Demicore

Chapter 14

"Erik," Katlin tried to get his attention. Everything in her multiple doctorates of psychology told her that whatever was currently going on in her father's head was major, potentially very bad, and needed to be discussed at length in detail before any action was taken. And everything she knew about her dad said he was going to run off on his own. "Dad!" both girls said together.

"Huh? What?" he looked around the room like he was surprised to find people in it. "I need to think. Let's hit the dojo." With that announcement, he turned and left the room and everyone in it simply gaping after him.

"If anyone is interested, I did some other testing on the arm that the replicator made," Steve said almost timidly.

"I think that just might help," Katlin said. Sonya simply nodded her agreement.

Steve picked up the arm and started to explain how the claws on the end were not cat claws, but falcon. She noted the different tendon and muscle structure from any of the three creatures. They discussed at length the presence of a human elbow. Most notably, though, were the regenerative properties in the DNA that they hadn't gotten to before Erik decided to go loopy.

Erik went through kata after kata. Time seemed to slow down almost to a stand still. He felt like he was cutting through it with the staff he was practicing with. For a split second it felt like his hands had fur and claws wrapped around the staff instead of fingers with skin and while it felt completely wrong, it also felt more right than his normal body did.

Find the cat. It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a command. It was a spark and the need those words had sparked ran through him deeper than he thought possible. He now felt like there were pieces of himself that were missing.

Find the cat. Andy. How had she come to him? Hadn't she said it was her time to go because he needed to do more preparation for Elizabeth's return? Hadn't she told him that God Himself had given her the choice of how she would make her exit? That was why she refused to let him heal her eyes... Those beautiful eyes that had been her only form of communication for so very long and were taken from her by a vindictive drug lord. It wasn't enough that Joey took Elizabeth from him, he had to try to take Andrea, too. But she had fought back just long enough to be rescued.

Find the cat. He didn't notice the scenery around him changing.

"Dad!" Katlin broke into his thoughts and he blinked when he saw the dojo was nowhere around him. Instead he was back at the lab... packing? He felt Elizabeth coming up behind him, her hand on his back in a gesture of concern. Then there was a deep stinging in his left butt cheek and the world started going fuzzy again.

When he was fully unconscious, the four of them secured him back to the gurney. "How did you know we were going to need that?" Steve asked Katlin.

"Classic Erik. He was about to try to run off and take care of whatever is bothering him on his own. I'm just glad there were things in the lab - such as the key fob for all the vehicles - that he needs if he is going to go anywhere," she replied as she buckled the last strap around his leg. "I suggest we all take a nap, he's going to be out for a while, then he's going to be mad."

There were mumbles of agreement and Sonya told the computer to monitor Erik and report to her before they all went to find a close bed. She was tired but knew she couldn't sleep so once she knew the others were on their way to the "dormitories", a set of rooms more like suites than dorms. Steve, who had her own dedicated room, was very accustomed to staying over at the lab. After having talked to her for a little while, Elizabeth was sure that Steve had no social life to speak of no matter how smart and pretty the girl was. Upon asking, she was assured that this wing was only added after it was turned into a lab, not before when it was a dance hall. The girls made sure Elizabeth was settled in to a room next to Stephanie's, then went their own ways. Each set an alarm for three hours, figuring they had at least that long before the dart wore off.

Katlin went to the library to do some research on folk lore. There had to be something somewhere about creatures that were beasts and human combined - after all they were all over Greek mythology. Those were only one beast and man combination, not two though unless she had missed something: Which was exactly what she was going to see if she could find.

Sonya headed back to the lab. The scientist in her would not allow her to leave the results of something that big to one person's review. She also just couldn't bear the thought of leaving him in there alone if something was going really wrong. She was determined to figure out what it was so she could help him through this. They hadn't just put their family back together only to have it torn apart again.

She reworked all of Steve's calculations and DNA structure comparison. The three strands, while completely identifiable, were so completely overlaid they could not be extracted from one another. The strands had been correctly identified, too. There was more, though. She had been around DNA science for a lot longer than most and had dedicated much of her time to learning how to read it. She sat down with the strands of DNA up on the screen like it was a g********l. In a matter of a few minutes she was completely engrossed, learning things about her father and about the new revelations they had just discovered.

It always amazed her at just how much of your personality you were born with. The falcon, for instance, enjoyed wandering the globe. The jaguar was larger than normal even for a cat of that species - around 350 pounds. But the human... she looked over at her father and smiled. He was small for a human man, only 5'7" and about 165 pounds and most of that was muscle developed in the pursuit of martial arts. But how could these three species inhabit the one body that is my dad? She looked at the strands for a long time. They spoke of age and strength and unnaturally fast reflexes and healing. It was a puzzle that she was most anxious to sort out... Her eyes grew heavy and her thoughts grew fuzzy. It had been a couple days since she had a night's sleep, but that was normal now.

Erik's dreams once again veered toward reality. Through the lazy eyes of a jungle cat he saw the lab and felt its familiarity. There were people moving, doing their best to figure out the puzzles that lay before them. They were good people, trusted people. He wished them well finding the answers they were searching for. He tried to move, only to find himself restrained. That wasn’t nice. Hadn't anyone told these good people it was unwise to tie up a wild animal? He pulled against his restraints. A familiar sound broke the silence of the lab. He let a sound escape his throat.

He should have known what was going on... should be able to tell what the sound is and why it won't stop... but his mind just refused to focus. Everything just seemed so... fuzzy.

The beeping woke Sonya and called Katlin and Elizabeth back. They checked his vitals, seemed relatively normal given the circumstances. His heart rate was elevated. Then they tried to talk to him.