by Kenneth Eade
3
Seth sat in the green room of the studio of the news channel, Russia Today, waiting for his interview. He had selected Russia Today to tell his story because they were a new, up-and-coming international news channel which broadcasted news of Russian and international interest in English. Seth fumbled his thumbs together nervously. He had come a long way to tell his story and now the time was finally upon him. There was no turning back. A pretty blonde girl came in to bring him to his interview, while another girl powdered his face a bit more and hooked up a lapel microphone.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Ready now as I ever will be,” said Seth.
The blonde walked him into the studio. “This is Pavel Kargin,” said the girl. Pavel shook Seth’s hand.
“You’re a brave man,” he said, with a friendly smile. “I will try not to traumatize you any more than I have to.”
Pavel took his seat, and began the interview. “Hello, this is Pavel Kargin reporting from Moscow with an exclusive interview with Seth Rogan, an ex Germinat scientist who has fled the United States and sought refuge here in Russia. Good to have you here, Seth.”
“Good to be here, Pavel.”
“Tell our audience please, why you have selected Russia and why you thought it was dangerous for you to remain in America?”
“I chose Russia not because I’m a traitor, but because there was no way I could tell this story unless I kept my freedom. While I was working at Germinat, I came across some government documents that prove that the U.S. government knew that our genetically engineered foods are unsafe.”
“Can you explain to our audience what a genetically engineered food is?”
“A genetically engineered organism, or GMO, as it is commonly referred to, is a plant or animal of one species whose DNA is genetically altered in a laboratory by inserting into it genes from a different species, in order to breed a trait in that organism that does not exist in nature.”
“Haven’t famers been doing that for many years? They make a crop of corn, for example, that is sweeter than other types of corn?”
“No, what you are talking about is natural breeding within the same species. Combining one strain of corn that has a trait we want with another strain, like breeding dogs or horses, is not genetic engineering. What we do in genetic engineering is to take a gene from the DNA of one species and insert it into the DNA of a completely different species. This is a type of breeding that could never occur in nature. For example, the first genetically engineered crop was a tomato that could stand cold weather without freezing. We took a gene from a fish that lived in cold waters, and inserted it into the DNA of the tomato. The result was a freeze proof tomato.”
“So, genes of a fish go into genes of a tomato?”
“Yes.”
“What is the danger in that?”
“The danger is that we don’t really know all the consequences of what could happen. Did you ever see the movie ‘The Fly’?”
“Yes.”
“In ‘The Fly,’ when the scientist tested his teleporter by using himself as the test subject, his genes were “spliced” with the genes of a fly that was in the teleporter with him, and all kinds of unexpected things began happening to his body and he eventually turned into a monster. When we splice a gene from an animal or a bacteria into the gene of a plant, we don’t really know everything that will happen. Evolution has had millions of years to work with the present species that we know on earth. Because of the genetic engineering process, which is very new at the moment, the GMO plant we make today could produce toxins or even viruses that we have never seen before, and we may not be able to control them. The government says that if the genetically engineered food looks like conventional food, then it is safe. But that ignores what is happening on a cellular level.”
“So you are saying that, even if the food looks the same, the dangers are hidden inside?”
“Exactly. The government reports that I obtained from my company say that the project I was working on, for example, produces a food which is not safe for human consumption, but it has been approved anyway. We were taking a gene from the DNA of a bacteria that is a natural insecticide that makes the stomach of an insect explode, and planting it into the DNA of a corn crop. That way the corn will produce its own insecticide and when insects eat it, they will die. The problem is that the corn produces a poison which is far more potent than the bacteria found naturally. In the process, we also use a potent plant virus, which is similar to the AIDS virus, to stimulate the production of the toxin, which could lie dormant and reactivate later, or produce an even different virus that we have never seen before. And we use antibiotic resistant genes in the process, which could cause resistance to very common antibiotics, leaving us open to all kinds of bacterial diseases.”
“Toxins, viruses, antibiotic resistance – that doesn’t sound like safe things to be putting into our food.”
“Exactly. That is what the reports from the United States government say, and my company, Germinat, has succeeded in burying those reports from public view.”
“It’s a good thing that these foods are not yet on the market.”
“But they are – they have already been approved and are in 70% of the processed foods eaten in America, and almost all animal feeds.”
“So that’s why you left the States and are afraid of prosecution, because you have these government reports that they don’t want to make public.”
“Not exactly.”
“What then?”
“They’re after me because I have a top secret government report that details experiments using the same genetic engineering to make biological weapons.”
“Are they making biological weapons with this technology now?”
“Not yet, but I don’t think it is something that should be done. The current technology being experimented on is for the so-called “war on drugs.” It consists of strains of viruses and fungi that can be inserted into areas of opium poppy and coca plant farms that would kill all of the coca and opium.”
