The door of the basement lab rumbles open. The space beyond
is a lab in ruins. There is a moon pool that connects to the pond on Tamara
property, a computer that is in ruins, a table with stacks of books (including
hand written journals), cabinets, a medical table with a nude woman strapped to
it. A crab the size of a large dog is holding onto her pelvis and she has a
glass helmet filled with glowing green gas on her head. The woman is Emily
Antonov, Shifter’s girlfriend (one of them anyway). Paladin approaches the crab and discovers that the crab had
inserted it’s genopods into Emily’s sexual organ. Paladin’s initial reaction
was to separate the two but Prime interceded. She was concerned about the
damage that could be done to Emily if they were forcefully separated. Prime
discovered that the amorous crab was intelligence and understood English.
What’s more she eventually discovered the crab was literate and could write
crude messages. Grimwalker brought Tamara down so that she could answer
their questions when she eventually woke up. When she did she wanted them to
leave and blamed them for making her lose control of the Crab Creek Cast (cast
is a group of crabs) and letting her half sister Amora and her giant crab
Lucifer take control of the area. Amora and Lucifer are more aggressive and
evil than Tamara and PeeWee are. Tamara was tired of being treated derisively by the group
and left. She took her truck (with her unconscious Uncle in the back of it) and
drove away. Grimwalker followed her and managed to get a few more question
answered. During the course of the day and the night that followed
Prime discovered that the green gas was a medical treatment for a specific
genetic ailment that afflicts a tiny percentage of the population. When this
disease becomes active it always results in an extremely painful death for the
victim. The cure works but there are side effects. The scientists who were
working here were trying to remove the side effects without destroying the
curative ability of the treatment. The scientists were also Tamara’s parents.
Grimwalker asked if the fire was started by Tamara’s sister but, according to
Tamara she would have only been about 2 when the fire that killed her parents
occurred. The origin of the blaze was not pursued further. Tamara said that she and her half sister Amora had the
active form of the disease and the treatment cured them both. The side effects
gave each of them plant like powers. The crabs in the pond on their land were
also exposed to the wastewater of the treatment. The crabs did not gain plant
powers but were able to establish a symbiotic relationship with humans. The
human gained strength, water adaptation, a psychic link with the crab and other
powers. The crabs gained human-like intelligence and some other abilities from
the union. Prime’s investigation showed that Emily was poisoned by a
very powerful plant based toxin. She would have died long ago if she had not
bonded with a crab the symbiosis allowed her to form a Mexican standoff with
the poison, the gas that cured Amora and Tamara was helping her slowly defeat
the poison. Prime wanted to get a sample of the poison to produce a much more
effective treatment for the poison. The difference could be compared to a
tailored antibiotic for a disease as opposed to a broad based treatment like
penicillin. Penicillin helps and might work as a cure but not as effective as
the specific treatment. Prime and Paladin clashed a bit in their opinions of what
should happen. Prime found the power source of the lab was an overgrown series
of solar collectors which she cleared off. She also started removing the disk
packs from the old mainframe computer to try to salvage the information that
remained in the system. She (Prime) realized that the side effects were would
be worth more than the cure but she does not think humans are mature enough to
wisely use the treatment. She has decided to continue Tamara’s parents research
for a side effect free cure to the ailment. While Prime was working on collecting the scientific knowledge
Grimwalker and Paladin set up watches around the ruined lab. They were
expecting Amora, Tamara’s sister, to attack or at least make her presence
known. They were not disappointed. Plant monsters that Amora created using the
powers she gained from the treatment attacked the lab ruin. The heroes were
able to quickly defeat them. The heroes also discovered that at the same time that
Amora’s minions were attacking them Tamara and her friends were attacking Amora
in town of Cold Water .
Both sisters had several human allies that had become human-hosts to the
symbiotic crabs. Very little of Cold Water survived and rebuilding is unlikely.
Lucifer and Amora escaped the destruction because Tamara was unwilling to kill
her sister and PeeWee didn’t want to kill her son (Lucifer). EPILOGUE Prime’s intended research into curing the Side Effects of
the treatment might also be useful to remove Amora’s plant powers and dissolve
the crabs ability to form symbiosis with humans. Lucifer would be less of a
threat if he was just a giant crab without human cunning and Amora wouldn’t be
a threat if she lost her plant powers. Paladin wants Emily and Sebastian (the
name that Paladin gave to Mr. Crabs, the crab that bonded with Emily) treated.
The Antonov estate would not be a good place for a giant intelligent crab to
live and a Mafia (Bratva) Princess might not be a good candidate for gaining
wild-card plant powers. Next Time:
Tying up loose ends.