Author's Notes:
Thanks for the reviews :)
A couple of you mentioned that this should be in the Crossover section — I do realize that, but I think this story is less of a crossover and more like a retelling of the original Leviathan canon, with extra characters. Aside from that, I also think crossovers do not get as much visitors as normal stories do, so I'll leave this here for now.
Kate put down the pair of binoculars and put a hand to her stomach. The London sky was still dark and trembling from what's left of the morning storm's anger, but the worst had passed. The annoying lightning flashes had stopped, and the patter of rain on the windows was much quieter than before. She wondered whether or not the storm had forced him to change course. Sometime around noon, he had wrote in the last letter to her.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Cruse," came a voice from the door of the lab.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Barlow," Kate replied, glancing back. Dr. Nora Barlow strode into the room, her bowler hat perched impeccably on her head, her rather statuesque figure wrapped in a simple black cloak. "Where's Tazza?"
"I left him to play with some Bengal tiger cubs."
"I see." Kate took one last forlorn look at the sky, and hopped off the windowsill.
"Stormwatching?" Dr. Barlow asked, nodding at the binoculars. "Or birdwatching? Our zoo has an extensive avian collection, if that interests you."
Kate smiled. "Neither. I was shipwatching, if you could call it that."
Dr. Barlow blinked, which was the greatest extent of her surprise in any circumstance that Kate had seen. "Shipwatching," she repeated, walking over to the lab bench. "Care to elaborate?"
"The Aurora," Kate explained. "She's not coming to London, but my husband said she should be quite close by around noon."
"Ah, yes, your husband the astralnaut. He went back to being a sky sailor, did he?" A wry smirk appeared on her lips. "Sometimes I forget how young you are, Dr. Cruse, and newly-wed besides. Lovesick?"
Kate blushed. "Just haven't seen him in a while. And I have some news for him that I want to tell him in person."
Dr. Barlow frowned, then noticed Kate's hand holding her navel. She raised an eyebrow.
"Gravida?"
Kate blushed again. "Gravida," she confirmed.
"Oh dear. Congratulations."
"Thank you. I found out rather recently, myself."
"For your sake, though, I hope you will have finished most of your work before you start to swell. It isn't very comfortable looking through microscopes with a bloated stomach, speaking from personal experience."
Kate sighed. "I was worried about that, too. Fortunately, there's not much left to do."
"That is good to hear. Yours is very vital work, I'm afraid. Have you managed to solve the telekineses problem?"
"Yes."
"Brilliant. Did you end up targeting the tubulin?"
"I tweaked their kinetochores a little. That did the trick."
"Excellent work!" Dr. Barlow said warmly. But then she blinked a bit, and clasped a hand to her forehead. "Heavens, I almost forgot why I came here in the first place. Do you follow current events, Dr. Cruse?"
"Somewhat."
"Then do you know of what happened last night?"
Kate shook her head. "No, I haven't had the time to read the papers."
"Ah. Well, as it so transpired, the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand of Ausria-Hungary — along with his wife Princess Sophie — were murdered in their sleep. In Sarajevo."
Kate gasped. "That's horrible! Isn't he the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne?"
"He was. Poison, they say — there's been a first-hand report that the Archduke and Princess retired to their chambers early, saying they were dizzy and numb from travel. The bodies were found later to be paralyzed."
"That must be neurotoxin. Perhaps tetrodotoxin?"
Dr. Barlow nodded. "Easy to extract, fatal with a tiny dose, and no known antidote; my guess as well."
"I wouldn't have thought the Serbians were bold enough to murder the heir of a powerful enemy."
"Perhaps it was not the Serbians, or at least not them alone. But alas, we have no information beyond the fact that the Archduke is dead. Are you well versed with the political situation of Europa?"
