Post by Soul Hollow on Jan 12, 2011 20:35:48 GMT -5
((OOC: Okay, I admit it, I live off of fanfic, which is why I like rpging so much. So, yes, another fanfic by yours truly. FYI, I have a Fanfiction.net account under the name Cassidy the Water Sage, though none of the stories I will tell here are on my account yet...))
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters. If I did, Envy would not have died in either stories, and there would be a little pink haired girl following Marco around saying Polo every time someone said his name. I also was inspired by The Maine Coon Cat with the story In A Crumbling World. This story is based off the same idea.
Summary: A hundred and twenty-four years after Ed and Al’s closing of the Gate, their descendants Nicholas King and Andrew Grayson attempted to once again do the ultimate alchemy taboo—creating a human being. A super human that could change the very fate of Earth and all its inhabitants. A being that possessed superior strength, skill, talent, speed, health. Funded by the US government, the two young men and a band of hand-picked scientists create an awe-inspiring discovery, and the world witnesses the birth of the super-human. A creature that will soon bear the entire fate of the world on his shoulders . . .
But behind the curtains of success dwells a sinister plot of death, destruction, and the reopening of the Gate. The very thing that Nick and Andy worked so hard to create is discovered to have the power to either destroy the world or save it. And it certainly doesn’t make things better when that very being just happens to be Earth’s parallel to another force, the Homunculus Envy . . .
________________________________________
The Alchemist’s Son
***Chapter 1: Coma***
Nicholas King had a nervous habit of chewing his nails when he was frustrated or impatient. Gnawing on his virtually, non-existent nails, Nick read the latest report of the condition of the project.
Always the same, he thought, biting on his forefinger intently. ‘Status has not changed. Remains inactive.’ Blah, blah, blah. He’s got have done something in the past twenty-four hours at least. But, of course, with technology today, hardly was there a blunder made by a machine.
Sighing in frustration, Nick slapped the paper down and stretched in his chair, reaching his arms out into space as he released the growing tension that was building up in him in the last few days.
His fifth cousin, Andrew Grayson, though he preferred to be called Andy, walked into the small, stuff office, carrying a tray containing two mugs of steaming tea. “Stretching doesn’t make you taller, ya know,” Andy stated, pausing besides Nick before the latter harmlessly swung out his fist at the former. Andy merely took a step back, though it wouldn’t have mattered either way. Sitting up, Nick glared at Andy, a look of lethal demise glowering in his eyes. “I do know where you sleep, ya know?”
Andy grinned mischievously. “Yes, you do. But you also lack the guts to do anything.”
Nick began to twirl a lock of thick blonde hair with a finger. “You are an expendable resource.”
“You can be charged with murder,” Andy pointed out. Nick snuffed, but beaming, he stood and bumped fists with his cousin.
“You’re always an interest to talk to, bro,” Nick laughed, patting the younger man’s shoulder. Andy just grinned in return before holding out the tray. “Tea? It’s warm.”
“I could do for more iced tea than hot tea.” Andy watched Nick sit back down, staring dully at some paperwork that needed to be read and signed.
Since early childhood, Andy and Nick had been the best of friends. Sure, they didn’t agree a lot, and most of the time they got into fights, but they stuck together like glue, through and through the messiness of life and its downfalls. Both appeared similar in features, possessing the golden amber eyes and light hair color, many who would meet them would think without a doubt they were brothers. In many ways that was true. So often Nick and Andy thought of each other as siblings more than cousins or distant relatives. They had done everything together, from kindergarten to high school and even through college, the two were inseparable.
Nick waved the report he had been looking at before Andy’s arrival. “Know what this is?” he asked him.
Andy arched an eyebrow while eyeing the paper curiously. “What?”
Nick pulled the paper back and skimmed the lettering on the page. “Status of our boy.”
“How’s he doing?”
Nick waved the page around carelessly, leaning back in his chair as he responded, “Same old, same old. His condition hasn’t altered one bit since that little movement he did last week.”
Andy remembered that. “Oh yeah. Man, that gave the doc one heck of a scare.”
“All for a little twitch on his finger.” Nick waved one pointer finger to demonstrate the movement. Andy grasped Nick’s hand to stop him. “You know the doc is just worried that he’ll die like all the others.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t guilt me.” Nick ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m just tired of waiting for him to wake up. The sooner, the better, that’s my opinion.”
