Asterion (8 page)

A tap on the shoulder startles him. He turns to see Devin smiling above him. “I’m so focused on it; I didn’t even hear you enter the lab.”

Devin, grinning, “Sorry to get your heart rate going so early in the morning, but this is when all this gets interesting so I wanted to take a peak.”

Taylor stood up and smiled back. “I guess the minutia of the developmental stages can get a bit tedious.”

“Yea, it can, but now that’s done. What are you going to name it?”

Taylor’s face went blank. “You know, I never even thought about a name.”

“It resembles the old mythical minotaur creatures you read about.”

Taylor thinks for a moment about Devin’s comment. “Let’s call him, Asterion.”

“Asterion?” Devin had a puzzled look on his face. “Where did you get that?”

“Asterion was the starry one or king from mythology that had a minotaur-like appearance.”

Devin thought for a second. “Yes, that is better than a generic name and he is the first. The first of many, he will be their king.”

Taylor, a bit taken back by that statement worriedly responds, “Okay.”

Trent and Christine enter the chamber. They wear puzzled looks on their faces as they missed this conversation.

Devin looks at them. “You all have done great work here and Burnsom knows of your efforts. He may be coming to see what you have developed here for the betterment of our great society.”

With that, he darts off and the team is alone again. They only have the steady, rhythmic sounds of the high tech gestation chamber to break the silence.

Taylor and Christine are enjoying some quiet time in the break room. Monitoring automated processes became tedious after a while and they like sharing each other’s company from time-to-time. Taylor asked Christine about the installations she lived in during her childhood.

“We spent a lot of time on the bases located in Mexico and Central America. My father served in the Cartel Drug War that liberated those countries from the tyranny of the drug lords. Northcom worked with Mexico and the other Central American countries to return order and democracy to those nations. It was one of the last wars fought without the advancements in automated fighting machines. He was a surgeon and worked to put the lives of the wounded back together. We formed strong alliances with those countries and the states, I mean, provinces that border Mexico. Then we moved to a base located in the South Central Province. I liked it there. It resisted the conformity measures Burnsom forced upon the rest of the country. Dad said that Burnsom thought he would allow an example of liberty and capitalism to exist so that the people could see just how his ideas are superior. However, just the opposite happened and along with the other allies of the war, they prospered and provided for their people. Tensions are very high and I think something will happen in the future that will threaten the freedoms there.”

Taylor had a stunned look on his face. “Wow, that’s interesting! I grew up mainly on the bases in the provinces and in the Euro Union, The Balkans and the Ukraine. That’s how I got involved with the Israelis developing advanced command and control systems. It was instrumental in preventing the complete collapse of their country. I learned a lot about the blending of biological and technological systems from that experience. After that I studied genetics and began to work toward merging these technologies together.”

Christine smiled. “That must have been fascinating. I thought about becoming a surgeon like my father, but I’m also interested in technology and its use in medicine so I studied chemical and electrical engineering. This project has been a great place to apply everything I learned.”

Taylor smiled. “I hope it’s not the only thing you’ve enjoyed while here.”

She laughed, “Oh, I guess there are always collateral benefits.”

Taylor smiled worriedly, “Going to go all military on me will you.”

“You know what I mean.”

Trent sticks his head in the door and interrupts their laughter. “Burnsom is on the news monitor and he is talking about the project!” Taylor and Christine look at each other with a puzzled look and they race to hear the report.

When they arrive at the monitor, Burnsom is behind the podium. “This is an auspicious occasion, one where I am glad to be the one making this announcement to you. We are on the verge of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels even further, increasing our exports to developing nations and thus increasing the nation’s profitability. This project will increase our crop yields so that we can diminish our infrequent food shortages and lesson the cost of food to the citizens.”

Taylor asks, “Why is he announcing this so soon? It’s still too soon to declare this project a success!”

Christine looks at Taylor. “Absolutely, so many things can go wrong before we can go into any kind of mass production of these creatures.”

Trent pipes up. “I hear that there have been sporadic shortages and rebellion in various places. They happen to be just isolated enough that news of it is suppressed.”

Devin, lurking in the background like some distant past Soviet Political Officer, steps forward into the light, “Be careful what you say, Rumors are a funny thing. Get it right and you are a prophet. Get it wrong and you’re a treasonous rabble-rouser. Rumors like that have been circulating for a long time. Besides, if it is true, don’t you feel good that you are doing something that will alleviate the problem? That is, if it exists at all.”

A quiet pale comes over the room. Devin disappears so fast that one wondered if he was here at all.

Trent still staring at the door, “Wow.”

Christine shudders, “Creepy.”

“I guess we have work to do,” Taylor ushers the team back to the lab.

In the lab, Taylor approaches Trent. “You went over the logs for the processing steps didn’t you?” “

“Absolutely, is there something wrong with it?”

“There are some odd things about our project. Oh, we’re calling it, or him, Asterion.”

“Cool name. Define odd things.”

Taylor looked around to make sure Devin is not lurking about, turned back to Trent. “Not anything that one would call an anomaly or some defect that would jeopardize the project. I don’t see terminating it unless something worse develops.”

Trent looks at Taylor inquisitively. “I thought its name is Asterion?”

“I hate to name something if I have to end its life.”

“Okay,” Trent says with a smile, “It’s Asterion until we have to euthanize it.”

Taylor smiles back. “That works better for me.”

