by L K Hingey
It was during this lesson that the human children developed a nickname for the Auroreans. The students were not necessarily being mean; they were being kids trying to understand a very adult concept. The humans started to call the Auroras the grafted. The nickname stuck, and so did a rudimentary understanding of how the scientists had pulled off the DNA grafting of such starkly different lifeforms. Of the three, the genome that was the most critical to the tri-fusion was that of the tardigrade.
Under a microscope, this animal was unexpectedly cute. Though it may have inspired coos and awes when magnified, knowledge of its resilience to the elements would make one forget about its appearance entirely. The tardigrade was the most incredible animal ever discovered on planet Earth, and scientists had been studying it for hundreds of years trying to better understand it. The first tardigrade had been identified by a German pastor in 1773. He described it as a “little water bear” and was fascinated by its unbelievable hardiness.
The study was later picked up by an Italian clergyman who named the microscopic creatures “il tardigrado” meaning “slow-stepper.” Despite their slow movement patterns these tiny animals proved to be remarkable. Tardigrades could be removed from water for years, going into dormant and dehydrated hibernations. Then, upon rehydration they would regain complete viability.
The same thing happened when the tardigrades were frozen. Even after decades, the tiny animals would not only come back to life, but they could still procreate. More tests were done. Eventually, Man conquered space and took the tardigrade species with him. The spineless creatures survived conditions so austere, they earned a place in history. They were the first animals known to have survived the vacuum of space.
When researchers started to dissect the tardigrade DNA, they found the key to Man’s salvation without even knowing it. In the 21st century, the scientists identified the specific biological properties that enabled the little invertebrates to repair damage incurred at the cellular level. This included significant damage caused by radiation. The tardigrade naturally possesses extra copies of healing genes, continually repairing itself from the inside out. The holy grail of biological evolution had been found and only a century separated this discovery from the first successful grafting of tardigrade DNA to another lifeform’s DNA.
All this discovery had happened long before Elyria slammed into the sun. Scientists had succeeded in fusing the tardigrade genome with single-celled organisms and were progressing towards more complex animals. Step by step, Man was building itself a life raft. Then, during the war, much of what had once been published as public knowledge became classified. After the big impact, and then the birth of the Bureau, any hope to bring genetic research out from the shadows was abandoned.
Grafting tardigrade DNA straight to human DNA must have had proven difficult, if not impossible, because the only reports leaked to the public over the years were breakthroughs on splicing tardigrade DNA with a snake’s DNA. Kimber, along with the rest of the world, was left to guess how the scientists had later pulled off merging the spliced reptilian-tardigrade DNA with human DNA. Despite the doubt and confusion, the Auroras were proof that whatever the scientists at the Bureau had done, had worked.
Now, since there were no more labs and no more scientists with the resources to graft more embryos, the only hope for this crucial DNA to continue was through natural reproduction. Kimber saw the quandary the council was in. She wanted to believe that they were good people forced into making hard decisions. They had the welfare of an entire city to consider and humanity could not survive without the Auroras.
Sure, humans had adapted to living underground and could continue to do so for a period of time. The top botanists and genetic scientists had developed ways to sustain Inanna’s small population. The engineers had designed the community by hand and had learned to use every resource to its fullest potential. Educators and families had successfully raised the dozens of orphans brought into the city. But what would happen when the stockpiles of fuel were spent? What would happen if a blight occurred and the crops became diseased? What would happen when the medicine ran out?
The Auroras were the link between humans and the resources above ground. Although the radiation had long since killed anything living on the surface, there were still resources that could help sustain life underground for hundreds of years. The goal was for humanity to outlast the damaged biosphere and to live above ground again when the planet started to right itself. That, or in many generations after the Aurorean genome stabilized, humans and Auroras could become one race and everyone would be free to walk the Earth again.
Kimber felt bad for the humans. She had spent most of her life feeling like an outsider amongst them, or worse, a monster. Now she just pitied them. The humans had given twenty-three children the gift of freedom from the dark caves, and she was one of those lucky few. The grafted may have been born with scales, but they were also born with DNA that could repair itself. The deadly radiation above the caverns did not hurt her at all.
While the Auroreans freely walked the scorched surface, the humans walked the underground dreaming of the day the Earth returned to a livable habitat. Deep down, she knew that the human race would perish long before the atmosphere corrected itself enough to support the fragility of human life. In short, as a species, humans were damned. Kimber knew that the crusade for intelligent life was borne solely by her and her twenty-two brothers and sisters.
Breaking out of her dense cloud of thought, Kimber asked, “Mother, did you happen to hear how long they want the genetic lines to stay undiluted for?”
“How long?” came the quiet response. “For many generations, Kimber. Until the Aurorean population grows enough to allow for experimentation with mixed offspring.” Kimber thought of Caleb, and she blushed knowing her mother was reading her like a book. In an unexpectedly solemn tone Kimberly added, “...and I don’t know what the council would do with an Aurorean-human child if it did happen now.”
