The Nature of Fangs [Chapter 45]
Hey guys, I’ve been thinking, I’m probably gonna go from one chapter a week to one every 2 weeks in September because I’m going back to uni and I need to lock tf in. I’m thinking of doing an AMA at the end of august to help the transition and let you guys ask whatever questions you want before the drop in chapters.
That aside, hope you guys have been having a lovely week, thanks for reading! As always, credit to spacepaladin15 for creating the NoP universe, comments and feedback are very welcome!
ART!!!!! Another!!! by u/scrappyvamp
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Memory transcription subject: Mark Pines, Human geneticist
Date [standardised human time]: September 21’st 2136
I’m not sure what to think. After hearing about the extermination fleet headed to Earth, at first I was glad that I was here on Venlil prime, but it didn’t take long before the weight of what’s going on began to sink in. They’re actually doing it. They’re genuinely planning on destroying an entire planet, and for what? Because the resident sapient isn’t the “correct” one? It’s stupid, I don’t like it, and I don’t wanna think about it. Unfortunately for me, most of the crew here seem to be avoiding the human residents. Probably because they think we’re going to be an endangered species soon, but also probably because they’re scared of us. I’ve broken the ice a little with Sansuk, and they don’t seem nearly as wary as the others. But they’ve still become muted, just like the others. Is this pity? I don’t like it.
While repetitive work with cool machines is fun, the day by day silence is kind of getting to me. Just take a little sample, digest it, separate it, put it in a PCR machine, and take a look at the results. No talking to coworkers, no jokes, hell- try not to even make sudden moves around them. There’s a point where the silence begins to gnaw at me. You really don’t need a PhD to do this.
Being so close to alien sources meant that I had sensed the blood on the wind and gave my family warning before the extermination fleet was set to arrive. Most of my family weren’t in cities to begin with, where the UN said are most likely to be their first targets, my grandparents and great aunts already lived in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. It wasn’t difficult to convince my twin sister in the city to use some of her vacation days to go live in that little tourist trap my great aunt calls home. A lot of nations have begun drafting as many people as possible, and it’s no secret that the UN is building ships like there’s no tomorrow. Hopefully we manage to get through this, it’s not like every species hates us after all.
I need to say something. Not about the fleet. That’s depressing as hell and I don’t want to think about it. I occasionally glance over at Sansuk, trying to figure out something to say before they bleat out, “why do you keep side eyeing me? You’re not subtle.”
“Sorry. I don’t know. I’m just bored I guess. There’s usually more talking than this.”
“What’s there to talk about? We’re all from different disciplines and backgrounds. Not to mention different species and cultures. Not a lot of common ground to be had.”
Ironically, Sansuks dismissal gave me a long list of questions to ask, “That’s the fun part though! What’s it like being a Venlil? How’d you get into your scientific field? Does your culture have any festivals and stuff?”
“I…” they sigh, “I hadn't really thought about that I guess.” They pause, thinking for a moment before deciding to answer the few questions I had blurted out, “Venlil prime has a pawful of harvest festivals which are nice, not much when compared to other festivals in the federation like the blooming festivals on Aafa. Um…I guess I always thought plants were cool. I memorised the ones that grew in my hometown to forage and graze. When I went to school I spent a lot of time in the library learning about all the plants across the federation. I was lucky that my parents could afford to let me go to university and continue studying. Being a Venlil? I’d probably catch a PD assessment for saying this but it’s probably not as nice as being human.”
I can’t help but tilt my head a little, “How’d you mean? No offence or anything, but most species seem to want us dead right now.”
“Everything’s so loud all the time, normal noises make you jump, things move too fast and your wools on edge. What’s worse, is that when we evolved bipedalism, it put too much pressure on our joints, meaning we can’t even run from predators very well. It doesn’t help that I was “blessed” with a recessive condition called fainting disease. Can’t run from danger when your blood pressure drops due to fear hormones and leave you essentially paralysed on the ground.” They wave their tail erratically before it droops to the floor.
Their voice drops down into a whisper, “It must be nice, not having that constant whisper in your ear that today is gonna be your last.”
I’m not sure what to say. That does…genuinely suck. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in that sort of fear, to be wired to see danger everywhere, and have a physical disability on top of that. I wonder though, “Has anyone tried to change that? Human spines are a little similar when it comes to bipedalism. Not to the same extent though. We’ve been trying to figure out medications that prevent back muscle degradation to give more support in old age. Is there any research into a Venlil equivalent?”
Their ears droop sadly, “Not as far as I’m aware. The galactic community, including ourselves has kind of just…assumed it’s how things are meant to be. Why change your nature and risk making things worse after all?”
“Well…what about the fainting disease? Has anyone figured out the cause of it?” As a geneticist, it would be interesting to see their genome in general. I bet they have wonderfully detailed databases on it.
A sigh is the only answer I get. It’s clear this has been an old wound. Maybe I should change the subject, “Have you guys sequenced your genome? It’d be cool to see if it’s familiar in any way.”
