“Her Royal Highness, the Lady Dawann-dracon.” The voice of the Minister of Science for Shurrr and Moozrab, the Alpha Nu-dracon, boomed throughout the hall.
Dawann acknowledged the introduction with a graceful bow. The sea of Mem-rax employees, as well as Fey, Mem, and their child, bowed back.
“How do you do?” Dawann gaily greeted them. She looked beyond Fey and her family and studied the staff of Mem-rax Labs. Most wore shiny laboratory garments that covered their torsos. She looked down at her own form, naked except for an intricate necklace made of multiple strands of gold beads and rare, black, Shurrrian coral. Unexpectedly, she felt strange and exposed, as if her nakedness should cause shame.
A human trait, Dawann realized. In public, Dawn had covered her body.
The Alpha Nu introduced the Keeper. Glancing up, Dawann forced herself to concentrate on the employees again. Additional bowing and groveling. And more awestruck expressions. She turned aside, her gaze settling on the features of the child. Although still displaying the usual gawky form of a juvenile saurian, the young one’s face was already quite pretty. Dawann was sure she would be beautiful someday.
“Welcome, Your Royal Highness,” said the child in a squeaky voice. She placed the bouquet in Dawann’s hands.
“Thank you. They’re lovely,” Dawann softly replied as she sniffed the flowers’ sweet fragrance. “And what is your name, my dear?”
“Joolenli. But everyone calls me Jool.”
“Then I will call you Jool, too, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, no, my lady. I am, uh, yes, I don’t mind.”
Dawann nodded, noting the child’s nervousness, her parents’ anxious stares. She felt a desire to put them at ease. “You are lovely, Jool. Now tell me, my dear, what kind of flowers are these? I am not familiar with––”
“They are called fabloo,” the Keeper cut in. “Something recently developed from a wild Shurrrian form by Mem-rax Labs.”
Dawann dropped her gaze and took a deep breath. Roses? she thought. Yes, I remember. Once I knew them as roses.
After bowing low to the Keeper, Mem-rax said, “Fabloo. Why, yes, that is correct, Great One. I did not realize you kept up with our botanical research.”
The Keeper plucked a flower from Dawann’s bouquet and then held it to his nostrils. “Botany interests me greatly,” he said. He looked directly into Mem’s eyes and added, “I’m interested in everything that happens here.”
Dawann noticed that a swift, intense look passed between Mem and Fey. What could it mean? The Keeper seemed oblivious to it, however. For whatever reason, he now concentrated on the flower in his hand.
“My lord Keeper, may I remind you of the time?” asked the Alpha Nu in a polite tone. “We must begin the tour.”
By pre-arrangement, most of the lab workers moved off to other parts of the building, while Tima took Jool back to Fey and Mem’s office.
Dawann followed the Keeper and the others down the long hallway, cacophonous claw clicks echoing off the stone floor. Mem and Fey escorted the party to a laboratory filled with metal tables covered with research equipment.
The Keeper commanded his bodyguards to stay in the corridor and guard the door. Soon, he was engrossed in a conversation with Mem-rax, the Alpha Nu, several other members of the royal court, and a few laboratory technicians.
Unbelievably, Dawann found herself in a corner of the room alone with Fey-dracon.
“Do you have any questions for me, Your Royal Highness?” Fey politely asked as she started to move toward the Keeper and the others, near a table loaded with vials, slides, and microscopes. “Perhaps, you would like to see our prepared slides? We’ve developed a foolproof method to obtain the full genome from the blood of the Keeper. Being an alien, he has some unusual components in his circulatory fluid. For example, his blood oxygen is carried by the blue copper compound hemocyanin. Consequently, when he bleeds, the fluid is a distinctive purplish-blue.”
“Really?” Dawann asked as she continued to inch away from the Keeper, maneuvering Fey toward the furthest corner of the lab. “I’ve never seen my lord bleed.”
Fey droned on, “The Keeper’s blue blood has parallels in our Solar System. Shurrrian mollusks also use hemocyanin. Did you know the Keeper’s blood cells do not possess a full complement of DNA, like ours do?”
“Er, no.”
