5.
Sun paced the borders of the ransacked study. There was little left intact; chairs, tables, and the scroll cabinets were thrown about, some of it for no seemingly good reason. Littering all the mess were hundreds of documents and scrolls. The Twins had erupted in the room, pulling out every drawer, every shelf, every sturdy box and spilling the collected knowledge like so much chickenpig slop.
"My thesis!" Kim cried and knelt to cradle papers to his chest. "Twelve years of research-! Those sand-footed, cactus-chewing…"
There was a clatter of noise as Park pulled something from under a pile of chairs. "My model volcano…"
"Enough moping, gentlemen," Sun said and rapt her knuckles on one of the broken desks. They looked up at her with puppycat eyes. "Roll up your sleeves, there's work to be done."
"But our theory work," Park said, "they took all of it."
"The theory work's done, Park," Sun replied. Her smile was disturbingly enthusiastic. "It's time for the practical."
She glanced at Kim. "Bring a bucket."
They had lined up on the laboratory tables the remaining fertilised 'bears. There were three of them, at various stages of gestation; the earliest, three months, the latest six and nearly due. They stood before the first 'bear, imposing despite being sedated. Park and Kim had dressed as Sun had instructed; they wore large, starched aprons and thin leather gloves that reached up to the elbow. They also wore starched clothes their mouth and nose, a newly added precaution.
"For sterility, you see," Sun had explained. Park and Kim had just stared at one another, neither of them knowing what in the world that word meant.
Kim held a bucket filled with water; his friend's role in this was unclear in this but at least he had a prop. Park had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Observing?
"Are we ready?" Sun asked.
"For what?" Park asked.
"No," Kim said at the same time.
"I'm going to be manipulating the foetuses within the womb, moulding their forms to match the markers we have identified as being common 'bear' traits. Combining these forms into one should skip the gestation period normally needed. If this works, I'll have made a 'bear'." Sun turned to the others. "Questions?"
"I have no idea what you just said."
Her brows knotted in annoyance. "I'm going to mush baby 'bears together like putty until I make his Majesty's birthday gift. Understood?"
Park blinked before giving a nod.
"I'm going to be sick," Kim said.
Sun raised her hands over the 'bear's abdomen. "Let's begin."
She pulled water from Kim's bucket, sheathing her hands in it.
"I'm going to start by delving the womb." She closed her eyes and her hands began to travel to and fro along the 'bear's abdomen.
"There, I see it," she said after a moment. "Park…if only you could experience this; to have a living thing pulsing beneath your fingers, awaiting your command."
"That sounds a little disturbing," he commented.
Her response was to smile, one that sent a chill through Park. And then Sun began in earnest and the fear evaporated for moment.
Her hands danced above the 'bear, in graceful, purposeful gestures. Several images came to mind as Park watched; threading the eye of a needle, stirring a great alchemical pot, or – and this was perhaps the most striking – weaving an intricate tapestry, the design of which was beyond his mind to comprehend.
Park was struck with a sense of awe. Sun was like a spirit creature, playing mortals for puppets. For a second he understood her completely. This, what she was doing, was power. This was control. This demanded respect. This was Sun unlocked, uncaged and utterly in her element. She was beautiful.
And then it was gone.
The 'bear groaned and twitched, as if in the grip of a nightmare. Sun continued in her bending trance, pulling now harder and harder. The abdominal muscles were sent into spasms, writhing like there were worms under the skin. The 'bear moaned and the sound made something switch over in Park's brain. He turned to Kim and saw his friend's face was a mask of horror. He looked at Sun and saw a light in her eyes. The look made him take an unconscious step backwards. The awe in him had changed, grown larger and uncontrolled. Watching Sun work sent up a shiver up his spine.
Beautiful? But also terrifying.
"Park, prepare yourself!" Sun called. "Stand at the rear!"
