Interlude: Lisa's Lament
Retarded development in the cerebellum. Likely resulting from whatever gene inspired Leni's own mindset. The child would need special care to simply function, achieving anything like her mother was out of the question.
Genetic analysis projected poor bone integrity, the exact extent would have to be determined as the child grew into her frame. But even without the traditional 'Loud Girl' strength that allowed Leni and Luna to pick up siblings with ease, and Lynn to compete in male-dominated sports the child would have to spend her days fearing cracked bones from daily activities.
A distinct lack of movement compared to her similarly developing sisters at her stage indicated other issues that would likely present themselves with time.
The results were clear even as her siblings reached the end of their first trimester.
Lisa Loud's daughter would suffer the price of her parents' sin.
The scientist closed the windows on her screen, and leaned back to look upon her swollen belly. Though she was yet early in the incubation period there was no denying her state as the four new lives expanded her once flat stomach to hold them in a firm bubble. She couldn't feel their movements yet, but her instruments had proven that three of the four had already started twitching of their own volition.
Just this morning Lincoln had made one of his habitual intrusions to her lab. He was still technically living with Ms Santiago in their apartment, but in practice he spent more time sleeping in his car as the woman's less than pleased reaction to hearing her long term 'maybe boyfriend' having impregnated every one of his sisters ensured that at least for the moment it was best for everyone that he stayed out of her sight.
One of the side effects of living anywhere but where Ms Santiago could see him was that he seemed to find his way to see her or another sister on a regular basis. Ostensibly it was 'just to see them', but in practice all involved knew he was watching their growing stomachs with whatever mix of emotions a first time father felt upon knowing his offspring was growing within another.
"Hey Leese!" Lincoln practically stumbled in, looking tired as always thanks his 'comfortable' back seat sleeping habits. "How're you-"
"All four foetuses are developing at a sufficient pace," Lisa primly evaded, pointedly not looking at her brother. It wasn't yet a lie, since the anomalies within S-12 were still potential errors in her equipment.
"Aww Lisa," Lincoln waved her off, even as his eyes looked away from hers. "Can't I just come to see you-"
"You have visited each of our sibling units in increasingly frequent intervals corresponding to the confirmation of each unit's pregnancy." Lisa dryly summarised. "The causation does not require a genius intellect to determine- though I am well equipped regardless."
He winced at that. "Okay fine, I came to see how the… babies are doing. But!" He quickly advanced. "That doesn't mean that they're the only things I care about!"
Lisa rolled her eyes, then turned her chair around to look at him. "I am doing quite well despite having to house four offspring units. Thank you for your concern."
It was Lincoln's turn to call out a sibling's antics. "You kind of asked for it Leese," he reminded her as he approached, eyes at her bulbous stomach. "You're lucky no one else made you take theirs."
Lisa harrumphed , "as I stated, it would be unwise to attempt a joint pregnancy between foetuses in multiple states of develop-"
"You could have done it." Lincoln bluntly cut her off, Lisa raised an eyebrow and prepared her counter- but dropped it just as quickly as his flat expression told her no amount of world salad would sell her argument. "… But they've taken the whole 'knocked up by their brother' thing better than I expected."
"Indeed," Lisa dryly recalled the many stipulations she had to make to prevent multiple terminations on the part of the incubators. But something else caught her attention, Lincoln's expression had more than the usual cocktail of emotions as he regarded her ever growing stomach. "And as for yourself?"
"Hunh?" He blinked and looked up. "Me?"
"Yes," Lisa bit back the urge to outline the idiocy of his statement, he was clearly sleep deprived. "How are you taking having 'knocked up' your sororal units?"
Lincoln blinked away, rocking back and said nothing for a few seconds.
For moment Lisa thought he was going to say nothing, and prepared to switch the topic as per social norms when he answered;
"… I don't know." He looked her in the eye again. "I mean, even before all this we weren't as close as we used to be- every time we met up things were weird until they clicked again. But now? It's like no one knows where we are so we all just pretend it's all normal.
But it's not.
This," he waved at her stomach. "All of this, it doesn't matter if we didn't actually- y'know. This is going to be our lives now and I don't know how… what it's going to be. How we're going to handle everything- it's all to big to think about so I don't, and I don't think anyone else is either.
