“Yisini, are you busy?”
There were screams echoing from the small, dingy laboratory. While the surfaces and glassware were all clean and sterile, the floor was slightly sticky, and the windows were frosted up, the corners peeling slightly. A weird, sickly sweet scent drifted from the back room, where the majority of the screams were coming from. However, as Epani approached, the screams quickly died down. The Panelix realized they were screams of pleasure, not pain.
“One moment, dear!” Yisini shouted, only for the screams to continue a little more, only to fade away completely. Some light panting was heard, followed by scampering, as something skittered past Epani and immediately left the lab.
“I could have come back later…” Epani muttered. “Could have left you in peace. You know I do not like to interrupt your sexual escapades.”
Yisini exited the back room, shrugging nonchalantly. “It never bothered me. I was just testing a new sex drug designed for Skyavok. Their population levels are a bit low for my liking, but I think making sex hip and trendy again for them is a tad easier than hitting their rather isolated and decentralized water supply lines.”
“Ah…” Epani wasn’t that interested, she had more important things to talk about. “Yisini, I wanted to ask, do you have any backups?”
“Backups of what?” Yisini asked, immediately both curious and suspicious. “What are we talking about here?”
“I mean backups of genetic data, DNA, things like that, should… something major happen to the universe.”
“Sister, is something going on that I don’t know about? Where is Kairos, should I get him involved?” Yisini’s tone changed to that of concern. “I have backups of genetic data for every major species, multiple backups for sapient life and DNA and seed samples for every major flora, especially farming crops, algae and important microbiorganisms like yeast. Do I need to gather it all up? Is something going on?”
Epani raised her fins in a bid to calm the Allbirther down.
“No, there is nothing immediate happening…” Epani sighed. “Unfortunately, I have been… overhearing things. Conversations between Kinisis and other Life Goddesses. I believee that Kinisis might want to… take back her universe.”
“But it’s our universe now!” Yisini protested. “She gave it to us after she blew it all apart!”
Epani nodded in agreement. “Exactly. It is our universe now. We should be in charge of all of it…”
The Panelix trailed off, thinking to herself. She wanted to tell Yisini of her plan, but Epani knew there was a risk that, while Yisini would never reveal the plan to Kinisis herself, but there was always a chance that she’d talk to Kairos, and Kairos would almost certainly blab. Out of all of them, Kairos had been chained to Kinisis the longest, so he had the strongest desires to protect the Allmaker at all cost.
“I am planning on speaking with Kinisis, in private. Just me and her. I doubt anything will happen, in fact, I think I should be able to persuade her to keep her nose out of our business, but… well, you know how Kinisis can be.”
“You think she… might get violent?”
“It is always a possibility. Kinisis has always had a cruel streak, and without Arkadin or Kenon to take her anger out on, I fear she might turn on you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, little sister. After all, you run both life and death now.”
Yisini frowned, then sighed. “I will double check my backups and make sure everything is ready to go.”
“We should not need it, but I just want to be on the safe side.”
The Allbirther nodded. “I understand. Thank you for telling me. You’ll keep me posted, right?”
Epani hesitated. “Of course. And should anything go wrong, you will be the first to know. Anyway, I will leave you to your work.”
“Thanks, sister.”
The Panelix excused herself and left the lab, leaving her sister to her own devices.
“If only I could tell you the truth, dear Sini…”