Mutation (27 page)

     "Why don't you just relax a minute," VJ said, restraining him. "You hit your head."

     "That's an understatement," Victor was tempted to say. He reached up and felt the impressive lump once more, then examined his fingers to see if there was any blood. He was still confused but his head was beginning to clear. "What do you mean, 'I'm where I'm not supposed to be'?" he asked as if suddenly hearing VJ's comment for the first time.

     "You weren't supposed to see this hidden lab of mine for another month or so," VJ said. "At least not until we were in my new digs across the river."

     Victor blinked. Suddenly his mind was clear. He remembered the dark figure who'd clobbered him. He looked at his son's smiling face, then let his eyes wander around the unlikely laboratory. It was as if he'd taken a step beyond reality where mass spectrometers competed with hand-chiseled granite. "Exactly where am I?" Victor asked.

     "We are in the basement of the clock tower building," VJ said as he let go of Victor and stood up. VJ made a sweeping gesture with his hand and said, "But we've changed the decor to suit our needs. What do you think?"

     Victor swallowed and licked his dry lips. He glanced at his son only to see him beaming proudly. He watched as Philip nervously wrung his hands. Victor looked at the three men in Chimera security guard uniforms-swarthy Hispanics with tanned faces and shiny black hair. Then his eyes slowly swept around the high-ceilinged room. It was one of the most astounding sights he'd ever seen. Directly in front of him was the yawning maw of the opening into the sluice. A slime of green mold oozed out of the lower lip with a trickle of moisture. Most of the opening was covered with a makeshift hatch made of heavy old lumber. The huge wooden trough that used to carry the water through the room had been dismantled to serve as raw materials for the hatch, the lab benches, and bookshelves.

     The room appeared to be about sixty feet across and about a hundred feet in length. The largest of the old paddle wheels still stood in its vertical position in the center of the room like a piece of modern sculpture. A number of the laboratory instruments were pushed up against its huge blades, forming a giant circle.

     At both ends of the room were several heavy doors reinforced with metal rivets. The walls of the room on all four sides were constructed of the same gray granite. The ceiling consisted of open joists supporting heavy planking. In addition to the largest of the paddle wheels, most of the old mechanical apparatus of huge rods and gears that had transmitted the waterpower were still in their original places, supported from the ceiling joists by metal sheaths.

     Just behind Victor was a flight of wooden stairs that rose up to the ceiling, dead-ending into wooden planks.

     "Well, Dad?" VJ questioned with anticipation. "Come on! What do you think?"

     Victor rose to his feet unsteadily. "This is your lab?" he asked.

     "That's right," VJ said. "Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?"

     Wobbling, Victor made his way over to a DNA synthesizer and ran his hand along its top edge. It was the newest model available, better than the unit Victor had in his own lab.

     "Where did all this equipment come from?" Victor asked, spotting a magnetic electron microscope on the other side of the paddle wheel.

     "You could say it's on loan," said VJ. He followed his father and gazed lovingly at the synthesizer.

     Victor turned to VJ, studying the boy's face. "Is this the equipment that was stolen from Chimera?"

     "It was never stolen," VJ said with an impish grin. "Let's say it was merely rerouted. It belongs to Chimera, and it's still on Chimera grounds. I don't think you could consider it stolen unless it left the Chimera complex."

     Walking on to the next laboratory appliance, an elaborate gas chromatography unit, Victor tried to pull himself together. His headache still bothered him, especially when he moved, and he felt quite dizzy. But he was starting to think the dizziness could be attributed as much to the revelation of this lab than the blow to his head. This was something out of a dream-a nightmare. Gently touching one of the chromatography columns, he assured himself it was real. Then he turned to VJ, who was right behind him.

     "I think you had better explain this place from the beginning."

     "Sure," VJ said. "But why don't we go into the living quarters where we'll be more comfortable."

     VJ led the way around the large paddle wheel, passed the electron microscope, and headed for the end of the room. When he got there, he opened the door on the left. He pointed to the door on the right: "More lab spaces through there. We never seem to have enough."

