The Legend of Loxley Bottom 7

A new diary entry on hellsborough.com is coming soon:

Also known as "The Gabbleratchets of Sophie Hinchcliffe", this is a work in progress based on research that I have undertaken into the recent modern age of the history of Hellsborough under the rule of the nascenti. A local girl and simple shop worker, Sophie Hinchcliffe, who -- inexplicably -- becomes the first CEO of the DPDC -- that is the first Chief Executive Officer (the original boss, if you will) of the Dark Peak District Council, the local government that administers Hellsborough and The Dark Peak for the nascenti overlords.

Sophie is a major character in the forthcoming sequel to "Dark Peak -- Hellsborough Chronicles book one", so it is only right that I do the research to uncover her backstory, most of which I have gleaned from the local library in Hellsborough -- an awesome resource for research, because, as you would expect, those nascenti overlords want the populace here and hereabouts to understand the importance of local characters that have helped to define their rule.

It will be serialised here, as well on on Twitter/X in short form.

Read Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five and Chapter six.

Chapter seven: Nascenti.

The nascenti clicked and clacked. That is their mode of communication: Clicking and clacking.

If you're on the hivemind, you'll get a translation -- that's what the hivemind does, it converts the language of the insectoids, or in this case the langoustides, into a common language -- if you're not on the hivemind, then, forget it, you ain't going to understand what they're talking about.

The clicking and clacking was because the nascenti had observed -- or rather the organic network had observed, and tracked -- the dead body of Sophie Hinchcliffe sinking to the bottom of the Damflask, and her internal organs being devoured by the fish who called The Damflask home.

The nascenti had no need of Sophie's internal organs.

The nascenti were only interested in one part of her.

The nascenti needed Sophie's DNA.

The absence of brain, liver, lungs, kidneys, ovaries, that made no difference to the nascenti; the fish could do what they would with those. As long as a scrap of Sophie's skin or bone was retrieved from the Damflask, the nascenti would be happy with their haul.

The quiddity of Sophie was dredged from the dank depths, the mechanical arms of the nacenti machine juggling the slimy husk, a putrid lump of meat.

You wouldn't recognise as what was left of Sophie as human, just rags and tatters skin and gnawed bone. A wet soaked mass of protein.

But that protein, that flesh and bone, contained the DNA the nascenti needed to rebuild her.

Deep in their laboratories, they grew Sophie anew.

They started with a strand, they grew a pupa.

A new organism so small, it was invisible to the human eye -- but not to their advanced equipment.

They grew an embryo. An embryo that was a combination of human and nascenti: Of Sophie Hinchcliffe and the great lord B'enderclaw, a revered deity of the nascenti from many a year passed, whose own DNA had sat it wait for an occasion such as this.

The nascenti scientists had many attempts and many failures, often a little lifeform would last no longer than a few moments.

The nascenti scientists -- these bio-formers, these creators of new life -- were under great pressure of their own. The DNA of their former great leader had laid in wait for many generations, but was not in unlimited supply.

The controllers of the scientists -- the vegahorn -- as they are known, who the scientists worshipped as the nascenti embodiment of Dunlockslyn, kept a close control over the scientists successes (which were few) and failures (which were many).

A number of the scientists gave their lives to their research, as one after another of the tiny lifeforms withered in the nascenti equivalent of test tubes and petri dishes.

Gradually, painfully slowly, the nascenti scientists began to lean on the mycelium of their fungal "friends" to provide a framework for growth. They managed to culture -- and stabilise -- new life.

And so, the nascenti cultured a new Sophie. A new B'enderclaw.

They knew what hey had.

A new and special species. A precious new species. The infusion of human and nascenti. The ultimate species, they said.

The vegahorn didn't agree.

But, they allowed the scientists to continue their work.

The new Sophie grew quickly.

There are reasons for that: Not just the help of the fungal network, but the nascenti are as adept as any species in the The Dark Peak in the medicinal use of rockcrust.

And advanced quantanic technology, far beyond the understanding of anyone in the off-world.

From a foetus they grew her. They grew him. They grew them. This new species, forever now conjoined.

In looks, the new creature was a double of Sophie, but she was better than the Sophie that passed at the Loxley pond. Her brain was larger. Inside her, beat the many hearts of B'enderclaw.

Like B'enderclaw, she had larger lung capacity. Like B'enderclaw, she could regenerate.

In a few more days, Sophie was a fourteen year old "woman" again.

They had to teach her to breath. Out at the Damflask, the murk is heavy, and this embryonic new Sophie had to learn to deal with the murk, but of course, her DNA was now part nascenti, so she was able to breath the murk unaided, without the need of a psycmask, like the one those disgusting gabbleratchets had ripped from her face.

Outwardly, to anyone looking, she was human. Inside her body, and her head, she was nascenti through and through. Human on the outside. Nascenti on the inside: Nascenti blood coursed through Sophie's veins.

Her head was empty for now, that's to be understood. How wouldn't it be? The nascenti were just rebuilding her body, her mind would come later. A fully developed brain, waiting to be filled with facts, information, experiences, details. Eventually, she would be taught to speak Ing, like any human in Hellsborough or the netherlands, but that would come later.

But she would always think in the nascenti dialect of The Dark Peak language. She would dream nascenti dreams. Her indoctrination was nascenti.

In other news, Hellsborough Chronicles book one “Dark Peak” is now available on Kindle and paperback.

I am also tweeting on a daily basis, and you can follow me here.

If you can leave a review of Dark Peak on Amazon, I'd be more than grateful.

Cheers, until next time,

Pip :)