“Well, Mother Nature has her own opinion,” Andy said. “And I think hers beats yours by a thousand points over.”
Nick chuckled. “What we are trying to create is far from natural.”
Andy frowned. “Just think if Great-aunt Wilma heard what we were doing.”
Nick agreed. “She’d flip.”
Taking one of the mugs from the tray, Andy cradled it in his palm before sipping from it with the edge of his lips. The warm liquid ran down his throat gently, and Andy found himself lost once more to the infinite flow of thoughts. Nick had to stretch his arm out and snap his fingers twice before Andy returned to reality, jerking with a startle before shaking his head out of the confusion. “Oh, sorry. Lost myself again.”
“You really need to stop doing that.”
“I can’t help it. Great-great Granddad’s stories just keeping flooding into my mind.”
“They’re just that, though. Stories a couple of old geezers made to pass the time.”
“But they actually believed in it.”
“They were also around a hundred years old.”
“But even before that, they believed.”
Nick didn’t argue with his distant cousin anymore. Just like all descendants of Elrics, Nick and Andy had grown up hearing the wonderful tales of their ancestors Edward and Alphonse Elric and their adventures in the alchemic world of Amestris. But as Nick got older, like all other family members did, he began to disregard the tales as nothing more than stories, invented to teach children life lessons and share a laugh or two. But Andy had remained faithful, often fantasizing about what the world of Amestris was like today. He would dream of himself being a State Alchemist like Edward, helping the civilians and protecting his country from evil creatures and sinister beings. That’s why Andy had thrown himself so full-heartedly into the project that was before them, while his cousin had a more self-centered reason, powered by the overbearing desire to discover and learn.
Andy, still holding the mug, picked up the tray with the remaining cup and turned to leave. “Well, anyway, I’m going to see in person how our subject is doing. Care to join me?”
Nick grinned, getting up once more from his chair and departing with his cousin out of the stuffy office. “Anything to get me away from paperwork.”
Together, the two navigated their way through the maze of a laboratory facility, finally managing to slip into one of the larger rooms hosted by the laboratory. The room was circular, with a single wide, cylinder shaped tube reaching from the ceiling to the floor set in the center of the room. Computer screens and projected holograms of diagrams and on-rushing data littered the walls from top to bottom, tinting the room in a slight greenish hue.
It was only when the two young men entered the room did they notice the tall, wide-shoulder build form of an older man, with long blonde hair and small wired-frame glasses currently plucked off his nose and held to one side as the man stared into the cylinder.
Nick, not wanting to be rude, cleared his throat softly. The man turned, taking notice of him and Andy for the first time. He smiled kindly at them, a genuine kind of expression that was rarely expressed on the staff unless given a great stir of excitement. “Ah, Nicholas, Andrew. Come here. Take a look at our work.”
Nick and Andy concurred, and together the three blonde haired men stared at the see-through glass with a mixed sense of awe, fascination, and excitement. Finally, the man spoke, his soft, low voice rumbling from deep within his throat. “Isn’t he magnificent?”
Both young men nodded, not daring to break the peaceful serenity. Floating inside the amber colored liquid was the fruit of their labor and years of dreaming and planning. An artificial human. A humanoid, number 3-0045.6, or more fondly called by the staff, “Darwin.”
This being was the entire reason why the United States had poured its resources, its scientists, and its money into. The creation of a super human, a being capable of functioning like a human and capable of much, much more. Superior strength and intelligence it would possess, and wisdom beyond human understanding, this was the next step up the evolutionary level. That’s why it—no, he, was given the name Darwin. He was the next step on the evolutionary ladder for mankind. First ape, then man, then superman.
“It’s a shame, though, Dr. Harland,” Andy grieved, sensing the doctor’s slight disappointment, “that the other researchers had to change his physical appearance.”
“Outer appearances matters not in the world of science,” Harland dismissed with a wave, though neither young men could miss the dismay in his tone. “It was done in the name of science, so it must be.”
“He looked a lot like Sirius,” Nick stated kindly, trying to cheer the good doctor. Harland merely smiled and waved his hand again. “He certainly did. Looked just like him. Down to the smallest strand of hair.”
