DAUGHTERS ARE MADE NOT BORN
by Bloodspell Moone
Part One: The project
Molecules floated in the soup of cytoplasm within the brain cell as things
began to get busy in preparation for cell division. Base-pair Nucleotides
began to swarm in towards the masses of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The
large molecules began to unwind and break apart into two strands that left
exposed binding sites for the base-pair nucleotides to join up with, very soon
we would have two complete sets of all the DNA in this cell and the next
stage of cell division would be able to begin.
A single unit of gamma radiation entered the cell easily where a few
others had collided with components within the bilipid layer of the cell's
membrane. It traveled at the speed of light as energy does, thus a collision
would usually cause much havoc especially when it hit DNA. Only the
nuclear membrane stood in its way to doing just that and being so small, the
gamma ray would easily penetrate this last membrane. Like a precision shot,
it hit one of the DNA strands as it was reforming and an explosion of
nucleotides was the result as it cleaved the DNA molecule. New base-pair
nucleotides swarmed in to fix the damage, but it was extensive, and the new
DNA sequence was slightly different, just a few base-pairs where out of
sequence.
Cell division continued and produced two new cells, the changed
DNA was in one of them and the other cell was normal. The abnormal cell
began to behave as per this new DNA code and it began to divide again
creating two abnormal cells, then four, then eight and so on. The new cluster
of cells began to grow within her brain, a tumor was born, though still a little
bit too small to detect. This girl would be dead within a year, and no medicine
or surgery on Earth would be able to save her.
Gerald Beck sat quietly behind his desk at Beck Biotech thinking
about his company and the advances that they were able to make to keep them
on the leading edge of the competitive biotech industry. He was certainly
lucky in some areas of his research, not to say that all of his hard work had
not paid off too. It was more like his hard work had made it possible for luck
to smile on him.
He built this company up from nothing after he received his PhD in
virological technology. It was very hard going at first, most people didn't
even know what virological technology was and as such had a hard time
finding investors. However, when he stumbled upon his first major
breakthrough, things began to change. He had discovered a new technique
for extracting DNA by means of what he referred to as a homing virus. This
was a virus that he could introduce to a sample and it would actually enter the
cells, isolate the DNA, encapsulate it as it introduced its own DNA into the
cell's nucleus. Then, since this encapsulated DNA from the original host cell
was very dense, he could isolate it easily with a centrifuge. This made DNA
extraction very easy and also made investors a lot more plentyful. Soon he
had some real money and was able to build upon this discovery and make
many more wonderful discoveries.
His viral research was the cornerstone of his company in its infancy,
but then he met Eugene Bryant, a very brilliant man who was a MD as well as
having a PhD in biotechnology. Eugene was very interested in Gerald's work
and felt that it could be adapted to possibly perform many tasks in cellular
medicine. Eugene felt that this virus could be adapted to actually repair cell
damage, rewrite faulty DNA sequences, and perhaps even reverse aging.
Well, it was needless to say that the two of them became partners and that
with Eugene's help, Gerald's company became the biggest in the world and
as such was worth billions.
Now, Eugene may have been his partner in research, but Gerald owned the
company and his daughter Julia was set to inherit it. Julia, was a great girl,
and Gerald really loved her so much. He would, no doubt, have loved for her
to follow in his footsteps; however, Julia had a dream of becoming a
meteorologist. He didn't particularly know why she was obsessed with that
branch of science, but at least it was a branch of science and not something
like fashion design. Gerald was sure that once the company was hers, she
would probably sell it and use the money to help to maybe build a weather
research center or something like that. However, if their research did
eventually find a way to reverse aging, maybe he wouldn't have to worry
about that.
He thought about his deceased wife, she had been lovely, it sometimes
seemed like she had died so long ago when it had only been a year. Gerald
had really loved Nora, and now all he had left of her was the daughter that
they shared. Nora had always been with him; they met when he was but an
undergraduate student getting his first degree in microbiology at the
University of Florida. It was love at first sight the first time he saw her just
walking on University Avenue across from the stadium. He must have been
staring as she stopped and smiled, there was no turning back then. They
married while he was doing his masters at Florida State, and bought a small
house in Gainesville as he completed his PhD back at the University of
Florida. Julia was born soon after, and was raised mostly in Gainesville
before they moved to Orlando where Beck Biochem was situated.
They had a dream life really, and when Nora died, he was never more taken
by surprise than he had ever been in his entire life. She was only 40 years
old, but lightning doesn't age discriminate. Gerald was surprised that with
the death of her mother by lightning, Julia still was obsessed with the weather
and even more so as though this death fueled this obsession some. She came
home for the funeral, but then returned to Gainesville where she was then
taking her first degree at the University of Florida. But then everything
changed again as she got sick.
At first, it started out as headaches; Julia just always seemed to have aches
and pains in her head. She being stubborn like her father was tried to ignore
them, but they got stronger and soon she went to see her doctor to find out
what was wrong with her. Gerald's world fell out from underneath him that
day they discovered that Julia had a malignant brain tumor. The doctors also
told them that it was inoperable and that due to its location, they doubted that
radiation or chemotherapy would be of much use though they were willing to
try. Sadly, she was given six months to a year to live.
Gerald refused to give up, there had to be something that he could do as
losing his daughter was completely unacceptable. He had both himself and
Eugene working around the clock to try and discover a way to beat this thing.
His viral research seemed to offer him hope, but what he would need to do to
eradicate the tumor was still years away. He felt so lost as he sat there, and
then an excited Eugene burst into his office.
"I think I have a way to save her Gerald!" Gerald's face lit up, as he knew
that if Eugene said that he had a way, then from his track record, it would
have to work.
"Please, tell me."
"Okay, at first I was trying to figure out a way to remove the tumor with our
viral technology. It can be done, but by the time we have a working
prototype, it would be too late. So I thought that perhaps we had to look at
this from another angle. Her body is dying; no doubt the tumor has or will
metastasize. Once she has cancer in almost every system, it is even pointless
to try and save her body. As you know, one of my areas of research is
cloning."
"You want to clone her?"
"No, that would take 20 years to get her to the level that she is now. I do
though want to create for her a new body, and then transfer her chemical
memories to it."
"Wait a minute Eugene, memory transfer and a new body, just how do you
plan to pull that off?"
"It will not be easy, first we need a host body that we can use our virus to
rewrite its DNA into Julia's sequences. Next we have to change the new
body's chemical memory path to an exact copy of Julia's. Voila, we have a
new Julia, and without the tumor."
