Page 30 of Monstrous Rampage
:Knotting increases the likelihood of successful breeding, which is ideal for our program.:
:Physiologically correct, yes, but it’s also instinctual. Primal. Especially since he’s alpha. No other candidate will risk trying to breed her as a result.:
:The BGR++ is fully contained and will not be given access to the female again.:
I shook my head.:So you say but an alpha of this magnitude will find a way to reclaim his mate. Nothing will stop him short of death. As long as he’s still alive, she’s his.:
:Are you refusing this mission, SPTD? If so, we will submit you for decommissioning as DSC originally ordered.:
Tension strained in me. Urges. Hopes. Emotions I only half understood.
Before having the opportunity to interact with this female, I’d been resigned to decommissioning. Now, temptation lured me to participate in such a novel mission. Especially given my less than stellar performance which must have tagged me for Nyan Station in the first place. A rejected engineered dynos like me would never be considered for breeding. DSC could simply recycle my Sirian cells and make another, better iteration in a perfectly controlled environment with the personality, skills, and programming they desired.
Breeding had too many unknown factors when allowed to happen naturally, which was why only prime stock was used. In fact, my databanks insisted very few dyni were still born in that sense. Most could be more effectively engineered.
I thought of the little wild-born youngling of a human female and dyni squad. Proof natural breeding could work. We were compatible. I wouldn’t have believed it without snapshots of theyoungling in her mother’s arms. Sleeping. Walking. Running. Growing at a fascinating rate.
Curiosity burned to know more about her development. Her personality. Her capabilities would be mind boggling. Sirian cells allowed to grow as they wished, rather than being programmed to specific goals dictated by DSC. Far from tungsten holding cells and iterative development.
Naturally, I wondered if it could be accomplished again. If I could be a part of a squad with a wild-born youngling. Such an impossibility had never occurred to me. To anyone.
Except Snyder’s primary controllers.
He had to be fairly high up in DSC to have access to decommissioned dyni. Powerful and wealthy enough to have created this private facility beneath DSC’s noses.
:Curiosity isn’t a desired squad trait in our program,:the agent said.:Be careful such curiosity doesn’t eliminate you from the wondrous possibilities that lie ahead. Access to a female. Groundbreaking experimentation. Building a squad from scratch without DSC interference. Watching a youngling of your own squad develop. Join us, SPTD. Join the future of Dynosauros.:
Tempting. Yes. But reality dampened said curiosity faster than his veiled warning not to snoop into the agent’s controllers. Very little happened in the universe without DSC knowing about it. If they discovered the wild-born youngling and the human mate, they’d blast the planet without hesitation. It’d only be a matter of time before they tracked down evidence of this private grid.
Nothing could be secure forever.
:If you agree to assist Holly, we will not wipe this iteration. You will retain any memories you gain with her. So you can grow and develop a personal, ongoing relationship with her and your squad.:
Something I’d never had. Or if I had, it’d been taken away from me.
:I will help her in any way I can.:
15
HOLLY
“Ready, Miss Price?” Snyder asked.
Gulp. I swiped my sweaty palms on my pants, nervously gripping the material. “Are you sure he’s fine with only talking?”
“SPTD acknowledged his orders.”
“Which were…?”
A file popped up on the view screen before me.
Engage human female for breeding. Gain her trust and assist her with choosing members to form a new compatible squad.
My stomach flip flopped. “That doesn’t say anything about talking first.”
“SPTD, as an addendum to your orders, this first meeting with Holly is conversational only. Please acknowledge.”
“Addendum acknowledged,” a male voice answered. Deeper than Snyder’s but not as bass as Syko’s. It could be fake, but I’d know in a few minutes if they were trying to be sneaky.
