Ell Donsaii 13: DNA (3 page)

“No, she hasn’t even gotten to eat yet.” Zage sighed, “Having everyone in the world wanting to talk to you must be pretty hard. I’d still love to
be
like her, but I guess some things about it wouldn’t be so great.”

Shan shook his head, “No… you’re right about that.”

***

Lying in bed, Zage stared bemusedly at one of several reports his AI’d found about the “K-D paper.” It appeared to be a pretty big deal in the worlds of physics and mathematics. He’d even heard of it before, he just hadn’t known that it stood for Kinrais-Donsaii. He looked briefly at the paper itself, but never having been very interested in mathematics, he hadn’t really been able to follow much of it.

Apparently his own father had recognized that, by Donsaii’s equations, gravitational forces should drop off slightly over immense distances. This made it possible to explain the galactic rotation paradox without positing dark matter. Since they’d published the paper, experimental evidence supporting their theory had been mounting.

Since it was an area of science that Zage wasn’t interested in, he didn’t feel surprised that he wasn’t aware of it. But, since he’d expressed his immense admiration for Donsaii on multiple occasions, he wondered why in the world his parents hadn’t mentioned that his own father had written a paper with her! Surely they didn’t
really
have to “try to run into her at a company picnic.” If his mom worked with her and his dad knew her, they could just invite her over for dinner or something, couldn’t they?

Then he thought about how life must be for Ell Donsaii. Probably everyone who
ever
knew her “invited her over to dinner.” Maybe his parents just didn’t want to impose. Especially just because their kid wanted to meet her.

If I were her I’d probably go into hiding somewhere
, he decided.

***

Jamieson admitted to himself that Steve Jacobs and the little security team that watched over Donsaii were more effective than he’d expected. It’d been ten or eleven years now since Jacobs and Donsaii had interviewed him back in Boston and Jamieson had never really gotten the sour taste of rejection out of his mouth. After all, it had been obvious to him that he could easily kick the asses of any two members of that security team. However, Donsaii hadn’t wanted to hire him because she thought he was “too aggressive.”

Jamieson had tried to explain to the idiot girl that if you wanted real protection, you needed someone like him. Someone who could break a few heads. It was stupid to hire a bunch of softies like she had on her team. Somehow, the girl herself had wound up challenging him to a fight with pugil sticks. When he’d gone into it, afraid he might hurt her, she’d gotten in a few lucky blows; then she’d said she didn’t want him on her team—as if he wasn’t good enough!

After that Jamieson had tried to attack Jacobs. He didn’t want to break the girl in half fighting her, but he just couldn’t stand being humiliated that way and wanted to show her what he could
really
do. The next thing Jamieson had known he’d been in the emergency room getting his head scanned. One of Donsaii’s team had been with him there and said that
Donsaii
had put Jamieson in the ED, which had to be bullshit. He didn’t know what had actually happened but suspected that Jacobs’ entire security team had jumped him. Donsaii’d actually paid all his medical bills. Probably afraid he’d sue her.

He’d hated the bitch ever since.

Despite his dislike, Jamieson had never done anything more than just
think
about how sweet it would be to show her how much she actually needed someone who could
really
provide security like he could. But now… now someone was going to
pay
him to show her how she needed better security! Talk about a win-win-win situation: one, he could embarrass Steve Jacobs; two, he could show Donsaii why she should’ve hired someone like Jamieson in the first place; three, the little Asian guy, Wang, was going to provide Jamieson with a huge payday.

However, he’d just gone out to her little farm in Chapel Hill to scout things out. Wearing night vision goggles and black clothing, he’d walked onto Donsaii’s farm from the little neighborhood to the west. He really hadn’t expected her security team to be on top of things at all. He’d thought he’d be able to wander around the farm, scouting things out, then exit the same way. Unfortunately, he’d only gotten about half way to the farmhouse when one of the guards he’d seen walking a circuit turned and started coming his way. Then two more came out of the little outbuilding behind the main house. Realizing that they must be using infrared detection technology, or perhaps some kind of sophisticated sonic tracking equipment, he’d turned to leave. By then he’d realized he’d have to use more sophisticated technology to carry off his scouting mission.

To his astonishment, more infrared signatures exited the neighborhood that he’d just come in through. In a few minutes, Jamieson found himself surrounded by six people. Doing his best to disguise his voice, he thought he’d managed to sell them a story about being hired as a reporter who just wanted to get some imaging of Ell Donsaii’s home. Though they’d seemed suspicious of his story—after all it was 2 o’clock in the morning—they’d only checked his fake ID, taken his picture, and then let him go.

All in all, though he was impressed by how quickly they’d responded to his presence on her property, they should
never
have let him go. Jamieson sure as hell would’ve done some intensive questioning if
he’d
been in charge of security! There wouldn’t have been any of that touchy-feely Mr. Nice Guy from him.

***

Ell was due at D5R, so she’d gone down into the basement, exited the secret door, and changed her identity from Raquel to Ell. She’d taken the tunnel from the house she, as Raquel, shared with Shan and Zage over to “Ell Donsaii’s” farmhouse. Climbing out of the basement, she briefly said hello to Bridget, then headed out to her car to ride to work.

In her old Ford Focus on the way to work, she checked her rearview and saw Randy’s old pickup following in the distance behind her. Allan, her AI, spoke in her ear, “The rocket approaching 61 Virginis has identified a planet in the habitable zone.”

“Oh,” she said, thinking, “Virginis is the one with two huge planets that are within 0.7 AU, right?”

“Yes. Actually within 0.6 AU.”

“And the planet you found in the habitable zone? What’s its distance?”

“1.1 AU.”

