OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 632

First

Tread Softly Around Sorcerers

A man showing up at a genetics clinic alone is odd, but the kind of odd you talk about during a snack with coworkers and move on. The business isn’t very busy though so even if he wasn’t carrying a tiny child wrapped up in his own jacket, he would have had plenty of attention by virtue of being the only person in the entrance barring the receptionist. He walks up to the receptionist desk and she puts down the data-slate she was reading from before he gets there and her eyes widen as she sees traceries of vines and roots growing over his formal undershirt.

“I need a DNA test on this child. Look for instabilities first and foremost and then confirm his relation to myself. Finally check him against the files I will provide. They attempted to modify him to match it, physically at least.” He says and she blinks.

“Alright, we’re having a slow day so we should be able to get on this quickly. Just need to get the machines out of standby mode. What are the names I put on the paperwork?” She says as she starts putting in a few sequences and the man takes sa breath.

“I am Brin’Char, those WRETCHES, named this one after my brother. Zull’Char.” He says strangling back his urge to breathe fire as he speaks. He’s carrying something precious. He cannot let his temper control him.

“Oh fire... on it! We’ll do the paperwork afterwards! On it now!” She says standing up and sprinting into the back. Skidding and nearly tripping in her rush to give him what he wants. As he walks around the desk to follow at a sedate pace he can hear her call out. “Turn on the sequences now! We’re in a fucking Bonechewer Movie and he’s PISSED!”

“The benefits of fame.” He notes lightly as he hears some of the workers outright flee. That’s going to slow things down.

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (The Hidden Village, The Dark Forest, Serbow)•-•-•

“Why is it just a partition?” One of the Sorcerer Boys asks Dale as he starts going over the hard drive he’s plugged into his little computer. It was a ‘simple’ thing. Designed for work and not on any network. Just a simple thing in case of hacking needs that Koga The Elder had made one hundred percent certain all of them not only had access to but skill in it’s use. For all that the old man in a younger man’s body liked to play around and pretend that he didn’t have anything even remotely resembling a care in the world he was still one hundred percent a powerful ninja and a straight up professional and figuring out the things you really don’t want him to.

And he was treating them all as his proteges.

“Basically from the way it’s connected the hard drive is being used as a basic data holding brick rather than the main operating system source, and since it’s like that, we’ve bypassed a lot of potential passwords and protections. I can also start futzing with the files externally and... here we go.”

“Order form for... Hey...” The little Sorcerer complains as Dale covers his eyes.

“Not words I want a child to read.”

“I’m a sorcerer! We’re cooler than cool and tougher than tough!”

“Still a little boy. There’s foul language in this, turn around and skedaddle.”

“Aww man...”

“Now tiny.” He orders and the Barlis boy walks off in a huff.

He turns back to the laptop and reads out exactly what kind of changes they’ve made and at who’s behest. There is a pause as he can hear Brin’Char listening to his thoughts on it. Not that he’s keeping the man from it, but it’s still kinda creepy to feel a rage that powerful but that directionless.

“Yeah, sorry. This list matches up almost perfectly with the list of casualties from your last rampage. Except smaller, not all the last batch of Orega Girls were involved in this. These girls are already not only dead and buried, but even the worms that ate them have forgotten them.”

The question of ‘And the cloners?’ echoes across his mind from the still furious sorcerer and Dale starts scanning through the files faster. He reaches several names and he sends a question to The Bright Forest. He gets a list of three people dead and the sensation of tossing up and down a skull that’s been picked clean by vermin.

He lets the sensation out and Brin’Char goes... strange. There is a sense of relief from him, frustration, happiness, grief, another flaring rage that subsides in a moment, disappointment and a sensation of just exhaustion.

Then he can sense an offering from a Bright Sorcerer Child to Brin’Char. And he feels Brin’Char accept.

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Happy Families Gene Clinic, Tala’Than City, Serbow)•-•-•

She lets out a squeak as he suddenly has a red stained skull in his hand. He has his brother/clone or perhaps son tucked under one arm as he glares at the skull. It’s not an Apuk skull. It has no horns and the teeth are wrong.

“Uh sir?” She asks and his gaze turns to her. She tries VERY HARD to not remember the movie marathon she’d seen last week that had been entirely based on this one man’s actions. “It’s ready now. I just need the relevant samples. We will have all the answers you’re looking for in a few minutes barring unexpected delays.”

“Thank you.” He says.

“Please place the first sample onto the scanning orb there. It will be able to get a full genetic reading of the subject without harming them in the span of three seconds.”

The skull vanishes and he then moves with the kind of delicacy and care that... runs completely counter to his truly fearsome reputation. The tiny limp hand of the clone is placed on the sphere and he lets out a slight sound of discomfort and tries to pull it back, but Brin’Char holds it in place with a gentleness that... is stunning.

The machine is thankfully in an automatic state and ready for the entire procedure without further input so a few moments later it has the first scan.

“Thank you, now your own sir, and if you are ready to pass me the data via either email or in some form of data-chit then I can insert that into the machine in short order.” She says and he nods before suddenly having a data-chit between his fingers that he hands to her. She takes it with a nod before stepping to the attached computer and plugging it in even as Brin’Char lets his own genetic code be read out.

The Data-Chit thankfully isn’t being used for anything but holding this singular file so she doesn’t have to root through private information and potentially find something that sets off the organization level explosive in the room with her.

“Okay, all data entered. We just have to let the programs play things out and we’ll have our answers in short order.”