Sirius was Dr. Harland’s deceased son. Though he never stated how, Harland often hinted that his son went down fighting, though against what he never shared. “He was a brave boy,” Harland had said once. “He stared Death in the face and spat it in the eye.” Because of the due complexity of the experiment, the good doctor had offered to use his son’s DNA as the base for the structure of the artificial human. However, the muscular blond had created some controversy amongst the scientists, until they came to a vote to splice some cells to recreate Darwin’s physical appearance during the early stages of development. So instead of the rugged, fine-toned, blonde haired young man Sirius was, Darwin was lean, androgynous, with long, smooth, midnight black hair and pale skin, fine-trimmed muscles hidden under the slender appearance.
Nick felt a deep edge of pity swell in his stomach. Dr. Harland seemed like such a gentle, hard-working man. It pained him and his cousin to see their superior, their colleague, in such pain. But Dr. Harland had endured, saying Darwin was the ship that carried all of their dreams of success, including his. Though neither young man knew what he quite meant by that, they hoped and prayed it worked.
Dr. Harland turned away from the cylinder, slowly approaching the door and exiting the room. “Mind keeping an eye on him while I’m gone?” he asked before departing.
“Sure,” both Nick and Andy said in unison. Dr. Harland then took his leave, and the two young men were left in the room with Darwin. Nick turned to face Darwin, and, gently stroking the glass with his fingers, he whispered, “It’s all up to you now, kiddo. You’re a ray of hope.”
Nick’s thoughts were interrupted by the rapid clicking of heels. The door to the circular room slide open, and in walked an unusually dressed scientist, wearing only a sweater, jeans, high heels, and a lab coat. Her short-cut, honey brown hair stuck out in many different directions, and her pale lips were set in a stern frown. “We’ve got some trouble down in Lab 6,” she said, holding up a clipboard. “Any clue where Dr. Harland might be?”
“He just left, Dr. Williams,” Andy stated.
“Do you know where he was going?”
“Haven’t the foggiest.”
Dr. Williams sighed, ruffling her already messed-up hair and groaned loudly. “Great. Just when you need that lazy oaf, he runs off and disappears.” Dr. Williams didn’t mean that, though. She knew how proactive Dr. Harland was; she just loved to tease people.
“Maybe he’s down in Lab 12. You know he likes to be on tabs with everyone’s activities.”
Dr. Williams nodded. “Right. Yeah, good call.” She turned, exiting the room quickly, the echoing of her clicking heels fading gradually.
Nick scratched his head. “Wonder what that was about?”
Andy shrugged. “Who knows? With Dr. Williams, you can never tell what goes through that woman’s head.”
Nick chuckled loudly. “Ha ha, good one, bro.”
The room grew quiet as both men got to work, traveling to the far edges of the room to examine the data of Darwin’s progress flying across the screens. Andy turned from one screen to another, occasionally touch-screening when he heard a small noise. He paused. He listened.
Beep-Beep.
That was the heart monitor. Turning to where that screen was, Andy noticed the waves were gradually intensifying.
Beep-beep.
Andy may not have been a heart expert, but he knew in a coma, the heart rate monitor beeped in a rhythmic, one tone beat.
Beep-beep.
The conscious person’s heart didn’t. It beeped twice.
Beep-beep.
“Uh, Nick,” Andy began uncertainly, not sure what was truly going on. He turned to look at his cousin, who stood on the other side of the room.
Beep-beep.
Nick turned, hearing Andy call him. When he looked directly at Andy’s golden eyes, he realized they were wide with uncertainty.
That’s when they saw Darwin move.
It was a quick movement. Just a twitch. Both men look at each other with alarm. What was going on? Was Darwin waking from his coma? This thought was confirmed even further when Darwin jerked, as if he was forcing himself out of sleep mode.
Nick’s fingers flew, clicking rapidly on buttons and touch screens. Andy did the same, though at a much slower pace as he kept looking back at Darwin. Darwin jerked again, this time much more violently.
