Chapter 90: Teacher's Pet.
"So it took me a while to realise that the Gatorclaws were indeed fully sentient and sapient but after observing them for a while I saw the way they seemed to be not only communicating with one another but that they seemed capable of quite an impressive vocal range, so the idea occurred to me that maybe just maybe they might be able to learn and to use language in the way we do, so I made it my mission to educate them in English, it was my distinct hope that not only would this allow them to understand us fully but also visa versa with regards to them and their ways, so far I have met with surprising results but I also fear that my intrusion has directly influenced their natural development, though how much natural development there is to be found in a species that was artificially created is hard to say at this early stage," Eve explained as Seven and the others sat and listened while Thundertail flitted about doing things like fetching them refreshment.
"So the Gatorclaws were indeed an artificially created variant of the Claw species then?" Seven said and Eve nodded.
"Yes they were a result of a scientist long since killed for their efforts taking the research that was used to create the race commonly known across the country as the Deathclaw and applying it to Alligators which resulted in our large scaly friends here, though there have been whispers that Alligators were not the only species that he experimented with, so who knows maybe there might even be a few more species of Claw roaming around," Eve said gesturing to Thundertail as she mentioned her species.
Both Visa and Vess growled in unison at being called Deathclaws and Eve looked at them in surprise, "They don't like being called Deathclaws," Seven explained and Eve nodded in understanding.
"Well what would be your preferred way of your species being named?" she asked curiously.
But before either Visa or Vess could answer Seven saw an opportunity and jumped on it, "Horny Claws," he said without missing a beat and both Visa and Vess's heads snapped around to glare at him.
"I think the scientific term is Tailliftius Hornyus Maximus," Timothy said catching the joke and running with it and making the two now besieged Claws snap their attention to him.
"Also known as the lesser spotted tail-lifting Claw known for their excessive purring and snatching of human males," Shauna said making the growls of frustration from Visa and Vess grow to epic proportions.
"But I and Seven just call them lover Claws," Chris said patting Vess's massive thigh and making her snap to him about to yell something before she realised what he'd just said and froze mid-breath and freeze up.
"You're all a bunch of tail lifters you know that?" Visa growled at all of her giggling friends and even Eve now seemed to catch the joke and joined in the chuckling as well.
Seven grinned as he telekinetically ran invisible hands all over Visa's tail including the underside making her have to fight to stifle the gasp and purr that threatened to burst out of her as she shot him a surprised look that threatened vengeance at a later point.
"We just call them Northen Claws due to that's where their pack hail's from, but now I think of it without any joke intended Horned Claw's is probably a good name from them and in answer to at least one point you raised Eve we know of at least one other race or possibly subspecies in the form of Passa Vess's son," Seven said and Eve looked at him curiously.
"Oh? Is he not the same species?" she asked in obvious confusion.
"Well he was until he got his overly curious not so little hands on something called Project Unity, it injected him with a series of what appeared to be nanites that altered his DNA to take it into line with what Claws were supposed to be though given they were specifically created to be what they are now we are unsure why this device had another form for them on its file," Seven said.
"What did it do to him?" Eve asked curiously.
"I can do better than that when it all happened I made a point of recording it all on my pipboy and with the aid of the camera mounted in the power armour I can show you visual references," Seven said and with that, he jumped back into the armour, though his invisible hands were still tormenting Visa.
It took Seven only a few minutes to show Eve the visual records they had of what had happened to Passa, "Fascinating! Simply fascinating, it's quite possible this device was programmed with an alternate DNA profile for the Claws and the ability to implement it via the DNA-altering nanites, I can only theorise without actually seeing the device and the paperwork associated with it but it's quite possible that an element within the team that created the Claws saw an instability within their genome that could cause long term harm to them so created the device to correct it by rolling their DNA back a few generations more in line with their ancestral forefathers, kinda like if you were to take a chicken and roll it back into a velociraptor," she said thoughtfully.
"If that were the case then how come it didn't affect his speech or cognitive functions?" Shauna asked thoughtfully.
Eve shrugged, "Safeguards possibly, perhaps the nanites you spoke of were capable of realigning his neural pathways so they didn't suffer any damage or degradation due to the process, so essentially it would be like rapidly evolving the brain of a dinosaur while leaving its body intact, all this is highly theoretical of course but whoever achieved this device was a genius no doubt of that, though the wings and feathers that have now presented themselves do bring up so interesting questions as given that Claw's have the DNA of things like chameleons thrown into them it makes me wonder what other abilities your son may now have that were once long dormant that may have now resurfaced but are possibly undiscovered yet," Eve said making Vess growl in wonder.
"And invisible flying Claw now that's a potent mixture right there," Seven said.
