Altered Image

by Trish Moran

  Hugo shrugged. ‘If you like that sort of thing.’

  ‘Oh, I would love to be such a good player.’ Frankie stood up and kicked an imaginary ball, then jumped in the air. ‘He’s done it! He’s scored! Frankie scores the winning goal for England!’

  He stood in front of Hugo. ‘What about you, Hugo, what do you want to do in the future?’

  ‘Something a bit more worthwhile than kicking a ball about,’ Hugo looked at his companion. ‘I want people to remember me for ever.’

  ‘Well, I suppose if you go on to be a famous scientist, they will,’ Ginny remarked.

  ‘Yes! The leader of the Ra … revolution!’ Hugo stood up. ‘Well, I’d better be going.’

  ‘Aren’t you going to work with Daddy?’ Ginny asked him.

  ‘No, I’m busy this afternoon.’ He waved and left. ‘He doesn’t go to Ruby’s house or work with Daddy as much as he used to lately. I wonder what he does,’ Ginny frowned as he walked away.

  ‘Probably stays at home studying how to be a great scientist,’ Frankie said.

  ‘No, he isn’t at home much. I heard his mum talking to Ruby the other day. She was really upset and said he’s never at home and won’t even tell her where he spends his time,’ she continued. ‘Ruby spoke to my mum about it.’

  ‘What did your mum say?’ Frankie asked her.

  ‘She said she couldn’t be doing with weepy women who had no backbone and she could understand exactly why Hugo spent such little time at home.’

  ‘She’s such a comfort, isn’t she, your mum? What does she do if you hurt yourself, give you a plaster and tell you to get over it?’ Frankie grinned.

  ‘No,’ she shrugged. ‘She tells me that I know where the plasters are kept.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  ‘So you see, Takir, I’d be a valuable team player over in Romania. I could really help to get things moving. You said yourself you were expecting things to move on quicker than they have done under Sanjit.’

  Takir looked at the boy’s earnest expression and smiled. ‘Hugo, I’m sorry. You are too young. I know you are much more mature mentally than your chronological age, but the Radicals won’t consider letting you work over there until you are older.’

  Hugo bit his lip. ‘The Compound Labs don’t appreciate me and neither do the Radicals. Perhaps I should just form my own Lab group.’

  Takir sighed. ‘OK, look, how about I see if I can arrange a trip for you to Romania? Just a short visit for a week or two.’

  The boy’s face lit up. ‘Oh, Takir! That would be great! When can I go?’

  ‘Slow down. We’ll need to arrange ID and also a story that will convince your mother to let you go.’ The older man frowned. ‘I’ll be in touch later this week. Don’t say anything to anyone else.’

  Hugo could hardly contain his excitement as he sat in Takir’s office the following week.

  ‘So, the story is I’m going away for a fortnight’s holiday in Devon with my new friend, Geoff, and his parents,’ he repeated.

  Takir nodded, ‘Yes. Next Wednesday, Geoff will spend the evening at your house. His parents will drop him off and pick him up, so they can meet your mother. You will spend Thursday and Friday at his house. In two weeks’ time his parents will suggest the holiday to your mother. As long as this goes to plan, everything has been arranged for the actual trip at the end of the month.’

  ‘Everything will go to plan!’ Hugo said firmly.

  His mother had been pleased and relieved to see her son spending time with someone of his own age who obviously shared his interests. Though “Geoff”s parents had seemed rather cold, Hugo was very keen to join the family on holiday and she had willingly agreed after a chat with them.

  Three weeks later, Hugo smiled at Takir as the private plane prepared for take-off.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Takir and Hugo climbed out of the airport taxi in front of a tall, old-fashioned stone building. Hugo gazed up at the ornate carvings over the wide, wooden doorway. A large plaque on one side of the doorway read ‘Hudson Institute’.

  Sanjit appeared with a beaming smile and embraced Takir. ‘Good to see you brother!’ He turned to the young boy. ‘Hugo, how are you? It’s so good to get the chance to show you around our latest centre. We’ve used so many of the ideas you gathered from the Compound Labs.’

