Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

The Grace files

"Day two-

9.00- Our subject has grown wings. Not too surprising, actually. HOPE, LUCK, and FAITH (Mixtures #1, #2, #3) had similar effects on tried humans.

HOPE gave us demons.

LUCK gave us hellhounds.

FAITH gave us succu/incu bi.

The implications, thusly, are phenomenal. But the reasonings continue to elude.

9.30- M comes in with breakfast. Subject is quite enthusiastic with his new wings. They're feathery, like a bird's- quite unheard of in Hell, queerly enough. M reports being coerced into petting the wings, says they were cold and kind of wet.

9.45- M finishes discussing Subject's wings, doesn't want to deliver breakfast to him anymore. I don't mind doing it, I guess.

11.30- I decide to check in on subject. He's been pretty quiet, talking to himself a bit and occasionally singing. Yet to fiddle today. Found him naked on floor, examining his wings. I'm worried for him.

13.00- Subject complains that he is lonely, thus it is up to me to sit in his cell with him for however long. M wasn't about to do it. He is happy to see me here, but his mental state continues to worry me- he has regressed far too much in the last ~5 hours.

13.30- GRACE's effects continue to confuse me as I examine his behavior. He is back to fiddling, and remains as good as he always has been at it. But there's a very unnerving look in his face. He seems so happy.

15.00- M's gone home, I am sitting next to the subject in bed while he sleeps. He seems to be in much deeper of a sleep than he should be for this time of day, but that is not the biggest worry. He has discovered how to put away his wings, for one, and upon putting on a shirt at my request, has found his wings are able to move through them like- like I don't even know what. This is too wrong.

Day three-

9.00- The subject has told me now, just now, that he is in fact an 'angel'. M has warned me about this behavior, actually, though it is very peculiar that his belief in his own angel-ness ties so well into the appearance of feathery wings on his back. With these experiments, I always fear we're about to create a monster. Maybe with this subject, he's always been one?

9.30- I brought him breakfast, and I'm not sure he recognized me. He's always had a bad memory, sure, but never for me. Always for M though. I'm sure there's a psychological reasoning behind that, somewhere. Personally, I'd guess it was the strained relationship he had with his sister.

10.30- Subject has been making and hiding his wings for about an hour now. He is never not fascinated by the process. I've used the time to take a few notes, but am otherwise bored straight.

-Wing notes: Subject forms them from his back, honestly right about where you'd expect wings to form. (Ignoring the fact, of course, that if humans were to have wings they'd definitely just be where our arms are). They are sort of a tawny yellow-gold color, and mostly pure. A few white flecks. Wholly unnatural looking.

They kind of creep out of him like liquid. It takes him a bit of concentration to form them, but without fail they take the form of some honest-to-God wings. Large, very large- fifteen feet?- and very solid. He's let me touch them plenty of times. Almost insists on it. They're quite soft, and very real. He doesn't have much for pain sensors on them.

They are seeming more and more like demonic limbs with their hiding and realness, but never have I seen a demon's wing form so slowly and visibly. They are always right there, immediately. Nor do demon's wings (or other parts) ever have the ability to be 'half solid' like his- the roots of his wings are semi-real and pass through clothes. The rest are hard and solid. Even with this in mind, I declare GRACE to be a rather obvious offshoot of the other mixtures, one perhaps made with the idea of isolating a single bird gene sequence (I don't know the actually science, don't nitpick me here).

11.00 onwards- Nothing interesting occurs.

Day four-

7.30- M called me over. Not sure why. No reason given for what M was even doing at this time of morning with the subject. Turns out subject's sort of locked himself in a corner, crying a bit. Won't talk to M. Probably will talk to me though- he always does.

8.00- He isn't talking.

8.30- Still.

9.00- Still.

10.00- M's gotten bored and frustrated, left the lab for a walk.

12.00- Eating lunch, watching subject. Nothing new. There's got to be something that can crack him though.

12.30- Short correspondence:

"What do you want?" -Me

"My family." -Him

Well. Wonder how long it'll take to track them down?

12.45- Never mind, M's got it covered. Knows just where to go.

Day five-

9.00- First words, by him: "I love today." It's kind of creepy. Still locking himself in a corner though, not eating.

11.00- M arrives, family in tow. Hooray? They don't seem happy to be here. In fact, they look pissed. Especially when I explained what was going on here, and how I couldn't let the subject out of his room to greet them.

11.20- We're watching their interactions. He is excited, as always, to see his brothers again. Typical really. You wouldn't guess it if you watched how he treated them most days.

11.30- This just in- Subject wants his brothers to take GRACE. We're not against the idea. I'm not. It's clearly been messing with our dear Subject #1, but some of that may be... prior. We need a bigger sample to have any good results.

12.00- I'm not sure what he said that got his brothers to agree, but evidently they're all behind taking it. I was too busy tracking down our vials and a couple needles. Pretty excited.

12.10- I walk in, needles in hand. Subject explains what's been happening to him: his wings are more than wings. He believes he is 'impure' but I am intrigued. He shows me- he is the one who controls his wings, and he has realized they don't have to be wings. There's a certain limit on what he can and can't do, one I'd love to find, but he can essentially alter his appearance dramatically. Not his physical, human-shape one. But wings, horns, patterns- anything extra.

He is not thrilled by this, and in fact miserable.

12.45-Subject promises me if he can take some GRACE and head back to Earth, he'll return to me with thousands of test subjects. He wants all of his... friends? to take it. Says it'll make him pure. I'm not sure we have enough GRACE for that. It's a volatile mixture, that's for sure, and we barely gave Subject any. But to dose thousands? Love the idea, cautious about the reality. It'd be hard to secure that much space.

13.00- Subject has convinced me. He's a fast talker. I show him how to prep a needle and give him a small vial. In the meantime, M injects his brothers. They'll stay with us for a day or two, until the effects settle, but then they're off to join Subject. Hope I haven't made a mistake.

Day ten-

16.00- Guess who's back. Guess how many he's brought (I'd love to, haven't had time to count them).

Looks like the experiment is going to continue for a little while longer."