Caged.

[Hank McCoy]

Henry worked, opening up multiple windows and arranging them across the computer screen. Each window showed a sample of tissue, a long and very cryptic identification number in bold white letters followed by two columns of statistics in smaller amber ones. All of them represented detailed information, literally weeks of work for Kyle to catalog and identify. It was the first time Henry revealed to him that it was something he had already done...that the work Kyle was doing was something Henry already knew.

He grabbed one particular sample with the mouse and dragged it to the center of the screen where he resized the window a bit. He made a gesture toward the microscope. "This is your sample", Henry said, and for emphasis he speedily zoomed in on the image. The image broke down into ever smaller representations - cellular structures, DNA molecules, a single strand, and onward. In seconds Henry centered on the precise features - the chromosomal anomalies - that they had looked at before through the lens on the powerful scope. It was a little like zooming in on Poughkeepsie, New York from a satellite view of the entire Earth. Unless you were extremely familiar with where you were going, the odds of finding that specific spot that quickly was....impressive if not downright staggering.

"We'll call this 'Patient Alpha'", Henry said. He typed the name above the cryptic string of the patient's ID. It glared in bright red letters.

[wildchild]

Ok, so McCoy had been giving him tasks that didn't need to be completed. What was his angle? Was he testing him?

If he was, Kyle was so happy he passed. Or, that he at least had done a good enough job to be entitled to this information.

Kyle had picked his lab book up, and began to jot down quick notations.

"Patient Alpha...." he echoed, writing as he spoke, "Ok..."

[Hank McCoy]

The way Henry's dextrous fingers moved was almost dizzying. The screen changed rapidly as he spoke. Portions of the DNA strand began to pulse, then enlarge, then pulse again. Each time the image changed, the computer identified different elements with slender arrows and bits of pop-up text.

"Y-chromosome analysis indicates our patient is male, atypical deviations along the various points in these areas suggest some form of physical abnormality - at least as pertains to genetic lineage." Henry smiled and looked back at Kyle.

"Chances are he's going to be a dashing sort", he said. The fact that both Henry and Kyle had 'physical abnormality' gave the observation a kind of self-effacing quality he thought they both could appreciate.

[wildchild]

"Y-chromosome analysis indicates our patient is male, atypical deviations along the various points in these areas suggest some form of physical abnormality - at least as pertains to genetic lineage."

"Patient Alpha...." Kyle repeated, "Male, physical abnormality..."

Physical Abnormality.... That wasn't unlike his own mutation, or Dr. McCoy's. About the time he finished that thought, McCoy had finished for him.

"Chances are he's going to be a dashing sort",

Kyle chuckled in spite of himself. Dr. McCoy's sense of humor was one of the things that Kyle enjoyed. His other professors had been too serious, and Kyle definitely appreciated that.

"So....he'd be a good deal like ourselves then?" Kyle added. smiling still.

[Hank McCoy]

"God willing", Henry answered. He turned back to the work at hand. The cursor slid to another sample. "This time, let's take a look at sample two", he suggested. The images rapidly zoomed in a similar way as before, but this time when Henry focused in on the pairs of chromosomes there were none of the now familiar aberrations immediately apparent.

"Lack of a Y-chromosome tells us this patient is a female and she presents nothing predictable in terms of a noticeable mutation." For emphasis he aligned the sample window directly with Patient Alpha's and with a few clicks locked both samples into a synchronized pair. He sped through them both simultaneously, stopping here and there as he did it. Indeed, none of the telltale deviations appeared in the new sample at all. He typed the words "Patient Beta" above the second sample's window.

Henry looked at Kyle.

"What can we assume about this patient based on what we know so far?", he asked.

[wildchild]

"Obviously, as stated she is...well female..." Kyle said, leaning over his mentor's shoulder to get a better look, "The lack of the aberrations commonly found in Physical mutations seem to suggest that the female is..."

Kyle gathered his thoughts for a moment. Just because there were no signs of Physical Mutation, didn't mean that mutation wasn't present.