“But that’s a good thing isn’t it, to destroy the plants that produce cocaine and heroin?”
“It will also kill beneficial plants and wildlife and infect the rainforests where a lot of these drugs are grown. Colombia, for example, is not only known for growing these drugs, but it’s also the home of rainforests that are called “the lungs of the earth,” because they produce up to 20% of the world’s oxygen for our atmosphere. This could have devastating consequences for life on earth as we know it.”
“What have you decided to do with this classified report?”
“I haven’t decided yet how to make it public. I don’t want it to get into the wrong hands, but if we are a country that doesn’t believe in weapons of mass destruction, then we shouldn’t be developing them.”
“So now that you have gone public with this information, what do you think is the solution?”
“I am calling for the U.S. Congress to conduct a special investigation into the safety of this technology. The FDA is not ensuring that it is safe for public consumption and the EPA is not ensuring that it is safe for the environment, and it’s definitely not something that should be used as a weapon. It’s my opinion that, at this stage, this technology is not safe for use as a food or a weapon of any kind and that years of study should have been undertaken before releasing it to the public.”
“And why was this technology released upon the public?”
“Money. Germinat engineered corn, soy and cotton that resists its own weed killers. They did it to sell more weed killer and to corner the market on that particular weed killer because their patent on it was expiring.”
“You sound like an environmentalist.”
“That’s a label I never thought I would have. I thought I was just a traitor, a spy and a whistleblower.”
“Whistleblower, traitor, or just concerned citizen of the world? That is the question that is being asked around the world to
day about Seth Rogan, who is perhaps the world’s most wanted man. This is Pavel Kargin, reporting from Russia Today.”
4
Yuri helped Seth settle in to the safe house in Moscow. Tomorrow night he would take the nine hour flight to the Far East. From the apartment he could see the colorful and distinctive towers of St. Basil’s Cathedral from his window, and the glittering gold onion domes of the Church of Annunciation in the Kremlin. This was the Kremlin he had seen so many times on television. Back then, during the cold war, it had represented the seat of the Empire of Evil. Now, it was oddly beautiful.
The American press was already doing damage control on Seth’s report to Russia Today. The president called it “propaganda” and said that “The United States was against the manufacture of biological weapons.” Spokesmen from the company said that Seth’s report to RT should be disregarded as the words of a “traitor” and a “thief.” Because of his fleeing the country, Seth’s story was discredited in every mainstream media report.
“Okay, your name now is George Aimers,” said Yuri, smiling, holding out documents. Here is new passport.”
“I’m Canadian?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean I have to say ‘eh’ all the time?”
“Seth, Russians don’t care what you say. But don’t talk to people.”
“Don’t talk to people?”
“And don’t go anywhere. Just to work and back home.”
“Sounds boring.”
“Isn’t that what you guys do in America anyway?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Okay. Don’t make friends. If you want girl, we get you girl.”
“That sucks.”
“Look, it’s only for six months. Then you can do what you want. If you see anything suspicious, call me.”
“Six months, eh?”
“Yes, six months. Oh, and shave mustache and color hair.”
“What?”
“You prefer shave head and color mustache?”
“No, no, that’s ok. I’ll take the hair color.”
“And we fix nose.”
“What’s wrong with my nose?”
“Nose too big.”
“It’s not.”
“We fix anyway.”
“Okay. Let me see if I’ve got it. Don’t go anywhere, don’t make friends, sleep with prostitutes that you send to me and wear a disguise.”
“Yes. You are smart. Don’t forget to use lenses I gave you for eyes. And…”
“What?”
“Lose some weight.”
Seth worked on his disguise with the materials Yuri had left in the safe house. He said a fond farewell to the mustache that had been with him since high school and picked a dark brown color to mask his light brown hair. With the contacts in, his eyes changed from green to brown. He didn’t even recognize himself. The surface disguise was the easy part. Being George Aimers would be the true disguise to master.
5
Seth sat in the covered balcony in his small apartment in the Far East that had been provided him and looked out through the dusty window at the frozen Russian landscape. The onset of winter was an amazingly beautiful contrast to the dingy, dusty look of fall, which started out rather beautifully, raining falling leaves of yellow, orange and red, but then changed to a dusty, dead collection of sticks, followed by rainy, muddy streets, littered with discarded bits of human invention. Winter was a much better look. The sun glistened on the glittery crystals of snow that covered every branch and every needle of every pine tree, which made the entire town look like a village in the middle of a Christmas forest.
