Sam walked through the conservatory and stepped out onto the back portico. Donna was lying on her back, on the grass; her arms propped under her head, knees bent, staring up at the sky. Donna glanced at him when she heard him skipping down the concrete steps and then turned her attention skyward again. Sam propped up on one elbow and stretched out beside her. “Sweetheart, what are you doing?”
She turned to face him and softly smiled. “Star gazing, getting back in touch with myself,” she responded, staring up into his aqua eyes.
“What do you mean, getting back in touch with yourself?”
She sighed and looked back up at the stars. “Things are out of whack. I needed to put myself back in balance so I could feel connected again.”
“You’re very attuned with things around you, aren’t you?”
“I try to be, but sometimes negative vibes get in the way.”
“What negative vibes?”
“Residual memories and feelings that I’ve boxed away.”
Sam frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Donna softly chuckled. “It doesn’t matter.” She caressed the hair at the nape of Sam’s neck, pushing her fingers through it, and gently grazing his skin with her fingertips. “You’re a really special person, Sam.”
Sam grinned. “I’m sure if you stick around me long enough, you’ll change your mind about that.”
Donna softly smiled and kissed him. “I don’t think I will.”
Sam deepened the kiss and eased on top of her, resting his weight on his elbows. “I hope you don’t,” he whispered, kissing her again. He rolled over on his back. Donna rested her head on his shoulder and looked back up at the starry sky.
“Haven’t you ever done this?”
Sam pulled her close and kissed her temple. “What? Lay on the grass with a beautiful woman in my arms and look at the stars? Sure. Hasn’t everybody?”
“Not just look at the stars, Sam – I mean really look at them. Appreciate them for what they are. It makes you feel so small and insignificant. Just think of all those worlds out there – tiny specks of light. Some that died billions of years before their first spark reached the Earth, yet to us, there they are. Life is so fickle.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked.
“Life! It’s so fragile. It’s precious and so mysterious. I mean, we have theories of how it all began with the big bang and evolution but, when you lie here and look up at this view, all the scientific jargon doesn’t seem to matter anymore. It’s just there, and we’re here and right now, this is the only moment that matters.”
Sam smiled and rolled over to face her. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her body tight against his. “Sweetheart, you have a wonderful outlook on life. Not many people today even bother to look at the sky, let along speak in awe of its grandeur.”
“Think about it, Sam. People push and shove and rush through their lives, and for what – money - power? All the money in the world couldn’t buy a moment like this. All the power in the world couldn’t compare to this. I could lay here in your arms for hours like this. I’m sorry I’m not one of your ordinary lovers who hasn’t a care in the world, but to satisfy your body’s desires.”
Sam frowned. “Sweetheart, you more than satisfy my body’s desires. You make me believe I can be more than I am. That change – even for me - is possible.”
Donna studied his eyes for a long while. “Then you’re OK with staying in my room instead of your apartment, or alone in the guest house?”
Sam smiled. “Of course I’m all right with it. I’m with you. That’s all that matters to me. Richard might have a problem with us being here, but I’ve been dealing with his arrogance for years. Who knows, maybe Sir Richard will put him in the guest house.”
Donna laughed. “I doubt that.” She stood and held out her hand. “Come on, let’s get a shower and get to bed. I want to be rested up for my first day at my new job. Where’s Gary? Has he gone to bed?”
Sam followed her into the house. “He had to take care of something. He’ll be back in a little while.”
“Should we wait up for him?”
Sam scooped her up in his arms as they approached the grand staircase. “I don’t think so. He’ll call me if he needs anything.” He stepped onto the landing. “Which is your room?”
“Two doors down,” Donna smiled.
Sam set her feet on the floor and opened the door. “Impressive,” he commented. “I can see why you would prefer this to the guest house.”
Donna closed the door and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him slowly and thoroughly. “I like it a lot more now,” she grinned and tugged him through the sitting room to the bathroom. She locked her eyes with his and started unbuttoning his jeans. “Money may be important to some people, Sam, but it’s not to me,” she whispered and kissed him again.
Sam kissed her back. “I’m beginning to feel the same way.”
------------
The next morning, places were set for Sam and Donna at the breakfast table. Gary was already half through his elaborate breakfast, when they entered the morning room. “Good morning Dr. Rigden, Dr. Kaliea,” Alan said as he seated Donna. “Would you like coffee or tea?”
“Coffee with Coffee-mate, please,” Donna spoke up.
“Dr. Kaliea?”
“Same here,” he responded sitting beside Donna. He crooked his finger and leaned close to her ear. “I was right,” he whispered.
Donna furrowed her brow and leaned her head. “Right about what?” she whispered back.
“You’re extremely sexy in a set of scrubs,” he whispered against the skin of her neck and kissed her.
Gary glanced at them and softly smiled. “Sleep well, Sam?”
Sam grinned at Donna. “Who said I slept?” He motioned to the two black rectangular boxes on the table beside Gary. “Everything go all right last night?”
“Yes.”
