Monster Like You

Chapter 17

"Nathaniel's body is more stable than Alyss's body was," Rea clicked the remote control, and the data of the last examination of the chimera appeared on the screen.

"We have been observing it for two months now, but I don't see any tendency for the chameleon to dominate."

"And why is that?" Gervase asked.

He was again sitting at the head of the table in the small conference room where the five of us had gathered. Research related to Alyss and Nathaniel continued to take place in an environment of increased secrecy. Only Kiaran, Gervase, Rea, Elsdon and I had more or less complete information. Even the guards and security guards did not know who exactly they were guarding and why. Sincere Archer, of course, was aware, but all the ordinary employees of the security service, the medical service and even the magic department had only fragmentary information. No one asked questions, because it was quite normal for Cerberus Corps.

"It's hard to say which influences more," Rea sighed and looked at the director rather distantly. Probably, emotionally, she was the least involved in everything that was happening. "Firstly, he is "younger", let's say. As far as I understand, Alyss has not shown a tendency to chameleon dominance for quite a long time. Perhaps it awaits him in the future. Or not waiting, if he really is more perfect. And the organisms of men and women are somewhat different. The female is subordinate to the reproductive cycle, it is constantly changing. And especially it changes during pregnancy..."

"And Alyss was pregnant," Gervase nodded knowingly. "Do you think that's what provoked her rebirth?"

"It's possible. She carried within her a being conceived by two hybrids. Even if the chameleon genes in both of them could be considered recessive at that time, when combined they could become dominant. And they could not, of course, it's all about probabilities. The probability would decrease if at least one of them was a full-fledged person. And so about twenty-five percent that their child would be more chameleon than human. Perhaps this provoked the dominance of the chameleon in her."

"Do you think the genetics of the fetus could influence Alyss?" I asked incredulously. "Did he rebuild it for himself?"

"If it were only about genetics, I could draw conclusions," Rea objected and looked at Elsdon point-blank. "But there is magic involved, and in magic too much depends on inner aspirations."

Elsdon just rolled his eyes. He was sitting sprawled in an armchair and swaying slightly in it, twirling a pencil in his hands and showing with his whole appearance how bored he was.

"So Nathaniel won't become any less human than he is now?" Kiaran asked.

"I do not know," Rea stressed. "With a high degree of probability, he will remain as he is, at least for the next year. We can only tell further by continuing to observe."

"But we can't keep him in this basement for a whole year," I protested cautiously. "It's inhumane."

"He's not really human, is he?" Gervase reminded him.

Rea sighed heavily and nodded.

"I'll tell you what. Nathaniel Bond and I weren't that close. Anyway, I didn't treat him the way Vet did. Or Kiaran," she added hastily, catching my displeased look. "Or you," she looked at Gervase. "I have always respected him, I liked working with him. His death did not become a life tragedy for me, but I would really like to say now that the one we are studying is his exact copy. Unfortunately, this is not the case. He's a hybrid, a chimera - call it what you want. But it's hard for me to say exactly how this affects him. Physiologically, he is only half Nathaniel Bond, but I do not know how many percent he is Nathaniel Bond mentally and emotionally."