Candy steps forward, and hurries to explain her lack of understanding. “We weren’t taught the details of in depth cloning medical procedures in school. Our training concentrated on basics and equipment usage. They told us we would have had to go to med-school to learn about all the different methods used. Our instructors said the doctors would teach us their cloning procedures. I never learned that telomeres worked differently in cloning or caused problems.”
Vicki pats her on the shoulder and continues, “I understand, it can be real complicated. Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind explaining it to you. When telomeres get too short, old age takes over. The body can no longer repair itself. That’s why old people’s bodies break down. Their cells are too old and get replaced by older cells each time.”
“You’re getting me a little mixed up. But they are called clones, aren’t they?”
Vicki nods and points at her because her analysis is spot on correct. “Yes, they are identical to their clone, the person who donated their DNA. But, the cells are older. It would be like a human baby would look one year old, but the age of the cells would be 40 years old if it came from a 40 year old person trying to clone itself. The cloned people are easy targets for disease because their death clocks are shorter, that’s a fact. True clones are babies born as identical twins. Their egg splits into two identical people.”
Candy shakes her head in bewilderment. “I was pretty good in school, but now you have me confused. You say you are looking for the unknown?”
Vicki emphatically shakes her head yes. “That is the needle in a haystack. I just don’t know where the haystack is located. You said unknown Candy. That’s a good name for finding something nobody else even knows to exist; let’s name it Code X. From now on we’re looking for Code X. If it occurs and I can find it, the super computers can print out the DNA blueprint in a few days.”
“Wow! Dr. Collins, it’s so cool to work with you.”
Vicki puts her arm around Candy, “No, you’re working with me made me try to solve puzzles again. We’re going to make a great team.”
Chapter 27
Vicki is waiting outside Dr. Landau’s office. Henry opens the door and announces, “Dr. Collins, Dr. Landau is ready for you now.”
She enters, “Thanks Henry.” She takes the single chair in front of Landau.
Landau swivels around front in his chair from the aquarium. “Welcome Dr. Collins, how is your project coming along?”
“That’s why I wanted to meet with you. I’ve got a new idea that I think will solve a lot of the DNA questions science wants answered.”
“Fantastic. Tell me about it. I want to know about your new theory. This has no bearing on your request for resources. Like we said from the beginning, we will supply you whatever you ask for, whatever you need.”
Vicki moves to the edge of her chair, leans forward, “Thank you. You know that scientists have known that between the strands of the 23,000 or so pairs of DNA in a human being, they discovered billions of other euchromatic bases that seemed to have no purpose. I think they do have a purpose. I think they are the switch that determines when a gene is turned on or off, for example. This switch regulator is what makes one cell a kidney cell, for instance, and another a brain cell. This could be the identifier that would give us the answers to controlling the makeup of a person’s DNA.”
Landau strokes his chin. “Fascinating. That’s a very unique view of a newly discovered problem. I don’t have to tell you that a project called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, ENCODE, has found that many of these bases do, nevertheless, play a chemical role in human biology.”
Vicki shakes her finger no. “Yes. But they are identifying chemical switches. Less than 3% react to a chemical switch and that is as far as they can go. That leaves 97% still left to identify their usage. Right now it’s a dead end. I believe there is something that is more universal in flipping or controlling the switch. That’s what I’m going to pursue. I’ve named it Code X. It's the code that makes it all happen. So I have an unusual request for you that would aid my research. Dr. Einstein left part of his brain for research and I would like to get a slice to run some tests on it, to verify my theory.”
Now landau stands up and grabs his putter. “That is a tall order, but, you are working with the right company who can fulfill your request. I have a few friends in government who owe me a favor. I’ll see you have the sample delivered to your lab in a couple of days.”
Vicki breathes a sigh of relief. “That would be wonderful. I do need to ask you a question concerning security. I’m concerned that there is more surveillance on me when I’m away from work. It’s quite unsettling.” Vicki notices a change in Landau’s body language. She hit a nerve.
