az_10

Bloodlines
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"You sure you'll be okay?" Dr. Anthony Zacharias asked Lucas Amato as he changed out a stack of papers and magazines in his briefcase, "I know James can do the math classes, but you sure you'll be okay with Physics A?"

"Heyyy! Don't worry Tony!" Lucas assured him, "They're the same students, right? I can handle them in Physics as well as I do in Biology!"

"That's what I'm afraid of!"

"OW! I walked into that one!" Lucas laughed, "I'm doing the heat and energy unit, right?

"Yes, I've ordered several tanks of liquid nitrogen for the class."

"Really? That'll make it interesting! Where are they?"

Dr. Zack grabbed a case off of his desk, "I'll show you the locker. Follow me."

The two teachers went into the physics lab. Dr. Zack went to the back of the classroom and opened a locker. There were three tall cylinders that looked more like compressed gas cylinders than Dewar flasks.

Lucas frowned, "Those aren't the kind I used to see at college."

Dr. Zack began removing a strange looking camera from the case, "Remember that shipment of biological specimens you ordered for dissection last month?"

"How can I forget? Half the bottles were smashed. I still wonder if the delivery person was late for an appointment and just shoved the package out the back door without stopping! Formaldehyde all over the place! It was awful!"

"I didn't want to take a chance with this stuff, so I ordered that it be delivered using a new, high safety, high impact version that uses a special insulating material instead of a vaccuum." Dr. Zack began taking pictures of the cylinders,

"What's that?"

"A thermal imaging camera. The head of research for the company developing that tank was an old classmate of mine. When I told what happened to your delivery, he sent it along and asked me to use it to record some thermal data for him as a favor. See?" He pointed at several dark spots near the middle of the cylinders, "Cold spots. The stuff's good, but not perfect."

"I've heard of cameras like that." Lucas took the camera and looked at Dr. Zack through it. The man was turned into a rainbow of colors, "Neat. The brigher it is, the warmer, right?" he asked, noting the scale off to the side that mapped color to temperature.

"Right. My extremities are darker colors or black, right?"

"Right." Lucas returned the camera to Dr. Zack, who pointed it at Lucas to take a reference shot.

"HI guys!" Adrian poked his head into the lab, then walked in, "What's up?"

"Dr. Zack's entrusting his physics class to me while he's away, good buddy." Lucas explained.

"Is that safe?" Adrian asked intently.

"Verrry funnny!"

Dr. Zack's smile of amusement turned into a frown as he noted the LCD display. He punched some buttons and clicked a few shots in an attempt to recalibrate it.

"Oh? Another conference?" Adrian asked.

"No. This time it's a family reunion during my Granmama's 95th birthday." Dr. Zack scowled at the camera as he shut it off. He pulled the floppy disk out of the camera and pocketed it. "Tilman was kind enough to understand she wouldn't be in this world long, so he let me go for the next five days. We've got relatives coming in from Germany, and I've got to translate."

"Mmmm! Nice to have family." Adrian remarked with a touch of sadness, "Where is it?"

"Caracas."

The bell rang.

"Uh oh! Better get to class!" Adrian glanced at his watch as he turned toward the door.

"One more class, then that's it for today!" Lucas said brightly as he followed Adrian out of the room, "Eating with me again today, Adrian?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" Adrian tossed his reply over his shoulder, "My treat!"

"Finally!"

"I would have sworn this thing was working right!" Dr. Zack muttered as he put the camera back into its case, "I guess it should have been packed better. Hope Jack doesn't get in trouble. These things cost a fortune."
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"Tony, are you SURE you'll be okay in that hotel room?"

"I'm fine, Tia Teresa!" Dr. Zack took another sweetroll from the tray his Aunt Teresa had shoved into his face, "I'm not that far away! I don't walk as far as I would at work!"

"A High school teacher's salary is rotten! You should never have quit that research job at that Earl place. THAT paid good money, didn't it?"

"I make ends meet with my papers and wild projects." he insisted, biting into the sweetroll. He rolled his eyes and sighed, waving it, "Divine as always, Tia!" he kissed her cheek and moved on through the crowded livingroom, hoping the subject wouldn't come up again.

