From Sky Wolf to Amarok

On doing some serious research into Innuit wolf legends, I discovered the central myth of Amarok. He is a spirit-wolf (creature from a spiritual dimension assuming a wolf shape) that has decidedly non-wolf behaviour: he hunts alone, and is drawn to interaction with humans. So, my genetically-engineered Sky Wolf fits easily into the greater Innuit myth.

Second, what is Ellie's connection to Amarok (Sky Wolf). The answer lies in the reason that she is mute. Ellie is an early experiment in gene therapy, enhancing human abilities by tying in Neanderthal genes. This explains her super-human strength, and agility and co-ordination, and also why she can hear but not speak. (I'm not running with hearing loss now, because I don't have to). Ellie's gene therapy has mis-fired: she has only one copy of the FOXP2 gene (the one necessary for human speach), and as such cannot make normal human speech sounds, nor the subtle changes in lip position that accompany human speech.

Here's an animation of Ellie practicing her Taekwondo Full Roundhouse kick:



Thus enters Sagan Corp's Archeo Ecology project. They have purchased useless land near the mouth of the Coppermine River from the Canadian government twenty years earlier, and built a secure research facility deep in Canadian shield bedrock. From here, they are planning to adapt ancient Arctic lifeforms to the new, warmer climate. The one they promote the most strongly is the Wooly Mammoth. But they claim--if pressed--to be developing a domesticated Dire Wolf to herd the Mammoths, and protect the perimeter of Mammoth territory.

Here's a flyover of the facility.

Such is not the case of course. Sagan Corp's real intention is to defend the Artic using a super-soldier: a combination of Arctic wolf and Neanderthal genes. Thus Sky Wolf is born, and Ellie was an early experiment in that direction.

Ellie's home is on the outskirts of Qurluktuk, and the westernmost boundary of Nunavut, nearly touching the Northwest Territories border.

She has grown up as a pampered child, allowed to enter Sagan Corp's holdings.

The only problems to be solved now are logistical. If Sky Wolf's home isn't very far from Qurluktuk, why is his escape such a big deal? Why call in Dwayne?

Character Goal Opposition
Ellie Decide on College or Travel Parents want College
Befriend Sky Wolf Elude / Trick Dwayne
Challenge SAGAN Corp Tricked by Gabby

Sky Wolf Elude SAGAN Corp Dwayne, Neil
Discover Allies / Soul Mate SAGAN , Inuit

Dwayne Pay for Daughter's College Fails SAGAN Corp
Discover truth about Sky Wolf Battle Neil, Gabby

Gabby Control Ellie Ellie allies /w Dwayne
Use Ellie as Bait

Neil Control Dwayne Ellie allies /w Dwayne
Use Ellie as Bait

Setting Up Action Sequences: Ellie's Tantrum

What does Ellie leave her father's shop to go out and see? She heads east into the Sagan Corp Mammoth Preserve, stopping her Ski-Doo on a hilltop to watch the Mammoth Herd feed near the shore of the Artic Ocean. It is early April, and late afternoon. Ellie does this because she wants to see her ten-year old adopted Mammoth, Lucy. Coppermine Inuit children are encouraged to adopt a baby Mammoth, both by SAGAN Corp, and their own elders. Ellie's teenage years have been tumultous, and she yearns for an earlier, simpler time. Lucy is her security blanket, a reminder of her childhood.

Storm clouds are blowing in, carrying a great deal of snow. A polar bear crosses the ice floes ahead of her, intent on carrying off Lucy, but the Mammoth form a ring around their young female, and their bellowing brings the Dire Wolfs, domesticated to serve as protectors to the Mammoth herd. They battle it out with the polar bear. Ellie drives her snowmobile down the slope toward the melee, intent on getting a closer look, when her machine slips and tumbles on the mushy snow. Down she slides, faster and faster, right into the middle of the battle. At the very last, she regains control of her machine and swerves to the right, away from the beach and the polar bear. But it is too late. The Dire Wolves, doing what they were bred to do, herd the Mammoths away from the beach and danger, leaving Ellie to face a hungry, frustrated polar bear. She tries to drive back up the slope, but the weather has made the snow treacherous, and her machine falls backward, it's rear sleds landing on her legs, pinning her down in the deep, wet snow. The polar approaches, cautiously at first, then gallops toward this new meal. Ellie closes her eyes and begins her death prayer when she hears a 'whump', and opens her eyes to see the polar bear somesaulting through the air, away from her and towards the beach. She closes her eyes again, believing that this is only her wishful imagination. When she opens them again, Sky Wolf is peering over her Snowmobile, looking at her calmly and quietly.

Timeline: What is the Precipitating Incident that begins the story?

This precipitating incident occurs in the Armory, which is the first place Dwayne will visit when he is brought on-board by Neil, nominally a SAGAN Corp speciman handler, but actually a Black-Ops type like Dwayne himself. (Neil must be extra careful to appear a bit inept outside his narrow specialization, that is why he has a tricked-out Land Rover 6 filled with the latest gadgets, and why he breaks the diff lock, supposedly by accident). Neil's pitch to his superiors is that all is not lost: this is only the first batch of Sky Wolves, and he can maneuver Dwayne into a position where he is forced to track and then fight Sky Wolf, which would be a good resolution to the incident, that of testing Sky Wolf's fighting capabilities.

For this to work---for SAGAN Corp to mis-perceive the People's pacifism, the incident in the Armory needs to have a lot of collateral damage, including innocent civilians.

To sum up: the Sky Wolf Peoples refuse to become weapons for SAGAN Corp. They thwart that intention by an act of self-sacrifice, using their new-found psychic powers to vaporize themselves, and at the same time, passing their combined powers to their youngest member, who at this point of the story is known simply as Sky Wolf. Oldest Female--the most psychically gifted of them all--foresees that he has a different destiny from their own. They intend him to escape in one of their environment suits, using their self-immolation as a distraction. Sky Wolf could have escaped in any direction, even into the Arctic Ocean--but his decision to help Ellie changes the course of the action.