Family Tails

A Story of a Mixed Family in the Genetic Age

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Names of actual businesses, their products, etc, are the property of their respective owners.

Story and characters © 2013 Ronald J. Lebeck

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Chapter 14

The ride to The Center was much the same as the last time, in the same vehicle, with the same two men. This time, however, Rosie went along with Ron and Lupina. She wasn't exactly thrilled at going back to the place they came from, and neither was Lupina. It wasn't that they had been necessarily mistreated in any way from the time of their "birth" from the artificial wombs they were grown in until the time they left, but rather they didn't like the idea that they were in a sense "artificial" beings. They only existed because humans had created them, and not because they were a product of natural evolution as is every other living thing on Earth. It didn't help matters that a portion of the human population thought of the G.E.L.F.s as being a kind of "Frankenstein's monster"[1], either. Now that they had been on their own out in the world, they wanted the "science experiment" to be over and just try to find their own way as best they could. Lupina had taken some comfort in the explanation that Ron had given her the first night she spent at his place, and she had related it to Rosie when they had some time to themselves and talked about it. Both Lupina and Rosie knew that they were going to be "under the microscope" again, as soon as they set foot inside the compound, if not before during the ride there. Even though many of the human staffers were friendly enough, the G.E.L.F.s still felt like they were nothing more than a laboratory animal whose every action was being carefully scrutinized and analyzed.

Ron's view of the place, however, was completely different, based mostly upon his military training, and to an extent, his knowledge of history. As Rob had said two nights earlier, old ways die hard, and indeed they do. Ron observed the two men who came to pick them up, noted everything about them, the vehicle, the ride there, the way Lupina and Rosie acted, and what he saw, heard, scented, and felt when they stepped out of the vehicle. He eyed the place much the same way as one would a POW camp, by noting guards and their demeanor, security measures, objects, routines, looking for anything that could be exploited if necessary, to aid in EES--Escape, Evasion, and Survival.

Lupina knew Ron well enough by now to notice the subtle shift in the way he acted. For some reason that she couldn't quite put a finger on, it made her both reassured...and nervous. She knew with certainty now that he would never harm her, or Rosie, but...he still had a certain quiet, carefully restrained, dangerous quality about him, like a trap waiting to be sprung...or a wild predator ready to pounce. It dawned on her then that he only acted this way when they were around other humans, especially in crowds or in confined and unfamiliar places. Over the past month, she had also noticed a few similarly peculiar things about his friend Rob, too.

"Good morning Lupina," Dr. Nemeth said as she greeted her. "Hello, Rosie, good to see you again, and you, too, Mr. Daugherty." She was a little surprised to know that Rosie had come along, although she made no mention of it.

Lupina and Rosie both greeted Dr. Nemeth warmly, though Ron simply nodded his head curtly and said, "Dr. Nemeth" as he shook her hand.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? Do you have any questions first before we insert the new genetic material? Dr. Nemeth asked.

"Yes," Ron said. "One, will this in any way affect my compatibility with other female G.E.L.F.s, particularly with Rosie? Two, do you have a strong, secure room that I can stay in for a while after the changes begin to take hold? "Three, how long do you think the initial effects might last?"

Lupina, Rosie, and Dr. Nemeth all looked at Ron, being somewhat taken aback by the question about the room.

"Well, as I said the last time you were here, this should only enhance what you already have, but we can run another scan of your DNA and compare it with Rosie's, if that's what you want. Is there a particular reason why you wish to remain compatible with others?" Dr. Nemeth asked.

"Not that it's of anyone else's business, but...we're making Rosie a part of our family, and if she wants little ones of her own, and if I can help her with that, I will," Ron said, putting his arms around both of his mates.

"I see, and about the room?" Dr. Nemeth asked.

"Let's just consider it a 'safety precaution'," Ron replied.

"Very well, then. There really shouldn't be any adverse reactions, and any changes should take place gradually over time...unless there is something we should know," she replied cautiously.

Ron looked at Dr. Nemeth blankly, and stated, "As I said, just a precaution."