The other guys, Bobby and Chaz and even Sam- I don't know what they're thinking when they see me-"
"Mr Horvitz seemed fairly amenable given his condition," Lisa felt the need to interject. "And with my established financial assistance, Bobby will likely-"
"It's more than just about money Lisa." Lincoln sighed. "It's about the kids and what they mean. I don't know how to be a father- I don't know if I'm going to be a father or if I'm just going to be Uncle Lincoln. I don't know if I'm okay with that.
I know Ronnie isn't."
Lisa couldn't help but winced. "I take it Ms Santiago has yet to come around?"
"I don't know if she's going to." Lincoln leaned against the wall. "She didn't ask for this, and she's… she's not okay with being a step-mom or aunt or whatever this makes her…"
Lisa's assessment had shown a variety of possible outcomes from Ronalda Anne Santiago. Everything from a willing parental unit to assist with discipline and caring for the assorted offspring, to complete separation. At the time of her initial project development, she had had a plan to try and tilt the odds to favour something like the former.
But much like Lynn, Ronnie Anne defied conventional expectations. For better or worse, she would be the one to decide where she stood on The Project- and Lisa expected no amount of financial incentive or other persuasive methods would sway her.
"… said its first kick was a week ago."
Lisa raised her attention as Lincoln continued, some detail pulling her consciousness from her internal reflection. "Could you repeat that?"
A brief flash of annoyance passed across Lincoln's face, but it faded into something else as he spoke. "Lynn said hers started moving a week ago. I couldn't feel anything, but she says she's sure it's going to be soccer player…."
How would he take knowing that one of his children would be crippled because of her?
Lisa glanced back at her own reports on the project.
Every other successfully conceived child was progressing well. It wasn't surprising; the sperm used in every other conception had at least some time to be processed, to be filtered for any odd genes that even Lincoln's stable stock might have hidden and combine with an all too close match for disaster.
But not hers.
No, she'd acted on lustful impulse and taken a fresh sample directly into herself without a thought to the consequences. What could go wrong? She was already pregnant thrice over that day.
The answer should have been obvious. But like Lincoln and her siblings facing their futures now, whatever part of her mind that staunchly declared the danger had been ignored, and the possibility rejected to avoid contemplation until Lisa had turned her instruments to her uterus in some petty desire to see if her own offspring would show the same quick advancement that Lynn proclaimed.
And now it was far too late.
For everyone else, she'd taken the precautions to defy the odds. Certainly, the chances of a first generation suffering disastrous defects from inbreeding was relatively low, but Lisa Loud suffered no 'mistakes' in her adult work.
Until she let herself get caught up in her own hormones, in that moment when her brain was swimming in the residue of impregnating herself with her own subjects. And now it was like whatever deity existed whose rules she had so scorned had taken the chance to visit their full wrath upon the one child she hadn't protected in her lustful oversight.
S-12, or whatever name she would be given, would never have the gifts of any of her siblings. She might not even be able to speak her name.
The natural order had spoken.
But Lisa Loud had not.
And what was science but the defiance of the natural order?
Her extraction machine worked as well as it had before, though her preliminary checks ensured the purple-glowing contraption had next to no chance of failure regardless.
Her offspring, her only child in the traditional sense of sharing her genetics, floated in the middle of the single filled tube. She was just a dot of meat in the middle of the clear fluid, looking more like some detritus to be spat out than a human yet, and in the container's stasis field there she would neither age nor die as that little dot until Lisa deemed otherwise.
Lisa calmly grasped the container, and detached it from the machine, moving to a high cylindrical device fixated in the middle of the darkened lab. The thing nearly reached the ceiling and had a solid beige exterior, save for the illuminated panels and transparent section at Lisa's eyeline.
The woman pressed a button, and one of those panels expanded out to reveal a slot sized to the offspring containing tube. The scientist carefully lowered the tube into the chamber, then stepped back to allow the panel to close automatically. There was a brief hum, then the transparent chamber in the centre of the device filled with liquid, rapidly rising to the brim as air was pumped out and fluid in.
Finally, a rubber-esque sphincter from the top of the artificial womb opened. Gentle artificial gravity acted upon the fragile flesh of her daughter to pull her into the middle of the tower and hold her where Lisa could see her.