“So,” Ell said, musingly, “a little farther from Virginis than Earth is from the sun. And Virginis is a little cooler than the sun too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell anything yet about how thick the atmosphere is?”

“No, but spectroscopy does show oxygen.”

Another living world!
Ell thought.

Rather than stopping in her office, Ell headed right down to the research area at D5R. There she found Roger, but not Emma. “Rog’, you seen Emma?”

He looked up at her, “This morning at breakfast,” he said giving Ell a wink, “but not since then. What’s up?”

“I’ve got some news. I’ll give her a call.”

“Hey! I like news too,” Roger said, trying to look hurt, but not carrying it off very well.

Ell grinned at him as she turned to walk away, “Well then, find her, give me a call, and I’ll talk to both of you.”

When Roger and Emma showed up in her office a little while later, Ell said, “Please close the door.”

They looked at one another with a little surprise. Ell almost always kept her door open, but after that moment of disbelief Roger closed it.

Ell gestured at the big screen on her side wall, saying, “Allan, please put up some video from BC4.”

The video opened as the rocket descended beside the huge herbivore it’d filmed when it landed. Emma squeaked in excitement, “Another living world?!” Then, when the video showed one of the enormous flyers sailing overhead, she turned accusing eyes on Ell, “That rocket’s been there for quite a while if you have all this video! How come you didn’t tell me?”

Ell shrugged a little uncomfortably, “I decided that I didn’t want people to find out about new living worlds until I was pretty sure they didn’t have inimical intelligent life.”

Emma looked hurt, “Not even me?”

Now Ell felt even more uncomfortable. “You know what they say, ‘A secret’s not a secret if
two
people know it.’”

Emma looked a little stubborn, “You told me about the sigmas.”

Ell said, “Not right away, besides, you kind of figured it out and forced my hand.” She tilted her head, “Besides, since then I’ve gone to
prison
trying to keep these kinds of secrets!”

Emma looked abashed. She glanced back at the screen, then said, “BC4, is that the fourth planet of Beta Canum Venaticorum?”

Ell nodded, feeling even guiltier because she was
only
telling Emma about Beta Canum when she’d just learned that there was an oxygen bearing planet around 61 Virginis.

Roger said, “I assume from the fact you’re telling us about BC4 that you’re sure it doesn’t have any species with high level intelligence?”

“Pretty sure, but I was hoping you guys would have a look around too before we brought the whole team in on it. I know you’re busy with Quantum Biomed, but you’re the only ones I really trust with something this touchy.”

Emma grinned at Ell, “Well,
I’m
eager to have a look.” She glanced slyly at Roger, “Roger here, he’s probably too excited about the new blood oxygenator.”

“Am not,” Roger said, giving Emma his best offended look, “I’ll be happy to give BC4 the once-over, and
I
won’t feel the need to make any disparaging comments about my wife before I do it.”

“Now, now you two,” Ell said with a little laugh, “play nice. You’re starting to make me feel like a babysitter.”

***

Zage’s AI, Osprey, spoke in his ear. “You have a call from Vanessa Jenkins.”

“From Dr. Turner’s lab?!” Zage said excitedly, “Put her on… Hi Vanessa.”

“Hi Zage, I’m calling you because Dr. Turner and I are writing up our first paper about using ports to sample the microbiota in the intestine. Since it was your idea, we think we should list you as a co-author. Would you like to be on it?”

“Really?!”

“Uh-huh.”

“But I really didn’t do anything. Just made a suggestion.”

“Sometimes the idea is the most important part of the paper.”

“Sure I’d be
proud
to have my name on it. When are you going to start writing?”

Vanessa suddenly felt guilty that they’d completely written a paper and it would be obvious that asking about putting his name on was an afterthought. “Um, we’ve… mostly written it already.”

“Great! Send it to my AI so I can look at it. I’m sure I’d love to have my name on it.”

Now Vanessa guiltily wondered whether Zage
knew
that all co-authors were supposed to read and approve of a paper before it went in. Turner had only this morning finally agreed to put the kid’s name on the paper before she sent it. She wondered how Turner would react if the kid expected them to hold up the submission for his approval. Mentally she shrugged, she could just put the kid’s name on and submit it. If the kid actually wanted to change something like the spelling of his name, she could send in a revision afterward. “Okay, our latest draft should be hitting your AI any moment.”

“Um,” Zage said, “I was going to call you anyway.”

“What about?”

“Um, I was hoping to come spend a little more time in the lab. Do you think that’d be okay with Dr. Turner?”

Since, the last time she’d seen him, the kid had implied that he’d learned as much as he’d hoped to learn by visiting the lab, Vanessa felt a little surprised. “I think that’d be fine, but I think I’ve already shown you pretty much all the things we do here in the lab. What were you interested in seeing?”

“I… I was hoping to use your DNA sequencer.”

Vanessa blinked, “To do what?”

“Um,” he said reluctantly, “I’m wanting to search my DNA for some of the sequences from AD-36.”

“AD-36?” Vanessa said, thinking that sounded familiar but not immediately recognizing it.

“Human Adenovirus thirty-six. One of the obesity viruses. I know I’m shedding the virus, but I can’t figure out how it could be making me fat. I’m wanting to see if some bits of its genome got incorporated into the DNA of some of my cells. That way I could be expressing a peptide or something that makes me gain weight.” There was a pause because Vanessa was too stunned by what Zage had said to respond immediately. Responding to the awkward gap in the conversation Zage continued, sounding a little embarrassed. “I know. I know… I sound like I only care about
my own
obesity. Really, I
do
care about other people…” Then he continued in a sadly quiet tone, “But I
hate
being fat. I’d
really
like to do something about it. If I solve it for me, I think I’ll have solved it for a lot of other people too.”