iii. The Third Step
Gerald had things organized by the required time. Maria had poked her head in on the way to school, with Mokie standing behind her, to ask if she could go home with him after school to work on a project. Gerald had given permission willingly, glad to have her out of the way without having to think up an excuse himself. He checked the security recording and confirmed that it showed him working at one of the tables rather than seated at the computer. Then he started comparing the DNA scans of the dokan and "true" hedgehog DNA. Partly he was comparing the two sets of chromosomes, but also he was looking for specific regions where he could best insert the Chaos-harnessing genes. Not surprisingly, there was far more difference between dokan and European hedgehogs than between humans and say, chimpanzees; it was more along the lines of a human-monkey or even human-lemur comparison. He actually got so engrossed in the readings that he lost track of time and nearly leapt out of his chair when the airlock port started clanking. He turned towards the clear cylinder of the escape pod, expecting to see the cyclopean "starfish" entering through the airlock hatch in the bottom.
What rose up into the escape pod was not a starfish. Tall, roughly humanoid in appearance, at least from the "waist" up, the being regarded him out of three glowing red eyes. Long horns extended to each side of its head, and a crown of shorter ones projected from the top of the skull. Gold trim adorned the cuffs and collar of its black robes, which trailed off with no sign of legs at what would have been mid-thigh on a human. Despite the lack of visible legs, it hovered several feet above the floor of the ARK. A massive, three-fingered hand protruded from each sleeve, one fingering the heavy gold chain about its shoulders. Various silver ornaments hung from the chain. Hovering several feet above the floor, it spoke in the deep voice of the starfish.
"I am Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms. Show me the requirements for your experiment."
The voice of Doom, crossed irreverently through Gerald's mind. He sternly called his thoughts into order. Be careful, Gerald, this one is used to command. Psychokinesis by the levitation, could he be telepathic as well? Do NOT trust him. Aloud he said only, "I am Professor Gerald Robotnik, and these," he reached back to the keyboard and hit the pertinent keys without taking his eyes off the alien being, "are the requirements for the Project." What came up on the screen was a carefully modified version of the Top Secret Project: Shadow specs - not enough to save him from treason charges if anyone ever found out about it, but he wasn't going to let the alien simply look at military secrets. He suspected that an alien who arrived speaking English (and apparently able to read it as well, judging by the intense focus on the screen) was fully capable of taking any information it (he?) wanted either out of the computers or even out of minds - but that was no reason to simply give the information away.
The alien perused the information and nodded slightly. "Show me what you have so far." Gerald replaced the first file with an edited outline of the project so far. The primary edit was that although the Biolizard's Chaos energy absorption and oversize were mentioned, her current actual size and in fact current existence were not, nor was there any reference to her outbreaks of violence. Again the alien studied the screen in silence. Then a massive finger stabbed the screen over the Biolizard's info. "You have part of the key here; but the Chaos energies cannot be controlled by such a mindless being - these "lizards" are very low intelligence animals, are they not? You did well to control it as long as you did; this is several...weeks...ago?" The huge digit tapped the last date noted on the screen.
"Months, actually," corrected Gerald. "There are four-and-a-half weeks in a month." He is intelligent, he caught the date and apparently thinks she is dead, which is good; but he knew about the violence - has he been in the records, or monitoring the secret lab's security cameras? Or does he really know what he's talking about? Dealing with this being would require great care. But if he knew about the violence... "And yes, she had become uncontrollable during her rages because of her size." She had, and she still was, but don't mention that, nor that she was another foot longer than that last entry. "How is it that you are familiar with the animals of Earth?" And the Chaos energies, he thought but did not add.
"We possess long range scanners that have monitored your planet in the past." was the almost negligent reply. "Also you've been broadcasting your radio and television signals into space for at least two of our comet's cycles." The body swivelled to bring the creature face-on towards Gerald. "How else could we speak your language?"
I wonder. "I had been curious about that; you speak it very well indeed."
"It is a trivial thing." Gerald wasn't sure if the alien was being intentionally rude, merely tactless, or simply alien in dismissing his host's language so blithely. "Now. These rats have enough intelligence to subdue the power. It does not control them as it does the lizard. But you need a true intelligence to master the power, to both restrain it and make use of it. A human intelligence might be enough..."
"Actually," Gerald stepped into the arrogant pause, "I had been considering this." He brought up the dokan sample's statistics. The die was now officially cast.
"Ssssssssss," apparently a thoughtful sound, for the Black Arms. "This has no ability to gather Chaos energy. It is small, hardly worthy of being made a warrior."
"This is the basic specimen. After I alter the DNA, as I did with the rats and lizards, it will gather and store Chaos energy as they do. The dokan are stronger and more durable than humans, and the Chaos energies will enhance those traits; the small size will be an advantage both for ease of infiltration and in making enemies underestimate it until it is too late." He was quoting directly off of his next report, prepared in advance to be sent whenever the experiment proved successful. He added the Chao DNA next to the dokan stats.