He took a stab as it; "Well, her mutation may result in something..." he paused for the right words, "Something more akin to a psionic gift, or perhaps some form of kinesis."

"Then again, she may not manifest at all..." Kyle said quietly to himself.

[Hank McCoy]

"Very good", Henry praised. "Odds are excellent she will not. And there's something else...." He turned back to the screen and typed a few commands. Suddenly, the images of both patients' DNA started from the top and began disappearing as though they were being erased. The windows scrolled downward on their own. Here and there on either side bits of color remained, but a large portion of the images went black. It went on for several seconds and then the remaining bits of color seemed to jam together into short, irregular versions of the original images.

"If we compare DNA samples and eliminate commonality amongst alleles what remains is only a small fraction of what makes each individual unique", Henry was saying. "This is true even when comparing vertebrates of any type, it is still true when comparing organisms that seem to have virtually nothing alike." He tapped the screen with a long, thick claw. "To have this much in common implies common lineage to one or two generations....meaning Beta could be Alpha's mother. Maybe sister."

Henry scowled and tapped the screen again.

"But look at this: none of the deviations involve chromosomal aberrations of any kind..." He looked at Kyle again and when he spoke, there was a bit of contempt in his voice. "Beta is not a mutant at all", Henry said.

[wildchild]

It was so cool just watching Dr. McCoy work. The man really was in his element.

"...To have this much in common implies common lineage to one or two generations....meaning Beta could be Alpha's mother. Maybe sister."

Kyle only murmured in agreement, he didn't want to distract Henry from making his point.

"But look at this: none of the deviations involve chromosomal aberrations of any kind...Beta is not a mutant at all"

Ugh. He'd jumped the gun and went for kinesis. He felt so stupid that he had passed over that particular point.

"Well, it wouldn't be unlikely for two Homo Superior parents to produce an Inferior child...." Kyle wondered aloud, "In fact, Alpha could have had two mutant parents, and if Beta was indeed his sister, she could have inherited two Inferior alleles just through the process of reproduction..."

It really was unfortunate. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be the only flatscan in a whole family of Superiors.

[Hank McCoy]

"Excellent points", Henry said. "It appears that for the time being evolution is undecided on how it doles out good fortune. I suspect it was no different for a time of adjustment at the advent of Neanderthal or Cro Magnon Man. It depends on whether evolution is, as Darwin suggested, a smooth transition or more of a series of spontaneous fits. I rather think the fossil record points to Darwin's mistakes."

He slid the pointer toward a third sample. "But let's examine another one", he suggested, as though he didn't already know what he would find. This time, he sped through the analysis and comparisons.

"Patient is a male, exhibits minor chromosomal aberrations suggesting latency but no specificity, shares enough common alleles with Alpha to identify him as related within the same number of generations but no commonality with Patient Beta." Resizing all three samples, Henry drew lines that connected them into a triangle. He typed the legend "Patient Gamma" above the third sample and turned to Kyle.

"Gamma is Alpha's father, Beta is his mother", Henry proclaimed.

"But there's something more important here", he said, after just a moment. He turned back to the keyboard. "Using the parental baseline, we can subtract those elements which are truly inherited characteristics and...." The stacks of DNA in each of the images sped through their comparisons as before, but as it finished both of the parents' DNA sequences had vanished. It left only a small number of chromosomes in the image of Patient Alpha. Most of those, but not all of them, were the misshapen chromosomes Kyle had seen before.

"This, then", Henry said, turning his chair this time to look directly at Kyle, "is the genetic definition of Alpha's mutation."

[wildchild]

Alpha's genetic definition. An arrangement of genetic coding that defined this mutant. Just what exactly made him who he was.

Fascinating. Astounding.

You could do so many things with information like that, it was a springboard into all sorts of knowledge.

If you couldn't tell; Kyle was impressed.

"So...by determining the genetic definition of a mutant, where he or she comes from...or rather isolating the inherited chromosomes..." He paused, then continued. "It gives us an incredible launching point...I mean....there are so many things that you could do with..."

He took a breath. "It's remarkable."