Dr. Nemeth felt there is something disquieting about his presence that she can't put her finger on. She is a biologist, not a behavioral scientist.

They went to the GDS-1 Lab and ran fresh samples of both Ron's DNA and Rosie's. As it turned out, they currently were compatible and Dr. Nemeth reassured them that whatever changes would take place in Ron due to the enhancements, shouldn't affect his compatibility with Rosie, or any other G.E.L.F. female, for that matter. If anything, it should enhance that, too.

When the procedure was ready, they took Ron to a lab-like room to administer the new genetic material. Once inserted into his body, they kept track of his vitals and performed other tests periodically, including keeping a journal of any unusual sensations. In between tests, he, Lupina, and Rosie interacted with the other G.E.L.F.s. Ron knew that they were keeping a close eye on him at all times, either through direct observation in person, or via cameras places throughout the building. They found Willy, the violin-playing mouse G.E.L.F. who was recovering from his wounds. The casts were off, and he was getting around with the use of a cane and elastic braces on one elbow and knee. He was still undergoing physical therapy, though the doctors assured him that he should be able to resume playing his violin again in the next couple of weeks. They met Kylie, the cute little batgirl, again, and she demonstrated her ability to fly at least short distances. Sometime after supper, however, Ron began to grow fidgety.

"Lu...I think...something's happening," he said quietly when no other's were nearby.

She quickly grew concerned and asked, "Talk to me, dear!" she said almost in a whisper.

"My muscles...they feel...different. I can't explain it really...just that something's different. I wonder if they have a weight room or something where I can work out a bit," he said, stretching his arms.

"Yeah, there is one. Come on, I'll take you to it," Lupina said.

The three of them wandered over to the exercise room where a few of the G.E.L.F.s were working out. Ron started out doing some stretching exercises to limber up a bit, and then he used one of the exercycles at an easy pace to warm up. Moving on to one of the treadmills, he set the speed and incline that he normally used at home--9.6 km/hr and 12% incline--and still walking. One of the other G.E.L.F.s in the room who was jogging on the other treadmill, a female Norwegian forest cat, looked a little surprised to see a human using the exercise room.

"Are you one of the staffers?" she asked while breathing a little hard.

Hardly," Ron grinned. "I'm with them," he added, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Lupina and Rosie.

"Friends...of yours?" the cat asked.

"More than that...the wolf's my mate...and so is the skunk," Ron said replied.

The cat's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the human and the two other G.E.L.F.s.

"You...must be...one...of the few...then," she said, getting a little winded.

"Yes ma'am, looks that way," Ron said, still grinning.

The cat punched the stop button and when her machine came to a stop, she held her hand out, and introduced herself.

"Helga...," she panted her name.

"Ron, Ron Daugherty."

The cat, still trying to catch her breath, asked, "The...author?"

Ron nodded his head, much to the amazement of the cat, and he held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said, as they shook hands.

The treadmill's readout chimed, to signal the preset time, so Ron began tapping the controls. The machine sped up, 10 kilometers per hour...12.5 km/hr...15 km/hr. He kept that pace for ten minutes, and then tapped the controls again. 20...25...30 km/hr, and still at 12% incline. The cat, Helga, was astonished. Ron was running along, breathing easily, at a pace that should be leaving most humans in the dust. He kept up the pace for another ten minutes, before slowing it down to 15 km/hr for ten minutes, and then put the machine into cool-down mode. When it finally stopped, he hopped off and taking a long drink of water, went over to the leg-press weight machine.

Initially, he set the weights to two hundred twenty kilograms, and proceeded to do twenty slow repetitions. When he was finished with that, he cocked his head a bit and looked at the weights. As he was adding more to the stack, Lupina got up and came over to see how he was doing. She saw him increase the weights to two hundred seventy kilograms, as did Helga. Testing it, he grinned and nodded his head once, and then did five sets of thirty repetitions.

Lupina's jaw dropped.

"I told you I could carry you a fair distance," he said with a sly grin, looking up to his mate. When Lupina saw the cat looking oddly at the two of them, she became embarrassed.

