Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria. Regalius, The Homeland,

Central Region, The Capitol City,

114 Darvon Street, Five Cenerean Years Ago

Wendy found it difficult to manipulate Elle's body on the first day, an experience similar to what she dealt with at the Spawn Point during her re-generation. She found she also had trouble dealing with the intermixing of her thoughts and memories with those of Elle's. Their timelines were crisscrossing, creating occasional bouts of confusion.

Things seemed to improve over the next four days as Wendy spent time with Gertie and Geneticus or studied up on the Cenerean history she missed. Then, on the fifth day, she began experiencing flashes of duality, as she would call it. When Jay tried to recreate one of the dates the couple would go on at the wall in the Spawn Point, things changed dramatically. He had driven them into the mountains to stare out over the lights of the Homeland, but the romantic gesture only resulted in Wendy curled up in a fetal position in the back of the transport and Jay defying the speed maximum with Modified Reflection on to get her home.

Wendy began to feel as if she might lose her mind as these episodes of duality grew in intensity and frequency until she began forgetting things, important things including her own identity. That's when Jay came home to find the love of his life passed out in the closet of their bedroom with the lights out. Terrified, he knew something had to be done and he needed G's help once more. He lifted her limp body and carried her down the ramp.

"G! Something's wrong with Wendy, she won't wake..."

"Jay?" Wendy said, shakily.

"Yeah, baby, I got you..."

"Please help me. I'm so cold and...and the light is so bright...it hurts."

Jay sat Wendy down next to the fusion generator and shut off the lights to that section of the lab.

"I might be able to reconnect you to a neural connection and properly sort your memories if I could remove you from Elle's body," Geneticus said. "I would have to put you into a deep sleep to do it, though."

Wendy sat shivering in the dark, wrapped in Jay's arms as he held a blanket around her. She shakily leaned forward into the light, her face streaked with tears. "Please! Anything at this point, I am going nuts," she pleaded, desperation saturating her voice.

The idea of Geneticus not simply tinkering with Wendy's already precariously balanced mind, but actually removing her from it, had Jay concerned. However, he knew there was no other choice and he had learned by now to trust G when it came to anything Wendy. If there were anyone who would do everything in their power to help the woman that Jay loved more than life itself, it would be this damn A.I.

Wendy closed her eyes tightly as she lay back in the stasis pod and Geneticus produced the neural connection.

Flash! Suddenly, the woman found herself standing in a deep black expanse, similar to the color of the Deoxcellirium that Geneticus was created from.

"Hello Wendy, are you okay?" inquired the familiar voice, the darkness swirling around her with each word spoken.

"Yes, Geneticus, thank you," she replied, peering into the emptiness. "It's such a relief to hear only my own thoughts in my head for the moment."

"Excellent."

Wendy saw a bright ball of light forming close to where she stood and it glided over to her. The image shimmered and sparkled until it assumed a nearly human form. "Is that you, Geneticus?"

The bright white angelic being knelt before her. "Yes, Creator, it is I, Geneticus."

"You are so beautiful it nearly brings tears to my eyes. Please stand, G, you are making me uncomfortable," Wendy said with a laugh.

"I apologize, Creator, and thank you for the compliment on my appearance." The energy being stood and waved its hand around in front of it. A real-time view of the underground lab appeared before them. Wendy could see Elle's body lying in the stasis pod and Jay sitting next to her with tears in his eyes holding her hand. "I wanted you to see what I see, Wendy. I wished for you to feel the love that I experience when you are with Jay, so, I offer you this vision as a gift."

"But, you have already given me so much," Wendy said. She stood for a moment in silence with her hand over her mouth, her heart filled with love. She really did feel the warm emotion, the feeling she felt at the Spawn Point once more. Wendy lifted her hand toward the image of Jay kneeling beside her new body in the pod as if to touch him. "I love you, Jay Levant," she whispered. "Thank you, Geneticus for showing me this."

"For too long, you have had to endure such heartache and pain, betrayal by people you loved. I needed you to understand this time all of it was real."

"Thank you, but why did you feel you needed to show me this?"

"Because, my dear Creator, you are to be the mother of a human child and I wished for you to have no trepidation as to your family's future."

"I'm pregnant?" Wendy asked, falling to her knees. "How? This fast?"

"I cannot explain it, but, yes, Creator you are and it will be a boy."

...

Wendy woke with her head clear. She blinked and grabbing Jay by his face, pulled him to her, and kissed him.

Jay was stunned, but wrapped his arms quickly around the woman. She responded in kind. "Is everything alright?" he whispered into her ear, trying to breathe through the headlock Wendy had him in.

She let go and took his head in her hands once more. Staring into his eyes with a strange expression, Wendy's face was the image of utter joy. She frantically took her husband's hand and placed it against her belly never removing her gaze from his as tears streamed down her cheeks.

