The Gene of Life

by Tetsuo Ted Takashima

  After making sure there was no one in the hall, they went out. “The computer room door is a card-type door.” Max took out his computer and inserted the card into the slit. The door opened with a thud. There was no one inside. It was chilly, and the air-conditioning was purring.

  “The Roadrunner. The current fastest supercomputer in the world.” Katya stood in front of the supercomputer in the center of the room. The box-shaped computer hummed as it continued to calculate. “The research results should be stored somewhere.” Katya sat down at one of the computer terminals along the wall and began typing.

  “There we go. But we still need a password.”

  “Let’s get out of here. Our objective is Aska.”

  “Hitler, Adolf, Eva, Braun, Third Reich . . . ,” Katya said as she tried potential passwords, her fingers dancing over the keyboard.

  Ten minutes passed. All the passwords Katya entered returned error messages.

  “Give up. It’s impossible.”

  “Just one more minute.” Katya didn’t look up from the keyboard.

  “What’s Hitler’s birthday?”

  “How should I know?”

  “Let’s try all the years from the late 1800s up to 1900. It’s no use.” She looked up at Max, nearly sobbing.

  Max reached over her shoulder and typed GOD IS ETERNAL. It worked.

  “Did you rub your magic lamp again?”

  “The words that open all the doors. That’s what Father Yunov said before he died. It’s the perfect Nazi password. No one would ever guess it.”

  Katya started typing again.

  “First, we’re going to connect to the web and move all of this data to your university computer. The same thing we did at the Eoghan Institute.”

  Letters lined up on screen. Most of the text was in German.

  “It’s the genetic information of Dona and Aska. They are also analyzing the molecular structure of purified proteins. Their scientific prowess is a sight to behold.”

  “Past research data has also been stored here. I’m sure it’s a treasure trove.”

  “That’s a massive amount of data.”

  “There, just connected it to the university’s computing center.” Katya took her hands off the keyboard. “When I press Enter, everything will be moved from this computer to your college folders.” Katya pressed the key with gusto. “In ten minutes, the treasure trove will be ours. If you analyze this data, you’ll find the key to your cure. I’m sure of it.”

  “Let’s hurry and find Aska.”

  “Five minutes left.” Katya started up the computer next door and typed.

  The screen shifted as blueprints appeared. They were the same as those they had seen in the architect’s directory. The difference was that each room had a number. And the number contained a name. “Two-thirds of your guesses as to the room layout were correct, but the problem is the other third,” Katya said.

  “‘Experimental body storage.’ What does that mean?” She moved the cursor to a number. The screen turned into an enlarged view of the blueprint.

  “It’s on the third floor. If we go out and turn right, there should be a warehouse. The door leads to the staircase. From there, we can go up to the third floor,” Katya said, tracing the path.

  They went out into the hallway and saw no one.

  The corridor on the third floor was quiet. The lights were off, and the emergency lights provided the only illumination.

  “Here,” Katya said.

  “What about the key?”

  “It’s open.” Katya opened the door. Darkness spread before them. Max took a step forward while covering Katya.

  “Stop!” echoed a voice.

  A dazzling beam of light hit them head on. They covered their eyes.

  “You’re . . . !” Max shouted. He thought he saw a familiar face in the light. “What are you doing here?”

  A blow to the head stopped him, and he toppled forward.

  “Katya . . . ,” he spoke, fading fast. His consciousness dimmed before he could check to see where she was.

  ● ● ●

  VIII

  * * *

  THE GENE OF LIFE

  CHAPTER 30

  Where am I? What the hell happened?

  His cheek was on a cold surface—vinyl floor tile. He tried to move, but a shooting pain seared his brain. He froze and waited for the pain to subside.

  A light went on. The brightness was blinding, stabbing through his eyes into his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut. He opened them again and squinted, to find three men standing in front of the light. Each was a blurry shadow. Each was staring at him.

