Post by M.A. Abraham on Oct 23, 2013 4:07:31 GMT
It was now or never, Karl decided, the conditions were perfect. He would never get another chance like this. He had spent years, preparing for this moment and he wasn’t about to let it go by. He had spent the afternoon making sure the formula had worked and the life it contained lived. He knew he would have to move quickly or the life he had created would be lost. He wasn’t sure he could recreate the matching of the elements in the fluids, and at this point of the experiment details could mean the difference between success and failure. This was the defining moment of his career and he was so nervous it was a wonder he didn’t drop the vial that held the finished product.
Karl was still not sure where the idea for his theory had originated. The concept was extremely controversial, and he knew he was playing with matters man was never meant to experiment with. Psychologists had a label for scientists who seriously delved into the grey areas of science as he was doing. They called it a God-complex. He knew the stakes, knew what he was doing was dangerous and verged on madness. His theory had become an obsession, and he just had to know if he could make it a reality.
Extra-species genetics accomplished through artificial insemination. It was a theory Karl had worked on diligently. His wife complained bitterly that he only married her to have a helper in the laboratory and someone to cook for him. She was partially right, he did need a helper, even if she had no idea what she was working on. He refused to divulge that information. He knew she would have left to report his activities to the scientific community if she knew. He couldn’t risk for news of his work to spread and was in enough trouble with his peers for making his theory public in the first place, it was too close to the cutting edge of what people considered decent or acceptable.
Karl’s theory had made front-page news. He hadn’t expected such a negative response, for he had been labeled a mad scientist and they ridiculed him. His humiliation was endless, everyone was laughing at him and he hated it, hated the pitying glances and grins of superiority. He knew they were talking behind his back and none of it was good. He had waited a few years for the scandal to die and now he was at the point of putting of putting his work to the test. Now he would prove his genius to the world, though he had to admit there were times when the idea also struck him as the work of a madman.
Karl made sure that Lydia wouldn’t feel a thing. He drugged her heavily, and nothing he would do, would leave a mark on her that she would question. He was excited, and scared at the same time, the moment he had worked, and waited for, was here. A scientific theory was one thing, but reality was something else altogether. What he was doing was very real. It was also considered illegal, unethical and immoral. Only the end result mattered to him at the moment, nothing else.
Karl wasn’t about to give himself time to reconsider his decision. He had worked too hard to change his mind at this stage of the game. He quickly emptied the formula into Lydia’s womb and said a quick prayer for luck, for the next nine months there was very little more that he could do. If or when the child he hoped he had created was born he would find out if his life’s work would become a reality, or remain no more than a work of fiction. Either way he needed to know.
If Karl’s theory proved successful he would celebrate privately, there would be no one he could trust to share his victory. No one could know the he had successfully managed to join the genes of a Homo Sapiens with a Delphinys Delphis to produce a living being. What that creature would look like, or which of the genes would actually fuse, he had no way of knowing. It didn’t matter, not now, not on the eve of his triumph. Further experiments on the child’s DNA after it was born would answer any questions he had later, for now the only important consideration was his creation. His child.
Karl double-checked to make sure every step of his procedure had been followed according to plan, then he cleaned the area. He wanted nothing to give his wife the idea that she had been used as a part of this experiment. Her acceptance of the fetus would be crucial to the success of his work. He had had enough problems with her because of his self-imposed exile. She missed her life on the mainland, missed her friend and family. He hoped the pregnancy would settle her and that maybe she would invite some of the people she wanted to see for visits to the island. Now that the embryo was attaching itself to the mother, leaving home was not an option. Nor was it just because of the child. He wanted the world to continue to forget him, forget his theory so that he could one day return to the scientific community he loved.
Karl’s logged the final steps of his experiments and left the room. He walked onto the patio and looked out to sea, out to the place where man had possibly first crawled out of the waters of creation. Standing at the balcony railing that surrounded his house he balled his hands into fists and swore.
“I will make them pay for the disgrace they heaped upon me and my name. Those who branded me a lunatic for my theories and forced me from the world I loved will bow low before me. One day I will prove to everyone that I was right and my theory wasn’t the dream of a madman. I swear by the grace of Neptune, my wife shall bear my sea child.”
