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CHapter 049
Gail Bond&039;shusband, Richard, the invest important clients And none wasacross the table from him now: Barton Williams, the famous Cleveland investor
"You want a surprise for your wife, Barton?" Richard Bond said "I believe I have just the thing"
Hunched down over the dinner table, Williaht interest Barton Williams was seventy-five, and closely resee pores, a broad, flat nose, and bug eyes His habit of placing his arersan arthritic neck, since he disliked wearing a brace He felt it made him look old
He could lie flat on the table, as far as Richard Bond was concerned Williah to do whatever he wanted, and what he had alanted, all his life, oe and appearance, he continued to have theious quantities, at all tied for several women to drop by the table at the end of theoff papers for hi by for a kiss and an introduction A feould be other diners, adreat investor, and so dazzled they had to come and meet him
None of this fooled Barton Williams, but it ao to a little trouble for him When you orth ten billion dollars, people made an effort to keep you happy That was hoorked He viewed it as a tribute
Yet at this particularelse, Barton Williams wanted to placate his wife of forty years For inexplicable reasons, Evelyn, at age sixty, was suddenly dissatisfied with her e and with Barton&039;s endless escapades, as she referred to theood," Barton said "She&039;s accusto Villas in France, yachts in Sardinia, jewelry fro&039;s birthday That&039;s the problem I can&039;t buy her off anymore She&039;s sixty and jaded"
"I promise you, this present is unique in the world," Richard said "Your wife loves aniht on the property"
"And she keeps birds?"
"Christ Must be a hundred We got finches in the damn sun room Chitter all day She breeds &039;em"
"And parrots?"
"Every kind None talk, thank God She never had e"
Barton sighed "She doesn&039;t want another damn parrot"
"She wants this one," Richard said "It&039;s the only one like it in the world"
"I&039;ru on your plane," Richard said
CHapter 050
Rob Bellarnore the cameras," he said to the kids They had set up in the school library of George Washington High in Silver Spring, Maryland Three semicircles of chairs around a central chair, where Dr Bellarmino sat while he talked to the students about the ethical issues of genetics
The TV people had three ca, one at the back of the roo the kids, to record their expressions of fascination as they heard about the life of a working geneticist at the NIH According to the show&039;s producer, it was important to show Bellarmino&039;s interaction with the coreed eable
He thought it would be fun
He spoke about his background and training for a few minutes, and then took questions The first one irl asked, "what is your opinion of that woman in Texas who cloned her dead cat?"
In fact, Bellarht the whole dead-cat business was ridiculous He thought it di But he couldn&039;t say that
"Of course, this is a difficult, emotional situation," Bellarmino said diplomatically "We are all fond of our pets, but" He hesitated "This as done by a California cos and Clone, and it was reported that the cost was fifty thousand dollars"
"Do you think it&039;s ethical to clone a pet cat?" the girl asked
"As you know," he said, "quite a few anis, and cats So it has become rather unremarkableOne concern is that a cloned animal does not have the same life span as a normal animal"
Another student said, "Is it ethical to pay fifty thousand dollars to clone a pet, when so roaned inwardly Hoas he going to change the subject? "I am not enthusiastic about this procedure," he said "But I would not go so far as to call it unethical"
"Isn&039;t it unethical because it ?"
"I don&039;t think cloning a pet has any effect on the issues concerning hu?"
"Fortunately," Bellarmino said, "that issue is quite far in the future Today, I hope we ht consider real conteenetically ene therapy, and stem cells; and these are real issues Do any of you share that concern?" A young boy in the back raised his hand "Yes?"
"Do you think it is possible to clone a hu?" the boy asked
"Yes, I think it is possible Not now, but eventually"
"When?"
"I wouldn&039;t want to guess when Are there questions on a different subject?" Another hand "Yes?"
"In your opinion, is huain, Bellar to be broadcast on television And who could kno the netould edit his remarks? They&039;d probably do their best to make him look as bad as possible Reporters had a distinct prejudice against people of faith And his words also carried professional weight, because he ran a division of NIH
"You&039;ve probably heard a lot about cloning, andas a scientist, II see no enetic procedure We already have done it with a variety of animals, as I havehas a high failure rate Many animals die before one is successfully cloned Clearly that would be unacceptable for hu as a non-proble God?"
"I personally wouldn&039;t define the issue that way," he said "If God has s, and made the rest of the world, then clearly God hasSo, in that sense, God has already enetic modification available That is the work of God, not man And, as always, it is up to us to use wisely what God has given us" He felt better after this; it was one of his stock answers
"So is cloning a wise use of what God has given us?"