[Hank McCoy]

"It really is", Henry agreed. "It's also more complex than that, but the illustration is valid." There were easily half a dozen other samples Henry hadn't touched at all.

"If we know this", Henry added, an intense gleam building in his eyes, "then we have a clue as to what to adjust to help those whose abilities are out of control." Kyle was one of those people. So was Anna Davis. There were countless others.

"Unfortunately, if we're going to maximize the potency of the present form it will require that we alter the method of delivery", Henry had told him. He had given Kyle injections since that night.

"This patient is, more than likely, one of us", he had said.

"The problem is that the gene treatments are only temporary", Henry told him, "They consume so much genetic material from their donor hosts."

"Understanding may come in unexpected ways."

There was a locked door in the lab. Henry's personal research. What was in there? "Genetics", Henry had answered succinctly but not at all elaborately.

"This is your sample", Henry's voice echoed. "Walk with me, Kyle."

He smiled meekly and made a gesture to the images on the computer screen. "Kyle...", he said, "...say hello to your mom and dad..."

[wildchild]

"Kyle...", he said, "...say hello to your mom and dad..."

He wasn't sure what to say. The geneticist in him was amazed at the application, the practice of using donor genes to help rein in wild mutations.

The son who had just found his parents after countless years of separation had no words.

Survival of the fittest.

This was beneficial. Think of those poor kids without solid bodies. Those unfortunate few who couldn't even touch others without special equipment. This would help thousands upon thousands of people, it would even save lives.

"I can think outside the box..."

Could he? How many other people had been sacrificed? Were they even voluntary? Were they alive? In pain? Could they see what their son had become.

Weak ones die. Strong Ones survive. That is the Law.

Was he strong? Was he worthy?

"I-I-I....." he stammered, "Are....they..."

He couldn't finish it. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

[Hank McCoy]

"I have made more sacrifices", Henry had answered Commander Guthrie, "than almost anyone."

"Sometimes, Doc...ya gotta break a few eggs..."

The voices that echoed in Henry's mind were getting harder for him to control. He clenched his powerful, fanged jaw.

"They gave you a life", he answered, but didn't really answer at all. He watched Kyle's reaction with keen interest.

Birth is ever a violent activity, he had reasoned. Hello, Alice. Welcome to Wonderland.

"You owe them nothing", he told Kyle.

[wildchild]

"They gave you a life...You owe them nothing"

Kyle was, first and foremost, a scientist. His calling in life had been using his intellect to better society.

He was also a human being. Bound by an unspoken moral code of decency.

But lurking underneath the high test scores and his human affection was something primal. Something bloodthirsty and cruel. Not because the cruelty felt good, but because life was cruel, and survival required cruelty.

Maybe it was that part of him that spoke next:

"Survival of the fittest right?" He said, a strange roughness creeping into his voice.

They had been weak. And the weak had to die for the strong to survive. It was the law.

Kyle could be strong. Kyle was strong. He'd be strong to help protect his species.

"What..needs to be done?" He asked, using all his might to push that wild beast down into the blackest corner of his thoughts, "How can I help you make progress?"

[Hank McCoy]

"Survival of the fittest right?"

"Survival of the smartest", Henry corrected with a sly and humorless grin. He wasn't sure how Kyle was going to react to the news, and he had been prepared for the worst. If pressed, he would have had to admit that he wasn't quite as prepared for the reaction he got.

"What..needs to be done? How can I help you make progress?"

"Dear boy", Henry responded, "progress has already been made." He had opened the door for Kyle to understand - to think outside the box, as it were - but what he revealed was only a part of the equation. He turned back to the computer and tapped at the image of Kyle's genetic definition.

"Scaling these anomalies - these mutations - back by degrees gives you better control of your abilities", he reiterated. Henry made a casual adjustment and the abnormal chromosomes pictured there became a bit more like the non-mutated ones. He waited to let Kyle absorb the implication. "What do you think would happen...?", he began to ask, and he reversed the adjustment back the other direction where it began. He then kept going, adjusting it further quite abruptly. The chromosomes became jagged and savage looking. "What would happen if we added instead of taking away?", he asked.