     As Victor followed VJ, he noticed over his shoulder that Philip was coming but the security guards paid them no heed. Two of them had already sat down on a makeshift bench and started playing cards.

     VJ led Victor to the room that indeed looked like living quarters. Rugs in various sizes and shapes had been hung over the granite walls to provide a warmer atmosphere. About ten rollaway cots with bed linens cluttered the floor. Near the entrance door was a round table with six captain's chairs. VJ motioned for his father to have a seat.

     Victor pulled out a chair and sat down. Philip silently sat down several chairs away.

     "Want something to drink? Hot chocolate or tea?" VJ asked, playing host. "We have all the comforts of home here."

     "I think you'd better tell me what this is all about," Victor said.

     VJ nodded, then quietly began. "You know I've been interested in what was going on in your lab from the first days you brought me to Chimera. The problem was nobody let me touch anything."

     "Of course not," Victor said. "You were an infant."

     "I didn't feel like an infant," VJ said. "Needless to say, I decided early on I needed a lab of my own if I were to do anything at all. It started out small, but it had to get bigger since I kept needing more equipment."

     "How old were you when you started?" Victor asked.

     "It was about seven years ago," VJ said. "I was three. It was surprisingly easy to set the lab up with Philip around to lend the needed muscles." Philip smiled proudly. VJ went on: "At first, I was in the building next to the cafeteria. But then there was talk about its being renovated, so we moved everything here to the clock tower. It's been my little secret ever since."

     "For seven years?" Victor questioned.

     VJ nodded. "About that."

     "But why?" Victor asked.

     "So I could do some serious work," VJ said. "Watching you and being around the lab I became fascinated with the potential of biology. It is the science of the future. I had some ideas of my own about how the research should have been conducted."

     "But you could have worked in my lab," Victor said.

     "Impossible," VJ said with a wave of his hand. "I'm too young. No one would have let me do what I've been doing. I needed freedom from restrictions, from rules, from helping hands. I needed my own space, and let me tell you, it has paid off beyond your wildest dreams. I've been dying to show you what I've been doing for at least a year. You're going to flip."

     "You've had some successes?" Victor asked hesitantly, suddenly curious.

     "Several astounding breakthroughs is a better description," VJ said. "Maybe you should try to guess."

     "I couldn't," Victor said.

     "I think you could," VJ said. "One of the projects is something that you yourself have been working on."

     "I've been working on a lot of things," Victor said evasively.

     "Listen," VJ said, "my idea is to let you have credit for the discoveries so that Chimera can patent them and prosper. We don't want anybody to know that I'm involved at all."

     "Something like the swimming race?" Victor asked.

     VJ laughed heartily. "Something like that, I suppose. I prefer not to draw attention to myself. I don't want anyone to pry, and people seem to get so curious when there's a prodigy in their midst. I'd prefer you to get the credit. Chimera will get the patent. We can say I'll offer you my results to compensate for space and equipment."

     "Give me an idea of what you've turned up."

     "For starters, I've solved the mystery of the implantation of a fertilized egg in a uterus," VJ said proudly. "As long as the zygote is normal, I can guarantee one hundred percent implantation."

     "You're joking," said Victor.

     "I'm not joking," VJ said somewhat crossly. "The answer turned out to be both simple and more complicated than expected. It involves the juxtaposition of the zygote and the surface cells of the uterus, initiating a kind of chemical communication which most people would probably call an antibody-antigen reaction. It is this reaction that releases a polypeptide vessel proliferation factor which results in the implantation. I've isolated this factor and have produced it in quantity with recombinant DNA techniques. A shot of it guarantees one hundred percent implantation of a healthy fertilized egg."

     To emphasize his point, VJ pulled a vial out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of his father. "It's for you," he said. "Who knows, maybe you'll win a Nobel Prize." VJ laughed and Philip joined in.

     Victor picked up the vial and stared at the clear, viscous fluid within. "Something like this has to be tested," he said.

     "It's been tested," VJ said. "Animals, humans, it's all the same. One hundred percent successful."

