Though the IAC of 2019 had ended, Horizon Labs was still busy with new things. A lot of it was focused on the polymelia side-project. Dan had shown very good adaptation to having four arms, being able to use them in more coordination than some people would assume. There were other animals that had the potential to have more than four legs. The current candidate was a frog (specifically a Pacific tree frog) that had been mutated by the Ribeiroia parasite. These parasites had a strong preference to infect in and around the developing limb buds of tadpoles. The infections result in several potential malformations, such as skin webbing, missing limbs, or superfluous limbs. Obviously, this affected the frog's ability to move and add to the mortality rate.
The scientists had to be selective of the frog they uplifted. They preferred a frog that had extra fore legs than hind legs. A four-armed Animalian wasn't that hard to adapt around. But a four-legged Animalian may have several problems with adjusting to its new world. If the four legs manifested in a centaur-like lower body, there would be even more complications. Eventually, a suitable frog had been found and brought to Horizon Labs for uplifting. The result was a female frog with four functional arms who was named Ochekka. Unlike Dan, she was considered fully-grown since frogs were the adult stage of their life cycle. It turned out Ochekka was rather flexible with her six limbs, showing quite a bit of promise as a dancer.
Another polymelia subject was Melissa's online gaming friend, Angie. She was volunteering to be the first human to become a four-armed Animalian, which was understandable considering a terrible car accident cost her all of her arms and legs. But Angie wasn't wanting to just become a cow or a frog. She wanted to become a four-armed snake. Though certainly bizarre and exotic, it wasn't quite outside of the laws of nature, considering she was basically becoming a four-limbed creature. The inspiration behind that idea was apparently from Angie playing multiple other RPGs in which similar reptilians appear. As such, she was looking forward to joining the GGAC.
"I tell you, these kids are getting too vivid with their imagination," said one scientist to another, "Who knows what crazy thing they'll want us to make next?"
"What do you think would be the maximum level of strangeness we could produce?" asked another scientist.
The first scientist thought this over before saying, "A pair of conjoined twins who will want the hermaphrodite and polymelia options, assuming they don't have four arms already."
"And what species would they want to be?" asked the second scientist dryly.
"Might as well be pterosaur, make them as dragon-like as possible," said the first scientist.
"Now who has overly vivid imagination?" snarked the second scientist.
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It wasn't all about the polymelia side-project. There was one interesting case that overlapped a bit into Project Hermaphroditus. Horizon Labs is going to be receiving a rather unexpected gift: a maned lioness. It would seem that humans weren't the only species who had hormonal balance issues. This lioness, Everix, seemed like a normal female lion when she was growing up in a zoo. But when she reached adolescence, she started growing a mane which thickened quite a lot when she reached adulthood. An imbalance of testosterone resulted in her developing male traits, including a deeper, louder roar and attempting to lie with other lionesses. Such incidences were known to happen in the wild, in areas of northern Botswana when annual floods isolated prides who live in the marshes.
This mutation also made Everix infertile, so the zoo couldn't breed more maned lionesses even if they wanted to. But an unusual specimen like Everix made her an ideal candidate for Project Chimera. It was decided to also give the hermaphrodite treatment since she apparently identified strongly as a male to begin with. Though the other herm lions already had their mates, it probably wouldn't take too long for Everix to find a mate for herself.
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Speaking of mates, there was also a matter that was far more mundane. Megara had just found out she was pregnant, which pleased Heracles a lot. It also showed that uplifted hybrids were fertile and capable of reproduction, though they would have to see how well Megara's fetus develops. But Olly and Nelly weren't quite so patient. They wanted their own mates and since the only mules were each other, it caused a bit of sibling tension. If they can learn to curb some of their abrasive personalities, they may have some luck with the Animalian matchmaking site.