“So they’re going to uplift these Ukrainian soldiers?” Gulf asked to Harold in one of the offices where Horizon was doing its testing and other deep sea research that Horizon was doing to see on how uplifting would work with those deep sea animals and how they could provide insight to scientists that came from them.
However, uplifting animals also introduced them to things that Humans did and this often raised many questions from them on Human behaviors and Gulf was no exception to this. Prior to Halloween, he hadn’t noticed too much about the conflict in Ukraine, largely as the work at Mieni in deep sea research had kept all involved fairly business, and it was only after that that many were closely involved had the opportunity into looking at other issues. However, around November 11, Mieni got some advertisements that related to Veteran’s Day in the US. This then included various other updates that drew his attention, and included a blog article that made some mention on Ukrainian and potentially even deserting Russian soldiers being uplifted.
Harold slithered over to look at the article that Gulf was pointing to, and was happy answer some of those questions. The blog had some credible points, but as he looked over it as Gulf pointed to it, Harold could tell the blog was also heavily speculative. Some things weren’t outright lies, but it was something that also played more to other things Horizon did. And there, Harold decided to answer these questions for Gulf as best he could.
“There’s nothing official in that,” Harold answered, “Horizon doesn’t have offices in Ukraine, and most of the areas in Europe where we do have offices or staff members is in connection with local Animalian colonies in the UK, France, and Spain. In most other cases our involvement would be more in partnership with a local company… which we don’t have in Ukraine, and to my understanding, because of the increasing diplomatic tensions, what contacts we had with similar Russian companies have been lost… either as retaliation for Putin’s aggression in Ukraine or Putin shutting these businesses down because they may have criticized him or because he simply needs manpower.”
“But wouldn’t they could be converted?” Gulf wondered.
“In pure theory, I suppose they could,” Harold nodded, “as conversion and uplifting has healed injuries inflicted before one becomes an Animalian and has corrected other issues as well. And Horizon has often done this with American veterans for Veterans Day, though most of them are “War on Terror” vets.”
“Not with the present conflict?” Gulf wondered.
“It wouldn’t be impossible, but far more difficult and thus unlikely, and particularly for the Russians,” Harold answered, “given a lot of Putin’s actions, there are going to be concerns of spies or other problems and so on. For those the Ukrainians have taken prisoner would then require specialized care that I doubt that Ukraine would want to pay for while the war is on. And the sanctions and disagreements with Russia at present would make converting wounded Russian soldiers on the Russian side of the lines impossible.”
“And the Ukrainian soldiers?” Gulf asked, still trying to wrap his head around the nature of this war and conflict.
“That would be more possible,” Harold answered, “but any Ukrainian soldier would be expected to return to the line after becoming an Animalian. Being in a war where one’s homeland is invaded would make that mandatory. Now… because Russia has attacked Ukraine, the Ukrainian soldiers might be more willing to do so after converting… but even if they didn’t, they would still have to. War… and wars for survival tend to have that effect.”
“That is the thing I still do not fully understand,” Gulf said slowly, “this conflict has all these mixed messages as to its cause, and one man surely doesn’t need all the territory that Putin is claiming… none of them are killing to eat or anything close to that. It’s just… odd…”
“It can be,” Harold commented, “though, Human social behaviors and hierarchies tend to change and enlarge things. It is similar to territorial squabbles over food or even mates, but the concept is applied to part of a large whole and often taking things to points where survival isn’t a part of it. Particularly when it’s quite likely that the goal of such conflicts is often to kill others, and is why there are so many people around the world who DON’T like war. In this, figures like Putin are in the minority of the Human population… albeit dangerous.”
Gulf slowly nodded and Harold acknowledged it. He didn’t think he’d fully answered Gulf’s questions or could make him totally feel better on the issue, partially because privately, Harold was one of those people who didn’t like war and warfare. It devastated lands and destroyed knowledge, which was the biggest crime in it. But, he still had to hand it to Gulf for being curious and asking questions. It was something that had been there since his uplifting. And thinking on that jogged some of Harold’s memories on that trip.