He glanced down and then up to her green eyes, then once more to the soft hands holding his to her abdomen. Tears welled in his eyes. "A-a-a baby? We're going to have a baby? But, I...uh, this is spectacular!"

"Geneticus told me it is going to be a baby boy!" she said, her lip quivering. "And I have the perfect name, I want to call him Josh."

...

Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria. Regalius, The Homeland, Central Region,

The Capitol City, The Homeland Capitol City Museum of History,

Current Day

"Look it's a T'choulian Tree Prowler, daddy! I can see its eyes! They are green like mine and mommy's!" The little boy pointed excitedly into the darkness above his family. The trio stood in an alumiglass tube surrounded by native T'choulian plant and animal life. Flying creatures zipped overhead as slimy slender reptiles moved through the leaves on the ground.

"Yes, they are Josh. Very good," Jay said as he smiled at the boy's mother. "He's got your smarts, you know, Mrs. Arcturis."

"That is a toss-up I would say, Mr. Levant-Arcturis," Wendy retorted as she held Jay's arm. Her very large marriage ring reflected the bright exhibition lights. The family strolled slowly through the live T'choulian animal exhibit and the dense throngs of people at the Homeland Capitol City Museum of History.

"This reminds me of the Spawn Point. I really miss our time there, babe," Wendy said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"I know, I was just thinking the same thing. That waterfall scene looks almost like our pool back..." Jay flinched as the bellow of something very large echoed through the clear tube.

The family quickly stepped out into the central area of the exhibit in confusion. The high ceilings and columns of the marble building that comprised the museum now surrounded them. Once again, they heard the terrifying noise and it was even louder.

"What the hell is that?" Jay asked, looking at his wife. The strange noise was like a volume control, it instantly reduced the clamoring crowd of people filling the building.

"I don't know, but do you think that is where it came from?" Wendy asked, pointing at a massive cage several meters in front of them. "Hey! Stop Josh!" Her attention refocused to her very active son who had just released her hand and was running through the crowds of onlookers toward the metallic bars in the distance.

"Josh, come back here, son!" Jay yelled as he shoved his way through the wall of museum visitors between him and his Arcturan son. He could hear the boy laughing only a few steps ahead. Jay finally broke through the thick layers of humanity to find his son standing at a barrier only meters from something extremely terrifying. Jay read the sign on the fence. It said it was a Hexerphassi Nyussa. T'choulian for Six Legged Darkness and it was evidently very deadly.

When Wendy caught up to her husband and son, she found them both standing in awe of a thick, muscular creature three meters tall with very broad shoulders standing upright at the back of a large enclosure. It had six appendages that appeared to be a cross between legs and arms. Each limb terminated into three finger-like toes. It had four dark black round eyes in the shape of a diamond and a large mouth lined with sharp teeth. Covering the mouth's opening, three hairy armored leaflets opened and closed as it inhaled and exhaled. Rows of shimmering scalloped ebony scales covered its body. However, the most interesting feature to Wendy the scientist was its color. It was deep black like Geneticus....

Wendy leaned over and whispered to Jay, "If I didn't know any better I'd say that thing is made partially of Exellirium. I know it seems improbable, but, that creature might have a DNA structure..."

"ROOAARRRR!!!" the beast bellowed once again. Jay and Wendy stepped back in fear. Regardless of the cage's strong appearance, the creature was the image of terror. Its voluminous sound silenced the frightened onlookers surrounding the awful display.

Josh was unfazed. He began giggling at the frightening thing. The animal snorted and turned its attention to the small boy. It ran from the rear of its cage, an enclosure designed to look like a T'choulian jungle, to the thick nanitanium bars at the front of its prison. It slammed into the metal obstruction and screamed once more. It took its uppermost two arms and beat them against its armored chest. It growled as it thrust one of its many limbs through the barrier toward the tiny human. The three digits on the end of the arm clawed repeatedly at the air.

"Josh! NO!" Jay screamed. Before He could grab his son, the boy had scampered under the safety fence and was quickly approaching the large appendage. The fear of the beast exited Jay's body as concern for his boy overpowered the emotion. He leapt over the security gate just in time to witness his child lift his hand and place it softly on one of the three deep-black scaly fingers frantically grabbing for it. The fingers stopped moving at the boy's touch.

The crowds of onlookers collectively gasped as they watched the event unfold. Their eyes beheld the sight of an enormous deadly beast as it bowed its head and whimpered at the touch of a small red-headed boy. It fell to its four knees in reverence.

Jay stopped in his tracks. He glanced over his shoulder to see Wendy staring back at him in shock.

"Daddy?"

Jay spun around. "Y-y-yes, Josh?" he replied as he slowly approached the grunting animal held at bay by his son's small hand.

