Tripple Chronicles 1: Eternity Rising (3 page)

Oh, how he
hated it when he was forced to think of her. His smile dropped from his
mouth.
 

“So what
about it?” he asked, more abruptly than intended.

“Well,”
Ganesh continued carefully, noticing the change in Camden’s face. “The
government decided to put your theory to the test, and on a very large
scale.
 
Mining shuttles have been
sent to Myris and brought back significant amounts of that same organic biomer
metal.”
 

Camden
raised his eyebrows.

“And,” He
said.
 

“And…certain
military scientists have been working secretly, commissioned by the government
to test your theory.
 
There is
organic biomer metal growing in the military weaponry base as we speak.
 
It is being molded into shapes.” His
eyes dropped and he stared at his hands folded in his lap.
 
“Weapon-like shapes.
 
The robotics unit has already started
integrating this material into weapons that grow directly from the limbs of the
fight units.
 
They haven’t been
completely successful yet, but it’s just a matter of time.”

“So you are
telling me that the military is creating robot soldiers that can regenerate
limbs that serve as weapons?” Camden asked.
 
“How bizarre. Are they using this technology in any life
sustaining capacity?”

The thought
of it seemed too easy.
 
To Ganesh,
Camden seemed compassionate with this question. Even though he didn’t care for
war, Camden was really more thrown by the idea of not stretching the technology
to its fullest extent. The medical possibilities alone were mind boggling, but
Camden was thinking of the potential advancements in
high
speed
space flight and regenerative mechanical repair systems.

“I get it
Cam, anyone can destroy a life, but only a few can sustain it,” Ganesh said.

Camden was
intrigued. He wanted to know more, with one giant question standing out in his
mind.

“What did
they use to catalyze the growth?
 
The metal cannot grow without cells from an outside source dividing
within it.”
 

“Some type
of fungus, I think,” replied Ganesh.

 
Camden’s thoughts raced.
It would have to be a genetically altered
fungus, maybe from a primitive forest. There are a few species there that could
be enhanced to…
Ganesh made a throat clearing sound and pulled the
distracted Camden back into their conversation.

“Who,
exactly, are the scientists working on this?” Camden asked. “Why didn’t they
bring me back in?”

“Well, look
at you these days.” Ganesh said. “I think they were concerned that, with you
coming in and going out of a government building everyday, the press would
become interested.
 
This is
certainly not the kind of project that the general public can know about,” said
Ganesh.
 
“Plus…” he added slowly,
“You had already given them the idea, and they didn’t feel they needed someone
of your caliber to follow through and get the job done. Can you understand
that?” He lowered his chin and slowly raised his eyes to meet Camden’s as he
asked this.
 

The wheels
in Camden’s head were turning so fast that he barely processed what Ganesh was
trying to get across to him.
 
Camden sighed, frustrated with the whole thing.

Ganesh
continued.

“Sorry, Cam,
but your celebrity is just too large these days to attach you to anything so
covert.”
 

Camden got
it, but he did not like it.
 

The reason
Camden had not been successful in testing this technology himself was because
there was not enough available material to continue his research. It wasn’t
like he could just go mining on Myris for more!
 
Space travel was not an everyday occurrence, and landing on
Myris… that rarely happened. Myris had an atmosphere that, if enhanced, could
indeed sustain human life. Talk of building colonies there was frequently on
government agendas.
 
It had never
come to fruition though, as it would still be a difficult task for any ‘would
be’ pioneers to settle on this large moon.
 
The oxygen levels were very low due to the minimal plant
life. Without the aid of personal oxygen supplies, humans would experience
chronic light-headedness and fatigue rendering them incapable of building and
developing the land. The small sample of this potential miracle metal that
Camden was previously able to analyze and test eleven years ago was from a
Myris research mission, one of the very first.
 
The goal of the mission was to collect and analyze soil,
rocks, and liquid.
 
This research determined
that while life was scarce on Myris, it was possibly worth the effort for
colonization. There was an abundance of this biomer metal and several small
creatures were found in the bodies of water that scattered this unique orb.
 

The Myris
Sample Analysis project, or MSA, was another of Camden’s government consulting
contracts that proved to be extremely worthwhile monetarily. Unfortunately,
after his sample was depleted, he could then only theorize about the successful
‘growing’ of the biomer as the government had pulled the plug on going to Myris
until they had figured out a safe way for colonization. Now, more than a decade
later, he sat in his luxury transport staring at Ganesh, all smugness gone from
his face, wondering how long his friend had known of this before deciding to
share it with him.
 

