“Everyone, please be seated,” Michael said, followed by the sound of seats being filled and adjusted for comfort.  He cleared his throat, “God, in his wisdom, has allowed six-year-old Stephen McMillian to design a new creature for creation. He slid a parchment onto the table to an uncomfortable silence.

Gabriel put a hand on his forehead, scratching at an itch that Michael was certain wasn’t actually there.

“Thoughts please?” Michael asked.

More silence.

“He’s letting a kindergartener come up with a new version of a turducken? What is this thing?” Isabel asked.

“What are this kid’s parents reading to him?”

A range of complaints, questions, and snide remarks continued for several minutes.

“Angels…” he finally cut in. “Let’s focus.” Ariel? Do we have dragon-DNA in our vaults?”

She nodded. “But that was never going to be your major problem. The chicken is an endotherm, but the dragon is an ectotherm. The two won’t mix.”

“We can duplicate those systems.” Michael scribbled the note on his tablet as he tried to encourage his team. God was counting on him. So was Stephen McMillian.

Manuel shook his head. “This isn’t a duck-billed platypus where we can just skip the stomach. The placement of the wings mean that the Endotherm and Ectotherm systems will have to cross connect at the splenic juncture. The engineering required to make that look like evolution will take millennia.”

“We have six days,” Michael said to a chorus of stares.

It was going to be a long meeting.