"You can do that? But will it be Julia?"
"Biologically yes, it will be Julia in every aspect. Mentally, it will also be
Julia, but possibly not completely. You see, we have no idea just how much
there is to memory storage and how it defines the person. Maybe some of it is
stored in the soul, who knows, or if we are lucky, then it is all chemically
stored and we will have Julia One-hundred percent."
"Is this all we got?"
"Gerald, I love her as much as you do, if there were any other way, I would
do it, but this is it, it is her only chance."
"Well then, lets do it."
"Alright, our first step is going to be to find a donor."
"Eugene, I can imagine that the closer in genetic make-up to her, the better."
"Yeah, you are right, also the donor needs to be the same age and have as
high of an IQ as she has. Finding such a girl may be difficult, and we may
need to break a few laws to accomplish this."
"Eugene, you do whatever you have to, I just want a healthy daughter no
matter what the cost. Todd Fillmore our head of security can be trusted, he
will help you find our donor."
'Okay, I will talk to him, we will move on this as fast as possible."
The water was very still, extremely calm; almost too calm as Dr. Arthur
walked up to the man that had been in every one of his nightmares since this
whole thing began. He was not happy with what he had done, in fact, he
found it was almost hard to even live with himself. The man simply watched
him approach with his cold eyes, the eyes of a killer as if there were a specific
genotype for that trait.
"Dr. Arthur, I can presume that the operation was successful as you are here
and I doubt you would have called me if you had failed."
"No, it is done. The treatments I gave Julia Beck have given her brain cancer
as you had requested." He looked down in shame at what he had done.
"Good, my boss will be pleased."
"I kept my end of the bargain, now give me the pictures as well as the
negatives and we will be done with it."
"Why Doc, in all good time. Do not worry so much they are safe. Though I
must admit that I have seen a lot in my life, and they actually shocked me.
The good doctor, a pillar of the community, involved in bestiality."
"I was drugged, I really thought they were women," the doctor said with his
shame evident.
"I know that, I drugged you myself, we had to be sure that you would
cooperate."
"You bastard, and now I am no better than you, I have given that poor girl a
death sentence. I should just say the hell with those pictures and tell the police
about you and what I have done!" The man just smiled knowing that Dr.
Arthur would never get that chance. He removed a gun and aimed it at Dr.
Arthur's heart.
"Look at this lake here, the water is so serene, so calm, in a sense it is a lot
like life. But you know, under the surface there lurks the perfect predator: the
alligator. You know they have been around since the dinosaurs, surviving
because they are perfect, the dinosaurs went extinct, but not the gator, it
survived, it prevailed over all that nature could throw at it. We too as a race
can do that, but not as we are, only through my boss' plans. You dear
doctor, are a liability, you can upset the calm of his lake." The man opened a
small vial of a green liquid and poured it in the water.
"So, you are planning to kill me, I am just a loose canon in all this madness."
He thought about running, but knew at this close range that the man would
not miss his heart if the gun were fired.
"I am not going to kill you Doc, Ah, look at the water, it is not so calm
anymore," he said gesturing to the lake. First two scaly balls bobbed out of
the water, no not balls, but on closer inspection, they were eyes; gator eyes.
Soon another set and another set appeared. As they moved in closer to the
shore, their heads and parts of their backs became visible.
"Why are they here like this? I thought you said that you are not going to kill
me," asked a very nervous Dr. Arthur.
"That green liquid I poured in the water is a very dilute pheromone that
attracts male gators. It is actually the scent of a female gator all hot and heavy
ready to mate." He then removed another vial; this one was blue. He
uncapped it and poured it on himself.
"Now this is a gator repellant, I could practically swim with them and be
perfectly safe with this on. Now this one," he produced another vial, but this
time red, " is a very highly concentrated female gator pheromone. Now, if I
were to open this, they would even come out of that lake to get at it. Now if
you don't know, gators are actually very fast on land they can actually run up
to 35 miles per hour, much faster than you can I am afraid. I said that I would
not kill you, that is true from a perspective. I am going to give you a chance
to live, all you have to do is survive." He then opened the red vial and poured
the pheromone on Dr. Arthur.
"Good luck gator bitch," said the man as he moved away from Dr. Arthur
rather fast.
Almost instantly, the alligators got a whiff of the pheromones coming off of
Dr. Arthur. Their brains only registered one thing and that was sex, their
primal sex drives kicked in and they all began to move steadily forward, the
front ones were pulling themselves out of the lake as the doctor screamed and
made a run for it. The first gator burst in a run as well; it was almost like a
greenish-gray blur as it took off after him. Dr. Arthur didn't even hear the
gator coming, but felt it as it hit him in the small of his back like a freight
train. He was knocked off of his feet and fell face first into a small grouping
of ferns. The gator was on top of him in an instant and was very nasty when
it realized that this was not a mate.
The man watched from a safe distance and saw the first gator take out the
good doctor. The gator looked pissed and the good old doctor looked like the
embodiment of fear. This was going to be good, he always loved watching
gators tear apart a human. He had not had a chance to watch such a good
show since he did the same thing to that lightning research guy who toasted
Nora Beck.
Dr. Arthur tried to get up, but the gator was too strong, he never realized just
how powerful they were before, but he deserved this, he was a murderer and
this was his just desert. He felt intense pain in his left shoulder as the gator
bit down. Then there was a squeezing, and then he heard bones breaking, the
pain really burned, he felt wet, then there was pain in his right leg, another
gator had got him and they were playing a game of tug of war with him as the
rope. More bones broke and he felt more pain even worse than what he was
feeling in his shoulder and leg as his side felt like it was on fire and he felt
feelings like he was moving, he glanced down and saw why. A gator had
torn open his abdominal cavity and his intestines were all caught around its
snout and it was pulling them like a dog with a link of sausages coated in
bloody mucous. He then heard a wet slapping sound and the last thing he
saw before losing consciousness was a gator heading back towards the lake
carrying his arm in its snout. It had been torn off and left a trail of blood, he
could see a white shape in the middle of the jagged flesh; it was his shoulder
bone.
As the gators carried what was left of Dr. Arthur into the lake, the man
opened up his cell phone and hit a button that scrambled the call to any
unauthorized listeners and then called his boss.
"The doctor is gator bait, the Beck girl has cancer as planned. We are free to
proceed to the next phase at your convenience."