  ‘I can’t wait to see it all for myself,’ Hugo replied. He followed the two men down a long corridor through the main building and out into a courtyard.

  ‘We’ve put you into two rooms in the annexe,’ Sanjit said as they reached a small one-storey building. ‘If you’d like to settle yourselves in, we’ll all be eating in the main dining room in about an hour.’

  Hugo threw his rucksack onto the bed in his room and turned to Sanjit. ‘Can’t I have a look around now?’

  The older man gave a chuckle. ‘Still as impatient as ever! OK, I’ll give you a brief tour before dinner.’ As he led him back to the main corridor he told him about the company. ‘The Hudson Institute produces chemicals for different types of vaccines, mainly those used against tropical diseases. Much of it is exported to the rest of Europe and Africa, but the company makes them available to the local city hospital at a heavily subsidised price. The production lines are in the two front rooms. Down this corridor we have the research laboratories where new vaccines are developed and trialled on mice and rats.’

  They entered a long room with two rows of benches where several people were working. Sanjit stopped at the first bench where a woman wearing protective glasses was measuring a white powder onto a delicate balance.

  ‘Lucy here is a team manager. Her team are working to perfect a vaccine to protect young children from water-borne diseases.’ He stood back as a young man put a cage of white mice on the bench. ‘What are the results so far, Lucy?’

  ‘Very pleasing,’ she replied in accented English. ‘This is the third dosage administered. We will introduce type one disease after six hours. We are confident that the rats will be immune to it.’

  Sanjit smiled and nodded. ‘Well done. I look forward to seeing the results tomorrow morning.’

  He led Hugo from the room and further along the corridor. ‘The Hudson Institute also sponsors the city orphanage nearby. Hudson’s is a well-respected name around here.’

  ‘Do you use children from the orphanage in trials?’ Hugo asked.

  ‘No, our benefactor has stipulated that trial subjects must not be under fourteen or over twenty-five,’ Sanjit replied. ‘So we obtain youngsters in the same way we did in the UK. We go to the city centres late on the weekends and there’s never a shortage. Another group the Non-Labs have failed, eh? Still, it’s to our advantage.’

  They had reached the end of the corridor and stood in front of a wide frosted glass door. Sanjit used a fob to open it then stood back and waved Hugo through.

  ‘This is where the real work is done,’ he smiled.

  Two Labs that Hugo recognized as Darcey and Mike from the UK branch were waiting for them as the door opened.

  ‘Hello, Sanjit, Hugo.’ Mike held out his hand. ‘Takir called through to tell me you were on your way. Let’s go to the dressing area and get you fitted out in the non-contamination room before we go any further.’ Hugo zipped up a soft white hooded all-in-one suit and pulled on close-fitting shoes and gloves. Darcey checked his glasses and face mask then led him from the room.

  ‘You’ll be amazed at how much progress we have made in the last six months,’ the young woman said as she led them into the first room. ‘These first two benches are Eyes.’ She signalled for him to sit beside her at a computer screen and scrolled through images of eyes. ‘We have selected this particular species of wildcat as being the most suitable for adaptation to human types. We are very pleased with the actual sight performance. What we are working on now is appearance. We are hoping to develop something similar to the contacts the Compound Labs have made for Zig, but have them attached to the actual eyeball before the enh
ancements are transplanted.’

  Swivelling her chair away from the screen, Darcey stood up and led him to the second bench where three young Labs were working.

  ‘These are some of the fabrics created so far.’ She handed a thin, pale grey membrane to Hugo. ‘This is the latest one, isn’t it, Mike?’

  ‘That’s right. We hope we can fuse it successfully and that it won’t have adverse effects on the actual vision. We haven’t quite achieved that yet but we’re hopeful the next Non-Lab trial will be more successful.’

  ‘When will that be?’ Hugo asked and was disappointed to hear it would not be during his trip.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Sanjit told him. ‘There are several other trials scheduled for this week.’

  ‘Where are the actual eyes that are used?’ Hugo asked.

  ‘They’re kept in a separate wing. Only authorized personnel are allowed to enter,’ Darcey told him. ‘But we can take a close look at them from here. Come with me.’

