ONE MONTH LATER, STEINHOLM COUPLE LABORATORY

The working area had returned to its usual appearance, all the machines were back in their place as well as all the numerous cased species and fossils. The laboratory was dark and silent at the moment, no work was being done and there was no one inside. The lab could be considered empty, save for the purple glowing light emitting from an incubated chamber.

Suddenly the purple liquid inside the incubator chamber vibrated and the oxygen mask on the boy's face trembled and then disintegrated. The purple colour liquid then changed to pink and begun solidifying into threads which then continuously wrapped around the young boy. The boy's entire body was wrapped in these pink like threads and formed a type of cocoon inside of the incubator.

The machine detecting a change in the cocoon immediately sent out blaring alarms accompanied by red and yellow flashing lights. Another bright light flashed revealing the pixelated image of a young girl. Aria, the AI appeared directly above the incubated chamber; deep inside her pupils, a speed enhanced recording of the past few minutes around the incubator were shown in a mere few seconds.

"What has caused this...?" The robotic voice of Aria sounded confused.

*Footsteps*

"Aria?! What happened?!" The panicked voice of Dr Arisa sounded out as she entered the laboratory in haste.

"I do not know Mom" Aria's robotic voice replied.

She then proceeded to show the recording of the incubator to Dr Arisa. Dr Arisa seemed completely shocked as she saw the purple-coloured liquid change to pink threads and form a cocoon around her son's body.

"...What?...It formed a cocoon?" Dr Arisa looked at the cocoon and her face changed into one of pure horror.

"This...This wasn't supposed to happen?... What have I done to my son?!" Dr Arisa's voice trembled as she fell to her knees and looked at the hologram.

"It was only supposed to enhance his body...have I turned him into a monster?" Dr Arisa's voice sounded inconsolable and heart wrenching.

"Mom...We do not know that yet. I've already contacted Dad, he will be home shortly" Aria answered quickly.

Sensing the change in Dr Arisa's mental state, Aria tried to calm her down.

"...What have I done to my sweet little boy..." Dr Arisa spoke as if she had lost her soul.

Aria not knowing what to do continued monitoring Dr Arisa and quietly alerted Dr Andrew.

***

JUPITER TECH INDUSTRIES

Two men were currently standing in front of what appeared to be a rocket. The entire rocket had a metallic silver lustre and appeared to be of very high tech design since the outer plating constantly moved as if it were alive.

"So, what do you think Andrew?" Asked a caucasian elderly man, he was dressed in a fine white suit that matched his grey hair on his head and beard. The middle-aged man had a kind face with wrinkles and bright lively eyes, his eyes moved from Dr Andrew to the space rocket repeatedly with a happy and proud look on his face.

"I've made it exactly the way you wanted!" The elderly man added.

"Dr Hohenheim, this is exactly what we needed...Thanks for your hard work and accepting this request" Dr Andrew replied with gratitude, his eyes trained on the spacecraft.

"There's no need to thank me, you paid in full and your father and I were good friends so this is the least I could do...But...Are you sure about doing this little Andrew?" Dr Hohenheim asked him with concern.

"He's your only son...what if" Dr Hohenheim didn't finish what he wanted to say as he couldn't bring himself to say the actual words.

"...My wife and I thought about it a lot...Whether we are doing the right thing or not, we still haven't come to an answer...but this Ore phenomenon is proof of what we spoke about. I believe in Dr Rosenfield's predictions about the ore from Mars being the potential end of Earth" Dr Andrew said stubbornly, his eyes sharp as he thought about the phenomenon surrounding the ore.

"While I do admit that something about the ore is off, no one knows what it is exactly. It's hard to say whether Dr Rosenfield is right or not, but the WSO hasn't touched the ore yet or performed any experiments since public opinion is strongly against utilizing the unknown power. However, that's all about to change--A bill was passed stating that the study of the ore can begin but must be discontinued if it poses any danger to the population and all finds must be made public" Dr Hohenheim said with a sigh.

"I bet they are pretty happy and haven't even once considered the possibility that they may be wrong" Dr Andrew scoffed as he thought about the WSO and how happy the old men must be.

"Well the first experiment is to begin next week, what are you going to do?" Dr Hohenheim asked.

"...We will send him off before the first experiment" Dr Andrew replied firmly after a moment of thought.