The Zacharias side of the family was a small one, but the Banderas side, his mother's side, was just immense. The place was wall to wall aunts, uncles, and cousins, most of whom had to travel to be here. His sister's place looked like a garrison at night, and he was loath to sleep on the floor or on a couch, for fear of rolling over on top of a pre-teen relative.

Circling around the group of noisy alpha males gathered around the television set watching a soccer game, he made his way to the back patio where his granmama Carmen preferred to sit, hoping for a chance to speak to her. His father was not up to travelling, and so his mother had stayed to tend him. It was up to him to represent his branch of the family, while his sister bravely hosted the event.

<Hello Greta!> He greeted the eldest Aunt of the Von Groven branch of the family.

<Tony!> Greta beckoned, and Dr. Zack bent down to kiss her cheek, <Aunt Carmen is much too tired to translate for the kids!> she waved at the wide-eyed group of youngsters sitting around them.

A niece yielded her seat to Dr. Zack and joined the crowd on the floor, <Please do!> she said in passable German, <I'm having trouble following along.>

"Okay, I'll do my best." Dr. Zack said, finishing off the roll as he sat down, "What's so facinating?"

"The genealogy of our family!" Granmama Carmen said excitedly, "Greta's done such a good job! Look!"

Dr. Zack nodded, turning the pages of the genealogical chart. It was not only a deep one, going back generations, but was incredibly broad as well. It was even color coded to trace the major branches. It was unusual for emigres like his ancestors to continue to keep in touch with their European kin who had not elected to make their fortunes in the New World, but the family members on both sides of the Atlantic managed to keep in close touch.

"Yes!" The niece, Carmelita, enthused, "Tia Greta's telling us about the crazies now!"

Dr. Zack laughed, <Did you tell them about Frederico and Gerard?> he asked Greta.

<Of course! The news of their craziness even made it back across the Atlantic!> Greta laughed. She turned the page and pointed out the two unfortunate cousins who had ended their lives in the luantic asylum as Dr. Zack translated.

He idly traced their framily tree back and noted that the grandmother of both came from some family who had married into the Banderas family, and whose lineage was coded in light green.

"Are there any pirates?" a cousin asked excitedly.

"Or master criminals?" another added.

Greta laughed when Dr. Zack translated the questions, <Oh! no pirates or burglars! BUT->

"But WHAT?" they all chorused when Dr. Zack paused dramatically in the translation, shrugging at their question.

The kids groaned at the translation, "A medical doctor?!?"

<Ah! But not JUST a medical doctor!> She said onimously, turning the pages, <Here, this one.> she pointed to someone on a page where most of the lines were of that light green color he had noted. The name of the family was the Hofstrodens. Several cousins from the Von Grovens had brought them into the family tree.

"Aren't you going to translate, Cousin Tony?" one asked, tugging on his pants cuff.

"Ummm! Yes!" Dr. Zack said hastily, momentarily stunned at the name Greta was pointing at.

"Became what? Became what?" they asked excitedly as Dr. Zack stumbled over the translation, confused.

"Like Cousin Tony?"

<Yes! But MUCH WORSE!>

"YEAHHH!" the loud shouts of the men around the television indicated that a goal had just been scored, but the kids ignored the racket.

"How much worse? How Much worse?" they demanded excitedly.

<He was a medical doctor at a concentration camp during the reign of the NAZIS!> Greta said dramatically, <Doing inhumane and nasty experiments on the poor Jewish prisoners!>

"OHHHHH!" they all gasped.

One leaned forward and looked at the name of the infamous one, "Josef Maximillian Von Richter." he read off, "What happened to him?"

<Nobody knows!> Greta shook her head, <I think the Israelis have given up looking for him.>

"I'd sure as hell would like to give Mossad his address!" Dr. Zack thought as he translated. He noted a bit of yellow off to a corner, representing a marriage between a Hofstroden and an ancestor of the present day Von Grovens. Frowning, he decided to trace it later.

<It was a great tragedy too!> Greta continued, <The Von Richters were a proud famliy of officers descended from a pikeman who had been knighted for great bravery and valor on the field. The whole family was->

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??" A loud voice rose up from among the general din.

