by Bruce Buff
“Yes.”
“Then you know that though there are only three parts in the equation, they can produce an infinite amount of detailed instructions.”
“You don’t mean to say that something like this equation is encoded in our DNA?” Dan asked, questioning how something that implied programmed-in-processing, and therefore a programmer, could be incorporated into the cell of every living organism.
“Well, some type of algorithmic processing is definitely needed. The Mandelbrot equation is an example of just one possible type. Does this make sense to you?”
“It’s logical based on the numbers you’ve stated, but it’s astounding.”
“It gets even better. There are things called epi-markers, also known as epigenetics, which act like external switches that activate and deactivate different genes to produce different results from the same set of DNA. These also influence what gets passed from one generation to the next. Some appear to be impacted by what an organism experiences, thinks, and feels. So there must be some mechanism that controls the link between the mind and how specific epigenetic switches are set. The specificity of the mechanisms must be incredible.”
“That’s just natural selection, isn’t it?” Dan asked. He was trying to nail down where this was headed, worried that in fact that wasn’t what Stephen meant.
“Sure, if the mind is strictly biology based. But we don’t know that. In fact, physics can’t even propose how the mind can do what it does. At least not yet. Perhaps the soul isn’t dead. Who knows? Even you may have one!”
“Very funny. But seriously, you haven’t become one of those antiscience, antievolution fanatics who thinks everything is designed into us, have you?”
“Relax. I’m only a scientist searching for knowledge.”
“Good. Because I don’t want our first real discussion in over a year to wander into the territory of religious fundamentalism and creationism in the guise of science.”
“Religion doesn’t drive my science. I simply go where evidence and reason leads me.”
“Why haven’t I read anything about genetic algorithms or missing DNA? Based on what you said, it seems like the type of thing lots of geneticists would know and write about.”
“That’s a discussion for another night. The short answer is, they should be, but they either aren’t asking the obvious questions or choose not to state what they know.”
“It still sounds like you’re questioning evolution.”
“I’m not saying that evolution didn’t happen. I am saying that there may have been different mechanisms for it other than the strict Darwinist view of evolution via an accumulation of random mutations and natural selection. There are gaps that need to be filled with processes and causes. Anyway, what makes you so confident, and so obviously happy, in thinking physical matter is all there is?” Stephen asked. “Surely you know that means no free will, no objective morality, no meaning or purpose to life, no value to loving or being loved?”
Yes, he did know that all too well. But he was not prepared to engage in the subject that had already been causing him so much trouble. Instead, Dan asked, “What about the spiritually oriented books I saw upstairs? Is your work causing you to become religious again?” He left out any mention of the role Ava’s illness could have played.
“I was headed down that path anyway. You might want to rethink it yourself.”
“I know you’re too smart to have asked me here to discuss science and religion. Let’s cut to the chase. What do you need my help with?”
“Be patient. I’m almost there. While researching algorithm translation mechanisms, we quickly found unexpected things. Once I realized where it could lead, but before I had any major breakthroughs, I took the research offline, to be worked on in secret only by a small, trusted team, while I went through the motions at work.” Stephen paused.
Straightening up, Dan asked, “Why did you do that?”
“I was afraid of the power of what we would find. And I was right. We discovered multiple segments of unusually encoded DNA, each with a different algorithm and, for lack of a better description, translation codes. Six months ago, I broke two sets of algorithms and translation codes and thought I might be on the verge of a third. What the two revealed was beyond anything I could have imagined, with implications well beyond biology.”
“You mean you’ve decoded the genome and now know everything about human development?” Dan said, trying to figure out what Stephen meant.
“Yes and no. I did break the code, but it will take a long time to figure it all out. What I do know is that there are amazing possibilities, including some that scare the hell out of me. In the wrong hands, they could do terrible things. Beyond that I’m not able to say right now, though convince me your head is on straight, that I can still count on you like I used to, and I’ll tell you everything very soon.”
“Well, you’re going to have to do that if I’m going to help you. Though you still haven’t told me what you need from me. And my head is fine, whatever you may think of it,” Dan said, standing up to stretch and then sitting back down, as he tried to process what he was hearing. “But okay, for now, the biggest questions I have are why are you hiding things from HBC? Why did you think you had to build this room in your own home?”
“Imagine having all the knowledge of human biology at your fingertips, knowing how to engineer life and knowing what makes a person a person. That also means having the knowledge to alter virtually anything about people. I need to find some way to protect its use before allowing anyone else to get anywhere near it. Scientists in several countries are already experimenting with altering the genome. While I have no concerns about HBC in general, once they’re involved, I’d lose control of the research, so I’d no longer be able to direct how it would be used. I have too much responsibility to do that. In a scary development, right after my breakthrough five months ago, one of my close collaborators, Alex Robertson—you’ve met him a few times—died under questionable circumstances.”
After a pause, Dan said, “I’m sorry. That must be very hard on his family and on you.”
