Doctor Beryl Benjamin
"Canines have been mankind's greatest ally since the stone age, and for good reason. There's a lot of evidence they co-evolved with us. We didn't breed them, they co-evolved with us! And rapidly! There's a lot of flexibility in the canid genome. So when we realized that uplifting was massively successful and we pioneered the hybridization process, we made certain our first true viable hybrid was canine. I'm very proud of our work here. I'm even more proud that we haven't had any cascading genomic failures since the first generation. That speaks very well of both our prowess and their genetic rigor." -Beryl Benjamin
Biographical Background
Doctor Beryl Benjamin was originally someone else: a nameless genius, the architect of the GLA program. In 56 PR, the person who became Beryl created the first genetically uplifted animal, a canine named Solea. Solea would not only be the first uplift, but also the first martyr; riddled with brain tumors and showing a distressing amount of intelligence, the person who became Beryl put her down in an inhumane fashion. This stunning disregard would become before-Beryl's hallmark: a willingness to let the end justify the means, and the means were simply revolting. Within 5 years, the first hybrid was created, and soon before-Beryl expanded to rabbites and canines. Enhanced rapid-gestation tanks powered a massive population boom, and the uplifts were quickly enslaved. By 68 PR, over a million uplifts languished in the slave pits. The last known record of this now-nameless researcher, whose name has become damnatio memoriae, involved creating a virus to try to infect the first uplift resistance cells. Nobody's sure what happened afterwards; but the researcher that was Beryl disappeared, and their talented protege Dr. Beryl Benjamin surfaced. Dr. Benjamin quickly joined the resistance, providing new genetic treatments to the burgeoning uplift population and becoming a stalwart ally. After nearly getting caught by Block assassins, Dr. Benjamin was spirited away and joined what would become the exodus fleet. During her time in the fleet, Dr. Benjamin operated GeneClinic Lab 1: a not-for-profit, publicly funded laboratory dedicated to the genetic care and maintenance of all citizens in the Exile Fleet. This was to take care of diseases or to maintain the sometimes erratic genetics of Uplifts and Hybrids; these were fixed for free. The lab funded itself through "cosmetic" genetic alterations. This had a side effect of reducing the number of clandestine and dangerous underground gene-clinics. Dr. Benjamin then became a founding member of the Ballard Constitution, in 83 ED. By now there was no hiding the facts: Dr. Benjamin should have been, at the very least, 103 years old but looked like she was in her 20s. Her political rivals organized a clandestine investigation into her genetics and found such significant tampering that they weren't even sure if she was human; in fact she would technically be consideredy the first Pureline, with a projected life expectancy into the 700s... albeit with a startling capability to alter phenotypic markers almost at will. Worse yet, they found additional evidence that she was in fact the before-Beryl, something that she had managed to wipe from her own memory. This realization almost broke her psychologically. She fled the Ballard Constitution, and would pop up occasionally operating small-scale genelabs throughout NeoHuman space. At this point Dr. Benjamin branched out from genetics, dabbling with large-scale sociology. It seemed she became interested in the longer-scale effects of her work, and even recorded the histories of several freelancer organizations. After another fifty years, she all but disappeared, and it was assumed she died in some adventure or another. However, she cropped back up in another hundred years, apparently having put herself into cryogenic sleep. This would lead to a rough pattern in her life: appearing, making waves in the numerous polities, flooding science publications and writing books, hiring freelancers for bizarre projects, inevitably getting captured by some whacko group, and then disappearing into the vastness of space. She was the geneticist captured by the Helix Chain Movement, and would then join the initiative to shut down their genophage. Most recently, she was captured by the Covenant Progeniture, kidnapped again by the Polevik Arcology, partially lobotomized, and then rescued by the Freedivers. This experience led to a lengthy convalescence in Sun Dynasty space, where parts of her brain were literally regrown to ancient specifications.Historical Legacy
Despite her complicated history, Dr. Benjamin is almost revered in NeoHuman space. Though nothing she's done has been particularly world-shattering, her knowledge of NeoHuman genetics is unparalleled. Such is her esteem that the Polevik Arcology didn't execute her outright for simply being human. Whenever she appears on the scene, NeoHuman leaders pay attention: it means that she has located something interesting, and what's interesting to Dr. Benjamin is outright dangerous to everyone else. Beryl has three schools named after herself and a permanent position on every major polity's science council: something she almost never exercises, no matter how much they request it. She simply says she's too busy, but the more savvy politicians realize that Dr. Benjamin is actually terrible at politics. Even savvier politicians don't even try to get her involved, but instead, enjoy pointing her in directions where she can benefit their polity the most.Current Location
As of 791 ED, Dr. Benjamin has recovered from her capture at the Polevik Arcology and gone into hiding again. The Freedivers report that she has no intention to go into cryosleep for some time; she owes them a favor, apparently, and will pay them back within the next five years.Sample Day: Dr. Beryl Benjamin
As dictated to her AI assistant :::Nazca:::. 6:30 AM: Wake up 6:45 AM: Breakfast- Call Jody about the eggs situation
- No more pancakes
- 2 x 20 wide-stance bodyweight squats
- 4 x 12 wide-stance barbell squat
- 4 x 12 Romanian deadlift
- 4 x 20 glute bridge (Call Andy — the hell is a glute bridge?)
- 4 x 20 glute kickback
- Planking???
- Yoga
- Compare with Stem Cell Sample 3A
- Mmm turkey
- Eye cataracts
- Cystic Fibrosis #3
- Educate hybrid dissociation theory
- Ubermensch Initiative (Ethics Board's right on the money here, these guys need to lay off...)
- Run further tests on Cell Sample 3A along with LB1
- Check viral titer of vaccination
- Test vaccination on 3A, LB1, LM1, RM1, RM1, RM3, PG1, PG2, PG3, PG4, LT8, RT8
- Note mutations
- Incubate
- If positive changes, self-vaccinate
- His name is THOMAS, not TIM
- Inquire about his specialties
- How is he doing?
- What's his goal in life?
- How does he feel about genetic engineering?
- Talk about latest research in Lab (Look for glazed eyes; don't get too technical???)
- The Hair-flip: does it work? (Evidence inconclusive with Chuck and Paul; Jaime receptive, but made before lab-talk. Don't attempt too many times, comes off as nervous tic instead of flirting! Record number of hair flips and correlate with visible attraction markers.)
- DO NOT ASK FOR GENETIC SAMPLES FOR TESTING
- DO NOT ASK FOR GENETIC SAMPLES AS A JOKE
- DO NOT SHOW HIM LIST OF QUESTIONS
- Remember to go to bathroom to call Emily when things go south! (Emily knows best)
- Clean up
- Call Emily
- Check on incubations
- If positive changes, self-vaccinate
- Take samples: Right Buttocks, Left Mammary, Right Mammary
- Possible sample: Sclera? (Upside: Lots of evidence sclera virus reservoir (e.g. Ebola) ; Downside: needle in my eye)