"KICK THE DAMN BALL, STUPID!" Another shouted.

"WHAT'S HE LOOKING AT?" The first voice whined loudly.

"DO NOT LOOK IN THE EYE? WHAT KIND OF-"

"NOW THAT IS AN UGLY BALLOON!"***

Dr. Zack got up and made his way back into the den just in time to see a panoramic shot on the TV of a red eye floating over the soccer stadium, streamers floating from it. It DID look like a rather ugly balloon, until darker reddish purple rings started to appear and ripple from the iris. The sounds of the crowd in the stadium died out as they obviously started looking at it.

"No! Don't look! DON'T LOOK!" a woman's voice came from the set, her voice drowned out in feedback coming from talking too loudly into the microphone in her panic.

Dr. Zack recognized the speaker immediately. "Cybersix!" he thought immediately, noting that one of the teams playing was from Meridiana.

Blue streaks of light were beginning to shoot upwards and into the eye.

"What is THAT THING?" someone demanded, but Dr. Zack took no notice as he realized that the-THING-was getting bigger and bigger!

Suddenly, the camera jerked and twisted crazily, apparently dropped by the cameraman. It must have fallen on a table on its side, for the picture was twisted by 90 degrees. Dr. Zack craned his head sideways to get a better look.

"Something's wrong in Meridiana!" "Hah! That's not the half of it! Wierd stuff's been coming out of that place!"

"They're not moving." Dr. Zack stated.

"What?" They turned their heads sideways and looked at the picture, "Tony, you're right!" one said worriedly, "Nobody's moving!"

"They all look like their minds have gone poof!"

"Tony! You live in Merid-"

But Dr. Zack was already weaving through the crowd of relatives that were gathering around the television set, heading for the kitchen, "Where's the phone?" he demanded.

"On the wall." His sister, Sarita, pointed, "What's wrong, Tony?" she asked worriedly, glancing at the stunned group standing around the television set.

"Everything," he muttered, punching in the number for the Merdiana High School main office,
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Dr. Zack sat in his library, looking at his notes. He occasionally glanced up at the window, then at his watch. He would then sigh and turn his attention back to his notes.

The gentle beeping of the security system alerted him to his expected visitor, "House! Unlock library window!" he commanded.

Cybersix pushed the panes aside and stepped into the room, "Good evening, Dr. Zacharias."

"Good evening, Cybersix." He greeted her, rising, "I'll get the tea."

When he returned with the tea set and kettle, Cybersix had cleared the table and pulled her chair up to it. He set the tray down and began to pour the fruit tea, "I was out of town, visiting relatives, when that, that eye, attacked the stadium."

"It was not a good day." Cybersix agreed soberly.

"What happened?"

"I think it was a Von Richter Chip. It had the ability to absorb people's minds, growing as it did so. It also could shoot laser beams. It was under Jose's control. It took Data 7's mind while we were trying to stop Jose from robbing a bank. It also took-" she paused, sighed, closed her eyes momentarily, then continued, "I was almost overcome, but used a mirror to make it look at itself, making it absorb its own mind. It then attacked the stadium-"

"I know." He said, "I recognized your voice."

She looked at him, startled.

"The game was being broadcast all over South America." He pointed out, "Everyone knows now."

"They should have known when the Goblins were loose!" she said angrily, "What is the national government doing?"

"Nothing, it seems." He said, "How did you stop it?"

"I used liquid nitrogen to freeze it. Some Fixed Ideas shot a rocket at me, but it hit the eye instead and shattered it."

"Um hmm." he nodded, "Clever."

"Dumb luck!" she said angrily, "That was too close! It almost took the entire city and beat me!"

"But you beat it." he said, admiration in his voice.

"Too close." she repeated, closing her eyes as if she was remembering something. She then opened them and looked at him solemnly, "Dr. Zacharias, I must ask you to do something for me, to make sure something like this doesn't get out of control if I'm not so lucky next time."

"Of course, Cybersix. What is it?"

"Do you remember when you showed us how you made rubies?"

"Yes."

