Replica
NJ Sunday Star Ledger
. . . "Well-constructed and a fine read. Non-stop action and thrills. A sure-fire bestseller."
Delaware Weekly
. . . "Exciting and moving. Twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up till the end.
Booklist
An astonishing technique for recovering extinct-mammal DNA is discovered. A 747 crashes onto a deserted island. Then . . .
all hell breaks loose!
Philadelphia Book Review
. . . " Fans of
Lost
will love Replica."
BookPage
. . .
"Lost
meets
Jurassic Park
--without the dinosaurs--but with something much worse."
Orlando Sentinel
. . . The action-packed adventure takes readers on an exciting adventure that feels perilously real.
Replica
is one fun reading experience.
Mid Atlantic Book Review
. . . "It's brilliant. The plot is great, characters realistic, and the ending . . . WOW."
Bill Clem
Vision Books
Published by Vision Books
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
VISION BOOKS
P.O. Box 9034
New York NY 10020
Copyright (c) 2009 by Bill Clem
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
ISBN 13: 978-0-979580857
ISBN 10: 0-979580854
www.billclem.com
Back cover photo by John Hertzog
Novels
Skin Deep
Diencephalon (Holland Carter Detective Series)
Presidential Donor
Bliss
Microbe
They All Fall Down (Holland Carter Detective Series) (2008)
Immortal
Medicine Cup (2008)
Replica (2009)
The Seventh Day (2009)
The Lazarus Effect (2009)
A Note From Anna (Holland Carter Detective Series) (2009)
Short Fiction
A Brief Interval
(Collection of Short Stories) (2008)
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Part Five. Island of the Thylacines
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
Fifty-Six
Fifty-Seven
Fifty-EightAcknowledgments
Special thanks to Jon Hertzog for his editorial assistance and for his unwavering support of my work; and as always, my wife and children for just being there.
This is for the Tasmanian tiger in the hope that someday he will live again.
Below is the article that spawned my imagination and prompted me to write Replica.
Extinction may not be forever after all; so hoped the Australian scientists behind an ambitious project to clone the extinct Tasmanian tiger.
The project to bring the Tasmanian tiger back from extinction began in 1999 when Australian Museum scientists extracted DNA from an ethanol-preserved female pup in its collection.
In 2001, further DNA was extracted from two other preserved pups; the tissue source for the DNA was bone, tooth, bone marrow, and dried muscle. Dr. Mike Archer, director of the Australian Museum, said the alcohol-preserved female pup's DNA had given the scientists the Tasmanian tiger's X chromosome and the other samples the male Y chromosome.
On 28 May 2002, the scientists from the Australian Museum in Sydney announced a breakthrough in efforts to clone the extinct Tasmanian wolf, saying they had replicated some of the animal's genes using a process called PCR (polymerase chain reaction). These PCR's show that short fragments of the DNA are undamaged and undoubtedly Tasmanian Tiger DNA, and that there is no reason why these should not work in a living cell.
The next stage is to make large quantity copies of all the genes of the Tasmanian tiger so these can be used to construct synthetic chromosomes. The scientists said they hoped to clone a Tasmanian tiger in 10 years if they were successful in constructing large quantities of all the genes of the Tasmanian tiger and sequencing sections of the genome to create a genetic library of Tasmanian tiger DNA.
But Dr. Mike Archer said the technology for the final stage of cloning, putting the Tasmanian tiger's genetic material into a Tasmanian devil host cell which has been stripped of the devil's genetic material was still to be developed. "We don't know the length of this journey. It's up to the speed with which technology keeps pace with the vision. But I am optimistic," he said. The ultimate aim of this project was to clone a viable reproducing population of Tasmanian tigers in the wild.
On 15th February 2005 sad news appeared. The resurrection of the Tasmanian tiger will have to wait. After five years trying to extract DNA from preserved Tasmanian tigers in an effort to bring the lost marsupial back to life, the Australian Museum has abandoned the ambitious project, after finding its supply of Tasmanian tiger DNA too degraded. The museum said it lacked the skills and facilities to continue the project. Professor Archer, now the dean of science at the University of New South Wales, says the cloning project has lost steam since he left the museum in 2003. In a statement to ABC Science Online, Professor Archer says he is disappointed by the museum's decision but he says he still hopes it might be possible to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life. "I and other colleagues remain interested in the project and I don't think that it will simply die because the museum can't proceed," he says. "The technology to make it happen is improving all the time. And I believe science has a duty to continue to assemble the building blocks that will be needed to do it."
Replica
Continent of Australia
Tasmania in red box
C
APTAIN
B
RETT
I
RWIN GAZED THROUGH
his field glasses. At first glance, all seemed well. Scanning the horizon, he stopped abruptly at a point some forty kilometers away.
That's odd
.
Irwin was looking at a large cargo ship, no different from the many others that traversed these waters. This ship, however, was adrift, listing at an odd angle.
A ghost ship!
Searching the hull, he located the name: SANTA ROSA. He recognized the markings it bore as Portuguese.
Probably on a cargo run from Sydney.
There had to be a problem; a ship that size would never be dead in the water like that. Irwin ordered his first officer to change course.
We'll find out what the hell this is.
Irwin was on reconnaissance for the Australian Navy with a crew of ten. Their mission was to investigate reports of pirates along the northern coast when they came across the stranded vessel. As his excitement grew, Irwin's vessel pulled alongside the disabled ship and dropped anchor. A minute later, the captain climbed to the top of the cargo ship's steel ladder.
What was that?
Irwin, peering through the inexplicable mist, turned to his left toward the bilge exhaust. In the dim light, he could make out two small circles of opaque red.
The circles blinked.
He sent two ensigns ahead of him, and then boarded the huge ship.
"It looks deserted, Captain," one of the ensigns said. Making their way across the hot deck, a sickening stench hit them.
"Christ, what's that smell?" the other sailor said, gagging from the funk.
The captain stepped between the two sailors, covering his mouth with his handkerchief. He noticed a lifeboat hanging half off the stern. He ran his fingers along the top of the deck rail. Quickly retracting his hand, he wiped it on his pant leg. Instantly, a dark red stain appeared.
Blood!
Irwin moved aft as the two sailors watched, joining him a minute later. Irwin heard a door slam and jerked his head in the direction of the noise. Focusing his eyes, he saw the door to the cargo-hold swinging freely. A large machete lie abandoned in the stern and Irwin suddenly noticed flies buzzing loudly. He approached the door and the stench grew worse, thickening with every step. Opening the door, he stared down the stairwell into the hold. The two ensigns came up behind Irwin.