Had this been four months ago, when Kate had just joined the Society as Dr. Barlow's research associate, she might have wondered what a scientist was doing worrying about politics. Now, after participating in countless meetings, she knew that Dr. Barlow was just as influential as any member of the Cabinet, if not more so. Britain was the home of Darwinism, the might of fabrications had raised her empire to the preeminent position it enjoyed today, and Dr. Barlow was one of her most important scientists, and a Darwin besides. The Zoological Society, of which she was vice-chair, was like an independent division of the British government responsible for diplomacy, espionage, and weapons development. The Society had networks all over the globe — in fact, the insufferable Sir Hugh Snuffler was the Head of the Canadian Branch. He certainly hadn't been thrilled to learn of Kate's position.
Kate brought her mind back to the matter at hand. She had been brought on board originally because of her expertise with the aerozoan — the creature had evolved a never-before-seen electrogenesis cycle, which held the key to a cost-efficient and utterly safe air fleet. However, being a member of the Society for four long months had taught her a great deal about politics and diplomacy. She thought about the aftermath of this assassination, her mind recalling the delicate alliances that united and separated the Darwinist and Clanker superpowers.
"Well," she said, thinking aloud, "to start it off, Austria-Hungary would not stand for Serbia's act of aggression, which means war. Russia will defend Serbia and declare war on Austria-Hungary. Germany, and maybe Italy, will honor their agreement with Austria-Hungary and declare war on Russia. Next will be France, which is allied with Russia. And after France…"
"It will be us. And you — if Britain goes to war, Canada will answer."
Kate took a deep breath. "And so will the rest of her holdings — Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaya. Basically, Europa is facing total war, which might spread across the globe. Good to know, I suppose."
Dr. Barlow laughed. "It's not quite as simple as that, I'm afraid. You're missing a key player here — a weakening empire right between Europa and Asia."
Kate understood immediately. "The Ottomans."
The scientist nodded. "That's the second piece of news I'm bringing to you today. Soon after the assassination, our great Admiralty made the wise decision to withhold the delivery of the Osman… and its behemoth."
The Osman was a powerful bio-dreadnought said to be one of the most advanced vessels ever designed, on par in battle power with Britain's famed Excalibur class. However, what made it so deadly was its companion creature, something called a behemoth, fabricated by Dr. Barlow's research team. It was, of course, supposed to be secret, though thanks to her new position, Kate had access to data pertaining to the mighty seabeast. It was an ugly creature as large as an entire dreadnought itself, armed with tree-trunk-thick tentacles, a mouth wide enough to swallow submersibles whole, and extreme acidity in its stomach to melt down anything unlucky enough to find their way down its gullet. The Ottomans, if rumors could be trusted, had spent every last pound in their treasury purchasing both.
"Aren't they already paid for, in full?" Kate asked, knowing they were.
"Sadly, yes. We received the last payment from the Ottomans just last week."
"And your Admiralty still wants to withhold the delivery."
"It's very unfortunate that Winston is a bloated piece of — pardon me — clart." For the first time since she's met Dr. Barlow, the scientist's cheeks was colored an angry red. "I did my best to advise against this, but he insisted."
"But the Ottomans control the Sea of Marmara; if you anger them, Russia will be at their mercy. And if war is really coming, wouldn't it be best to engage the Germans on two fronts?"
"Precisely my argument! It's such a pleasure to talk to an intelligent young woman — both the Admiralty and the Cabinet are full of arrogant, ignorant men." She sighed, and readjusted her bowler hat. Kate always refused to wear one of those since Matt thought it made her look insufferable, but it was right at home atop Dr. Barlow's head. "If a war between Darwinists and Clankers starts, and the Ottomans allied with the enemy, the war might be lost."
"Is there anything you can do? Or plan to?"
"We shall try to negotiate with the Ottomans and see what we can give them for this delay in delivery."
Kate sniffed. "They only spent their entire treasury and most of their citizen's money on this ship. I'm sure they will be quite negotiable."
Dr. Barlow's eyes twinkled with amusement. "This is why I like you, Dr. Cruse. You're right, of course, but I do have a little something I've been working on for the past six years. I hope to present it to the Sultan to sway him to our cause."
"I seem to remember the Ottomans were Clankers. Do they take kindly to fabrications?"