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The depths were still something that Harold had to use a specialized submarine to go into. For while Sea Kraits were more than capable of swimming, they didn’t go deep into the depths. It was why uplifting animals from the deepest part of the oceans required that the new Animalians often get certain traits that would enable them to move between the depths and surface, thankfully they had uplifted a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale they named Cousteau, for the purpose of being able to provide elements that could be used to provide for Animalians that could swim both in the depth and the shallows and have internal lungs.
Most animals that normally lived in these depths were used to the intense water pressure and couldn’t easily survive coming into areas where there was less water pressure around them. That was why Cousteau had to be uplifted and his contributions were helpful. It meant that Animalians from these depths wouldn’t be purely of that animal but a genetic hybrid resulting from the various add-ons that were part of the Animalia Virus used with deep sea animals. Though some of that was already there with other Fish Animalians in general, given that with the exception of the Lungfish no fish could breathe outside of water. This meant that every Fish Animalian had to have gotten some Lungfish DNA added to the Animalia Virus injected into them, and in some cases that wouldn’t be the only addition, as eels would need something else to help them move on land, since they didn’t have the various fins that became the legs in other Fish Animalians. Thus, when Teela was uplifted, Harold’s wife and mate Kirana provided the DNA to let Teela slither on land like a Snake Animalian.
And that was all part of their present mission, which was to uplift a Pelican Eel. They had come to the general area where the species was found and Beacon had even offered to provide some help in providing the uplifting dose for the eel. That worked out fine and Harold was always happy to have someone provide help, and as an Anglerfish Animalian, Beacon was capable of taking the water pressure but also staying down long enough to make sure that the eel wasn’t harmed before it could be uplifted.
Harold piloted the submersible down to the depth they expected find a Pelican Eel at while Beacon swam alongside. Once they found it, Harold would move the syringe to be used for the uplifting into a specialized compartment that could be flooded and moved out into the water, almost like a torpedo, but not in a way that would shoot it out into the sea. Beacon would then easily collect it and move on to inject the eel with the Animalia Virus. One uplifted they could then return to the surface to better explain the full purpose behind the uplifting, and from Harold’s point of view the good that the new Animalian would be able to do for the world.
This, however, took some time as the ocean was big everywhere, and being in a general area were Pelican Eels were known to live and operate did not necessarily mean that they would see one. Some of it could be that there were none in the immediate area and some of it could be that the submersible’s presence was already known and what they were searching for moved away, and while Beacon could look for as long as she pleased, the submersible did have a limited battery life and thus could only stay submerged for so long. Thus, Harold had to retain some hope that they would get lucky and find one rather quickly.
They ended up moving around for a bit before Beacon seemed to notice something off to a side and Harold was left to pivot the submersible to follow her. As he turned it, the image of Beacon cradling something in her harms and from the light from Beacon’s lure, he could soon see that it was a Pelican Eel. It moved its head side to side a bit and was opening its long and wide mouth as some kind of threat display, but seemed to do little against the grip that Beacon had on it with her hand behind the eel’s jaws. Harold then noticed something else in that the eel’s stomach was also a bit distended, which gave an indication that the eel had just eaten something and that was likely the movement that Beacon noticed and swam off to. Harold quickly put the syringe for the uplifting in its compartment as Beacon gave a thumb’s up with her other hand.
The uplifting went carefully, but not without real difficulty. The hardest part for Beacon was more in getting the cap off the syringe without bending or breaking the needle, but it did work and the shot was delivered closer to the base of the eel’s tail and away from its stomach and left Harold hoping that the fish or animal that the eel had eaten didn’t uplift with the eel. Beacon looked a bit funny with the safety cap sticking out of hir fanged mouth, but as the eel began to change, shi was able to let the eel go and put the cap back on the syringe with hir hands. Harold was left to watch as the eel began to grow and change.
One of the first things was that the tiny pectoral fins behind the eel’s jaws began to enlarge and swell outward, taking on a more shoulder like shape as digits began to form as well at the ends. The eel moved little and seemed to try and twist to watch as is fins began to grow into what increasingly looked like arms. At the same time the long thin fin underneath the eel’s tail began to shrink as the tail began to grow and thicken, as well as the eel began to grow in general. Some of this was to be expected as the Pelican Eel normally had a long singular fin under the tail that helped it with what movements it made the ocean depths, but as the snake DNA elements that were part of the Animalia Virus package for uplifting eels kicked in, that fin was lost to allow for the added muscle for the thicker tail that would allow the new Animalian to slither on land.
