by Ben Bova
“Well,” Lou said. “Okay, I guess you know more about this than I do.”
“Fine!” Bernard started beaming again. “Now, is there anything else you will need to continue your work? We have already dismantled your computer and are bringing it to the new laboratory.”
Before he realized what he was saying, Lou blurted,“There’s a computer programmer—her name’s Bonnie Sterne. She…”
“You want her at the new laboratory?”
“Yes, but she’s not one of the exiles. She’s in Albuquerque. And she might not want to come___”
Bernard waved his objections away. “She will come. I know women a little better than you do. If we tell her that you are safe and want her to be with you, she will come.”
Lou felt almost numb as he left Bernard’s office. The Norseman met him at the elevator again and guided him back to the waiting car. Lou felt as if his mind was somehow stuck in neutral gear. So much had happened. So much to absorb.
As he sat in the back seat of the car, driving through the chilling late afternoon rain, he tried to tell himself that he should feel happy. At least Bernard was on his side, on the side of justice and reason. Okay, so living on this island will ba an exile of sorts, too. But at least you’ll be working, and Bonnie’ll be there. What more do you want?
But somehow it didn’t work. Lou didn’t feel happy at all, just vaguely uneasy, wary. And then he realized that he didn’t have the faintest idea of where they were driving him.
(11)
The new laboratory was on an island; all right A Pacific island, Lou guessed, from the number of Orientals around the place Most of the office people were Chinese or Malay. Half the computer programmers were Japanese.
Lou had been flown in the same day he had talked to Minister Bernard They wasted no time Anton Kon was on the plane with him, the only other passenger Most of the trip was made at night, so neither Kori nor Lou could tell where they were going, except that they had been heading roughly southeastward when the sun set The crew—two Arabic-looking pilots and a black engineer—said nothing to them.
Lou and Kon were separated at landing A Chinese, about Lou’s own age, drove him in an open-topped turbowagon from the jet landing pad through a narrow dark road that seemed to be cut into a jungle He pulled up at a plastic prefab dormitory building and showed Lou to a room on the ground floor Not much furniture, but the bed was comfortable and Lou was asleep before he had even taken off his shoes.
The next morning, breakfast was brought to him by the same Chinese.
“The director of the laboratory asked me to convey his greetings to you,” he said “He requests that you enjoy yourself this morning in any way you desire He will meet you here for lunch At noon precisely. “
Lou glanced at his watch.
“I took the liberty of setting it correctly for you “
Looking up sharply at him, Lou asked, “While I was asleep?”
The Chinese nodded, with the faintest trace of a smile on his otherwise impassive face.
So Lou spent the morning walking around the island It was small, no more than a half-dozen kilometers long, and half that wide It was really nothing more thaji a pair of heavily-wooded hills poking out of the water The trees were palms and other tropical species that Lou couldn’t identify.
The sun was hot, but the ocean breeze was beautiful The place really was a tropical island paradise.
There were lovely white sand beaches all the way around the island, and a coral reef further out where the surf broke, except for a small inlet at one end Lou saw a fair-sized, air-cushion ship resting in the gentle swells of the inlet. There was a dock there and a few plain white buildings Slightly away from the buildings was the jet landing pad, a square of well-kept grass. The plane was gone now. There was no runway for bigger jets anywhere on the island, the vertical landing type were the only planes that could come down.
The dormitory building was at the opposite end of the island, connected to the inlet by the single road out through the trees In the middle of the island, set into the fairly flat area between the two hills, were the laboratory buildings.
The labs were tucked away in the shade of tall trees There were six buildings in all, filled with the bustling, nearly frantic action of men unpacking huge crates of equipment and working hard to set them up as quickly as possible Their shouting and hammering drove Lou away very quickly He only stayed long enough to make certain that they weren’t damaging the equipment that they were handling. They weren’t They knew what they were doing.
And then, as he passed between two of the labs, Lou heard a scratchy hoarse voice calling.
“Uncle Lou!”
He looked and saw Big George standing erect, his huge arms upraised so that his hands rested on the top of the nine-foot wire screen fence that stood between them The fence bulged dangerously under his weight.
“Hey, Georgy!” Lou felt his face stretch into its biggest smile in days as he ran toward the fence.
The gorilla jumped up and down and slapped his sides with excitement “Uncle Lou’ Uncle Lou!”
“Georgy, you okay?” Lou asked as he reached the fence.
“Yes, yes Strangers scared me at first, but they are very nice to me It was lonesome, though, without you or any of my other friends.”
“Well, I’m here now Everything’s going to be okay, Georgy Come on down to that gate over there and I’ll get you out of this compound “
Big George lumbered along the fence, knuckles on the ground Lou saw that the gate had no lock on it, just a simple latch With a shrug, he opened it.
