Visiting Leclerc's old workplace

[Lynneth]

OOC: While the original reason to go there (Kei's call to the Chairman after talking to Nebu II) has ben retconned to never have happened, Sumer and I thought it'd be fun if the visit happened for another reason.

IC:

Some time before the trial - in which a lot of things blew up and feces hit the fan - the man commonly known as Kei Shojitsu, but known to most people in Saboria who actually know about him only as 'Important Guest from DTK' or by another codename, requested a little thing from the Chairman. This little thing was, to be exact, a visit of the genetic research facility, which was known to a total of 6 people outside of the facility's personnel itself - all of which had been chosen because of the lack of relatives and/or people who cared about them, ensuring that total secrecy would not be compromised. Both the current and the previous Chairman had ensured to only let the most trustable people know about it, amongst other measures to keep this project secret.

Sure, almost every modern country had a project like this, on one way or another - but Saboria's leaders were determined to keep it secret - and Kei knew only too well that spilling information about it without the Chairman's consent would result in a quick, painless death. Similarly, Kei was kept secret, required to disguise himself, should he ever leave the golden cage he essentially was in.

So, Kei wanted to visit the genetic facility with his kid, Takayama Kouki. Now, the man was currently in Saipan, highest level of secrecy, of course, and quite likely angered from the debacle of the trial. The Chairman irregularly visited the facility, so on one of these trips, Kei's kid would simply have to get in some time between the car leaving the city-limits of Ferinh and a helicopter arriving nearby the facility itself. The Chairman had decided to let Kouki wait in the helicopter, brought there by BNops operatives and disguised as seemingly ordinary child - though resembling the previous Chairman somewhat, as if she were a grandchild of Lynneth.

Once all was said and done and the helicopter was on the way, she was allowed to take the disguise off. Like the people at the facility, the pilot was hand-chosen and could be trusted, after doing a number of tests to prove the loyality - part of which may or may not have involved brainwashing.

Leclerc looked outside of a window, though listening to the sound of the vehicle and what the Takayama-girl was doing. "Are you excited, Kouki?"

[Sumeragi]

"Yes Uncle Leclerc! I never done anything but interbreeding to get what I wanted, like the seawater wheats that my mother had started developing and I finished. Agriculture was my specialty, but I want to expand my horizon."

[Lynneth]

"Well, this'll surely widen your horizon quite a bit. Genetic engineering takes time and patience, but in the end, you get a lot more than from mere interbreeding and the like. The bad part is that often, changing the genes can result in something entirely different than wanted, or have a side-effect that you didn't intend to have."

After a few more minutes, the helicopter landed, and the two got out of it. Then, they had to get into a car, which would then drive them to the facility itself, or rather a hangar that was part of it.

[Sumeragi]

Kouki could barely hold herself still, being all excited.

For her, science has always been a plaything, a toy that kept her busy. People weren't sure why, but perhaps it came from the mother, who had been Kyokujitsu's head agricultural scientist before her death in childbirth. The genetics must have been passed on, with this little girl becoming the director of the Kyokujitsu Seed Bank at a tender age of 18.

Now, this trip might bring Kouki more fun than anything else in her life......

[Lynneth]

After the two had left the car in the hangar, they were brought by two guards further into the building. Several checkpoints had to be passed, scans for fingerprints, retinas, DNA, voice, and a lot more.

Leclerc had to do this to confirm that he was the real one, while Kouki had to do it to be registered - she even got her very own ID card, though it, like all others, looked nothing like the ID card of a genetic research laboratory. This was to ensure that nobody could use these cards to find out about the complex here. The whole procedure would take roughly an hour or 1 and a half, but it would ensure that the girl could get in much more easily, as she was now added to the database of people who had restricted access.

There were only two person with full access to the entire facility: The Chairman and the facility's lead researcher. And, as the current Chairman was the lead researcher, only one person on the entire planet had full, unrestricted access to all sections of this laboratory, which had 90% of its usable area below the ground.

After the formalities were done, the two of them proceeded into the facility, to the cell-section, where the subjects were being held. Through one-way windows, they could easily be watched (security cameras being everywhere aside). The first of the windows they arrived at had a little girl in it, with obvious changes done. Her skin had a slight green-tone, while the eyes looked like that of a reptile. Her face was visibly deformed, looking like a mixture of a human's and a lizard's face. She even had a fitting tail, which was rather short, but possibly useful for balance purposes.

On a small screen below the window stood:

Subject: 61R2
Nickname: Gir
Human/Lizard chimera
Affliction: None known at the time
Current age: 1 month, 13 days
Apparent age: Roughly 5 years
For further information, please specify.

[Sumeragi]

One could almost see Kouki drooling at the magnificant being that was in front of her.

"Wow, how did the researchers manage to mix reptilian DNA with human DNA? I thought they were too different."