A wave from the ocean crashed upon the shores of the tiny island. It was like a message from the Sea God himself in answer to Karl’s oath. Returning to the bedroom, he stripped and crawled into the bed to join his wife as she slumbered. He would make sure she had no reason to question the origin of their child, but he knew that without the miracle of science that he had created in his laboratory, her body would never have been capable of conceiving a child. She had been declared sterile years before, despite that he would have little problem convincing her that the doctors had made an error in their diagnosis. She wanted a child so desperately she would be ready to believe anything was possible, even a miracle.
Karl was still not sure where the idea for his theory had originated. The concept was extremely controversial, and he knew he was playing with matters man was never meant to experiment with. Psychologists had a label for scientists who seriously delved into the grey areas of science as he was doing. They called it a God-complex. He knew the stakes, knew what he was doing was dangerous and verged on madness. His theory had become an obsession, and he just had to know if he could make it a reality.
Extra-species genetics accomplished through artificial insemination. It was a theory Karl had worked on diligently. His wife complained bitterly that he only married her to have a helper in the laboratory and someone to cook for him. She was partially right, he did need a helper, even if she had no idea what she was working on. He refused to divulge that information. He knew she would have left to report his activities to the scientific community if she knew. He couldn’t risk for news of his work to spread and was in enough trouble with his peers for making his theory public in the first place, it was too close to the cutting edge of what people considered decent or acceptable.
Karl’s theory had made front-page news. He hadn’t expected such a negative response, for he had been labeled a mad scientist and they ridiculed him. His humiliation was endless, everyone was laughing at him and he hated it, hated the pitying glances and grins of superiority. He knew they were talking behind his back and none of it was good. He had waited a few years for the scandal to die and now he was at the point of putting of putting his work to the test. Now he would prove his genius to the world, though he had to admit there were times when the idea also struck him as the work of a madman.
Karl made sure that Lydia wouldn’t feel a thing. He drugged her heavily, and nothing he would do, would leave a mark on her that she would question. He was excited, and scared at the same time, the moment he had worked, and waited for, was here. A scientific theory was one thing, but reality was something else altogether. What he was doing was very real. It was also considered illegal, unethical and immoral. Only the end result mattered to him at the moment, nothing else.
Karl wasn’t about to give himself time to reconsider his decision. He had worked too hard to change his mind at this stage of the game. He quickly emptied the formula into Lydia’s womb and said a quick prayer for luck, for the next nine months there was very little more that he could do. If or when the child he hoped he had created was born he would find out if his life’s work would become a reality, or remain no more than a work of fiction. Either way he needed to know.
If Karl’s theory proved successful he would celebrate privately, there would be no one he could trust to share his victory. No one could know the he had successfully managed to join the genes of a Homo Sapiens with a Delphinys Delphis to produce a living being. What that creature would look like, or which of the genes would actually fuse, he had no way of knowing. It didn’t matter, not now, not on the eve of his triumph. Further experiments on the child’s DNA after it was born would answer any questions he had later, for now the only important consideration was his creation. His child.
Karl double-checked to make sure every step of his procedure had been followed according to plan, then he cleaned the area. He wanted nothing to give his wife the idea that she had been used as a part of this experiment. Her acceptance of the fetus would be crucial to the success of his work. He had had enough problems with her because of his self-imposed exile. She missed her life on the mainland, missed her friend and family. He hoped the pregnancy would settle her and that maybe she would invite some of the people she wanted to see for visits to the island. Now that the embryo was attaching itself to the mother, leaving home was not an option. Nor was it just because of the child. He wanted the world to continue to forget him, forget his theory so that he could one day return to the scientific community he loved.
Karl’s logged the final steps of his experiments and left the room. He walked onto the patio and looked out to sea, out to the place where man had possibly first crawled out of the waters of creation. Standing at the balcony railing that surrounded his house he balled his hands into fists and swore.
“I will make them pay for the disgrace they heaped upon me and my name. Those who branded me a lunatic for my theories and forced me from the world I loved will bow low before me. One day I will prove to everyone that I was right and my theory wasn’t the dream of a madman. I swear by the grace of Neptune, my wife shall bear my sea child.”
A wave from the ocean crashed upon the shores of the tiny island. It was like a message from the Sea God himself in answer to Karl’s oath. Returning to the bedroom, he stripped and crawled into the bed to join his wife as she slumbered. He would make sure she had no reason to question the origin of their child, but he knew that without the miracle of science that he had created in his laboratory, her body would never have been capable of conceiving a child. She had been declared sterile years before, despite that he would have little problem convincing her that the doctors had made an error in their diagnosis. She wanted a child so desperately she would be ready to believe anything was possible, even a miracle.