William Smyth wiped the sweat from his forehead as he finished up from
soccer practice. He had a swig of water as he walked away from the field
towards his bike. He had lots to do that night, so he didn't waste any time
getting back to his apartment that bordered the campus near the place that
Gerald Beck met his wife Nora for the first time. William was not looking for
love though as he was a master's student in biochemistry, and had a lot of
work to do if he wanted to finish one of his electives in neuropsychology in
time to take the summer off. All he had to do was one more paper and that
should take care of that course other than the fact that everyone had to partake
in at least one psychology study. He had meant to fill out some questionnaire
or answer whatever questions were necessary earlier in the year, but he had
just never got around to it. Oh well, he would find one tomorrow and get that
over with. He figured that partaking in a study was a waste of his time, and
really felt that he shouldn't have to, but his professor had been having
troubles getting subjects in the past and came up with this requirement to
solve the shortage of subjects. Well, he did not sign up for any of his
professors as his stand against it and would have to find something else to do
so that he could get his credits; it would be foolish to get an incomplete over
such a trivial matter.
He was only home for about twenty minutes when his roommate Angela
arrived home. She was a nice girl though and not really his type which is
good as it would have made sharing an apartment very uncomfortable. She
had a bath and later in the evening came out for their nightly talk. It was sort
of a custom, a way for both of them to relax before going to bed. Well, it
helped her; he usually was up for a few more hours studying after she headed
off to bed. This night, he figured that Angela being a psychology major,
would certainly know what studies were being done and that just might save
him some time if he hadn't had to figure out where to go.
"Angela, I still need to participate in a study of some sort to get my credit in
neuropsych."
"Professor Bean no doubt," she added.
"You got it, I completely forgot about it until now."
"Will, all the studies have been done, this late in the year not many people are
collecting data. You just may be screwed here. The only study I know of is
the Beck Biotech Gene Database study, and that is for women only."
"Please do not tell me that, I am up shit creek if I don't get in a study and
soon."
"I am sorry, unless you want to show up in drag for the Beck study, I think
you are out of luck."
"Ha ha, I don't think so, I could never pass as a woman."
"Well, I don't know about that, you are of slight build for a guy and you do
have really great skin. You know that may just be an idea. Think about it, it is
an anonymous study, but if you bring along your study form, it does not
have your name on it, just your student number, and they merely stamp it
with the study stamp, it does not say what study you are partaking in."
"Angela, you are not serious?"
"Sure I am, the test is easy, I did it today. All they do is scrape some cells out
of your mouth, you wait for a few minutes as they make sure they have a
clear reading on your code, then they stamp your card and you are off. It is
so easy, let me think of what I have that you can wear."
"You are serious, I do need that stamp, but why do I have a bad feeling about
this?"
Gerald paced back and forth in his office waiting for good news for a change;
it seemed like lately that only bad news tended to reach him. He was so sure
that they would have found a donor by now, but no luck, they were doing the
screening at every university in Florida. He was even considering expanding
the search to Georgia soon if they did not find someone soon. Eugene had
assured him that holding out for the proper genetic markers would really be
worth it as to the results. Well, if they didn't find someone soon, they were
going to have to start with any donor, markers or not.
Eugene burst into the room very excited and managed to spat out, "We have a
match!"
"Where, when?"
"University of Florida, Gainesville. She was just tested minutes ago; our
people are in place ready to move on her. They are going to detain her till we
get there, the jet is ready to go."
William felt foolish sitting there dressed like a girl, but he really didn't have a
choice if he wanted that stamp. So far, everything had gone as easily as
Angela had told him it would. He just wished that they could finish with his
sample and give him the stamp so that he could get home and get out of these
clothes. Angela was nice in that she didn't make him wear a dress, but the bra
and the water balloons where really weird, at least she didn't fill them too
full, if one where to break, he would just die. She had dressed him in a tee
shirt and a pair of shorts. He wanted to wear jeans, but she was right to point
out that no girl would be caught dead in jeans when it was 105 degrees out.
He was forced to shave his legs, a very different experience for him. His legs
now felt so soft and cool, he was rather amazed at how much of a difference
hair made to how one's legs feel. To finish his disguise, she used a little
hairspray and some backcombing to style his already longish hair into a girl's
style. She also put a little bit of makeup on him to complete the illusion.
When she was done, he was almost amazed at how much he looked like a
girl.
"Excuse me miss, could you come back here for a minute," asked one of the
girls that had taken his sample. Oh no, he wanted to panic, as surly it meant
that they were on to him. What if they called the police, what if everyone
found out, he would be the laughing stock of the university.
"It is okay," she said, "we just need to do a couple more simple tests on you.
Really, they won't hurt." She smiled at him reassuringly. He whispered out
an okay so that his voice wouldn't give him away. She led him from the
testing booth they had set up to a classroom that they were using to do their
testing from. He wished that Angela were there with him, as she would know
how to get him out of this as his bad feeling just kept getting worse.
"Here, have a drink of ice tea," the girl offered him. William accepted the ice
tea from her and began to nervously sip it as he waited for them to start these
other tests. He figured that he would just have to play along and hope he was
not exposed. He noticed that he seemed to be getting tired, a yawn escaped
from him. He felt himself starting to fall asleep; his mind tried to scream out
that this would not be a good idea, but it was no use as his ice tea had been
drugged.
Gerald was sitting in his chair staring at the clouds below as the plane began
to descend towards his private runway. They had a successful trip to
Gainesville and had the girl aboard, still drugged, but she was a match, she
was the donor body that they had been so desperately searching for. He felt a
little sad that this girl had to lose her identity, but that could not be helped,
perhaps they could store her chemical memories and someday recreate her,
but that was unimportant right now, the only thing that mattered was saving
his daughter. They were going to move the girl to his mansion, only there
was the security tight enough to protect what they were doing, if word were
to get out, it could ruin him, his company. After landing and settling the girl
in, he would then meet with her and get her cooperation, and Eugene could
begin his initial examinations of her and begin the process.
Karl Topski walked into his boss' office. He was summoned almost as soon
as he arrived home from his fun with the gators. He was hoping that perhaps
he had another really cool mission like the last two. Whenever he gets to kill,
Karl is very happy. He use to kill for a living as a professional assassin in
Europe, but the boss had offered him a steady retainer and he has been here
ever since at the man's beck and call. His boss had a plan that was a little
scary, but what did he care if he got to kill along the way, and not only that,
got to kill with a little bit of creativity. He certainly never got to use gators in
his work in Europe.