[Lynneth]

"Heh. We didn't explicitely mix the DNA. It was more like finding what makes reptiles look like they are in their DNA strands, looking for similar constructs in human DNA and activate or change them slightly. If nothing can be found, we make a tiny Virus that brings what is needed into the DNA. Sounds simple, and it is simple, in comparison to other things. However, getting to this point required many years of hard work."

He took her by the hand and led the girl to the next cell, where a different hybrid was awaiting - a girl with the ears, eyes and tail of a cat. a 'Catgirl', so to say, and quite cute, additionally.

The screen below the viewing window would reveal her real age as 3 months and 8 days, while her apparent age was roughly 16. She had no nickname, only the designated name, which was 816D.

[Sumeragi]

Leclerc must not have known the significance of catgirls in Kyokujitsu pop culture. But then, he would learn that sonn enough

"NEKOMIMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN I MEET HERE, UNCLE?"

The girl was not acting like her 20 years of age, not that age mattered when it came to "fetishes".

[Lynneth]

Fjodor jumped when he heard the girl scream like that and looked at her, in shock. "Wha-, what?"

He shook his head to regein the ability to think properly. "Um, I'm sorry, but unless you start working here, you can't meet them. They're research subjects, and this isn't a petting zoo. And before you think of protesting, I made that rule and I will certainly not break it."

[Sumeragi]

"Oh, sorry uncle. I should have been acting my age."

One could see that the girl was feeling down, but there was a shed of hope within her.

'Work? I'm willing to do that if I can create such living things. Mother would certainly approve, wouldn't she?'

She looks at Leclerc again.

"What's next?"

OOC: Yes, one has something to fear from this RP

[Lynneth]

"Well, we have a number of other subjects, various kinds of animals mixed with humans. We could also visit the lab where the splicing and changing and whatnot is actually done. Doesn't look interesting to one who doesn't know how that stuff works, but for me, each and everything in it is like a little miracle."

OOC: First: What's there to fear? :jihad:

Second: No, I don't actually know how genetic engineering really works. But I have ze tech and ze RP, so I may just use technobabble.

[Sumeragi]

"The lab would be more interesting. One needs to get to the core to appreciate the true beauty, as they say."

OOC: First: What's there to fear? :jihad:

1. Takayama Kouki, the Daughter of the world's most wanted (and most insane) criminal mind, Kei Shojitsu

2. Have her work at the world's most advanced genetic engineering labotary in the world.

3. Make her make weapons

4. ???????

5. Profit!

[Lynneth]

"To the lab it is, then."

He nodded and began walking through the cell-block, towards an unlabelled door. Another checkpoint.

Once through, they would only have to go through a hallway from which one could reach several offices and through another checkpoint, then they were in the biolab of the facility. For security reasons, it was treated as if some of the most dangerous sicknesses of the world could accidentially be created here, and on one occasion, something like that actually happened, when a modification intended to heighten the intelligence actually resulted in making the subject highly aggressive, dumb and craving for meat of all kinds. It was highly contagious, luckily only through exchange of bodily fluids.

Whenever a dangerous modification was found, the steps to it would be written down and reproducing it would be forbidden, as the proper bio-weapons lab was not in this part of the country.

After getting into protective suits, they were let into the lab. "Go look at what you want. I'll be behind you, and the scientists working here will probably answer your questions if you ask nicely."

OOC: O lawd.

[Sumeragi]

The lab was something that seemed to have come out of a movie.

The Biolab

Kouki didn't know where to start from for everything was new to her. She turned to Leclerc.

"What's the first step that a beginner takes?"

[Lynneth]

"The first step of a beginner? Genetic manipulation on the simplest level - artificial evolution. Like dogs came from wolves, you can, with patience and the right equipment, turn anything into many other things. This does, of course, include selective breeding. However, this takes a lot of time under normal circumstances, so the very first thing as genetic engineer, you have to ask yourself: How can I make this work faster? How can I *accelerate* the growth of something?"

[Sumeragi]

'Acceleration.....'

For Kouki, the 'art' of accelerating growth was a specialty. Ever since she got into the world of agriculture, her main goal was to make crops grow as fast as possible, to ensure that the growing population of Kyokujitsu could be fed without imports. Finding the specific or mixture of genes was a game to her, a way of spending time.

"Okay, what's the next step?"

[Lynneth]

"The next step is, obviously, manipulation. Depending on how much skill and time you have, it will be of different degrees, of course. For example, you could try turning a human foetus back into a monkey. Or you could try making DNA of different animals compatible, which can be very hard at times, depending on the severity of the changes. This can easily lead to severe diseases, such as cancer or a weakness of the immune system. Over time, you can perfect this and later reuse the DNA for further changes."

He smiled and patted the girl on the head. "In the end, there's more than just one possible first step. Cooperation with colleagues is important, though, because you'll never be successful on your own. Many reasons for that."