The Cell Game
Page 3
and nodded. He was feeling a little lightheaded at the moment with the realization that he was being given the chance of a lifetime with being able to pitch his research idea like this to two of the richest men in the country.
“You're to be there at 5:30 p.m. Don't be late. My employers aren't used to being kept waiting and hate the thought of having to do it.” Beria smiled again as he put out his hand, “It was a pleasure meeting you Dr. Ernest.”
#
It was a terrible two days for Ernest. He couldn't remember being this nervous even when he was defending his doctoral dissertation. He had arrived a full 45 minutes early. He spent almost all of the time going over his material and making sure it was all in the order he wanted to present it, even though he had spent the previous evening doing the same thing. He wanted to, needed to, get this right the first time.
At 5:25 he went to the receptionist, a pretty blonde who seemed coldly efficient, and put his cell phone, watch and bag into a small gray box that she put under her desk out of sight. She then took him through a series of doors until they were outside two large black walnut doors with the Corke family crest engraved on them. She knocked once and then opened them, ushering Ernest in as she left, closing the doors that made no sound but the click of the lock.
The room was bigger than Ernest's apartment. That it was an office seemed to add to its size in his eyes. He tried to look at it in a detached way and had a feeling the meeting was being held here to throw him off balance, to intimidate him. Everything about it, from the multi-pane window that took up most of one wall, to the ornate three foot diameter clock that sat behind the large, stone topped desk, was designed to make visitors feel insignificant.
In front of the large desk was a striped sofa with both Corke brothers sitting on it, whom Ernest recognized from the news. In front of that was a low dark mahogany coffee table that had two drinks on it. To one side of the sofa was a plush chair with Lawrence Beria rising from it.
“Dr. Ernest, thank you for coming. Allow me to introduce Rex and Theodore Corke.” He gestured to the two brothers and they merely gave a barely polite half-wave. Neither rose to greet him. “You’ve already been in touch with the Corke family physician, Dr. Malines” He indicated a man in his mid 40’s standing near a chair set behind him and to his right which had been turned to face the gathering at the sofa. Beria directed Ernest to a lone chair set opposite the sofa, with the coffee table between. A quick glance at the floor told Ernest that Beria’s chair normally sat on this side of table as well. Ernest knew this would probably be more interrogation than interview. He took the seat indicated and tried to force himself to relax.
“You can start whenever you’re ready Dr.” Beria said simply. Ernest quickly glanced at the large wall clock. He hadn’t been given any time limit on his presentation. Still, he had spent the previous couple days honing it down so it could be completed in about 45 minutes if he wasn’t interrupted. He began what could really be described as a sales pitch.
When he was finished he glanced at the clock again and was inwardly pleased that he had gone only 1 minute over the time he allotted himself. He had the passing thought of the Latin phrase of Caesar, “Alea iacta est” – the die is cast. Now all he could do is answer any questions the 2 brothers might have. Questions may, at least, indicate interest.
It surprised Ernest that Beria was the one with the first question. Looking through notes he had been taking, Beria asked “Dr Ernest, you said that if the research works out, the final process would be a pregnancy lasting a normal nine months. But you didn’t say what happens after that.”
Ernest looked at Beria with some confusion. “After? After what?”
“After the pregnancy” Beria responded. “What will be done so the clones can help in running things? They will be able to do that, yes?”
Ernest did well in suppressing his smile. “I think I understand what you mean. The idea of fully capable, developed and functional clones is fantasy. They will not be exact replicas with exact personalities to match the person they were created from. When the pregnancy is over they will be babies. Babies with all the DNA of the donors, yes, but they will have to age the same as anyone else.”
“Then, doctor,” Rex Corke asked in his slight Texas drawl as he shifted position somewhat “what good is having a clone if it isn’t going to be “me” in every way”?
Ernest had a feeling this could be the question his entire presentation hinged on. To get the answer wrong would mean the door of this opportunity would slam shut never to be opened again for him. He took a deep breath before answering.
“When there are identical twins they are the same physically in every way but they still have different personalities. These babies would be like each of you having an identical twin but with one enormous difference. The cloning would be done with brain cells from both of you. This, I feel, has the best chance of giving the babies the intelligence and personality traits that should make them more like both of you.”
Rex scowled briefly. “You say ‘may’ and ‘best chance’. So you don’t know if any of this will work?”
Ernest looked Rex in the eye. “No, Mr. Corke, I can’t guarantee this will work. All the science that it’s all based on still needs a lot of research to advance the procedures and confirm everything will work. And none of it can be done because the laws won’t allow any research into human cloning. However” Ernest held up the papers of his presentation as if to emphasis it, “if it does work, your business interests will continue to be run in a way that is consistent with how you have been running them for the rest of the children’s lives. It isn’t immortality, but it’s the closest thing to it.”
Theodore took a sip from the glass in front of him and then put it back on the table with a loud clunk. He looked at the glass a moment before looking up to meet Ernest’s gaze. “How much will this cost?”
“There’s no way I can estimate that. And there isn’t any way to predict how long the research will take. To paraphrase Cicero, the sinews of research are infinite money. But the one thing that you will have in your favor, is all the research will have one goal: to clone both of you. Consider how many research teams have tried to cure cancer. All of them want to be the first to do it so they don’t share data and it forces them all to keep reinventing the wheel so progress is slowed enormously. With this all the research will be shared as needed between the teams.”
“When it comes to things like curing diseases… well, let’s just say there’s more money to be made in treating the symptoms than in finding cures. But what do you mean by teams? I thought you would be doing all the research, doctor?” Theodore asked.
“If I had six lifetimes maybe I could get half of it done alone. Maybe. But with five teams, each concentrating on one aspect of the process, I think the research can be cut to fifteen or twenty years. Also, numerous teams with me coordinating them make it unlikely any of them will be able to figure out exactly what the goal is and cause problems by going to someone outside.” This last point was what he wanted to stress the least but couldn’t avoid bringing up. Wealthy or not, the public outcry against the brothers would be unstoppable if it was learned they were trying to clone themselves. “So” Ernest continued, “how much will it cost? Can you put a price tag on having all your businesses – the ones you both have done so much to build up - run the way you want for another 70 years by two people who would be essentially yourselves?”
Ernest sat back down and faced an uncomfortable two minutes of silence. Beria kept glancing between the brothers and Dr. Malines who had remained silent throughout the presentation and questions afterward. Beria took a deep breath as if in preparation to say something which Ernest knew would mean a polite but firm refusal of his proposal. But before Beria could speak Rex pre-empted him. “We want you to leave your proposal so Dr Malines can look at it more before we make a decision. I think we should have an answer for you in…” Rex lo
oked over at Malines and continued, “say a week?” Malines said nothing but nodded once.
Ernest’s heart skipped a beat as he realized there still was a chance for this to work. He got up and gathered his things, putting the proposal neatly in the folder he had been provided and then he placed it on the coffee table. Now the brothers stood up and they shook hands with him, Ernest thanking them for their time and he was shown out the door by Beria who then came back and returned his own chair to the place it had previously occupied before sitting back down in it.
Malines walked over and picked up the proposal and started thumbing through it even as he headed back to his chair. Everyone was silent while Malines spent the next ten minutes scanning through the folder. When he finally closed it and put it down Theodore asked “Well? Is it all legit or is this guy just a crackpot?”
“I really will need a week to go over this and that will mean cancelling all my other commitments…” he began.
“You’ll be compensated” Rex interrupted.
“…and I still might not be able to say with certainty whether his theories on it are right. The material, just from what little I’ve seen, is pretty high level.”
Theodore said “You’ve been