The Gene of Life

by Tetsuo Ted Takashima

  “Can we dive here?” Katya asked him.

  “What else do you think there is to do? The sea and the sky are all this place has. C’mon, I’ll show you some sharks mating. For you, I’ll knock the price down to two hundred bucks a day, equipment rental included,” he said cheerfully. He was clearly checking her out.

  “I haven’t seen sharks mating, but I did see whales mating, once.”

  “You’ve dived before?”

  “I just said I saw whales mating.”

  “Name’s Al.” Al wiped his right hand on his pants and extended it to Max and then Katya. “How about I take you exploring? There’s a sunken ship. I’ll charge a hundred bucks per person. It’s romantic.”

  “Do you go out to sea every day?”

  “Yep, except for when there’s a storm, but that’s only a few days out of the year at most.”

  “You go out to the laboratory, too, right?” Katya pointed to Aztec Labs.

  “We pass through open sea.”

  “Did you happen to see a girl over on the laboratory grounds? She’s 14 or 15, and looks half-white, half-Indigenous Brazilian.”

  “The chief of police told me not to get anywhere near the labs. The year the labs opened, I was on a date at the private beach and got caught by a security guard. A bunch of big rough guys with guns came and cuffed me. Luckily, a friend saw it happen and told the chief. The chief came around and got me out of there. He’s a distant relative of mine, the chief.”

  “But have you seen that girl?”

  “No, I haven’t. I’ve never seen a single female over there, let alone a girl. If you ask me, that place is a gay commune,” said Al, shrugging.

  “What’s it like inside the laboratory? They brought you in there, right?”

  “I wasn’t exactly able to soak in the sights. Keep this between us, but I almost wet myself in there. Plus, my date dumped me,” he replied. “So, uhh, I was put in a room with a desk and a chair. It smelled like a hospital. I hate that smell. Made me feel like they were going to chop me up like in some horror movie. Actually . . . ,” he paused a little. “They blindfolded me when they walked me down the hall, but I did catch a glimpse of something. There was new-looking equipment, and it looked really clean. Everybody had a lab coat on. I figured they must all be really smart. That’s a laboratory for you, right? But the mood in there was just off. Everyone was like a robot, no expressions. Bad vibes, man, bad vibes.”

  “I wonder if we can enter from the sea.” Katya turned her eyes to the air tank.

  “The tidal current is fast, especially by the labs. Every year, a handful of people get caught up in the current and die. Somebody died just last month.” Al stopped tying the rope to the air tank and looked at Katya.

  “You can’t dive off the cape, right?” Katya asked.

  “Last year, two divers went out to search for a sunken ship, and washed ashore on the lab’s private beach.”

  “Did they say anything? About the institute, I mean.”

  “Dead men tell no tales. They got hit by the waves and by hungry fish; the corpses looked awful.”

  “So, they drowned before washing ashore?”

  “That’s what the officers who picked up the bodies said. It seems like they definitely drowned, according to the coroner, but I have no idea where.”

  “Where can people go diving in that area?”

  “Anywhere as long as it’s away from the bay, but that’s only if you have a professional guide that knows what they’re doing. It’s a great area; Baja California’s right next door, and the ocean is just endless. Diving is the best sea sport there is.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “The second floor of the boathouse. Come anytime. I’m open twenty-four hours a day.”

  Ignoring Al’s words, Katya squinted at the laboratory with her arms crossed. The sun was setting. Its light dyed the ocean blood red.

  Max and Katya found a beachside restaurant that looked appetizing. It was situated on a piece of land that jutted out into the sea adjacent to the harbor. They sat by the window and looked out onto a yacht right below them. They could hear the sound of the waves. A light on the yacht’s mast cast a bluish-white reflection on the water.

  An array of illuminations shone at the other side of the bay—the glow of Aztec Labs. They heard the occasional firecracker going off from the harbor.

  They ordered oysters, crab, and a half bottle of white wine. The waiter lit the candles on the tables around them.

  Katya looked back at the sea. “We need to hurry.”

  “We still have time. Four years and six months’ worth of it,” Max said, as he cracked a crab leg.

  “That’s all the time we have.”

  “That’s more than enough time for science to make discoveries and progress.”

  “They’ve been researching a cancer cure for more than a century, and still haven’t found one. We don’t even have a cure for the common cold. We have drugs to extend the lives of AIDS patients, but not a real remedy. And what about diabetes? We can only treat symptoms.”

  “We eradicated smallpox. Polio is no longer a threat if you just take the vaccine. And we’ve discovered a few cancer-related genes.”

  “But now we have hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to antibiotics. We have new dreaded diseases like Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fever to contend with. And tuberculosis is back in circulation, too.”

  “We’ve pinned down the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s.”

  “But we have no idea when we’ll come up with a cure for it.”

  “I’m sure I won’t live to see it.”

  “You don’t believe we can make rapid progress?”

  “I believe in breakthroughs, too. That’s why I’m taking my sweet time eating this crab.”

  They exchanged glances and smiled, but their smiles were tinged with sadness.

