Dragon Horse

Date: Mono-28, Triakosia

Location: Biodome, Emergency Wing

Dr. Sonzwaphi: My code name is Sonzwaphi, reporting from Cepheus. This is the three-hundred-sixtieth test of the attempted antidote to the Fornax bio weapon known as Hyalocin.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Over these last few weeks, I have figured out how to stimulate the reproduction of neurons and multiple subtypes of glial cells with the DLX2 protein, which will enable regeneration of the anterior insular cortex. All the tests on our Kerberos have been successful, but this will be my first human test subject.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: He is a sixteen-year-old Hyalocinated Arctolean under Triangulum, former codename Osiris. I will now administer the attempted antidote through an injection into his external jugular vein.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: May the sky have mercy.

Date: Mono-28, Triakosia

Location: Biodome, Emergency Wing

Dr. Sonzwaphi: My code name is Sonzwaphi. This is the three-hundred-sixty-first test of the attempted antidote to the Fornax bio weapon known as Hyalocin…

Date: Mono-29, Triakosia

Location: Biodome, Emergency Wing

Dr. Sonzwaphi: My code name is Sonzwaphi. This is the three-hundred-sixty-second test of the attempted antidote to the Fornax bio weapon known as Hyalocin…

Date: Mono-30, Triakosia

Location: Biodome, Emergency Wing

Dr. Sonzwaphi: My code name is Sonzwaphi. This is the three-hundred-sixty-third test of the attempted antidote to the Fornax bio weapon known as Hyalocin.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: This is the test subject. He is a sixteen-year-old Hyalocinated Arctolean under Triangulum, former codename Osiris.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Because I am impaired by insomnia, my son Xolani, codename Zeta, will be assisting me with administering the attempted antidote through an injection into his jugular vein.

Z: Interior, exterior, or anterior?

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Hmm?

Z: Am I injecting it into the interior, exterior, or anterior jugular vein?

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Oh, uh, exterior. Exterior jugular vein.

Z: Roger, administering the attempted antidote into Osiris’ exterior jugular vein in three…two…one.

Z: Osiris, can you hear me?

O: Salis…

Dr. Sonzwaphi: What is he saying?

Z: I don’t know.

O: Salis…Salis et Sanguis…

Dr. Sonzwaphi: O Ouranos…

Z: What, what is it?

Dr. Sonzwaphi: That’s the Sub-Equatet war cry.

O: Salis et Sanguis…

Z: Osiris, you’re in the northern hemisphere now.

O: The…north?

Z: Yes, you’re safe.

O: Am I? Are you? Are we safe?

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Easy, your anterior insular cortex still needs time to heal.

O: Our news is censored. Our dicrips die in our collectivized farms. At least in the south, they’re given a chance to prove that they can adapt.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Just hold still–

O: The alliance isn’t keeping us under their wing, they’re covering our eyes with it!

Z: Wait, don’t sedate him! Osiris, Osiris, look at me, I’m listening to you, all right? I’m listening to you. It’s all right. You’re all right.

O: My head hurts.

Z: I know.

O: No, you don’t.

Z: Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to run another test on you–

O: No, no, no!

Z: Ubaba, for the sky’s sake, put the needle away. You’re scaring him.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: He’s scaring me!

Z: There are no needles in this test, Osiris.

O: You swear to the sea?

Z: Yes, I swear…to the sky.

O: Swear to the sea.

Z: That’s not the point.

O: You’re missing the point.

Z: Osiris, would you say you sympathize with the Sub-Equatets?

O: What do you think I’ve been saying this whole time, Einstein?

Z: There you have it.

Dr. Sonzwaphi: The antidote failed again.

Z: The aim of the antidote is to regenerate his anterior insular cortex, and to reprogram his neurons and glial cells, correct?

Dr. Sonzwaphi: Correct.

Z: Exactly, it’s not about reprogramming his views. That’s what the Sub-Equatets did to him, and we’re Arctoleans. Real Arctoleans. The antidote succeeded. Put down the needle.

Date: Mono-31, Triakosia

Location: Biodome, Stockade Theta

[Xolani grabs a saddle, a harness, a helmet, padding for his knees and elbows, and a pack of dried Pyrenean ibex meat off the wooden shelves of the warehouse, then he walks past the empty Kerberos enclosures, weaving through the solar-paneled forest and wading through the long, dry grass, stopping before a high-reaching, chain-link fence circling around an artificial field with a few spindly, dying plants.]

Dr. Nomkhubulwane: What did your father and you choose to call it?

[Felix pounces on Xolani and pins him to the warm earth, dragging his rough tongue all over his face, his tail wagging furiously. Xolani holds the meaty leg out to him. Felix snatches it out of his grip and splinters the bone with one snap of his teeth. While he gnaws on the femur, Xolani tightens his helmet, slides on his guards, tugs on the buckles of the saddle over Felix’s underbelly, and hops on, sliding his shoes into the stirrups.]

Z: Why do they call it Hyalocin?

[Felix and Xolani tear across the grassland and into the woods. The shadows of the trees streak past them. A log-shaped barrier lifts from under a camouflaged compartment of leaves, sticks, and mulch. Felix leaps over it, then ducks to the side as a net drops down from the canopy. When he sees the silhouette of a tank ahead of them, he dives behind the bushes, nearly getting Xolani whipped in the face by a branch. Xolani leans forward when he digs his claws into a trunk and scales up into the foliage, crossing from one limb to another with his hand-like paws.]

Dr. Nomkhubulwane: They got it from Hyalos, or Greek for ‘glass.’ It’s meant to mock us, to remind us that we can be broken just as easily.

[The projector casts the shape of a helicopter onto the leaves next. Felix jumps onto the ground, crouching behind the bushes again, his rounded ears flat against his skull. Xolani hunkers closer to him, holding just as still. The “helicopter” passes, then he sits up again and gives Felix a light kick with the stirrups.]

Z: Then we should call it Polycarbos.

[Felix sniffs, then the fur on his spine bristles. He looks back at Xolani, snarling slightly and dropping his tail between his legs when he smells his fear. Xolani inhales and exhales slowly, evenly, then he seizes Felix’s harness and gives him a gentle, but firm push to the right. This time, he listens. The trees at the end of the forest slide apart to reveal a wall painted to resemble the skyline of a military camp. A timer hanging from the ceiling begins to beep. Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two seconds. One second. Felix shoots past the finish line, rearing up and swiping at a bell with his right paw.]

Dr. Nomkhubulwane: Why?

Z: For the polycarbonate in bulletproof glass.

[Xolani slides the saddle off of Felix’s back, then slips the guards off his elbows and knees. He turns to leave, but then his boots skid to a halt when Felix whines behind him. Xolani swallows down the lump in my throat, swivels on his heel, and throws his arms around the Thylacoleo’s stocky neck, running his fingers through his warm fur.]

Dr. Nomkhubulwane: That’s my son.

[Xolani fixes his scarf, wipes his eyes with his sleeve, and closes the chain link fence behind him. He still feels the dead grass stuck in his coiled hair, and hears Felix crying in the distance.]

Z: I had good parents.

Date: Di-1, Triakosia

Location: Air Force Station

Z: Mom, Dad, if you’re seeing this…I’m the one who stole the Polycarbos.

Z: Every second I spend here, hiding in this biodome, another Arctolean has their humanity severed from them.

Z: The draft is the gun, and our comrades are the ammunition. The Alliance would rather reload and fire until they run out of rounds, but I can save our bullets.

Z: Feed Felix and Uni for me.