"Someone needs to explain what's going on," I demanded, trying to sound in control of myself. At least my voice didn't tremble.

Abby's arm was like a vice around my back as she led me away from the fire, where Jennifer sat with the others. Benny followed us as well. She directed me toward the fence that led to the lake.

"This is my fault." My father's voice came from behind, low and deep in the darkness.

Abby's arm fell from my shoulders.

I turned to look at him in the moonlight, and suddenly the years crept back across his face. This time I didn't say a word, I just waited.

"Alex, you need to understand," started Benny, reaching out with a hand to me.

"No, Benny, let me," said my father. He stared at me, studying my face, looking tired. "Do you remember us almost leaving the mission? How I wanted to pull out?"

I let out a deep breath and pushed at my memory. Some of the things from Earth were scattered and didn't make sense. It was one reason I didn't think about it too often, but glimpses came and went, prompted by his questions. Glimpses of things I hadn't remembered before.

"You argued with John and Benny, but had already decided to stay the course by the time I joined the conversation." At least, that's what I thought happened. It was voices in my head, broken, not always in order, rather than images or complete memories.

"Yes," he said, rubbing his beard. "They approved your mother to join the mission, that's why we almost didn't go."

I opened my mouth and then closed it, trying to remember what was wrong with her.

Benny stared at me with a pained look. His question ran through my head again, about before the divorce. There was something there. Right on the edges of my broken memories.

"Why did you get divorced?" I asked, feeling like the ground was moving beneath my feet.

No one spoke for several moments.

It was there. Something about the divorce and her work. Important.

Then Abby broke the silence. "Dr. Catherine Menoly was charged with breaking international law…"

"Abby," growled my father.

She held up a hand to silence him before continuing. "By experimenting with genetic mutation in human embryos. She was sentenced to seclusion and oversight by the international ethics committee. They stated her research would be destroyed, and her talents used to move forward with artificial womb research. But she would not, could not, be involved, because she couldn't be trusted."

"They raided our house when you were at school," said Benny, his voice crackling. "But they didn't find anything there. We'd already removed any incriminating evidence, once we caught wind of what she was doing."

Abby's eyes went wide as he spoke.

"Evidence of what?" My heart pounded and my palms grew sweaty. Something danced in the back of my mind, urging me to connect the dots. Hushed conversations between my brothers that I didn't remember. Harsh whispers between them, and worried glances at me. Testing in the lab, but then computers being wiped.

"About you being a test subject," said my father, so quietly I almost missed it..

The ground dropped out beneath me and I felt like I was flying.

"What?"

"We don't know for sure," said my father, stepping closer, his hand reaching out to me. "But your mother and I… we only planned on two children. When she got pregnant with you, it was a shock, since she didn't want any more kids to take more of her time away from her precious lab."

I took a step back, holding up a hand and trying to process what he was saying.

Me, a test subject?

The cold lab and painful pricks along my spine, needles at the back of my neck.

My breathing grew heavy just thinking about it, and my stomach twisted. Another moment came back, when I'd first gotten my stat sheet, where my traits were listed.

Adaptation, instead of adaptability.

Humans had adaptability. Whatever she'd done was enough for the system to recognize something was different.

I let out a shuddering sigh, wrapping my arms around my middle.

"Sprout, I just wanted to protect you from her," he whispered. "And if the committee had found out it was possible, you would have vanished to a black site to be studied."

He took a step closer, reaching out to me. "I wasn't going to let that happen to you."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I stepped back again. "I need to breathe…"

"Alex…" started Benny.

I shook my head as I turned away from them and headed down the path to the lake. Thoughts swirled around in my head, until I reached the edge of the water. I paused, staring at the water gently moving under the moonlight.

"Does it even matter?" asked Abby.

I hadn't realized she'd followed me, but now that I checked, my prey sense made it clear she was the only one.

"Of course it matters. Am I even human?" The question sounded stupid even as I said it. My stat sheet called me human.

"Of course you're human. So what if the doctor tinkered with the code a little."

I turned to look at her.

"What are your traits?"

"What?"

"Your traits, on your state sheet."

"Survivability, Adaptability and… Clingy," she said, sounding slightly embarrassed by the last one.

"Mine are Survivability, Adaptation and Hangry."

The moonlight covered her face as she stared at me. I could practically feel the energy racing around her. Both of her fists clenched tight by her sides.

"Your father didn't say anything, to protect you. This was a chance for a new life, for all of you." Abby moved closer. "And look at you! You're not just surviving, you're thriving. You fit here like no one else."