"And do you remember what you said about making diamonds the same way?"

"Yes. I said that the nanites would be too dangerous to humans, because they were made of carbon also."

"And you said that those nanites would kill people by turning them into diamonds, right?"

"Yes. They would."

"Could you make nanites like that?" she asked him.

"Yes." He said, "But I wouldn't." he added hastily.

"Can you make nanites that would only attack sustenance based creatures like Von Richter's?"

Dr. Zack looked at her for a long moment, realizing what she was asking, "It depends. I must know more about how sustenance is used in such creatures before I can come up with a nanite that could infect and kill them."

"Such as?" she pressed.

"I need to know how it fits into their biological systems. That means me using my submolecular vision to watch the process in one such creature." he said, adding, "That knowledge may help me figure out how to make it."

She put her cup down, reached up, and took off her hat. She then undid her cape and let it fall behind her. She then reached for the zipper to her top.

He held his hand up hastily, "That isn't necessary! I only need to watch how the muscles in your arm work!"

"Then you will make the nanite?" she asked, looking a bit relieved.

"I will try." he stated, adding, "But I will release it only if you and Data 7 die."

"Good enough for me," she said, holding her left arm out over the table.

Dr. Zack reached out with his hand, palm up. She gently laid her hand in his, palm up also.

Her skin felt rather warm to the touch. "Must be the effect of using sustenance." he thought.

He paused, "I-think you need to know something before we start."

"What?"

He sighed, "My family is very much into geneaologies. While looking at the family geneaology, I discovered that there were two familes, two bloodlines, that came together exactly three times in my family. These two bloodlines carried two sets of genes that, when joined together, become active in all the grandsons coming from the union."

Cybersix nodded, "A recessive gene that sleeps for a generation." she said.

"I have confirmed that that gene is what causes my submolecular vision. It came to me through my granmama Carmen. She had an aunt of the same bloodline who had earlier married the uncle of her husband's father. That woman's two grandsons were the two cousins that went mad, and which I suspected had the talent, but did not know how to use."

"And the third?" Cybersix asked.

"The cousin of an earlier ancestor married into a family that had a descendant who married a third cousin of my grandfather. The daughter from that union married into a family of German officers descended from a German knight, by the name of Von Richter. They had one son."

"Oh my!" Cybersix breathed.
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"Okay," Von Richter thought, looking at the test tube full of sustenance, "This mix should work. Time to start the growth process."

He concentrated on the test tube. Suddenly, it felt as if he was shrinking and jumping into the test tube. Everything became huge around him as his vision grew narrower and narrower. It seemed as if he was bungee jumping into the test tube.

Mentally, he dodged the swirling molecules, searching.

He finally found the lone cell floating in the middle of the test tube. He smiled, concentrated, and his vision plunged through the cell wall, through the cytoplasm, through to the nucleus.

He eventually identified the right gene.

Concentrating, he flipped a few nucelotides, then mentally darted out of the way as the genetic machinery took the cue and started producing the enzymes necessary to initiate the cell division process.

"Master! Master!"

His vision suddenly snapped back to normal, "What IS it?" he asked the Techno irritably, "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"We have a problem!"

Von Richter sighed. Techno 1954 had served him well, and had good ideas, "What?"

"I've come across some research papers on theoretical Quantum Mechanics. It's very abstract, but the derivations seem to indicate that the author is familiar with sustenance."

Von Richter chuckled, "Oh really? You suspect he's trying to make some?"

"I'm not at all sure. The energy equations use constants that produce predictions of spontaneous light emissions with the same energy level as the light given off by sustenance."

"Coincidence perhaps." He dismissed it with a wave.

"Sir, with all due respect..."

"What?" he sighed.

"This Dr. Zacharias lives in Meridiana."

Von Richter thought for a long moment, "What you do think we should do?" he asked, sighing.

"Requesting permission to send the CE unit to bring the doctor here for questioning."

Von Richter swiveled his chair back to face his workbench, "Permission granted." he tossed over his shoulder.
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*** My thanks to Apocalypse Watcher 47 for this keen observation.

The mission of the CE unit is the subject of the next chapter.