  He turned his head, trying to figure out where he was. He saw a large room with plain concrete walls, lit by fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling. A steel desk and a few chairs were lined up along the wall. It looked like a basement or warehouse.

  Where’s Katya?

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Professor Maximillian Knight,” said an arrogant voice; it was so shrill it bypassed his ears and shot directly into his skull.

  Max took a deep breath, and the world came in sharper relief. He tried to move so he could look in the voice’s direction, but his wrists throbbed with the attempt. His hands were cuffed behind his back. He braced himself against the pain and bent backward so he could look up. As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the men’s outlines. The tall, slender, balding man in the center wore glasses. He was staring at Max. The men to either side of the tall man, though shorter, likely weighed around twice as much as he did.

  The man in the center took a step forward.

  “Dr. Otto Gerhard,” Max said quietly.

  “I’m honored you know my name.” A smile warped his smooth, light-complexioned face, which reminded Max of a reptile.

  Animated by nervous energy, Gerhard was rubbing his fingers in front of his chest. His fingers were long and thin, and they moved like a bunch of wriggling snakes. Gerhard took another step forward, and the men to either side of him followed. He stood before Max, grabbed a chair, and sat down. He leaned over to the large man on his right and whispered something to him. He removed Max’s cuffs. Max put his hands on the floor to lift himself up; he didn’t want to stay at this man’s feet. His heart and soul were almost audibly screaming.

  “If it isn’t the shadowy scientist who lurked behind Mengele. They say you were even more talented than the Angel of Death himself.” Max’s voice was so hoarse it shocked him.

  He tried to get to his feet by holding onto the legs of the desk, but he fell to his knees. His legs were not cooperating, and he knew that couldn’t stem from a mere blow to the head. He looked up at Gerhard; the bastard was staring down at him with glee.

  “Why, thank you,” he said. “It’s truly an honor, coming from the mouth of Professor Knight.”

  “I also hear you’re a degenerate obsessed with human experimentation. You’re especially fascinated with the moment life vanishes, and you’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of lives, or so I’ve read. It was written that your sheer cruelty and coldheartedness surpassed the Angel of Death.”

  Max could see the muscles of Gerhard’s face shift as his expression changed. Gerhard ordered the two large men beside him to wait outside the room. They looked unhappy about it, but did as they were told when Gerhard pointed at the door.

  “At last, it’s just the two of us. It irritates me to have to look at those useless nitwits’ dull faces. More accurately, it’s not so much ‘irritation,’ as it is the urge to kill.”

  Gerhard lifted Max to his feet by the armpits. Max held his breath against his strong body odor. He reeked of formalin, alcohol, and a host of other chemicals—smells that had soaked into Gerhard’s body over many years. This was the smell of death.

  Max held onto the desk to keep himself on his feet. He grimaced at the pain in his head. Gerhard enjoyed Max’s suffering, and trailed his soft fingers along the back of Max’s neck. Chills and goosebumps all over. He tried to brush them away, but he c
ouldn’t muster the strength. He must have been drugged.

  “Where are Katya and Aska?”

  “Let’s not discuss such trifling matters. This is the momentous meeting of two magnificent scientific minds.”

  “I’m the type that can’t concentrate when I’ve got something weighing on my mind.”

  “They’re safe and sound. Are you happy?”

  “Prove it.”

  “We are the greatest scientists in the world. We must trust each other.” Gerhard took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a handkerchief. “I read your papers on restriction enzymes and vectors. You made groundbreaking discoveries. The theory and implementation of gene therapy will change the way we think about life itself. Your paper on clones that appeared in Nature last year was also revolutionary. It facilitated my research immensely. Frankly, were it not for those papers, my research would be ten years behind.”

  “It leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth, knowing I lent a hand to a fiend like you. I could never go as far as you did—I could never do what you did to Gehlen, Yunov, and your own body.”

  “You were simply unlucky. I had the great fortune of gaining access to the genes of Domba. Besides, you were only allowed to experiment on animals, and reached the limit of what you could accomplish. You did amazing work, and you truly possess incredible talent. It’s no wonder the world has dubbed you a genius.”

