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Chapter Text

"Xenogenesis - TheFatRat" by BubbaEkad

Genetics Lab, Capital, Proxima B

Journal Entry - Day 1000 of Project Xenogenesis

1000th Day Summary - Cumulative Review

Macy walked into the lab, carrying a bottle of liquefied proxinite.

That was the name of the mineral, the mineral that worked wonders on our body. The mineral that Earth, centuries ago, had chosen to send our ancestors to this planet to obtain. The same mineral that turned some of us into fast healers, some of us into agile athletes, some of us into prodigies. However, the greatest perks of proxinite were longevity and increased immune strength. I was blessed with many of those perks, including longevity, agility, and intelligence. Due to my slightly different gene traits, I was also blessed with great looks. Due to those improvements, the colonial government assigned me to study the properties of proxinite, to figure out the science. I accomplished that ages ago. It increases the metabolism efficiency of the body by acting as a catalyst for some chemical reactions. It triggers a response to create more specific cells, but assists in the preservation of telomeres, enhancing human longevity by a whole century. Today is my hundred-and-tenth birthday, the thousandth day of the project, and from Earth records, I look like a thirty-year-old.

Macy and I were married for around twenty years now. She was the first woman I had a relationship with that had similar perks as mine, and we were the best research team in the planet. We recently had triplets, two boys and a girl. We named them Andy, Jay, and Laura. We loved them; we would give our lives for them. Except, they were still single cells. Macy harvested three of her ovum, throughout three months. I fertilized them, not sexually, using frozen samples of my sperm, generated from pieces of my DNA. We froze the cells in a cryosleep pod, the same technology used to bring our progenitors here. Unimaginable technology for Earth, not for us.

Writing about Earth, we lost all contact with it in around a century ago. More accurately, 2.17 Earth centuries I believe. A century is around two Earth centuries here. The theories run rampant still, but we are independent. We do not need Earth. The most reliable theory was that there was a nuclear war or an explosion in the fusion reactor located in the "Pacific Ocean," wherever that was.

I digress. The government assigned us to a new branch of study, integrating proxinite to a newborn. We were to conduct genetic experiments on living organisms, except before they were born. On single cells at first, then to multicellular organisms like Earth mice, Earth monkeys. We had thousands of those embryos from containment zoos, which shut down around ten years ago.

They worked. We were able to encode a gene to create proxinite in a liquid form.

The liquid proxinite Macy brought in was created from a strain of Escherichia coli, a matter of merely inserting the gene into the nucleus. The reproduction system would take care of the rest; the bacteria would automatically copy that gene when replicating.

We generated around a liter of liquid proxinite when we supplied the bacterial colony with enough materials. The colony then died off, due to the stress from all the additional production.

We automated the process and can generate around a thousand liters of liquid proxinite a day. That amount goes straight into our food products and is advertised throughout the planet.

Macy wanted to move on to the mice and monkeys.

I agreed. We built a signaling gene for the proxinite production gene, effectively allowing the brain to choose when to produce the proxinite. The body had to use the proxinite, so we had to redesign lymph nodes also to transfer low concentrations of the mineral. It was tricky, but in the end, the cells in the lymph nodes would produce proxinite and transport it through the body.

We inserted the gene to a single cell embryo of the mice. We forgot about the gene expression, and the first experiments died off within a week. We modified the expression gene, and the newborn mice seemed to be much healthier than the control groups. The mice lived twice as longer than the control group, and we deemed the mice experiment as a success.

We moved on to monkeys. It took much longer to compare the monkeys, but it seemed that the monkeys had gained massive intelligence, not close to an adult human, but close enough that we could deem them a five-year-old human. They had an IQ of around 83. The males had visibly stronger muscles, while the females were sleeker, which for some reason fits the human conception.

It was time for humans. We did not have any volunteers. The government tried to pay some citizens but failed. That was why we created Andy, Jay, and Laura. I'd rather see those triplets live though, so we made sure the modifications would not harm any human processes. We injected the genes into the nuclei of our three children.

The results were devastating. Andy failed to recover from the injection. Not the gene, the needle. Andy fell apart and died. Jay did better, but the cells were lined with proxinite, the membrane, the nucleus, the organelles, everything. It was a failure. Jay suffered a similar fate to Andy, and it was a crushing blow. The days were too slow when we were mourning their deaths. Macy tried to leave the project altogether but was threatened by the government with death.

Our only option was to continue. We noted that the expression of genes in humans was much more complicated than the other animals. Humans had a strong liking towards looks and intelligence, and we decided to use gene modification techniques to make sure Laura would be as intelligent as we were, or more. As pretty as Macy. As agile as me. From birth, without any proxinite.

This is what we will test on Laura tomorrow. We tested that the "modified modifications" worked on the animals, and retired to our quarters for the night.

Genetics Lab, Capital, Proxima B

Journal Entry - Day 1001 of Project Xenogenesis

1001st Day Recording - Human Testing Success

 Andrew: "Macy, can you bring the nanoscope? And I am not going to be using my hands, they are way too shaky this morning." 