"They were ready to buy a behemoth, weren't they? In any event, it's not a creature of war — it's not big at all. It's more like a pet and an advisor rolled into one."
"And it's supposed to change an angry sovereign's mind?"
"We can only hope. Do you want to see it?"
Kate shrugged. "What is it, anyway?"
"I call it the Perspicacious Loris." Dr. Barlow's otherwise serene face betrayed a crack of excitement. "I keep them in the incubator in lab 9. Come! You can tell me how you modified the kinetochores along the way."
ooo
"Pardon me, Doctor, but what exactly do they do?"
Kate was currently leafing through the experiment notes of the perspicacious loris, her brows furrowed in concentration. Aside from the South Orient slow loris, the fab contained life threads from the chimpanzee, the bonobo, the bottlenose dolphin, and several species of whales; all creatures with large brains and documented ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. The creature also had parrot vocal chords and the hearing of the fruit bat, so Kate assumed it could talk and hear very well. She could see why this project had taken Dr. Barlow six years to bring to fruition — there was a lot of tweaking in brain development, and the brain was delicate business. Most of the tweaks seemed to be focused on expediting and expanding neuron formation.
"Do you know what perspicacious means?" Dr. Barlow asked.
Kate nodded. "So their only job is to be bright? And do whatever lorises do?"
"Partly that, yes. Did you see what I removed?"
"You got rid of the neuroseverins that destroyed neural connections, and knocked out the life threads that kept the brain from developing further beyond sexual maturity."
"The loris will be a very quick learner."
"Hmm. You also enhanced the production of neurotransmitters. Are you trying to make it schizophrenic?"
Dr. Barlow laughed. "No, no. I'm trying to make it be able to connect the dots from information it collects, and piece together a conclusion faster than any human analyst."
"A living data processor. Oh, I see — gosh, its frontal lobes are huge. And… is that duck?"
"Yes! I borrowed their nascent fixation pathway. The loris will be attached to whoever they first see after hatching."
"It seems you've also emphasized the sociability of the primate and dolphin life threads."
"Yes. I want them to be able to communicate with each other, and share information."
Kate nodded absent-mindedly, and flipped a few more pages, taking in the full extent of Dr. Barlow's work. It gave her the unnerving notion that the scientist had been trying to recreate a human being — stuck in a loris body — without using any actual human life threads. Obeying the fundamental laws of fabrication her grandfather had set forth. She skipped pages and pages of tables and charts, and arrived at the proposed sketch of a full-grown perspicacious loris. It looked cute at least — in an ugly, infantile way.
Kate put down the research notes and shook her head. "This is incredible work, Dr. Barlow, but I still don't understand how it's supposed to turn the tide of war. As far as I see, these are smart, talking, and borderline psychotic lorises that can perhaps chat with you when you're bored, or remind you where you put your hat."
The scientist looked a little offended. "I make a point of never taking off my hat, Dr. Cruse."
"I didn't mean that. What I meant was —"
"I realize your concern. I was rather hoping to use the loris to let the Sultan see the potential and usefulness of fabrication. They can be gifts to other sovereigns as well. Imagine what would happen when all the leaders of each great nation possessed a perspicacious loris of their own?"
"They can all have a loris tea party and be friends forever," Kate said drily. "After the tea party, the Kaiser will still call his stormwalkers to shoot everyone dead, from what I've heard about him."
"No, no, you've missed the point. While the leaders are conferencing, their own lorises will each be able to access all the contents of these conferences, and pass information back and forth. It will be a basis of mutual trust and cooperation."
"More likely a reason for them to lock the lorises up whenever they're conferencing. I may be a novice at diplomacy, Doctor, but I doubt it will work like that."
Dr. Barlow sighed, and Kate was surprised to find her looking a little dejected. "Very well, believe what you will," she said.
"I'm sorry. I know you've worked on them for a long time." Kate thought of how she had felt when the scientific community hadn't believed her ideas about the cloud cat, and felt a surge of sympathy for Dr. Barlow. "I'm sure they will play some role in this mess, before everything ends. Will they hatch on time?"
