Page 102 of Tamed By Her Touch

She enlarged it and rotated the image slowly. It was an unusually complex molecule with several linked side chains and what looked like a protective outer grouping that made the entire compound chemically stable.

“Do you know what this is?” she asked, nodding at it.

Maera studied it and shook her head.

“No. I have never studied veloria this closely.”

“Well, let’s just see what we can find…” Clair murmured.

With help from Maera, she searched the local database until a designation appeared beside the molecular structure.

VEL-7 precursor compound, it read.

“Precursor,” Clair murmured. That word made something in her memory stir. She enlarged the associated research notes and skimmed them quickly—but the information was surprisingly sparse.

“What is it?” Maera asked. She was clearly as invested in the project as Clair was now.

Clair frowned.

“It looks like whoever studied this before knew this compound wasn’t the final active molecule.”

She scrolled lower.

“See here? VEL-7 remains chemically stable in solution. Heat doesn’t activate it. Acids don’t do much. Basic digestive enzymes break down part of the outer structure but…” She frowned. “Then the research just stops.”

Maera frowned.

“Why?”

Clair shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

She ran a more in-depth search and then another and another, but no further records appeared.

“That’s strange,” she murmured. “There’s definitely something missing here.”

Maera leaned against the counter.

“Do you think it’s important?”

“Maybe. It could just be a blind alley but it could also be a piece in the puzzle.”

Clair stared at the molecule, willing it to reveal its secrets. There was something maddeningly familiar about the situation, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. The plant produced one compound, but that compound itself didn’t appear especially biologically active.

A precursor—the compound was called a precursor—something that had to be changed before it became useful.

Then it finally clicked in her brain and she straightened up quickly.

“Oh my God!”

Maera, who had been leaning over beside her, also straightened.

“What?” she asked. “What did you find?”

“It’s not what I found,” Clair told her. “It’s what I remembered—the star-vine!”

Maera shook her head.