Camden was
not accustomed to being out of the loop when it came to government
continuations of his former research.
 
With growing contempt, he wanted to know why, but more importantly, he
desperately wanted to procure another sample of this biomer metal and explore
the possibilities with the correct catalyst
…which
he
wished
he
had discovered.
 
Which he
should
have discovered! His forehead wrinkled hard and his eyes
widened with frustration and anger, briefly revealing a side of Camden that
very few ever saw.

His mind
snapped away from his contempt and he asked again in a deeper tone.

“So, who are
the scientists working on this?”
 

Ganesh
cleared his throat again and sat up a little straighter.
 
He was not intimidated by Camden, but
he also did not enjoy upsetting his friend.
 
In fact, he was a little surprised by his reaction.
 
He had not seen this selfishness in Camden
about his work before and wondered if it was there all along or perhaps
surfaced after he lost his wife, Rosa.

 
A
thing like that changes a man
. Ganesh thought. He had known Rosa and had
witnessed the struggle for Cam to make any sense of his life and work after
losing her. He’d never seen a man so shattered. Ganesh’s face showed the empathy
he felt for Camden, who had already composed himself and was now opening a
cabinet and pulling out a bottle of fifty-year-old scotch.
 
He poured two glasses and offered one
to Ganesh as if apologizing for his momentary break in composure. Ganesh
gratefully declined and finally answered Camden’s question.

“The
scientists were recruited from the special ops science unit.
 
They are young and dedicated, but they
aren’t going to make any outstanding breakthroughs. Without standing on the
foundation of your work, they wouldn’t be where they are now.”

 
Camden raised an eyebrow, not buying his
flattery, and sat back again in his chair.

“They work
inside set parameters and test the material based on a computer generated list
of life forms.
 
They had been at it
for two years before they finally figured it out, and even then it was only
chance that they found a combination that actually worked.
 
But I guess it was only a matter of
time.”

“Two years!”
Camden repeated. “And how long have they been working with this
correct combination?
”

“Eight
months.”

“And how
long have you known about all this?”

Ganesh
hesitated.

“About a
year, but only through briefings with the other officers.” He quickly added.
“Like I told you this morning, I was only brought in on the details two weeks
ago.”
 

Camden was
slightly comforted by this, but never the less, still felt betrayed.
 
It was this kind of government action
that made him
refuse
to sign up years ago, although he
was recruited time and time again.
 
He never fully trusted the institution of it all, and this morning was
just another confirmation that he had made the right career decisions for
himself.
 
However, the government
continued to need him, and often.
 
A situation that he was usually happy to capitalize on, only now he assumed
that Ganesh was really here because the military scientists had hit a bump in
their research. Secretly, he hoped this was an incorrect assumption.
 
He didn’t want to feel even more
betrayed by his long trusted friend.
 

Ganesh
looked at his wristwatch.
 

“Camden, I
am sorry, but I have to get back to the unit now.
 
Let’s meet again next week and discuss this further, after
you have had some time to think about this old project of yours.”

“You haven’t
even told me what you need from me yet,” said Camden.
 

“I know, I
know.
 
But I promise you; this
technology can be a life changer for you and your colleague Lee Tripple.
 
The scientists back at the unit lab
don’t have the ingenuity to take the technology to the level that you and Lee
could.
 
They do what they are told
and their superiors, and well, they only see potential weapons.” He laughed a
little and said, “Humph, maybe they knew what they were getting when they
promoted me, and maybe they didn’t, but Camden, please understand that I am
here out of concern for our species, and our planet.”
 

Camden sat
up straight again and set his drink down.
 
He felt reassured of their friendship and a little guilty about doubting
Ganesh’s good intentions.
 
He
pushed a button and spoke coolly to the driver.

“Ari, please take us back to the
restaurant now.
 
Ganesh and I are
finished with our city tour.”
         

“Right away, Camden,” Ari replied
through a small speaker. “Less than ten minutes.”
 

Ganesh
reached into his camouflage satchel and pulled out a small, temperature
controlled, metal container.
 
He
took a deep breath and handed it to Camden.

“This is
only a small sample, I know, but it has the right catalyst.
 
I want to know what you think at our
next meeting. Oh, and be discreet.”
 

Camden’s
eyes widened and his heart sped up a little as he accepted the package. A new
excitement was beginning to overtake him.
 

“I have a
busy week cut out for me then,” he said, trying to remember where he had
stashed his biomer notes from eleven years ago.

