The Kinships of Solari V

Talia watched out of the window with excitement as they approached the planet below. It had been named Solari V as it was the fifth planet from Rana, this system’s sun. According to the data coming in from the probes, the world was temperate and suitable for human occupation. From this distance, she could see the greens and browns of the land fading to white at the poles and the swirling blues of the oceans. It looked so much like Nueva Terra, the home she had left. Her home planet, in turn, had been reminiscent of Earth, from where her ancient ancestors had hailed.

She sincerely hoped that the colonists and their offspring would coexist and not overpopulate and pollute the planet like they had on so many others. Her Terran Emigration History classes had taught her that Earth was nearly unlivable at that point. The frequency and increasing violence of the storms and other natural disasters had made life more arduous there. The impending threat of an unavoidable meteor storm resulted in a mass evacuation of the planet over a millennia ago. Hundreds of ships had carried most of the inhabitants to different destinations in the relatively nearby galaxies. A small percentage of the population had opted to remain. The majority of the devices measuring data and life signs had gone offline when the meteors hit. No one knew if those who remained were dead or if some survived to start over. To build society back up from the ground would have been a challenging prospect. The only thing they had determined was that the planet was still rotating around the sun rather than being reduced to space rubble.

Life on Nueva Terra had been idyllic at first. The original settlers had worked hard to incorporate technology with a more simplistic life. But over time, their descendants opted for more technology to make life easier while providing more wealth, more leisure, more possessions, just more everything. The leaders of the different landmasses on Nueva Terra had decided that it was necessary to reduce the planet’s population by at least half to avoid the same fate as Earth. Anyone who wanted to go was welcome. The emigrants included many children, their numbers made up of the orphans and other juveniles who were currently a strain on the system. A lottery set up to make up the minimum required number didn't have an age limit. Of course, families would stay together. If a child’s name came up in the lottery, their family could sign up for an exception. More often than not, their entire family would receive an incentive to leave. The chance to explore a new planet was too exciting for her to pass up. Talia had been one of those who were leaving voluntarily. She had been sad when she said goodbye to her family, who had chosen to stay. Because the flight would take several years, it would be uncrewed. All of the passengers were put into cryogenic tanks to be awoken by the ships once they had arrived at their destination.

It was a bittersweet journey. Talia knew that her family members were long gone by the time they had arrived. She hoped they had managed to reverse the damage they were causing, thus avoiding another Earth disaster. Nueva Terra had been much more open to differences than their mother planet, at least from what history told them. Over the centuries, they had made contact with other humanoids. Some of them were biologically compatible with the descendants of Earth. Talia herself had some Fire People heritage. They hailed from a volcanic planet that the Nueva Terrans had dubbed Fuegans. According to their mythology, their ancestors could breathe fire. She had seen no proof of that ability in the modern Fuegans she had met. It was probably just a fanciful tale like Earth’s dragons.

“Dr. Bridges?” A voice drew her out of where her mind had wandered. She turned to find Dr. Faria, one of her Zoology colleagues. “They are preparing to wake the menagerie. Your presence is requested.”

She smiled at his use of the word. “Dr. Bridges? What happened to Talia? We’ve known each other for years now. There is no need for formality.”

He grinned at her and led the way back to the zoo deck. “I know. It’s just fun to say now that we are both officially doctors.”

As they had done with Earth, their ship known as The Ark, had brought along several different animal species to avoid extinction. The assortment chosen were those most likely to survive in this new environment. Talia and Alex had been in college together studying Zoology. While they liked all animals, they had bonded over a mutual love of lizards of all sorts. During late-night study sessions, Talia had regaled Alex with ancient Earth stories about mythical winged lizards known as dragons. She had been elated to find out that he had volunteered for the trip as well. The scientists were the first to be awoken to oversee and examine the animals as they recovered from the cryogenic units. There was always a chance of an animal, or a person for that matter, not waking up after being cryogenically frozen. The Nueva Terrans had made significant advances with the technology. They generally lost far fewer people now than with the original migration from Earth. As expected, the cold-blooded creatures fared well with having been frozen. For the most part, the only warm-blooded animals that didn’t make it had underlying health issues that went undetected in the medical scans required for the trip.