"Ron! That's...that's over four and a half times my weight!" she exclaimed.

Lupina had never really paid close attention to how much Ron did when he worked out down in the basement of their house.

"Are you some sort of athlete or something?" Helga asked.

"Nah, ex-military," Ron replied. "Oh, Lu, this is Helga; Helga, this is my mate, Lupina," he added, making the introductions.

When Helga and Lupina shook hands, Helga felt a quick flash of unnamed panic that she had to fight down after looking into her eyes...Lupina, being a wolf, could have that effect on some people.

"Are...you one of the Gen-Ones?" Helga asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, I am...left here about two months ago," Lupina replied. "You must be one of the Gen-Twos."

"Yeah, lucky you, eh?" Helga asked, nodding her head slightly towards Ron.

Lupina wrapped her arms around Ron possessively and grinned, "I couldn't have asked for a better mate!" Helga twitched an ear and glanced over at Rosie.

Ron patted Lupina's arm and said, "I'm going to work out a little more, if you don't mind, luv."

Lupina nuzzled him and said, "Yeah, go ahead, baby, before you cool down too much."

Ron got up, kissed his mate on the lips, and then went to do some upper body exercises.

"Where did you two happen to meet, at a book signing or something?" Helga asked.

"Oh, you know he's a writer?" Lupina asked.

"Yeah, when he introduced himself to me, I recognized the name. I've read his books, and I also heard that he had been here once before," Helga replied.

"I wouldn't doubt that most of the G.E.L.F.s have read them," Lupina said. "We...actually met on a sidewalk in downtown Fairbanks."

"Where's that at?" Helga asked, trying to place the location.

"Oh, it's in the middle part of Alaska," Lupina replied. "Yeah, we were here about a month ago. He was getting tested for...compatibility."

Helga glanced over at Ron and flicked her tail.

"I...take it that he's...one of the few," Helga said cautiously.

"Yeah," Lupina confirmed.

"I've never heard of a human running as fast as he did on the treadmill a while ago," Helga said quietly.

"I know he works out on a regular basis at home, saying that he just likes to keep in shape," Lupina said, wondering why Helga was commenting on his workout so much.

Looking down at the floor and letting her long fur-hair cover her face, Helga said, "Your mate mentioned he was ex-military. There was an older human male here last week with a fox...I heard he was ex-military, too."

"Hmm, that's interesting," Lupina said quietly. She knew that Helga did that so that her face couldn't be seen by any of the cameras.

"I guess the three of you, then, have something worked out, eh?" Helga asked, looking up.

Lupina twitched an ear back, and then replied, "Yeah, Rosie and I are best friends...have been ever since we were little, and since she was having problems where they sent her to, Ron brought her up to be with us."

"That was nice of him," Helga said, glancing over at Ron as he was doing some lat pull-downs.

After a pausing for a few seconds she asked, "What's it like...outside?"

Lupina thought for a bit and carefully chose her words.

"Well, it's...not always easy. I guess Rosie and I are fortunate in that Ron and his friends don't have any problems with the fact that we exist, in fact, we've met some really nice humans who have been nothing but helpful and kind. Rosie and I have had some difficulties, and I'm sure it's not going to be easy until the world fully accepts us," she explained.

Helga nodded her head thoughtfully. When Lupina scratched an itch on her neck with her left hand, Helga saw the ring she was wearing and asked about it.

"Nice ring. May I ask where you got it at?" Helga asked politely.

"Oh, thanks. Ron gave this to me when he asked me to marry him," Lupina said with a big grin.

Helga's eyes widened in surprise and she asked, "You mean the human joining ritual? I didn't know that was legal for one of us to be joined with a human!"

"We don't know, either, but...we're going to try, and if it's not, he said that he'd work on trying to make it so that we can. At least up in Alaska, anyway," Lupina replied.

"I wish you luck with that, seriously. I've wondered what it might be like, to be with a...," *BANG!* "...what the...???" Helga said, interrupted by a loud noise caused by weights slamming down.