The heart monitor starting going crazy. The beeping became irregular, and red lights began to flash in the lab. Andy began to panic.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, he thought desperately, fearing for the worst. The experiment was dying. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, though. There had been a total of three hundred cells, half of the colony dying in a matter of days before any real development occurred. Later, a third of the embryos deteriorated. Soon, one by one the humanoids had died off until only Darwin was left. Now it looked like he was going to join his brothers in the grave. More shaking, violent jerks continued, and the heart rate monitor blasted a frenzy of beeps.
“He’s dying!” Andy screamed, panicked. Nick grinded his teeth stubbornly. “Calm down! We can do this!”
Nick clicked one more key before the fluid was drained out of the tube, leaving only a shaking, naked form of a teenage male inside. Nick and Andy rushed over to the glass, typing in the code to lift the glass up. Darwin gave one more jerk before he was still, not even his chest rising and falling.
Andy’s mouth dropped open. No . . . No, this couldn’t happen. It was too quick . . . too sudden. A sudden feeling of despair and failure filled his heart. Dr. Harland, all his work, it was now died. Cold and lifeless.
Nick bared his teeth angrily, hating himself for not reacting faster. He felt the burden of not being able to save Darwin from this fate, but before he could admit defeat, he ground his teeth and said aloud, “No . . .”
Andy looked up, almost at the verge of tears. “Huh?” he said.
Nick completed the code, causing the glass to rise, now exposing Darwin to the outside. “I won’t let you die,” Nick repeated, reaching in and grabbing hold of one of Darwin’s slender shoulders.
Andy just squatted there, looking like a fool with his eyes as wide as dinner plates and his mouth left agape. “What are you talking about?” he asked, desperate to understand what Nick was talking about. But Nick didn’t answer. He pulled Darwin completely out of the cylinder and settled him down on the cold floor. He leaned over his motionless chest, listening closely for a heart beat. At first nothing. But as Nick debating over doing CPR, Darwin’s pale chest slowly rose. It was like his first movement, small and slight, hardly noticeable. But then, gradually, the chest falls and rises increased and became more perceptible, traveling up and down as oxygen was taken into the lungs and carbon dioxide was forced out.
Nick saw this and, laughing in spite of himself, smiled at Andy. Andy could only watch in awe as a new life took shape, breathing slowly and peacefully, as if none of this chaos has ever happened.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Nick cooed, staring at Darwin with a growing sense of pride in his chest. “You’re definitely like Sirius. Looked Death right in the face and spat it in the eye.”
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters. If I did, Envy would not have died in either stories, and there would be a little pink haired girl following Marco around saying Polo every time someone said his name. I also was inspired by The Maine Coon Cat with the story In A Crumbling World. This story is based off the same idea.
Summary: A hundred and twenty-four years after Ed and Al’s closing of the Gate, their descendants Nicholas King and Andrew Grayson attempted to once again do the ultimate alchemy taboo—creating a human being. A super human that could change the very fate of Earth and all its inhabitants. A being that possessed superior strength, skill, talent, speed, health. Funded by the US government, the two young men and a band of hand-picked scientists create an awe-inspiring discovery, and the world witnesses the birth of the super-human. A creature that will soon bear the entire fate of the world on his shoulders . . .
But behind the curtains of success dwells a sinister plot of death, destruction, and the reopening of the Gate. The very thing that Nick and Andy worked so hard to create is discovered to have the power to either destroy the world or save it. And it certainly doesn’t make things better when that very being just happens to be Earth’s parallel to another force, the Homunculus Envy . . .
________________________________________
The Alchemist’s Son
***Chapter 1: Coma***
Nicholas King had a nervous habit of chewing his nails when he was frustrated or impatient. Gnawing on his virtually, non-existent nails, Nick read the latest report of the condition of the project.
Always the same, he thought, biting on his forefinger intently. ‘Status has not changed. Remains inactive.’ Blah, blah, blah. He’s got have done something in the past twenty-four hours at least. But, of course, with technology today, hardly was there a blunder made by a machine.
Sighing in frustration, Nick slapped the paper down and stretched in his chair, reaching his arms out into space as he released the growing tension that was building up in him in the last few days.
His fifth cousin, Andrew Grayson, though he preferred to be called Andy, walked into the small, stuff office, carrying a tray containing two mugs of steaming tea. “Stretching doesn’t make you taller, ya know,” Andy stated, pausing besides Nick before the latter harmlessly swung out his fist at the former. Andy merely took a step back, though it wouldn’t have mattered either way. Sitting up, Nick glared at Andy, a look of lethal demise glowering in his eyes. “I do know where you sleep, ya know?”
