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  Jodi stopped Jason. “I am sorry, Dr. Roy, could you explain that? I’m not sure I understand.”

  “Sorry, Jodi. What I mean is, there are things that we can now test for that give parents the information they need to help them prepare or decide they don’t want to carry through with the pregnancy. Many families are deciding not to continue the pregnancy so we are seeing them less frequently as Mr. Geller already alluded to. Certainly not everyone, but some. The things we don’t have a test for is, in some cases, happening more frequently.”

  Jodi looked to Jason again, “Why are we seeing the ones with no test more frequently then?”

  “The truth is that despite everything we know about our genome there is far more that we don’t know. We think that by choosing to have children without some of our known genetic disorders that we can test for we are unwittingly choosing other things we don’t understand. I am not saying that we are bad people and the world will end tomorrow, but I am saying that we are trying to make decisions based on a very limited understanding of what we are dealing with and need to be more careful. The same lesson has been learned many times over in science. We make decisions based on what we think we know and end up making things worse.”

  “So you are saying that playing with genetics at this point is kind of playing with fire?”

  “That is a little dramatic, but yes. I am not saying we shouldn’t study the fire, we just have to know that it can burn and we need to be careful.”

  “That is a lot of philosophy for a science show,” Jody answered.

  Henry Geller clenched his fists as he sat in the chair facing Jason and Jodi. He made a hand wave toward Jodi. “I’m sorry, Ms. Pietra, I have to intercede. I think, Dr. Roy, you are pulling the doomsday card inappropriately. What if, when penicillin was invented, we decided against its use because we knew that there would be resistant organisms that developed. Millions of people would have died, and we may never have developed the other drugs to fight infection based on penicillin. Yes, there was bad, but there was greater good.”

  Jason grabbed the sides of his chair so that he would not leap out of it as he directed himself toward his adversary. “Mr. Geller, my daughter has Down syndrome and I can assure you it is not a bacterial infection. The number of children being born with Down syndrome is half what it was before your test. Your test can be administered so early in pregnancy most woman barely even know they were pregnant, so it takes much of the emotion away. They can go to a drug store and do a test before anyone, potentially even the father, knows what has happened. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t have a choice, it just means that, I think, people right now don’t have an informed choice. Society is a conglomeration of many different parts. We all have our role to play.”

  Mr. Geller interrupted Jason. “Once again, I am glad you love your daughter, but please make your point.”

  Jason looked directly at the camera. “If we were all scientists, or all beautiful models, things wouldn’t work as well. There is value in kindness and love, a value that we cannot calculate. If you could choose to have a child who was kind, happy, who cared for others, and was happy to work together with anyone to get something done, I would venture to say most of us would be okay with that.”

  Jason had to stop for a moment, because despite his efforts he could feel his emotions getting the better of him. Having a tearful, emotional response at this point wasn’t going to serve his academic cause well. Jason looked over and saw that Lily was looking directly at him and smiling.

  “Mr. Geller?” asked Jodi.

  Geller glared at Jason. “I have to restate we are simply bringing information to people who want it. There are certainly ethical points that are very important, but, we don’t do this in a vacuum. There is incredible oversight by the Food and Drug Administration, the medical community, and other international governments though the World Health Organization.”

  Jason spoke evenly without emotion this time. “Yes, Mr. Geller, I have to concede that there is oversight. That said, despite this oversight, the number of children being born with DS is declining rapidly, and the incidence of other disorders we can’t test for is increasing at an alarming rate. Something is being missed and there is a potentially dangerous impact to us all.”

  Jodi raised her hand. “We have heard some amazing things. I would love to hear some more in closing. Dr. Roy, can you lead off?”

  “Thanks Jodi. Finally, as a father I cannot imagine a world devoid of people like my daughter. She may never discover the cure for cancer, but she brings a sense of joy and wonder to this world, which, I argue, has tremendous value.”

  Jason wasn’t sure if he’d gotten through to the audience, but as he watched Jodi he could see the gleam in her eye and the blinking as she tried to stay off the tears.

  “We are almost out of time, gentlemen. Thanks again Dr. Roy for sharing your valuable insights. Any closing comments Mr. Geller?”

  Geller smiled to the camera. “Thanks again for having me on your show. I think our accomplishments at Gibson Labs speak for themselves. Dr. Roy clearly loves his daughter, but I cannot speak to the societal value of being nice. I sincerely hope that we can all come to an understanding of this very important subject. Having the freedom of choice is all that we are providing. Time won’t stop because we are afraid. At Gibson Labs we are trying to make a better future for our children.”

  The lights dimmed and Geller got up to say goodbye to Jodi, so Jason stood up and handed the microphone they had pinned to his lapel to the assistant waiting for him just off set. Jason could see Geller talking to Jodi, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Jodi was smiling at whatever he was saying. From a distance it looked like they were old friends socializing, but Jason could see Jodi glancing at her watch and suspected Geller was wearing out his welcome with Jodi as well.

