Chapter No. 28 Mark of the Beast

Eric hurried to the edge of the holding tank so that he could observe his wife observing the three creatures doing what they enjoyed doing the most: sitting on rocks. One of the adults was brushing the juvenile's hair with a comb deftly created from small fish bones. The other adult was engrossed in an activity that appeared to be some form of grooming--or parasite removal; it was rubbing its arms and shoulders, splashing water on itself, polishing its skin to a velvety sheen.

When he squatted down, his wife swam over to him, and the three creatures stopped what they were doing, slithered down from their rocky perches, and swam over to her.

"How are you and your three buddies getting along?"

"Fine!" she said with more enthusiasm then he had expected. "They seem to be content. I'm not sure that they're happy. It's hard to tell."

"I can imagine."

She titled her head and grinned.

Her husband grinned back. "What?"

"I've been teaching them," she said with a proud thrust of her jaw.

"What's that?"

Margaret turned to the two adults. "Ok, you two. Say hello to the gentleman."

They turned in unison to stare at Eric. "Hi Man. Hi." Their words sounded melodic and high pitched, as if they were singing, and they punctuated their words with clicks.

Margaret pointed at herself. "And, what am I called?"

"Woo-man," they replied in unison.

"And, what are you called?" she asked, pointing at them.

"Sea Woo-man."

Margaret looked up at her husband with a smile of accomplishment. "How about that!"

Eric smiled back at her, but his smile was tempered by amazement. He marveled at what his wife had accomplished, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

One of the creatures extended its arm up to him. "Man like Sea Woo-man?"

Eric's face froze in shock for several seconds before he regained his composure. "Oh, yes. Man likes Sea Woman."

Margaret was perplexed. "I didn't teach her to say that," she said in a squeaky whisper.

Eric and his wife stared at each other.

"Maybe these creatures know more than we think they do," Margaret finally said, still staring into her husband's eyes.

Eric broke his gaze to look at the creature that had just vocalized. "Whatever that means."

Dr. Stevens walked briskly over to the little social group, but he seemed more agitated--at least for him.

"What's going on, folks?"

Margaret flashed a coy smile at him and then pointed at him while turning to one of the adults. "Say hello."

"Hi, Man. Hi." they intoned.

George's face relaxed from its usual stoic scowl. "You've been teaching them to mimic, I see."

"It's a lot more than mimicry, George," Eric said, sounding a bit ominous.

Stevens looked at Eric with a puzzled expression, but he didn't question him.

"Say," he said to Margaret, "Dr. Anderson would like to see if we could run some tests on one of these creatures. We need to know more about their physiology if we're going to preserve their lives."

Margaret's face blanked for a few seconds before she looked over the three creatures lined up beside her in the water.

"I don't know," she said without turning around. "I think one of them is pregnant."

George's face exhibited surprise. Eric simply smiled.

"How do you know?" Stevens asked.

"Well, they've been rather nervous of late, and I've noticed that one of them shows signs of lactation. Her areolas have darkened and her nipples appear more erect than normal." She looked back up at the two men and grinned. "Hell, they're hard enough to punch holes through a steel plate."

"Good heavens, Love, you sure have a sixth sense when it comes to these creatures."

"I wonder how she became pregnant," George said with a soft voice, his eyes trying to discern the answer from a distant gaze before he looked down at Margaret. "This would provide a marvelous opportunity to . . . if you could get one of them to submit to tests."

Margaret looked at George and her husband, as if she were soliciting their advice. Instead of waiting on their thoughts, she turned to the two adults.

"We want to look at you with our machines. We have to take you inside our building. Do we have permission to do this?"

The two adults began singing in variable high frequency vocalizations with a smattering of clicks and whistles. After a few minute of agitated communication, one of the adults turned to Margaret.

"I will do it, Mar-ga-reet. Take me."

George staggered back and held on to the railing next to the tank ledge. "Oh, my Lord!"

"Amen to that," Eric said.