Lupina, Helga, and Rosie all looked over towards the sound of the sudden noise, and saw Ron bent over on the seat of the weight machine, arms wrapped around his sides, and moaning. Both Lupina and Rosie immediately rushed to their mate to see what was wrong. Helga remained where she was, with her ears back, and tail twitching nervously.

"What's wrong, baby? Talk to me!" Lupina whined as she tried to comfort him.

"You okay, big guy?" Rosie asked, the worry easily apparent in her voice, as she put her arms around him, too, and nuzzled his neck.

"I...I think...it's...starting...," Ron managed to get out with a shuddering moan.

"Lu...he feels warm...warmer than usual," Rosie said as she held her hand to Ron's face. The pads on her hands were much thinner and softer than Lupina's, so she was able to feel slighter differences in temperature.

"Let's get him back to the infirmary so they can check him out," Lupina said.

Rosie nodded once and said to Ron, "Come on, big guy...we're gonna have the docs take a look at ya."

After a moment, Ron nodded his head, and let the two females help him up on his feet. Helga rushed off ahead to alert the medical staff. By the time Lupina and Rosie got him to the infirmary, Dr. Nemeth and a few others of her team were already there and waiting. Lupina, Rosie, and Helga stood off in a corner and watched as the techs hooked Ron up to various kinds of medical equipment to see what was going on inside of him. His temperature was up a few degrees, and his metabolism rate had increased. When the results of some blood samples came back, they were able to determine that the rate of change caused by the introduction of the modified DNA had increased significantly...more than they had expected. They put him into an MRI scanner and checked to see what his soft tissues were doing. After comparing what they saw in the scans and with the other tests performed, it seemed that his body was not only building new muscle tissue rapidly, it was also restructuring them. Further testing showed that his bones were becoming denser, as well. They pumped liquid nutrients into his body so that he had the required materials to build the new tissues.

While everyone was waiting for a new round of test results, Lupina managed to get Dr. Nemeth to come over and talk.

"What's happening, to him? Is he going to be okay?" Lupina asked dropping her ears down.

"As far as we can tell, the modified DNA we introduced is making changes faster than we thought possible. We expected this to take place over weeks, months even...not hours," Dr. Nemeth replied with a puzzled look on her face.

Lupina thought for a moment and then asked, "Um, do you think this might have anything to do with those odd things you discovered the last time we were here?"

"That's a very real possibility, Lupina. I was certain that we accounted for everything...but it's almost as if his body was just waiting for this," Dr. Nemeth replied.

Lupina and Rosie exchanged shocked looks.

"Can we go be with him?" Rosie asked, clinging to Lupina's arm.

"By all means, go ahead. I'm sure he'll appreciate having you near," Dr. Nemeth replied.

Lupina and Rosie thanked her and then went right over to be with their mate. Dr. Nemeth and Helga watched as the two G.E.L.F. females showed their love and affection towards the human male that they had both chosen to be their mate. Dr. Nemeth watched with the mind of a scientist observing a test subject; Helga watched wondering if one day she could have a mate that she could love as much as they seemed to love theirs. Although she didn't fancy the thought of sharing a potential mate with another female, Helga could certainly understand the practicality of it. There were just too few mates to go around--G.E.L.F. or compatible human.

Wagging her tail, Lupina nuzzled Ron and kissed him on the lips. "How do you feel, baby?" she asked trying to smile.

"Like...I've been...used for a...punchin' bag," he said, smiling weakly.

"I'm sorry, baby!" she whined, "I didn't mean for anything like this to happen!"

Lupina laid her head on his chest and he stroked the fur behind her ear.

"Wheest[2] a minute, would ye," Ron said softly, reverting to an Irish accent "Ye know...I'd do anythin'...for a bitta fluff[3], so it is," he smirked.

Lupina lifted her head and eyed her mate, saying, "They must have you doped up on something because you're not making any sense!"

Lightly touching the side of her face, Ron said, "I'm doing this...for you...my choice."

"Oh...but I couldn't live with myself if this does something bad to you!" Lupina whined.

Ron grinned and shook his head slowly.