He answers, “I sympathize with you, but, I have no control over security. You are a quite valuable asset as you’re proving now. So, it would not be unusual for security to keep a close watch on you to guarantee your continued safety. As the head of Alomet, I’m also under tight security. You should take comfort that you are being guarded at all times. Nothing bad can happen to you.”
“You’re right. I guess it will take some getting used to. Forget I even asked. Thank you again for the opportunity.” She gets up to leave and Henry opens the door.
Before she completely exits Landau says his final words, “Dr. Collins, keep up the excellent, excellent work.”
Henry shuts the door behind her.
Landau smiles and sets his putter down against his desk. “I want you to increase the monitoring of Dr. Collins. She seems to be her old self and might be on the verge of another one of her breakthrough discoveries. Report to me any findings she might uncover that cause a buzz among the research staff. I’ve got a special feeling about her fresh take on an unsolved problem.”
Chapter 28
Six Weeks in the Jungle
Parks and Biggins are running on the jungle trail in shorts. He looks over at her and smiles because he’s not winded. He looks down at his stomach and smiles wider when he sees his washboard abs and how flat his gut is. Vicki won’t recognize him.
“Okay Parks, today we increase to the top level test run.”
“Did you forget to bring your leather mask … whips...chains?”
“Aikido’s a sport for pussies like you...I’ll take war games any day of the week.”
“Spoken like the true, kick ass, killing bitch you are. You think Jenna or Eddie’s got a lead for us yet?”
“When Eddie gets back today, we’ll call Jenna...Mr. Candy Ass.”
She sprints ahead at a full run, leaving him behind.
Parks smiles, kicks his legs into high gear. Doing the male thing, he begins to leave Biggins behind. No matter how hard she tries to match his power strides, he always flirts ahead with his oversized frame and muscles. He mercilessly taunts her with his physical actions.
She’s pissed! Losing kills her. He drops back into low gear to match her pace. Smiles -- Then backpedals around her, like she did to him so long ago.
“You been crowing like the Queen Hen so long, I just thought I’d remind you...who’s the Rooster?”
They’re inside the command tent at night. There’s an eerie computer glow to the setting.
Eddie, “Go Biggins. The lines secure.”
“Jenna, find anything?”
Inside Jenna’s apartment she sits at her desk with her phone hooked up to an identical voice scrambler.
“Bad news Carla. The government denies existence of any hidden base. Congress did divert funds from the military to NSA behind closed doors when the new congress took control. But, the session was behind closed doors and the funding was classified top secret. Alomet research is a shadow company. That’s my best guess where they went.”
Parks grabs the phone from Biggins, “Any news on Vicki?”
“Zero. Like she disappeared off the planet. I had some government spooks call on me here at home the other night. They told me to lay off or I’d go straight to jail. Som
ebody is raising you to the level of a national security emergency, all out full press to silence you, and me. It really stinks. The more it stinks, the better I like finding the body.”
Biggins grabs the phone back from Parks. “How are my kids?”
“They’re doing fine Carla. I sent a cop friend over asking them where you were. They wouldn’t say a word…”
Alomet Security Center looks like it’s out of “Mission Impossible.” The master control center has four techs monitoring a wall of twenty monitors. Three wall screens show Jenna in her living room from different angles. Henry smiles, paces around behind the tech that controls her cameras. Jenna’s voice echoes throughout:
“…Oh, watch CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tonight. You’ll find a very interesting face at a Denver fund raiser for Senator Concannon...Bye.”
Henry grabs the tech and spins him around toward him, “Carla...run that name on all of Dr. Collins known friends.” He shouts to the room, “Did anyone get a line on where they are?”
A tech at the far end of the room answers, “We were able to trace it into a remote area of Mexico. Guerrilla-Mercenary territory. Don’t worry Henry. Give us a few hours, and I’ll find the bastard.”