     Victor looked at his son, then at Philip. Philip smiled hesitantly, unsure of Victor's reaction. Victor glanced at the vial again. He could immediately appreciate the academic and economic impact of such a discovery. It would be monumental, revolutionizing in-vitro fertilization techniques. With a product like this, Fertility, Inc., would dominate the field. It would have worldwide impact.

     Victor took a deep breath. "Are you sure this works in humans?" he asked.

     "Absolutely," VJ said. "As I said, it's been tested."

     "In whom?" Victor asked.

     "Volunteers, of course," VJ said. "But there will be plenty of time to give you the details later."

     Volunteers?  Victor's head reeled. Didn't VJ realize he couldn't blithely experiment with real people? There were laws to think of, ethics. But the possibilities were irresistible. And who was Victor to judge? Hadn't he engineered the conception of the extraordinary boy he had before him now?

     "Let me look at your lab again," Victor said, pushing away from the table.

     VJ ran ahead to open the door. Victor returned to the main room where the security men were still playing cards, talking loudly in Spanish.

     Victor slowly walked around the circle, gazing at the instrumentation. Impressive was an understatement. He realized his headache seemed suddenly better. He felt a growing sense of elation. It was hard to believe that his ten-year-old son was responsible for all this.

     "Who knows about this lab?" Victor asked, stopping to appreciate the electron microscope. He ran a hand over its curved surface.

     "Philip and a handful of security people," said VJ. "And now you."

     Victor shot VJ a quick glance. VJ smiled back.

     All at once Victor laughed. "And to think this has been going on under our noses all this time!" Victor shook his head in disbelief, continuing around the circle of scientific appliances, tapping the tops of some of them with the tips of his fingers. "And are you sure about this implantation protein?" Victor asked, already considering likely trade names: Conceptol. Fertol.

     "Completely," VJ said. "And that's just one of the discoveries that I've made. There are many more. I've made some advances in understanding the process of cellular differentiation and development I believe will herald a new era of biology."

     Victor stopped his wandering and turned back to VJ. "Does Marsha know anything about this?" he asked.

     "Nothing!" VJ said with emphasis.

     "She is going to be one happy lady," Victor said with a smile. "She's been worrying herself sick that something is wrong with you since you don't have time for kids your own age."

     "I've been a little too busy for Cub Scouts," said VJ.

     Victor laughed. "God, I'll say. She's going to love this. We'll have to tell her and bring her here."

     "I'm not convinced that's such a good idea," VJ said.

     "It is, believe me," Victor said. "It will relieve her enormously and I won't have to listen to another lecture on your psychological development."

     "I don't want people knowing about this lab," VJ said.

     "It was an unexpected accident that you discovered it. I wasn't planning on telling you any of this until I'd moved the lab to the new location."

     "Where is that?" Victor asked.

     "Nearby," VJ said. "I'll show it to you on another day."

     "But we have to tell Marsha," Victor insisted. "You have no idea how worried she's been about you. I'll take care of her. She won't tell anyone."

     "It's a risk," VJ said. "I don't think she'll be as impressed as you by my accomplishments. She's not as enthusiastic about science as we are."

     "She'll be ecstatic that you are such a genius. And that you've put all this together. It's just extraordinary."

     "Well, maybe . . ." VJ said, trying to decide.

     "Trust me," Victor said enthusiastically.

     "Perhaps on this one issue I'll have to bow to your better judgment," VJ said. "I guess you know her better than I do. All I can say is that I hope you're right. She could cause a lot of trouble."

     "I'll get her right now," Victor said with obvious excitement.

     "How will you get her over here to the building without people noticing?" VJ said.

     "It's Saturday," Victor said. "Hardly anyone is around, especially so late in the day."

     "Okay," VJ said with resignation.

     Victor headed for the stairs, practically running. "I'll be back in thirty minutes. Forty-five, tops," he said. He charged up a half dozen steps, then came to a stop. As he noticed before, the stairs dead-ended into heavy planks.