By the time they landed, all of the animals were awake. They had only lost a couple of rats and mice. Some of the people weren’t so sure about the wisdom of bringing rodents with them. They were afraid the vermin would overrun their new planet in no time. They saw them as pests. There were some benefits to having them around. Scientists quite often used them for research purposes, but more importantly, when released in the wild, they were great for spreading seeds therefore, helping with the growth of new trees. They were also a food source for some of the other animals. There were benefits to just about every insect or animal, even snakes. While Talia liked lizards, she wasn’t so fond of snakes. However, they did eat rodents. She wasn’t thrilled with the idea that a variety of snakes were going to be set loose on the planet, but at least none of them were poisonous. Alex didn’t have an issue with snakes, but he was nice enough not to use her dislike against her. He had even helped her get through many experiments in school involving snakes, so she didn’t have to handle them as much. He had questioned her snake aversion when she liked other reptiles. She had pointed out that at least the other reptiles had legs, and most of them couldn’t unhinge their jaws to swallow something twice the size of their bodies. That was just creepy.

Once they had landed on Solari V, a flurry of activity ensued as they erected the temporary buildings. They would provide shelter and labs and office space until the colonists could collect enough resources to build permanent structures. Until then, these buildings were mobile as needed, especially if the area they had chosen to start their colony proved to be more unsuitable as expected based on the research. While they were in flight, several computers ran algorithms on abundant data, but computers were not infallible. Their ships were just the first to arrive. They were the scientists and other professionals who would take the next few years to assess their new home and make it livable for the more extensive fleet of ships that would arrive later.

They soon discovered that the environment, while livable, was not as idyllic as they had hoped. Life on Solari V was not as easy as they had wished. There was a relatively small area of land that was fertile and easily accessible. The majority of the planet was deep, vast oceans full of beautiful coral reefs. The oceanographers were delighted with releasing the sea creatures they had brought with them into their new home and monitoring their ability to adapt to these waters. They were also excited to be able to study the sea life that was already present. Oceans were not particularly suitable for food production, but another group of scientists was able to pull the salt from artificial pools and set up hydroponic gardens. The salt was valuable as well. The land surface ranged from thick jungles to arid deserts and volcanic lands, and tundra. While humans had managed to live in those conditions on both Earth and Nueva Terra, they were not ideal. They knew that going in, but the conditions soon proved to be harsher than the algorithms indicated they would be. The animals released into the wild were thriving, but the humans were struggling. Of course, on Earth, they had evolved in those environments and learned to survive. The colonists from Nueva Terra had come from a life of ease and technology. They didn’t know how to live like that. The scientists were more open to experimentation in trying to find ways to survive. The colonists still due to arrive would not be as amenable to the struggle.

It started as a random comment during one of the weekly meetings to review the successes and failures of their grand experiment. They were in the middle of a discussion as to how well the animals were faring. Max Landry was always a bit on the edge of science versus science fiction. His ideas were usually outlandish. He had looked sincere when he suggested that what they needed was some sort of hybrid between humans and animals. Talia and Alex had shared an amused look.

“Why would anyone in their right mind cross breed a human with an animal?” Stuart Bourassa scoffed. The most pessimistic of the colonists, he was among the governmental personnel rather than a scientist.

“Why would we not? Humans will not fare well here. That much is obvious. Not the spoiled, pampered people who are sleeping blissfully on those ships waiting to wake up in paradise. There will be no utopia here for them. They are better off finding a new planet. Maybe one that is already inhabited? They could join another advanced society. Or take it over. That’s in our ancestors’ nature, after all, to colonize places that belong to others.”

“That is not how we have done things since we left Earth,” Stuart argued.

“No. We find uninhabited planets that are most similar to Earth and try to make them work. But that is a problem in and of itself. These planets are not as perfect as they seem. If they were, they’d already be inhabited.” Max replied. “I know it sounds crazy, but it makes some sense. Imagine being able to create a people with the intelligence of humans and the instincts and survival skills of animals. A people who can thrive in these environments without the material comforts of those who want everything.”

“It’s an interesting idea, but how would we go about it?” Another governmental official by the name of Simone LaRoche asked. “Do we inject ourselves with animal DNA and hope for the best?”

“Please. That would work about as well as a vampire or werewolf bite.” Esme McGillan said, sarcasm dripping from her words. She was the head of the animal husbandry department. She was good at her job but rather officious. Talia was happy that she and Alex spent most of their days monitoring the reptile population in the jungle and desert areas, only taking the shuttle into the settlement for these meetings.

“Of course not.” Simone retorted. “Everyone knows you have to drink the blood of a vampire to become one.”

“Ladies, please. Let’s try to stay on topic and stop with the infighting.” The unofficial governor, Nico Brunelle, said while tapping two pieces of metal together to break through the din of laughter. “Now, Dr. McGillan, in your experience, is this something that would even be possible?”

