“A mute point if ever I heard one, Tim. Where are you going on this one?”
“Basically just that we’re ready to send the old space shuttle into orbit and make the big firework display over America that you want. We’re just waiting for your say so...”
“So when do you advise?.”
“Why not Christmas Eve?”
“Isn’t that a bit tacky?”
“On the contrary. Doing it this way the people can follow the nativity star of Christmas all over again. It adds that personal touch, and gives the media press something more to get to grips with and build a story around...”
By the end of the that day arrangements had been made with Clara and the team in Vale. The next day Air Force One would fly into Vale, and Mr and Mrs President would go to see the doctor for their fertility treatment.
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Chapter Sixty Eight
Vale, Colorado, America
Tuesday 20th Dec 3.00 p.m.
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The work in Vale had gone well. Very well. Although they had promised not to proceed without permission from Tim, in actual fact they had already experimented with genetic material extracted from the new blood type which they believed belonged to Jesus Christ.
They had also constructed the apparatus which would allow them to irradiate the egg-cell with neutrons, as they simultaneously inserted the new artificial nucleus into it.
Having built the equipment, the problem they now faced was that they didn’t really know what level of radiation was necessary to cause the effect they were after.
To make the membrane tougher so that it would prevent the premature expulsion of the donated nucleus, subsequent experimentation had shown that they had to use higher levels of radiation than previously anticipated. However, they now believed that they had found the minimum level of radiation which would achieve their goal.
On the last run the nucleus had not been expelled from the egg cell, and had continued to give off the 'Angel Light', although instead of glowing with a soft rainbow-spectrum of light, the light had turned to a deep shade of red. Whether or not the shift in colour in the 'Angel Light' was significant, they could not tell, mainly because they did not understand what caused it in the first place.
The cell used in the last experiment had not multiplied, because they had been careful not to provide the nutrients necessary to maintain its survival, and they had not applied the electronic pulse which was often necessary to start the process of cell-division.
As agreed, they had chosen to wait until the President and his Fiancée were there before repeating the final experiment in optimal conditions.
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Colonel Smart greeted them when they stepped of the transport shuttle from the airport. He had assembled an honour guard for the President, which the President inspected with great pride. He had a special place in his heart for the Military Council Protection Elite, and he took a mental note that at his forthcoming wedding he should be escorted into the church by a troop of MCPE soldiers. It would look great.
They were escorted down to the executive suites and shown to their apartments. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator on the executive floor another four MCPE soldiers clicked their heels to attention and saluted him. The President returned the salute and asked Tim and the Colonel to join him in his suite for a quick drink.
“So, I hope you got my instructions Colonel, and that you fully understand them. Officially, my fiancée and myself are here purely on a pleasure visit to oversee the work that is going on. Danielle is going to stay on for a month to get some rest and recuperation under the eyes of the doctors here, and I want you to take personal responsibility for her well being. Make sure she gets whatever she wants...as long as the doctor allows it...”
The President glanced over at Clara, now known as ‘Danielle’, and was annoyed to see that she was busy studying the Colonel and obviously admiring the man. The President knew she had a penchant for men in uniform.
She was already visibly flushed just standing next to Colonel Smart, and with such an insatiable sexual appetite, for a second the President wondered if leaving her alone surrounded by men of the MCPE was such a good idea. But then again, she would be pregnant, and she wanted the baby just as much as he did.
She wouldn’t be so stupid as to mess it up. There was far too much riding on this one, for both of them.
The main reason for marrying Danielle was to have a mother for the child, but already he was beginning to get cold feet about settling down with one woman. He liked the life of a bachelor, where he could have a different woman whenever he wanted one, and after considering the matter further he knew that becoming a one-woman man might be a little harder than he previously thought. So, the President had decided to hedge his bets and wait and see how successful the treatment was going to be: if the baby clone was created and successfully implanted into Danielle’s womb, and after one month everything was still okay, then he would marry her.
If it didn’t work, then the wedding was off. Cancelled indefinitely.
“We’ve decided to postpone our wedding until Danielle is fully recovered, then we’ll fly back to Washington, get married and disappear for a week on a well-deserved holiday. The thing is Colonel, I know you know why Danielle is really here, but you must ensure that the truth is restricted to only those people that absolutely need to know. To all the rest, this is just a spot of R&R...Am I understood!?”
“Perfectly sir. I have already taken precautions with Prof. Stuart and Prof. Calvert to see that only the necessary doctors and nurses will be allowed entry onto Level 3 where the procedure will be performed. On the day the procedure happens, Level 3 will be off-limits to all other staff and no one will even be aware that Miss Danielle will be visiting a doctor on that day. Only five people in total will be attending and aware of the procedure, and they have all been checked out and can be trusted, Sir.”