 Macy: "Sure, guess I will do the honors."

 Andrew: "Steady, steady, come on..."

 Macy: "Shut up, Andrew! I got this! Don't make me talk, that causes vibrations!"

 Andrew: "..."

 Macy: "It is done. Let's monitor how Laura grows. The cell duplication process has started, Laura has passed the 4 cells stage already."

 Andrew: "Go get some rest. I know you weren't able to sleep last night. I will take care of Laura."

 Macy: "Thanks."

18 Hours Later

 Andrew: "Hey, little gal, Macy and I named you Laura. You made it past the sixteen cells stage. You seem to be in perfect health."

Unintelligible Sounds: Possibly Crying? No Sad Emotions Detected, Possibility Below Twenty

 Macy: "How's Laura?"

 Andrew: "You're back! She made it past the thirty-two cells stage. I think she will make it."

 Macy: "Let me pour you a drink."

 Andrew: "For Laura."

 Macy: "For Laura."

Genetics Lab, Capital, Proxima B

Journal Entry - Day 1050 of Project Xenogenesis

1050th Day Recording - Fetus

 Macy: "Andrew! We can now officially say, Laura is alive!"

 Andrew: "Let me see!"

 Andrew: "I wonder if she will react to light."

 Macy: "Don't you dare."

 Andrew: "I'm just joking!"

Emergency Broadcast - "Unauthorized Access Into Research Facility" 

 Andrew: "What the hell?"

 Macy: "DOWN!"

Embryo Growth Chamber Removed From Socket

 Macy - Low Volume: "Keep our child safe, Andrew."

 Andrew: "No, no, don't you dare, no, NO"

High Energy Levels Detected

Distress Calls Made, Researcher Macy Vital Signals Offline

Distress Call Removed By HQ

Emergency Broadcast Cleared

 Andrew - Low Volume: "We have to get out of here, Laura."

Elevator Directed to Shuttle

Movement Detected Near Shuttle Airlock

Shuttle Airlock Opened, Highest Access Granted

Unknown Object Inserted In Main CryoSleep Pod

Name Received: Laura

CryoSleep Pod Reconfigured

CryoSleep Pod Activation Date: 240 Days

CryoSleep Pod Nutrients Active

Airlock Closed

 Andrew: "What do you mean I can't set the course here? Why the hell is the control panel outside the shuttle?"

Control Terminal - Shuttle Exhaust: Shuttle Course Set To Planet Wolf1061c

Shuttle Launch Initiated

 Andrew: "Goodbye, Laura."

Shuttle Engine Powered: Liftoff in 7 Seconds

Shuttle Heat/Plasma Shield Online

 Intruder: "Hands on your head, NOW!"

Detecting Death Signals From Five Personnel

Massive Energy Levels Detected

Researcher Andrew Vital Signals Diminish

Shuttle Launched

 Andrew: "Rain down flames upon us all."

Detecting Death Signals from Twenty Personnel

Researcher Andrew Vital Signals Offline

Cause Of Death: Excessive Heat Exposure, Likely Cause: Rocket Exhaust

Shuttle Reached Stratosphere

Shuttle Reached Space

Shuttle Course Aligned To Wolf1061c

Detaching Boosters

Secondary Engine Active

Shuttle Out Of Orbit

Shuttle Out Of Reach

Chapter Text

I slowly woke up, figuring out my bearings, and realized that it was only 06 hours, I still had another hour of sleep before the dining hall opened. I could never go back to sleep, so I simply got dressed and checked the schedule for today. I opened my laptop and made sure all my homework was in order. Glancing at the clock, I realized that I still had around half an hour, so I decided to hop on the chat. I was the only one online. Today would be my first day in the advanced division.

Having insomnia was terrible. I went to sleep with the prick of a needle. I set the dosage to how much sleep I would need, around ten milliliters for six hours. I always woke up after five. I was diagnosed with insomnia since I was born, how I was never tired, how I didn't have dark circles under my eyes, how I didn't have organ complications, all of that was a mystery to the doctors. They monitored me heavily, but when they realized my "genius potential," they sent me to the Academy.

My parents created the shield. The shield we live in now. The shield that blocks everything. The shield that shields us. The shield that traps us inside this country, the shield that caused massive atmospherical complications, the shield that destroyed twenty-three nuclear bombs; The shield that never let radiation through. They kept my identity secret. They did not tell the doctors until the doctors found out. They wanted me to be "safe." They put me in "house arrest."

The doctors decided that they couldn't let the child of two prodigies go to waste. Against my parents' will, they enlisted me into the Academy. If I graduated from the advanced division, I would be promised a future as a researcher, instead of being forced to farm crops in the farmlands. They bypassed my parents and asked me directly. I said yes. They "shipped" me off into the Examination State, and tested for my IQ. I do not know my score, but they seemed to be puzzled, they ran the test again and again and again. They put me as a "record", from what I could overhear.