“I honestly don’t know. In theory, I suppose it’s possible, but it would require both sets of DNA to be compatible. Maybe if we build on the cloning program.”

“What is the likelihood this colony will fail without an extreme measure like this?” Nico asked the other experts.

Stuart waved off the question. “We can adapt to anything. It just may not be what the future colonists are expecting. Our ancestors have lived in these types of conditions. There’s no reason we can’t also. It just won’t be the easy, privileged life they think they deserve.”

“It’s something worth at least looking into,” Esme replied.

After some discussion, they decided not to involve the cloning program. As much progress as the Nueva Terrans had made from the original attempts on Earth, the resulting clones, whether human or other, were not quite as hearty as their DNA donors. They had been more successful in cloning organs for transplant purposes.

From there, the scientists began working with inserting animal DNA into fertilized human eggs. Over the next ten years, they’d had limited success. At first, most of the embryos didn’t survive long enough in the test tubes. Gradually they had more and more success bringing the hybrids to the point of viability. However, the resulting offspring were much wilder than the scientists expected. Talia and Alex, along with the other zoologists, spent a lot of time studying the new species. While they were capable of walking upright, they often didn’t choose to. There was some marginal success in hybrids created from species that did not previously have opposable thumbs learning some limited use of tools. It led to a whole nature versus nurture discussion. Could they transplant the embryos into a surrogate to yield better results? Would they gain more humanity being raised as humans, whether through a surrogate or test tube?

There was still a contingent of people who didn’t think they should be conducting these experiments. They thought the Hybrids were an abomination. Of course, throughout history, there were always people that thought any mixing of peoples was an abomination, whether it be the mixing of races on old Earth or the blending of alien species with humans as had happened on Nueva Terra. By then, pretty much everyone could claim descent from multiple Earth races. It was doubtful there was anyone left of one pure race.

Talia thought the Hybrids were beautiful. There were varying degrees of how much human form came through, but they were all unique. She believed that nurture would go a long way in bringing about humanity in the Hybrids, even those who looked the most like animals. She had always thought that the young should be raised with love rather than just given the bare minimum of care needed until they could take care of themselves.

“Dr. Bridges?”

Talia looked up from her research to see Max Landry standing in the doorway. “Dr. Landry. Come in. What can I do for you?”

“You have been instrumental in observing the Reptilian Hybrids. I was hoping you would be willing to go a little above and beyond with your assistance in the hybrid program.”

Alex had been working with one of the Hybrids on using a paintbrush to create art. He most definitely was listening now. He gave her an curious look.

“Do you want me to try raising one of the Hybrid young after they release it from the growth unit?”

“No. I think the surrogacy option is the best choice. It would allow a true connection between the mother and child. None of the Hybrids are old enough, at least in human years, to use them as surrogates. I’m not sure they would be the best option anyway since they are a bit feral. Anyway, I was hoping you would be willing to participate in the surrogacy program. We already have a few other women willing to carry and give birth to a Hybrid.”

“I...um...let me think about it for a couple of days.”

“Yes. Of course.” He left their lab.

Alex smiled at her but went back to his work with the young Hybrid without comment. Was this something she could do? Talia hadn’t yet volunteered any of her eggs for the Hybrid program. For some reason, having left all of her family behind and knowing she’d never see them again had left her wanting children of her own. She knew she was being selfish, but she felt very strongly about it. Life on Solari V had not been amenable for starting a family. She had been just out of college when they had arrived and had been far too busy to give time to a child. Would she be allowed to keep the resulting Hybrid as her own?

“For what it’s worth, I think you would be a great mother,” Alex said.

“I don’t know. It takes a lot to raise a child. Especially one that may not act like a typical person. My schedule alone would make it difficult.”

“You don’t have to do it alone.” He said. “I would be willing to help you raise the child. And to, well, donate to the cause. I’d be willing to be its father in every sense of the word.”

“Are you sure?”

“Talia, you are my best friend. And honestly, I can’t think of a better mother for my child.”

She took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

They contacted Dr. Landry, who was very appreciative of their agreement to participate. He assured them that any resulting Hybrid would be their child to raise. Talia began the process to prepare her body for the IVF procedure. Alex helped as much as possible, offering friendship and comfort. He was as gentle as he could be when administering the daily shots required. They watched as her eggs were fertilized and later spliced with lizard DNA. Finally, the three most robust embryos were transplanted back into her womb. After several weeks they were elated to confirm that the procedure had worked. Talia was pregnant with a Hybrid baby. Later tests proved that they were going to have twins. From what she read, her pregnancy was progressing normally, which was a relief. No one knew how well this experiment would work, especially with a non-mammalian Hybrid. Some of the other surrogates had lost their children on the first couple of attempts, but that wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary with IVF pregnancies even after a millennia of using them.

