ii. Explanation

Shadow was startled out of his thoughts when a woman jumped back as he turned a corner. Braking to a halt, he apologized, then noticed a number of other people entering the hall. He was amazed to discover that he'd been lost in his thoughts for several hours, and headed back to the lab. This time he entered to find both Professor Gerald and the Gizoid there.

"Ah, Shadow, what have you been up to today?" Gerald inquired.

"Thinking, mostly." Shadow hesitated a moment, knowing the professor generally dodged the subject of Maria's health. He decided that this time, if necessary, he'd pursue the issue until he got an answer.

"Father," - he usually called him Professor Gerald, calling him Father indicated he was serious - "Maria told me today - we were in the observation room looking at the Earth, like she likes to do - and she told me about her illness. You said once that you created me for her sake, is it because of her NIDS?"

Gerald blinked at him, that was not a subject he was expecting - or one he really wanted to discuss. One of the side effects of the fast-maturation that he had not expected was the tendency to think of Shadow as a child; the dark hedgehog was newly "born" and as a dokan only about 3 feet tall, but although he was a child in experience he was both extremely intelligent and capable of mature thinking and reasoning. Which kept slipping Gerald's mind. Regarding the black and red hedgehog, he could tell that he was not going to be able to duck the question this time. With a long sigh the scientist sat down on the couch, waving Shadow towards the desk chair. With the hedgehog perched cross-legged on the chair his eyes were about level with the human's on the couch. Gerald felt Shadow's red eyes watching him as he pondered his response.

"You've looked up NIDS." That was a statement; Gerald knew the habits of his Ultimate Life Form well enough that he didn't need Shadow's nod to confirm it. "Have you looked at the specs for Project: Shadow?" That got a negative head shake; he didn't think Shadow could get into those anyway, but one could never be sure. "Basically, the original request was to find the key to immortality; it later was altered to require the creation of an Ultimate Life Form. My own goals were always slightly different from the assigned ones though." Gerald took a deep breath before continuing.

"Maria is my life." The statement was said simply and matter-of-factly. "When we learned about her illness...I was already up here on the ARK and hoped that up here she would at least be exposed to fewer diseases then on Earth. And that was when I took the responsibility for Project: Shadow, not looking for immortality but rather for a new means of healing. The disease, as I'm sure you read, is in her genes and therefore cannot be treated as we can treat bacteria, or even viruses in some cases; the disease is part of her cells like a cancer. But if one is to live forever, there must be a way for the body to change or repair damaged genes, and that was what I was actually after. The Heal Units do not affect the genes, they repair damage to cells and stimulate the immune system to more effectively destroy invading organisms or toxins, but the DNA error is always there to regenerate the toxins that destroy her nerves and white cells. So the Heal Units keep her alive, up here, but they cannot be made on Earth; therefore, as much as Maria longs to return, it would be a death sentence for her unless I can figure out a way to actually correct the DNA errors that cause the NIDS.

"This...is not why you were created, but it is a part of it; the hope that if you possessed the ability to correct DNA errors then I might be able to duplicate the mechanism in some form that could be administered to Maria -and others with genetic diseases. It is..a selfish reason to create a life, I know..." Gerald looked at Shadow directly for the first time, "Can you forgive me for that?"

Shadow was not certain why Gerald thought he needed forgiveness. He had known since he awakened that he was created for a purpose; and Maria was a far better purpose then some he had thought of. And even children created in the normal fashion were not necessarily given life through selflessness. But before answering that question... "Do I have it? This ability to correct DNA mistakes?"

"I do not know, my son. At the moment you are still too young for me to answer the question. In three or four years, I will be able to tell, but not yet."

"I am not sure why you think you need my forgiveness, but you have it. And if I do have this ability that can help Maria, than it is hers, whatever you must do to give it to her." Shadow was absolutely certain on that point. Anything he needed to give Maria, up to and including his life, was hers.