Mark Cummings, one of the biologists spoke up. “I hope they are all stocked up with sandbags down in Florida and along the coast. Those are going to be some nasty tides when the Dwarf gets closer.”
Brett nodded. “Yes, thirty five foot tides are predicted all along the coasts and in some places like Nova Scotia they are predicting something like eighty foot tides or more. I am glad I do not own beach front property. I am not sure that the dikes that the government has built around Cape Canaveral and other places like New Orleans are going to hold. I read somewhere that they had built to a height of fifty feet but even that is going to be too close for comfort.”
Alison, the other biologist joined the conversation. “Why don’t they just abandon New Orleans? They should have done that way back in the start of the century when they had that big hurricane down there that swamped the city.”
Probably because after the encounter when the big freeze starts that is going to be prime real estate,” replied Mark. “They are projecting a sea level drop of almost thirty feet in the next hundred years as all the moisture that falls as ice and snow in the higher elevation and latitudes stays put. That will put New Orleans twenty feet above sea level instead of thirteen feet below it. There are a lot of other places like Denmark that are going to gain some beachfront also. Of course that will not do the Danish people any good, as most of Northern Europe will be under the ice anyway.”
“I sure would not want to live behind one of those dikes,” laughed Brett. “Even if the water does not top them, all it would take is one little earthquake to cause a break and down they come. I believe they are predicting more than just a few tremors in some places. The last predictions I saw, the geologists were predicting most of the dormant volcanoes along the west coast would probably become active again. Mount Rainier, Saint Helens, and the volcanoes in Alaska, all those will wake up. The volcanoes in Hawaii are expected to blow big time.”
“Those are babies compared to the likes of Mount Fiji, Vesuvius, and some of the other big ones around the world,” said Alison. We may have the likes of Pompeii in a lot of places if people don’t get the heck away from them. I am glad they forced the mandatory evacuation of Hawaii. The news the other day said there were still people hiding out and refusing to leave in some of the cities and up in the forests on the slopes of the volcanoes. What a bunch of crazies.”
Brett stood up to leave. “It’s time to get back to those simulations. We still have a job to do. Now that we have all of this DNA recorded, we need to figure out a way to bring it back to life. Jessica is chomping at the bit to try the new technique she has been working on. I don’t think she has found the Holy Grail we have been searching for, but it might be a step in the right direction. I need to check my messages before I see you guys back in the lab.”
Mark and Alison also stood and disposed of their trash in the recycling machine. Mark hit the re-cycle button and the machine whined as it ground up their food waste and biodegradable paper plates into a fine paste that would later be collected and used as compost by the waste recycling company. “We’ll see you back in the lab, Brett” Alison said as they turned to walk down the hallway.
Brett walked into the office he shared with Jessica and found her peering closely at her computer monitor. He pulled her hair away from her neck and nibbled her below her jaw. She smiled and stroked his hand as she watched the computer screen. “Are you running another simulation with your new technique?” he asked.
Jessica nodded her head. “I think that we are very close Brett. By manipulating the vesicles and the phospholipid layers of a similar type cell, I believe that we can do a cross species DNA transfer. We may have been going too far out on a limb trying to re-create an artificial cell when all we really need to do is coach the cell of a similar organism to obey the DNA implanted from a different one. Look here. These are the ovum of a cow and a mouse right after formation by meiosis in the female. Except for the nucleus and DNA, there is very little difference in size or makeup of the micro organelles of each of them. There is a slight difference in the phospholipid bilayer and the vesicles, but just a tiny difference. Watch this simulation. I have removed the genetic material from a mouse egg cell and replaced it with a complete DNA structure of an Angus cow. If I inject just a tiny bit of a late phase D-type cyclin into the cell during the DNA transfer, it triggers the anaphase promoting complex and DNA replication begins. This also will start the cycle for producing more micro cell components consistent with the host DNA organism and the next generation of cells will develop normally. Now, watch the whole process in fast motion.”
Brett watched the sequence from the DNA replacement until the resultant fully nucleated egg cell had reproduced to the point of being a blastocyte. “This looks very promising Jess, but you know that what we see on computer simulations is not what we always get in results in the lab and real world testing.”
Jessica stood and took Brett’s hand. “Come with me mister skeptic.” She led him down the hallway to the reproduction lab. Brianna, their daughter was there looking through a microscope and making notes on a computer pad. She looked up as they came into the lab and winked at her mother.
“Are you bringing another disciple to educate them in the Brianna school of cross species fertilization and development?” Brianna asked with a grin.
Jessica laughed. “I did that when I married an ape and conceived you, you silly thing.”
Brett looked confused. “Your mother is trying to show me a new technique she is working on for transferring DNA between donor species egg cells. What is this Brianna school stuff you are talking about?”
“Actually,” said Jessica “The idea of the D-Cyclines was originally Brianna’s. She had been studying the different trigger enzymes for the anaphase promoting complex, or APC, and thought we should be able to do what a newly fertilized cell does when it produces the cyclines by itself. The idea was hers; I just worked out the technique.”