"I'll be...okay. Body's...different...than they...know," he said laboring a little to speak.

Rosie and Lupina looked at each other, looks that conveyed worry, confusion, and their love for their mate. Rosie laid her head on Ron's chest and put her arm across him until he fell asleep from the pain medication he had been given earlier.

"Lu...maybe one of us should call Rob and let him know what's going on," Rosie suggested after a while.

Nodding her head in agreement, Lupina said, "Yeah, we should. They've known each other for so long, and who knows what they've been through together...he's as much as family as any of his friends are."

Lupina looked over at the table Dr. Nemeth was sitting at with some of her colleagues, and thought for a few moments.

"I think she'll listen to you more than she would me," Rosie said quietly.

Lupina sighed and lowered her head a little for a moment, and then nodded slowly.

"I'll stay with him," Rosie added.

Lupina looked at her best friend and holding her hand, nodded once to acknowledge.

Steeling herself, Lupina went over to the biologist to ask if she could call Ron's friend at the hotel and let him know what was happening.

"He's got you here...why would he need anyone else? Dr. Nemeth asked bluntly.

Both the wording of the question and the tone of voice used by Dr. Nemeth rankled Lupina, who replied, "He's got me, and Rosie here, but I know that his friend will want to know if there's a problem of any kind, and will probably insist on coming here."

"We have everything under control here," Dr. Nemeth stated.

"Do you?" Lupina asked shrewdly. "It seems that you weren't expecting the kind of reaction he's been having. Did you get the secure room he asked for?"

"I really don't think there's any need for that. We can keep him sedated, even use restraints if necessary," Dr. Nemeth said firmly.

Lupina snorted and said, "I know Ron well enough by now that he never says anything without a good reason. If he asked for a secure room, then there's very good reason why he asked. A little while ago, we saw him running on the treadmill at thirty kilometers per hour at a twelve percent incline for ten minutes, and do two hundred seventy kilograms on the leg press...tell me, is that normal for humans?"

Dr. Nemeth's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"I didn't think so," Lupina said, giving the biologist a hard look. This was something that she had never done before to any of the humans at The Center...but then again, she never had reason to, until now. "Let me call his friend so that I can let him know what's going on and see what he wants to do," Lupina added, still giving the biologist a hard look, "or would you rather he and the rest of their military friends come looking for us?"

That definitely got Dr. Nemeth's attention.

"What do you mean, Lupina? We've taken every measure to make sure no one can find this location, not even you G.E.L.F.s," she asked, visibly shaken by what Lupina had implied.

Helga, who was still in the room, was listening to the conversation even though she acted as if she was oblivious to it.

Lupina snorted quietly and said, "That friend of Ron's...they served together in the military, in the same unit, and he's got very similar abilities. They keep in close touch with the other guys they served with, too. From what Ron told me, if anything were to happen to one, the rest will drop what they're doing and come running...and if the others are anything like those two, I don't think you'd want to get in their way. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they already know the location of this place, and everything about you."

That last was speculation on Lupina's part, though she secretly wondered about it, especially given the way her mate had acted towards Dr. Sumter the last time they were here. Unknown to Lupina, however, Ron already had the location of The Center pinpointed and a map drawn of the compound, along with whatever other information he could obtain through his sources. She had a suspicion that Ron might have recognized him from a long time ago. At any rate, Dr. Nemeth certainly seemed a bit nervous, even though she tried to hide it.

Thinking quickly, Dr. Nemeth said, "Alright, I'll get you an outside line...but you'll have to keep it short."

Lupina smiled and said, "Thank you! I'll go tell Ron and Rosie."

"Hsst! Lupina!" Helga said just loud enough to catch her attention.

Lupina perked her ears up briefly when she heard Helga call her name, so she went over to see what the feline wanted.

Keeping a calm, nearly Zen-like expression on her face, Helga quietly asked, "I overheard what you said to Dr. Nemeth. You say this friend of your mate, the one staying in the hotel...he's got similar abilities?"

"Yeah, it's kinda strange that the two of them are a lot alike in some ways, though they're different in others," Lupina replied.