The panels lit up with new information, confirming life signs and nutrient transfer as stasis ceased. Lisa nodded in satisfaction, before beginning her new project log.
"Project Chimera, Log One, Day One:
Initial transfer of S-12 has been completed without any signs of issue, the containment centre is currently presenting no signs of disruption and S-12 herself appears to have endured the process appropriately…"
There were innumerable issues to solve, but theoretically all it would take was a few rounds with CRISPR and some reconstructive micro-surgeries to set S-12 up for a normal life.
By why leave it there?
Nature had seemingly allotted Lisa's daughter the full share of any defects that her siblings may have received. What better way than to defy it by dusting off the 'Special' section of the project, and thumb her nose at the very concept of inborn disability by making S-12 the greatest biological lifeform on the planet?
Certainly there were limits, after all there was only so far a human could be modified before they ceased to be considered a human after all-
But why was that a bad thing?
As long as the being could speak and think, as long as S-12 was a person- then her essentially humanity was surely tangential?
Lisa drew up her projections.
The bones and muscle structure were the easy part, the genes in question were well documented even by conventional standards and relatively quick 'snip and replace' would do the job.
By what about bones that could withstand a car crash, or could flex to a cartilaginous extent without losing structural integrity? A few additions from the more mammal-compatible species with such tendencies (and a lot of tweaking from the greatest mind on this earth of course) and S-12 would never have to fear anything short of an industrial accident or warfare!
Excepting of course any illness, or the plague of all imperfectly dividing multicellular beings; cancer.
Improved regeneration would assist with both, and while there was no compatible species on earth entirely immune to such disasters- Lisa was well acquainted with more exotic lifeforms. After all, if she was already going to have to cross the biological barrier, then why not go all the way for the best results?
But then that raised the question of how an ostensibly human mind would be able to handle the inherently alien aspects of her physiology. And Lulu's 'natural gifts' required addressing anyway…
"Log Seven, Day Twenty-Three:" Lisa observed the growing 'dot', now with features visible to the naked eye if the background light was not dimmed for the unborn's delicate organs. "Initial CRISPR preparations have been completed and the exotic matter required for the 'Special' modifications have been successfully obtained via my colleague."
She turned to a steadily ticking box next to the incubation tube. It was a solid black thing save for the golden tipped corners, approximately waist high and with a shine to the surface that remained regardless of light source.
"The additional hardware obtained through alternative means has allowed for faster advancements than previously estimated to S-12's programming timetable." Lisa continued. "The first layer of the lattice has been successfully constructed within voidspace and appears to be stable upon simulations of exposure to conventional time, but its behaviour with contextual information has yet to be established…."
"Log Nine, Day Thirty Six:" the little body within the tube now resembled something human. "S-12's first modifications have integrated with her existing organics and after incidents four through six, there is only a low probability of further rejection.
Additional modifications will have to wait until after the full installation of S-12's Original Operations," The Black Box gleamed as always next to the tube. "Simulations indicate that full control over the mutations is viable, but until full certainty is achieved reimplantation cannot be risked…."
"Log Twelve, Day Forty Two:" Lisa licked her lips as she tapped the pad in her hand. "All thirteen lattices have been completed and contextual information integrated into the existing program. The additional Schrodinger Restraints have been successfully embedded to ensure humanoid perimeters.
Repeated simulations have demonstrated a ninety-three-point eight percent chance of a successful integration presuming the initial inter-special expansions complete within established perimeters."
She glanced up at her daughter's tiny body, she couldn't see it without engaging her own enhancements but that little brain now occupied directions nearly no human's native this reality ever had before.
"… She's nearly ready."
"Log Thirteen, Day Forty Two:" Lisa carefully tapped out a few more lines into her tablet, scanning for in errors in every bit of code from that might reside within her conventional hardware to the nigh incomprehensibly alien 'software' that was the dream of the box of 'dead' reality she'd repurposed to create new life. "S-12's brainwaves are fluctuating as expected, and the Original Operations code has been prepared for organic integration."
She looked up one last time, a single button press would mean success or failure.
"… I have conducted every possible preparation to ensure the probably of success. However, should this integration fail due to some oversight…"
Her child would be brain dead at best.
And without the continuation of the project, she would be little more than a testbed proving that Lisa Loud valued her projects over her family's wellbeing.
