Master Ecologist.”
Baucis smiled, Ntelo was a perfect partner,
in every sense of the word, she asked the questions he wanted,
denying others the opportunity. “It's true our citizens love to
watch the animals, especially with your brilliant spiritual
insight, High Priestess, and my predators have undoubtedly
reintroduced another aspect to the eternal game of life. But I do
this for the glory of the world we live above, not for myself. Our
ancestors engineered the original biselk out of the
struggling elk and bison populations that were sure to go extinct.
Did they do this to glorify themselves? Or was it to restore the
earth to a more Natural state?”
“But Baucis, what you've done is far beyond
anything the earth ever was” Ntelo replied. The rest of the
Council nodded, enamored like spectators at an ancient political
debate. In this event too, both sides were controlled and the
outcome predetermined.
“Mankind began to sculpt the earth long
before the Scourge imprisoned us here in sky. Before our ancient
ancestors the world was teeming with colossal and impressive
beasts, giant sloths, mammoths, bison, and my favorites, the lions,
eagles, the primates.” He hesitated, not intending to mention the
errant beast, nor meaning to place it in his own taxonomic order.
Baucis continued, smoother he hoped, “Mankind began to eradicate
animals long before they recognized their beauty or utility. If we
had their DNA I'd gladly bring them back, but we don't, we have
only the animals that we’ve managed to reach from our perch in the
Spire. Now that we survive precariously above the earth, isn't it
our privilege...nay, our duty , to guide that most
magnificent spectacle Nature ever devised, evolution?”
“The wild vultus populations prove
that you don't have complete control of your little
symphony,” Mavis Talik said, her voice saccharine. Younger than the
rest, almost as young as Baucis, she was the least garishly
dressed. She had none of Lucas’ bulk, Ntelo or Aurelius's paints,
nor the hard hands and strong knuckles of Tennay. Her veins didn’t
protrude as much as Baucis’s, though her skin just as pale (only
Tennay’s skin held any melanin in it). As the council's
Psychologist, Baucis detested her. How that position survived was
beyond him, yet the public liked her well enough. She had an
unshakable optimism even when criticizing him.
Baucis scowled at her. He had explained and
apologized for the vultus population too many times to
count.
“I began working with the vultus nearly fifty years ago, before I was a Councilor and have been
learning from my mistake since. I was young, and engineered them
from wild vultures to eliminate the diseases that were plaguing the
herd at the time. They performed their task adequately for years
and still do. Even my predecessor told me they were 'a genius
stroke of ribonucleic acid.' How could I have foreseen mutations
that ruined my inserted Alpha-pack gene?”
No one else predicted such misfortune. Why
am I alone expected to be prescient with the Evanimals?
“A predilection to an Alpha societal
structure was not the only modification you made to their genes.”
Aurelius said. The Media Baron knew his history. The Council were
like a flock of vultus themselves, if one sensed weakness,
the rest pecked and pecked.
“No. I never make just one modification, if
geneticists worked at that speed we'd be scarcely faster than
Natural evolution,” he tried not to sound insolent, “There was no
way to get the birds to dispose of the sheer number of bodies, and
be implanted with VRCs given their diminutive size, so I made them
larger. I did not anticipate that that gene would mutate and
give rise to the individual who killed my bird and stole
Alpha status for himself. But I do not think we should dwell on
past mistakes. We have since implanted birds of the larger variety
and have regained control of the flock.
“And what if history repeats itself?” Baucis
didn't see who asked
Baucis smiled, Ntelo was a perfect partner,
in every sense of the word, she asked the questions he wanted,
denying others the opportunity. “It's true our citizens love to
watch the animals, especially with your brilliant spiritual
insight, High Priestess, and my predators have undoubtedly
reintroduced another aspect to the eternal game of life. But I do
this for the glory of the world we live above, not for myself. Our
ancestors engineered the original biselk out of the
struggling elk and bison populations that were sure to go extinct.
Did they do this to glorify themselves? Or was it to restore the
earth to a more Natural state?”
“But Baucis, what you've done is far beyond
anything the earth ever was” Ntelo replied. The rest of the
Council nodded, enamored like spectators at an ancient political
debate. In this event too, both sides were controlled and the
outcome predetermined.
“Mankind began to sculpt the earth long
before the Scourge imprisoned us here in sky. Before our ancient
ancestors the world was teeming with colossal and impressive
beasts, giant sloths, mammoths, bison, and my favorites, the lions,
eagles, the primates.” He hesitated, not intending to mention the
errant beast, nor meaning to place it in his own taxonomic order.
Baucis continued, smoother he hoped, “Mankind began to eradicate
animals long before they recognized their beauty or utility. If we
had their DNA I'd gladly bring them back, but we don't, we have
only the animals that we’ve managed to reach from our perch in the
Spire. Now that we survive precariously above the earth, isn't it
our privilege...nay, our duty , to guide that most
magnificent spectacle Nature ever devised, evolution?”
“The wild vultus populations prove
that you don't have complete control of your little
symphony,” Mavis Talik said, her voice saccharine. Younger than the
rest, almost as young as Baucis, she was the least garishly
dressed. She had none of Lucas’ bulk, Ntelo or Aurelius's paints,
nor the hard hands and strong knuckles of Tennay. Her veins didn’t
protrude as much as Baucis’s, though her skin just as pale (only
Tennay’s skin held any melanin in it). As the council's
Psychologist, Baucis detested her. How that position survived was
beyond him, yet the public liked her well enough. She had an
unshakable optimism even when criticizing him.
Baucis scowled at her. He had explained and
apologized for the vultus population too many times to
count.
“I began working with the vultus nearly fifty years ago, before I was a Councilor and have been
learning from my mistake since. I was young, and engineered them
from wild vultures to eliminate the diseases that were plaguing the
herd at the time. They performed their task adequately for years
and still do. Even my predecessor told me they were 'a genius
stroke of ribonucleic acid.' How could I have foreseen mutations
that ruined my inserted Alpha-pack gene?”
No one else predicted such misfortune. Why
am I alone expected to be prescient with the Evanimals?
“A predilection to an Alpha societal
structure was not the only modification you made to their genes.”
Aurelius said. The Media Baron knew his history. The Council were
like a flock of vultus themselves, if one sensed weakness,
the rest pecked and pecked.
“No. I never make just one modification, if
geneticists worked at that speed we'd be scarcely faster than
Natural evolution,” he tried not to sound insolent, “There was no
way to get the birds to dispose of the sheer number of bodies, and
be implanted with VRCs given their diminutive size, so I made them
larger. I did not anticipate that that gene would mutate and
give rise to the individual who killed my bird and stole
Alpha status for himself. But I do not think we should dwell on
past mistakes. We have since implanted birds of the larger variety
and have regained control of the flock.
“And what if history repeats itself?” Baucis
didn't see who asked
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