My Brother's Keeper
Page 2
Part 2
“Charles Stanford?” he asked, as we first met, extending his hand for me to shake before sitting down at the table. I had agreed to meet him at one of my favorite restaurants, The Pearl. On a Saturday evening the five star eatery would be teaming with business. Much harder to kidnap an aging billionaire under such conditions. I had gotten a little nervous about our meeting and momentarily considered telling him that I had no idea who Stanford was. Anytime you tell someone that you have unlimited financial resources you run the risk of hucksters racing your direction like hounds with the scent of blood in their snouts. I took the risk and shook his hand.
“Yes, Dr. Kripps. Please have a seat,” I offered.
He began his pitch. “You’ve already indicated, Charles, that you are familiar with much of my work and the success that I’ve had with mixing human and animal DNA so I won’t waste your time trying to sell you on the fact that I can do what I say I can do. I’m also certain that you are aware of GBCs involvement with cloning and that there has been some scandal in our past. That’s been in the news again lately. What I’d actually like to talk to you about is transgenesis. The science of transgenesis, Charles, is much farther along than the public is aware of.”
“Why did you bring up cloning first, Dr. Kripps? Are you saying that you can clone my brother?” I asked him. “Is that what you’re proposing?”
“No. I’m not talking about a clone exactly, although cells from your brother would be involved in this process. But this isn’t a clone. This is a new being that is created when foreign DNA is introduced to an embryo. It has its own identity – like your twin had a separate identity from you, even though you shared DNA so very similar. A clone is actually very similar to a twin but – this is altogether different.”
I was curt with him. “I’m finding this conversation both confusing and a little disturbing so far, Dr. Kripps, and I’m considering putting an end to it before long so I advise you to get to the point.”
“No reason to be disturbed, Charles, I assure you. All I’m talking about is an amazingly complex and very special pet – a dog,” he explained.
“You arranged this meeting to sell me a dog? You must be out of your mind.”
“No, Charles, not just any dog. A chimera – a mix of human and animal DNA – the DNA taken from your dying brother and mixed with the embryo of a Border Collie - we’ve had our highest success rate with Border Collies, possibly because they are the smartest of all breeds of dog. We’ll create a companion that looks like an animal but whose cellular machinery will conceal a unique biochemistry. He will be bright like your brother but more importantly he will have personality traits that only your brother had – his essence, if you will.”
“A dog can’t replace my brother, Doctor Kripps.”I started to get up but he waved me down.
“Please, Mr.Stanford.”
I paused. “I’ve really had just about enough of this conversation.”
“Just allow me to finish. I certainly wasn’t trying to suggest that a dog could replace your brother, Charles. I’m just trying to offer you a very special way to commemorate your brother – to continue to celebrate a man you loved so much – bringing part of him back to stay with you – to comfort you – to relieve some of your grief.”
“That part of a man that continues to carry his essence is generally referred to as a child, Doctor.”
“That would be ideal, Charles, but it is my understanding that your brother didn’t have any children.”
“Something seems very wrong about this. Would the dog have my brother’s soul?”
“No, Charles, as I indicated, the dog would be a new and completely different being than your brother. I, personally, don’t believe in souls but if you do, I suppose the dog would have a dog soul.”
“But you said it wasn’t a dog,” I argued.
“Not technically. Not entirely, but essentially it would still be a dog,” he replied.
“Why hasn’t anyone else done this?” I asked, suspiciously.
“Because they are unable to do so. And because it’s highly illegal, Charles.”
“So you contacted me. You just want to do it for me because I loved my brother so much and you can’t bear the thought that I’ll suddenly be without him. Just feeling sorry for me. Is that right, doctor? I have to say that I find that hard to believe.”
“Obviously, there’s more to it than that, Charles. I wouldn’t risk my career lightly,” he explained. “You’ve indicated that you are a man of extraordinary means. I’m in desperate need of an investor with such qualities. GBC had an unfortunate incident, a break in that caused many of our backers to retract funding. Some animal activists broke into our labs and freed goats that contained human DNA. We were able to immediately round up all of the thirteen chimeras except for two that weren’t recovered for over a day. When the animals still hadn’t turned up on the second day of the search we were compelled morally to alert the authorities and get their cooperation in retrieving the animals. With their cooperation we found them. If the chimeras had been able find and mate with other goats the result would’ve been devastating. Human DNA in our food chain could result in the rampant spread of diseases that our immune systems would be completely unfamiliar with.”
“But you’re certain that you recovered the animals before that happened?” I asked him.
“We believe so. The remaining two animals were found in a sparsely populated area but there were a couple of farms that had goats that were within reach of the chimeras. Only time will really tell if something disastrous took place.”
“Our government shouldn’t allow you people to be so careless with technology that you know so little about.”
“This field of exploration is not brand new. We’ve been working in this area since 1964. And I assure you, Charles, the reward is great enough that it is worth the gamble. We could be on the edge of curing most of the known diseases with this technology.”
“Why would it be safe for me to have a chimera if there was such a risk with the goats?”
“First off, your animal will be sterile so that he can’t mate, and second, we’ve managed with dogs to design an immune system that doesn’t allow the animal to contract any diseases that are foreign to dogs. The chimera won’t be a threat to humans, other animals, or the environment.” He leaned forward. “You become our primary investor and not only will you reap the benefits of one of the most profitable businesses of all time but you will have the most unique companion ever to roam the earth.”
I told the good doctor that I would get back to him but I didn’t, not for several months. For a time Franklin’s cancer went into remission, shocking the team of specialists that my brother had seen. There was even a possibility that he might recover but the disease came back progressing more aggressively than ever. When Franklin was nearing the end I contacted the doctor and made the arrangements.