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blood, a dynamic DNA / RNA blueprint and the right electromagnetic trigger.
    Fifty years ago a corpse wouldn’t have responded to his electromagnetic triggers at all.
    And now? Now there was what Tomas liked to call willingness . A body’s willingness to become whatever its previously locked DNA and RNA allowed it to become. When Flux conditions were in operation, it was just a matter of finding out what DNA blueprint worked best for the individual.
    The theory was that if you could splice the very building blocks of a person’s DNA, the Flux would take care of the rest, bringing forth the ‘monster’ that had always lurked within. Some of the biologists in Tomas’ team hypothesized that humans had been affected by the Flux since their emergence some 40,000 years ago. It made sense. If the physical forces of the Earth itself were flipped on its head every 1000 years, it was only reasonable to expect life to be altered accordingly.
    As far as Tomas could tell, there were hundreds of possible ‘endpoints’ for scrambled, re-energized RNA nodes. Ghouls were common. As were zombies and wights. Succubi, Aquila and Djinni were all more benign forms of Flux transformation.
    Then there was the Naturebound. Tomas thought there was nothing more noble than being able to connect with one’s spirit animal and take its physical form. Herr X seemed to think differently, referring to Naturebound as base vermin and an insult to humanity. Even so, the German was adamant that Tomas produce a Naturebound in perhaps its most graceful form - the lycan.
    The scientist in Tomas was of course curious to see if such a thing could be achieved. The implications of success were unimaginable. And the best part? There was some evidence to suggest that the only Flux mutation capable of surviving non-Flux periods was the lycan. In fact, lycans were probably responsible for preserving human knowledge and culture during Flux events. They did it around the time of the old Roman Empire, and they did it again during the Dark Ages.
    If Tomas could create his own lycan, it could be the start of something profound. The only question mark was Herr X and the Berlin Club. What did they have in mind for this lycan? It was hard to imagine a positive outcome where Herr X was involved.
    In the end, the sheer excitement and importance of Tomas’s work was strong enough to overpower any ethical considerations he had. So he worked hard on his creation and blocked the rest from his mind.
    Inducing a lycan was incredibly difficult.
    Various mutations, both inhibiting and enhancing, were a common element of all evolutionary processes. Tomas had subjected countless ‘fresh’ corpses to his own, patented method of genetic manipulation, working furiously to mimic the precise configuration found in lycans. It was possible to work on these corpses for two weeks before their life force faded for good. Tomas kept their hearts beating in this ‘live’ period via electromagnetic therapy. For all intents and purposes the subjects were dead, but their core DNA blueprint could still be tampered with.
    The corpse lying in the isolation cell was as close as Tomas had ever gotten to a lycan - it exhibited enhanced musculature and bodily fur without looking exactly right.
    Hopefully, the vial of fresh lycan blood Tomas clutched tightly was the last piece of the puzzle.
    And with the impending arrival of Herr X, this blood may have arrived just in time.
    “Petyr,” he called, walking over to the diagnostic machine linked to the cell. “It’s time to settle this once and for all.”
    Petyr gave a small nod, a mad gleam in his eyes. Tomas had developed a healthy dislike for the man, finding his willingness to play God a little disquieting. But his assistant was both knowledgeable and efficient. As Tomas prepared to launch an animation sequence, Petyr was already checking the integrity of the hundreds of electromagnetic conduits that were about to flood the specialized cell with