Breath. Though we all take it for granted, the first breath is...well, breathtaking.
This process has been through trial and error, one after the other, so many different genetic mutations. So many lives lost. So many gained. Those who were willing to give up their embryos to the scientists were often let down, their children having succumbed to harsh new planets, unable to adapt quick enough to either the environment or the new predators. The few who were made proud never saw their children grow, never saw them for what they became. Most didn't even care they were taken.
This new...patient, if you will, has just taken her first breath. That first lick of the oxygen we humans desperately need to survive. Her? It seems almost toxic to her as her face shrivels up and she begins coughing. They, the scientists, move quick to put a mask over her with a different gas, one classified as X-2187. It seems to have worked as her breathing regulates. Her coughing seizes and she falls into a calmer state.
She will not be released to the new planet until she is fit and ready, though she will have aged to about 16-18 Earth years by then. As for now, they let her body, that of a newborn's, get used to this gas. Around 1 or 2, she will begin her new growths, the little nubs of warm grey horns sprouting and then thick white claws from her fingertips. Of course, some had already taken place: her two different eye colors, the pointed ears, and slightly webbed feet and hands.
Around 5, once most of her body has accommodated the changes, she will undergo climate changes through a simulation room, where the scientists find which ones prove difficult for her body to take. Later on, she will learn how to climb trees, rock walls; swim, dive; and many other useful traits.
She will not receive a name, she is know as TS-8107, simply a number, just like all the others. Her calling will be the choice of those around her and herself.
Another girl, one not quite "born" yet, was awaiting her chance at new life. Awaiting her chance at continuing humanities reign over the universe.
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Human Error
Science FictionAfter exploring the far reaches of the universe, humans discover very few Earth-like planets. Scientists, biologists, and doctors alike try to create new breeds of humans that can survive in the inhospitable planets surrounding Earth and those like...
