Part 7:
The disease changes people from within… those enigmatic words of Persephone were undoubtedly the key to an antidote… But how?.. The three of us were in Chiron’s cave, racking our brains, looking at parchments, consulting our tablets… nothing …
-Dammit!!! How is it possible for people to change from within? –Borward cursed men and gods alike… as a good scientist, this enigma had him insane for not being able to solve it.
Chiron had been thinking for a long time… finally he spoke -Perhaps for us, changing people from within has a meaning, but… and for you?
Borward and I don’t look… what’s inside people? Organs, viscera, bones… and from within everything… there is the DNA…
It was a possibility… It took us a while to explain the concepts of DNA to Chiron, but more or less he understood it… if we had to do more analysis we had to go back to the laboratory…
We left Chiron in his cave, and returned to Pearl Cove…we used the samples obtained from Larissa’s corpse…Nothing, the DNA was normal…there was nothing in the sequence that designated a change or mutation that would cause death…
Suddenly Borward’s assistant, Peter, approached one of the terminals, connected the database and typed something: The list of names of the people who were registered in Larissa’s Revive… After a few minutes looking, we identified the photo of that girl’s father, of whom we had the samples.
Since the Revives were implemented and Queen Penthesilea gave her approval, all the inhabitants of Greece were registered in the Revives database… There was also their genetic composition, essential to be able to revive them correctly… and…
There was!!! When we compared the DNA obtained from the corpse, and the DNA from the database, there were huge differences…
That was the answer: Persephone’s essence was a deadly virus, but it also modified people’s DNA (it changed from within) and when the Revive worked, it did not match the one stored in the database… That caused a defective resurrection, which led to a horrible death… We had found the cause and the effect… now the cure was missing!!!
Borward, Peter and I hugged each other satisfied… At least we already knew what to look for: some viral element, as we already knew, but that also produced changes in the DNA of human beings.
Peter and Borward analyzed the samples more closely, trying to isolate possible viral elements… after several hours, four elements were detected… time to culture samples…
The first three corresponded to simple viruses similar to dysentery, or the flu… but the fourth virus literally destroyed the cells with which it was cultured… It was isolated!!!
It was a very strange virus: the contagion rate was slow, but totally deadly… That explained why it had not been so virulent, although it was lethal in an isolated community like the town of Larissa…
Three hours later, Peter managed to create a component that rendered the virus harmless, a kind of “vaccine”… It must be said that Borward was a little jealous that he hadn’t been the one to discover the solution, but that didn’t matter…
Now we had to find a way to inoculate the “vaccine” to all the peoples between Larissa and Thebes itself… and in such a way that Queen Penthesilea or Chief Socrates, much less any God of Olympus, would find out…
The solution was easy: between Larissa and Thebes there were several wells, lakes and rivers, from which the different populations took their water… Huge amounts of the “vaccine” had to be diluted in rivers and wells, so all the scientific staff at Pearl Cove set about crafting liters and liters of the “vaccine”.
We divided up the areas on the map, and we all went in vehicles or TP to the assigned areas, with the “vaccine” containers… Meanwhile, the lower-ranking assistants and scientists would go along the roads with the Fappers adapted to the new compound…
It was a matter of days to put an end to that madness…
A week later:
Borward, Peter, and I were drinking herbal tea in Chiron’s cave… For Peter, all this was new and magical…
-Foreigners… you did well… without you, that Pandemic would have killed all living beings in Greece… We Centaurs, the Cyclopes… we also have what you call “DNA”… Perhaps we would have been the next to go to Tartarus…
-All the wells have been inoculated, and the Fappers adapted to the virus… we’ve only had one case in the last two days… A guy who lived alone in a mountain and we couldn’t locate… -Borward summed up the situation.
-And at the moment Chief Socrates hasn’t heard anything, nor has Queen Penthesilea… And it seems that this Zeus hasn’t either… -Peter was a bit skeptical about the subject of “the Gods”…
Chiron looked at the three of us… Without a doubt, relations between humans and Centaurs could take a new direction after this collaboration…
-I suppose now you will go back to your places to do whatever you do in Greece… Remember, you will always be welcome in this tribe… If any Centaur stops you, just say that you come to see Chiron, the Master of Heroes, and they will let you in peace… - Chiron’s offer was very generous…
We returned to Pearl Cove in the afternoon… Now we must go back to our business…
-Well, I have to prepare everything to receive Katalina… she went to Monria to see her parents - I said to Borward as we said goodbye near the TP – By the way, Dr. What are you working on now?
Borward looked from one side to the other, as if he was afraid of being heard… He lowered his voice and said:
-Dante… Peter and I are working on something big… We are trying to create another portal like the one in Ancient Greece to be able to connect with other kingdoms: Egypt, Rome, T’sin… who knows… But please, don’t say anything… this is secret…
Borward could rest easy, I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone… after this adventure, all I wanted was to see Katalina and have a drink at Caroline’s… I’ll go one day to see the Man-Bear and bring him the leaves that I stole in Chiron’s cave…
EPILOGUE:
Epilogue 1:
Dr. Borward adjusted the dials together with his assistant Peter… They looked at each other for a moment and connected the machinery… An enormous light illuminated the laboratory…
A beam similar to that of the Teleporters emerged from the center of the machine and, for a moment, something seemed to be seen through the light… Perhaps a face? and snow?
With a descending sound, the machine stopped working…
Dr. Boward sighed… There was no way, whatever it was that managed to open the portal to Ancient Greece, it seemed impossible to do it now and try to open other portals…
Maybe in the future…
Epilogue 2:
The figure looked at that strange swirl of lights… For a moment it seemed to see another place, and other people… Then everything went out…
How strange… It seemed as if someone wanted to open a portal to his world…
For a moment he thought about doing the right thing: telling his father and brother about what he had seen, but seconds later he decided not to do it… Better to investigate on his own what it was and try to take advantage of it, as he always did…
He smiled as he walked away from the place… His footsteps left footprints in the snow… Definitely, neither his father Odin nor his brother Thor should know anything about that… one day Asgard would be his and that portal could bring him some advantage… Meanwhile, he, Loki, I would keep the secret.
Epilogue 3:
I was on the beaches near Crystal Peak… good sun, good beer and the impatience to see Katalina, who was returning from seeing her parents who were in Monria at the time…
Ah… My in-laws… the truth is that they had never seen well that their daughter, on whom they had pinned all their hopes in a political career, was going to wander with someone like me… That’s why they couldn’t even see me…
Suddenly I heard the sound of an engine… but it didn’t sound like Katalina’s Quad… it was a heavier sound… I looked up and saw an Arkadian Dropship getting ready to land…
It’s strange that Katalina takes a transport… maybe someone else is coming to Next Island… and once I thought that, the alarm lights went off in my mind.
From the back of the transport, the exit and unloading platform was opened… Katalina was there, beautiful, with monriana clothes… I felt lucky to see the beautiful woman she had…
And my smile froze when I saw the figures that accompanied her: A snooty old woman with a raven nose and a stooped old man with a cane with the handle like the head of an Arkadian Kiana… My in-laws!!!
The old crow-woman looked in my direction, wrinkled her nose and said…
-Well, if the drunken adventurer has come to receive us…
I think that, until they leave, it will be a very long few days…