The eel continued to progressively grow, and Harold noted that some of the other features that were part of the process of uplifting fish occurred. At about where the eel’s “waist” would be once it had finished its transition into an Animalian, a set of shark-like claspers gradually formed but were then pulled into a fold of scaly skin in the same area. Harold assumed that also related to the nature in how eel anatomy was so different from other fish that the hybridization efforts didn’t fully leave them external as they were in sharks. Though, that was something that Harold wasn’t going to dwell on too much. The thing that did the most good was the fact that Harold did not see the eel’s stomach distend as it became an Animalian and indicated that its last meal did not uplift with the eel.
Harold could only watch as the new Pelican Eel Animalian looked over himself and then twisted to look over to Beacon who remained nearby. He watched as they talked for a few moments and watched as Beacon pointed to him and the submersible. This generated a curious look back and then a nod from the new Animalian. Eventually Beacon gave another thumbs up and then pointed toward the surface. Harold nodded and returned the thumbs up and began to slowly raise the submersible. He would do so to make sure that it would provide some shelter for Beacon and the new Animalian once they got into shallower waters and might have to deal with larger predators.
It took a little while to reach the surface, but once they did so and Harold was able to open the submersible’s hatch, he was asked a question before he could say anything.
“The Angler says you wanted to learn about me?” the Pelican Eel Animalian asked.
“About many things in the ocean depths,” Harold responded, “uplifting animals from there to Animalians can provide all sorts of new lessons and other aspects about life down there that we can really only do by observation right now.”
“So, you are curious about the depths?” the Pelican Eel asked.
“As a scientist, I’m curious about many things,” Harold gave a small smile.
“After listening to the Angler, I too am curious about all this world up here… even with all its bright light,” the Pelican Eel Animalian answered, “it’s not something I see very often.”
Harold smiled at the new Animalian being curious about the surface world. Many Animalians often did show curiosity about things they didn’t know of or understand. That was always good.
“Hir name is Beacon, as I’m sure she’s told you,” Harold responded, “my name is Harold. What is your name? What would like to be called?”
The Pelican Eel Animalian raised a hand up to stroke the pouch under his jaw, “I was thinking Gulf. I seem to know that my species is grouped with what are called “Gulper Eels” and figured something close wouldn’t be bad… but not Gulp. I’m not afraid of anything and nor do I want to be drawing too much attention to a negative association around eating.”
Harold nodded, “then welcome to Animalia, Gulf. Hopefully there’s lots that both of us can learn from each other.”
“And you are like me?” Gulf asked, “an Eel Animalian?”
“No, I’m a Snake Animalian, a Sea Krait,” Harold answered, “I converted to be with my wife Kirana. Snakes are largely land animals that have evolved to move without limbs, though some, like Sea Kraits have returned to the ocean. Though, because we’re air breathers, we stay closer to the surface.”
“And why you were in that box?” Gulf asked.
“We call it a submersible, but yes,” Harold nodded, “it’s what allows us to study the depths in detail without being crushed by them.”
“Amazing,” was Gulf’s only response.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And there were more questions from there. Much of it about Animalia and Horizon and other things that Gulf was curious on. Some things moved onto upcoming holidays, and at the time that then brought on questions about Halloween and what holidays were in general. It was a curiosity that Gulf had in spades and it intrigued Harold, and he and other residents at Mieni were more than happy to answer Gulf’s questions, particularly as he answered their questions about the ocean depths. It seemed a mutually beneficial exchange. Though, now as those questions began to relate to some of the darker sides of Human civilization, Harold hoped that these things didn’t hurt Gulf’s curiosity too much.
“I know this isn’t easy… and trust me, I’m not a fan of it either,” Harold continued, “but it is complicated.”
“Yes, but I thank you for answering,” Gulf answered, “do you think that things could be made peaceful? That this fighting will end?”
“It will end eventually,” Harold sighed, “no war can go on forever. The question, though, is how it may be achieved, particularly when both sides want something from the outcome or think they can win. And some of that will relate more to the actors in present conflict. And that becomes a part where making peace can be hard.”
“Hopefully it comes soon,” Gulf commented, “the aggression stops, and everyone goes home.”
“Agreed,” Harold nodded.