Brett shook his head. “It works on paper and in a computer simulation. I do not want to shoot you gals down, but how many times have we been disappointed when we could not get these ideas to work in the lab? We will need to set up some experiments and do some in vitro fertilization to see how the cells reproduce. There may be some cumulative defect that would abort the embryo some time down the process at some point.”
Brianna walked over to a shelf and picked up a plastic box and brought it back over to the desk. She took the vented top off and pushed it over to her dad. Inside was a female hamster huddled over a brood of naked baby hamsters that appeared to be a day or two old. “These were born yesterday,” she said with a grin.
“They look like baby hamsters,” said Brett.
“They are dad, but they are a little different. You see their DNA is that of a hamster, but the original egg cells were harvested from a Rhesus monkey. Don’t you know what this means?”
Brett just stared at the little naked things wiggling under the mother hamster who was trying to shield them from view. “You mean that momma hamster is going to have to feed a bunch of baby monkeys?”
Jessica rolled her eyes at him. “Brett, her idea works. Those are baby hamsters, but when hamster DNA was put into monkey egg cells and the eggs implanted, they developed normally. The female hamster did not reject and abort the blastocytes because at that point they had a hamster phospholipid membrane that identified itself as hamster, not monkey. Don’t you see, we can use this process now? We can bring back the Mammoths or Mastodons if we want to. We are going to have all those new icy glaciers up north; we could bring back the animals that went extinct after the last ice age if we have copies of their DNA available. By identifying and manipulating the phospholipids membrane we can also stop the rejection caused by a autoimmune response of the surrogate mother. A dog can now have kittens, or a cow could carry a colt fetus, or a human could carry a Neanderthal fetus. Think of the possibilities this opens up.”
Brett just kept staring at the baby hamsters. “I w
as thinking more of the ethical issues this brings up. He looked up at Jessica. “Remember the old Jurassic Park movies?”
“Brett, why are you being the reluctant philosopher all of a sudden? Usually you were the wildly inpatient and ambitious one if I remember correctly. Were you not the one who went experimenting on himself with untested virus vaccines in our younger days?”
“I know Jess, but who are we to decide which species that went totally extinct should be brought back to life. Maybe some of those species went extinct for a good reason and do not need to be brought back.”
“You kill me sometimes dad. The passenger pigeon went extinct because of over hunting by humans. The black rhino is extinct because of hunting by humans. Don’t you think we owe it those species to bring them back if we can?” exclaimed Brianna.
“That is not what I am talking about," said Brett. "I mean species like the saber tooth tiger. So we can bring the species back to the living. For what purpose? To stick it in a zoo so people can stare at it. We sure are not going to re-introduce them to wild. I think we could ask some cavemen who used to be terrified of the things if we should bring them back and they would say hell no! I just think that we need to think these things through. Neither you, me, nor any other person, should decide to do this on our own. It should be a special team of biologists and experts who weigh the merits carefully. And anyway, this is only part of the process. To really bring this to fruition it needs the component where the entire gestation can be accomplished in vitro. We need an artificial womb so to speak. There may be applications where there may not be a suitable surrogate mother or female for that animal due to size for example. You could not expect a horse to carry a giraffe for example. There is too great a physical difference. But, with an artificial womb that a placenta could attach to for placental animals, that would be ideal. With plants or with animals that lay eggs it is not as complicated. It is much easier to produce an artificial egg shell than a womb.”
“We may be real close to that dad. You know that we can already grow artificial kidneys and spleens. They are really close to growing an artificial heart also. It is amazing what has been done since the ban on stem cell research was lifted. A laboratory produced womb that can nurture a developing fetus may not be very far away.”
“Speaking of faraway…I need to talk to you both,” Brianna said as she took the box of hamsters and replaced the top. “Both of you sit down." Brianna paused as they both took a stool. “I received an interesting phone call this morning and I want to talk to you about it. A guy named Arnold Bannister called me this morning from Houston. He works for NASA. He said that NASA is in the preliminary planning stages for a manned expedition to land on the new planet Elpis. They want to start training at least four biologists as mission members. Due to my experience with genetics as well as my papers on exobiology, they feel that I am a prime candidate. They want me to fly to Houston to begin training for a position as a potential crew member.”
“Absolutely not, young lady!” exclaimed Brett. “My daughter is not going to be shot off in some space ship to an unknown planet and be a guinea pig in some wild project. Landing a human on another planet has never been done and proven safe. Your place is here in the lab with us. Look what you have already accomplished; you came up with this idea for your hamsters. You don’t need to be off on some godforsaken expedition that may never come back. I will not give you permission to go.”
“Dad, I am not a little girl that you can tell what to do and not do. I am my own person and I have my own goals and dreams. This dream, here in this lab, this is your dream and mom’s dream, not mine. My interest is in finding and studying alien life forms. My dream was to go to Mars, or to Europa, and discover what life forms may be living there and to study them. Europa is going to be gone when Jupiter is thrown from our solar system. An expedition to Mars is on the back burner now. This new planet may or may not have some sort of primitive life forms, but this is what I have always been interested in this. You and mom have worked to save all this genetic information, the history of life on our planet. I want to go discover and study life on another planet. Can’t you understand?”