“Well,” Fey said, “our relatives, like the birds, have the complete genome in their red blood cells. The Keeper is different, however, for only his white cells possess the full complement of DNA. This has another parallel on Shurrr. Mammals lack the genome in their red blood cells, and they have white cells circulating in their bloodstreams with DNA.”
As Fey continued to talk, Dawann gauged their position. The Keeper and the others were now far enough away, while Slaven and the other bodyguards stood in the hallway. She could freely talk to Fey here. Moreover, by staying in this part of the room, there was little chance the Keeper would be able to smell Dawann or Fey’s pheromones.
“Fey,” Dawann interrupted the paleontologist in a low, insistent growl.
Fey-dracon turned, looking self-conscious. “Forgive me for prattling on. I sometimes forget myself. Not everyone is interested in our scientific research––”
“Fey, please,” Dawann said in a rush. “I must speak to you. Tima told me your secrets.”
Fey’s nictating membranes flickered. “Secrets?” she asked as the scent of fear rose off her skin.
“I know about the clone of the unfeathered creature, the one with hair on the top of his head,” Dawann explained. “The one who is an intelligent mammal.” When Fey took in a sharp breath, looking as if she might faint, Dawann forged on, “His DNA was found in an amber fossil from Shurrr. You cloned my predecessors and me, but the Keeper killed the others. Only I survive.”
Breath expelling in a horrified burst, Fey-dracon sputtered, “But – but how did you...?”
“Fey, I don’t want to die like the other clones. Please, I need your help.”
“My help?” Fey-dracon glanced at the Keeper, who was still busy with Mem and some of the others. “I, I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. I don’t know how it is possible, but I have weird memories. You see, I believe I was once like your mammalian clone. I think I looked like him, but I was a female.”
“Dear Goddess!”
“No one else knows about this except Tima. She believes your clone may hold the answer to all my questions. Perhaps, if I could meet him, I’d find out where I belong.”
Fey gave a little hiss.
“Please, Fey, I must know. I must find the answers.”
“Do you realize the dangers?”
“Yes.” Dawann almost nodded, then caught herself. “But I will not be deterred. I do this for my freedom. The Keeper must be stopped.”
There was an immediate change in Fey’s eyes. “What do you mean? Do you wish to join the rebellion?”
“I, er...” Dawann hesitated. “Yes, I suppose I must take a stand.” She made a move to return to the group. “Steady now, Fey,” she said, sounding more confident than she actually felt. “No one must know about this. No one must suspect.”
She watched as Fey-dracon caught Mem’s eye. When she saw his answering look of devotion, Dawann drew strength from his presence, and she guessed he might agree to help her, too.
“My mate must be told,” Fey said.
“Of course.” Dawann breathed a sigh of relief. Had she done it? She hoped so.
Then Dawann-dracon walked forward, taking her place by the Keeper’s side, impatiently waiting for the tour to end, and for her plan to begin.
***
“My Lord Keeper, I will escort you to the cloning lab, where we will retrieve your DNA.” The chief technician of Mem-rax Labs gave a bow, and then indicated the door with a sweep of her hand.
The Keeper looked over at Dawann. “I shall leave you now, my dearest pet. I trust our hosts will find something for you to do,�
�� he said as a mixed group of courtiers and scientists filed out of the room.
Mem bowed to him. “Yes, my lord. We’ll keep the lady occupied this afternoon. We have some outstanding fossils to show her. Some are very pretty.”
“Good. That should amuse her.” The Keeper tilted his head toward Dawann. “I’ll expect to see you at the banquet this evening.”
“Yes, my lord,” she replied. In silence, she watched as the room emptied. Soon, only she, Fey, and Mem remained behind.
“Your Highness, would you like to see our office, or go straight to first lunch?” Mem asked.
“I am not yet hungry,” Dawann said, hoping their office would provide a private space where she could speak to them without fear of being overhead.
“Perhaps a tour of Fey’s discoveries, then?” Mem looked at Fey with affection. “My mate has some extraordinary fossils and geological samples on display here, things she found on her many expeditions to Shurrr and also on her last dig at the Great Rift Canyon.”