"I'm not going to speculate on what I've just heard," Stevens said, holding both hands to his face. "It's way out of my expertise." He turned to walk away but paused. "I'll tell Anderson that we'll be able to do some tests . . . Yes, I'll tell him."

He walked away very slowly, turning around occasionally to look back.

Beaming with pride, Eric looked at his wife. "I'll give you credit, Love. You have accomplished something that I didn't believe was possible."

"They've progressed much faster than I thought they would. There's more going on here than meets the eye . . . or in this case, the ear."

Her husband rubbed his beard. "Indeed."

###

Julius Stram softly walked up behind his wife as if he were a thief. She never heard him. She was hunched over a binocular microscope intently manipulating delicate nanometer positioning tools as if she were in rapture.

When her husband bent over to get a better view of what she was doing, she felt his breath on her neck.

"Do not bump me, Julie. I am nearly done with a difficult insemination."

He straightened up. "And what are you trying to inseminate, my Pet?"

"I'm trying to impregnate a Cymnophiona egg with Phocoenoides sperm."

He raised his heavy eyebrows. "Why would you use a Caecillan? They are limbless and have vestigial eyes."

She straightened up and turned to stare into his wide-open eyes. "That is precisely why I did. Since the Caecillans have no limbs, I can transmute their genes to produce the appendages I desire."

"But the Phocoenoides is a simple porpoise. It has no prehensile appendages."

"That is true. But, I've inserted human DNA into the sperm. It will do the work for me."

He smiled and stroked her hair. "You are as cleaver as ever, my Pet."

She tilted her head into his caress, allowing his hand to rub the side of her face and encouraging his caress by kissing his hand.

He gave her a thin smile, trying to avoid diverting her from her work.

His effort failed. She licked her lips. "I need a back rub, Julie. My muscles are tight of late. I've been working hard." She smiled. "In fact, all my muscles need your proficient probing. Your strong fingers are very relaxing."

"If it makes you happy, I will do it, my Pet."

She stood up and began to unbutton her blouse.

"The lab is inappropriate for a massage, my Pet," he said, restraining her hand. "We should retire to our quarters."

She gave him a scolding look, but a smile remained on her lips. "The location is irrelevant. The relief of my aches is the immediate concern."

"I would think that you would be concerned about your modesty. I believe Franklin is still around."

"Do not concern yourself, Julie. Franklin has seen me without clothing."

He raised his bushy eyebrows higher than usual.

She cackled. "You're jealous; I'm flattered."

His brow wrinkled.

"You needn't worry, Julie. Franklin has no interest in me. He just happened to be in the corridor when I was on my way to the solarium."

"You should wear a robe, my Pet."

She exploded with her usual gravely laugh. "What good would it do? I prefer to sun myself in my birthday suit. If Franklin, or anyone else for that matter, wanted to see me without clothing, encountering me in the corridor is irrelevant."

"You're right as usual, my Pet. But, are you sure that your experiment is secure?"
She immediately bent over the microscope. "Forgive my foolishness. I will be up as soon as I finish."

"I will be prepared for you, my Pet."

He left his wife to her work. His pleasure was secondary to the project, and he rebuked himself for disturbing her. Her passion for work was an asset that he valued most. As a matter of fact, she inhaled work as if it were oxygen and she was not easily deterred from her passion. Only the passion of pain had that primal power over her.

###

As she watched the non-pregnant adult being wheeled down the hallway on a gurney with its lower aquatic torso wrapped in wet towels, Margaret's eyes mirrored her inner anxiety. She was having second thoughts about allowing the Institute scientists to probe one of her buddies. If the creature suffered any pain, would it blame her? She did not want that to happen. No way.

She nervously followed the progress of two technicians who were carefully maneuvering the gurney into the Institute's main imaging lab. They kept looking at their bizarre passenger with awe-stricken eyes.

