NationStates Jolt Archive

The creature was yellowish, translucent. Feathery gills and a long sinuous body grew from its lizardlike head, set with enormous unblinking red eyes. Twelve appendages were held close to the sides of its snakelike form, three sets of sprawling iguanoid legs and three sets of bat-like wing-fins.

The creatures heart was clearly visible through its layers of skin and flesh, steadily pumping away at the front of its body, forcing rivulets of haemoglobin-righ liquids through its head, tail, and appendages. The creature twitched, flicked its tail, turned its head to stare at the intruding human.

Or that is what it seemed like, at least. Dr. Agmhar stepped back from the tank he had been peering into, knowing full well that however insidious it may look, the fetus's visual system was far from active. It would be another week or so before the retina finished forming.
Behir avimimus developing normally. The TIGER geneticist scribbled on a clipboard, and moved on to the next tank.
Behir vulgaris... Aepyornis... Wyvern... Stenonychosaurus aitris...

A large glass dome in the lab contained an atmosphere with the composition expected on Mars in the next few years. The floor was covered with a thick layer of Martian regolith, treated as it would be out in the open for bioforming, and now home to quite a repertoire of worms, bacteria, fungii, algae, and arthropods, not the least of which were several species of ants- altered ever so slightly to breath the Martian air with its lower concentration of oxygen.

A single transplanted baobab tree stood in the center of the dome. Various shrubs and small trees of many kinds were scattered about, all with very dark, very waxy leaves or needles. Desert rats scurried about, digging tunnels in the soft sands. Tiny feathered flying lizards rustled about in the trees. It was into this environment, and several others like it, that the new creatures were released.

A thin plastic shell holding a curled up mass of flesh was left on the edge of the dome, where it wiglled and pulsed for about a day before finally breaking like saran wrap when poked by a sharp fingernail. A wet, ruddy-red mass of fuzzy flesh uncurled over the sand like a feathered juvenile python- with legs. Ina few seconds, it had opened its large red eyes, struggling to break the seal of mucus holding the lids shut. In only a few minutes, the baby behir had untagled itself and gotten all six pairs of legs sprawled upright across the ground. It took a few tentative steps, then pressed all twelve appendages firmly against the side of its body and speedily slithered over the boabab and into a hollow in the roots.