The tech Henry grabbed turns to him, “Carla Biggins just came up. Three kids, single white female, best friends with Dr. Collins since the first grade, and a war hero.”
“Good job. Mexico will owe us one for cleaning out a merc camp.”
Later, back in the command center, Eddie goes to his TV and switches it to CNN. “Here it is. Love my little dishes.”
Concannon’s finished a speech. Wolf Blitzer narrates as a TV camera moves to a close up on Concannon. His supporters on stage surround the Senator. They mill around hoping to congratulate him personally and he savors every minute of it by working the crowd.
Wolf Blitzer describes the scene as it plays out, “Can anyone stop Senator Concannon’s Blitzkrieg in his fourth try for the Presidency? He leads by 60 points two months before the first primary, facing only two token opponents. The polls for the country have him leading by 40 points over the President with just 12 months before the country elects our next president. He’s going to have a very happy Christmas with, for right now, a lock on stopping the President in his bid to get reelected.”
A man behind Concannon places his hand on his shoulder. Concannon smiles and waves to his ovation. He leans close to hear what’s being whispered. Concannon glances and looks to the right front row, flashes thumbs up to an enthusiastic, applauding Landau!
Biggins pulls out her cell phone, hits a speed dial button, “Dubrowski, get ready.”
Chapter 29
Two Alomet security guards enter through the doors of Alomet Research Center and stop at the receptionist. One is carrying a small silver suitcase with a handcuff locked to it and his wrist.
“Dr. Vicki Collins, we have a special delivery for her, and it can only be personally delivered to her.”
“She’s in the rear corner of the lab, with her assistant, Candy.” She points to the rear of the massive laboratory.
They march back to the area and see her bent over an electron microscope.
“Dr. Collins?”
Vicki looks up and answers, “I’m Dr. Collins.”
“We have this package to deliver to you on orders of Dr. Landau. Please place your thumb on the recognizer and look into the iris recorder to accept delivery.” He pulls out what looks like an iPad with a small flat camera he extends from its recess and holds the device out for her.
She places her thumb on the pad and it flashes green. Next she moves close to the eye scanner and again it approves her identity.
“I just need your physical signature on the pad.” She signs the pad and a paper receipt prints out for her.
The guards unlock the cuff and hand her the case. They turn and walk out.
Vicki almost caresses the case, and then turns to Candy. “This is a section of Dr. Einstein’s brain. Announce to the staff to assemble immediately. I want to get the whole team heading in a new direction.”
Candy picks up a telephone receiver, punches a button, and over loudspeakers announces “Attention everyone. Come to the outside of Dr. Collins office at once. She has an important announcement to make.”
The entire lab rustles to life and start heading towards her office. They stand and wait for her to speak.
“Everybody, I want to head our research in a new direction. We’re going to use the molecular electric current detector as the lead tool for this new theory I want to pursue. As you know, we still don’t understand how the gene’s molecules send specific instructions for the completion of a perfectly cloned body part. We have a complete spaceship and all the disassembled parts of it sitting in front of us, and only a manual for the major sections of the ship to put it together. We are missing thousands of pages for the final assembly of the small parts to make it a working model. That is true for human DNA.”
She picks up a model of a DNA molecule that is cut away.
“Using chemical traces helped identify approximately 10% of the manual. I think that when life begins, electric charges in the molecules send out the instructions to start forming a complete human. We can see life start when the cell starts dividing. The thinking was the euchromatic part of a cell was just empty space. That is not true. We will focus on attempting to discover the electric charges that I believe are the switches for signaling instructions to the molecules for the formation of an identical human cell from the clone donor.”
A young doctor raises his hand.
“Yes, you have a question?”
“Are we to stop searching for chemical keys and aren’t we already successfully cloning mammals? Doctor, what would be the difference?”
