explained. "Scavenger dinosaur that can grow as big as a turkey. Ate the leftovers from bigger predators, also ate dung. Sick burn."
"She took the risks without worrying about her consequences," Lewis continued. "Prideful enough to believe her work would achieve greatness but couldn't allow it to be taken over by someone else. She had a problem of letting go control. Because of that it cost her, her life."
"Isn't that similar to what we are doing?" The two scientists looked at one another.
"No," Lewis was watching the white shrieker tasting things with their tongue. "I have been focusing on the consequences with each of our actions. Don't worry. We will be fine. Besides we won't be needing to go the Sahara Dessert for a graboid that metamorphosed. That was her lucky break after scouring the hunting grounds. Dr. Flint wanted a rescue team of shriekers. She wanted to change their disposition of predatory to docile. She used Behavior Modifier Units that controlled them. Look. We don't need that. We have a hatchery. We have habitats. We won't need to use collars and heat devices that could be affected by the weather. Those four shriekers became forty. However, her research showed that shriekers were similar in the training of goats."
"Goat training?" The second scientist was bewildered.
"Oh, that's an amazing grazing tactic," a third scientist came in. "You can condition a few goats to eat certain forage. Like if you want the goats to eat invasive weeds and not eat alfalfa. You train them with for a few weeks with something like ipecac syrup on the alfalfa to make them nauseous. Goats learn quickly. The trained goats teach their offspring. Those goats then teach the rest of the herd to not eat the alfalfa and instead eat the invasive weeds. I wonder if Dr. Flint actually knew that?"
"Her research suspected that," Lewis added since he knew all about her research. They were in the same field and had similar research. "That it could be similar. However, those shriekers also had chips in their brains, and some sort unidentified treatment that stunted their development but it is unknown about the offspring. They were more cyborg than shrieker. First of their kind but we can do better than her." He smiled. "We won't need to modifications to control them. We won't need to control them. Like every scientist, we will study them. We will conduct tests, nondetrimental experiments. We will find any and all information about them that no one has ever known."
"But Miss Proudfoot," the first scientist looked around.
"She wants what others want," Lewis started to jot down some notes. "Let me continue to worry about her. The rest of you, continue to focus on the graboid life cycle. That's why you all chose me, right? I will be the one to bare all of our consequences. Any albino that appears, move it with the other albinos. Keep all of the albino species separate. We don't know what will actually happen if all three species are together. We know that graboids will eat assblasters. Shriekers will eat graboids. It could be like sharks; they all eat one another but we don't know that. We don't know anything. We may have the opportunity to find out though."
The scientists looked to one another. Were they right with choosing him as their leader? Was he also going for another pipe dream like Caitlyn? The scientists decided to trust another scientist than to trust someone who only wanted their hard work. They did worry about what Caitlyn was going to do with graboid life cycles. This scientist seemed to only want to study them. A scientist who only wanted to study and would use any means necessary to continue that. The three here passed on the word to trust this scientist only for so much. Dr. Flint died because of her research with shriekers. It may be the same outcome with the graboid hatchery.
One day it was finally hot enough for Wes and Rose to venture into the lab. It was humid inside the lab. Rose took swabs of certain walls. Wes looked over the plastic cages. There were all empty. There were no signs that any creature left any marks on them. They were not curious of the plastic cages. It was going to get harder after this. It was easy to catch creatures using these. They didn't have to fear for their lives but now, Wes looked towards the stairway. He let out a breath. Now, they will have to venture down those steps.
"I caught it!" Rose came back to him beaming. She had a small clear cage with another scorpion grasshopper. "This time your big feet won't kill it."
Wes frowned. "Ha. Ha."
"Humidity levels rise getting closer the stairwell," Rose turned back to view the hallway. "I took samples all around. There are lots of tracks. I think the humidity allows for them to wander up to the drier areas. El Blanco has gone deep underground so there isn't much communication between that creature and them. Perhaps it's getting lonely."
"Little by little," Wes reminded her. "We can't go perusing about just yet."
"Too late, I went down a few more steps," Rose one upped him. His jaw dropped. "How do you think I caught it?" She walked past him to head back to the entrance. "Stop gaping or I am leaving you down here."
Wes shook his head as he followed her back. Even though this place was getting the scarier with each passing second, he really enjoyed his time with her down here. He thought about having Stockholm syndrome with her. He's been with her so long that the enemy he once thought she was, was becoming more of a friend.
That was even on some of the townspeople minds. Tyler had a calm day as it was raining outside. He was in the Market with Rosalita, Larry, and Jodi.
"Who do you think has the Stockholm syndrome?" Tyler asked out loud while drinking one of Jodi's drinks. "Rose or Wes? I would say Wes. He is with the beast."
"It's not Stockholm syndrome," Rosalita countered. "Stockholm syndrome is more of Frollo and Quasimodo or Rapunzel and the witch that took her but not Belle and the Beast. It's probably Lima syndrome. Where the captor sympathizes with their captives. I say the captor is Wes, as he is her guardian."
"How do you know about this?" Tyler turned to her.
"Some of us are also trying to earn a degree," Rosalita took a sip of her hot drink. "Getting close with being almost halfway done for my bachelors though. I want to get a doctorate. Become Perfections first psychologist."
Tyler raised his eyebrows. "We may just need one with all the weird things going on here."
"We definitely will," Larry spoke up. "Will there be a locals discount?"
Rosalita laughed. "Yes! Especially with how traumatic some of these things were, I was thinking of doing group therapy sessions as well."
The rest thought that would be a good idea. However, the group thought about how therapy would be with Burt. He is the one is needed it the most. All those hunting trips gave him PTSD. Also, the divorce from Heather. Finding out he has a son. The strange things that come out of the lab. The secret of being eaten alive by a graboid that has been giving him adverse effects. The secret was known amongst the townspeople after Jodi blurted it out one night. When Lewis let them know that it could become worse with time, the townspeople agreed to make sure to accommodate Burt whenever the need arises.