2558-2758 the 9th Interval

During the 9th Interval, Pern flourished with its newfound technologies.
The DragonRiders who had passed up the chance to eliminate Thread had all passed away and the new DragonRiders had no knoledge of their choice. All they knew was that in 200 Turns, Thread would be back and they would again need to defend Perns Skies.

With a full six Weyrs during the Pass, the DragonRiders were a little crowded and with little do do, most lived out their lives in Holds more than in Weyrs.

At one point in time, the population fell to only 1000, with only 4 of them being Queens. This was only 8 Turns before Thread was due to fall again. They tried to breed the dragons back up as fast as possible, but with only 4 Queens, it was a hard task to get enough eggs to fill the Weyrs.

Then the GeneCrafters stepped in. They offered to modify the 400 or so Greens, to allow them to lay a few eggs to aid the Queens to bring back numbers quickly. The DragonRiders accepted, and so the GeneCrafters injected the Greens with a stimulant that would re-activate their ovaries. Unfortunately, this only allowed two eggs to ever be released, and only one at a time. But with 400 Greens, it was just enough. They also modified the eggs that the Queens laid, so that the new Golds would lay fertile Greens and the Greens would be fertile.

Nowadays, Greens can still lay two eggs in their lifetime, allowing quick population growth before a Pass. Thanks to the Genecrafters of the 9th Interval, Pern will never be without protectors.