“Yes,” Dawann said. “I would especially like to see what she found on Shurrr.”
Fey-dracon’s gaze nervously locked on Dawann’s, but she said nothing as they walked to the office. Mem gave Dawann a description of the blood and tissue-sampling methods the Keeper would undergo that day, assuring her he would suffer no real pain from the procedures.
Soon, Mem halted before a pair of finely carved, wooden doors. “Do come in, Your Royal Highness,” he said as he pushed opened the double doors and stood aside.
Dawann studied the room. Glass display cases occupied the far wall, while a scattering of overstuffed nano-chairs and a receptionist’s desk stood nearby. There was another door behind the desk. She guessed Mem and Fey’s actual offices were located in the room beyond.
Mem looked around at the empty office reception area. “Where’s Vash?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Fey gave Dawann a look that said, Good. We are alone.
Mem turned to his mate. “Do you suppose Jool and Tima are with Vash?” Then he explained to Dawann, “Vash-dracon is our assistant, and she’s usually the first to partake in the noon meal. Perhaps she took Jool and Tima to eat.”
“May I examine your display cases?” Dawann asked.
“Yes, Your Highness, of course you may,” Mem said.
Dawann moved to the first display case. Resting inside was a fossil ammonite, made extraordinary by the creature’s spiral shell, which had been infiltrated with a golden metal.
Pyrite, Dawann thought. The metal is iron pyrite.
But how had she known this? Human Dawn wasn’t a scientist––
Or was she?
Dawann’s heart began thumping in excitement as she stepped to the next display case. It held something quite different from the first case: several small picks, some finely haired brushes, a magnifying glass, a digging stick, and an old, scratched trowel. She yearned to feel them in her hands.
Fey-dracon moved in beside her. “I used those tools on Shurrr. I unearthed the fossilized remains of our ancestral species – very rewarding work. I was a young scientist then, just a few years out of school.” Fey touched a claw to the glass, pointing. “Each has a different function.”
“I know how to use them,” Dawann said, amazed by the admission. “I can’t explain this – not yet, at least – but I believe I was once a scientist like you. I did this in my former existence as a human.”
“Human?” Mem asked. “Excuse me, Your Highness, but what––?”
“Mem,” Fey-dracon interrupted, wafting a nervous scent. “Go back, close the door, and lock it.”
He stood there, perplexed.
“Please, Mem. It is imperative no one hears what I must say to you now.”
He stared hard at Fey, whose gaze had grown steadfast and sober, and then walked to the door. After quickly surveying the hallway, Mem secured the lock and rejoined them. “All right. We’re alone,” he said as his gaze shifted from Dawann to Fey. “Now, would someone please tell me what’s going on? What’s this about another existence? And what is a human?”
Dawann took a breath, then exhaled, seeking to calm her nerves. “I believe that something – my mind or my soul – once existed somewhere else. I was a human, the name for my species in a language called English. Apparently, it was my birth language. It also seems to me it was the common language used by international scientists.” She looked into Mem’s eyes. “Do you understand any of this?”
“About the common language... yes, I do. We scientists use––”
“Mem, Dawann-dracon needs our help,” Fey cut in. “She believes our mammalian clone is a human, too, and that she was once like him.”
“What? She knows about him!” The blood drained from Mem’s face, making it the palest shade of green.
“Yes,” Fey said. “Tima told her about him.”
“I can’t believe this! Tima had no right to betray your confidence,” Mem said in a panicked tone.
“She meant no harm,” Fey retorted.
“Mem, please, I can be trusted,” Dawann insisted. “I want to join your rebellion.”
Wide-eyed, he asked, “My rebellion?”
Dawann caught his scent, his fear unmasked, yet his gaze had locked on hers, betraying his curiosity.
“Mem,” Fey reassured, “it’s all right. She knows.”
Dawann nodded, fully aware of the gesture’s alien meaning. Instantly, she saw a flicker in Mem’s eyes, and she guessed he had seen nodding before, perhaps as an instinctive gesture of the human clone. “Please, say you’ll help me, Mem-rax. I never knew my own parents, not like your Jool. But I came from your lab, didn’t I? Perhaps, in a way, because you had a hand in my creation, I am also your child.”
