2036 The Proof: A Thrilling Science Fiction Novel

by Speiser, Zvi

  The atmosphere in the room was tense enough to cut with a knife. Tom was exhausted as well, although the difficult recent events had also flooded him with adrenaline. No one had any interest in getting started before the arrival of Dean Paul Longstrom.

  Tom surveyed the attendees. Mike Easter and Lise Oliver had recently completed their Master’s degrees in molecular biology, cum laude, at the university, and had come to him to work on their PhDs.

  Mike, an idealist, strove to work in ecological research. His wealthy family enabled him to dedicate his work to pure science. Tom’s longevity-enhancement study greatly appealed to him, and he had applied to work on it even before they had received the grant. Mike looked like the type who had never been involved in a fight, much less a violent scuffle. He was probably deeply shaken by the thought that a killer had been walking around in the lab where he worked, touching the equipment with which he worked, perhaps even sitting in his chair.

  Was Mike the one who had supplied the intruder with the access code to the computer? It was hard to think of Mike as an accessory to a crime. He was the very antithesis of the criminal archetype. On the other hand, most criminals probably didn’t look like you’d expect them to. No, if Mike had provided the computer access code, he had surely been duped into doing so, and had not known he was enabling a criminal. Mike wouldn’t break the law or cooperate with someone who did.

  Lise was Mike’s complete opposite: ambitious, self-centered, assertive, and determined to achieve her goals. Talented Lise would definitely have studied computer engineering had she been born thirty years earlier, the way her father had done in his youth.

  A “Daddy’s girl” her entire life, she yearned to prove herself to her father. A compliment from him about any of her achievements justified any effort and investment on her part, effectively oiling her gears for further action. She had studied biology because she believed she would be able to find her place in a senior role at a large international conglomerate. She was motivated to excel at any task, large or small, constantly positioning herself at center stage. She always had something to say, although she usually made significant contributions to any discussion.

  She would undoubtedly have preferred to work on the longevity-enhancement study, on which Mike was already working when she joined the lab. To Tom’s surprise, however, Lise had not hesitated and immediately accepted his offer to work on the mutation-resilience study. Apparently, she saw her work at the university as merely a springboard to the real world—working for an international pharmaceutical corporation.

  Professor Longstrom’s silhouette appeared at the entrance of the conference room. He was over six feet tall, his sturdy form and short, well-groomed beard lending him a respectable look somewhat in contrast to his clownish face and ruddy cheeks.

  Tom recalled the professor’s fierce opposition to his grant request before the research committee. “A waste of money, a boring topic, no PhD candidate will want to work on this,” were some of his assertions.

  Nevertheless, once the grant had been approved by a slim majority of committee members, the professor appeared strangely relieved. He had congratulated Tom warmly for receiving the grant, even embracing him affectionately and paternally—a direct contrast to his behavior during the discussion. Tom wondered about the reason for his sweeping objection, but mainly why his conduct had changed once the grant was approved.

  Even before he sat down, the professor nodded at Tom and said, “Tell me.”

  Tom succinctly recreated the events from the moment the assistant’s ring woke him in the wee hours of the night, emphasizing his discovery that his computer was still warm, his assessment that the longevity-enhancement study had been the intruder’s goal, and Detective Heller’s confirmation that the reports for that study had indeed been copied from the computer. No one interrupted him, and no questions were asked throughout his presentation of the incident.

  Dr. Colin was the first to break the silence. “In what phase is the longevity-enhancement study?”

  Mike’s tortured glance conveyed a wordless message to Tom. Mike didn’t like to find himself at the center of attention, especially in front of the university’s major players.

  “We’re pretty much just starting out,” Tom said. “The people at Glenhill gave us all the material pertinent to the direction our research would take, based on the work carried out at their labs on the subject before they decided to allocate the work to other labs. They got quite stuck in developing molecules that could detect irregular development of new blood vessels created by cancerous cells; this detection process is vital for the next stages of the research. They conveyed to us that we weren’t the only ones tasked with this assignment. Naturally, they’ll go forward with the best solution developed. We’re betting on them working with placental cells, due to their rapid development rate and since they’re rich in blood vessels.”

  “Do the researchers at Glenhill know exactly what stage we’ve reached?” Dr. Colin asked.

  Tom nodded at Mike, who had calmed down in the interim.

  “They know the direction we’re taking and have authorized it. The latest update they got was about a month ago,” Mike replied, his voice newly confident.

  Tom’s fatigue was beginning to take over. He listened to the discussion and participated in it, but his thoughts wandered as he assessed the status of the study for the umpteenth time in an attempt to speculate who might be interested in it. The team worked slowly, but thoroughly and methodically as well. They had invested considerable time in studying everything that had been done in Glenhill, while simultaneously examining new options for the molecule. The truth was that after inspecting and discussing the options raised, they had initially felt they had hit a dead end, that they could not discover a new breakthrough that had not been attempted by Glenhill in the past.