“Yes to the first part of your question. Finish the chemical testing. As far as mammals, they are cloned, but the new cells are older, the animals die early and get sick. Today, a cloned human part is identical in cell structure, but, it is not like the identical copy that would allow us to replace the original. The telomeres are shorter. The cell is as old as the donor.”
Vicki paces back and forth, “If we could find the switch, which I believe is composed of electric charges molecules produce and send instructions to the DNA strand; we could make a perfect, healthy human. We could solve autism, eliminate cancer, replace defective heart valves, or heal a weak heart with cell replacement therapies.”
“Today, a section of Dr. Albert Einstein’s brain was delivered to us. I will send sections of it for you to regenerate the DNA along with each team’s schedule for using the molecular electric current detector. I want us to be testing 24 hours a day. Stop and think about it for a moment. If we are successful, the huge benefits gained will allow us to reverse strokes, cure cancer, MS, Alzheimer’s and all neurological diseases connected to the brain. Chemical keys are a dead end, let’s discover the unknown.”
The group applauds her. Vicki smiles, she knows she will succeed with her new theory. She loves seeing what no one else can see. It’s what she does best.
Chapter 30
Inside Vicki’s lab, she’s applying DNA tests to liquid synthesis before testing. Her assistant Candy Kelley, 24, assists.
Candy confides to Vicki, “I can’t wait to get pregnant again.”
“You said you weren’t married.”
“We get a $100,000 bonus for having a baby.”
Vicki bursts into tears. Candy puts her arms around her.
“I’m sorry Dr. Collins. What’d I say?”
“My fiancé was killed; we planned on having a big family.”
“Oh, Dr. Collins, if I’d have known.”
“Nick made me believe in fairy tales. He said we’d always be together.”
“He must have been very special. I’m so sorry.”
Vicki has collected herself. “Who pays you to have babies?”
“The company. They started to offer the bonus to all the women here about three years ago. Since Jimmy
was my fiancé and we were living together, we decided to have a baby.”
“Alomet encourages you to have children out of wedlock?”
“Oh yes, the doctors help us if we have a hard time getting pregnant. We’re treated like royalty.”
“Royalty? What do you mean?”
“The community, the church, the company, everyone tells us over and over...God wouldn’t have made us so beautiful if he didn’t want us to go forth and multiply. They encourage us to develop relationships with the staff here. They told us we were all tested for matching compatibility, or else we wouldn’t be working here.”
“Candy, would you like to come over to my apartment after work, I’d like to meet your son.”
“Why I’d love to. I’ll bring Jimmy, my son’s dad, so you can meet him too. Just give me time to change my clothes.”
“Oh, goodness no. Come over as you are. I’ve been somewhat lonely and it’d be fun to watch a child play again with no dress up involved.”
Inside Vicki’s living room, she watches Candy’s son, David, playing with a toy truck he brought with him. The two year old has blond hair, blue eyes, and is very slender, which is a contrast to her mother and the father, Jimmy, who are both big boned. Both parents also have blue eyes. This is the same Jimmy who was driving Henry on the Parks attack.
Candy whispers to Vicki. “You’re probably wondering why David looks so different than me and Jimmy. The doctor said our recessive genes became dominant.”
“Not really. I just find it strange they encourage you to have children out of wedlock and pay you money to do so.”
Jimmy overhears her. “Come on Dr. C. Why you making such a big deal out of this?”
Vicki’s interest is really piqued by the odd couple, the strange policies of Alomet and the boyfriend who projects a dislike for being there. There is something odd going on in their father-mother relationship, not counting the non-matching facial or physical features of either in the little boy.
“Candy, would you mind if I took a sample of your son’s blood?”
“I mind.” Jimmy is quick to answer.
“No, Jimmy, he’s my son too. If Dr. Collins...”
Inside the Alomet Security Surveillance Center, a security officer watches this scene play out real time in Vicki’s living room on a bank of huge TV monitors in front of him.