Andy grinned mischievously. “Yes, you do. But you also lack the guts to do anything.”
Nick began to twirl a lock of thick blonde hair with a finger. “You are an expendable resource.”
“You can be charged with murder,” Andy pointed out. Nick snuffed, but beaming, he stood and bumped fists with his cousin.
“You’re always an interest to talk to, bro,” Nick laughed, patting the younger man’s shoulder. Andy just grinned in return before holding out the tray. “Tea? It’s warm.”
“I could do for more iced tea than hot tea.” Andy watched Nick sit back down, staring dully at some paperwork that needed to be read and signed.
Since early childhood, Andy and Nick had been the best of friends. Sure, they didn’t agree a lot, and most of the time they got into fights, but they stuck together like glue, through and through the messiness of life and its downfalls. Both appeared similar in features, possessing the golden amber eyes and light hair color, many who would meet them would think without a doubt they were brothers. In many ways that was true. So often Nick and Andy thought of each other as siblings more than cousins or distant relatives. They had done everything together, from kindergarten to high school and even through college, the two were inseparable.
Nick waved the report he had been looking at before Andy’s arrival. “Know what this is?” he asked him.
Andy arched an eyebrow while eyeing the paper curiously. “What?”
Nick pulled the paper back and skimmed the lettering on the page. “Status of our boy.”
“How’s he doing?”
Nick waved the page around carelessly, leaning back in his chair as he responded, “Same old, same old. His condition hasn’t altered one bit since that little movement he did last week.”
Andy remembered that. “Oh yeah. Man, that gave the doc one heck of a scare.”
“All for a little twitch on his finger.” Nick waved one pointer finger to demonstrate the movement. Andy grasped Nick’s hand to stop him. “You know the doc is just worried that he’ll die like all the others.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t guilt me.” Nick ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m just tired of waiting for him to wake up. The sooner, the better, that’s my opinion.”
“Well, Mother Nature has her own opinion,” Andy said. “And I think hers beats yours by a thousand points over.”
Nick chuckled. “What we are trying to create is far from natural.”
Andy frowned. “Just think if Great-aunt Wilma heard what we were doing.”
Nick agreed. “She’d flip.”
Taking one of the mugs from the tray, Andy cradled it in his palm before sipping from it with the edge of his lips. The warm liquid ran down his throat gently, and Andy found himself lost once more to the infinite flow of thoughts. Nick had to stretch his arm out and snap his fingers twice before Andy returned to reality, jerking with a startle before shaking his head out of the confusion. “Oh, sorry. Lost myself again.”
“You really need to stop doing that.”
“I can’t help it. Great-great Granddad’s stories just keeping flooding into my mind.”
“They’re just that, though. Stories a couple of old geezers made to pass the time.”
“But they actually believed in it.”
“They were also around a hundred years old.”
“But even before that, they believed.”
Nick didn’t argue with his distant cousin anymore. Just like all descendants of Elrics, Nick and Andy had grown up hearing the wonderful tales of their ancestors Edward and Alphonse Elric and their adventures in the alchemic world of Amestris. But as Nick got older, like all other family members did, he began to disregard the tales as nothing more than stories, invented to teach children life lessons and share a laugh or two. But Andy had remained faithful, often fantasizing about what the world of Amestris was like today. He would dream of himself being a State Alchemist like Edward, helping the civilians and protecting his country from evil creatures and sinister beings. That’s why Andy had thrown himself so full-heartedly into the project that was before them, while his cousin had a more self-centered reason, powered by the overbearing desire to discover and learn.
Andy, still holding the mug, picked up the tray with the remaining cup and turned to leave. “Well, anyway, I’m going to see in person how our subject is doing. Care to join me?”
Nick grinned, getting up once more from his chair and departing with his cousin out of the stuffy office. “Anything to get me away from paperwork.”
Together, the two navigated their way through the maze of a laboratory facility, finally managing to slip into one of the larger rooms hosted by the laboratory. The room was circular, with a single wide, cylinder shaped tube reaching from the ceiling to the floor set in the center of the room. Computer screens and projected holograms of diagrams and on-rushing data littered the walls from top to bottom, tinting the room in a slight greenish hue.