"So the both of you have made up your mind huh...*sigh*," Dr Hohenheim said as he let out a sigh of frustration.

'I'm not worried at all since I have no descendants and I'm already an old man that has lived a long time, it must be tough being a parent in these unsure times.' He thought to himself.

"Yeah we've already--" Dr Andrew was about to reply but then noticed the communicator on his wrist blinking red.

'Red message? Is something wrong at home?' Dr Andrew thought, a bit of worry formed in his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry Dr Hohenheim it appears something has happened at home and I need to go!" Dr Andrew rushed out the door after reading the message Aria sent him, notifying him about what was happening to his son as well as his wife's current mental state.

'Sigh...I hope everything works out for this boy...This is all I can do' Thought Dr Hohenheim silently as he watched the fading back of Dr Andrew.

***

STEINHOLM COUPLE LABORATORY

Dr Andrew sat consoling his wife whose eyes were already dry from tears, she seemed to have aged considerably between now and when he had left in the morning.

"This could be from the ore phenomenon, it is possible that it could have affected the operation or had an influence on the primal fluid. Arisa, we do not know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. We shouldn't jump to conclusions and try to figure this out" Dr Andrew spoke confidently, but his eyes continued straying towards the cocoon and clear worry was present in his eyes.

"Mom, Dad is right...I also have something to report, I was not sure before but I'm sure now that the nanobots in little brother's body have gained some of my capabilities. They seem to possess intelligence but they are not hostile to little brother since they consider his body a part of them and the nanobots may be responsible for the cocoon. As for how much effect the ore phenomenon has on both the nanobots and the liquid, I am not sure and it is not something I can calculate. I do not have enough data. What I am sure of, is if the nanobots did this then it was for Arin's benefit and it shouldn't be harmful" Aria informed in her robotic voice.

"...Aria is that true? ...How remarkable!" Asked Dr Andrew was jolted as he heard her report. His face shook and trembled, and a large bit of his anxiety eased.

"...That makes sense! If the nanobots possess intelligence and consciousness, then they would be able to utilize both proactive and reactive operations instead of just reactive operations!" Dr Arisa replied and seemed remade anew after considering the viability of Aria's words.

Seeing that his wife finally regained her composure, Dr Andrew filled her in on his conversation with Dr Hohenheim as well as the news about the spacecraft.

"...So one week huh?" Dr Arisa said with a bitter face.

"No...We have to send him before that" Dr Andrew said with a serious face.

"Why? Didn't you say that the experiment would start next week?" Dr Arisa asked in a confused manner, her eyes squinting.

"Yes but the first experiment will be done with media coverage...You're forgetting those old men will want to look good and appear as though they know what they are doing and what they are talking about...so..." Dr Andrew said as he seemed to be implying something.

"Ah! They will do a secret experiment before then!" Dr Arisa replied in a shocked tone.

"Indeed! We know those old fools the best, they will certainly try to have the best media coverage of the experiment possible. Most likely they will conduct experiments beforehand so that the experiment on the due date will look professional and make it seem like the fears of the new ore were merely foolish opinions and they will strengthen their status in the eyes of the people...Sigh..." Dr Andrew sighed as he knew he was right about the people in the WSO.

"You are right...Politics and status are the only things they love more than money. They don't even care if they damn the whole world to death!" Dr Arisa agreed, anger present on her face.

"So you are saying we should send him earlier?... If things were going as planned even though I would hate to part with Arin already, I would agree but now with this cocoon...this wasn't in the plan" Dr Arisa stated as she began racking her brains for answers.

'I hate unexpected circumstances' She thought as she worriedly looked at the cocoon

"Based on what Aria said, I do not think we should worry. The nanobots can be considered to be truly fused in Arin's body and I don't think they would do anything harmful. Also, the primal fluid has already changed his body constitution, the cocoon might be actually protecting him from something we probably missed." Dr Andrew stated.

"...I agree. As the top biotech scientists, we should be ashamed since we missed something so basic. Cocoons are a symbol of life and evolution, not of death. Besides, even if he becomes a monster...He's my little monster" Dr Arisa said confidently.

The scientist couple then sat down as they talked with Aria and decided to stay in the lab next to Arin's incubator since today might be the last day they spend with him.