Part 2
From the notebook of Abe Siegel:
February 14th
"My work at Genenatron has been rewarding in itself, there is no doubt of that. I have found all of my colleagues over the last few years enjoyable and stimulating to me in our collaborations. Yet lately I have found my mind wandering. We are all so limited in our imaginations and a collective like Genenatron as a company is even more cut off and walled in in its thoughts of the future and what is possible.
I have been assigned to the feline project for three months now. It is a matter of days before I crack the point in the DNA code that will allow us to cut out the gene that causes the feline's skin to secrete the oils that cause humans to have allergic reactions. I am very close and my collegues in the lab rally around me. I am not enthused."
February 20th
"There was a party thrown in the cafeteria today. If all goes to plan with the FDA then the first non allergy causing cat will be bred in New Zealand next year. Everyone is ecstatic. If they are so happy for such a limited break through then I can only imagine how they will react when real progress is made."
March 6th
"My request has finally been answered and I started today in Lab Room C14F. What has been called "The Rabbit" project by the staff has been in the process of being conceived and completed in that lab for the last five years. I feel that this will not only be my chance to show the company what I can do with a wider access to resources but I will also have the opportunity and freedom to play out some of my own theories and ideas. I am giddy with delight."
May 7th
"With total commitment I have run myself into the ground and turned myself half mad with exhaustion and lack of sleep. But progress is undeniable. With my assistance "The Rabbit Project" has gone farther in two months than it has gone in the last two years. Someone mentioned that we are over a year ahead of schedule. Tomorrow we assemble the machine. The following day we put the rabbit inside."
May 19th
"In my heart I always knew this would be possible but I never thought things would move so rapidly. One week after scanning the rabbit in the machine (the scan took less than two minutes) we have fully active cells in the bio-chamber. They are expanding and building upon themselves at an alarming rate. What I hypothesized in my calculations and what I don't think my colleagues realize is that these are the same cells! And I mean the same."
June 23
"The staff has named our creation Larry 2. I was too busy to realize the original Rabbit was named Larry. Larry 2 is already eating grass that they feed it and hops around the environment at the size of an adult rabbit. The amazing thing the handlers noticed is that Larry 2 seems to recognize and warm to the exact same people that the original liked as well. I heard this and could barely conceal my excitement. Everything seems to have gone exactly as I hypothesized. In order to have an additional hard copy of my formulas both mechanical and biologically I have copied all 37 of the formulas out in the following pages of this journal."
PB flips ahead but there are no formulas. Many pages seem to have been ripped out. The journal continues with another entry.
July 6th
"Over the holiday I was able to visit the office and e-mail the brain pattern scans from Larry 2 down to San Diego where Dr. Everson and his colleagues will be able to compare them with the original's brain pattern and give me a clear reading to be analyzed. I won't be able to sleep for the next week."
July 10th
"I sit here at the desk and compare the brain scans and they are identical. While the brain of any animal is still largely indecipherable the comparisons between Larry and Larry 2 are as clear as day. Same cracks, same crevices. I believe, and Dr. Everson confirms this with some reservations in his e-mail, that what I am looking at is the same brain. Same development, same thoughts, same memories."
July 19th
"The unthinkable has happened. I came into work and found my computer had been hacked. I don't know how and I don't know by who but all of my files that I have collected regarding my theories on DNA cloning have been opened and corrupted with a virus that now makes them unreadable, and and in some cases, such that they won't even open. Who would do such a thing? Genenatron? But what would be the purpose? The company has nothing to gain. Or maybe they are trying test me. Either way I have decided to resign tomorrow."
August 2nd
"I was walking from the grocery store today when a large SUV of a make I couldn't recognize pulled up next to me in the parking lot and a man with some sort of thick accent asked me to get in. I complied because I knew this must have a connection to my computer being hacked. When I got into the car I found more large men with thick foreign accents and a camera built into the ceiling that stared down on me. I was given a phone and voice spoke to me explaining that he was aware of my genius and what I had accomplished and that it was time for me to come on a board so that I could "save the company". I asked if he was affiliated with Genentron but he ignored me and explained that I would be summoned soon to join someone else and begin work. Without him saying it out right I got the distinct impression that if I didn't comply with what the voice said there would be dire consequences.
The foreign men let me out of the car and I returned home and am now writing this. What does it all mean? Who is this voice? Who is this man at the top? I am intrigued and also strangely frightened."
The journal stops there, the remainder of the pages ripped out. PB hears the phone ringing downstairs. He hesitates but it continues to ring urgently. He scrambles down to the first floor and finds a phone next to the TV.
"Hello?"
"PB, has my brother returned?"
He recognizes Sam's voice.
"No he hasn't. Was he supposed to?"
He wants to tell her of the journal but hesitates, ashamed to have ben reading her brother's papers.
"I'm coming over," she says.
A half hour later she is at the door and PB wonders aloud what is going on.
"Abe was supposed to call me, " she explains in a voice awash with worry "He always checks in. It's a way to keep people like him grounded. You can't just let him disappear somewhere and go off in his own thoughts."
"You think somethings wrong?" PB asks.
"Yes! We need to go to Yosemite and make sure he's okay. Can you get packed right away?" she asks, her mind some where else.
"I'm packed now," PB explains and motions towards the clothes he's wearing.
To be continued in Part 3.
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