Two days had passed since Camden’s meeting with Colonel
Ganesh and his brain had yet to take a break.
 
Even now, when he sat, relaxed, in a wooden chair at a small
round table on his balcony. As the sun rose outside of his loft, he sipped
coffee out of a delicate white porcelain cup, black, with just a little
sugar.
 
The aroma of the fine brew
and the fresh morning air filled his nose and he deeply breathed it in,
contemplating the questions before him.
 
If Lee knew a possibility existed where he could test his life evolution
project, he would surely take it without a second thought.
 
‘Progress for progress’s sake’, he
would say.
 
Camden, on the other hand,
saw a larger picture that included the other moral repercussions of such an
experiment.
 
What if it
worked?
 
What if clones were the
answer to widespread infertility on the planet?
 
What if humans could live in space?
 
What if human clones could be altered
to be stronger? More elemental?
and
less…human?
 
Would it be fair to give these people
such an existence?
 
But would it
also be wrong not to try?
 
Would
they adapt or would they perish in a generation’s time?

These questions plagued his mind even more this morning
because he still had no answers to them. He was planning to meet Lee in his lab
early this afternoon to share the biomer with him.
 
There was no question that the material could significantly
benefit Lee’s experiments; it was so versatile.
 
Camden had been working with it almost non-stop for the past
two days in his small personal lab; the entrance hidden behind a bookcase in
his grand oak shelved library.
 
It
was not much larger than a walk in closet, but it was warm, inviting, and
equipped with some the most sophisticated tools known to science.

Camden took a long last sip of his coffee and wrinkled his
brow, set the cup down noisily and suddenly considered not sharing the biomer
with Lee. Then, reminded
himself
that it was not up to
him to stop scientific progress, no matter what position he held on the extent
of the research.
 
He could not live
with knowing he had withheld a possible advancement in Lee’s work because he
had concerns for the future people involved. People that he didn’t even know,
or care about.
 
He would have to
devote more time convincing his conscience of this for he knew deep down that
his mind was clearly made up. Camden raised his arms over his head in a long
stretch and walked inside to dress for the day.
 

Life can’t stand still
, he thought,
it must evolve, with or without my feelings.

In Tripple
Laboratories, time and experimentation were already bustling along.
 
Lee had been there since last night,
monitoring cell divisions from unknowing donors.
 
He had determined that when the DNA enhancements were given
at an earlier stage of development, the possible fetuses would have a much
stronger chance of survival.
 
They
could even thrive.
 
Lee was very
pleased with himself, as he often was when his tests were successful. He was on
the verge of a breakthrough; he felt it in his bones.
 
So much so, that earlier that morning, he had taken time out
from his self-congratulatory mind set to have the lady at the front desk
contact a recruiter.
 
He knew he
needed an assistant to help him with his work from here on out.
 
It was too tedious for just one person
now. The experiment was beginning to require nearly constant maintenance and
supervision. It was out of character for Lee to make this type of call, but it
was the most efficient way to make progress.
 
He wanted a young person with a moldable mind. Not
necessarily the top science mind, but someone who could see the gray areas of
his work. Someone who would do what they were told without much questioning,
but who was also healthy enough to be a cell donor to the project.
 
In a sense, he was looking for more
than a great lab assistant. He was looking for a willing lab rat with a good
scientific brain.
 
Of course, he
described the assistantship as “a chance of a lifetime” and he would be
personally interviewing for the position.
 

“Very
prestigious work.” He had directed “and very important.
 
I need to start interviewing this
afternoon.”
 
The lady at the front
desk was used to Lee’s urgent and impolite phone manner, but nonetheless,
always felt slightly offended after they hung up. She immediately contacted a
recruiter, who knew Lee’s reputation, to began lining up the best of the best
from the science fields, governmental as well as non-governmental.
 

Lee had no idea that Camden was
planning to share mind blowing technology with him in just a few hours.
 
In fact, Lee only remembered they had a
lunch meeting because Camden had called this morning to remind him and had also
agreed to stay and help with the interviewing process. Lee relied on Camden for
phone calls and reminders because as was typical, he hadn’t slept in two days
and it was not unusual for him to track of real time.
 
In fact, he was so preoccupied with his work that time had
become only an interval with which he used to measure the progress of his
experiments. And now with Camden on board with the interview process too, he
did not have to sit and ask questions to strangers, a task that, performing
alone, would likely put him in a near state of panic. This was turning out to
be a perfectly unobjectionable morning for Lee.