Their ear twitches, considering my question for a moment, “It…it should be in the federation medical database. I’m a botanist, not a doctor or medical researcher, so I don’t have access to it.”
Don’t have access to it? Why not? I get limiting who can make edits to the database, but limiting who can see it??? That’s….very strange.
“Don’t have access to it?” I ask, “Would anyone here have clearance? No offence but limiting that kind of data feels kinda strange.”
“I think some Zurulian doctors were transferred here, I can go ask for you.” They quickly get up and trot off. Or…try to trot. I can see what they mean now that I’m actually looking for it, those legs look…unstable. Kind of like a fawn trying to figure out how walking works.
While they’re gone, I’m left with my thoughts again. Why is genome access prevented? BLAST is a database of thousands of species and is accessible from the National Institute of Health, Ensembl is a database from the European Bioinformatics Institute, which provides a centralized resource for geneticists, there's more recent ones too but they’re more species specific for zoologists so I’ve never really used them as much.
Why? What does anyone have to gain from hiding this from the public??
It’s not long before they’re padding back into the lab, a small note in hand…uh-paw. They gently pass it over to me and I step over to the labs computer, finding the desktop program and entering the access code. A roughly translated list of species pops up, and it doesn’t take long for me to find the Venlil. Opening their file I find…an incomplete genome??? They haven’t fully sequenced it??? They’ve done the basics, discovered that the Venlil have 25 pairs of chromosomes, used x ray crystallography to determine the helical structure of their DNA, but not much else. Some genes are mapped, but not all? Many are of unknown origin, having found a gene but not identified the loci, or in some cases, not even the chromosome of origin!! It’s just a list of genes, their names, and their purpose. Strangely enough, the reproductive chromosomes seem to be entirely mapped, meaning that they can do it, they just…haven’t?
W h y????
“This is…patchy. Incomplete. Why?”
An ear drops, “What do you mean: why?”
I press on, “Why don’t you know what a majority of your own genome does? I can understand wanting to isolate genes when studying wild animals but it’d be much more useful to know your entire genome sequence for evolutionary taxonomy and medical research.”
Their tail wags in a sort of shrug, “It’s never really been an issue before. You only really need to know areas that are responsible for genetic diseases after all.”
Wh…yeah but…no? That’s useful, sure, but wouldn’t it be better to know what’s there? “Okay? But…how? How do you figure out genetic diseases and disorders?”
Sansuk simply wiggles their ears dismissively, “DNA just codes for proteins. You take a cell from the source of the disease, say a cardiac disorder: take a heart cell, an artery cell, speh, even cells from veins depending on the problem. You filter the cytoplasm for all proteins in the cell and you do an assay and compare it to an assay of a healthy cell to find which protein is absent, deformed, overactive or otherwise mutated and not behaving as it should. If you want to fix it, you just work backwards and find the codons which code for the protein and find a restriction endonuclease to snip the gene out and put a functional gene in. Then you log the mutation so that others can skip straight to fixing it. There’s no point in sequencing the entire genome of a species unless you plan on going gene to gene figuring out what each one does.”
I find myself slumped over the lab station, forehead resting on my crossed forearms as I physically deflate. Yeah, it makes sense, but where's the curiosity? Where’s the “water is wet” studies to eliminate even tiny levels of uncertainty? Where’s the passion?
I almost give myself whiplash as my head pops up from my slumped position.
I might be stupid.
We have the equipment here to screen shipments coming in and out. I’m in a lab with all the genetics equipment needed for genome sequencing. My job is to literally sequence salads. I could….
I turn around, a little too fast judging by Sansuk’s flinch, “Can I ask? Would you mind if I sequenced your genome? I can ask someone else if you’re uncomfortable with it, but I’m really curious now what an entire venlil genome would entail.”
Their ears pin back, a little uneasy in my sudden change in demeanour, “I…well, I hadn't considered it before. I…sure I suppose. Honestly it’d be nice to play with your human toys anyway.”
They take a step closer before pausing, a frosty whiff of nerves starting to emanate from them, “Wait, it won’t involve blood will it?”
I shake my head, “nah, any somatic cell should do. If you’ve got a comb then wool dander should be easy to use.”
Leaving their station again, Sansuk pads out to their locker to rummage through their things, eventually producing a small travel comb. By the time they’re walking back through the door, I see them running it down their arm, shoulder to paw, methodically- turning it over to get multiple angles and handing it over to me. There’s not a lot, but definitely enough to work with. Tapping it onto a cleaned and empty agar-free petri dish I sort the wool from the dander and place the cells into a fresh digestion solution and let it get to work, leaving it to break down the cell membranes before adding it to a centrifuge to separate out the genetic material from the supernatant. Snip it with some restriction endonucleases into manageable slices, and add it to a PCR machine to magnify the material for study.
Since this isn’t exactly my job, I have to put this on the back burner for now. Leave the sample to the side while I continue to sequence and inspect the import shipments I’m meant to. By the end of my shift I’m finally able to focus on it again, leaving the sample to sequence overnight.
This should be interesting.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Posted Aug 8, 2025, 5:00 PM UTC