It was only when the two young men entered the room did they notice the tall, wide-shoulder build form of an older man, with long blonde hair and small wired-frame glasses currently plucked off his nose and held to one side as the man stared into the cylinder.
Nick, not wanting to be rude, cleared his throat softly. The man turned, taking notice of him and Andy for the first time. He smiled kindly at them, a genuine kind of expression that was rarely expressed on the staff unless given a great stir of excitement. “Ah, Nicholas, Andrew. Come here. Take a look at our work.”
Nick and Andy concurred, and together the three blonde haired men stared at the see-through glass with a mixed sense of awe, fascination, and excitement. Finally, the man spoke, his soft, low voice rumbling from deep within his throat. “Isn’t he magnificent?”
Both young men nodded, not daring to break the peaceful serenity. Floating inside the amber colored liquid was the fruit of their labor and years of dreaming and planning. An artificial human. A humanoid, number 3-0045.6, or more fondly called by the staff, “Darwin.”
This being was the entire reason why the United States had poured its resources, its scientists, and its money into. The creation of a super human, a being capable of functioning like a human and capable of much, much more. Superior strength and intelligence it would possess, and wisdom beyond human understanding, this was the next step up the evolutionary level. That’s why it—no, he, was given the name Darwin. He was the next step on the evolutionary ladder for mankind. First ape, then man, then superman.
“It’s a shame, though, Dr. Harland,” Andy grieved, sensing the doctor’s slight disappointment, “that the other researchers had to change his physical appearance.”
“Outer appearances matters not in the world of science,” Harland dismissed with a wave, though neither young men could miss the dismay in his tone. “It was done in the name of science, so it must be.”
“He looked a lot like Sirius,” Nick stated kindly, trying to cheer the good doctor. Harland merely smiled and waved his hand again. “He certainly did. Looked just like him. Down to the smallest strand of hair.”
Sirius was Dr. Harland’s deceased son. Though he never stated how, Harland often hinted that his son went down fighting, though against what he never shared. “He was a brave boy,” Harland had said once. “He stared Death in the face and spat it in the eye.” Because of the due complexity of the experiment, the good doctor had offered to use his son’s DNA as the base for the structure of the artificial human. However, the muscular blond had created some controversy amongst the scientists, until they came to a vote to splice some cells to recreate Darwin’s physical appearance during the early stages of development. So instead of the rugged, fine-toned, blonde haired young man Sirius was, Darwin was lean, androgynous, with long, smooth, midnight black hair and pale skin, fine-trimmed muscles hidden under the slender appearance.
Nick felt a deep edge of pity swell in his stomach. Dr. Harland seemed like such a gentle, hard-working man. It pained him and his cousin to see their superior, their colleague, in such pain. But Dr. Harland had endured, saying Darwin was the ship that carried all of their dreams of success, including his. Though neither young man knew what he quite meant by that, they hoped and prayed it worked.
Dr. Harland turned away from the cylinder, slowly approaching the door and exiting the room. “Mind keeping an eye on him while I’m gone?” he asked before departing.
“Sure,” both Nick and Andy said in unison. Dr. Harland then took his leave, and the two young men were left in the room with Darwin. Nick turned to face Darwin, and, gently stroking the glass with his fingers, he whispered, “It’s all up to you now, kiddo. You’re a ray of hope.”
Nick’s thoughts were interrupted by the rapid clicking of heels. The door to the circular room slide open, and in walked an unusually dressed scientist, wearing only a sweater, jeans, high heels, and a lab coat. Her short-cut, honey brown hair stuck out in many different directions, and her pale lips were set in a stern frown. “We’ve got some trouble down in Lab 6,” she said, holding up a clipboard. “Any clue where Dr. Harland might be?”
“He just left, Dr. Williams,” Andy stated.
“Do you know where he was going?”
“Haven’t the foggiest.”
Dr. Williams sighed, ruffling her already messed-up hair and groaned loudly. “Great. Just when you need that lazy oaf, he runs off and disappears.” Dr. Williams didn’t mean that, though. She knew how proactive Dr. Harland was; she just loved to tease people.