Dr. Joseph Delvin, an expert on comparative anatomy, was the first scientist to approach the creature. A tall lanky man in his forties, he's considered one of the world's foremost African American scientists. He pushed his thick-rimmed glasses up on his nose, scratched his close-cropped gray hair, and then slowly and deliberately examined the creature's body without comment, probing and feeling, looking closely, and stepping back for an overall view.

He finally looked up and scanned the faces of the assembled scientists: the Hauptman's, Stevens, Conners, Wang, and two technicians.

His face reflected superiority. "I'm surprised that no one has mentioned an obvious anatomical anomaly. It's the most important indication of a viviparous mammal."

Silence. Lots of puzzled looks.

"Good grief," Eric struck his forehead with his hand. "How could I be so unobservant!"
The other scientists stared blankly at him and then at the creature.

Eric's face reflected satisfaction. "Don't you see? It doesn't have an umbilicus."

"What the hell kind of mammal is this?" Conners' face was screwed with frustration. "It doesn't have an umbilicus, it doesn't have a vagina, but it has breasts. I don't get it."

"It's not a placental mammal," Delvin said.

"Obviously," Stevens added.

"What is it then?" Conners asked, "A Marsupial? A Monotreme?"

Delvin shook his head. "I doubt it." He stuck his hands in the pockets of his lab jacket. "What I don't understand is how they reproduce. There's no evidence of genitalia and your field report doesn't mention a male gender."

"Are you suggesting that this species is hermaphroditic?" Wang asked.

Delvin reacted with some frustration. "I'm not suggesting anything. All I'm saying is that the animal is not placental." He paced back and forth a few times. "I doubt that an animal of this complexity is bisexual. Perhaps the males are so rare, they've escaped detection."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Stevens said with his usual abrasive tone. "I believe that the males are just as numerous as the females. As a matter of fact, I think that we have in our possession both a male and a female."

"Come on, Stevens," Delvin snapped. "All sexual animals exhibit some sex differentiation: size, markings, color, genitalia, something. The two adults we have are identical in every respect, and the juvenile is nothing more than a immature version of the adults."

"This species has no genitalia," Conners said, joining the argument just because Stevens was on the opposing side. "At least, none that we can detect."

"Yes they do," Stevens said with emphatic pronunciation.

She aimed a scowl at him. "Where the hell are they, then?"

George gloated. "Their tongues are their genitalia. In the male's case, its tongue is its copulatory organ."

"What?" Conners yelled. "That's ridiculous."

"Damn, George!" Eric said, grinning at him. "You definitely have your shit together. Margaret and I had suspicions that they use their tongues. We saw them copulating but didn't recognize it at the time."

"I hope you got it on tape," George said.

"We didn't, but Jack did. He's been recording all their activities."

"Great! I definitely want to see it."

"Dirty old man," Margaret said with a teasing smile.

Everyone laughed.

Dr. Delvin gestured to the technicians and they immediately wheeled a cardiovascular monitoring cart over to the examination table. The first technician applied a transducer to the creature's chest. He attached a similar sensor to the carotid artery on its neck. Turning knobs and punching buttons, the second technician coaxed the instrument's main monitor into life. Two traces flashed on the screen; one had a series of steady blue-green pulses.

"Very interesting," Delvin said as he rubbed his chin. "Only twelve beats per minute. And look at this." He pointed at the trace. "Three distinct pulses--a large systolic. A smaller pulse, evidently from the sinus venosus, and then the diastolic."

"Must be an auxiliary circulation system," Eric said.

"Yes. That may explain why they can remain submerged for so long." He removed his glasses and twirled them around by an earpiece. "Perhaps they're related to the Neoceratodus Forsteri."

"They sure as hell don't look at all like a lung fish," Margaret said.

Delvin turned to her. "We would like a blood sample."

Margaret's eyes flashed with fear. "I don't know if . . . They're very sensitive."

She bent over and gently caressed the creature's hair. "They want to take some of your blood. It may hurt. They have to stick a needle into your skin."

The creature looked at her and emitted some clicks. "Woo-man not worry. I am fine."