Fey let out a little cry. Mem glanced at his mate, then turned back to Dawann. “But––”
“No buts, Mem,” Fey said. “We must help her.” She looked into Dawann’s eyes and gave a soft trill. “I remember the day your heart started beating. I stood at your incubator, watching you.”
Mem took Fey’s hand. “Yes, I remember. I was there, also,” he told Dawann.
Dawann wished she could weep for joy. “Thank you. I have so much to tell you. My visions are incomplete, but perhaps, with your help, I’ll understand them soon.”
Fey indicated three chairs. “Sit down and we will talk, my child.”
The words echoed in Dawann’s thoughts: My child, my child.
For the first time in her life, she felt as though she might be part of something good and healthy and fine, as if she were on the brink of being healed and made whole, as if she truly, finally belonged.
Mem and Fey had created her, nurtured her in her infancy, and they were helping her now. But, Dawann wondered, do I actually belong here with them, or, for that matter, anywhere in this universe?
She caught Fey’s sympathetic gaze and felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps, together, they’d soon find the answer.
***
Mem and Fey exchanged a long look after Dawann finished her story.
“Do you have a picture of the alien clone?” Dawann asked hopefully. “Perhaps, if I could see him, I could compare his appearance with my own visions.”
“In truth, I do not believe he is an alien,” Mem said.
“What?” Dawann asked in surprise.
“You see, Your Highness, after years of study, I am convinced his DNA evolved on Shurrr, just as ours did. We can compare it with the Keeper’s genetic structure, which is most assuredly alien, because the orientation of the Keeper’s amino acids is right-handed. Amino acids in cells can exist in either right-twisting or left-twisting versions. But life in our Solar System uses only the left, with the exception of a few right-handed, acid-loving species of bacteria on Shurrr. The mammalian clone’s amino acids follow the left-handed orientation; again, just like ours. The clone also has five digits at the end of each limb. Nearly all land vertebrates – creatures with backbones – evolved from ancestors that possessed limbs with five d
igits.” He waved his right hand, with its trio of clawed fingers. “Even our ancestors had five. We’ve simply lost them in a process called evolutionary reduction. So, I’m convinced the clone evolved on Shurrr. He is somehow distantly related to us.”
“But how could that be possible?” Dawann asked.
“I do not know. It’s a mystery.” Mem looked at Fey. “Tell her your theories about the amber fossil.”
“Well, I considered two possible explanations to explain the DNA in the amber fossil,” Fey began. “I wondered if it had been left by an alien race of spacefarers, who had explored Shurrr millions of years ago. I also speculated it was the last remnant population of intelligent beings, who had evolved on Shurrr before our own kind.”
“That would explain the DNA connection, wouldn’t it?” Dawann asked.
“Perhaps,” Fey said. “But no one ever found ruins or other artifacts indicating an ancient civilization, predating our own, had existed on Shurrr, with the exception of what I found, which comprised only a few objects. I have to agree with Mem. We have a mystery here.”
Mem slapped the arm of the nano-chair. “Enough of this. There are more practical matters to address.” He turned to Fey. “Shall I show her?”
“Show me what?” Dawann asked.
“You asked to see the clone’s picture. Well, we can do better than that.” Mem continued to study Fey’s expression as he repeated, “Shall I show her?”
Fey gave Mem a grunt of acknowledgement. “I suppose you must,” she said. “We must let her see him, so she can determine once and for all if our clone is the same species as her intelligent mammal.”
Mem-rax moved to an unobtrusive corner of the office, which had paneled walls of a highly polished, blond, knotty wood. He touched a spot on one of the wooden panels, and the wall swung inward, revealing a hidden chamber.
Trembling with excitement, Dawann rose and went to the door of the secret room. Inside stood a saurian-sized, gray monolith, a glass display case, and a nano-chair. Upon closer inspection, she realized the monolith was equipped with a virtual retinal display headset, designed to “paint” laser beam images onto the back of the viewer’s eyeball.
Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) Page 5
