Rex was sick with worry. Not just for himself but his dear friend Brendon.
( I’m okay. ) Brendon intoned, feeling the dinosaur’s fear. ( We’ll be okay. )
They made it to the basement. The heavy door downstairs was unlocked. Megan stopped to slide the massive iron bar over that sat on the back of the frame and felt the heavy clamps and lock snap into place. It was impossible to open from the other side now.
Brendon stared at the door and realized how lucky he was Rick hadn’t slid the giant latch over during his escape.
(( We’re very lucky, )) Rex commented. (( Things could have ended very differently for us. ))
Megan stared around the darkened lab in horror and saw the dimly lit machine sitting beyond the steel desk.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” She stared in awe.
Brendon, meanwhile, was already going through the worn black binder on the desk. Megan switched on the lights, dimmed them, and took a deep nervous breath.
“What’s that?” She whispered, leaning over the dinosaur’s side and seeing the notes.
Eventually, they came across the design and schematics for the machine as well as a load of technical data.
They stopped on one page. Red Mist, a title announced, a smart polymorphic compound. They spent time carefully pouring over the notes and writings and the picture became clearer. And much more horrifying.
The Red Mist was... almost alive. It was programmable. Flexible. Able to do virtually anything. The only question was how to make it do what they wanted.
This took more time to discover. All the while, Brendon felt Rex struggling to keep up with the loads of information and technical data his step dad had wrote.
(( This... this is mind boggling. How did he do this? How did he make this? Why? ))
( I don’t know. ) Brendon admitted, recalling the cruel indifference with which Rick had changed them to begin with. ( Let’s concentrate on trying to get you out of me. Who knows how much time we have? )
(( Yes, yes. )) Rex sheepishly concurred. (( You’re absolutely right. ))
“Here!” Megan gasped. “Guys, look! Here!”
The Deinonychus turned to Megan, who had a separate book she was flipping through, and their jaws dropped.
Alternative separation, Rick had called it. They could split themselves apart by adding a genetic sample from the original mind as well as the secondary mind to the input tray, which Red Mist would interpret as two separate forms to create in the tank, splitting the minds apart into their respective forms.
(( That’s it! )) Rex was so excited he took control of the tail and wagged it. (( We need a sample of your original body, Brendon! ))
Megan came to the same conclusion and turned, blushing red with fear. “We need the fossil Rex came from and something from Brendon!”
They hurriedly ran to the machine and Megan popped the input tray out. Both creatures gasped as the fossil claw from Rex was still sitting there.
Megan turned and was shaking. “Okay! Now we need a sample from Brendon!”
Brendon, shaking too, pointed upstairs with a claw desperately. Megan looked up to the ceiling, nodded, and ran for the basement door.
“Your room,” she gasped.
They were so close. So close. Brendon followed as Megan swung the basement door open and they rushed upstairs, thundering through the house and entering Brandon’s room.
“What do we use?” Megan was in a panic. “They could be back soon! God dammit, what do we use as a sample for you?”
(( Let me take control. )) Rex insisted, (( Now. Please. ))
Brendon stepped back, let the raptor seize control of the body, and felt him immediately utilizing their powerful dinosaurian senses.
Rex stopped, turned to the bed, and he felt the dinosaur’s coy amusement.
( My spunk. ) Brendon sighed. ( Yeah, I guess that’s genetic material, isn’t it? )
The dinosaur rushed to the bed and pointed. Megan swung to his side, stared at the sheets, and her expression turned from panic to mild amusement.
“Your jizz?” She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, okay, whatever.”
There was a crusty spot on the blanket that was plainly obvious. Megan carefully scratched flakes of it off into her palm and carefully they went back to the basement door.