  It had been during one of those moments of crisis when the discussion fell apart, the conference room growing silent as the attendees looked down and avoided one another’s eyes, that Lise’s whispering, hesitant voice was heard. “Mammals’ placental cells could be an interesting direction. They develop quickly, surrounding themselves with a tissue that’s very rich in blood vessels. Why don’t we look into what activates them?”

  Tom recalled how, gradually, heads were raised and occasional sparks of life reawakened in the attendees’ eyes. A few seconds later, the entire room erupted into sound, with everyone speaking at once, to each other but mostly to themselves. It had indeed proved to be a quantum leap, the kind that tends to occur sometimes when it appears that all hope is lost. The sensation of breakthrough and the light at the end of the tunnel had ignited in all of their hearts.

  From that moment on, work began to progress in an orderly manner. Research plans were composed and experiments were designed. Even then, problems continued to pile up. The cells responsible for creating the surplus of blood vessels had to be detected, and within them, the pertinent genes and the specific molecules had to be synthesized. The new direction received the blessing of Glenhill’s people, who complimented the team and even rewarded them with a weekend in sunny Florida.

  What a shame that now, following the break-in, their original work had been taken from them. He had already been dreaming of a paper in a respected scientific journal, and perhaps even a story in the mainstream daily press.

  Something had changed in the conference room. Tom, immersed in his own thoughts, noticed it and turned his attention to his surroundings. The conversation had stopped, and everyone’s gazes were turned in his direction. Apparently, a question had been asked, and he had failed to answer it.

  “I’m sorry, my mind drifted. I’m really exhausted.”

  “That’s very understandable,” Dr. Colin replied. “Since the police are working on solving the murder and the break-in, I don’t see any need to waste our time. I suggest we end this discussion. Dr. Lester will go home and get some rest, and M
ike Easter and Lise Oliver will return to their work at the lab. I’ll make sure Dr. Lester’s computer is returned before the end of the day, so that he can resume his work tomorrow. We’ll make sure to enhance the security level of the university’s labs to prevent additional break-ins.”

  Everyone rose to leave. However, Tom found his path blocked by Dr. Colin, who was gathering his papers with uncharacteristic slowness. Something in his covert glance caused Tom to realize that he should wait patiently.

  Once everyone had left the conference room, Colin turned to Tom and said, “Stay here for a minute,” closing the conference room’s door.

  Tom was certain he was about to be severely reprimanded for failing to listen to the briefing, especially since Colin’s expression was quite grave.

  “Did the intruder succeed in accessing the Ronnie study?” he asked.

  “Not at all,” Tom replied. “All the material on Ronnie is still on the computer in the locked lab in which Ronnie’s kept in cold storage. We’re still not keeping any material that pertains to him in our main lab. Anyway, the intruder only accessed the material protected by the general lab password, the one that’s familiar to all lab employees and is also listed with the department secretary, just in case.”

  “Excellent,” Colin said. “And where are you in the Ronnie study?”

  “I’d say we have over 80 percent of his DNA sequence.”

  “That’s great. Way to go! We have to continue to maintain the utmost confidentiality. Have you already compared it to the human genome?”

  “We’re doing that right now. The DNA isn’t sequential but fragmented, so the comparison will take a while longer,” Tom replied.

  “Update me in person the moment you know anything. You and I have to find out who provided the intruder with the computer password and the entrance codes to the building and to the lab. Someone at the university was an accessory to the break-in. I suspect everyone, and I don’t want anyone to know that we’re conducting an investigation as well. We’ll make sure to meet using various excuses as necessary.”

  Tom nodded and exited the room. It was now after noon. The house would be empty at this time, he thought, and he couldn’t sleep anyway considering his agitated state of mind. It would be better if he went back to the lab and talked to his team. But the best option in his current condition was to meet Melissa, who lived near the university.

  “Yes, of course, I’m waiting for you,” Melissa replied when he called her assistant. It turned out she had been working all night on funded research, and so she had gotten out of bed late.

  Her entire body was still sleep-warm. All Tom’s fatigue evaporated and disappeared when his body submerged into the soft, caressing, fragrant warmth of his lover. The two moved together wordlessly until reaching their peaks, disproving the most basic laws of mathematics by establishing that one plus one could equal much more than two. The sweet hour of slumber that followed and the sandwich she prepared for him charged him with renewed energy.

  ***

  He spent the short route back to the university pondering recent events. Melissa hadn’t asked a single question about the incident he had recounted for her. She seemed satisfied with his brief description, and said she would not burden him with questions at a time like this. Odd, he thought, and not like her at all.

  The bustle outside the lab building and within its corridors had subsided. Apparently, everyone had returned to their own tasks. He hoped he would be able to sit quietly in the lab and talk to his team.