“Excellent, Colonel Smart. Excellent work.” The President patted him on the shoulder and smiled cordially at the Colonel. “Now, if you don’t mind, Clara...sorry...Danielle and myself would like to freshen up. Tim, when did you say we were meeting with the Professors?”
“I didn’t Sir. But I have arranged for us to meet them in one hour’s time, which is 3pm local time. Don’t forget to adjust your watch Sir.”
“Damn. I’m always forgetting to do that. Thanks Tim. I’ll meet you outside the room by the elevators in one hour?…If I’m a little bit late, don’t get angry with me…” The President smiled coyly and looked lustily at Danielle, his meaning and his excuse being only too clear. Danielle smiled back playfully.
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The guard outside of the executive suite stood to attention as the President opened up his door and stepped out into the little reception room in front of the elevators. Tim was waiting in one of the chairs, reading one of the magazines lying on the table. The President was twenty minutes late.
“Sorry, I’m late Tim, but I hope you understand. Depending how things go here, I might not be seeing Danielle for a while…”
Tim smiled back knowingly, pretending to understand and be sympathetic. In reality, he just didn’t care. Things were going from bad to worse, and with every day that went past, Tim began to feel more unhappy with his job. Worse than that, when he had entered the lab complex today, he felt uncomfortable and nervous, as if some sixth sense was telling him that something had changed. The place had an unpleasant feeling in the air, and whereas physically the place looked the same as it did the last time he was here, something had definitely changed, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
The feeling got stronger and stronger as they approached the laboratory where the Crown was being held, and as they entered, Tim felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Every nerve cell in his body told him that something was very wrong, but Tim could not tell wha
t. Thankfully he would be leaving in a few days on a flight back to Washington, taking the Crown of Thorns with him on its first leg back to the French. In Washington they would hand it over to the French Embassy who would take the responsibility of shipping it back to France. The return of the Crown to the Catholic church in France had been another of the bargaining chips Tim had used to obtain the first Vatican press release which dismissed the first comet, and endorsed NASA’s explanation of it being a secret spy satellite which had burned up in the atmosphere after they had lost control of it.
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Indeed, after dismissing the first comet as being an unfortunate coincidence, the Vatican had confirmed the visions and dreams of the faithful around the world, and had predicted that the ‘true’ comet was to be expected during the period just before Christmas.
Tim had spent the rest of yesterday on the phone to NASA arranging the final details. NASA, funded entirely by the American Senate and the say-so of the American President, had been quick to 'volunteer' to co-operate with the President’s intended fire display.
They asked no questions. With a threat that was only too clear they were told that no questions would be tolerated, and under no circumstances were any leaks or explanations of the impending fire work display to find their way out to the press. On the contrary, the President’s office had already prepared the official press release from NASA on their behalf, declaring NASA’s surprise and wonder at the appearance of the new comet, and admitting to not being able to explain what it was or where it came from, and in a careful manipulation of words, hinting that the comet could have been caused by supernatural causes. Scientifically of course, NASA ‘could not make any comments on the nature of the supernatural event’.
The Press Release would then cleverly go on to comment on the ‘many rumours’ which compared the new comet to the Christmas nativity star of the New Testament. Having clearly proposed the similarity and bringing it to the forefront of people’s attention, they then went on to dismiss it by saying that NASA could not endorse that conclusion. Such conclusions were naturally a matter for the Church and not the State. Of course, no such rumours actually existed and the Press Release would be the first time this similarity would have been drawn, but Tim knew that once the Press got hold of it, they would make a field day of it.
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It would come as no surprise to anyone who knew Tim Curts, who'd masterminded the whole project, that he had also already provided the Vatican with the text of another Vatican Press Release.
In return for the rest of the photographs and remainder of the file on Pope Peter, after NASA had crashed the space shuttle into the American atmosphere, the Vatican would endorse the upcoming firework display above America as being the ‘true comet’ and as the long awaited and foretold sign from God that everyone had waited for in the past few months. The Vatican Press Release fell short of actually declaring with the endorsement of the Catholic church, that the comet signified the birth place of the Messiah and the return of Jesus Christ to be happening in America. Rather, in unsaid words, and clever innuendo, the Vatican Press Release would leave it completely in the hands of the hungry press to fill in the gaps and complete the rest of the message themselves.
In less than a month, the comet in Europe would be forgotten, and the world press would whip up the peoples of the earth into believing that the comet over America was a direct sign from God declaring America to be the birth place of the Messiah.
If the procedure went well over the next few days, an unstoppable ball would soon be set into motion. The date for the ‘comet’ to appear in the skies had been chosen as the evening of the twenty fourth of December. Christmas Eve in America, Christmas Day in many other places.
