Chapter 388: Surveillance

Late Morning - Late Fall : Acardi Laboratory | Siratha

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"So, how can I tell what tissue is damaged by the bicordial gland, and how deep does the damage typically spread?" Speaking with a joyful tone, Hera looked up toward the AI while her tail happily swayed back and forth.

"The 'damaged' tissue is only detectable through careful examination and comparison of genetic material from an 'actively healed area' of a dragon's body, namely the brain or eyes, and the genetics of cells near the ovaries. And of 38 documented studies, the most widespread damage was about a dozen times the width of the ovary, but it can vary greatly between draconic species and ages as damage spreads through the breakdown and repair of cells overtime."

Falling into thought, Hera immediately paused before giving me a more puzzled look. "Uh.. do you have any idea how to do that?"

Gently nodding, I turned my chair around and looked up at the AI. "So, by the sounds of it, the damage is specifically to genetics?"

"That is correct."

-That's.. odd...- My blissful expression slowly morphed with confusion as the wag in my tail slowed. "Can you give me some more detail on the chemical the gland produces? You said it produces a protein that checks for defects?" -How would a protein really.. do that...-

"That is correct. MSC1 is a classification of nuclear envelope proteins common in most advanced lifeforms that verify the integrity of the DNA. Although study on younger dragons is limited, it is expected that the chemical verifies the DNA of the egg during its creation and after conception, when the genetic templates of the parents are blended. However, just one of these events is more than enough to cause permanent damage to the ovary itself, preventing the production of more eggs."

Quickly speaking up, Hera spoke with a bit of haste. "If it damages the ovaries, does it also damage the egg?"

"No." It responded firmly. "To our knowledge, it does not damage the eggs in the same way as surrounding tissue, however, its repairs are significant enough to draw the attention of lead researchers."

-What?- With a bit of uneasiness starting to come over me, I felt myself tense slightly. "What do you mean?"

"This world's dragons are the only race ever discovered to produce this chemical in such huge amounts. Typically, the production of MSC1 proteins is isolated to specific areas of cells at the end of mitosis, however, that isn't the case here. The proteins are produced in a huge quantity, and check the DNA of already constructed cells many times over. This causes evolutionary mutations to be exceedingly rare, but according to many recorded theories relating to the study of prehistoric dragon fossils and remains, the mutation could have only happened in the last forty or fifty thousand years. The issue is that timeframe is still far too short to so uniformly affect the entire draconic population of this world."

-What the hell...- Hera slowly turned to me with a slightly anxious look, and I felt exactly the same way she did. "Are you implying the presence of the gland could be artificial?"

"It is entirely possible that the gland is natural, as there are many evolutionary advantages to it, preventing major defects, and encouraging selective breeding to more reliably create stronger young. However, its forceful overproduction of the proteins hinders the creation of multiple clutches to such an extent that it is quite evolutionarily disadvantageous, but it may be possible that there was a significant culling of the draconic population, perhaps in the form of a war, and because they were stronger, the other genetics were weeded out."

-But...- Looking over at Hera, I watched her dig through her memories before looking up at me with worry in her eyes.

"There wasn't a major culling that I can remember..." She spoke with a mix of uncertainty and worry. "And dragons only being able to have a single clutch was a widespread issue even when I was young..." But anger was slowly woven into her voice.

Grabbing her attention, I spoke softly. "Do you know of any events around that timeframe?"

She immediately shook her head before whispering back. "I'd have to check old records..." Pausing to think, she turned back to the AI. "Is it possible that it was something done artificially?"

The AI's glow gently pulsated as if to nod. "It is, especially so if the gland itself formed naturally."

-It's just the overproduction of the chemical it makes that's the problem...- *Creak* Leaning back in my chair, I looked up at the ceiling and let thoughts rip through my mind. -Forty to fifty thousand years before the great war...- It simply wasn't a long enough time for there have been either a huge event, or a happenstance mutation that didn't have any sort of record. -It's too recent...-

And Hera knew that just as well as I did...

-Maybe...- "Could it have been something related to diet? Could it have to do with it being oversupplied with nutrients?" Trying to take a shot in the dark in hopes of getting a hint at it being natural, I looked at the AI's tube.

But it responded bluntly. "This phenomenon occurs in dragons who live almost entirely off mana as well. The issue is with the genetics of the gland itself."

*Tap-Creaaak* Leaning against the desk next to me, Hera hung her head with a dark expression while sinking into thought.

She seemed to be trying to think back to an event that could have occurred then, the same as me...

But we were both empty-handed.

"Are your memories around that time still fuzzy?" She quickly gave me a hopeful glance.

But I could only silently nod.

"Then we need to check the inner layer of the library for stuff related to that when we go back..." Speaking somewhat angrily, she gripped the desk hard enough for her fingers to sink into the metal, before easing herself with a deep breath. "If there was an event, the best place we could find information on it is there..." Lowering her tone even further, she spoke under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear. "I just hope it's not what I think it is..."

Falling into silence, we both gave it some more thought before eventually, I decided to change subjects. "How is the progress on the ETBM?"