Winston Churchill said Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. That pretty much summed up the place. The young women were beautiful; the old women were hags. The people were highly educated, but most of them held down lowly jobs. The summers were brutally hot and the winters stingingly cold. It was a country of constant contrast and vast inequality. But Seth found the people in the Far Eastern provinces to be warm and generous. And if you knew when your last day of life was going to be, it was the best place to spend your last night on earth, because in Russia people party like tomorrow will never come.
Seth had never thought he would have ended up here, so far from home, so out of touch with everything and everyone. He couldn’t even use his own name. He was a man without a country, without an identity. A traitor, a spy, banned forever from his own country, and all because he wanted to do something that he thought – no, knew – was right. Set things straight. Like Einstein’s great mistake, he had helped to unleash Armageddon on the world and now he felt responsible to stop it.
Yes, the company had been good to him, and had fulfilled his every material need. And he had reciprocated. But sometimes one man must fight for what he feels is right, even against the majority. Something that is wrong does not change to right just because the majority approves it, ignores it, or the government says it is right. It is still wrong.
And he still saw the company and his country as being two separate and distinct entities. How had the lines blurred between the two and where had he crossed over from loyal citizen to traitor? Had not the company betrayed his country and become the true traitor, and he merely the bearer of the news of that betrayal?
The Russians had been good to him. His choices were either Russia, Nicaragua or Venezuela. Not much of a choice, but Russia seemed the logical one, for some reason. Initially, he thought, “Well Moscow’s not so bad, or maybe St. Petersburg.” But Yuri said, “Are you crazy? Do you know how hard it would be to keep you safe in a big place like Moscow?”
It was too close to the Western world, too accessible. Instead, Yuri pointed to a tiny place near the Chinese border in the Far East – about as far away as you could get.
“Khabarovsk? What am I gonna do there?” asked Seth.
“Stay alive. You’ll be English teacher.”
“An English teacher? I’m a scientist, we can hardly even speak English.”
“Well, as I see it,” said Yuri, “you have two choices – how do they say in cowboy movies – dead or alive? Anyway, look at bright side, we have some of the prettiest girls in world there.”
“Great – become a spy and meet women.”
“You should have thought of consequences before you became spy.”
“I’m not a spy.”
“Just saying. Everything you do in this life has its consequences.”
“Don’t I know it?” Seth reflectively played back all the decisions he had made that set him on this path to such an uncertain destiny. This destiny had not been left to chance; it was a matter of choice, but the ultimate outcome was uncertain. He had been brave enough to do what he thought was right, which meant that he had to pay for that freedom of choice by accepting whatever consequences that flowed from that decision. And the effects of that decision would last a lifetime, because destiny never closes its accounts.
“What’s the big deal about these UFOs anyway?” asked Yuri.
“GMOs. Genetically modified organisms. You take one gene from one organism that has a trait you want and force it into the DNA of another organism to get the desired result.”
“My uncle has pig farm. He’s been doing that for years.”
“No, this is different. You take a gene from, let’s say, a cow, like my company did with rBST. You inject that gene into E-Coli, a deadly bacteria, then separate the bacteria and inject the solution into the cow, to increase milk production.
“Isn’t E-Coli bacteria from shit?” Yuri’s face wrinkled with disgust.
“Yes, it is. Or you take a human growth hormone gene and engineer it with a pig, to make it grow faster.”
“Mixing humans with pigs? Disgusting!”
“That one failed, Yuri, it’s not on the market.”
“Why you not die from eating this horrible food?”
“You don’t die Yuri, not yet, you just get sick.”
“And this GMO, this is why Americans are
fat?”
“Obesity, cancer, diabetes, digestive problems, allergies, attention deficit disorder, gluten intolerance, autism…”
“Okay, stop, stop. So why you get involved with this GMO?”
“I thought it was a good technology that could be used to feed the world.”
“We already have enough food to feed world. You don’t make money feeding poor people is problem.”
“I know. I made a mistake.”
“Like Einstein when he ask president to make atom bomb?”
“Yeah. Just like that.”
As Gloria Steinem said, “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” In the process of learning the truth, Seth also learned how gullible he was. He was pissed off. Pissed off at Bill Penner, pissed off at Germinat, pissed off at the government, and pissed off at himself for being so stupid.
In his former life, he was Seth Rogan, graduate of Stanford University, considered one of the top genetic engineers in his field. Now he was George Aimers, the loveable English teacher from Vancouver. Well, at least he had been to Vancouver a couple of times and kind of knew what it was like. And it was true, there were a lot of pretty girls here in Russia. Seth worked at the local university. English was the only subject he could teach, since his Russian was so poor. Russian had to be the most difficult language in the world, with its masculine, feminine and neutral, and ridiculously infinite number of inflections. How did the Russians even know what they were saying to each other? Seth wondered.
