Earth – World of The Misplaced Dungeon.

{Timeline: May 2019 – MD – Ch. 100 to 102 or thereabouts}

Dr. Cassiopeia Merrow rolled her chair back from the workstation and looked resolutely over her computer monitor. She picked up her mug, ugh cold. She stood and headed for the coffee pot. She rinsed her mug out and refilled it. As she was heading back to her workstation her phone rang.

She checked it and answered. “Hello Michaela.”

“Hi Cass, got a moment?”

Cass sat and sipped her coffee before placing the mug back on its coaster. “Yes.”

Michaela drew a deep breath, “Cass what do you know of these little ponies of Mary’s.”

“I’ve heard of them, you know on the local news. Why? And I didn’t know they were Mary’s.”

“We have a little girl, Tina, who has just been moved from the terminal ward. She was given a pair and now she’s in remission and the ponies are more than half dead from exhaustion. They are healing her.”

“What!”

“I phoned Mary, and she knew what to do to save the damn ponies. She admitted creating them Cass. How can a sixteen year old create something that can cure terminal cancer?”

“She’s seventeen now Michaela, you were at the party, remember.”

“Yeah. But still... I told her we would see her shortly. You game?”

“Maybe, but why are you so worried. It’s good they can cure the children isn’t it?”

“I’m worried about what else they can do. What is Mary up to with them? They talk. They reason and talk like young children. Something she said suggested that they may be empaths or have low grade telepathy. I’m worried.”

“Fine, I’ll find the time to go with you.”

* * *

The following day when she arrived at the university she received a polite invitation to see the head of the science department. She thanked the messenger and made her way to the office in question.

“Morning Jim, what can I do for you?”

Jim smiled and gestured to the still gurgling coffee percolator, “Please serve yourself Cass.” He waited until she had a cup of coffee and had sat down before proceeding. “We have received a request for your services from Dallas. They are looking for marine biologists with a background in DNA research.”

“Oh? What’s going on in Texas that requires marine biologists... Oh!”

Jim grinned, “Precisely Cass. The flying jellyfish. So are you interested. I have to admit it will do us no harm to be represented in such a study. A unique new species.”

Cass narrowed her eyes as she thought about it. “Anybody else going?”

Jim shook his head slowly. “They wanted the co-author of two of your latest papers, but—”

Cass sighed. “I see. Mary wouldn’t be interested in visiting Dallas, besides she’s too young. And she’s a maverick.”

“A teenager not wanting to visit Dallas, are you sure?” grinned Jim mockingly.

“I’m sure. It’s too far from the sea. She might be interested in visiting Houston but not Dallas. Jim, she’s a sea human. She needs spend several hours a week using her gills to avoid her lungs drying up and collapsing. She’s not the only one the System’s booby trapped that way either.”

“Hmm... Well it’s irrelevant, officially she’s not one of our students, and she’s not an adult. Are HR aware of the issues with these gilled humans.”

“Yes— That is, I think so.”

“So, are you going Cass? We can get you on the afternoon flight,” asked Jim. Then he dragged a notepad towards himself and made a couple of notes.

“Yes,” sighed Cass. “I’ll be on the flight.”

“Good. I’ll forward you the emails with all the details.”

‘Right! Mustn’t forget to let Michaela know I won’t be able to accompany her when she sees Mary.’

* * *

Cass made use of the airport’s wifi to check her emails while she was waiting for her connecting flight to Dallas. She had several, so she opened the one from Michaela first. She read it twice and stared out of the waiting room window, not seeing the runways or the aircraft passing in front of her eyes, her mind in a whirl.

‘Titles ... Mother of Monsters ... oh those ... don’t fly ... fill themselves with hydrogen ... mercy of the wind ... Hapalochlaena sapiens ... Ponies ... what else ... this and that.’

After several minutes Cass switched off her tablet and rather mechanically put it away. Then, after checking the time and after setting an alarm on her phone so she wouldn’t miss her flight, she called up her System interface.

‘So, let’s see... Titles, what are they, how are they earned and what do they mean.’ Some time later she sat back and thought. ‘Octopi, jellyfish and ponies... nope not enough to be granted a title like that by the System. What else has the girl been doing?’

Then she jerked awake to the sound of her phone’s alarm, rose and made her way to the boarding gate while clutching her pass.

* * *

The lab in Dallas was superbly equipped, large and airy. They had various specimens from the three recognised variants. Everyone knew this was early days, and researchers were following the ones still in the skies over Texas.

Cass was issued a pass and all the other paraphernalia typical of a modern office and lab. She was introduced to the other researchers present and encouraged to get down to work.

Then she ended up having to give an impromptu lecture and demonstration of the two of her trio of enchanted rings. The gathered researchers insisted after witnessing the use of the enchanted DNA scanner ring.

The first thing that they confirmed was the ability and efficiency of the jellyfish when it came to cleaning up a spill. The second was the fact that the creatures were almost certainly descended from the east coast Chrysaora chesapeakei.

The sheer complexity of the creature’s life cycle, and the extreme changes from its progenitor strongly implied that they were an artificial creation.

Slowly more information arrived together with more specimens. They determined that the creatures were extremely effective at absorbing and metabolizing oil spills. They transformed the oil into hydrogen and incredibly tough and lightweight carbon sheets. When the hydrogen finally escaped the creatures reacted in one of three ways. If they ended up in the sea they resumed their existence as jellyfish. In freshwater they divided into six smaller jellyfish and attempt to make their way back to the sea. If they succeeded then they slowly grew and became six new jellyfish. The ones that ended up on land split into six polyps that anchored themselves and awaited rain to shed their eggs.

The new jellyfish had also gained a new name, Chrysaora volans.

* * *

Elsewhere in the research centre, members of the purchasing department had been likewise busy. Urged on by the demands of the director of the institute they had been hunting through all their contacts in search of the enchanted rings Cass had believed were on sale.

They finally tracked them down. A new company, Magitech Inc. had them listed. The scanner or sequencer was going for five hundred thousand dollars, the manipulator for two million. And then there was a third in the set; something called a diffuser that was listed at ten million dollars.

They wrote a report and sent it to the director of the institute.