Quickly grabbing Hera's attention, helping distract her from her somber thoughts, the AI's voice filled the room. "The update has been completed successfully as per emergency protocol. However, in the process of switching to be an OOM, all local save data and interface preferences have been lost."

"That's fine." Turning back around to the desk, I reached over and gently picked it up.

"Hm?" Peeking over my shoulder, Hera gave it a curious look. "What is that?"

*Tap* Tapping the screen, it instantly lit up with a welcoming menu reading, 'SolarCore Multipurpose Orbital Object Mapper' with 'Unable to Connect to Local Relay' in red text at the bottom. "It's an old Acardi device I found in a human kingdom a long time ago. I could use it to map smaller areas, or connect it to satellites to map larger ones, but I didn't have much of a use for it then."

*Beep* With a silent beep, the screen updated to show a planetary body with a vague outline, and a blue glowing section centered on the screen, before a sudden panel appeared saying it was being updated.

"The lab said it was really outdated last time I came by, so I left it here to update..." -Let's see what it can do now...-

*Beep* With another beep, the 3D map of the entire planet populated, with several colors ranging from green to red as if depicting danger levels.

"Huh..." A fascinated glow quickly found its way into Hera's eyes. "Is this Delphi?"

I quickly nodded. "It seems like a map the Acardi used.. but look at the colors..." Swiping around the planet, everywhere was marked with a color, with Bahamut, The Forgotten Islands, and all of the Western Continent Marked in dark red, while most of the rest of the world was varying shades of yellow.

However, besides the tiny specs of green dots amidst the sea of yellow, there was one large area marked green. -The Holy Kingdom...-

The entire landmass where the Holy Kingdom was, with the exception of the Scar, was mapped with in green. "Hey, Lab, what are the colors marking?"

Realizing what I was thinking, Hera's expression darkened as well.

"The colors depict danger levels. Blue is unknown, Red is deadly, or high-risk, yellow is dangerous, or medium-risk, and green is minimal risk, as well as the areas my hosts could safely exit their vehicles."

-So it doesn't necessarily mean the Acarrdi viewed The Holy Kingdom as allies...- But it was a possibility I wasn't going to shake off that easily. "So what about these smaller green areas? There are a few in red areas."

"Those are Acardi defensive installments, laboratories, docking bays, or assorted research facilities. If you wish for them to be highlighted in a different color, you can customize it on the left."

Quickly expanding a wall of settings that covered the screen, I took my time to scroll through all the different settings, finding many that weren't related to the map, before setting all the different Acardi structures to different colors and exiting to look at the map again.

Almost instantly, hundreds of different areas lit up with different colors, showing me exactly what each structure was, no matter where it was. -Holy shit...- There were structures absolutely everywhere. -This should make finding the other laboratories easy, but...- The number of structures was mind-boggling.

"Oh my goodness..." Even Hera was taken aback. "They really did.. infest this world..."

No matter where you looked, as long as it wasn't the heart of Siratha or Bahamut, there were structures scattered absolutely everywhere.

Especially in the Holy Kingdom. -Oh my gosh...- It was almost like they had their own city there. -That.. is a bad sign...- My expression quickly turned troubled.

"So they were allied with the Holy Kingdom..." Hera was thinking the same thing.

But there was one thing continuously tripping up my thoughts. -The ship convoys they sent to Siratha were unbelievably lacking if the Acardi gave them any technology... Especially after ten thousand years...- "I think it's more likely that they made a deal rather than having a proper alliance..." Zooming in on the Holy Kingdom, I could easily pick out several research facilities where it looked like the capital was, but they were all subterranean. "If the Holy Kingdom had access to Acardi tech, they would have already taken over the world, and most definitely wouldn't have given my father the artifact that gave me a body my soul could coexist with... If Asgard had even an inkling of what that artifact did, they never would have parted ways with it..."

"But I'm certain they gave the Holy Kingdom some things, they just probably couldn't reverse engineer it."

Gently nodding, I turned to look at the labs in the Deaths Gape, as well as a tiny spike in the middle of it that I understood to be the connection tower for the labs. "The idea of them having a weapon that can deal a blow to you or Myles leaves a bad taste in my mouth regardless..." But I was hopeful I wouldn't need to test those waters for quite a while. "It's all the more reason to keep eyes on them though..."

*Beep* Selecting one of the many tabs at the top of the screen, the map instantly zoomed out to focus of the space around the planet.

It was a satellite map, with several color options for marking different satellites just like with the planetary map.

But there was one category of satellites that caught my eye. -Surveillance satellites...- "After we reconnect the labs and get an updated map of the sea floor to see if the oracle really was from the Leviathan, I want to get these satellites back online..."

Although we had acquired the thunderbirds, I wasn't confident in testing the waters by having them look over the Holy Kingdom. -But if I use satellites, even Odin won't fuck with them...-

The question was how many would even be recoverable, and how I would have to go about syncing them up with the laboratory. -I might have to restart the server that the Lab keeps mentioning...- Gently turning the map of the moon, I eventually found a tile labeled 4B, with a wide expanse of structures on it. -I just hope turning it back on isn't going to open a whole nother can of worms...-

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