"Karl, something is troubling me," the boss said from behind his mask. Karl
had never seen the man, face to face, he always wore a mask to conceal his
identity. Karl could understand that, though he usually just killed to keep his
own identity secret. Today the boss was wearing a mask that almost looked
like spiderman, but it was black. His masks were always black.
"What is troubling you boss?"
"Gerald is up to something, did you know that he started genetically
screening at the universities and then as quickly as he started, he stopped.
This is rather unusual and I have a bad feeling about it. I want you to find out
what is going on, it is your top priority Karl. Use any means you want, just
get this job done."
"Okay boss. Do you have a clue at all as to what he is up to?"
"If I did I would tell you, now get on it, I want some answers within a week.
You have never disappointed me yet, do not make this a first as I am not a
very forgiving man."
William slowly woke up finding himself in a very large bedroom. He rubbed
his eyes to get his bearings, and almost screamed when his arms touched his
breasts. He had to get a grip really fast as he remembered that they were
water balloons. Where was he, how did he get here? He tried the door, but it
was locked, the windows had bars on them. He looked around the room and
found that the closet was full of clothes, girls clothes; the dresser likewise.
This was like out of the twilight zone, he was really confused. He
remembered the ice tea thinking that it had to have been drugged. Someone
had to have kidnapped him, but who and why would they want him and what
would they do to him once they realized that he was a boy.
He heard someone at the door, he thought about rushing them, but that might
be stupid as he had no clue where he was, and for all he knew, there could be
fifty guards lurking around. He sat down on the bed and a man wearing a
uniform that said Beck Biotech on it with a little badge under that that read
security entered the room.
"Hello there, my name is Todd Fillmore, I am head of security at Beck
Biotech. You probably are very confused right now," William nodded, "and I
wouldn't blame you. However, I think that all of you questions shall be
answered if you just follow me. Mr. Beck would like to see you, by the way,
what is your name?"
"Umm, Will?Wilma," he managed to say in as soft of a voice as he could.
He just nodded and led William out of the room. William found that the room
he was in was but one room of many in a very big house. Heck, it was a
mansion, and he was beginning to get a little curious what this was all about.
There were still lots of fear about discovery, and perhaps a little bit of
excitement about pulling it off for so long. Angela was going to freak when
she heard about all of this he thought.
He was led to a room on what seemed like the other side of the house to
William. It was a very big room, like a den, but with so much extra space,
William figured that twelve men could have fit easily into this room and still it
would not look crowded. There were two men seated already in the room, it
was obvious that they were waiting for him.
"Gerald, Eugene, this is Wilma," said the guard.
"Come on in Wilma, have a seat, I am sure that you are wondering why we
brought you here. First off my name is Gerald Beck and this is my friend and
business partner Eugene Bryant."
"Hi Wilma," Eugene said.
"Hello," he was able to say back in his soft voice. He wanted to demand to
know what was going on, but that would have given away that he was a boy,
and not Wilma the girl they kidnapped.
"Wilma, you are here because we need your help. By now, you might
suspect that the genetic testing we were doing at your university was not for a
database. You see Wilma, we were looking for a very rare genetic marker that
perhaps one in a million people might have."
"It is probably closer to one in ten million," added Eugene.
"Well, it turns out Wilma that you have the marker we were looking for and
that makes you very special to us. That is why we brought you here, so that
we can talk to you and work out a deal that will be beneficial to both of us."
"A deal, what sort of deal," William said still a little confused.
"Well, we need a year of your life for our research. What that means is a full
year, with absolutely no contact outside of here. There will be a lot of medical
tests and such done to you, but I promise you that no harm will befall you.
And well, after that year is up, you can leave and your bank account will be
ten million dollars richer." William was almost floored, ten million dollars,
He would do it in a second, but he realized that there was no way he could
pull off living as a girl especially with medical tests.
"I would agree, but I am not who I seem," he said as he reached into his top
and pulled out a water balloon. The three men where speechless.
Angela couldn't wait to get home and find out how things went with Will and
the bid study. She was planning on teasing him about going out in public as a
girl; she would maybe blackmail him into doing some of her chores around
the apartment. When she got home, the apartment was empty; there was no
sign of William at all. She checked the bedrooms and saw that the clothes he
had worn were not strewn on her floor as she had expected. He hadn't come
home yet; he was still out and from the look of things, was still dressed like a
girl. Perhaps he found out he liked it she said to herself with a chuckle. Oh
well, Cinderella would surely be home soon, before her carriage turned into a
pumpkin.
Karl watched the perimeter of Beck Biotech, he was noting down security
details. For instance, he had to know how long between each patrol, the
location of dogs, and even any bad habits any specific security detail had. He
was going to break in and hopefully find out what was up. However, to do
so, he had to do it completely undetected or else tip off Beck that he was
being watched. Karl got the impression that Beck had no idea that the boss
was his enemy or that he even had any enemies for that matter. If he knew,
perhaps he would double his security.
"You're a boy," said Gerald in a quivering voice. William could tell that this
revelation really floored him.
"Interesting, a boy and with the right markers. He will still do, we will just
have to modify the program a little to compensate for this turn in events," said
Eugene.
"He is still acceptable then?"
"Oh yes, totally," replied Eugene.
"Very well then, Wilma, or whoever you are, the offer still stands, will you
accept?"
"My name is William, and yes I cannot turn down ten million dollars."
"Good, Todd, make sure our guest gets settled in, Eugene will be along in a
bit to explain to him the details." Todd led William out of the room and took
him to another room that appeared to be an office. There was a phone sitting
on the desk and Todd motioned to it.
"If there is anyone who will be worried about you, I think we need to deal
with that at the moment."
"Well, my roommate is probably worried stiff as she is the one who dressed
me like this."
"Please, you do not need to explain that to me, call her, let her know you are
alright. Do not tell her where you are or anything about this deal. Is that
clear?"
"Yes, but why?"
"You can ask Mr. Beck that later."
"Okay. I won't say a thing."
Angela was really getting worried as it had already gotten dark and still there
was no sign of William. She was even thinking about calling the police, but
she knew that would be senseless until at least after twenty-four hours. When
the phone rang, she knew it was he; a sixth sense told her so.
"Hello?"
"Angela, hi its me."