This caught Kimber off guard and she almost dropped her rock she jerked up so fast. “You’re not saying- they wouldn’t-” she stammered, “-what do you think the council would do?”
“Shh, darling. Come sit closer to me, I’m cold.” Her mother reached for Kimber’s knee.
Kimber’s mind was reeling, but she listened and moved closer to Kimberly, snuggling under her mother’s shawl. Her mother’s warmth immediately soothed her. Kimber knew that her mother was not really asking Kimber to help warm her. They were both keenly aware that the cool-blooded nature of the Auroras was capable only of absorbing the warmth from humans. Her mother was just doing her best to protect her daughter.
As things got tenser over the preceding five years, several altercations had broken out between the council and the Auroreans, as well as with the Mothers. In the past the council had always shown great respect towards the Mothers, but as of late, they had been treating their wisdoms like general annoyances. As restrictions on the Auroras tightened, only the Mothers intervened. From the rigid training schedules to the segregation of the species, the Mothers had voiced more than once that if the council exercised too much control, it may bring the delicate system to its knees.
Kimber thought back to the surface. Since the Auroras had been conducting surface excursions for years, they understood the concept of seasons. Down here in the caverns there was only one season. The conditions stayed damp and cool. It was never frigid, and it was never warm. On the surface though, the winter season was marked by volatile temperatures and intensified sandstorms.
If the council and the Auroras did have an irreconcilable dispute, the Auroras would most likely head to the surface to plan out a course of action in meetings of their own. Of course, both sides would simply be trying to exert their dominance, and before too long, Kimber figured a resolution would be agreed upon. That was her hope at least. It did no good for any of them to be fighting, especially during the winter months.
Kimber was not afraid of the surface this time
of year, but she knew of the dangers that could pop up without warning, and she respected them. The Auroras could be a stubborn lot, and Kimber had no idea how long they may try to stay up on the surface should tensions rise. As they collectively came into their twenties, the Auroreans had started to put their scaly feet down in resistance to having every moment of their lives pre-planned. Duty was understood. But control akin to slavery, would not be tolerated for much longer.
“Kimber,” her mother started softly. “There are some things I need to tell you about the Bureau.” Kimber’s focus snapped immediately back to their subterranean surroundings, and she cocked her head in surprise. There were a few things her mother never discussed. One of them being the Bureau of Race Preservation.
Chapter III
Kimber’s heart was racing as her mother sighed and shifted in her seat. She looked as uncomfortable as Kimber felt, and for good reason. Not only had they already discussed some extremely sensitive information, but the Bureau of Race Preservation was the only topic her mother had ever really refused to discuss with Kimber. With a note of apology in her voice, Kimberly eased her daughter back into the conversation that neither of them wanted to have. “The council has hidden a lot of what the Bureau was responsible for from our people for a very long time. I need you to listen, and I need you to remember this for when I leave you.”
Kimber’s throat closed. Her mother was losing her eyesight, not dying… right? Why was she speaking like this? Kimber was on pins and needles, but she did her best to swallow her rising panic and listen.
“After Elyria hit the sun, the astronomers of the age knew it was only a matter of time before newly introduced Elyrian elements would begin to break down in the sun’s core, causing unpredictable instability. That was the real reason the Bureau was formed, and they were...” Kimberly paused searching for the right words. “They were aggressive in their research. An event like the Flare was anticipated, they just didn’t know if it would be twenty years, or two hundred years, after the impact. The public never knew. And the government gave free reign to the Bureau to do whatever it took to protect us as a species from the next cosmic event.”
Kimber waited in mild impatience. She already knew most of what her mother was telling her, except that the Flare had been forecasted. Even that seemed logical enough, though. Kimberly continued. “The Bureau’s research was highly classified. Even the location of their facility was top-secret. No one, under the penalty of death, was authorized to disclose the secrets of what went on down there.”
Down there? Kimber did not miss a beat and her mother noticed the nearly undetectable flinch in Kimber’s body.
“I need you to understand something, Kimber.” Her mother was very serious now and there was an unusual note of apprehension in her voice. “We had taken vows to protect intelligent life. What we did we were told was for the greater good. And the government wasn’t necessarily that far off base...” Kimberly’s voice trailed off painfully. She cleared her throat and pressed on. “The experiments had begun long before I was hired on... and I promise I fought them. I fought for the rights of the embryos and for the children. The Bureau would tell us that with every failed test, though unfortunate, we were closer to ensuring the preservation of our DNA.”
Kimber sat in horrified silence. She did not need any reminder to keep still and to let the information process. That was all she could do now. She felt numb all over as she listened. She had never known her mother had been involved with the Bureau. Kimber had always known that her mother was intelligent but not that she had been one of the top scientists working in the world’s most secret organization.
“The Bureau had a lot of faults, but stupidity was not one of them,” Kimberly said softly.
Oh good, so being smart authorized them to be cruel, thought Kimber bitterly, her jaw remaining glued shut.