The response startled everyone in the room, except Eric and George, but even they looked at the creature in awe.

The technician, a young Asian woman, her long hair piled on top of her head in a tight bun, looked at the creature with confused eyes. "Where should I take blood?"

"Try one of the antecubital veins," Devin told her, pointing at the crick of the creature's arm. "They appear to be similar to those of humans."

Margaret's abdominal muscles tensed when the needle was inserted and a bright red fluid flowed out. She continued to caress its hair while three capsules of blood were extracted.

Dr. Delvin turned to the technician removing the blood. "I want an immediate workup on that. Check the oxygen content. If I didn't know better, I would think that you've taken arterial blood."

The technician gave him an offended look before she hurried off with her samples.

Devin bent over and carefully probed the creature's right breast with his fingertips. When he gently squeezed the breast near the nipple, a syrupy white liquid shot from the organ and dribbled down the breast in a little stream.

"Fascinating! She's--correct that--He's lactating."

"I thought that only the female's breasts were undergoing changes," Stevens said, confusion furrowing his brow.

"That's right," Margaret said. "I'm not sure why this one is lactating."

"Takes some getting used to," Eric said with a smug grin.

Wang's brow wrinkled slightly. "How's that, Hauptman?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but the idea of a male with functional breasts is a bit . . . well, let's just say it's bizarre."

"Everything about this species is bizarre," Delvin said.

He turned to the first technician. "Let's find out what's inside this creature's magnificent body. I want both MRI and MRS scans." He turned to Margaret. "We need to have him remain still."

Margaret placed her hand on the creature's hand. "We would like to see inside you. The man is going to help you onto that machine." She pointed at the MRI. "Try not to move."
The creature nodded--a gesture that is not endemic to its species.

###

When Julius opened the solarium door, he was greeted with the sight of his wife lying face down on a gurney. He studied the delicate structure of her bare back with its bony and sinuous topography under gossamer smooth skin.

She turned her head to give him a smile. "I'm ready for your marvelous fingers, Julie."

"How did your insemination go?"

"I won't know for twenty four hours. If it's successful, there will be evidence of cell division by then."

He rubbed oil in his hands and began to kneed her trapezoids, working his hands down from her neck in long swipes. "What will you implant it into?"

"Probably a Tursipoise. It should be able to handle the expected fetus size."

"How large do you expect it to be?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't have reliable growth factor translation data. You should know that, Julie."

Julius pulled a towel from her derriere and gave her a firm smack, aiming the blow at the fleshiest--what there was of it--part of her buttocks.

"Ow!"

"I expect competent answers, not complaints."

"I am always competent."

He gave her a harder smack.

"Ow!"

He delivered another.

"Yowl! Damn it, that hurt!"

"It's supposed to hurt."

"You are correct as always. I will comply."

"See that you do so."

He replaced the towel and continued the massage.

"Now, give me your estimate of its size."

"It should be nearly three meters in length when matured."

"Thank you, my Pet."

She gave him a smile. "Thank you, my husband."

I hate this . . . but whatever makes her happy.

###

The sight of the creature passing into the scanning head of an MRI increased Margaret's heart rate, but the sight of an image appearing on a large monitor lowered it.

"Wow!" Conner's eyes widened. "This species has all kinds of weird internal structures."

"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions," Delvin told her. "This is just preliminary data. The final images require more processing."

Conners gave him a confused glance before returning her attention to the monitor. The images morphed with each passing minute, displaying thin slices of the creature's body as if it had been sectioned.

Eric placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "He'll be ok, Love."

She glanced at him, but her brow remained wrinkled and her eyes remained narrowed. "I hope so. Being in one of those machines is scary enough when you know what's going on. For someone who has no idea . . . "

"Well, think of it this way, Love: The information we gain from this will advance our knowledge of this species beyond anything we've discovered up to now. And, it could lead to our being able to preserve them."

She leaned into him, placing her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, I know."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.