  “I’m not happy being praised by you.”

  “There is no greater honor. A genius knows genius when he sees it. Why are you still only a candidate for the Nobel Prize? The nobodies of the world cannot grasp the importance of your discoveries, which will forever alter humanity’s notions of life and death. They’re just a whirlwind of empty-headed imbeciles of no worth whatsoever.”

  “I’ve learned so much from those ‘empty-headed imbeciles.’ They raised me.”

  “And that is why you cannot be more than them. The ‘decency’ and ‘ethics’ they make so much of are hindrances to science. They’re the clamorings of those who’ve reached the limits of their own ability, and are trying to hide their incompetence. If you change that frame of mind, you free yourself from the limits of the weak.” Gerhard’s expression was as ripe with self-regard and self-confidence as his words. “There’s no substitute for human bodies when it comes to experiments. The human body is God’s masterwork. I experimented on people from the very start. Human cells are far easier to handle than animals’. Has the potential of using human cells never occurred to you?”

  “Can’t say it has,” Max said. But, the thought had crossed his mind, and more than once.

  “Behold, Professor.” Gerhard stood in front of Max and spun in place with his arms outstretched. He was light on his feet, and moved with the agility of a much younger man. Then he rolled up a sleeve and stuck his arm before Max’s eyes. His skin was smooth and unwrinkled. “I am my own research subject, and these are the results. I am a work of art!”

  “You’re right; no one would ever believe you’re over a hundred years old. You’ve got the body and the energy of a man in the prime of his life. But your soul is rotten. Don’t you smell it? The stench of death. I know what that smell is. But you wouldn’t understand in a million years.”

  “Don’t let me down. I think you have the greatest intellect in the world. Apart from me, of course.”

  “Then you’ve got the wrong idea. Don’t put me on the same level as your stupidity.”

  Gerhard shook his head and heaved a sigh. “I’ve made a tremendous discovery: eternal life.”

  “There’s no such thing.”

  “You’re looking at it.”

  “Eternity is a long time.”

  “I’ll show you. I’ll live to 200, then to 300! That is what my research is for!”

  “It’s not people that control people’s lives. Nor can they.”

  “I am chosen by God. My existence is proof of that.”

  “Then God made a mistake.”

  “Are you calling God incompetent?”

  “Even God makes mistakes. Though if you ask me, you’re the Devil’s chosen. In which case the Devil chose correctly. You yourself might be the Devil.”

  A deep laugh came from Gerhard’s lips. “Me, the Devil? That suits me fine. The Devil is a being worthy of eternal life. I am he who surpasses all.”

  “Eternal life is a dream. To say nothing of everyone being able to live forever.”

  “It’s enough for only the chosen to enjoy eternal life. They shall be the lords of this world, a handful of authorities wielding power over their disposable underlings. Is that not the ideal state of things? That way, only the superior strain survives.”

  “And who are the chosen? The rich? Those already in power? Who decides? Would they be the ones to decide they’re the chosen, or would you be the ones to decide? Before long, the world would be nothing but the rich and powerful.”

  “Why don’t you join us? Join the fold of the chosen who shall create the Fourth Reich. I would love to have you as my partner in science.”

  “No! I couldn’t handle the honor of such a thing.”

  “Think about what it would be like if Newton, Galileo, Bach, or Michelangelo survived to modern times. Perhaps Galileo would have demystified yet more of the secrets of the universe. Bach would be composing even more music that stirs the hearts of all the world. And to this day, we are in awe of the sculptures of Michelangelo. Think how much more magnificent civilization would be if the geniuses of the past had eluded death,” Gerhard spoke with enraptured eyes.

  “But what about Nero, Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot eluding death? Has that thought escaped you? The world would’ve been reduced to the playground of monsters like them, and would’ve been ruined as a result.”