Against his every instinct, he wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket He hoped they wouldn&039;t use that bit of fil kids sweat the head of NIH "Some people think they knohat God intends," he said "But I don&039;t believe I know I don&039;t believe anyone can know that, except God I think anyone who says he knows God&039;s intention is showing a lot of very hulance at his watch, but he didn&039;t The kids were looking quizzical, not enraptured, as he had expected
"There&039;s a great range of genetic issues," he said "Let&039;s move on"
"Dr Bellarmino," said a kid to the left, "I wanted to ask about antisocial personality disorder I&039;ve read there is a gene for it, and it&039;s associated with violence and criene appears in about two percent of the population around the world"
"What about New Zealand? It is in thirty percent of the white New Zealand population, and sixty percent of the Maori population"
"That&039;s been reported, but you must be careful - "
"But doesn&039;t that mean violence is hereditary? I ene, the e got rid of s to wonder how many of these kids had parents orked in Bethesda He hadn&039;t thought to ask for the names of the kids in advance But the questions froeable, too relentless Was one of histhese kids? Was the whole network plan a trap tohie; it was how such things were done today Arrange to make you look bad,foolish, and then watch your words repeated over and over for the next forty-eight hours on every cable news show and in every newspaper coluressues, shaking headsHow could he be so insensitive? Was he really suited for the job? Wasn&039;t he really a liability at his post?
And then you were out
That was hoas done, these days
Now Bellarenetics Should he say what he really believed, and risk being accused of de a downtrodden ethnic minority? Did he enics? How, actually, could he say anything at all?
He decided he couldn&039;t "You know," he said, "that&039;s an extre area of research, but we just don&039;t know enough yet to answer Next question?"
CHapter 051
It had beenraining all day in southern Sule floor et The leaves et Everything et The video crews fronar was back with only one client: a rapher who had flown in froe ficus tree, unzipped a duffel bag, and reround carefully Then he brought out a metal case, popped it open, and assear said "This is a preserve"
"No shit"
"If the rangers coht"
"Not a probleed the couy?"
"He&039;s a juvenile, two or three years old Maybe thirty kilos Probably less"
"Okay Ten cc&039;s" Gorevitch pulled a dart out of the case, checked the level, and slipped it into the chamber Then another And another He clicked the chaar, "When was the last tio"
"Where?"
"Near here"
"He coe?"
"Seeht He swung it in an arc, then up to the sky, then back Satisfied, he put the gun down
"You got a low enough dose?"
"Don&039;t worry," Gorevitch said
"Also, if he&039;s high in the canopy, you can&039;t shoot because - "
"I said, don&039;t worry" Gorevitch looked at Hagar "I knohat I&039;h to unsteady hi before he collapses We round for a while"
"You&039;ve done this before?"
Gorevitch nodded
"With orangs?"
"Chimps"
"Chimps are different"
"Really" Sarcastic
The two ot out a video cae microphone with a one-foot dish, which he clipped to the top of the caainly apparatus, but effective, Hagar thought
Gorevitch squatted on his haunches and stared out at the jungle The men listened to the sound of the rain, and waited
In recent weeks,the talking orangutan had faded froone the way of other animal reports that didn&039;t prove out: that Arkansas woodpecker nobody could find again, and the six-foot Congo ape that nobody could locate despite persistent stories by natives, and the giant bat with the twelve-foot wingspan that was supposedly seen in the jungles of New Guinea
As far as Gorevitch was concerned, the declining interest was ideal Because when the ape was finally rediscovered, reater than it would have been otherwise
Especially because Gorevitch intended to doit back alive
He zipped his jacket collar tight against the dripping rain, and he waited
It was latein the afternoon, and starting to get dark Gorevitch was dozing off when he heard a low gravelly voice say, "Alors Merde"
He opened his eyes He looked at Hagar, sitting nearby
Hagar shook his head
"Alors Comment ?a va?"
Gorevitch looked slowly around
"Merde Scu Esp��ce de con"It was a low sound, throaty, like a drunk at a bar"Fungele a usted"
Gorevitch turned on the ca fro the lens in a slow arc, while he watched the microphone levels Because the mike was directional, he was able to deter fromthe south
Nine o&039;clock froh the finder, zoo darker every
Now there was a crashing of branches, and Gorevitch glimpsed a shadow as it streaked across the lens He looked up and saw the shapeon branches as it went up into the overhead canopy In a fewwas seventy feet in the air above them
"Gods vloek het Asshole wijkje Vloek"
He took the ca Flicked on night vision He saw nothing but green streaks as the ani was her and laterally
"Vloek het Moeder fucker"
"Nicefainter
Gorevitch realized he had a decision to make, and quickly He set the cahted down the scope Military night vision, bright green, very clear He saw the ape, saw the eyes glohite dots -
Hagar said, "No!"
The orang jumped to another tree, suspended in space for an instant
Gorevitch fired