  They entered a small, dark room containing a long bench and several large screens. They sat in front of one of the screens and she keyed in a password.

  ‘From here we can view any of the rooms in the high security wing. This is the eye block.’ The screen displayed several white-clad people working on an assortment of tasks in a small room. ‘Now I can select a particular bench and take a closer look at what is happening. I can also communicate with the staff from here or read the updates on their department wall, here.’ She entered a new password and a screen appeared with a list of text and numbers. ‘Looks like everything is running to schedule. We can also oversee a transplant or view a previous operation.’ A new image appeared on the screen and Darcey zoomed in on a surgeon standing over a still figure. ‘Last week’s Eyes. It went OK but the membrane is either too thick or the tint too dark to allow the level of vision we’re looking for. That’s why we need further work on the membrane before our next trial.’

  She shut down the screen and stood up. ‘Let’s go back to the laboratory. Mike can show you some of the work his team has been doing in Nose and Ears.’

  Mike was deep in discussion with Sanjit when they went back into the laboratory.

  ‘We have fewer real discards as we make progress. The Zoo block is full. It makes sense to select some for re-use and dispose of the rest,’ Mike said. ‘The finance department is complaining about the increasing cost of upkeep.’

  ‘I think that’s false economy,’ Sanjit replied. ‘All the Zoo subjects are useful, not just the ones we re-use, because they show the progress we are making in our research. Anyway, I have drawn up plans of different work these kids can do to pay for their keep: basic cleaning and laundering tasks.’

  Mike glanced up as Hugo and Darcey approached. ‘We’ll talk about this at the next budget meeting.’

  He smiled. ‘What do you think of the viewing room? Now come and see what we have been doing with Ears and Nose.’

  He led Hugo to the third bench, ‘We’ve made rapid progress here using the data you sent from the Compound on the repairs done to Cam’s olfactory organ. The organ was too small and moved around slightly, causing him to lose his sense of smell when he moved. We are using the Compound Labs idea of packing materials around each organ so that we can now make the exact fit for each individual. And we’re using the same technique for Ears. Our success rates with Nose and Ears is now ninety-five per cent. Hence the excess of Zoo subjects.’ As Hugo scrolled through the results on the computer, Mike exchanged a look with Darcey and said quietly, ‘We’ll have to start disposing of some of them. Sanjit’s argument doesn’t hold water. I think he’s just getting attached to some of them. He actually spends time talking to them when he collects their results. He’s getting soft in his old age. Maybe it’s time for him to move to a new department.’

  Over the next ten days Hugo was shown around the rest of the centre. He was particularly impressed with the blueprints to introduce a new method of implementing muscle enhancements.

  ‘Up to now we have used injections to stimulate muscle development – very similar to the use of steroids that athletic Non-Labs used previously, but without the harmful side effects. The biggest setback was the length of time the effects of one injection lasted. We had managed a maximum of five years. Now our team is working on a device that can be attached to the heart. It pumps the set dosage of muscle enhancer through the blood stream to reach all the muscles. But instead of the drug being dispersed and released as waste, the residue is directed back to the device where it is filtered and released as enhancer once again. And the cycle continues.’

  ‘Wow!’ Hugo’s eyes grew wide as he viewed images of the tiny device on the screen. ‘How long would this last for?’

  ‘Once we have perfected the device, it will last indefinitely,’ Mike told him. ‘The only hurdle we face now is attaching it without damaging the heart. We’ve lost two Non-Labs so far through heart attacks during the operation. We’ve another one scheduled for tomorrow if you’d like to view it, but we’re not one hundred per cent confident of success yet. Still, we can learn by our mistakes.’

  Sanjit led Hugo to a smaller room. ‘This is Dr Gil. He’s in charge of setting up all new investigations. Dr Gil, I’d like you to meet Hugo, the Hybrid Takir was telling you about.’

  Dr Gil held out his hand, ‘Our bright new mind!’ Hugo felt a tremor of excitement as he shook the man’s hand. ‘I’m pleased to meet you.’

  Sanjit leant over a small screen which displayed a series of images. ‘How’s Gil Mark 2 doing?’