  “They would all have caved in to the allure of eternal life. They must have wanted to continue researching, composing, sculpting, and painting. And the only way to do that is to obtain immortality,” he said, ignoring Max’s answer. He looked up at the ceiling, and then cast a soulless glance Max’s way. “You could see where every branch of science is headed. Wouldn’t that be splendid? I was born during the age of coal, lived through the age of oil, and experienced the atomic age. I will one day be able to experience nuclear fusion as well. We will create miniature suns and hold them in the palms of our hands. I was there to witness humanity go from mechanical calculators to electronic calculators to computers. I’m currently living through the age of fakery, the internet age. I look forward to what comes next. But the greatest advance of them all was a human. What is a human being, Professor? Can you answer that?”

  “I never thought you’d ask me that. To me, what makes a person a person will forever remain a mystery.”

  “Humanity—all life—is a cluster of proteins created by DNA, animated by electrical signals. When a life form dies, it rots and returns to the earth. Where does this ‘soul’ you speak of enter the picture?”

  “Do clusters of proteins have wills? Do they feel love or hate, sorrow or joy? I am a human being. A person. And people love each other and give birth to the generations after them. That’s part of what makes them people. Human beings are clusters of proteins with minds and souls!” he shouted, staring at Gerhard. Max hadn’t known he had that speech in him. “You’re trying to tack centuries onto your life, while life itself arose from chains of amino acids 3.6 billion years ago. Humanity as we know it exists thanks to the continuous evolution that started then. And humanity, too, will continue to evolve over time. Life exists alongside the flow of time. Do you mean to hit the stop button? Immortality is impossible.”

  “In a few months I’ll be able to acquire a more advanced immortality. I will live forever.” Gerhard’s face was confident. He smiled, intoxicated by the glory of it.

  Max sighed. This man was insane.

  “Join me. Let’s journey through this century, and the next. We’ll shape a new world with our own hands.” Gerhard stared at Max. There was a weird glint in his eyes. They were the
eyes of a madman. “I looked you up. I know everything about you. Your IQ, your grades in school, your hobbies, your favorite foods, even your tastes in art and women. And I also know about your illness.” Gerhard smiled triumphantly. Max looked away in spite of himself.

  “You fear the passing of time. People can put up with change if it’s gradual. Even if they can’t, they can brace themselves mentally and force themselves to accept what they must. But people’s hearts cannot deal with abrupt, radical change.” Gerhard was staring at him intently. His eyes radiated with the cruelty of a snake playing with a mouse.

  “Father Yunov chose death of his own free will,” Max said, glaring back at him. “He found a peace greater than what life could offer him.”

  “All he did was return to nothingness. He was nothing more than a coward who wasted the life I so graciously granted him. Not a trace of his existence remains on this Earth. He was the plaything of a make-believe god, unable to see the truth!” he spat.

  “There are fates worse than death. To him, there was greater happiness in death.”

  “You disappoint me.”

  “I wasn’t trying to please you.”

  “If you won’t serve me as my loyal partner, you can serve as my guinea pig. Your intelligence is precious and valuable, but so, too, is your body. I’d like to watch as you age, but I’m afraid I don’t have the patience for that. So, I’m going to make you age faster. That much is possible for me now, too. I’ve taken one step closer to godhood.”

  “You’ve got that backward. You’ve taken a step closer to becoming the Devil himself. In fact, you already are that evil.”

  “To a man who’s conquered death, neither God nor the Devil is anything more than a figment of mankind’s imagination.” Gerhard grinned. “Take him away!” he shouted at the door.

  The door opened, and two large men came in. Max’s hands were cuffed behind his back, and the two walked him out of the room. One had a gun. The other, who was in a lab coat, held a stick and a file that looked like a patient’s chart. A skull tattoo was visible on his wrist, only partially concealed by the lab coat. He opened the door at the end of the hallway. There was a narrow passageway within the dim room, and doors lined both sides. There was an eight-square-inch iron grill in the door. Max could tell there were people there, but it was silent.