Even though Heather was willing to help with the research, finding out how she became the theropod crossbreed that she is now was still proving a difficult challenge. As the stillborn Project Chimera showed, there was a limit to how much the Animalian Virus able to mix together. Body structure seems to be most prevalent factor as snake DNA was able to bond easier with eel DNA than with lion or goat DNA. As Heather's DNA templates were various species of theropods, that shouldn't be a problem, it shouldn't be able to to bind so many different species at once and simple tests with single-species exposures proved completely ineffective. From an outsider's perspective, Heather's transformation shouldn't be possible at all.
Although Jeremy was reluctant to waste much time on this project, especially Polly was no longer in his custody, he was able to turn away a puzzle that challenged him. So instead of focusing on only the dinosaur DNA, Jeremy also looked to see if there was anything about Heather's previously human form that could be a factor. In researching her family history, Jeremy found something quite interesting and could be the answer.
"So, I decided to try and simply recreate the exact change of Heather's body," said Jeremy, once he had everyone's attention, "The DNA samples from the different bones of the 'spiny tyrannosaur' were not perfect." He displayed different DNA helices on the computer monitor, each damaged in some particular way. "Looking them over, I noticed every part that was missing was present in at least one other, so I just overlapped all of them with the Animalian Virus sample." The helices then all lined up, creating a multicolored helix before it became one unified color. "As far as I can tell, if the Virus is presented with an incomplete DNA sequence, it will use samples from similar sequences to fill in the gaps," said Jeremy.
"But we already tried that and it still proved unsustainable," said Dr. Stein.
"Because we were just using standard human DNA," said Jeremy, "It's Heather's DNA that had the missing piece."
"Me?" asked Heather in surprise, "What was so unique about me?"
"Well, I looked through your family's health history and I soon noticed something in particular," said Jeremy, "Have you noticed that your grandmother has had heart problems?"
"Well, yeah," said Heather in an irritated tone, "One of the reasons why I needed the gold that much."
"Has she ever told you why she has heart problems?" asked Dr. Stein.
"Effie is 93 now. Old people have weak hearts. Your ticker's probably not as reliable as it used to be," said Heather rather rudely. Dr. Stein gave Heather an annoyed look at that.
"True, Effie is old, but she has a stronger heart than you think. It would have to be for her to live as old as she is with snake heart," said Jeremy.
"What's snake heart?" asked Heather and Sophie.
"Snake heart is an extremely rare form of atavism," said Jeremy, "Instead of having a four-chambered heart like mammals, your Effie's heart only has three chambers like reptiles."
"What? How could she have reptile traits?" asked Sophie, "I thought atavism in humans meant we'd be more like monkeys."
"All mammals evolved from reptiles," said Jeremy, "Though snake heart is probably the rarest occurrence. Most people wouldn't even realize they had snake hearts unless they have heart troubles later in life."
"Wait a minute," said Heather, "Are you saying that I had a snake heart before I changed myself?"
"It's possible, but more likely, you were just carrying the dormant gene for that condition," said Jeremy, "And that gene, which links modern humans to ancient reptiles, acts as the keystone for unifying the different dinosaur DNA strands with the Animalian virus."
"So are you saying that people without that kind of atavism can't become Dinotopians?" asked Sophie, sounding a little disappointed.
"Not necessarily," said Dr. Stein, "Just as the virus was treated with lungfish DNA to allow fish to be uplifted into amphibious beings, we could tailor the atavistic gene to a virus sample to allow it create recombiant DNA from fossilized remains. Of course, this theory will need to be proven. Which will require fresh DNA samples from someone with snake heart..."
At that, Heather stomped on the floor, which caused everything in there to rattle. "No! You are not going to experiment on my Effie!" snapped Heather, "If you touch so much as a hair on her head, I'll..."
Her rant was cut short when the Rhino Guard rushed in, electric batons drawn and charged. "What's going on in here?" asked one guard.
"Just a debate that got too heated," said Sophie, "I think Heather needs a little fresh air. I'll go with her." Heather lifted an eye ridge in surprise.
"You shouldn't be alone with her," said one of the guards.
"As long as one of you follow, I'll be fine," said Sophie, "I don't think she'll try to eat me with someone watching."
"Yes, and I left my getaway car parked in the wrong district," said Heather dryly.
The guards gave a nod before escorting Sophie and Heather out the door.
==========
Heather took in a deep breath as they walked outside. "I guess I really was feeling cooped up in there," said Heather, "Animals shouldn't spend all day inside."
"But that wasn't the real reason you were having a fit," said Sophie, "It was about your grandma, wasn't it?"
Heather glared and said, "I don't want Effie being dragged into this. I don't want them to cause her to have a heart attack. I don't want them to turn her into a freak. I don't...want..." Her voice started to break up a bit.
"You don't want her to see what you've become," said Sophie.
"How can I face her again like this?" asked Heather, looking at the claws on her hands, "I'm nothing like her granddaughter now. She might die of fright just by looking at me now. And if that doesn't kill her, the broken heart she'll get when she hears what I've done will."
"If she's your grandmother, she'll love you for who you are, no matter what you are," said Sophie, "And you are trying to make up for what you've done. She might be disappointed, but I don't think she'll reject you." While Sophie still didn't trust Heather completely, she knew there was a lot more to her than what she appeared to be. She might be a little twisted, but she wasn't evil to the core.
"But they'll try to turn her into a monster," growled Heather.
"They don't need to change all of her," said Sophie, "Just take a few blood samples. If she wanted to change, it doesn't have to be a dinosaur. There are other animals she could possibly be. And the best part is that a double-dose would rejuvenate her."
"She's in her 90's," said Heather pointedly.
"So? Daniel was over 100," said Sophie.
"Who?" asked Heather.
"He's the Golden Retriever that was on this month's issue of Animalia Magazine," said Sophie, "He was a soldier in WWII."
Heather no longer had eyebrows, but her eye ridges rode very high on that. "That guy's over 100?" she asked in surprise. Heather's reading material was rather limited while staying at Horizon. She did have a copy of the latest Animalia Magazine, but her clawed fingers made it hard to turn the pages without tearing them. But she was able to at least look at the cover and Daniel did have a body worth drooling over, which appealed to Heather's increased libido.
"Yeah, I was just as surprised as you when he first appeared on our show," said Sophie, trying not to think too much about Daniel's hulking muscles.
"Well, I suppose Effie might find it more agreeable," said Heather, "Though I'm not sure she'd want to be a dinosaur or not."
Well, even with the most preserved fossil, I doubt anyone's going to find a completely undamaged DNA sample," said Sophie, "It might not be possible to get 'purebred' Dinotopians." Then she sighed and said, "I guess that means I can't become a Pterodactyl then."
"Nope, but that doesn't mean you can't use other species," said Heather, "You can design your own pterosaur."
Sophie gave Heather a wary look and said, "I don't know. I've seen Jurassic World. I know how badly genetically-engineered dinosaurs could go."
"The Indominus Rex only went bad because they designed her to be too aggressive and they raised her in appallingly inhuman conditions," said Heather, "I kind of identify with her a bit. Maybe I should go as Indominus for Halloween." She gave Sophie a smile that showed too many sharp teeth.
Sophie took two steps away from Heather and said, "I think you make people uneasy enough without dressing like a horror movie villain."
"Jurassic World was not a horror movie," snapped Heather.
"It featured people being eaten left and right. How does that not qualify it as a horror movie?" asked Sophie. Pretty soon, she and Heather were busy debating whether or not the Jurassic Park series on a whole was better suited in the horror genre than simply as action movies.