severe look. “Come now, Quin. I thought you knew better than to judge by appearances,” Surei scolded.
Quin stared at her. “Are you telling me he’s human? It isn’t a mutation?”
“Not only is he human, his genetic signature matches yours.”
“He’s my descendant?”
“No, his DNA doesn’t match, but he carries a marker from the same Sentiac.”
“That’s not possible,” she told the medic, shaking her head. “What happened to me was a bizarre accident, a chance in several centillion. Could you imagine the chances of it happening twice? ”
“Nothing is impossible, Quin. In any case, I didn’t say it had happened twice. What I’m saying is that we may have found your Sentiac.”
“Keir isn’t the Sentiac.” Quin sighed with a touch of irritation. “That much is obvious.”
“No, he isn’t,” Surei agreed, “but he is its descendant.”
Quin bolted upright and grabbed Surei’s arm, almost pulling the diminutive medic off her feet. Behind her bed, her distress sent the monitors into a flurry of spikes and troughs. “Are you sure?”
“DNA doesn’t lie. There is no doubt Keir is a fifth generation descendant of the Sentiac.”
Quin lay back slowly. It explained Keir’s appearance but, Powers, this complicated everything. “How is that possible? Rulk needed a planet with technology to create a sentiac-human hybrid. Salusan doesn’t have anything close to what she’d need.”
“I don’t know how it’s possible. I don’t know enough about Rulk’s capabilities or Sentiac biology. You’ll have to find her and ask her yourself.”
“If I can.” Quin dragged her fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face. “At least now we know for sure the Sentiac was there. How far back in time do you think we need to go?”
“A hundred and seventeen years before Keir’s birth there was an unusual plague in Adalucien, well documented by the city’s medical fraternity. Evidence points to the cause being the arrival of outsiders carrying alien microbes to which the natives had no natural immunity. Judging by the symptoms and the rapidity of its spread, I can give you a window of ten days for the newcomers’ arrival in the city. The rate of infection was very consistent.”
“You think the Sentiac caused the plague?”
“Yes, I do. People crossing from one continent to another can bring even mild diseases into a population that has never been exposed to them before, and so prove fatal. Imagine how many contaminants someone from another planet might carry. Even with the difference in physiology, it would only take a single contagious micro-organism carried by the Sentiac, and finding a viable host, for the damage to be done.”
“How can you be sure it came to the city, though? Couldn’t it have infected one of the outlying villages?”
“I cross-referenced the historical records and the geography. At that time, the nearest villages would have been too far from the city border for someone infected to reach it before being incapacitated by the disease. It killed one third of the city’s population before the military took over, imposing curfews and setting fire to large areas to destroy infected bodies. That’s when the Corizi came to power–the original ruler was the army commander who seized control when the leaders fled the plague.”
Quin massaged her aching forehead. “So, we assume Rulk stayed in the city,” she mused. “Keir proves she survived long enough to start creating hybrids, although Powers knows how she managed that on such a primitive world.”
“Genetic engineering isn’t something to be done on the move,” Surei concluded. “So a fixed base of operations in Adalucien is a reasonable assumption.”
Quin rubbed her eyes, sudden exhaustion overwhelming her. Her search for the elusive Sentiac had already taken several lifetimes and resulted in uncounted dead ends. Even now, with Keir’s existence as proof of the Sentiac’s presence on
Quin stared at her. “Are you telling me he’s human? It isn’t a mutation?”
“Not only is he human, his genetic signature matches yours.”
“He’s my descendant?”
“No, his DNA doesn’t match, but he carries a marker from the same Sentiac.”
“That’s not possible,” she told the medic, shaking her head. “What happened to me was a bizarre accident, a chance in several centillion. Could you imagine the chances of it happening twice? ”
“Nothing is impossible, Quin. In any case, I didn’t say it had happened twice. What I’m saying is that we may have found your Sentiac.”
“Keir isn’t the Sentiac.” Quin sighed with a touch of irritation. “That much is obvious.”
“No, he isn’t,” Surei agreed, “but he is its descendant.”
Quin bolted upright and grabbed Surei’s arm, almost pulling the diminutive medic off her feet. Behind her bed, her distress sent the monitors into a flurry of spikes and troughs. “Are you sure?”
“DNA doesn’t lie. There is no doubt Keir is a fifth generation descendant of the Sentiac.”
Quin lay back slowly. It explained Keir’s appearance but, Powers, this complicated everything. “How is that possible? Rulk needed a planet with technology to create a sentiac-human hybrid. Salusan doesn’t have anything close to what she’d need.”
“I don’t know how it’s possible. I don’t know enough about Rulk’s capabilities or Sentiac biology. You’ll have to find her and ask her yourself.”
“If I can.” Quin dragged her fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face. “At least now we know for sure the Sentiac was there. How far back in time do you think we need to go?”
“A hundred and seventeen years before Keir’s birth there was an unusual plague in Adalucien, well documented by the city’s medical fraternity. Evidence points to the cause being the arrival of outsiders carrying alien microbes to which the natives had no natural immunity. Judging by the symptoms and the rapidity of its spread, I can give you a window of ten days for the newcomers’ arrival in the city. The rate of infection was very consistent.”
“You think the Sentiac caused the plague?”
“Yes, I do. People crossing from one continent to another can bring even mild diseases into a population that has never been exposed to them before, and so prove fatal. Imagine how many contaminants someone from another planet might carry. Even with the difference in physiology, it would only take a single contagious micro-organism carried by the Sentiac, and finding a viable host, for the damage to be done.”
“How can you be sure it came to the city, though? Couldn’t it have infected one of the outlying villages?”
“I cross-referenced the historical records and the geography. At that time, the nearest villages would have been too far from the city border for someone infected to reach it before being incapacitated by the disease. It killed one third of the city’s population before the military took over, imposing curfews and setting fire to large areas to destroy infected bodies. That’s when the Corizi came to power–the original ruler was the army commander who seized control when the leaders fled the plague.”
Quin massaged her aching forehead. “So, we assume Rulk stayed in the city,” she mused. “Keir proves she survived long enough to start creating hybrids, although Powers knows how she managed that on such a primitive world.”
“Genetic engineering isn’t something to be done on the move,” Surei concluded. “So a fixed base of operations in Adalucien is a reasonable assumption.”
Quin rubbed her eyes, sudden exhaustion overwhelming her. Her search for the elusive Sentiac had already taken several lifetimes and resulted in uncounted dead ends. Even now, with Keir’s existence as proof of the Sentiac’s presence on
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