George lurched out and grabbed Lou in his immense arms.
“Hey’ Careful!” Lou laughed as George lifted him off his feet, strong enough to crush him, gentle enough to handle an equal amount of nitroglyceryn without danger.
Lou pounded the gorilla’s massive hairy shoulders happily The warmth of his body, even his scent, carried the impression of huge jungle strength And if the gorilla could have laughed or even smiled, he would have right then.
A pistol shot cracked nearby Startled, George jerked and nearly let Lou fall Lou saw sudden fear in the gorilla’s eyes, then turned to see some sort of uniformed guard pointing a pistol at them.
“Stop! Put that man down!” the guard yelled—from a safe distance away He was wearing a khaki-colored shirt and shorts, with a little cap on his head and that big gun in his wavering hand.
“Shut up,” Lou snapped “And put that stupid gun away We’re old friends He’s not hurting me. “
The guard’s mouth dropped open.
“Let me down,” Lou said softly to George The gorilla stood him carefully on his feet.
Walking to the wide-eyed guard, Lou said, “Put that gun away and don’t let me catch you doing anything that hurts that gorilla or frightens him in any way Do you understand?”
“I... I thought.”
“You thought wrong Big George wouldn’t hurt anybody— unless they scared him so badly that he lashed out in fright”
“I was only”
“You were wrong Now get out of here”
“Yes sir” The guard turned and walked away, fumbling the gun back into the holster strapped to his hip.
Lou stayed with Big George until lunchtime—but inside the relative safety of the wire screen that marked off the gorilla’s compound Too many people out there who’ve been frightened by bad movies And too many guns The compound was wide and wild, Lou saw George had plenty of room, big trees, a stream, even the slope of one of the hills to climb.
“You’d better stay inside,” Lou said as he left the gorilla at the gate, “until the people around here get to know you better I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble “
“I know,” George whispered “I’ll be good”
Lou smiled at him “Sure you will I’ll see you soon”
Lou walked briskly back toward his quarters, knowing that George would spend the better part of the afternoon feeding himself It took a hu
ge supply of fruits and vegetables to keep a gorilla satisfied By the time Lou approached the white prefab building, he felt sweaty and uncomfortable It was beginning to get really hot, and the breeze had slackened.
The turbowagon was sitting in front of the dorm, with a driver wearing the same sort of khaki uniform that the gun-waving guard had worn The driver also had a holster strapped on.
In the back seat an older man was reading some papers His face was mild and milky white, with a high balding forehead and thin sandy hair that had started to turn gray He looked slim to Lou, and was probably getting near-sighted, judging from the way he held the papers close to his nose He wore a starched white shirt, short-sleeved, and full-length trousers.
He looked up as Lou’s sandals crunched on the gravel of the driveway.
“Ah Mr Christopher “
Lou nodded and put on a smile as he walked up to the wagon.
“I’m Donald Marcus, the head of the laboratory,” Marcus put his hand out and Lou shook it The grip was limp, almost slippery
“Get in and we’ll go down to the lab area I want you to see the computer set-up before we have lunch “
Lou climbed up into the wagon and sat beside his new boss.
“By the way,” Marcus said as they drove off, “did you know that you’re three minutes late?”
Without even blinking, Lou snapped back, “My guard must’ve set my watch wrong.”
Marcus looked a little startled, but said nothing.
The computer was housed in a building of its own, off to one side of the lab complex and not far from Big George’s compound.
Inside the one-story building was chaos. Workmen were uncrating bulky consoles, ripping off the protective plastic coverings, leaving huge gobs of spongy foam heaped all over the floor. Carpenters were putting up partitions with whirring drills and power saws. Someone was pounding on a wall someplace. Everyone was talking, calling back and forth, shouting orders or responses, mostly in sing-song Chinese. Lou was nearly run down by four men who, with backs bent and heads down, were wheeling in the massive main control desk at breakneck speed from the open double doors at one end of the building.
It was hot and sticky, and the room smelled of new plastic and machine oil. Lou felt perspiration trickling down his body.
“Most of these components,” Marcus yelled over the din, “come from your computer system at the Genetics Institute.”
Lou nodded but kept his eyes on the nearest workmen, who were busily laying a heavy cable across the floor.
“We brought the logic circuits and the whole memory bank.”
“What about the voice circuits and input software?” Lou shouted.
Marcus lowered his voice a notch. “Um, we didn’t bring the voice circuits or the vocal input units. You’ll have to type your inputs to the computer and get the replies on the viewscreen or printer, just like any ordinary machine.”
“What? How come?”