“How quickly will...” Brin’Char begins to ask when a light chime cuts him off.

“Initial scan for the dangerous genetic defects based around cloning are clear. The child is not experiencing accelerated aging and the only alert I’m getting is that with clones this fresh you need to be easy on them as they generally do not have the muscle conditioning of fully natural counterparts. And tire far more easily than others at their developmental stage, to say nothing just not being as capable, for a time.”

“I understand.”

“Genetic code seems stable, nothing off of the acceptable Apuk Baseline, but within that there are a few potential points of concern and... a tendency to get tail flakes?”

“Familial issue, daily scale oil clears it up.” Brin’Char says and she spares him a glance. His presence never changed but... at the same time it changed completely. She has no words for it. The air around the man is the same but... it’s backed off more or less.

“Right, well that’s basic health of the child. He’s going to have a good long life with few medical complications. A tendency towards slight heart issues, but only at an advanced age. Regular healing comas should ensure he never even notices.”

“Noted.”

“Alright, now... it’s nearly done it’s comparison to your own sample sir and... three two... there we go... Yes. You are the baseline material and the places of deviation are very... very focused around the face. That’s odd. And picky.”

“They tried to replicate my fraternal twin.” Brin’Char says and she nods.

“Well... it looks like they wanted... hang on this is... in the cheeks and eye colour?”

“Two of the biggest differences between Zull’Char and myself was a slight difference in head shape and eyes. But not colour and not in the cheeks. Zull’Char had a more prominent chin with a slight dimple and a slightly different shape around the eyes. The colour was identical. We shared our hair, skin and eyes. It was our bones that we differed, ever so slightly.”

“Oh.”

“He also had all his toes together. It was strange. There is a gap between my large toe and the rest and Zull did not have it.” The Ancient Killer reminisces about a person he lost centuries ago as a child. She can only stare.

“Will you need me to go over the third data-point sir? It’s fairly clear the child was cloned from you and only modelled after your brother, badly, from your own recollections.”

“Yes, I would like certainty.” Brin’Char says and she nods before bringing up the data comparisons and running an algorithm to quickly sort out the differences.

“This is very old data and the information was taken with much more primitive tools. The file has had it’s type changed several times.”

“You’re using tools and techniques that didn’t exist when I took the scan. The... source has long decayed.” Brin’Char admits.

“Alright, I was just explaining why it was stuttering a bit sir.” She says and he nods. “And we’re done anyways. Get the programmer a steak, they know their stuff.”

“... Hmm...”

“Yes?”

“... The slight offsets are... confusing me.”

“How so?”

“... I don’t want to question you and your memory oh ancient and terrible sorcerer. But... the data says that the child is nearly as close to the sample as they are to you, and you are clearly the baseline.”

“Meaning?”

“The modifications appear to be accurate. And based off what’s already in your family.” She says and then can feel the Axiom move strangely through his head as small vines and leaves poke out of his hair as she stares and then nods.

“Hmm... yes and no. This one’s face is halfway between my own and Zull. But slight imperfections. Ever so slight.”

“Sir, with all due respect, if you can recall your brother’s face so clearly then why did you need me to confirm?”

“I prefer certainty.” Brin’Char says before nodding. She then unplugs the data-chit and holds it out to him. It simply vanishes from her palm with a distant sensation of Axiom and she pulls her hand back as if trying to dodge an attack. “I will not hurt you. You have done well. I will pay in full for these services and at a premium price.”

After that she quickly deletes the data as per their privacy policy and they both head back to the front to fill out the paperwork. It goes smoothly and he hands over his entire wallet for her to extract the digital payment when the child in his arms stirs. They both go still as the tiny Apuk squirms awake and opens his eyes. Eyes identical to the one holding him.

He looks first to her and blinks in confusion. “Who... what?”

He turns and look Brin’Char in his face. “Brother? You got old.”

“Zull?” Brin’Char asks.

“Yeah, when did you get so big?”

“Zull’Char?” Brin’Char asks.

“What’s going on? Why is my throat all squishy?” The boy asks.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Brin’Char asks as The Receptionist busies herself and looks away by processing the payment and mentally curses as it’s done instantly. Why must technology be so swift and convenient? She was trying to dodge a deadly awkward situation. Potentially literally!

“Uh... we were hanging out just outside our home village and uh... it... gets blurry?”

“And what was it called?” Brin’Char asks.

“You forgot?” Zull’Char accuses him.

“No, did you?” He volleys it back and Zull looks stunned. Then contemplative. Then upset.

“I dunno!”

“I thought not.” Brin’Char notes. “Excuse me miss, this is where things get... strange.”

Then he is gone with a strange echoing teleport. The power was not from here and the Axiom in the area was more disturbed by two people no longer being here than the full on teleport that just happened. Just another oddity to Sorcerers and their ways.

“Uh... if you can still hear me, you forgot...” She begins to say holding up his wallet and it teleports away between her fingers. “Bullshit! There was no Khutha in that thing!”

Then, right in front of her eyes. There is a small stack of credit disks on the counter. Three pieces of Khutha and a hand written note of apology for the scare. She just stares at it. The Khutha in the coins disrupted the Axiom more than them teleporting there.

“Fucking Sorcerers.” She says before leaning back in her chair and then chuckling. “Looks like I’m background girl number whatever in the next step of The Bonechewer Saga. Thank fire! I do not want to be in the roll of the victim.”

First Last