Read Online Asterion by Kenneth Morvant - Free Book Online Page B

creature could be with its engineered DNA. He first notices that the facial structure is different from what he envisioned in his mind, but definitely not a developmental abnormality. Moving on from the head, he focuses on the creatures hands where he sees that the tips of the fingers display a slight bump where the fingernails should be, but again, no obvious abnormalities. The creature has great muscular structure as he examines the arms and then he focuses on the creature’s torso. He notices that the torso’s epidermis is denser than the rest of the creature. In fact, all the skin of the creature is thicker than normal. Taylor brushes it off as just an effect of the accelerated maturation process and it could provide beneficial for the creature in terms of resistance to injury. He finalizes his scan with the creature’s legs. Again, he sees the muscular structure he planned for ending with the hoofs.
    A tap on the shoulder startles him. He turns to see Devin smiling above him. “I’m so focused on it; I didn’t even hear you enter the lab.”
    Devin, grinning, “Sorry to get your heart rate going so early in the morning, but this is when all this gets interesting so I wanted to take a peak.”
    Taylor stood up and smiled back. “I guess the minutia of the developmental stages can get a bit tedious.”
    “Yea, it can, but now that’s done. What are you going to name it?”
    Taylor’s face went blank. “You know, I never even thought about a name.”
    “It resembles the old mythical minotaur creatures you read about.”
    Taylor thinks for a moment about Devin’s comment. “Let’s call him, Asterion.”
    “Asterion?” Devin had a puzzled look on his face. “Where did you get that?”
    “Asterion was the starry one or king from mythology that had a minotaur-like appearance.”
    Devin thought for a second. “Yes, that is better than a generic name and he is the first. The first of many, he will be their king.”
    Taylor, a bit taken back by that statement worriedly responds, “Okay.”
    Trent and Christine enter the chamber. They wear puzzled looks on their faces as they missed this conversation.
    Devin looks at them. “You all have done great work here and Burnsom knows of your efforts. He may be coming to see what you have developed here for the betterment of our great society.”
    With that, he darts off and the team is alone again. They only have the steady, rhythmic sounds of the high tech gestation chamber to break the silence.
    Taylor and Christine are enjoying some quiet time in the break room. Monitoring automated processes became tedious after a while and they like sharing each other’s company from time-to-time. Taylor asked Christine about the installations she lived in during her childhood.
    “We spent a lot of time on the bases located in Mexico and Central America. My father served in the Cartel Drug War that liberated those countries from the tyranny of the drug lords. Northcom worked with Mexico and the other Central American countries to return order and democracy to those nations. It was one of the last wars fought without the advancements in automated fighting machines. He was a surgeon and worked to put the lives of the wounded back together. We formed strong alliances with those countries and the states, I mean, provinces that border Mexico. Then we moved to a base located in the South Central Province. I liked it there. It resisted the conformity measures Burnsom forced upon the rest of the country. Dad said that Burnsom thought he would allow an example of liberty and capitalism to exist so that the people could see just how his ideas are superior. However, just the opposite happened and along with the other allies of the war, they prospered and provided for their people. Tensions are very high and I think something will happen in the future that will threaten the freedoms there.”
    Taylor had a stunned look on his face. “Wow, that’s interesting! I grew up mainly on the