"Oh William, where are you, what is going on, I have been so worried."
"I am fine, I got recognized by a friend of mine that you don't know. He
insisted that I should come over to his place to show it off. Anyway, we lost
track of time and I will probably be staying here tonight. He lent me some
clothes luckily."
"Will, are you sure that you are fine?"
"Absolutely, talk to you later." As he hung up, Angela was now certain that
something was wrong. He had been off somehow and she was sure that he
was lying to her. There was nothing she could do about it except worry.
Eugene sat down on a chair that was put in William's room; he had brought
with him a black doctor's bag. William sat on the bed still wearing Angela's
top and shorts though he had removed the bra.
"Well William, I want us to start out by telling you a little bit about what I
plan to do with you. I don't want you to be surprised; I want you to know
ahead of time of the changes that are going to occur to you. This is going to
be very interesting and I think educational for you as well as us. I must stress
though that everything we are doing to you is completely reversible."
"Just what are you planning to do to me?"
"We are using you as a test for a new viral technology that if successful
should be able to actually rewrite DNA. It is going to cause some changes in
you, but have no fear; we will keep a record of your original DNA pattern,
and undo all the changes we make. It will not be painful, and I can not stress
enough that it is completely reversible. The only difference in you at the end
of this project will that you will be very rich."
"You are sure that this is not dangerous," asked William.
"Absolutely!"
"Okay, lets get on with it then." Eugene only smiled as he removed blood
samples from William, and administered an injection into his hip. He felt a
little bad about lying to the boy, but that really could not be helped. The
injection contained a mixture of female hormones as well as the first set of
retroviruses. The long road to transformation had begun.
The black mask hurt slightly as he eased it off his face to reveal what was left
of it after the accident so many years ago that had burned him when he use to
work for Beck Biotech. Sure the fire was his fault he thought noting that the
burns almost made his face look like an old man's, however, his dismissal
was just plain cruel and he was going to see to it that Gerald Beck paid in full
for it. Gerald Beck had already made a huge mistake; he underestimated him
and the importance of his research. By firing him, he actually facilitated the
burned man's research in more ways then one. You see, he now had a
benefactor, an investor that gave him unlimited resources to carry out his
plans, but more importantly, they gave him a very special splinter of blood
stained wood.
Julia was sitting on her bed thinking about how her life had just spiraled
lately ever since she found out that she had brain cancer. Well, in ways, her
mother's death had not had such an effect on her, in fact, it only made her
more determined to be a great meteorologist. However this tumor, and being
given six months to live maybe a little longer, was just not something that she
could recover from. To make things worse, here she was locked up
practically in her father's mansion. He tells her that it is for a new radical
treatment that will save her and give her her life back. She hopes that he is
right, but the next little while being stuck on the grounds of the mansion will
be very testing. Maybe if his treatment works, she will be able to resume
university for the Fall session. Oh well, she could only pray, and in the
meantime, she had another mystery to contend with. There was a boy in the
room down the hall, this was unusual, but at least he was really cute and Julia
figured getting to know him was going to be fun.
Karl relaxes as he thinks of tomorrows planned break in at Beck Biotech. His
plan was brilliant as usual, and soon his boss would have all the information
he needed. Karl was determined to find out what Gerald was up to and
maybe steal a few more secrets while he was there. But he wasn't going to go
too overboard on his fact finding. If he gave the boss everything he wanted,
what would he do when the boss had everything and no longer needed Karl?
He knew the boss was ruthless and as such tried to keep one step ahead of
him, for his own protection. He was also fully aware that whatever the boss'
goals were, they had nothing to do with bettering mankind. He suspected that
the research goals of the boss were entirely selfish, but what did he care as
long as he remained useful in the equation and the money kept rolling in.
Two men met in a deep cavern under the Holy Land, they greeted each other
with a secret hand gesture and then walked together towards a deeper part of
the gloomy cave.
"Everything is going as planned Master," said the shorter man known only as
Demur.
"I am pleased to hear that Demur. Our pawn, how long until he is ready to
synthesize the required DNA?"
"Master, he is moving a little slower than expected, perhaps too much energy
is being expended on his vendetta against Gerald Beck."
"I agree, if we do not see results soon, perhaps we should then remove Beck
Biotech from the equation."
"Very well, Master."
Gerald was happy to hear that the whole process had started, Eugene had
informed him that in a few months, he would have a new daughter. Gerald
was surprised that it was going to take so long, but Eugene assured him that
they were altering the entire genome, not something you can do all at once
without a great danger to the host. So, they were transforming their host a
few hundred genes at a time. Perhaps in time, they could perfect the process
some more so that full genetic rewrite could be done in a day without any
harm to the host; they just didn't have that time in this situation to wait. As
for the rewriting of the host's memory, that would begin in a week or so, he
was hoping that would work as well as possible as that in itself would be the
final defining as to whether it was a success or not.
Underneath his house, Gerald had designed a three-floor subbasement that he
had created a private lab for the slightly more unethical research he often
dived into. Sometimes, ethics could easily hamper a scientist from saving
lives. He tended to work around them when he had to and as long as the ends
would justify the means. This whole daughter project of his was the only one
to date that he couldn't truly justify, but because it was his daughter dying, he
didn't care. This lab would make sure that the project went according to plan.
He was making sure that Eugene transferred all data and samples that
pertained to this project to this lab as he wanted there to be absolutely no
chance of anyone finding out what was happening here. All that was really
left to come over here were the blood samples that Julia had donated both
treated and untreated. They were essential to the project, as they had been
using the treated ones for the gene extraction. They could always retreat new
samples, but that was risky as if any of her cancerous cells got into the
samples, then his new daughter could end up dying too.
Karl couldn't believe that the boss had insisted on seeing him that very
morning before his trek into Beck Biotech. However, the boss was the boss
and as such, he met with him briefly. The boss gave him a blood sample to
take in with him to put through the treatment process. The process only took
about 15 minutes as where it would take weeks for the boss to do it without
the Beck technology. That was fine, he would have no problem with that,
besides, it meant a bonus; well the boss was good like that. He was a little
curious as to why this blood had to be treated. However, he really didn't
have time to think about it, the fun was about to begin.
They had no problems sneaking undetected through the bowels of Beck
Biotech, stopping every so often to place another bomb. They were trained
for this sort of thing since they could walk, so it really was not a big task at
all, in fact, it was almost too easy. There seemed to be absolutely no security
in the maintenance sub-level, which was sandwiched between the first floor
and the underground labs and supply levels. It would be too easy to destroy
this place as these explosives where probably as powerful as you could get
without tampering with nuclear explosives. Beck Biotech was going to go
boom in a very big way.
