Revised 6/10/2024
By R. John Quisenberry
There were spectators to this primal drama. “Do you see? The new control subject sees a male infringing on his territory. The woman is obviously continuing in her pattern of rejection towards the overly aggressive male.”
“Do you think this is a societal adaptation, or a genetic one?”
“We will have to see if it continues after the subjects have all been equally exposed. If she makes the predicted transition, she may be drawn to whoever is dominant no matter what personality flaws may exist.”
“We must also remember; that this woman is the most resistant to exposure of all of the subjects thus tested. The true test will be her reaction to the subject she seems to have formed a preliminary bond to as his exposure progresses.”
“Oh, he is already exposed. It seems to have permeated his tissues. He must have been exposed at least twelve hours ago, Researcher.”
“WHAT? That is a clear violation of protocol!”
“Relax Researcher, he has not been exposed to the crystals and shows no transformations as yet. The viral component has, so far, proven to be a standard sample. Once the crystals enter his system, the protein from the virus should quickly start bonding the crystals into the cells. Then, the next series of viruses will be created by the bonded cells under the control of the crystals. We will let you know, once it has been fully sequenced if it shows any variance. He wandered into our offices looking for a job. A stray can only make this experiment more interesting. Besides, this test is just a formality. Our Primary Investigator and the researcher council have already approved full deployment,” replied the Acolyte Cervince.
“And what if this ‘stray’ shows some or all of our conclusions to be in error?”
“We can always stop the final release. Our Primary Investigator has seen to it that we ran this test redundantly. If he had any doubt about our success, he would not have set the hard deadline we have now. So, I seriously doubt anything could go wrong.”
I think the brevity of this chapter really works. It reminds me of star wars when we see Luke Han and Leia do something incredible and we see the dark side’s reaction. The place you put this in the story also makes for excellent pacing. The antagonist reveal could us a little more motivation but that’s the difference between an introduction and a reveal.