"That's because I don't have the same traits as you," I whispered. "Whatever she did, it changed things."

"Good!"

The exclamation in her voice made me step back.

"That's a great thing, even if it was for the wrong reasons. Why would you want to be struggling like the rest of us? Plus, are you going to tell me that's the only reason you've made it to your current level? Haven't you completed dungeons, gone after beasts to level up and prove yourself?"

Abby stepped closer and grabbed both my hands. "Honey, whatever she did, if she did anything, only made you stronger. That's it. You've put in the work."

I nodded slowly. My traits weren't the reason I'd raced through the jungle to save John, and they hadn't caused me to go dungeon diving with Lenna. I did those things because I wanted to.

"I bet your dad's kicking himself pretty bad right now."

"He can for the moment." I let out a sigh. "Who else knew?"

"I think I'm the only one outside your family that connected the dots."

"Really?"

"Yes. You don't have your mother's last name, and, I mean, who cares at this point?" She shrugged and turned to the lake. "We are fighting dinosaurs to survive. We left Earth behind for a reason."

"So, the scientists thought I died?" I asked, trying to understand Jennifer's reaction.

"I don't know anything about that," she said.

The person who could tell me more slowly made his way down the path behind us. He paused several feet away.

"So you told her I died?" I asked, over my shoulder.

"We implied it, John and I. Benny knew to keep his mouth shut as well, though he didn't agree with us."

"Why would she care?" The bits of memories I had were of her ignoring me and my brothers. Except for the lab, the cold moments in the lab. "She wanted nothing to do with me."

"I wanted it to stay that way," growled my father.

"That wasn't your choice to make…"

"I know, but you didn't remember any of it, and every time you asked about her it was clear you made assumptions about the type of person she was." He stomped closer to the lake, coming into view. "What if she dug her claws into you, and you never remembered the truth?"

I hadn't seen him this upset since we'd crashed.

"We joined this mission to get away from her and start over. That's how fucked up she is…"

I frowned, thinking back to when we'd signed up for training, and possibly getting a slot on the colony ship. Many people wanted to get in on it, while others wanted nothing to do with it.

"Really?" I asked, moving a little closer to him.

"Really, Sprout. I wanted a universe in between her and you kids."

Abby let go of my hands and patted my shoulder. "We need to figure out what we're going to do when we find the rest of them."

"We might not," I said. "Especially if they are capped at level 25."

"I can only hope," muttered my father. "Jennifer didn't complete the dungeon, so she's still capped. I'm not sure she's going to want to go back in."

"I'm going to hold off on that for the moment," I said, and pointed to the north. "Noseen said I needed to check out something that way, and with Jennifer showing up, that task has moved up the priority list."

"I'm going with you." He stepped closer. "Please."

"Fine, you can come. Hammy needs to as well, per Noseen." My father only wanted to come in case I found the rest of the scientists. Honesty, I doubted they'd survived. Even at level 25, the jungle wasn't a joke, and there were much higher level creatures in this part of the world, outside Sanctuary. Though, I wondered about that. After all, I'd survived.

He nodded and turned back toward camp. "I hope you'll forgive me."

Abby joined him, leaving me by the lake.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered. How did the group of them teleport here, and together?

"Me, too," I whispered to myself, opening my stat sheet.

Adaptation is an actual change, while adaptability is the potential for change.

I closed my sheet and stared up at the moon.

"This place has changed me…"

***

The air rushed over Noseen's wings as he made his way back north. Hopefully, Alex would check out his gift to her, and then all of this back-and-forth travel would be fixed.

First, while Noseen knew he should contact the council that ruled this world, he wanted to wait on that as long as possible. Already they were fluttering about how he rested days ago in the portal city.

Them discovering Alex too soon might ruin his, plans and that just couldn't happen.

He wouldn't let it.

Spending some time on a higher-ranked world, along with some refreshments, would help clear his thoughts. The lack of energy on this planet made spending time here a drain. The city the portal reached was at least a Tier 3 world.

His own planet was a top-tier planet, though that got a little complicated at those rarified levels.

Just thinking about it made him wonder if he had time to go visit and kick off things that needed to change there. If his people started working on his little project, all of this flying could be wrapped up even sooner.

Having a plan in mind, a goal, caused him to speed up. It was time for him to check in at home and put his people to work. He bet he could get everything built before the council even thought to check in with the humans.

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