“It was and is.”
“So where do I come in, and why was a physicist involved?”
“Glad you’re still as sharp as ever. Alex was helping me with the encryption to protect our work—one of his areas of expertise. I need someone I can trust absolutely, to replace him. That’s you. I need your help in setting up a secure, confidential computer network for me. I also need you to help me with something else Alex and I were working on. As I said a moment ago, we broke, or more accurately, decoded, two complete sets of information. The night of the biggest breakthroughs, after Alex had gone home, the security keys he was using to protect our work timed out and the processing stopped before I could find out if there was actually a third set of coded information. I don’t have the technical ability to set up the computer environment and resume processing and haven’t found anyone I trust enough to help me do it. With your knowledge of computers, mathematics, and code breaking, I’m hoping you can help me continue the processing and see if there is something there. If it’s anything like I think, it has great potential to change the world.”
“Guess I really should’ve found out what you wanted before I said yes.”
“You would’ve done it anyway.”
“Probably. Why are you trusting me with all of this?” Dan said, amazed by Stephen’s claims. Could they possibly be true?
“Because you’re very good at what you do, and I have complete faith that no matter how angry or anything else you become, you will never let me or my family down,” Stephen said, while thinking And because I really need help and have nowhere else to turn.
“Are you sure you’re not already compromised?”
Stephen turned solemn and pensive, looked away, cleared his throat, and said, “There’s nothing for anyone to find. We
don’t use HBC computers since Alex died. Most of my team’s security is sneaker-net, stand-alone, air-gapped computers and local encryption. We should be fine. Still, if you can, I’d like you to see if my computer activity is being tracked or anything’s been hacked.”
“You know, if you are being observed, wouldn’t people already know you’ve reached out to me? After all, you used an email to get me here tonight,” Dan asked.
“I don’t think everything I do is being tracked. Nonetheless, I brought you here as an old friend. That won’t look strange. It will make sense for you to visit Ava in the hospital and come to the Cape. All of our activities upstairs were in the open. Down here, we’re secure. I apologize for asking all of this of you, but I really don’t have any better options. And you really are good at your work.”
“Don’t worry about it. And you needn’t flatter me,” Dan said, then spoke at length about how he would set up the secure computers and networks. Most of what he needed was already in place and he’d be able to show it to Stephen at the Cape.
After Dan was done describing it, he asked, “I love the Cape, so I don’t need an excuse to go there. But why do you want me to go with you tomorrow?”
“There are some files at the Marine Biological Laboratory I need your help with and they aren’t accessible remotely. It won’t take long.”
“Good, because I’d rather spend my time on many other things whenever I’m there.”
“There will be plenty of time for that,” Stephen said, then stood up and walked toward the door. “As for now, how about a game of pool? I can probably beat you these days.”
“Don’t count on it. But first, another beer. That will be the price of your futile attempt.”
“Another is well worth the pleasure of teaching you the first of many important lessons, humility. Just to let you know, while you were always better at the angles, I can handle rebounds better and shoot straighter.”
“Very funny, and dead wrong, especially from someone who’s at risk from his own hubris,” Dan said. “Near as I can tell, you’ve been playing every possible angle recently. But then again, aren’t politics and angles challenging in the supposedly objective world of academic science? Anyway, it’s time to put up or shut up.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Stephen walked upstairs to get the beers while Dan racked the balls. As they started the game, “Question” by the Moody Blues played in the background. Dan hummed along with the words, Why do we never get an answer, when we’re knocking at the door?
After the words a thousand million questions, Stephen said, “Be careful what you ask for. We have a long way to go, and what we find could change how you think about the world.”
“Trust me. I could use a break from the way I’ve been feeling,” Dan said. If what Stephen had told him was true, there really might be some answers out there to the things that had been bothering him. Whether Dan would like the answers would be another thing. But just the thought that they could exist was already changing his mood.
The song continued: To learn as we grow old, the secrets of our soul.
After they played a couple of overly competitive games that they split, they returned to the study and talked some more.
Finally, just as Dan was getting up to leave, Stephen went over to the piano and started playing Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” Dan came over and they sang together in low voices, not quite in harmony and barely on pitch. When they had finished, Stephen looked up and said, “It might have been twenty-five years since we’ve done that.”
“Our voices haven’t improved, and they weren’t great to begin with.”
“Thanks a lot. Now get out of here before one of us changes our mind about tomorrow. We’ve got a lot to do.”
Dan handed his car keys to Stephen and said, “It’ll be nice to see Ava and spend time at the Cape.”
“Good night,” Stephen said.
Walking outside, Dan got into the backseat of the waiting car. As it drove off, he was energized. He felt his blood pulse through his body. A veil was lifting. Everything looked so colorful, even in the dark. The night was fragrant and full of sound. His buoyed spirit, however, was tempered by the knowledge of Ava’s past illness and Stephen’s concerns. As long as there was any possibility of helping Ava or finding answers to the questions he now knew he needed to consider, Dan would do everything he possibly could to help.