  The smile immediately disappeared from Max’s face. “Life traded immortality for evolution. The ring-shaped DNA of things like E. coli and prokaryotes without mitochondria contains no telomeres, and so they’re virtually immortal organisms that can undergo cell division pretty much indefinitely. The DNA of eukaryotes like yeast fungus which have nuclei, on the other hand, is linear in shape, with telomeres at their ends. Because their DNA is linear, they can reproduce and combine two strands of DNA, allowing for more diverse offspring. Biological sex also contributes to the diversification of genetics, enabling living things to evolve.”

  “Death is a by-product of our ancestors choosing evolution.” Katya averted her gaze. “How bittersweet,” she added quietly.

  “When I was in elementary school, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and stare into the darkness. I felt like I was getting sucked into it. I thought that darkness was death itself, and that death was eternal nothingness. The irrevocable loss of the self. But what is that eternal sleep? No one can say that they’ve experienced it. But we all will, eventually. I was afraid of eternity. I could barely stand that fear. So I’d jump out of bed and go to my desk. Keeping busy was my salvation,” Max looked out to sea, then turned to Katya and asked, “What do you think death is?”

  “I was taught that death is the irreversible stoppage of an organism’s consciousness and bodily functions.”

  “I want to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I never really want to think about it.”

  “You’re an atheist, too. Those who don’t believe in God usually either fear death or don’t think about it.”

  Katya froze, a forkful of crab at her lips. She tilted her head and gave it some thought. “I think serenity will come one day for all of us. The moment we’re released from suffering and sadness. And it won’t take longer than a moment.”

  “Eternity in a moment? You might be right. The moment we will never wake up from. But it’s that moment of serenity I’m afraid of. It means I lose my conscious self, never to experience anything ever again.”

  “Ev
eryone needs to accept that moment will come. How much a person lived isn’t measured in time. You’ve lived a pretty full life, don’t you think? Shakespeare died at 52, and Mozart at 35, and yet the world is still fascinated by them. The mathematician Évariste Galois died at 20, and he solved a problem that had stood for centuries. People are born to die. The second they’re brought into this world, they begin their march toward death.”

  “Accepting the inevitability of death is a bitter pill to swallow, and at times I look at my brother and think this is our destiny. Whether we humans live or die isn’t that big a deal after all.”

  “When I first read your papers, I got a sense of the beauty and mystery of life. The more transient something is, the more precious it is. Some say life is like the briefest twinkle of a star. And some say that flash of light is actually eternity. Stars disappear in tens of billions of years. A human life is like the birth and death of a star. It’s all part of the workings of an eternal universe.” Katya breathed a soft sigh. “Max, you can see eternity in a fleeting moment.”

  “I’m just a weak and inexperienced fellow scientist.”

  “You are my . . .” Katya stopped there. The red flames of the candles danced in her eyes.

  A woman in white robes sat near them and started strumming a harp, which resonated with a clear and relaxing tone.

  Katya continued. “But the loss of death isn’t experienced by the dead. It’s experienced by the family, friends, and sometimes even society. I want you to be alive.”

  “I believe in science. But I also know science has its limits. And I know the truth. That’s my burden to bear.”

  “Everything is up to God. We may not be aware of it, but God’s will works through all things.”

  “God’s will,” he repeated. “Imagine me, the boy who feared the shadow of death. While my friends discussed the future, I was all alone trembling, thinking of my death. Have you ever truly contemplated the reality of death?”

  “All I know is that I want to save you. I want you to live on.” Katya stared at him intently. “I want you by my side. To that end, I’ll . . .”

  Max found himself looking away. Her gaze was so earnest it scared him. “Let’s wrap up this pointless discussion.”

  “People live in order to enjoy life.”

  “Good drink, good food, beautiful music, and beautiful women,” Max sang.

  The harp performance continued. The two locked eyes for a while.

  “Something must be going on at Aztec Labs,” Katya said, as she watched the lights shining across the water.

  “We could get there by sea,” she said.

  Max stuck a crab leg in front of Katya. “Hey, if it’s possible for these guys . . .”

  The candle flames gave her face a rosy glow. Max gently reached out his hand and put it on hers. He could feel her warmth.

  It was past ten by the time they reached the motel. Their eyes met briefly before they each walked back to their own rooms.

  CHAPTER 20

  When Max awoke the next morning, it was already bright outside. He went to the window and looked at Katya’s room, but the curtains were still drawn. He quickly got dressed and headed for her room. He knocked. No answer. He pressed his ear against the door. No signs of her. He took out his cellphone and called her, but it went to voicemail.

  When Max tried reception, the man at the counter was reading a fishing magazine, same as the day before.

  “Excuse me, have you seen the woman I was with yesterday?”

  He looked up from his magazine and smirked. “The young lady called a cab and left around three hours ago. But she didn’t check out,” he said. Then his eyes fell right back on the magazine.

  “Do you know where she went?”

  “It’s in a conscientious motel manager’s job description not to divulge customer’s private information,” he winked, suggestively.