“Brett, it sounds like our daughter has a little bit of us in her don’t you think?” asked Jessica.
“I think she is a crazy dreamer is what I think,” replied Brett
Jessica crossed her arms and put on her serious reprimand expression that she donned when she was going to let him know she did not approve of something. “I seem to remember about thirty years ago when somebody’s dad got furious when his son decided he wanted to do research instead of becoming a physician and following in his father’s footsteps. I seem to recall that person telling his father that it was his life and he would do what he wanted to do, even when his father disowned him from the family. I also remember a young girl that fell in love with that rebellious and portentous young man and ran off and married him when all her family and friends was telling her she was crazy.”
Brett sat there with a look of despair on his face. “Brianna, will you at least think about it before you make a decision. Please, just consider all that you will be leaving behind here. I was hoping that someday you would take over this project as your own. Just don’t make a decision right away, please.”
Jessica gave her daughter a hug. “I love you Brianna, promise you will keep in touch.”
“She hasn’t made a decision yet, Jessica. Give her some time to think it over!” exclaimed Brett.
Jessica took her husband’s hand and held it tight. “Oh but she has my dear, she has. She is going to pursue her dream like we did.”
Brianna came over and hugged both of them. “I love you both so very much. My flight leaves tomorrow night.”
Chapter 58
May 7th, 2043
The Old White House, Washington DC
President sat down in the oval office, one last time. The old historic Resolute desk and other furniture had been removed with all the paintings and national memorabilia and moved to the new Colonial House in New Washington, Georgia. In its place was an old oak government desk from the basement of some abandoned government building here in the capitol. He had wanted to address the nation one last time from this office, but events were taking their toll on his plans. In about six weeks, the Brown Dwarf would make its closest approach to Earth but already its effects were being felt. The old historic district of Georgetown had flooded last night at high tide. The water from the Chesapeake Bay had backed all the way up the Potomac River. Water had gotten three feet deep in the streets. The few residents who had signed evacuation waivers had watched in silence from the higher elevations and second stories of the buildings there. The evacuation of all who had agreed to leave the city was complete. The only people remaining were a battalion of military police, the stubborn civilians that had refused to leave, and his own small retinue of advisors.
He knew that power had been cut off to all areas of the city except the capitol complex as a precaution to prevent electrical fires caused from the flooding. When his staff left, that would also be turned off. The rest of the United States Government had already re-located to New Washington in the state of Georgia. It saddened him deeply to know that he would be the last president to sit in this office. At their worst, the floods would probably even reach this high. Then in a few months, the cold winter would start. In a few years this historic building, if it was still standing, would probably be covered with ice and snow. The cherry trees here in Washington would probably never bloom again after this spring.
He had flown up to Washington one last time two days ago. He had deeply wanted to visit some of the old national monuments one last time. He had stood for half an hour in front of the Lincoln Memorial in reflection. He had visited the Vietnam Memorials to pay tribute to the war that his grandfather had died in. He had visited the beauty of the Jefferson Memorial and the inspiring view of the Washington Monument. The new capital had none of these monuments that had been built to honor the
great past leaders of this land. Perhaps in time, new memorials would be erected. All the old ones were to be left in place for some future generation to behold if the ice ever receded. His last visit had been to Arlington National Cemetery. He paid his respects to the nations fallen and wished them a restful sleep in eternity. Perhaps the snow, when it fell, would quiet the worries and noise of this world for those that had made the ultimate sacrifice.
President Walden was jolted from his memories by one of his security detail agents knocking on the door. “It’s time to go sir, Marine One is standing by and we need to get you to the airport. We also just received this from the communications room,” the agent said as he handed over a printed message.
“I will be right out agent Nunley,” the President replied. He opened the message. It was a security brief from the Defense Intelligence Agency. The sporadic fighting that had been going on along the Pakistan and Indian Border in Kashmir was getting worse. Analysts were predicting that it could soon become a full-fledged war. “Damn,” the President thought to himself. The Dwarf was going to probably kill millions in that region already, and they were now trying to start another war. He wondered if humanity would ever escape its endless cycle of war and violence. Maybe the universe would have been better off if the Dwarf had taken the Earth out completely and saved humanity from any more wars and suffering. He stood one last time and looked around the office. He could almost feel the presence of the other great men and women who had sat in this room. With a sigh he walked out, shut the door behind him, and followed his security detail to the waiting helicopter.
As soon as Air Force One had lifted off from Andrews Air Force Base and turned toward Atlanta, General Sipes, the President's Military attaché came and briefed him on the current situation in the Indian Subcontinent. “The Prime Minister of India has ordered the forced expulsion of all the Islamic population in India. The Muslims have been getting increasingly agitated and holding violent protests. Last night in the northwest Indian City of Chandigarh a large group of Muslim refugees from Iran held a demonstration and then went on a violent spree. They were wandering the streets and beating any Hindu they came across. The mob had pillaged and burned any home or store owned by Hindus. The Hindu population has risen up and demanded retaliation. The flooding along the Ganges River in the poverty stricken areas is also causing a major upheaval.
Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) Page 39