  Jason immediately started to worry about Lily and wondered if she had listened to everything so he immediately headed off set toward where he had left her. Lily was standing there waiting for him. She had a little pizza sauce still on her chin and a smudge on her dress. As always, she had a big smile on her face, her eyes were almost closed, and she stood with her arms out in the universal language of, I want a hug. Jason obliged her with a hug, and she promptly smothered her pizza-covered face into his off-white shirt.

  “Since you have clearly had enough pizza, where should we go now?”

  “Ooh, ice cream.”

  “Pizza and ice cream?”

  “Of course. I want to go to Molly Moons.”

  Molly Moons was Seattle’s favorite ice cream store for a reason so Jason was hoping to get some leverage out of it. “What do I get out of this deal?”

  “Another hug? Oh wait, I will put up the dishes without you asking me.”

  “All right, deal.”

  Jason and Lily moved toward the elevator. As they waited for the elevator to come up, Jason could see Henry Geller looking at him in the reflection of the metal door. Man, that guy creeps me out. He wasn’t sure if it was the way he lied so easily or just how he looked at him but Jason knew he didn’t like Geller. Jason quickly loaded Lily onto the elevator, hoping that Mr. Geller wouldn’t join them. Fortunately, they were quick enough that they got the elevator to themselves.

  It was starting to get dark when they left the building. The lights to the Space Needle were on. There were still a lot of people milling around, presumably for whatever event was happening today. Jason walked around and let Lily in the car after unlocking it. Then he opened the driver’s side door, and before he could sit down he noticed a small envelope in his seat. It was one of those little ones that you put on a birthday gift. He opened it to find a generic birth announcement with the picture of a cute baby sitting on her haunches. Inside the card was a handwritten message.

  “Don’t forget what is important to you, Dr. Roy.”

  Jason looked at the words with a mixture of shock and confusion. Was this a threat? A joke? The only important thing i
n his life right now was Lily. He stood with the door open as Lily pestered him, not knowing what was going on.

  “Daddy, are we going for ice cream? Come on.”

  Jason peered over the car at Lily trying to keep his temper in check. “Just a sec, sweetheart, Daddy is thinking.”

  Over Lily’s head, he could see Henry Geller and his entourage coming out of the building. Jason knew he should just keep his mouth shut, but was so incensed that he found himself moving toward the other group.

  “Lily, why don’t you get in the car. Daddy wants to talk with the man who was on TV with me.” Jason gave Lily his undivided attention so that she would know how serious he was and locked the door behind her.

  Jason walked past a giant of a man in a blue suit and stopped right in front of Geller. “Was this a joke?” he said, holding up the card.

  Geller looked to his entourage then calmly replied, “I’m sorry, Dr. Roy, I guess I’m not sure what the joke is. Someone left this warning in my car while we were inside. You seem to be unhappy with what I have to say. Who else would do something like that?”

  Geller took a deep breath to slowly reply, “Dr. Roy, you are absolutely correct. We are not happy with what you have to say. I promise you, if we wanted to give you a message it would not be an anonymous letter. I would personally look you in the eye and tell you that what you are doing and saying needs to stop. I would tell you that you are in over your head and if you’re not careful something bad could happen. Of course that’s what I would tell you if I wanted to make sure you got the message.”

  Jason returned his gaze without wavering. “Thank you for clarifying that for me. I would agree that it is best to deliver a message while looking your recipient in the eye. Being able to tell someone that there is no way I would ever bow to their absurd demands eye to eye is the only effective way to get across that message. I am so glad we can agree on that point.”

  Jason turned, and walked back to the car so he could take Lily to get ice cream.

  13

  ANN ARBOR—2014

  Come on Nate, pick up your feet, pump your arms. This hill was not going to defeat him today. The chill of the morning had long since worn off. The days were getting longer, so Nate had decided to skip the treadmill today and get a little taste of spring before getting stuck inside at the lab. Debbie was hopefully sleeping in a little while he blew off a little steam. In through your nose, keep your heart rate down. He wasn’t going to let this hill beat him. His song came on. He had programmed his playlist perfectly today; his feet fell in time with the beat and he began to float. Why can’t every day feel like this? The beauty of being “in the zone” was that Nate could let his body do the work and just absorb the world around him. He lost track of his breathing and began enjoying the beautiful flowers blooming all around him. It seemed every side street was lined with a different type of tree. He ran up the hill past Awixa, each side of the street lined with cherry trees, all of which were blooming. Nate was sure that if the lights turned out now, that particular shade of pink would surely glow in the dark. If he took a picture and sent it to his family back out west, they would think he had photoshopped the picture.

  One more block. He could see his house before him and the old, familiar wall came up and hit him full on. Nobody is watching, so what exactly do I have to prove? There was no answer to that because Nate never gave up if it was possible. He leaned back, took a deep breath, and just picked up his feet until he hit the corner of his street. Nate put his hand on his knees and tried to slow his breathing. Debbie could probably hear him in the house, because he sounded like a train running up the hill. Ahh...The grass looked so good he just lay down in the front yard and caught his breath.

