Virtual Quill

Yes, in addition to analyzing Francis, pondering the implications for my own future and maintaining my classwork, I’m also preparing Hare-Link for the release of MicroTalon’s new OS. And here I thought “nocturnal” meant you actually got to sleep during the day.
On the subject of Francis, further data hasn’t altered my original finding. If I have children here, they may spend a year or so as bats or hedgehogs, but they’ll become human within a year of their birth. My own genetics are similar to Danielle’s in that regard. Without getting too specific; it’s well known that there are many genes in every genome whose purpose is thus far unknown. Comparing the profiles of Danielle and myself, I’ve found some gene sequences that aren’t shared by the rest of the Domain population, of any species. My conclusion is that those are human genes that are recessive for one who crosses the portal, but become dominant in their offspring.
Fenton has been surprisingly supportive about this finding, although it’s true that he hasn’t told anyone in his family. I’ve told my family, of course, and their attitude is to be expected: At this point, what’s a little more diversity? I do wonder if Fenton’s reaction is one of slight relief: as Dad can attest, diapering a quilled species is a challenge.
So, do Francis and whatever daughters I have eventually lead to a race of humans on this side of the portal? Now, I’m inclined to doubt it. The issue of the Westermarck Effect was mentioned here this week, that says that children raised in close proximity don’t establish romantic relationships in later years. I also take a dim view of arranged marriages, for obvious reasons, and I can imagine them rebelling against the expectation of procreation.
As for my genetic duplicate on this side of the portal? Many social, legal and logistical forces stand in way of that, but none so much as my desire to eventually have children of my own.
I’d like to thank everyone who has replied with messages of support during the past week; I’ve needed them.
Today’s question (and returning to the title topic): How many of you are planning to immediately upgrade to Windows 7?

With the public outcry over Francis, I don’t want to add to the increasingly abrasive discourse over his presence. There’s nothing we can do except hope things blow over, and that the media will be distracted by other events (like unmanned balloons over Denver).
I’m taking the long range view on this, as is my nature. Thorough analysis of the DNA of everyone involved leads to this finding: when someone crosses the portal they are changed to adapt to that dimension. That change is apparently permanent, as I’ve been here twenty years without reverting to my original human form. However, the act of conception, with its chaotic mingling of genes between mother and father, triggers the latent human genome within the resulting offspring. These genes are apparently so powerful that all other genes become recessive. Thus, George is indisputably Francis’s father, yet Francis has no observable fennec traits.
I explained last week why Francis’s human traits did not fully manifest themselves until after his birth. It follows that if Catherine Aura were to have more children on the human side, they would either be born avian or become avian shortly after their birth. ...Or hatching. The same goes for Nigel.
And me.
Yes, if Fenton and I have children, they’ll be human. We’re both grappling with the consequences of this outcome. I haven’t mentioned one way around that: an egg donor. From someone on this side of the portal. Who shares my identical genetic profile...
On the other hand, maybe we’re meant to give birth to a human child, to grow up to be a mate for Francis. I don’t know...
Do you?

Reading the comments from last week, I see most of you know what the entire world knows by now. Francis Fennec has developed into a human.
I’ll give you the chronology of how my week has gone, beginning with the phone call I got from home. Francis, who had earlier developed human teeth when his baby teeth came in, began showing other signs of becoming human. His ears and tail were slowly shortening, and he was losing fur. Danielle took him to Dr. Caduecus, who couldn’t find any signs of illness.
After the visit the changes accelerated exponentially, and in the middle of a grocery store they became complete. The metamorphosis was caught on a cell phone video made by another shopper, which was soon all over the web.
I arrived home and immediately analyzed his DNA. It was unchanged from that of his birth, and I immediately compared it to the human DNA I obtained from Martha Fennec when she briefly attained human form on this side of the portal. Yes, Francis had been human all along. The fur, ears, tail, paw pads and other non-human aspects had been temporary traits.
I have a theory as to why he was born with them. There’s an old saw in biology that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny,” In other words, before birth one retraces the steps taken through evolution. In Francis’s case, he had a larger journey that continued after his birth. He not only had to retrace human evolution but also his mother’s transformation from human to rabbit.
Danielle, George and the rest of the family are taking this in stride. I’ve been especially worried about Gran, who is still deluding herself (against all evidence) that the Danielle to whom she gave birth did not in fact die a number of years ago. (She’s the only one of Gran’s 36 offspring to do so; a tragic loss.)
On the scientific front, this confirms my theory that mere knowledge of humans does not cause instinct loss. Even with global knowledge of Francis, there hasn’t been a single reported case, owing to the current balance between our dimensions. For those of you keeping score at home, Danielle and I are former humans living here, and Ms. Aura and Nigel are former residents of this world residing on the other side.
(There is a dolphin from this world who is now living as a dolphin in the human world, but apparently that doesn’t impact anything; a lateral move.)
So, the question now is, does Francis’s presence change things? He’s had human DNA all along, it just had to completely assert itself. He was conceived and born here, so there was no portal crossing. In short, he belongs here.
Finally, this week’s question cannot be answered confidently by anyone: Will the same thing happen with my offspring?

It’s been over a year since I first found that my blog was being accessed in the human world. At the time I was quite nervous, and not only because I’d been unwittingly revealing my thoughts for who-knows-how-long beforehand. My main area of concern was the issue of instinct loss and the havoc it caused here when too many humans arrived on this side of the portal.
At the time, it was felt that it was mere knowledge of humans caused instinct loss. That may have played a minor role, but my contact with the human world through this blog belies its importance. What we know is that at one point there were three humans here (two former humans: me and Danielle, plus an actual human in the transformed Martha Fennec). At another time there were four former humans on this side of the portal (me, Danielle, and two good friends Nick and Ki). In both cases, instinct loss began sweeping the globe, causing massive chaos.
Order was eventually restored. Martha changed back, and Nick and Ki returned to their world. To balance the presence of me and Danielle on this side, Ms. Aura and Nigel travelled over to the human side. I’ll be forever grateful for that gesture.
It seems as if one person can cross over with no effects, and two have limited impact, but more than that create a sort of tipping point. As it stands, though, things are stable. Our contact with this blog has produced no problems.
Again, as long as things stay stable...
Today's question: Have you humans experienced anything comparable to instinct loss? I assume both sides of the portal would be affected.