Chapter 21
DAY 2
SATURDAY, 9:40 A.M.
Dan hated hospitals. They reminded him of mortality, illness, and dissolution. Though it was justifiably recognized as an outstanding medical center, Boston Children’s Hospital could often do nothing but provide temporary relief or a slight extension of life for a child. That was just the nature of things. One more indication of the pointlessness of life. Not good. Not evil. It just was, though that provided no meaningful answers and certainly no solace.
Yet, for many, it was unquestionably a place of hope. That was what was on Dan’s mind when he had woken this morning. Though he had slept much better than he had in a long time, the old doubts were nagging him again. Still, the possibility for hope, and the desire to see Ava, helped him focus outside of himself today and provided an energy he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Now he was waiting in the hospital lobby to meet Stephen and Ava. Stephen had arrived earlier, in Dan’s car, and was now with Ava. Nancy had gone home to get some rest. Dan and Stephen would drop Ava off with her mother and then head down to the Cape. Nancy and Ava would follow shortly thereafter.
Dan was early, since it had taken less time than he thought to walk the two miles to the hospital, despite the fact that he carried a large gym bag filled with his weekend clothes.
At 10 a.m. Stephen strode into the lobby. He looked at Dan’s gym bag and said, “I’m happy to see that you’re still game. Wasn’t sure what you’d be thinking after you had time to sleep on things.”
“Can’t say that I didn’t have second thoughts . . . then thirds . . . then fourths. Luckily for you, I couldn’t find a way to back out and still see Ava. And there’s the little matter of getting my car back. Pretty clever of you.” He smiled at his old friend. “So, how is Ava?”
“She’s great. Handled the tests wonderfully. Although we don’t have all the results, everything looks really good. Let’s go and get her out of here,” Stephen said cheerily.
• • •
Dan followed Stephen down the hallway and into Ava’s room. It was a private room, in a wing of the hospital for children with less severe ailments. Next to her bed was a fully extended lounge chair, where Nancy had slept the previous evening.
The room was empty. A note rested on top of the pillow. Stephen picked it up, smiled, and said, “Ava went to visit some of the other kids. She’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“You said Ava is doing well. Why did she have to stay overnight?”
“Some of the tests require special preparation, and if you group them together properly, you can get them done quicker and easier, even if it does require an overnight stay. Ava’s physician, Dr. Alighieri, has been outstanding through all of this. She helped us with the scheduling, and now we can enjoy the weekend.”
After a pause, Dan asked, “Can your work help the children here?”
“That’s part of what I’m striving for. It’s also part of the reason why I need your help.”
“You know I could never say no to anything that would help with this.”
“That’s one of the exceptional things about you. You really should remind yourself of that from time to time.”
• • •
Dan was looking out the window at the increasingly overcast sky when Ava came bounding in and lit everything up, as though the full force of the sun was focused on the room. Seeing him, she let out little sounds of happiness. He turned in time to catch her as she jumped i
nto his arms. It had been well over a year since they had last seen each other, and she was still as warm to him as ever. Her blue eyes beamed into his as he held her. Long, light-brown hair, the color of vibrant summer wheat, hung around her shoulders. She felt solid, healthy, not frail. And he felt whole with his arms wrapped around her.
When he finally put her down, she went over to her father, who was talking to a young woman dressed in casual clothes. There was something odd about the woman, though Dan couldn’t put a finger on what.
As Dan walked over, Stephen turned and said, “Dan, this is Dr. Alighieri. She was tremendous throughout Ava’s illness.”
As she turned toward him, Dan extended his hand and said, “Pleased to meet you.” He was surprised how young she was—probably in her early thirties—yet she carried herself with the complete assurance of someone with a lifetime of experience and certainty in everything around her.
Dr. Alighieri faced Dan directly. Her dark-blue eyes, the color of the early-evening sky when the stars first appear, seemed to reach through his. Jet-black, shoulder-length hair framed an interesting face, but all Dan could think about was his increasing discomfort, uncertain of whether he was being drawn to or repelled by her. He almost started to turn away and withdraw his hand, but before he could do so, she grabbed his arm and said, “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m glad we finally get to meet.”
He didn’t move until she released him, then mumbled, “Thank you for all you did for Ava. She’s really special.”
Looking at him quizzically, Dr. Alighieri replied, “They all are. Especially her.”
Perplexed by the odd interaction, Stephen said to Dan, “Why don’t we get the car, and Ava and Dr. Alighieri can meet us out front?”
• • •
On the way down the elevator, Stephen asked, “What was that about?”
“There was something disconcerting about her. My instincts were blaring alarms.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Dr. Alighieri used cutting-edge medicine, and provided around-the-clock care. She gave everything of herself to help Ava, was even organizing trials in case we needed to try new medicines, and you let a funny feeling get to you? What type of alarms do you think you were hearing? Your vanishing sanity?”