"Isn't that true for most humans, though?" Helga asked, swiveling an ear towards the table where the biologist was still sitting.

"Yeah, I suppose...but they're not like other humans I've met so far. They can sneak up on us, but we can't sneak up on them, and they have wild animals that come right up to them," Lupina said.

"Wild animals, eh?" Helga asked.

Lupina nodded her head and said, "Ron's got a pack of wild wolves that act like he's kin to them, and a wild porcupine that he feeds, and Rob--that's the friend at the hotel that served with Ron in the military--he's got a wild lynx that seems to like him."

"A lynx?" Helga asked, amazed that a wild one would come anywhere near a human.

"Yeah, I guess he likes...cats...," Lupina replied, though she trailed off as she cocked her head a little, as a thought occurred to her. "Maybe...hmm, maybe you might want to meet him."

"That could be interesting, I suppose. It's going to be a while before they'll relocate me...six months, maybe. Oh, that human I mentioned a while ago that was here last week with a vixen...I heard that he's got some interesting abilities, too. It seems that all of our kind got along with him, but he made the human staffers nervous, particularly Dr. Sumter," Helga said, lowering her voice when she talked about the man she saw.

"Hmm, the last time we were here, things got rather...intense...between Ron and Dr. Sumter. I jumped up and got between them and changed the subject before something happened," Lupina related. "I wonder..."

Ron laid there on the hospital-type bed, conscious despite the medication though with his eyes closed, listening carefully to what he could hear people saying. He knew by scent alone that Rosie was sitting by the bed resting her head on his chest. Ron felt a soft, leathery hand that was warmer than a human's holding his, so he gave a little squeeze. At the same time, he whispered, "Rosie, don't move. I'm awake. Squeeze my hand if you hear me." When he felt her hand squeeze his once, he asked in a faint whisper, "What's going on?"

Rosie stretched and faked a yawn, and slid her head up so that her muzzle was under his chin.

Whispering, she said, "Lu went to ask if she could call Rob, and now she's talkin' to the cat gal."

"Okay," he whispered back, "see if you can get Lu over here...discreetly. I need her to tell Rob something."

Rosie lifted her head and nuzzled him for a few moments, and then walked casually over to Lupina.

"Hey, Lu...gotta stretch my legs a bit...want anything to drink?" Rosie asked.

"Okay. Yeah, I could use some coffee...or at least some water," Lupina replied.

"I'll see what I can scrounge up for us. Ya want anything while I'm out and about?" Rosie asked Helga.

"Some water would be nice, if you don't mind," Helga replied.

"No problem," Rosie said with a grin.

Rosie hugged Lupina before she left the room, putting her arms around her friend's neck so that she could be sure to get her mouth close enough to Lupina's ear.

"Ron's awake," she whispered quietly, "and he wants you to tell Rob something. I don't think he wants anyone else to know that he's awake."

When they released each other from the hug, Lupina said, "See you in a little bit," and gave Rosie's hand one squeeze to let her know that she understood.

Ron saw Rosie deliver his message to Lupina through barely open eyelids, and watched as she made her way over to him. She sat down next to him with her back to Dr. Nemeth and laid her head down on his chest just as Rosie had done.

With his face covered by Lupina's head he whispered, "Hey, luv, when you speak to Rob, whatever else you tell him, say this exactly--'FLASH DELTA TWO ALPHA'--got that?"

Lupina had no idea what that meant, but she squeezed his hand once.

"Tell him I was talking in my sleep and said that, okay? He'll know what it means," he whispered.

She squeezed his hand once more to show that she understood.

One of the nurses came over just a short while later to check the readings on the monitors. Lupina watched intently everything the nurse did, which ended up making the nurse just a little uncomfortable. There's just something about the way a predator watches, even if it's only casually, which can be unsettling. The higher functioning part of Lupina's mind was just being curious; the more primitive part of her mind was thinking, "If you hurt my mate, I'm going to tear you apart." According to the readings, it seemed that Ron's physical condition was beginning to stabilize, though his body temperature was still staying a bit higher than human normal at 38 degrees Celsius--not enough for alarm, though.

