I sighed as I flopped onto a cot, I and one of Hammond's wardens were scouting another area
for the Nemean pen that seemed promising. After three months we finally found what looked open enough and populated enough to house a pride of lions with minimum difficulty.
now I and Wu just needed to make them. We had turned into a surprising assistant and student, he did tend to get caught up in the process though. it was... entertaining to watch sometimes.
he'd make a great assistant head eventually, I'll just have to curb some of the things he wants to make till we have the facilities to hold them. still, creativity like his should be encouraged and tempered with caution.
I sat up to grab my notebook as I got a random idea for an incubator when one of the wardens knocked on the door to my room,
"come in."
The warden was Australian man in his early 30's, standard safari gear of a light shirt and brown shorts with sturdy boots. "did'ya fin' the place?" he asked.
"yes, bob. we did it's on the northern edge so we should probably get John to make a regular patrol for poachers when the lions get here." Robert "Bob" Muldoon was h
Hammond's head warden for the park here.
"when do you think they'll be ready?" Robert was just a tad excited to see the pure Barbary. understandable they were Nemeans after all. who wouldn't want to see the mythic lion from Heracles trials?
" another 6 months maybe? have to make sure no problems pop up before we set them loose in their field" best to see if anything happens as they grow that way.
"gives us time to get it ready at least." I made a noise of agreement as I started to make sketches and calculations of what I'd need to build the incubators, maybe add an artificial womb or something for my gene purifier back at the Lockwood manor to limit the variables of contamination.
"Taylor?" Robert asked? I looked up for a moment to see what he wanted.
"hmm?"
"would you like a coffee?"
"no, I'll take a tea though"
"alright' I'll be right back." huh, well I was wanting a drink so that was fine. why did it sound like he was asking me out though?
whatever.
/\/\
a couple of days later I was getting packed up to head back to the states, John's daughter was in the final month of her pregnancy and I want to run some more tests for an idea I had. I had called John to let him know I was done yesterday. I also wanted to check on the little lion that we were supposed to be watching for me. I had a feeling that John might have taken it and we took advantage to do some work on his unicorn project, and if he did I'd wait to tell him that he was supposed to be watching his answer.
the key to his little project was to use multiple strands to make the horn. genetic variance was a thing after all.
An hour later I was on the plane to California. I settled in for the 35-hour trip wishing I was a vehicular tinker for a moment before I got an idea for a techno-organic ship. I shook my head before I got the urge to write the thought down, bio-tinker was a bit of a misnomer for organic specialties, sure Blasto and Bone-saw could work or grow purely organic tools and machines but they still needed a bit of nonliving things somewhere in the beginning.
I could make or get ideas for what was in essence organic modification. if it lived I could remake or change it. which was incredibly diverse, if you think about it.
as the plane starts to gain speed down the runway I decided to take a nap.
/\/\
I called John after I got through customs to let him know I was stateside, an hour drive later I was walking into the manor into a flying pounce by the little lion I left. "hello to you too." that was another quirk of my power, everything I made had a puppy like love for me that was almost annoying. I say almost cause I'm being cuddled by a really big kitten, and I love cuddles after long flights.
as I held the chihuahua-sized baby lion. I looked around for John or Ben." let's go find the old guys, eh?" I walked toward Lockwood's office as I scratched behind the cub's ear absently.
/\/\
15 minutes after I talked with Hammond and Lockwood, I was walking into my lab. I needed to start on the incubator. the sooner I had it done, the faster I could begin research into a project I had thought of.
I passed my printer on way to the computer. I stopped to check if anything of import like a report or test results were in the tray, things like that needed to be filed properly after all.
as I grabbed the sheaf of papers, the one on top caught my eye. if only for the words on it.
"MATCH FOUND"