As she neared her due date, Talia was getting excited. She wondered how much of their DNA would come through in their children and how much Reptilian. Of course, her due date was a bit fluid. Not many people had given birth to one of the Hybrids yet, which played a role in predicting an accurate due date. Having twins, on top of that, had the effect of making it less likely that she would make the standard forty-week mark for a typical human birth. She went into labor four weeks early, which wasn’t bad. The twins stood a good chance of survival.

While the labor was anything but fast, all too soon, Talia had given birth to two girls. She had barely seen more than a flash of green as the medics pulled them from her body. She looked at Alex in concern; their daughters whisked away. The doctors were whispering among themselves but not sharing any information with the parents. Talia could feel herself begin to cry. She wanted to hold her babies.

“Excuse me,” Alex said. “What is wrong with them?”

Stacia Dobbins, her obstetrician, turned to look at them. “I’m sorry. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with them. Both girls are healthy. It’s just their appearance is not what we expected.”

Alex walked over to where the doctors huddled around their daughters. He took a good look at them then turned back to Talia with shock on his face. He reached into the plastic cradle and lifted one of the girls in the air. The green and cream complexion along, with the hint of scales, was in line with the appearance of the other Lizard Kin. Even the stump of a tail was typical for what they had seen with the Reptilian Hybrids. It was the tiny wings sprouting from her back that had everyone thrown for a loop. “How did this happen?”

“Did we?… Are they?… dragons?” Talia asked weakly.

“It would appear so.” Dr. Dobbins replied. “I have no idea how it happened.”

“Dragons don’t exist. There are no winged lizards from which to extract DNA.” Alex said. The baby in his hands began to cry.

“Please. Can I hold my baby?” Talia begged. Soon the little girl was diapered and wrapped in a blanket, and tucked securely into her arms. Alex walked over to her, carrying their other daughter. They were beautiful, the perfect mix of human and lizard.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Max said later when he arrived to see the results of their experiment.

“I don’t care. I love dragons.” Talia said, holding little Orla closer. She was beginning to fear that they would take the girls from them even with the promise that they would be allowed to keep them. Alex moved a little closer to her, sheltering Maya from the man’s gaze.

“No one is going to do anything to your daughters short of extracting a little of the DNA to confirm where it came from,” Max said. “This is just highly irregular and unexpected.”

They were allowed to take the girls home. Talia didn’t care what they found. She loved their daughters. They were thriving and happy. One day Esme McGillan visited them. She commented on how well Maya and Orla were doing. “We’ve determined there was a mishap at the lab when they prepared the DNA for your embryos. We had brought along some ancient samples from old Earth. DNA collected from various dinosaur bones. The technicians rearranged the lab to make room for Hybrid samples. Somehow one of the dinosaur samples was misplaced and wound up with the lizard samples.”

“Our daughters aren’t dinosaurs,” Alex said, lifting Orla into her high chair for her midday meal.

Talia smiled. “No, but many scientists believed that the ancient Earthlings came across dinosaur remains and thought they were dragons. Maybe, just maybe, this proves that there were dragons. Maybe some of those remains that they thought were from dinosaurs were actually from dragons.”

“Well, one thing is certain, your daughters seem heartier than most of the Reptilian Hybrids. We are seriously thinking of breeding more of the Dragon Kin. We only have so much DNA available, but with any luck, the Dragon Hybrids will successfully breed and create a unique race.”

Talia never thought she would ever see a dragon in real life, let alone be a mother to one, or two, for that matter. Maya and Orla grew up to be beautiful young women. Their stubby tails lengthened as they grew. They could be hazardous, at least until the girls learned to control them. Their wings were strong but not quite large enough to allow them to do more than hover. Otherwise, they were like any other children. Both girls had Alex’s eyes and Talia’s nose. Instead of hair, their daughters had feathers. They inherited their mother’s adventurous spirit. Sometimes they were a little too adventurous. The twins were nearly inseparable.

Overall, the surrogate program was a success. There were viable offspring from all hybrid species, capable of higher thought and communication. They had the intuitive animal skills needed for their survival throughout the different ecosystems of Solari V. Eventually, the various Hybrid species became known as Kinships.