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Tim had done well. Why then did he feel so bad about it? In theory he was doing a brilliant job, yet for some reason, the whole thing stank to high heaven. In fact, that was the problem. In a nutshell.
If all this was meant to be natural, and foretold, and if the Son of God was truly meant to be born in America, why was all this lying and cheating necessary?
Tim was confused, and in deep moral trouble. He didn’t understand what was really happening, or how to change his part in all of it. And all the time in the back of his mind were his family. He knew that somehow he had to get away from his job…but he knew that to do so, could probably mean death for them all.
Tim knew too much to be allowed to walk away.
With each passing day, he felt more and more like Judas in the New Testament, and that his career had become his personal thirty pieces of silver.
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“It’s great to see you Mr President!” Professor Jim Stuart greeted the President with a firm handshake. The President returned his grip, encircling Jim’s one hand with both of his. The President had been taught that trick by a PR firm long ago. It was one of those small things that added to what people sometimes mistakenly called ‘Charisma’.
“And you too, Professor Calvert. I’ve heard a lot about your work!”
“It’s an honour Sir.”
The President loved people sucking up to him.
Perhaps that was the single reason why the President respected Tim Curts so much. Tim was the only person that didn’t ‘suck up’ to him.
Professor Calvert explained to the President how to put on his biological protection bunny suit, and when he and Tim were ready, they moved in pairs through the airlock to the ultra-clean zone beyond. A host of new equipment had been moved into the lab. The Smithsonian 350 had been adapted to include an incubator, hood and robotic arms which would control the placement of the donor nucleus into the egg cells, and a radiation source and electromagnetic array had been built around it so that when required, a focussed beam of neutron radiation could be targeted at the genetic material.
Lastly, by way of minute metal needles, the position of which could be controlled by the robotic arms and the computer, it would be possible to pass a small electromagnetic pulse across the sample. This would kick the cell into life and mimic the chemical chain reaction which was naturally set off when sperm penetrated the egg wall in normal human conception.
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At Professor Calvert’s invitation they settled around the Smithsonian 350 and he explained to them what was going to happen. The President was visibly impressed.
“Okay, so basically we are ready to proceed. We’ve already done some preliminary work, and we believe that the process will succeed.” With the help of some quick sketches on a white board Prof. Stuart spent the next thirty minutes explaining the procedure. “…All we need now is some egg cells from Clara...” He concluded.
“Danielle...” The President promptly reminded him.
“Sorry... Danielle. With your permission, Mr President, I would like to suggest that we adjourn for dinner just now, and in the meantime we ask Danielle to pop up to the lab to see Doctor Roberts. Under local anaesthetic she’ll take one of Danielle’s eggs and prepare the sample cells we need. Dr Roberts has already spoken to Danielle by phone and apparently your trip coincides with a good time of the month for her body to provide the eggs we need...”
“Coincidence? I don’t think so gentleman. It’s clear to me that this whole thing is meant to be! It’s fate gentleman. Fate!” The President stood up, clapping his hands almost gleefully. “I hope you guys serve some good Claret with dinner?”
“I think we may be able to arrange something, Mr President. Excuse us if we don’t drink with you though. After dinner we’ll be coming back to the lab, to start the procedure,” Prof. Stuart excused himself and his colleague.
“If it works, how long will it be before we’re able to implant Danielle?” Tim asked, mainly for the benefit of the President. He already knew the answer.
“As you know, in the old days it would take about
two days for an impregnated egg cell to accept the donated nucleus and divide for the first time. Over the past ten years, by better understanding the process of cell division, the role of RNA and how the ribosome ‘factories’ work, we’ve been able to speed up the process by ‘helping’ a little with the development of Super Genetic Nutrients, SGN’s for short. The impregnated cells soak in the SGN’s and absorb all the material they need through the cell walls. Effectively all the different elements of the cell division process are enhanced and accelerated...”
“Woooooaaahh …I’m not one of your white coated lab geeks. You’re going way above my head! What the hell are you talking about?” the President laughed aloud.
Prof. Stuart went slightly red in the face. Thankfully Prof. Calvert stepped in to save his embarrassment.
“Basically, what we’re trying to say is that if we put a nucleus created from the blood which we believe contains Christ’s DNA into Danielle's egg cell this evening, say around 10pm, then we would expect the first cell division to take place around 5am tomorrow morning, with further cell division taking place about every seven hours after that. So after forty nine hours we’ll have about one hundred and twenty eight cells, which is enough for us to transfer into the surrogate mother... sorry Danielle...and for the embryo to be accepted and lodge itself in the womb and grow normally, developing first into a foetus, and then a bouncing baby boy.”
BOX SET of THREE TOP 10 MEDICAL THRILLERS Page 128