"It's name is Torfuud. It misses its child. It is sad daddy and wants me to help it," Josh said calmly.

The creature snorted as Jay crept closer. Its four eyes narrowed. Suddenly, it screamed as Jay snatched his son from the beast's reach. The Homeland R&D scientist could feel the hot breath and saliva on his face as he fell back with Josh in his arms, narrowly escaping Torfuud's forceful grip. Jay heard the crowd cheering and clapping behind him as he clutched his son tightly in his arms. He lay on the tile floor staring up at the strangely, sad expression of the monster behind the bars only a few meters from him. The black eyes blinked and watered. Jay watched the large arm fall limp and retract back into the cage. The six-armed Torfuud slowly turned and returned to the imitation cave at the back of its prison where Jay could hear it whimpering quietly.

Wendy took Josh from Jay as he handed the bubbly boy to his mother over the security barrier. "What were you thinking Josh, honey?" she asked, hugging him tightly. The child's mother set him down and knelt to look him over. She frantically examined every millimeter of his body verifying every cell was still there and unharmed. Wendy could hear Jay behind her explaining what happened to several newly arrived museum guards aggressively questioning him as to what transpired. She looked over her shoulder to see her husband present his credentials. The act transformed the once boisterous lot of men into very polite and apologetic officers.

"Yessir! We will increase the security on this exhibit, General Sir!" one of them said.

Wendy returned her attention to her son.

"Mommy, I could hear it calling me. Torfuud asked me to come see it. It is sad and had no one to talk to," Josh said with a smile. "You know it's a lot like big brother Geneticus. I could tell."

"Hush, Josh! You can't say that name! Mommy and daddy have told you, your brother is a big secret!" she whispered in a very harsh tone. "You have to say, G or nothing at all."

"I'm sorry, mommy," the small boy said as he hung his head.

"It's alright. C'mon, let's go home and no running off this time."

"Yes ma'am," the boy replied sorrowfully, "Bye, Torfuud!" He waived at the sad dark creature.

Wendy stood with Josh's tiny hand in hers and caught Jay's very intent gaze. She knew they needed to get back to the house and have a chat with Geneticus. Maybe it would be able to shed some light on what just happened.

...

"This is very fascinating!" exclaimed Geneticus. "A living thing made of Excellirium."

"Well, we can't be sure," Wendy added. "What do you think about Josh claiming it was able to speak to him?"

"I was thinking about this when you were describing the incident to me, which I have located several videos uploaded to the networks related to the event. I took the liberty of removing them all..."

"That's wonderful!" Jay said happily.

"I assumed you would wish to have what transpired not reach the Homeland leadership."

"You assumed correctly. Thank you my friend."

"No problem, now my thoughts on what happened are only theoretical in nature and I would have to try a little experiment with Josh to see if what I am suspecting is possible. That is, if you didn't mind?"

"Go ahead, G," Wendy said in reply. "Josh, listen to big brother G and do what he tells you, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," answered Josh.

"Josh?" said the A.I.

"Yes, G?"

"I don't want you to say anything yet, but I want you to concentrate real hard on what color I am thinking of. Got it, okay. Now, tell me without saying it with your mouth. Talk to me the same way you talked to Torfuud," the machine commanded softly.

"Blue," Josh said in his mind. He directed the thought to Geneticus.

"That is interesting," the machine said flatly.

"What is?" asked Jay.

"Your son has telepathic abilities, just like Gertie and I."

"What?" Wendy looked puzzled. "How is that possible?

"I think Josh might have been given this 'gift' accidentally," the A.I. stated.

"How so?" Wendy asked. She looked at Geneticus with concern.

"When you were having issues with Elle's memories and I downloaded your consciousness, I may have dumped Josh with you into my storage medium. When I did the transfer I detected you were pregnant. It seems I owe you an apology."

"For what, Geneticus? How could you or any of us know that was a possibility?" Wendy looked down at her son. "Do you think it would be possible for me to communicate with him this way?" The scientist in her was creeping out. The mom in her had become just as curious.

"It would not hurt to try," Geneticus answered.

Wendy turned and knelt down eye-level with her son. "Josh, tell mommy what number she is thinking about."

"Forty-two," the boy said matter-of-factly.

Wendy looked at Jay in astonishment. "That's what I was thinking of. The number in my head...he's right."

Jay scratched his head, examining his son. "Well, my mother used to be able to tell the future. I know I was small, but I remember it just like it was yesterday. She would randomly tell me about some future event she saw and then the next day what she described would be playing out on the Homeland Information Network News channel. It was weird how accurate she was. To be honest, as many strange things as I have experienced with you and G, Wendy, I should not be surprised at all."

Josh looked up at his father. "Daddy? Who's Browne?"