Rosie came back with the drinks just in time for Dr. Nemeth to let Lupina know that the outside line was ready for her to make the call to Rob back at the hotel.

"Hey, Lu...did I miss anything?" Rosie asked while handing her friend a cup of coffee.

"Not really," Lupina replied, "the nurse checked the readouts and he seems to be stabilizing, but he's still warm."

"I guess that's good, right?" Rosie asked, trying to be cheerful.

Lupina smiled and said, "Yeah."

"Here's yours, Helga," Rosie said as she handed the feline the bottle of water.

"Thanks," she replied.

"Lupina...if you want to make your call now, the line is available," Dr. Nemeth announced from the table she was sitting at.

"Here goes," Lupina whispered to Rosie just before getting up to use the phone.

Rosie gave a little "thumbs up" and watched while her friend made the call.

Helga was watching, too. She mentioned quietly to Rosie, "Dr. Nemeth seems to be acting a little nervous."

"Yeah, she does, doesn't she," Rosie agreed.

*Click*

[Rob] "Hello?"

[Lupina] "Hi Rob, this is Lu.

[Rob] "Hey, Lu, how are things going?"

[Lupina] "Oh...Ron had a bit of a reaction, but he's sleeping right now."

[Rob] "Oh, really."

[Lupina] "Yeah. He was working out in the weight room and we heard a bang when he dropped the weights. He wasn't feeling good, so we brought him to the infirmary so they could check him out. They gave him something for the pain, and he fell asleep after a bit. He must have been dreaming about something because he was mumbling something in his sleep. It didn't make any sense to me, some weirdness about 'flash delta two alpha', or something crazy like that."

[Rob] "Okay. He was probably just dreaming about some problem, you know how engineers are." (*chuckle*)

[Lupina] "Yeah, he always talks to himself when he's working on something.

(*brief pause*)

[Rob] "How's he doing otherwise?"

[Lupina] "Um...he's got a bit of a fever, thirty eight degrees, I think."

[Rob] "I see. Is there someone there I can talk to? I should be there."

[Lupina] "Yeah, just a sec."

"He wants to talk to a staffer," Lupina said holding the phone's handset out to Dr. Nemeth.

The biologist narrowed her eyes just a bit and took the phone.

[Dr. Nemeth] "This is Dr. Nemeth."

[Rob] "This is Rob Cloud, Ron's friend. I want to come and see how he's doing. How soon can you have someone come pick me up?"

[Dr. Nemeth] "Mr. Cloud, Ron's condition has stabilized. He's resting comfortably at the moment. There's really no need to..."

[Rob] "If Ron's having a reaction to something you did to him, then I need to be there...and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

[Dr. Nemeth] "I see. I'll arrange to have a driver come and pick you up at your hotel.

[Rob] "I'll see you in about two hours."

Before Dr. Nemeth could say anything else, there was a click and the phone connection was terminated. Two hours. That was just about how long it would take round trip for the driver to get from The Center, to the hotel in Dallas, and back again.

"How did he know?" Dr. Nemeth thought to herself as she slowly hung the phone up.

"Well, I guess your friend will be coming here, Lupina," Dr. Nemeth said, getting just a hint of a frown on her face.

"Good," Lupina said with a little smile.

She excused herself and went over to tell Rosie--and Ron--the news. While she was talking about the phone call, Lupina had a wild thought...since Rob likes cats, she wondered if it would be possible for Helga to ride along in the back of the vehicle to keep Rob company during the trip there. She mentioned it, and Rosie thought that it would be a good idea if the staff would allow it. Helga, being a typical feline, kept a calm expression, though her tail was twitching back and forth, indicating that she was thinking about it. Right, left, yes, no...after a few moments Helga pointed her ears forward and cocked her head a little to one side.

"Could be interesting."

---

[1] http://www.shmoop.com/frankenstein/symbolism-imagery.html

[2] Wheest - Irish slang meaning "shh, be quiet"

[3] Bitta fluff - Irish slang meaning "an attractive young woman"