Marcus avoided Lou’s eyes. “Well, we didn’t have the time or the transportation capacity to take everything. Besides…” his voice lower, so that Lou had to bend down a bit to hear him, “with all these Chinks around as workmen and technicians, if they heard a computer talk they’d probably get scared out of their skulls. They’d think it was devils or something supernatural.”
Lou stared at him. “You’re kidding. Nobody’s…”
Marcus stopped him with an upraised hand. “No, I’m serious. Sure, we’ve got some good people on the technical staff, but the hired hands are straight from the hill country, believe me. My own driver—he’s a great mechanic, don’t get me wrong. But he keeps some powdered bones in a bag around his neck. Claims they keep evil spirits away.”
When they went outside and climbed back into the car, Lou took a careful look. Sure enough, the driver had a thin leather thong tied around the brown skin of his neck, with a tiny bag at the end of it.
They had lunch on the veranda of Marcus’ quarters, a house made of real stone and wood, with a red tile roof that overhung the walls by several feet and made welcome shade against the heat of the sun. The house was atop the hill that overlooked the little blue-water inlet, and the breeze from the ocean made it very pleasant on the veranda. Lou leaned back in a wicker chair, watching the moisture beading on the outside of his iced drink, listening to the songbirds in the flowering bushes that surrounded the house.
“A month ago,” Marcus was saying, “this was the only house on the island. By the end of this week, we’ll have more than a hundred people here—twenty of them scientists, like yourself.”
“I’m not a scientist,” Lou said automatically. “I’m a computer engineer.”
Marcus smiled wanly. “Yes, I know. But anybody who understands this genetics business looks like a scientist to me. I’m a civil engineer, by training. Right now, I guess I’m just a straw boss.”
The young Malay driver served them lunch on a round bamboo table, his little bag of magic dangling between Lou and Marcus whenever he bent over to put something on the table.
“Minister Bernard’s plan,” Marcus said as they ate, “is to carry on the work that was going on at the top genetics labs.”
Lou shook his head. “Twenty men can’t do the work of two thousand. Especially when those two thousand were the best men in their fields.”
Marcus chewed thoughtfully on a mouthful of food. He swallowed and then said, “I know it won’t be easy. We’ve brought some good people here, but you’re perfectly right, they’re not the best. And we couldn’t bring too many of them either, without the government catching on to what we’re trying to do.”
“Just what is it that you are trying to do?”
“Exactly what I told you,” Marcus said, concentrating his gaze on a leaf of salad that was eluding his fork. “We’re going to continue the work you were doing at the Institute. We’re going to complete it, and show the world that we can alter a human embryo deliberately, and safely. Once we’ve announced that news, and told the people that the government tried to prevent this work from being completed, the government will have to relent and allow your friends to return to their homes and their work.”
Lou felt an old excitement tingling through his body. “The next step in evolution,” he said so softly that it was almost a reverent whisper. “Man’s conscious improvement of his own mind and body.”
Marcus leaned back in his chair.
“It’s criminal,” Lou flared, “for the government to stop this work! In a generation or two we could be turning out people who are physically and mentally perfect!”
Smiling, Marcus said, “Yes, we can. And we will, if you can do your part in this job. You realize, don’t you, that you’re the most important human being on Earth?”
(12)
Lou felt physically staggered. He stared at Marcus, who was smiling easily at him.
“Me? What are you talking about?”
“It’s very simple,” Marcus explained. “All of the world’s top geneticists and biochemists have been put into exile. They’re being shipped up to their satellite prison right now. Of all the top men working on genetic engineering, you’re the only one we’ve been able to save.”
“But…”
“Oh, sure, we’ve rounded up a few of the second-string people, and we’ve brought in a couple of young pups, bright boys, but the ink is still wet on their diplomas. You’re the only experienced top-flight man we have.”
“But I’m only a computer engineer.”
Nodding, “Maybe, but your work is the key to the whole project. You’ve got the computer coding system in your hands. U nless we can get the computer to handle all of the thousand of variables that are involved in any tinkering Vvith the genes, we don’t dare try to do anything. It would be too dangerous.”
Lou agreed, “Yeah … you’ve got to have the computer plot out all the possible side effects of any change you make. Otherwise you’d never know if you were making the zygote better or worse.”
“Right,”
Marcus said. “And you’re the only man who was close enough to the geneticists to really understand what the computer coding system must be. We’ve checked all across the world, believe me. None of the other labs were as close to success as your Institute. And none of them had a computer system as
sophisticated as yours. So that makes you the key man. The fate of your friends—the fate of the whole world—is in your hands.”
Grinning foolishly, Lou said, “Well… it’s really in Ramo’s hands. Ramo’s got the whole thing wrapped up in his memory banks.”
Marcus tensed in his chair. “The whole thing?”