"Ssssssssss. To obtain full power and control it will need more than that. Prepare it as you will to be ready in a week. Now, show me how you will grow this larva."
The lizard embryos had been reared in carefully opened and monitored eggs, the rat embryos implanted in surrogate mothers, but that was clearly out of the question here. Gerald displayed and explained the artificial womb that he'd obtained for the experiment - a very new piece of equipment that was still only about 50 successful. Gerald hoped that the chaos emerald's stimulating effects would improve the success rate but was expecting to have to run several experiments to get a single success. The unit was designed not only to grow an embryo through fetus to infant stage, but could also mature an organism. It was equipped to sleep-train the being inside during the maturation process if desired; not a feature that would have any application for animals. Gerald was certain that it was actually designed as a cloning device but either way it was perfect for his purposes. With another hissing consideration, the alien turned to depart, instructing Gerald to be ready to begin the incubation when it returned in a week.
It stopped short before it got to the escape pod though, turning sharply towards the Gizoid which was standing in a corner today. Although the Gizoid had been present at Gerald's first meeting with the projection, apparently something drew the alien's attention in person that had not been detected long range. Gerald had a nasty feeling he knew what it was. Doom drew near to the Gizoid, murmuring something that Gerald couldn't make out. Having no instructions regarding the alien, the Gizoid made no response.
"How do you come and go without being detected?" asked Gerald. Partly he was nervous about the attention the alien was giving the Gizoid, partly he hoped the alien's distraction might get him a careless answer. To his surprise, it worked.
"We designed our ship so, after studying the sensors on your shuttle. The sensors cannot detect it and as long as we avoid being silhouetted against another body like the Earth, the ship is difficult to see with the human eye as well."
"You could tell so much from the damaged sensors?" Gerald was impressed. "I'd have thought there wouldn't be much left after the shuttle was destroyed."
"The shuttle was obliterated in the attack. When our defenses took them for space debris." The alien turned back to Gerald. "We were unaware that the ship was crewed or even a ship before that. There was nothing left after. Your...machines... are not like our science." Apparently unaware that it had contradicted itself, the huge alien swept on into the pod and down through the hatch.
Gerald frowned. The ARK's sensors had supported the statement that there was nothing really left of the shuttle after the attack, but if the Black Comet had scanned the shuttle, well enough to get details of its sensor readings, then they must have known that the shuttle was occupied, and artificial. Perhaps there had not been time or ability to disarm the automatic responses, or perhaps it had in truth been no accident. "What did he say to you?" he demanded of the Gizoid.
"The Emerald! But only one...we need them all to feed the Comet. If I get them now...but the preparations will need another cycle to complete. No, let the humans enjoy their ignorance a bit longer; when we return, the creature can destroy its own world by bringing all the emeralds to us then." The Gizoid spoke in a low monotone, but Gerald was certain it was word-for-word what the alien had said. Suspicions confirmed, at least to his own satisfaction, he began modifying some of the sensing devices to try other ways of looking at the comet; working around the altering of the dokan embryo.
The actual adjustments didn't take anything like a week, although they were further slowed by the need to help Mokie and Maria with a school science project. Both children loved looking around the lab, and Gerald was fairly certain that his granddaughter could recognize more than he realized. Therefore he took great care to have any Project: Shadow work completely cleared away from both the tables and the computer. He assured himself that it was only because he didn't want Maria to know to much about a program that might cure her, in case it failed. The children both had fun experimenting with the modified sensors, although he pointed them at the moon or planets rather than the Comet.
At the end of the week, Black Doom returned. Gerald had the artificial womb set up, the embryo in the incubator with its own genes spliced to the chao genes that channeled the chaos energy. A half forgotten memory of the hidden chamber on Angel Island had inspired him to alter the genes controlling quill structure and color, as the ancient mosaic depicted, this hedgehog should be gold with more upright quills than the norm; although the aura of Chaos Energy would likely be invisible. Black Doom barely gave him a greeting before demanding to be shown his progress. He then instructed Gerald to proceed. As Gerald pulled the embryo in its dish out of the incubator, the alien produced a vial of glowing green fluid and poured it into the dish. Gerald spluttered in shock but Black Doom merely steadied the dish while apparently counting in his head, then said, "Now remove the specimen from my blood and proceed as you will. It will now have enhanced capabilities and control of the chaos energy."
Gerald, still rather shocked at the high-handed manner with which his experiment had been altered, did as instructed; finding the embryo in the green stuff was much harder than the clear fluids that had initially been in the dish, but he did locate it, finally, and pipetted it onto the special surface that would permit it to grow a placenta and nourish it during development. He closed the womb door, keyed in the codes and only then realized that an extra module had been attached to the machine while he was working. It had a strange, organic appearance, obviously alien.
"This unit is compatible with your...machines." Even through his irritation Gerald could hear the distaste in the alien's voice. "It will speed growth and maturation. The specimen should be ready for release in four months."
"I will return when it is ready." Black Doom stepped into the escape pod and dropped down through the floor hatch before Gerald could say a word.