Christine standing nearby pipes up, “Asterion, wasn’t he a king called the starry one?”

Taylor turns toward her. “Yes, that’s the ancient myth.”

“That’s appropriate, he is the first, of special birth and he will certainly be king of his brethren.”

Taylor jokes, “That’s the second time I heard that affirmation today,”

Christine smiles, “Well, I’m just thinking it through,”

“Okay, okay. Trent, let’s look over the logs again and make sure that we account for anything that might explain the minor anomalies. We may need to tweak our processes in the future.”

Trent nodded. “I’ll get on it right away. At least it is something to do rather than just watch the bread rise in the oven.” They laughed and returned to their routine.

After Trent walks off, Taylor turns to Christine. “There has been too many weird things going on and it hard to know who to trust. You are the only one I trust implicitly and I need you to analyze the DNA of Asterion against the planned model.” Christine nods in agreement and leaves to start her work. Taylor, left alone, sitting at the lab table wonders if the project was compromised it in some way.

Milar’s familiar voice interrupts his thoughts. “You look lost in a familiar place.”

Taylor looks up. “Just thinking about what I need to do next.”

“Well, don’t worry, things are going well and no security compromises have been found.”

“Great,” Alone again, Taylor wonders why she would have just mentioned security issues unexpectedly. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid,” he tells himself, but he knows it’s easy for the bureaucracy to be deceptive.

Taylor notices that security details are examining every nook and cranny of the facility and that tells him that there will be a visit by Burnsom in their near future. He knows now that the pressure will be on him to deliver on this project. Then he realizes that it will bring unwanted scrutiny on their personal lives. He keeps quiet for now.

Trent interrupts Taylor’s train of thought. “I found some code that allows for substitution of material in the DNA matrix when other material was not available or in short supply or if the AutoDNA could not utilize a particular material.”

How did that get in there? It is not in the design document.”

“It’s common to code for substitutions in the error handling sections of a program. Maybe we missed something in those sections?”

Taylor, with doubt in his voice, “I’m sure we both covered that and barcoding our materials would cover accidental substitutions. What are we dealing with in the incubation chamber?”

“Good question. We will have to wait until Asterion is large enough to get a DNA sample without harming him.”

“Yes, but I hate waiting.”

With that, Trent moves back to his analysis of the system logs. Taylor goes to where Christine is working and informs her of Trent’s findings.

Christine asked, “How could that have gotten by us? We double and triple checked everything, even analyzing the materials for confirmation before use.”

“Well, that would probably account for the anomalies in Asterion. However, normal genetic mutations and defects could also account for some of them. We are just going to have to wait until we can analyze him further.”

“I hate the waiting game.”

Taylor laughs, “Don’t we all!”

Taylor pours over their results trying to merge them and gain some insight into what happened. In the back of his mind, he is thinking about Burnsom’s probable visit to the facility. Will he present the future to him or a bowl of mush? He will have the weigh the prospects of whether Asterion lives or it dies. If the anomalies are not significant then there are no real issues, but he would have to be careful as to how he made his decision.

His latest scan of Asterion shows greater brain development than expected, but no new anomalies. Those already there are still developing. No data from previous experiments is available to make any assessment about the size of his brain. Scans show normal fetal activity. They are no abnormal growths and bone scans showed that everything looked functional. He notes that the fingers near the tips looked similar to feline retractable claws without the fur. It dawned on him that he never thought his childhood pet cat looked like that and he laughed nostalgically at the fond memory. He would have to determine what sample produced that feature or if the feature rode along on part of another strand. That would also have to be determined about the bear-like jaw, teeth and thickening torso hide.

CHAPTER 9 - PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Still looking at the monitor, a hand grasps his shoulder. He does not have to turn around. He knows Christine’s touch. He smiles and his eyes light up. “What’s up?”

“Why don’t you come over to my place tonight?”

“You don’t have to ask twice. What time?”

“How about seven, I got something special planned.”

Taylor laughs. “Now you’ve got me curious. How can I focus on work now?”

Christine starts to leave the room, “I’m not letting the cat out of the bag. It’s a surprise. Besides, you’re a professional. You will get through the day.”

Taylor thinks to himself, “Looks like the cat is already out of the bag. I just hope it doesn’t get out of the lab.” With that, Taylor tries to focus on analyzing the mind numbing data before him and the status of the project.

Brought back to reality by Devin’s frantic calls for an immediate meeting with him to discuss Burnsom’s upcoming visit, he leaves the room. Taylor thinks, “Great, this is coming faster than I ever thought it could. Is he coming to witness the birth?”

Arriving at Devin’s office Milar is waiting for him also. She smiles, “Hi.”

“Hi, how are you?” Taylor replies, somewhat puzzled

“You still have not cashed in on your rain check,”

“Sorry, I started seeing someone and my social calendar is booked,”

“Well, that does not matter to me,”

Taylor had to be careful how he responded. The wrong answer might reveal too much. “Well, I just started this relationship.”

“Oh, okay, I understand.”

Devin rushes in waving at the empty chairs next to his desk and they all take a seat. “Guys, this is make or break time for us all. The smoother this visit goes the better. I know that Burnsom’s security is checking things out, but Milar, I want you to make sure there is nothing left to chance. That includes protestors and other malcontents. The bureaucracy is good at assigning blame downhill and I’m not going backwards. Make sure that nothing is within sight of a camera that could embarrass us. Taylor, I need a birthdate.”