Park stepped forward again, breathing heavily through his mouth. He shook all over but put himself where Sun had indicated, at the bottom of the 'bear. "What am I supposed to be doing, Sun?"
She grinned at him. "You'll catch."
Before Park even had time to contemplate that, Sun gave a might thrust with her hands and something shot out of the 'bear. It catapulted into Park's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. His hands curled by reflex around the thing he carried. Instantly he was thankful for the gloves. The thing he held was small, warm and juicy. Some of that juice had splattered across the cloth covering his face. The smell was nauseatingly cloying and travelled up his nose and into his mouth. He gagged and went to look down at the thing in his hands.
Sun quickly grabbed his jaw and forced his head up.
"Don't," she said. "I need you with a clear head for this."
Park swallowed down his nausea and nodded. On second thought, maybe looking at the monster in his hands was not such a good idea.
"Quickly now," Sun instructed. "To the next one."
They stepped over to the second 'bear. Park took a shaky breath. At least now he had an idea what to expect.
He, in fact, did not.
Sun pulled water from the bucket and wrapped up the creature in Park's hands. Park had a sudden prophetic image flash into his mind. Kim must have had the same for he heard him scream.
Sun pushed the monster into the 'bear.
What followed next was a blank to Park. His eyes saw but his mind did not register. He followed instructions, embryotic fluid occasionally exploding all over him. There were horrific screams, human or not he had no idea. Guttural cries pierced the air along with the occasional whimper. And with every nightmare spewing out in front of him Park's mind retreated further and further.
Until, finally, he found himself standing before the third 'bear, with a beast in his arms. He did not recall catching it but here it was all the same. Sun's honey-toned voice called him out of the darkness.
"Behold, gentlemen," she said with a breathy whisper.
Park slowly looked down at the wet thing in his arms. It had soft, brown fur, button ears, a long snout topped with a black nose. Its eyes were a glassy black. It was…adorable.
And it was clearly dead.
"The fruits of our labour," Sun rasped wearily. "The King's Bear!"
No one said anything, letting the momentous event sink in.
There was a heavy thud as Kim collapsed in a dead faint. Park stared at him for a second, before handing the animal to Sun and joining his friend on the floor.
It still made Park queasy to look at the cub. But since coming to he had not been able to take his eyes off of it. This animal, this bear, had caused him and Kim such innumerable grief over the past three months. And here it finally was, the end product of their blood, sweat and tears.
Except, of course, that it was dead.
Stillborn, Sun had called it. She had frozen the animal in the same bucket that Kim had carried earlier.
"I can keep it like that at the most for two days," Sun explained, coming over to look at it with him. "No longer. After that permanent damage will occur to the animal."
"I guess you would know from experience," Park murmured, eyes still on the cub.
He jumped as Sun put a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were unreadable. "Park, you and Kim have witnessed something few can stand. If you wish to talk about it…"
"No, thank you," he replied a little too quickly. In a more measured tone he said, "I guess Kim and I just aren't made from the same stuff as you."
"No," she said moving away from him to check on Kim; his friend was awake but still in a bit of a stupor.
"But you are made of something," she finished.
Park blinked in surprise at the compliment. He actually flushed with pride.
"Anyway," she said, "our work is not finished. We need a way to bring the bear to life."
Park started. "You mean, you don't know how?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"I just figured," Park stumbled, "that you would have some kind of plan for this."
She shrugged. "Normally the animals I work on are still alive. And I've never brought anything back from the dead." She frowned. "I had an idea this would happen. I hypothesise that we'll need some kind of energy source. A spark."
"Energy?" Park repeated. "How much energy are we talking about?"
Sun pursed her lips. "A lightning bolt?"
"What?!" Park barked. "That kind of energy is absurd! We could never harness that kind of power, let alone generate-!"
"Generate?"
Park and Sun turned to Kim. His face was pale and sweaty. But his eyes held a bright gleam.
"I…" he swallowed. "I think I can help with that."