"… There is nothing else left to do." She affirmed and raised her finger. "Initialising integration in five…
… four…
…three…
…two…"
She hesitated for barely two milliseconds, before casting her die. "One."
"… Log Fourteen.
Day Forty Two."
Lisa swallowed as she observed the readings.
The Black Box no longer gleamed, dim and silent without an internal consciousness to dream.
"Integration…" she looked up at her child.
Something might have looked back.
"Integration appears to be successful." The readings showed no more brainwaves than before, but for a brief moment S-12's brain structure had been so active that Lisa feared she'd burnt out her daughter's mind while trying to save it. "… Due to obvious limitations, further conclusions as to the success of Project Chimera will have to wait. Implantation will be commenced shortly, as the Schrodinger Restraints have been registered as active…"
"Hey Leese?"
It was her fraternal unit again. His frequency in visits had only increased with the ready expansion of her stomach.
Pinched her nose in annoyance, Lisa fought down a desire to throw something at him that wasn't entirely down to hormonal swings. "Yes, elder brother unit?"
Lisa felt a hand turned her padded swivel chair around and found herself looking up at the abnormally cheery expression of the white haired man. "How're you doing?"
She would have slapped him, since it was fairly obvious that nothing had changed since the previous day (pregnant, swollen and missing her mobility- she needed not to be reminded), but she spied something in his hands, clearly held out in offering to her.
A thick, long, submarine sandwich. Clearly stuffed with tuna, beetroot and mayonnaise- just what her nigh deranged cravings were demanding.
"Elder brother unit, I forgive every idiotic infraction you have ever committed." Lisa found her hands snatching the wondrous combination of flavours that her sane mind rejected, but her mouth quickly consumed with relish (which was also somewhere in ingredient list, along with olives and some kind of sweet bean).
"Don't worry about it, just part of a day's work the man with a plan." The man leaned up, and Lisa spied a basket of goodies in his other hand, probably more subs for the other sisters within visiting distance. "What're you working on?"
Lisa munched down another bite, before deigning to answer. "Some minor calculations about the 38th interspatial Laang fold, just some light brainwork before the third trimester."
"Ahh," Lincoln nodded with supposed understanding, but titled his head as he spotted something on her screen. "Hey, what's Project Chimera?"
Lisa froze.
"I don't think you've said anything about this one?" Lincoln pointed at the computer behind her, and Lisa slowly turned her chair to read the newly opened window.
The Black Box's dream had been connected to her conventional hardware by necessity, no such alien device could be hoped to be manipulated by simple analogue inputs after all. But for the obvious reason that the device was no longer active, it had been literally months since her interface window had opened.
Yet now, new data was presenting itself.
"… I think it's requesting a definition of something?" Lincoln squinted as he read the code.
"You can read my programming?" Lisa found herself facing another shock, not ideal for a pregnant woman.
"A little," Lincoln admitted. "They made us learn C+ in Highschool, but most of this is kinda out of my league."
"It's a custom language," Lisa sighed in relief- she did not need a suddenly genius level Lincoln with insight into her projected. "I used BASIC as a the basis when I was two years of-"
She was going to go on to expand upon the exact circumstances that she found herself limited by conventional programming languages and created a superior one to every then and current alternative with functionality with everything from a toaster to the most advanced organic mainframes- when the exact details of the code's request caught her eye.
It was from Original Operations.
Her mouth dried.
"Yeah, I can't really get any of it." Lincoln sighed, evidently giving up his attempt as deciphering the eldritch code. "But it still looks neat and…."
Lisa tuned him out as she typed in a confirm/deny request.
Less than a second later she received a response, a line of code that roughly translated to a confirmation of intent. Then another line repeating the previous request, something that approximately translated to…
[SELF] IS.
[OTHER] IS?
She quickly typed in a confirmation.
"Leese?" Lincoln's hand was on her shoulder. "Lisa are you okay?"
She looked to him, and felt something fall on her cheek.
"Lisa you're crying."
The scientist felt a little movement in her belly, from someplace that none of the more developed offspring really seemed active.
"Of course I am," she felt her throat squeeze out an uncharacteristically thick voice. "As Lucy would say; I'm with child."
A/N:
Thanks to Nuuo for Beta-Reading