  Max drove to the harbor. He had a bad feeling. He thought that Katya seemed a little distracted the night before. I should have been more attentive. The unease in his chest swelled.

  There were few people in the port. He ran along the harbor. Several yachts were being loaded with cargo, preparing for departure. He asked the boatmen whether they had seen a woman matching the description he gave them, but they all said no.

  He then headed for the diving school they’d gone to the day before. When he arrived, Al was just leaving the boathouse.

  “Would you happen to know where the woman who was with—”

  “I was just about to go see you,” Al said. “Katya asked me to. She came here at around six in the morning to rent a full set of diving gear. Said she wanted to dive early in the morning.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “She’s near the labs. I took her there by boat. She asked me to take video.” Al took out a video camera from the bag he was holding. It was Katya’s. “She told me to take it to you in case she didn’t come back after two hours.”

  Max played the video. Katya was smiling at the camera. She struck a pose, and then dove into the water. She stayed at the surface for a while to get a feel for the currents, but then the camera caught her getting carried off. She waved her hands and submerged.

  “I tried to stop her,” Al said, watching the video from the side. “I told her it was a bad idea.”

  Max pressed Fast Forward. Fifteen minutes of video later, a figure rose to the surface near the beach, and started swimming toward the shore. He fast-forwarded some more; five minutes of video later, Katya had reached the sand, and she was staggering as she walked. A number of guards appeared. They apprehended her and led her off to the buildings.

  “She said she wanted to take her chances. That was pretty impressive, too, how she managed to swim through that current,” Al said. “Gave me three hundred bucks to take her,” he added under his breath. “That lady wanted to go to the labs from the start. If I didn’t take her there, she would’ve gone on her own, which would’ve ended way worse.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “She asked me if it’s possible to reach the beach if she got swept in the current.”

  “And what did you tell her?”

  “I told her she’d drown before she got there,” he said, shaking his head. “But she made it. Alive. Pretty impressive,” he repeated. “She told me to keep the camera running until she reached the beach. She’s got guts. It’s almost a waste she wasn’t born a guy. For real though, what’s going on in those labs?”

  Max stopped the playback. “Where are the officers that detained you stationed?”

  “You won’t say a peep about me, right?”

  Al entered the boathouse and drew a map on the back of a diving application form. Max took the camera with him to the car.

  At the police station, a young policeman was reading a magazine as he leaned against the counter; it looked like he had time to waste.

  “A woman washed up on the Aztec Labs beach and hasn’t come back. She was with me, and I want to get her back.”

  “Are you sure?” The policeman looked up from the magazine, visibly annoyed. “That place is off limits. You can’t just stroll right in.”

  “She was diving nearby, and got swept away by the tide.”

  “It’s a no diving area.”

  “We didn’t know that.”

  “Then your companion is probably—”

  “Can you call the chief?”

  The officer’s expression changed. “The chief is busy!”

  “There’s no time to waste,” Max said, the tone of his voice rising. “I know she reached the Aztec Labs beach, and I also know that the institute’s guards took her inside.”

  “Got any proof?”

  “I have a video.” Max thrust the video camera in his direction.

  The policeman made no attempt to conceal his discomfort and stared at Max. “If your friend ended up trespassing, you can’t complain if she got shot dead.”

  “Which is why you haven’t got time to wast
e.”

  “Aztec Labs and the beaches around it are privately owned.”

  “Just call the chief already.”

  “I said he was busy.”

  The clock on the wall said 11:30 a.m. Going by the time stamp on the video, almost three hours had passed since Katya was taken inside. Max took out his cellphone and pressed a button. The young policeman watched silently.

  “Who is this?” came a grumpy voice Max was very familiar with. The person who had answered, who was three time zones away on the East Coast, had picked up the phone before it could ring a third time. This is around the time he gets himself some coffee and doughnuts, Max thought.

  “It’s Max, Max Knight.”

  With that, his tone was no longer so grumpy. “Where are you now?”

  Max could picture the man’s face—a complex mixture of joy, confusion, and unease. “It’s a town called La Cruz. It’s near San Diego.”

  “Never heard of it,” he replied dismissively.

  “Could you do me a favor?”

  “There’s something you need me for?”

  While Max was talking, the officer was listening, the tip of his pen on his nose. But the faint smirk on his face gradually disappeared.

  “Could you give me this place’s number?”

  The officer gave Max the number, and Max repeated it to the man on the phone. The officer looked tense as he stared at the phone on the desk. Before long, it started ringing. The policeman glanced at Max before picking it up.

  “Please, just a moment, sir. I will call him in right away, sir,” he said, polite to a fault. He rushed into the back room. Less than ten seconds later, he came back with a middle-aged police officer.

  “This is Chief Brian,” the young policeman told Max.

  “If this is a false alarm, he’ll get tossed into lockup, and you’ll be spending your career doing night shifts driving around town.”

  The chief stared at Max as he muttered something and picked up the receiver. Several other officers had appeared, and they looked amused. The chief nodded for a while, but his face gradually stiffened.