Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

The Fates

He moved forward and motioned to the eggs.

"This is why I believe that the council is purposefully interrupting the growth stage of Vrul hatchlings. I never noticed it before, but in my classes we were told that 98.7 percent of all eggs reach maturity under their system. That remaining percentage can be accounted for due to natural defects, and Vrul mistakes in handling the eggs. If what the council said was true, and they have no idea how the eggs reach maturity, than we would be more likely to see higher death rates in eggs."

Adam walked back over to the eggs, continuing to examine them, "So you are trying to prove that the council is openly controlling the intelligence of its population through..... eugenics?"

"Sort of. It's a bit more than eugenics, but the point still stands."
Adam watched as something inside one of the eggs twitched.

"So how do you plan on getting this to work."

"Well first of all, Vrul eggs are extremely climate sensitive and prefer an enviornment that is around 75 degrees with consistent heavy humidity. What we have done is rested them on top of wet towels, which we can add water to using this pump in the side of the container. This keeps the eggs in a continually humid enviornment with just the correct amount of heat. Now these variations are going to change throughout the cycle of their growth, though the temperature and humidity become less important than the light itself." Riss motioned overhead, and Adam tilted his head back to where the purple light emanated from above.

"Red light stimulates the early stages of growth or the original formation of cells within the eggs. Afterwards it helps promote the correct cellular growth. The blue light helps growth and the formation of limbs. As time moves on we have been slowly adjusting the wavelength of light from more red to more blue. We have to be careful with the amount of blue early on because it CAN stunt growth and cause the eggs to quit maturing, giving us a delta rather than an alpha."

Adam took another turn around the side of the container, "So pretty much what you are trying to do is grow a very finicky plant ."

Riss and krill looked between each other.

Adam motioned to the eggs, "I mean that is essentially a grow light, we've been using them on spaceships forever, especially in this purple color right here. They use it for commercial growth on farming stations. He turned his head to look at them, "Which probably means you could mass reproduce if you wanted. I am sure one of the growing station would know exactly how to keep the eggs happy while they sprouted, they have growing plants down to a science, and this is essentially just that, but on steroids."

Krill and Riss looked at each other again, surprised, "I often forget how much we have In common with your earth plants." Krill said turning back to his work.

"So what are you going to name them?"

The two Vrul stared at him.

"Seriously, you haven't thought about this? That's like the first thing humans do when they know they're going to have a kid."

"Vrul are not like humans."

"I mean yeah, but they are going to have to have names." Adam turned in a tight circle, "Well if you aren't going to name them, than I will."

"And here we go."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Last time you named your kids you named them after famous science fiction Ais."

Adam crossed his arms, "I see nothing wrong with that. Besides, I don't always name thing after science fiction references. I named my dog after my favorite breakfast food, and I named Eris after the goddess of discord. And Jeffery..... well he just looked like a Jeffrey."