"Perhaps, depending on the situation. If war comes too quickly I may be forced to raise the incubation temperature and hatch them more quickly."
"Will that damage the embryo?"
"There is that risk, yes. And I'd have to time them to hatch in front of the targeted sovereign — the Sultan isn't likely to sit around waiting for an egg to hatch." Dr. Barlow shook her head, and patted the top of her bowler hat. "But that's not your burden to worry about."
They talked for a while more, until one of Dr. Barlow's numerous assistants barged in, babbling something about barnacles and gill-suits. Kate took this as her cue to leave. As she was stepping out of the incubation room, Dr. Barlow called out.
"Dr. Cruse?"
Kate turned around. "Yes?"
"Thank you for giving me your honest opinion. And don't work too late; you are carrying another life, after all."
ooo
Looking out of the generous window of her living room, the cloudless night skies of London was filled with pinpricks of starlight. Kate combed her damp hair into a bunch, tugging at the unruly strands. Almost insensibly, her eyes trailed towards the Draco constellation, off its majestic tail, to the little star that was hers. It twinkled at her merrily, and she felt the same pang of longing that accompanied her to sleep each night.
It was harder to live alone than she had previously thought. After falling out with her parents, the Parisian mansion they'd bought for her had been taken back and sold, all the maids and servants and chauffeurs dismissed, and finally even Marjorie. Honestly she hadn't expected her parents to go so far, and it hurt to think they were once the people she loved most in the world.
But then for the next two months, Matt had moved out of his Academy dorm, rented an apartment in Paris, and they had lived together . The life was inconvenient, the apartment small and far away from both the university and the Academy, but it was one of the happiest times she had ever experienced. She imagined his voice now, speaking to her softly from behind as he wrapped his arms around her belly: "Aren't you coming to bed yet? Don't stay up too late, it's not good for the baby."
Our baby, she would correct him, and turn around to kiss him. The thought made her smile — she rubbed her still-flat abdomen, wondering if the tiny bit of life growing inside her was a girl or a boy. Matt must be over the Atlantic by now, making his steady way towards Lionsgate City, and she imagined his expression when she tells him, in August when he finally had a three-week long shore leave, and they were finally scheduled to meet. They had everything planned out — a trip touring the British Columbia coast, just the two of them. A proper honeymoon, he'd wrote in the letter, since I owe you one! She could even envision the location; mountains to the back, on the deck of a cruise boat, telling him about their little family's incoming new addition.
Now, she was living in an apartment much too vast, with tough old maids and no chaperone — even Marjorie would be something. An impassive chauffeur would pick her up and drive her to the London Zoo each morning, and send her back each evening. Her colleagues, whether apprehensive of her gender or her swift rise to such an coveted position as Dr. Barlow's research associate, did not socialize with her much, so overall, her life in London had been getting lonelier and lonelier. To cope with it, she had channeled her energies straight into her work, which was part of the reason she had been able to progress so quickly.
With a sigh, she gave her defiant hair a final tug. Doing one's hair was an unexpectedly difficult business, and she felt a grudging respect for Marjorie, who could always fix up her hair, quickly if need be. The maids were always rough, and she gave up on asking for their help after the second attempt ended up in what she was sure was a bald patch on her scalp.
Wandering to her room, Kate slumped down on her bed, aware of how sharply it reminded her of his absence. Plus, she tended to start missing everyone in these moments of quiet — from her parents, to Marjorie, to the tiny feisty Ellie, and even Matt's little sisters — though she wasn't sure she liked it.
Later, as she was falling asleep in the cool summer night air from the open windows, Kate wondered if war would really erupt on a continent where the major powers had managed to stay out of conflict for most of the last fifty years, and over something so seemingly trivial. She wondered what role her research would play, and Dr. Barlow's mysterious lorises.
As the moon rose over the streets of London and the city's constant biomimic buzz finally died down, she imagined a negotiation table with distinguished gentlemen and global leaders, each with a loris perched on their shoulders.
"Might not be such a bad idea after all," she muttered to herself, and went to sleep with a tiny smile.
