Looking into the clear, green-tinged fluid of the processing-tank, Dr. Halverson shuddered slightly. He could tell that the artificial maturation was going just as planned, even without the instruments to record the changes since the doctor was now able to confirm that fact visually. The kid now had the physical features and developmental level of a thirteen-year-old as opposed to someone of the boy’s own original age. It was an interesting thing to watch, and Dr. Halverson had thus far managed to detach himself emotionally from what he was actually doing to the kid.

The only thing the doctor was currently worried about was the fact that one of the scientists who worked for Dr. Balkus would happen to notice that this processing-tank was being more closely monitored then the rest of them. It wouldn’t take much forethought on their part to realize that there was something out of the ordinary going on here. In fact, all they would have to do if they wanted to find out about the project was to check the records in this terminal’s database.

Dr. Henderson, who knew more about computers than Halverson himself, had said to leave the matter of the main database to him. But that didn’t solve the more immediate problem that Halverson faced from the doctors who were loyal to Dr. Balkus. Just one of them could undo most or all of what Halverson was doing here. One word about the kid leaking to Balkus would be enough to get him in very serious trouble. In fact, both his life and that of the kid were now in an equal amount of danger.

Halverson knew that Gyou would execute him, probably in the most painful manner the old Zoalord could think of, if he got word of Balkus knowing about the kid, or of Gyou’s plans for him for that matter. And the kid, well, with how dependent his body was on the chemical solution Halverson had prepared for him; any withdrawal or change would prove fatal in a matter of time.

It was like that with all the people that Chronos processed. With the mutigenic fluid permeating their tissues and by extension eventually their internal organs, and the physical and genetic changes it forced their cells to undergo, it was no surprise to any of the scientists that worked in Chronos that the human body became dependent on it after a time. The real challenge for the processing technicians like Halverson and his colleagues was to slowly and gently wean the people off the fluid so that their bodies would no longer need it.

He had heard reports that, before it had been accepted practice to have newly hired techs train under their predecessors, there had been a lot of people killed by inexperienced young scientists who had made those kinds of changes without bothering to see if their Zoanoids were at the right stage of development to survive them. Dr. Halverson took a reasonable amount of pride in the fact that he knew enough not to make any of those kinds of mistakes.

But still, doing this kind of thing to someone who wasn’t yet at their peak of physical development made things that much more difficult. The scientist in Halverson was exhilarated by the challenge, and Dr. Halverson had to remind himself constantly of just this kind of scientific exhilaration whenever his conscience started to trouble him. That had been happening less and less of late, something that Dr. Halverson was very grateful for.

It could be somewhat troubling at times, that feeling that he was becoming less and less human as time went on, but humanity wasn’t something that was highly valued in Chronos. Turning his attention back to his work, Dr. Halverson was unaware that he was being observed. In fact, the only time that Halverson noticed the person standing next to him was when they laid a hand on his right shoulder.

"Aah!" Turning suddenly to face the man now standing beside him, Halverson was relieved to see the familiar face of Dr. Sanderson.

"Nice, Ed. You don’t look like a man who has anything to hide," Sanderson said with biting sarcasm.

"You startled me."

"I imagine so. After all, I could have just as easily been someone else. Here, I thought you might be hungry."

With that, Dr. Sanderson handed a large sandwich over to his fellow scientist and processing technician. Dr. Halverson was very grateful for this consideration, since he had just started trying to figure out how he would be able to go and have lunch without being certain if the project was going to be safe from prying eyes for even that small amount of time. Eating his sandwich while at the same time being scrupulously careful not to drop crumbs on the monitoring console, Dr. Halverson finished in a much shorter time than he would have had he gone to the cafeteria.

"So, what’s the status of our little project?"

"As you can see, it’s not quite so little anymore," Dr. Halverson said, waving his hand at the figure suspended in the processing fluid.

"Yes, I noticed that, too. Good work."

"I think Commander Gyou would be pleased if he could see this." At least I certainly hope so, Halverson added silently. "For that matter, where is the Commander? I haven’t gotten any requests for a progress report as yet."

"You were probably too busy to check up on what’s been going on outside the base," Dr. Sanderson commented, stating the obvious with remarkable aplomb.

"Right. I haven’t left my post since I was assigned here."

"Good. That’s very dedicated of you. I, however, was up in the Information Control Sector. It turns out that the Guyvers and their group are trying to escape through Takeshiro again."

"Through Takeshiro? Even after what happened to them all last time?"

"Apparently so," Dr. Sanderson said, nodding. "Anyway, the reason that the Commander hasn’t yet showed up to demand a progress report from you is because he’s gone out to fight the Guyvers himself."

"What?"

"Yes. And get this: the test subject has showed up as well."

"Commander Gyou’s prototype?" Halverson asked, incredulous. Halverson knew that the test subject had a name, but it was of no concern to him. "How could he have even survived this long?"

"He seems to be determined to live for as long as he can," Sanderson said. "He also seems to have some help that we know very little about."

"You’re referring to that weapon that he always carries around," Halverson said. "The one that has the power to actually penetrate the skins of our Zoanoids, despite the fact that all of them have been specifically engineered to be resistant to any kind of weapon that has been made."

"Yes, that’s the one," Sanderson said. "I’ve suggested numerous times that what we really need to be doing is finding out just what group of people that this errant test subject has been in regular contact with, but so far it has proved impossible to keep a watch on him. As you know, he can sense the presence of Zoanoids."

"I know, because he himself is a Zoalord prototype. It was very careless of them over at Chronos Arizona not to make sure that all of the test subjects that had been used in the making of Commander Gyou’s Zoalord body were all really killed."

"It would be better if you keep that opinion to yourself when Dr. Balkus is around, he was the one who oversaw the disposal of three of the four prototypes. If you remember, Balkus first thought that he had gotten rid of all of them."

"Yes, I know," Halverson nodded. "It wasn’t until the first of the sabotages and attacks started happening that he realized that he had made a mistake."

"Yes, and we all know just how touchy the old doctor can get about making mistakes," Sanderson smirked.

"Yes," Halverson grinned. "He seems to think that than kind of thing is beneath him. It must have something to do with how old he is. I don’t think he’s caught on to the fact that everyone makes some mistakes somewhere in their life."

"Don’t tell that to Dr. Balkus," Sanderson said, smirking.

"I’m not feeling particularly suicidal today," Halverson said, smiling back.