  Nate’s mind wandered as he collected himself. He didn’t think yesterday would ever end. The meeting with Gibson was bad enough. Then the early results from their experiment had come in. They had been so close. How could this have happened? Nate had to find a different retrovirus. The gene expression was fine; everything was perfect. Except the retrovirus had seemingly placed the gene too close to an oncogene and stimulated a rare cancer in about half the mice. That was the bad news. The good news was that the T cell stimulation had made it so that the cancer didn’t spread.

  “Hey sweetheart, why are you lying in the lawn?” Debbie was standing on the porch with her arms crossed. Nate knew the giddy smile on his face didn’t help how childlike he appeared, but he didn’t care. She looks beautiful even in her pajamas.

  “Just recovering,” he panted. “Beat the hill today.”

  “You beat the hill every time. You can be so silly. I wish you had a dimmer switch so that sometimes I could turn you down just a little.”

  He winked at her. “I do, I just haven’t told you where it is yet.”

  “Thanks. Get your cute butt in here. I really need some coffee and you are my personal barista.”

  Nate got up from the lawn. “What do I get out of this deal? I need a shower.”

  “You better make it a quick shower. If I have to make my own coffee, I might break your machine.”

  He walked over and leaned in so close that his nose brushed her hair. She was keeping her hair shorter these days. He loved her hair, red just like his mother’s, but fuller. It always reminded him of one of those commercials where the woman shakes her head in slow motion and the light is just so.

  His whisper was just enough to tickle her ear. “I thought you might join me.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, mister stud muffin. You need to get to work. However, I am not opposed to making it up later if the coffee is acceptable.”

  “Nothing like a little motivation to make a good cup of coffee.”

  Nate carefully looked at Debbie as he backed off toward the shower. Her skin was always light, and no matter how much she avoided the sun she always had a patch of freckles on her nose. You know you are in love when your wife, standing in her pajamas on the porch with no makeup on, is still as beautiful as the day you first met her.

  A quick shower and Nate was ready for the morning routine. He was a scientist, so he tackled most things in his life with repetition, experimentation, and precision. Making coffee was the perfect example. This was his fourth machine, each of which he researched for months prior to purchasing. The brand of coffee was at least the tenth he’d tried, and he had a scale and highly accurate temperature probe so that he could measure and control every variable. No matter how good it was, it was always a little different. Debbie had never much enjoyed coffee, but over the last two years of their marriage she had been converted. Now she was totally and completely dependent on Nate for her morning “Joe.”

  A little coffee, a pastry, and a kiss from Debbie, and Nate was ready to attack the day. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Debbie anything yet. He was still so unsure of himself. The move to Ann Arbor had been very traumatic for her; he didn’t want to do anything to mess it up now that she was settling into their new lives.

  As he drove down Plymouth Road his thoughts drifted toward finding a new vector to insert the gene he was working on. Gibson Labs had a huge internal library with both new research, journals, and archives of all of their previous projects. I need to start with some research this morning in that library. After parking, he started by calling Julie, his assistant.

  “Hey, Julie, it’s Nate. I need to look up some stuff in the library that we don’t have access to in the lab. Can you start without me this morning? I should be able to catch up by lunch.”

  “Will do. Don’t have too much fun.”

  The library was in the administration building, and although Nate had been there a thousand times, after yesterday he was admittedly a little nervous about going inside today. Instead of going up, he skirted down one flight into the basement. Through his office he could use the internal website which gave him access to thousands of textbooks and journals. His search through the normal paths had not awarded him with what he needed. Down here, he had access to all of the secu
re research of at least the last decade of Gibson Labs. As Nate waved his identification badge over the scanner, the light turned green and the security guard nodded his head for Nate to continue on into the room. This was the heart of Gibson Labs’ confidential data so everything in this room was only accessible from inside. Within this library was housed all the research and data from every project performed at Gibson Labs since its inception. In the beginning, they had developed a vaccine for the HIV virus with extensive use of retroviruses to help study the HIV virus. Many scientists used retroviruses as tools for gene therapy so Nate was hopeful they may have some vectors that would help him.

  The library had several layers of security, and to have access to the original retrovirus research he needed to get permission from Dr. Gibson himself.

  “Excuse me, sir, I have a research request for Dr. Gibson.” Nate spoke to the man at the terminal.

  “Let me see your ID, sir.”

  Nate handed him his badge. After looking at it for what felt like an hour he gave it back to Nate.

  “I need to make sure you don’t have any electronic devices. I need to search you, sir.”

  The security guard moved toward Nate with a small wand not much bigger than his hand. Nate knew the protocol so he didn’t have a bag. The guard briefly patted his pockets while moving the wand around his torso.

  “This way, sir.”

  He led Nate to a small room that couldn’t be seen from the desk terminal. He entered a code into a keypad and let Nate into the small room which only had room for one seat—nothing to write on and no phones or cameras were allowed. If there was anything of interest to a particular researcher, it would have to be formally submitted and redacted by the administration.

  “The name is your employee ID and the password is W Q R 4 T L S.”