Karl waited for his opportunity; he had to time things just right if he was to
have enough time to pull this off. He walked briskly towards the corner,
holding out in front of him a soda pop, though it was not really pop, but
more of that gator pheromone. Wham, he rounded the corner and walked
straight into a collision with the two security guards that were rounding the
same corner on their beat. The pheromones soaked the pair as well as a
nearby woman who was outside smoking a cigarette. He apologized to them
and very quickly headed off for the next step in his plan. He noted that a
couple of gators were already emerging from the lake that sat next to Beck
Biotech. The screaming and his distraction would be beginning soon.
Eugene left the mansion and began his drive over to Beck Biotech as he had
to pick up the remaining blood samples. He liked the labs better there, and
wished he could run this project out of there, but he did understand Gerald's
insistence for security. If this ever got out, not only would Gerald be ruined,
but so would he, they could even go to jail, well could have if William had
not signed over those documents giving them permission to perform this
project on him. Todd was smart on that front, Eugene would never have
thought of that angle in case something went wrong.
Karl found his next target, a lone security officer sneaking a smoke break
while his partner was using the bathroom. These two did the same thing
every day like clockwork and it was nothing for Karl to sneak up on the man
and snap his neck from behind. He dragged him behind some ferns and soon
emerged from the ferns in the dead man's uniform. Karl then made his way
to the bathroom and threw a cyanide gas canister through the open window
above the door. He then closed the window as he heard the screams begin
from out front of the building as well as from within the outdoor bathroom.
However, the bathroom screams died very quickly. Using a passkey he was
inside and made his way to the lab. He didn't run into anyone, as he was sure
the gators had everyone's attention. He made his way up to the lab and easily
found the equipment that he had to use to treat his boss' sample. There was
one snag; his test tube was a little too big to fit in the holder with in the
apparatus, so he transferred it to an empty one labeled Julia-2.
All hell was breaking out in front of Biotech as Eugene pulled up. He heard
screams and saw that people where running wildly as if in complete chaos.
Then he saw why, there where alligators attacking people, this was too
weird, gators did not just come out of the lakes and attack like this. Eugene
pulled his handgun from out of his glove compartment and got out of his car.
A large gator started to advance on him almost immediately; he fired three
shoots into its head before it fell over seemingly dead. Eugene moved
towards another gator and only had to shoot it twice before it died with
someone's leg still hanging from its snout. How many more where there,
Eugene wondered as the first drop of rain fell. Within seconds, the heavens
opened up and the rain fell down in the usual torrential onslaught of water
that was common in Florida. The pheromones washed away with it, and the
gators stopped their attack and sluggishly headed back towards the lake
leaving a lot of gore and body parts strewn on the front lawn of Beck
Biotech. Eugene was still in shock, but figured that he had to get to the lab
and do something or he was going to start screaming.
Karl almost freaked when he saw the rain start to fall knowing that it would
wash away the pheromone and end his distraction. The treatment was almost
done, just a minute or so and he could get out of there. During the distraction,
he had done everything sort of ransacking the place to find out what Beck
was up to, and only discovered that whatever it was, it was called Project
Daughter. The boss would be very disappointed, but the information just was
not here. The treatment was done and he quickly grabbed his sample just
before Eugene walked in on him.
"You had better get down stairs, I think they could use some help," Eugene
said blankly to Karl. Karl thought about killing him, but thought better of it,
he just wanted to get the sample back to his boss, so he left. In the confusion,
he easily got out of the building and headed off to meet with his boss.
Eugene collected his remaining samples and then noticed that there was one
more in the treatment apparatus, he took that one two. How odd he thought,
the standard blank solution was gone. He headed out and was able to get to
his car fairly unmolested, though he did promise to go downtown later and
give a written statement to the police as to what he saw happen here. He
drove away, and headed back towards the mansion.
60?the numbers on all the bombs in the maintenance sub-level all flashed in
perfect sync with each other?54. 53, 52, 51, 49?A lone janitor opened the
door to this level and maid his way towards the sprinkler controls?41. 40,
39, 38?he had to turn them off so that they didn't turn on as they usually did
in the afternoon to water the lawn?30. 29, 28, 27?The police didn't want
any evidence to wash away, though he was sure that the rain had already
done that...20. 19, 18, 17?Though, it was sunny again, the rain was gone
as fast as it had come?10. 9, 8, 7?he happened to glance up for a minute
and saw the countdown on one of the bombs, he could not believe his
eyes?3, 2, 1, BOOM!
Karl heard a huge explosion as he was driving away, he turned to see a huge
fireball billowing into the air, and he almost went off the road thinking he
was lucky to have left when he did. He was also amazed at the size of it; that
was certainly one big explosion he thought.
Eugene had not gotten far, when he heard a huge roar and a loud clap like
thunder, not thunder, an explosion. He pulled over and looked back at the
giant fireball. His lab, everything gone, he did scream this time.
"Master, it is done, Beck Biotech has been destroyed," said Demur in the
cavern under the Holy Land.
"Good, now our pawn can get back to our goals. I want that DNA within a
week, make sure that he makes it happen."
"Yes Master, it will be done."
"Good, soon we will have the DNA of the one true Messiah, then we can kill
our pawn unless he will prove useful in making our clone, soon the Lord will
walk the Earth again, ours goals will be realized."
Part two: Transformation.
The virus moved easily through the blood avoiding the white blood
cells easily, as they were not able to detect this particular retrovirus as an
intruder. Then up ahead, the virus found its target, a single cell that had yet to
be infected by this particular virus. The virus was able to rather simply attach
itself to the cell membrane and then in one simple pumping thrust, inject its
DNA into the cell. The DNA was then guided to the nucleus and easily
crossed its membrane. Once inside, the genes that this particular virus coded
for, cleaved and replaced the original genes which where then broken down
to their base-pair nucleotides losing the information they originally had. The
cell now had different instructions, and began to synthesize different proteins
as per the new code.
Angela was beyond worried about William and his strange
disappearance, she knew that something really bad had happened, she had no
proof to the matter. She was sure that he was in trouble, but there was just no
trace of him at all, it was as if he just disappeared off of the face of the planet.