“The council likes to pretend, and some of them sincerely don’t know any better, that we were the only planned survival city.”
Kimber’s mind was on fire. First her mother tells her that she had had insider knowledge on the Bureau the entire time Kimber had been alive, and now there could be other cities like Inanna?
This was a lot to process. Kimber started to get up to pace around the smoldering coals, but Kimberly pulled her back down in a pleading whisper. “I need you to try to not react. The council may suspect that I would eventually tell you what I know. They have most likely been interested in you for a while now.” Kimber’s brow furrowed in thought. She had a million questions and didn’t even know where to start.
“I have been considering the rapid loss of my eyesight,” Kimberly began matter-of-factly, “and my mind, which is nowhere near as sharp as it used to be, tells me the onset and severity is abnormal. I don’t think it’s coincidence that my sickness is growing at the same rate as the tension in the government is.”
Feebly Kimber stuttered out a reply. “But, it’s… it’s just your eyes, right? You can live a long healthy life without eyesight.”
Kimberly smiled her same patient smile and shut her eyes. Even while on the topic of her own death, her mother’s serenity astounded Kimber. “There is a pain, my love. A pressure that occupies the space beneath my forehead. I can feel the balance between my body and my mind is off, as if something is consuming me. I have made peace with it, but I fear for you. All mothers want to protect their babies, and if I cannot,” she paused and took Kimber’s hands in hers, “that will be my biggest failure of all.”
They both knew if Kimberly progressed much deeper into sickness, the science sector would terminate her suffering. Resources were in too short of supply. They also knew that the Auroras were not to be taken from their duties even in the event of a familial loss. The council had never tried to hide this fact, designing the isolation into the development of independence of the Aurorean youth. It was all planned out, just as the estrangement from the Mothers had been.
The parental distancing had begun at the age of ten, when the Auroreans were relocated from their individual homes to the Aurorean male and female dens. The estrangement was then completed following the Aurora’s baptism upon the Earth’s surface at the age of fifteen. An impromptu visitation ban, put in place to prevent potential surface-radiation seepage from the Auroras into their vulnerable mothers, served as the proclamation prohibiting further contact. Kimber had begun to steal into the Chamber of the Mothers almost right away but was always careful to only sneak in during her sheds when no one was paying much attention.
“You haven’t failed at anything, Mother,” Kimber said slowly, tears starting to build.
Kimberly opened her eyes and looked straight at her daughter. “I will have failed if I let pride stop me from telling you about the council’s past... about my past. And if no one knows where to uncover the evidence of the events that got us here, then I fear our future… a future in which our two species were designed to coexist, may be lost to conflict.”
Kimberly sighed deeply. “I told myself for twenty years that the path into a happy and sustainable future was to forgive and forget, to abide by the council’s grand scheme. But, in light of the directions that our two peoples are taking, I’m not so sure.”
She paused for emphasis before continuing. “All I am sure of now, is that although forgiveness is more important than ever, perhaps we should not forget as readily.” Kimber had listened to her mother’s advice for years, but always with the ears of a child. She felt a sudden clarity, as if she were understanding Kimberly’s words for the first time as an adult.
“I have seen humans commit crimes of the deepest nature and have had to live with it every day of my life,” Kimberly continued. “I myself have committed crimes that I can’t stop seeing, even in my growing darkness. But those actions gave me you, and I would not trade you for a hundred stable suns. Forgiveness is difficult, and sometimes proves to be impossible, but harboring hatred, even self-hatred, is a choice. A choice that poisons a piece of one’s soul, and if left to fe
ster, spreads like a disease.”
With that, Kimberly went silent, giving Kimber time to ruminate. They sat quietly, cuddled together as the embers grew low. Before speaking, Kimber placed her rock back into the fire. In all the excitement, she had not noticed how much her mother was shivering. She knew her body was sapping the heat from her mother’s, so Kimber needed to warm herself in order to warm Kimberly. She wished she could prepare a lavarock for her mother, but the fragile skin of humans could not handle such direct heat.
“How- where- did the council bury all their secrets? And how do I find them without being found out? Will anyone even believe me?” Kimber asked. She was trying to focus on the substantial worries of the impending future, but her mind kept drifting back to Caleb. Could she tell him any of this? If the Auroras did decide to live on the surface for a while, should she even say goodbye?
Kimber ignored her own juvenile thoughts and tried to stay concentrated on what her mother was suggesting she do. “Should I tell the Auroras what you told me, or will their anger blind them from reaching any resolution with the council? What if a resolution is made today and there is no need for any of this? And could there really be another city out there with life?” Kimber wasn’t expecting answers to her onslaught of questions; she just had to get them off her chest.
Some questions Kimber could not even put into words. Would the Mothers be punished if a quarrel of the species broke out and the Auroras boycotted Inanna? What would happen to Caleb? Kimberly said nothing and just held Kimber’s hands. Still lost in thought, Kimber reached into what was left of the embers and pulled her rock out. She placed it into her new sleeve and held it in her lap.