The Countdown

"Dilos, have you been up all night?"

Early that morning, Dr. Connors saw Dilos enter the lab with two thick dark circles under his eyes and couldn't help getting upset.

"I thought you knew that staying in good health was essential if you wanted to keep doing research in the long run."

"Yes, I know. And research can't be rushed; that would only backfire." Dilos looked a little awkward. When he saw Dr. Connors's slightly angry expression and realized he was about to say more, he hurried over to the simulator and cut him off.

"But I did it, Doctor! I found a suitable decay-rate algorithm!"

"Oh." At first, Dr. Connors merely replied without really processing what Dilos had said. Two or three seconds later, he suddenly looked up and stared straight at Dilos.

"What did you just say?!"

Dilos's lips curled into a smile. "I said..."

As he spoke, he strode over to the simulator, entered the decay-rate algorithm, then used the digital simulation controls to input a viable method of implanting lizard regenerative genes, which he had previously worked out with a machine, into the biological digital simulation unit for a mouse with an amputated limb.

"Waiting... Experiment successful. Implantation method accepted. Limb regeneration complete. Vital organs stable. Blood pressure stable."

As the simulator's prompt sounded, the amputated mouse displayed on the biological digital simulation unit had grown back its missing limb, with no sign of any adverse effects.

"It really worked." Dr. Connors stared at the data on the screen, looking dazed. It took him a good while to come back to himself. Then he looked at Dilos, whose face seemed a little haggard, his voice brimming with restrained excitement.

"Incredible. How did you do it?"

"Well..." Dilos grimaced, then smiled sheepishly. "After one failed test after another, I got so frustrated that I scribbled something down at random. I didn't expect it to be right. I'm not even sure how I worked it out, step by step."

Dilos thought it over and decided to keep Richard Parker's notebook and its research notes a secret from Dr. Connors. He also left out everything he had done that night. To keep Dr. Connors from finding out, he had even stolen the genetic material and experimental spiders from the zoo and elsewhere. He'd had to put in quite a bit of effort to use his abilities to hypnotize and control the large cats.

On top of that, he had erased the night's research records and data, as well as the security camera footage. After all, some of what he'd done was best kept under wraps.

Dr. Connors looked at Dilos, his eyes filled with an indescribable excitement.

"Thank you."

More than ten years of painstaking research, day in and day out, had brought him not only endless hope but also despair from countless failures. If that conviction in his heart hadn't kept him going, he would have given up long ago. Now that his dream had finally come true, it was impossible not to feel moved.

If his resolve hadn't sustained him for so many years, Dr. Connors might have burst into tears right then.

Even so, it took Dr. Connors quite a while to recover. He glanced at the dark circles under Dilos's eyes and couldn't help sighing.

"Get some rest for a couple of days. Now that the research has reached this stage, you can finally relax for a while."

Dilos nodded, then handed Dr. Connors a slip of paper bearing the decay-rate algorithm Richard Parker had worked out.

"There are still quite a few simulation tests for different methods of implanting the lizard genes that we haven't run. I know you're eager to make the serum and test it on reptiles, but I suggest we simulate every implantation method first. There might be more viable options, after all, and having more workable methods would benefit the research, wouldn't it?"

"Sure." Dr. Connors nodded. He watched Dilos turn to leave and shook his head helplessly, though it was hard to tell whether he was exasperated or happy.

"Richard, it seems we're both getting old. This is the young people's era now."

After returning to his room, Dilos took several spider-keeping devices out of some packages he had recently bought. He used telepathy to control the spiders' minds and keep them from moving around, then placed them into the little devices one by one.

Although the spiders had already begun to be modified, their solitary nature hadn't changed. The only reasons a dozen or so of them had managed to stay together in the container before without incident were that Dilos had kept them from moving around and that the misted serum had left them weak, making it difficult for them to move.

Once they regained some strength, it was entirely possible they would start killing each other. After all, spiders' everyday diet consisted of insects and their own kind. So it was best to take precautions at this stage.

But that wasn't the end of it. The serum hadn't yet fully fused with the spiders' bodies. In three or four days, once it had completely fused, Dilos would have to move them into sturdier containers. Judging by the animal genes he had added himself, once the spiders had fully mutated, ordinary glass containers wouldn't be able to hold them.

And even then, he still wouldn't be done. After the spiders had completely mutated, he would need to breed them, cultivating second-generation mutant spiders that had fused perfectly with the serum. Once he reached that stage, he would only need to wait for the second-generation mutant spiders to mature before extracting their venom to make the serum.

Once injected into his body, the spider serum would bind tightly with his cells. Dilos would need to find somewhere safe to get through the transformation, since that stage would be rather vulnerable no matter what.

All of this together would take at least a month to complete. But the results were worth looking forward to!

Just think: Richard Parker had used cross-species gene implantation to breed mutant spiders, intending only to give humans an extraordinary ability to heal. He hadn't expected that this healing power would also bring about such remarkable changes in the human body.

Now Dilos had improved on that foundation by adding more genetic data from other, more powerful creatures. The resulting super spiders would have even greater abilities all around: tremendous strength, reflexes, and resilience, along with incredible regenerative abilities... and, last but not least, the legendary Spider-Sense!

With all those possibilities to look forward to, Dilos drifted into a deep, exhausted sleep.