Other than the one strange call she had gotten from him, there was no other
contact. She even filed a missing person's report with the police, but nothing
turned up. They didn't seem to be trying very hard to find him. She thought
that if he were not an orphan, if he had a family to care for him, then maybe
the police would try harder. William was alone in this life, even in his
disappearance; he was not getting any breaks.
Angela was about to call it a night, she could have nightmares about
her friend as she had been having, when a glow began to fill her living room.
She should have been afraid, but she wasn't. A light formed in the middle of
the room and that soon turned into a human shape, and then standing in her
living room was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life; she
knew that this was an angel.
"Hello Angela, please do not fear me, I mean you no harm," she said
in a glorious voice that brought tears to Angela's eyes.
"I am here to let you know that William is fine and that he is alright.
You are a good friend to him, he cares for you enough that the power of his
love commanded me to set your mind at ease. Please do not worry about him,
he will come to you when the time is right, till then, be at peace child." With
that, the angel was gone and Angela's life was changed forever.
Julia knocked lightly on William's door, knowing that he was inside
and hoping that he wasn't busy. She felt a little shy, she really was looking
forward to meeting him; she almost felt like a lovesick teenager. She tried to
shake that, she didn't even know his name yet. He could end up being a
creep for all she knew. She heard him moving around in the room, yet he
didn't open the door. She knocked again, the noise of his movements
stopped.
"Come in," he said through the closed door. That was odd she
thought, he didn't open the door for her, and then she noticed that it was
locked from the outside. Why was this boy being locked in? She unlocked
the door and then opened it to get a little bit of a surprise. The room looked
exactly like hers down to every detail. He even had the same posters on his
wall. This was definitely getting weird she thought. The boy himself seemed
pretty normal, he was wearing a tee shirt and a pair of sweat pants. However,
even so, he was still cute, and one look at his face sent her tummy into a flip-
flop.
"Hi, I'm Julia?" As she said it, she tried not to blush unsuccessfully.
"I am William, my friends call me Will. So are you a test subject here
too?"
"A test subject, I have no idea what you mean. I live here, my dad
owns this house." She was a little confused at his mention of a test. Her dad
had mentioned something about a new treatment for her cancer. Could this
boy be involved in that somehow?
"Oh," he said, "I am sorry, I just have not had a lot of contact with
the outside world lately. I am glad that you stopped by, I do get quite bored
in this room with Eugene being the only contact I really get. And lately, he
has been acting like there is a big dark cloud hanging over his head or
something."
"Oh, there was an accident at the lab last week, an explosion or
something that killed quite a few of his friends. Dad hasn't told me very
much about it. I don't get out much either, I have been sick lately." William
felt a tinge of sadness as he was beginning to really like this girl.
"I am sorry to hear that, I hope it is not too bad." Julia burst into tears
as he said that. He stood up and hugged her close to him while she just cried.
He decided that at that moment that he could very easily fall in love with this
girl. He also felt a connection of some sort to her.
Karl sipped his coffee in the diner across from Eugene Bryant's
place. He was watching the good doctor to try and find out a poetic way to
kill him. This was not a hired assignment, this time it was personal, thanks to
Eugene, Karl had nearly lost his life. The boss nearly freaked when he
returned that afternoon with the standard distilled water sample instead of the
treated blood sample. It was a major mistake that would not have happened if
Eugene had not rushed him. Well, the boss spared him only because he had
more of this blood sample and now had to treat it the slow way since Beck
Biotech was completely destroyed in the explosion. He was told to take a
vacation, which to Karl was an insult. Well, during this vacation, Eugene
was going to die, and maybe even Gerald Beck too.
William stopped dead in his tracks as he was finishing up in the
bathroom and caught his reflection in the mirror over the sink. Something
was different, at first he could not tell just what, but then it hit him. His eyes
were brown, but there in the reflection, a pair of green eyes stared back at
him. It was rather creepy, but not too surprising as Eugene had warned him
that things were going to change. He thought to himself for a minute that
perhaps he might have gotten himself in a little deep this time. However, ten
million little reasons soon convinced him otherwise. He then heard that
familiar knock on his door that was trademark Julia.
"Hi Will, can I come in," she asked as she let herself in knowing that
he was going to say yes. She still felt like a lovesick teenager while she was
around him. He felt the same about her.
"Julia, look at my eyes, they are green." She stared deeply into his
eyes and her green eyes widened as she recognized his eyes.
"Your eyes, what happened to them? I know they were brown
yesterday, they look like my eyes." She was a little surprised that she felt like
something big was happening. She thought that well, people's eyes do not
change color like that, and this was more than just changing color, his eyes
were hers, she was sure of it.
"Eugene, he said that things about me would be changing as part of
the experiments. Do you think my eyes look like yours?"
"Will, those are my eyes, trust me I have looked at them my whole
life and I know my eyes."
"Why would Eugene give me your eyes? That really doesn't make
any sense."
"I don't know, but I am going to find out," she had a slight tinge of
anger to her voice. She also planned to find out why his room was an exact
duplicate of hers, and his closet was filled with duplicates of her clothes. She
assumed his dressers were filled with her stuff too. He was still wearing the
same sweats and top, where was the rest of his clothes?
"How about a game of cards," said William changing the subject. He
should have been more concerned with the whole eye issue, but he felt great,
he could even see better than he had seen with his own eyes.
William and Julia spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards on his
bed. Soon his eyes were forgotten as they gave into the good time they were
having and the feelings that continued to grow between them. They really hit
it off well, almost behaved like they were two parts of the same soul.
The burned man looked intently at his newly treated sample thinking
that it was ready for the next phase. His benefactors wanted results, they had
given him until today to produce the DNA for them. He could do that, but
once he realized that this DNA was extremely extraordinary, he had other
plans. He was going to use some of Beck's viruses to reincorporate this
DNA into his own. He was going to become the new Messiah, he would
have the DNA of the son of man. He would then teach all of his enemies the
true meaning of the wraith of God. He combined his treated DNA with the
Virus and smiled as the virus would need only a few hours to absorb the
DNA and then it was time for him to become God, or Christ, it did not matter
to him.
Julia entered her father's office and was relieved to see that Eugene
was there already. She planned to confront them both and find out what was
happening with William.
"Julia sweetheart, come on in," her father said to her.
"Daddy, Eugene, I have to ask a question and I want the truth from
both of you."
"Julia, what is on your mind?"