“Maybe he’s down in Lab 12. You know he likes to be on tabs with everyone’s activities.”
Dr. Williams nodded. “Right. Yeah, good call.” She turned, exiting the room quickly, the echoing of her clicking heels fading gradually.
Nick scratched his head. “Wonder what that was about?”
Andy shrugged. “Who knows? With Dr. Williams, you can never tell what goes through that woman’s head.”
Nick chuckled loudly. “Ha ha, good one, bro.”
The room grew quiet as both men got to work, traveling to the far edges of the room to examine the data of Darwin’s progress flying across the screens. Andy turned from one screen to another, occasionally touch-screening when he heard a small noise. He paused. He listened.
Beep-Beep.
That was the heart monitor. Turning to where that screen was, Andy noticed the waves were gradually intensifying.
Beep-beep.
Andy may not have been a heart expert, but he knew in a coma, the heart rate monitor beeped in a rhythmic, one tone beat.
Beep-beep.
The conscious person’s heart didn’t. It beeped twice.
Beep-beep.
“Uh, Nick,” Andy began uncertainly, not sure what was truly going on. He turned to look at his cousin, who stood on the other side of the room.
Beep-beep.
Nick turned, hearing Andy call him. When he looked directly at Andy’s golden eyes, he realized they were wide with uncertainty.
That’s when they saw Darwin move.
It was a quick movement. Just a twitch. Both men look at each other with alarm. What was going on? Was Darwin waking from his coma? This thought was confirmed even further when Darwin jerked, as if he was forcing himself out of sleep mode.
Nick’s fingers flew, clicking rapidly on buttons and touch screens. Andy did the same, though at a much slower pace as he kept looking back at Darwin. Darwin jerked again, this time much more violently.
The heart monitor starting going crazy. The beeping became irregular, and red lights began to flash in the lab. Andy began to panic.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, he thought desperately, fearing for the worst. The experiment was dying. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, though. There had been a total of three hundred cells, half of the colony dying in a matter of days before any real development occurred. Later, a third of the embryos deteriorated. Soon, one by one the humanoids had died off until only Darwin was left. Now it looked like he was going to join his brothers in the grave. More shaking, violent jerks continued, and the heart rate monitor blasted a frenzy of beeps.
“He’s dying!” Andy screamed, panicked. Nick grinded his teeth stubbornly. “Calm down! We can do this!”
Nick clicked one more key before the fluid was drained out of the tube, leaving only a shaking, naked form of a teenage male inside. Nick and Andy rushed over to the glass, typing in the code to lift the glass up. Darwin gave one more jerk before he was still, not even his chest rising and falling.
Andy’s mouth dropped open. No . . . No, this couldn’t happen. It was too quick . . . too sudden. A sudden feeling of despair and failure filled his heart. Dr. Harland, all his work, it was now died. Cold and lifeless.
Nick bared his teeth angrily, hating himself for not reacting faster. He felt the burden of not being able to save Darwin from this fate, but before he could admit defeat, he ground his teeth and said aloud, “No . . .”
Andy looked up, almost at the verge of tears. “Huh?” he said.
Nick completed the code, causing the glass to rise, now exposing Darwin to the outside. “I won’t let you die,” Nick repeated, reaching in and grabbing hold of one of Darwin’s slender shoulders.
Andy just squatted there, looking like a fool with his eyes as wide as dinner plates and his mouth left agape. “What are you talking about?” he asked, desperate to understand what Nick was talking about. But Nick didn’t answer. He pulled Darwin completely out of the cylinder and settled him down on the cold floor. He leaned over his motionless chest, listening closely for a heart beat. At first nothing. But as Nick debating over doing CPR, Darwin’s pale chest slowly rose. It was like his first movement, small and slight, hardly noticeable. But then, gradually, the chest falls and rises increased and became more perceptible, traveling up and down as oxygen was taken into the lungs and carbon dioxide was forced out.
Nick saw this and, laughing in spite of himself, smiled at Andy. Andy could only watch in awe as a new life took shape, breathing slowly and peacefully, as if none of this chaos has ever happened.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Nick cooed, staring at Darwin with a growing sense of pride in his chest. “You’re definitely like Sirius. Looked Death right in the face and spat it in the eye.”