  The other man joined him. ‘He’s doing really well. As you can see from the data collected.’

  Hugo looked wide-eyed at the screen. ‘Is this a clone of yourself? But you’re a Lab. I thought …’ he glanced at Sanjit.

  Dr Gil nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve made a perfect copy of myself. I wasn’t going to settle for a Hybrid offspring – no offence meant – so I devised a way of producing a replica of me. But without the usual disadvantages associated with cloning a clone. It has taken me nearly a year to perfect, but it was worth the wait.’

  ‘When will he reach maturity?’ Hugo asked.

  ‘In about ten months’ time he’ll be awakened. He’ll be the equivalent of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old Non-Lab. He’s being mentally and physically programmed to reach perfection at the moment, and that will be continued when he is awakened.’

  ‘A perfect copy of you,’ Hugo said.

  ‘Hopefully, even better than me!’ Dr Gil smiled. ‘And having none of the disadvantages I’m saddled with. I wish we’d had this knowledge before Takir created me,’ Sanjit sighed. ‘Well, we’d better make our way back to the dining hall, Hugo.’

  Oh, there’s just one thing I’d like to tell Dr Gil,’ Hugo replied.

  ‘I’m sure Dr Gil is quite busy …’ Sanjit began.

  Dr Gil smiled and shook his head, ‘It’s OK, Sanjit, I’m always open to new ideas. I’d like to hear what the lad has to say. How about you leave us here for ten minutes? We’ll both join you in the dining hall shortly.’

  ‘I think it might be possible to merge DNA from two people and produce a clone of them both,’ Hugo blurted out as soon as Sanjit had left the room.

  Dr Gil frowned. ‘Well, it’s never been done before. I’m not sure how it would be possible. I’m sure you understand the basics of cloning. When we extract a DNA strand, it is just one strand, then we cut it into fragments of strictly defined sizes and apply the correct enzyme to replicate the DNA fragment. I can’t see how we could merge two DNA strands.’

  Hugo looked thoughtful. ‘I’m working on a theory that it might be possible to take things further and to attach the fragment of one DNA fragment to another of the same species. This would mean you could create a clone using DNA patterns from two different sources. With the developments you have made cloning from a clone, we could even use Labs as one of the DNA donors. Of course, it’s all theory at the moment, I haven’t had a chance to try anything out.’


  ‘Well,’ Dr Gil smiled. ‘It sounds very ambitious, but if you would like to plan this investigation carefully and let me have a look at your presentation, if it does seems possible, I’d be happy to set you up in a laboratory here. We’re always on the lookout for ambitious youngsters.’

  Hugo beamed. ‘I’ll do that, Dr Gil. I’ll let you have my presentation before I leave.’

  ‘I look forward to seeing it.’

  During the daytime, Hugo spent his time in the laboratories observing different procedures and asking questions of the highly trained staff. After the evening meal and late into the night he worked on his own personal project.

  Dr Gil sat opposite Takir the day before Hugo was due to leave.

  ‘He’s a bright lad, one of the smartest I’ve seen. I’ve looked through his proposal for producing one clone from two separate DNA fragments. I don’t know if it will actually be feasible, but I think it would be worth giving the lad a chance to further his investigations. Can you arrange further visits for him?’ ‘I’m sure it would be easy enough to arrange another trip quite soon,’ Takir replied. ‘His new friend Geoff will come in handy for that.’

  Takir noticed Hugo’s glum mood on the last day of his visit.

  ‘I know it’s difficult for you to go back, Hugo, but you have seen how valuable the information you collect from the Compound is to our research here. And you know Dr Gil is very keen on you coming here again soon and starting your investigations. We’ll arrange further trips with “Geoff’ and his family.’

  Hugo sighed. ‘I wish I could just stay here all the time and really get involved in this work, producing the perfect person.’

  ‘Well, we are getting close, and as you said before, we need to think carefully of the strengths and characteristics of the people we can use. You are already directly involved by gathering as much background information on suitable donors, male and female, and preparing a full database on suitable candidates. Keep me up to date with your findings, and I’ll pass on the details to the rest of the team.’