"Well, I have met William, he is very nice. However, why do you
have him locked up in a room that looks like mine, shit it is my room. And
what are you doing to him? Did you know that his eyes have changed, they
look like mine?"
"Calm down Julia, there is an explanation for all of this."
"Calm down, father I don't think so, I am sure that whatever your
explanation is, it won't make any difference. I really have a bad feeling about
all of this."
"We are saving your life Julia, William's DNA is being rewritten into
yours," Eugene said to an open mouthed Julia.
"What!" Julia was even more upset than she was when she first
entered the room.
"We need to change him totally into you, so that he can be a donor for
a DNA project that will save your life. He is a willing donor Julia, and we
can change him back after we have saved you," Gerald said hoping that his
daughter would buy the few white lies covered up in the truth.
"This is crazy! Why can't you just use my DNA, I have quite a bit of
it you know."
"Maybe so, but some of it is damaged, if we used a damaged piece in
our process to save you, it would only kill you. A healthy Julia is absolutely
necessary and William will be such in a few weeks," said Eugene.
"Does he know?" Julia asked still obviously mad. She discovered that
afternoon that she loves William, and now she finds out that he is being
turned into her, a little creepy.
"Not exactly," replied her father.
"Well, lets go tell him right now and see if he still wants this," Julia
said.
"Okay, I will tell him," replied Eugene. Gerald just nodded and then
Eugene and Julia headed off to tell William. Gerald felt a slight pang in his
conscience as he knew they were misleading Julia, and it was hard on him for
the simple fact that he had always been totally truthful with her up till now.
Their relationship had always been strongly built on a great foundation of
truth, but the truth now would kill her. She would never let him do what he
was doing to William. He had come too far now to lose her, his plans for
William had to go ahead.
I was so happy looking up at mommy and daddy as I happily skipped
along in front of them. We were going to see Mickey Mouse; I could hardly
wait. I was very excited about it, it even took some effort to keep myself
from peeing myself. I knew if I did that, they might let me see Mickey.
"Julia dear, don't get too far ahead of us," said mommy. She was so
beautiful, I wanted to grow up to be just like her. Daddy looked happy too, I
was so happy having them both all to myself; well, Mickey too once we got
to Disney. Disney, just thinking about made me feel so giddy and happy, I
wasn't paying much attention to the small soda can on the ground. My little
feet trampled onto the can and I fell forwards. My knee, it hit the ground and
hurts, I began to cry.
"Julia," daddy said, "you need to pay attention to where you are
going, it looks like you only scraped your knee."
"Gerald, how about being a dad and not a scientist. Come here
sweetie, let me kiss your boo boo and make it better." I ran to my mommy
with tears in my eyes and she made me feel better.
William snapped out of his memory, his memory, that was not his
memory, he had never been a little girl. He tried to reason to himself that it
must have been a weird dream, but no it was a memory, he was sure what a
memory felt like. Was he going insane, how could he have this rather odd
memory? He didn't have time to dwell on it as Eugene and Julia arrived
outside his door requesting to talk to him. He let them in and then sat on his
bed, Julia sat on his bed too; Eugene just stood. William liked having Julia
this close though he felt a little odd with Eugene there.
"How are you doing today William?"
"Okay I guess, I feel a little cooped up though." He looked at Julia
and thought that as long as he was cooped up with her, he might not mind it
so much.
"I'll see if we can give you a little more freedom. William, I think it is
time though that we had a talk about what has been happening to you," said
Eugene as he stared into William's new green eyes.
"Well, I know that you are giving me new genes and I have seen quite
a few changes already. My eyes are green now, and I noticed that my roots
are growing in red. I have noted too a few other minor changes too."
"Like what," asked Julia before Eugene had a chance to.
"Well, I think I am getting fat, I really could use a gym."
"Fat?" Julia seemed a little confused by this.
"Well, I seem to have a little more tissue on me than I ever remember
having."
"Is your chest sore at all," Eugene asked?
"Well, a little, almost like an itch. What is happing to me?"
"Tell him Eugene, or I will," said Julia with a tone that stated that she
meant business. William was surprised to hear that tone, but smiled thinking
that Julia was standing up for him.
"As you know William, I am using you as a test subject to rewrite a
few of your genes, well that is but a small part of what is going on here. I am
afraid that we have not told you the entire truth."
"What? What is going on?" William was on the verge of becoming
agitated, but something inside of him seemed to be soothing him a little.
"I am sorry William, if we had told you everything in the beginning,
we were afraid that you would not have allowed us to change you. Let me
start by giving you the why before we get to the what. Julia as you know, is
Gerald's daughter and he loves her very much."
"She is easy to love," interjected William that caused both him and
Julia to blush.
"She is easy to love, and I guess love has a lot to do with what we are
doing to you. Anyway William, Julia was found to have a brain tumor." The
color drained from his face. William felt like his world just fell out from
under his feet. It was at that moment that he truly realized just how much he
had fallen for Julia.
"It is inoperable and she will die unless we create a radical treatment
to save her life and that is where you come in. You see, the only way to save
her is to completely rewrite her DNA in such a way that we can filter out the
tumor. Unfortunately, to do so, we need your help, we can not use her DNA
to rewrite her own code as her DNA is damaged and the probability of us
rewriting her into an even more damaged version of herself is extremely
high."
"So, you are rewriting my DNA into her pattern," said William
surprising both Julia and Eugene.
"Why yes, I must say that I am impressed that you were able to figure
that out."
"I am a biochemistry major, but how do you plan to rewrite my code
without giving me the damaged code?"
"We are using the code from samples that were taken from Julia
before she became sick."
"Really, well why not just use those samples on her?" William had
surprised Eugene again in that he picked up on the one weak spot in the cover
story he and Gerald came up with. However, Eugene was a quick thinker.
"Well, To rewrite her structure, we would run into the problem that
our retroviruses would be confused since her structure is identical other than
the cancer. This would mean that the cancer would not be recognized as
foreign and possibly would be missed by the virus. Now, if we rewrite you,
we can than incorporate a marker into the new Julia code so that problem will
not exist and we can rewrite her DNA without any problem. Also, with the
DNA we have left, there certainly is enough to transform you, but not enough
to properly transform Julia. Thus by transforming you, we are also getting a
huge reserve of Julia raw DNA to use in the whole process." Eugene smiled
to himself, with his quick explanation, though if he had more time and
research, he could perhaps actually do that.
"Okay,