Malodon, the god of
Transformation was the Great Transformer of things. It was Malodon's skilled hands
that had transformed the primitive Solarian races into the highly evolved Gens
that populated Atlan today. The challenge to harness the Light Serpent energy
into an intelligent power of which they could control had so far eluded
him, it was ironic that here they were, so desperate as to once again look back
towards Lemuria and its magic crystals. This time the research and development had to reach beyond the walls of a sterile laboratory environment. Like the garden
the herbs came from, Malodon found himself standing in the dirt.
"Do you think it will work?" Torus wondered out
loud as he ground a lump of Lemurian crystal against the stone grinder in the
Engine Chamber, a classroom in the day which doubled as Torus's lair at night.
"I have no idea..." Malodon admitted, hovering
over the process. He reached in to the petri dish below the grinding wheel,
pinched a sample and held it up to the light, letting the fine crystals fall,
studying their spiralling nature in the light, the shimmering image they generated. "There's something different about the Lemurian
crystal... It doesn't just have electrical properties, it has a certain life to it's electrical properties... This is some sort of Bio-Electricity..."
The labs of the Atlan Empire were so extensive that they
were divided in ways that their true purpose remained unknown, no one knew everything that was
happening below the surface of the Atlan Empire, but everyone who was anyone,
was sure they knew it all. Armed with a vial of freshly ground Lemurian crystal
dust in hand, Malodon made his way to the Moha Lab, only a short walk from the
university chambers.
"Doctor Seton is in Lab
Six" the receptionist pointed down the hall towards the Fetal Wing.
Malodon scanned the halls on his way to Lab Six, it had been
a while since his last visit. Seton was right, the Lab was due for some updates
and renovations.
Lab Six was the Artificial Womb laboratory, designed to
replace much of the pain and suffering associated with the archaic and
primitive breeding methods their gens had once been enslaved by; the biggest waste of energy in the empire. Rows and rows
of incubators and fertilization tanks filled the room with a warm and steady
hum. The sound of a heartbeat, amplified from a recording device throbbed
throughout the room to the point of vibration, these mechanical wombs could be used again and again, they cost mere pennies to run, they had limitless potential, unlike the womb of a gen.
Humid and noisy, it wasn't a
comfortable lab to work in. Malodon found Doctor Seton busy working beside one of the wombs, a
large cylindrical tank plumbed and wired into a heavy machine that looked like
it was from the Steam Punk era. Inside a fetus was growing, suspended in a
slightly chartreuse liquid, apparently awake. Beside each fertilization tank
lay an unconscious gen, a biological host woven into the procedure with
surgical tubes and electrical wires, an unpleasant sight, hence the
Underworld setting.
"Your timing is excellent!" Seton stood to greet
him. "I was just preparing some of the new solution to show you!" He
eyed the vial. "What have we here?"
Malodon handed him the vial of
crystal dust. Curious, Seton lifted the vial to the light, noting the sparkling
shimmer. "Adon!" He waved his assistant over, he knew exactly what it was. "Get us some
fresh tablets!"
Even though Malodon wasn't a frequent visitor of the Moha
Lab, the brothers worked closely together and as a rule, witnessed each others'
experiments whenever they had even the simplest results to share. Malodon picked
up the dried mushroom jar, smelling the contents, wincing. "I thought we
could try injecting the crystal directly inside the skull... Just like you're doing with the mushroom spores."
"Implant crystal inside
the skull..." Seton could almost feel an energy from the vial as the
idea took root. "I think it's a brilliant idea! Yes!" He
rose from his seat. "Definitely worth a shot!" Inspired, he
picked out a new vial, poured in some saline serum and added a micro-spoon of
the crystal dust.
"It's a bit coarse…" Malodon offered. "We may
have to experiment with different grinders."
"Yesss…" Feeling the rush of raw experimentation,
Doctor Seton filled a long syringe with the crystal solution and injected it
into the IV tube that fed the fetal gen. "The needle acts as a filter,
anything too chunky will get screened."
The fetus hardly reacted as the solution reached his blood
flow, his tiny clenched fists reached for his eyes, it seemed to have a sleepy
effect on him if anything.
Malodon shook his head as he watched the fetus calming, when
the sound of loud voices and wafts of frankincense interrupted their
observations, announcing the king's arrival.
Atalon entered the lab
clutching his new Crystal Skull, accompanied by Halios and Hedena.
Malodon and
Seton stood to greet the king at once. "Your Honor!"
Atalon handed Seton the crystal skull. "I need you to
begin formatting them immediately."
Seton took the skull, lost for a moment. "Format them?"
"It's best to start formatting the examples from the
fetal stage" Hedena advised.
Malodon eyed her carefully, the theories were evolving
rapidly. "Formatting? In what
way?"
"Hedena thinks that the diamond thing in the Book of Life image represents the source of the electrical thoughts. I
agree, it makes complete sense." Atalon had obviously bought it. "If
that diamond thing is an energy transfer device, then we can target it, program
it. It would explain why the Lunies believe all of those ridiculous stories, why
they worship the Golden Egg. It's not an egg, it's that diamond thing, they
just used the symbolism of an egg. A serpent hatches from an egg. Get it?"
"No" Seton wasn't getting it. "It doesn't
explain the diamond at all, if that theory was true then it would be an egg,
not a diamond!"
Every morning the citizens of the Atlan Empire went to the
temple to worship their great Creator god Medel. And it was in the cafeteria of
the Temple of Medel where the graduating students would find their final
results of the Pageant on their last day at Culloom.
Zara scanned the list until she found her name and let out a
huge sigh of relief. She hadn't been selected for the Golden Goddess program,
but had been lucky enough to avoid a fateful future as a Farmer or Breeder. Her
pageant scores were low, but her exam scores were high enough to land her a
spot in the Megalith Program, one of the most prestigious architectural
programs in Fina U, it basically guaranteed her an exciting career in the heart
of the Atlan Empire.
Feeling full of joy, she sang her morning hymns for the
last time with tears in her eyes, filled with gratitude for her blessed fortune. She
glanced around the great hall as she sang, her voice competing with a lump now
forming in her throat, it felt so strange to be leaving the only place she
knew as home... A place she was basically guaranteed never to return to...
After the service, the graduating class said their goodbyes
and followed the prefect down the hall to the Administration office. None of
the students had been beyond the stone walls of Culloom, they had longed to
discover the secret exit off the Island, not once had they entertained the idea
that it was through the Administration office, down a back room stairwell that
opened up into a giant tunnel that lay beneath the Temple of Medel.
But there it was. The prefect led the students through the
underground passage. The passage divided and from one they could smell the ocean breeze, welcoming them. As they walked towards
the light at the end of the tunnel, the trail opened up into a small, quaint harbor.
A mighty
ship was already awaiting their arrival, a real ship, something the graduates had only ever
seen pictures of before. The students were buzzing with excitement as they
boarded the vessel, giddy with awe and wonder at the immense scale of the world
awaiting them. This was by far
the most exciting day of their lives, even for those for whom it would be the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment