[CHAPTER 15]
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More and more I come to value charity and love of one's fellow being above everything else... All our lauded technological progress--our very civilization--is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal. -- Albert Einstein
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Saturday
Lois grimaced at the memory of the reason for Jory’s second bath that morning. How syrup had gotten behind his ears was a mystery to her – but not as much as the mystery behind how a pancake cube had ended up inside his footy pajamas.
She patted the bottom of the plastic bucket she was using to frame her sandcastle and pulled it upwards. Both she and Jory laughed when the sand structure immediately lost its shape and leveled out. Hearing her phone ring, she signed to Jory that she would be right back and rose from the park’s sandbox.
“Hey, Mom,” she greeted after checking the display screen.
“Hi, hon. Got your message. I just got back from my aerobics class.”
Lois returned Jory’s wave. He was loading more sand into the bright red bucket. “Yeah, I wanted to ask you a favor.”
“A favor?” Ellen asked. “Will it land me in jail?”
“Mother,” Lois groaned.
“Well, I have to ask these things with you, you know. What do you need?”
“You know a little sign language don’t you?”
“Oh,” Ellen said, her voice trailing off as she tried to remember. “I know enough to get by, I guess… barely. We have an interpreter on staff so that really negates my need for it. Why do you ask?”
~.~
“Is that sand in your hair?” Ellen asked after she opened the door to let Lois inside the house.
“We were at the park this morning,” Lois replied, stepping aside to reveal the little boy standing behind her.
“Well, hello,” the older woman greeted, kneeling to the child’s level while giving Lois a questioning look.
“This is Jory, Mom. He’s Clark’s, uh, son.”
“And the reason you wanted to know about my sign language skills,” Ellen said, making a friendly face to the child and signing <hello>. When Jory looked up at Lois, Ellen took the opportunity to look at his ears – she was a former nurse, after all. She patted the boy’s head and rose from her crouch.
“He’s really good at reading lips,” Lois said, leaning down to help Jory take off his jacket. “Clark insists on speaking to him instead of signing… something about hostile world, and survival of the fittest,” she rattled on, “but he’s three’s years old. I think it’s okay to give a little.”
“Oh?” Ellen asked. Her attention was more on Lois’s attitude than her actual words.
Lois stood and handed the little jacket to her mother. “Yeah, well, Clark’s… a little stiff sometimes. I’m working on it.”
Ellen arched an eyebrow. “You are?”
“It’s comes with the territory of the partnership,” Lois answered with a chuckle.
“As does babysitting, I see.”
“Okay, so my meeting should only last an hour,” Lois said, leading Jory and her mother into the den. “We burnt a lot of energy at the park so he’ll probably be ready to take a nap any time now. He’s already had lunch but I packed some snacks and a few juice boxes in his backpack… he’s got toys in there… and a coloring book. He really likes to color…”
Ellen’s head tilted. “I’m sure we’ll manage, Lois.” She looked down at the little boy who was gazing up at her daughter with a concerned expression. “You might want to explain to him what’s happening though.”
Lois smiled and lowered to sit on the floor in front of him. “I’m going to work for a little while,” she said, using her somewhat limited sign language to augment her words. <Me go work. Come back soon.>
Jory’s eyes widened. <You leave me?>
Ellen watched with interest as the little boy’s grip tightened on Lois’s sleeve.
<1 hour. Promise,> Lois replied. “This is my mommy, Jory. She’s going to play with you while I’m gone.”
<Lois mommy? Nice same Jory mommy?>
“Uh…” Lois flicked a glance to her mother and nodded. <Yes. You okay?>
Jory nodded but didn’t unlatch Lois’s arm. <When hour?>
Lois looked around the room and located the clock above her father’s desk. She picked Jory up and carried him to the desk and sat him on the surface. She pulled a blue post-it note from a nearby stack and stuck it on the face of the clock, covering the three.
<This,> she signed, pointing to the little hand, <here. Okay?>
Jory frowned.
<Come here soon. Promise.>
~.~
Lois sat in Bernard Klein’s office at S.T.A.R. Labs watching as the older man fumbled around his lab. “It’s okay, Uncle Bernie. I don’t need anything to drink.”
Dr. Klein turned around and faced her holding a beaker in his right hand. “I’m sorry, I can’t find a mug. I don’t even know if I have a mug – I just usually use a beaker… which can be tricky if you’re in the middle of an experiment.”
Lois laughed – same old Uncle Bernie. “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Oh, I was just happy you called. I’ve been working on a project non-stop for two days with only three hours of sleep mixed in and I could use a diversion. I had so much fun the last time you brought me one of your stories to play with… How did that all work out, by the way?”
“Really well, actually. We just found out that we won a Kerth for it… and the newspaper is nominating the series for a Pulitzer.”
“A Kerth! A Pulitzer!” Dr. Klein enthused. “That’s wonderful.”
“Yeah,” Lois said, modestly waving away his praise. “There’s supposed to be a ceremony or something.”
“Let me know when it is. I’d love to attend.”
Lois smiled and nodded. “I was wondering what you could tell me about cloning.”
“Cloning? That’s a topic that hits the mainframe every few months. It’s certainly not an easy one.” He shuffled through some files and papers on his desk. “Well, you know the basics. The proponents of stem cell research seek the ability to take cells from embryos that can differentiate into any type of organ or tissue.”
Klein finally located his dry erase markers. He crossed to the board on the opposite wall and drew something that looked like an egg over easy.
“The idea is that cells cultured from a blastocyst,” he turned to gauge her comprehension, “ – that is an embryo in its earliest stages of development – that the cells would be able to be used to create a replacement organ for donor recipients.”
He drew an arrow to the right of the cell he’d drawn and drew a stick figure. “If the embryo were allowed to develop, it would become a child. This is where the controversy lies: is the embryo considered a person, or is it a mass of undeveloped cells?”
“So stem cells can become people?”
“No, no. Stem cells can be assigned into all tissues except placenta. What you’re talking about is reproductive cloning. That process takes the DNA from an adult somatic cell and inserts it into the nucleus of an egg cell.”
He drew another picture of a cell and drew the nucleus with another color. He then drew a lightening bolt. “The egg cell is shocked and it starts dividing. In natural reproduction, these are signals the body sends on its own, but in this case it has to be done manually.”
Lois looked at the board in wonder. “Is there evidence that this could be done? Reproductive cloning?”
The scientist returned to his seat. “The division of cells is what causes viability,” he explained. “In practice, when scientists attempt to clone organisms, there is massive cell loss, and in turn, most trials result in death. You remember Dolly the sheep?”
Lois nodded.
“They started with 277 eggs and were only able to produce 29 embryos. Three of those embryos survived long enough to be born – only Dolly survived the months after that. Those numbers alone make it impossible for human cloning to even be discussed.”
“What about that French scientist’s claim about cloning a child… Eve, I think?”
Doc Klein shook his head. “Farce. They never were able to offer any proof. Most experts and theorists agree that human cloning is unfeasible. Human cells are unique in that they are pre-programmed. They divide 100 times and then stop. When they stop dividing, they die. When the cells die, the organs die… we die. The amazing thing about it all is that there is a piece of DNA inside the cell called a telomere - it keeps the DNA from fraying. Every time the cell divides, the telomere gets shorter. When the telomere gets too short, the DNA comes apart and the cell dies. Reproductive cloning takes an adult cell whose telomeres are already shortened. If we created children- it would only be for them to die soon after.”
Lois’s heart fell as his words hit home. “Would that be similar to Progeria?”
Dr. Klein looked at her in mild surprise. “I should have known you would have done your research. Yes, Progeria affects children by causing their cells to age too fast. They end up dying of old age before they reach 13. There’s another form of the disease that affects adults. In either case, the problem is the shortening telomere strand. Scientists can genetically engineer copies of the gene that creates telemorase, but no one knows how to insert something like that into every cell of the body. On the other hand, stimulating the body to produce more and more copies of cells would probably cause cancer. It’s a balance we aren’t advanced enough to create.”
Lois frowned and ran a hand through her hair. “What if it were alien DNA?”
“Alien DNA?”
“Like Superman,” Lois responded. “I have reason to believe that someone is trying to clone Superman… Say they did – would the clone be viable? I mean, Superman’s genes are probably more advanced and more stable… would there be a way to control the telo-stuff so that aging could be slowed?”
Doc Klein rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Wow, well that’s something else entirely. I have no idea what Superman’s genetics would involve. Regardless, that’s a very disturbing thought. A customized Superman in the hands of the wrong people… that’s like growing weapons of mass destruction.”
“Who are the most advanced people working with clone technology? The government?”
“No. The government steers clear of being directly tied with issues that controversial. What they do is fund private companies to make the technological advances and then they reap the benefits. You’d be surprised with the underground ties that the current presidential administration has with scientific research. They go against every campaign speech I’ve ever heard – but it’s also the reason I have a job. The private sector is where you’ll find your cloning agency. A lot of the time, the advances that we incur in the scientific world come from those private mistakes.”