  However, when he opened the door, he was startled to find the lab full of people whose eyes all turned toward him. Tom recognized researchers and assistants from neighboring labs, as well as several administrative employees. Other than Lise, who was talking quietly to a researcher from an adjacent lab whose name he couldn’t remember, everyone else seemed glum and silent. It occurred to Tom to ask them politely to leave the lab. However, this turned out to be unnecessary since, one by one, the guests departed quietly, leaving behind only his team, whose eyes were still turned in his direction.

  Tom dragged his chair to the open area in the middle of the lab and sat down. Everyone followed his lead, creating a half-circle around him. The facts were known to everyone; there was no point repeating them.

  Tom looked directly at those around him and said, “The most terrible thing is a human life cut short by a murderer. The police will take care of the investigation. Our contribution will take two forms. First, we’ll visit Oleg’s family and help them receive any sort of help they might need.”

  “We can sort of adopt his two kids and bring them to classes at the university, or help them with their schoolwork,” Lynn suggested.

  “Great idea,” he agreed. “Second, we have to do our best to assist the police investigative team, both by answering their questions and by conducting any mental analysis we can carry out ourselves. There’s no doubt the killer used inside information pertaining to the university and the lab. Someone here helped the perpetrator, knowingly or unknowingly. We could help uncover his potential accessories, and thus provide the investigators with a lead that might eventually expose the killer.”

  His eyes met Amy’s. She swallowed visibly. Apparently, up until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to her that she was being viewed as a possible accessory to murder. It seemed as if even contemplating this was extremely hard for her. Mike and Lise maintained their solemn expressions. They had come to this realization themselves, or perhaps it had been hinted at during the meeting with the dean and the university director, while Tom had drifted away on his own train of thought and lost touch with what was happening in the room. Lynn’s frozen stare did not provide any indication about what was going on in her mind. Tom could not penetrate her glazed expression.

  “I suggest that tomorrow morning, we begin our weekly discussion with the subject of the murder. Later in the day, each of us will try to come up with circumstances in which we might have revealed the password to the lab’s central computer.”

  ***

  It was after six p.m. when he got home. Kate hugged him tightly, sat him down at the kitchen table, and said, “Let’s start with family stuff. We can discuss what happened later.”

  As he sat down, Jennifer, their youngest daughter, and Lynn, their eldest, galloped in and assumed their usual places, Jennifer on his left leg and Lynn on his right. Both of them immediately began to recount their experiences from the day, without listening to each other, naturally. He had often wondered why they stuck so faithfully to this exact seating arrangement.

  By the time they had finished tending to the girls and could finally sit and talk quietly, it was after nine o’clock. Tom summarized the main events within several minutes. Kate was quiet as she processed what she had just heard.

  “It looks like you covered all the main investigation directions I can think of. You must be exhausted after a sleepless night and going through all that. Go to bed. I’ll take care of the kitchen and the house.”

  Tom fell asleep before his body even hit the bed.

  Chapter 8

  Ethan

  Chicago, Friday, July 18, 2036

  Dr. Ethan Almog couldn’t believe his eyes. The calibration and testing phase of the space telescope array had ended recently, and the three-dimensional image representing a volume of space with a radius of about a thousand light-years was hovering right in front of him. Based on a very conservative estimate, this volume of space contained more than one hundred thousand stars, about a fourth of them M-type stars like Earth’s sun, and a third of them K-type stars that are smaller than the sun.

  Slowly, he typed in “STA264987,” the temporary name given to the star in the Cygnus constellation, revealed only through the space telescope array. Astronomers would need many years to classify the abundance of stars that the space telescope had detected, some of which barely emitted light.

  The d
isplay began to change. The effect resembled the motion of a spaceship through the universe, with stars passing quickly and disappearing until the motion slowed down, focusing on a bright star similar to others floating across the display area. Several pale planets could be clearly discerned at varying distances from the star. He still hadn’t gotten used to the space telescope array’s amazing capabilities. The ability to actually watch planets located hundreds of light-years away had been considered science fiction up to this point. Briefly, he savored the sight, and then typed in “STA264987B.”

  The spaceship resumed its motion, focusing on the planet that was second-closest to the sun. The planet slowly transformed from a dim spot of light to a pale circle, growing gradually until it looked like a bluish, blurry marble, about a half inch in diameter. I wonder what life looks like over there, he thought. Indeed, scientists were certain it did contain carbon-based life forms. The spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere indicated the presence of oxygen and carbon dioxide, corroborating this conclusion. That was all they knew at this stage.

  Even during the lifespan of Hubble, the first space telescope, scientists and engineers who dreamed of directly observing distant planets began to toss around an idea that seemed to verge on science fiction: an immense array of telescopes deployed across space, over an area of ten square kilometers (about four square miles). The resolution of such an array would exceed Hubble’s by a factor of more than ten million. Calculations showed that the resolution enabled by the array’s immense scale and the use of enhanced imaging techniques would allow direct observations of planets whose size approximated Earth’s that were located hundreds of light-years away, which could then be viewed at a quality similar to viewing Jupiter with the Hubble telescope.