He leaned back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling in thought. “Superman, eh? You know, it’s ironic, but there was a scientist who went rogue from a government project around the time your dad and I got out of the trenches. He had always claimed that there was an alien presence on earth. He never had any proof outside of some benign bacterium from a few meteorites though.”
Lois’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean he went rogue?”
“The powers that be shut down his project and he started working on his own. He caused enough damage that they had to eventually find him and put him out of business. From what I heard, he had an extensive setup somewhere. Anything you think of that is banned or unethical was done there.”
The hairs on the back of Lois’s neck stood to attention. Her gut was churning at the information – and she never ignored instinct. “What was this scientist’s name?”
“Trask. Jason Trask.”
~.~
Lois slid into the den at her parent’s house after letting herself inside the front door. “Did I make it?” she asked, glancing up at the clock.
“I’d say,” her mother answered, laughing while Jory jumped up from where he and Ellen were coloring in picture books on the floor.
Lois wobbled as the little boy tackled her legs.
“He didn’t take a nap,” Ellen reported, standing and dropping her red crayon near the box. “He wanted to be where he could see the clock.”
“He wasn’t any trouble, was he?” Lois asked, reaching down pick Jory up for a real hug.
“Not at all, he was an angel,” Ellen answered, tilting her head as she watched the two interact. “How was your meeting?”
“It was fine… enlightening… disturbing.” Lois shuddered.
“What do you guys have planned for the rest of the day?”
Lois made a face at Jory and he scrunched his nose in response. “I don’t know.”
The little boy sighed and leaned forward, placing his head on Lois’s shoulder and rubbing his eyes.
“Well, you should just stay for dinner. Now that you’re here, the little guy can be coaxed into a nap, and you and I can catch up.”
Lois rubbed Jory’s back and shrugged. “I think we can handle that.”
She moved to sit on the couch and pulled Jory away from her chest to get his attention. <Have fun?>
He nodded. <Draw pretty, book blue dog, juice with Lois mommy. She me run grass!> His little hands were a flurry of excited signing.
Lois laughed and looked up to her mother. “You guys played in the backyard?”
Ellen waved a dismissive hand. “He has a lot of energy. You understood everything he said?” she asked in surprise.
“Most of it,” Lois answered. “I’m getting better.”
“I didn’t even know that you knew sign language,” Ellen commented as she bent to clean up the results of the coloring session.
“I didn’t,” Lois answered, leaning down to rub noses with the yawning child nestled in her arms. “But then I didn’t have a reason to before. Isn’t that right, buddy?”
Ellen didn’t look up, but a knowing smirk flashed across her face.
~.~
Later that night, after she and Jory had returned to her apartment, Lois sat at her kitchen table staring at the screen of her laptop with a frown.
She had finally gotten Jory to calm down after having spent a full evening as the center of attention of three doting adults. It had taken a lot of energy, but the child was thankfully down for the sheep count. She had conceded to him starting off the night in her bed, since she was pretty sure that was where he was going to end it.
Clicking another link with her mouse, Lois wondered how Clark was faring with his search overseas. The search for Jason Trask was not going nearly as well as she had planned.
In fact, it was a dead end, she discovered, as the link she’d clicked revealed an article from a newspaper. Jason Trask was dead.
“Damn it.”
Lois closed her eyes and massaged her forehead wearily. From the looks of it, Trask had been a little crazy. Unfortunately, crazy people seemed to often be correct about a lot of things. In this case, Trask had been correct about extra-terrestrial life, but had never found the proof he sought. According to the obituary Lois had found, he had died before Superman’s first appearance.
This knowledge troubled Lois for a couple of reasons. First, if Trask was dead, than he wasn’t the source of the mysterious voice that was calling out to Clark. Second, Lois was convinced that Trask had been behind the collection of meteor rocks that had been commissioned around the nation all those years ago. That meant that someone, somewhere, had an immense supply of the very poison that could kill Superman.
Lois opened her eyes in alarm and looked toward the hallway. What did that mean for Jory? Was the green rock yet one more thing the little boy was going to have to deal with in his life?
Lois turned back to the computer with renewed vigor.
Trask’s operation had been shut down by the feds, but the location of his lab had never been disclosed. The fact that he was dead didn’t mean that the work stopped.
~.~
tbc