“What’s in the boxes?” Donna asked.
“Yours and Sam’s new cell phones….”
Alice appeared with a fresh pitcher of orange juice. “What would you like for breakfast?” she asked, greeting them with a smile.
I’ll have a bowl of muesli, please, Alice. Morning, Gary.”
Gary glanced up. “...I’ll tell you about them after breakfast,” he responded after wiping his mouth. “Sam, are you ready for another crash course in advanced genetics?”
“Raring to go…” Sam responded. “I’ll be up there with you as soon as I see what’s going on in the infirmary. It shouldn’t take over half an hour or so,” he said, reaching for the pitcher of orange juice.
“Miss Donna, would you like a bowl of muesli?”
“Yes thank you, Alice - with strawberries and bananas, please.” She furrowed her brow and stared in awe at the plate of food in front of Gary. “Are you planning on being my lab rat? What is that on your plate?”
“Instant heart attack,” Sam chuckled, pouring juice over his cereal. Donna glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and frowned. “Orange juice – on cereal!”
“Better for you than milk – less saturated fat.”
Donna dropped slices of strawberry and banana in her muesli and reached for the pitcher of milk. “I’ll take the risk. What about the fish and chips we had Friday night? They were loaded with saturated fats!”
“Chips – I agree, but the fish is OK, as long as you don’t eat the batter, which I didn’t,” he grinned.
“I recognise the bacon and scrambled eggs…” Donna said, turning her attention back to Gary, “…but what is that other… stuff?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
Gary pointed with his knife, “Devilled kidney, black pudding, and toast with marmalade. It’s a posh English breakfast, washed down with a cup of hot tea, and it’s absolutely delicious. ”
Donna looked incredulous. “And just what is ‘black’ pudding?”
Sam cleared his throat. “Sweetheart… you don’t want to know.”
Gary was as straightforward as always. “It’s made from pig’s blood and lumps of fat. It’s really quite tasty. You just have to forget what it’s made from.”
Donna glanced at Sam, twisted her face and swallowed hard. “Sorry I asked.”
“I tried to warn you,” Sam chuckled.
“At least I won’t get hungry before lunch!” Gary spoke up defensively.
“If you live to see lunch,” Donna interjected. “I can’t believe you put that stuff in your body!”
“So what are we doing first, Pretty Lady?” Sam asked.
“That would depend on what he’s found out,” Donna sighed, turning her attention back to Gary. “You said there was something odd about the shape of my chromosomes?”
“Not all of them. Just, the one we share - your maternal X chromosome.”
“In what way?” Sam interjected.
“It’s not something you would notice, but, when the computer analysed her DNA, a leg of one of her X chromosomes was extended as if something had been added to it.”
Donna frowned. “If it wasn’t that noticeable, how did you find out?”
“I compared it to a copy of mine. Except for the extended part, they were identical.”
“If it’s been transcribed into my DNA that would mean it’s permanent.”
Gary nodded. “Yes and any children you have would stand a fifty percent chance of carrying this enhanced healing gene, as well. I wouldn’t mind having it myself, but I think I’ll wait until we figure out whether or not it has any ill sideeffects. Although it might be useful, I don’t particularly want to grow an extra set of arms.”
Sam laughed. “It would certainly mean a drastic change of wardrobe.”
Donna glanced at Sam and softly smiled. “If you’ve found what we’re looking for…” she said, turning her attention back to Gary, again, “…the question is have you been able to replicate it.”
“Replicating - no problem. Transcribing it – that’s been a bit tricky. We need a universal vector. Everything I’ve tried doesn’t seem to work.”
“What have you been using as a vector?”
“Several, D, but let’s discuss this when we get to the Centre. There’s something I want to show you first. He slid one of the black boxes to Sam and the other one to Donna. Have a look at those.”
Donna furrowed her brow as she examined hers, testing its weight in her hand. “Other than it’s extremely light and thin, this doesn’t seem any different than an ordinary cell phone. How is using this one going to be any safer than using the ones we had?”
“These phones were specially designed in our electronics lab. They have three different settings: one that uses a standard cellular phone network, one that uses our satellite network and one that works like a two-way radio. You use the switch on the side to choose which frequency to transmit on. Someone might be able to listen in on our conversation, on the standard cellular network, but they won’t be able to on the other two settings, especially not the shortwave radio frequency, and even on the cellular network, the signal is scrambled between point A and point B.”
“Why couldn’t I have transferred the information from my old SIM card to this one?”
“Because, D,” Gary sighed, “…there’s a slight possibility our SIM cards had been hacked. They’re in Sir Richard’s office, locked in his safe. The information is still on them. If I can figure out a way to safely transfer the information, I’ll get your stuff back to you D, but for now, please try to understand why Sir Richard is doing this.”
“OK – whatever,” she groaned with a dismissive wave. “So, I just keep it on this first setting for standard cellular usage?”
“For now – yes,” Gary said. “I’ll explain some more about them on the way to work. We’d better leave now,” he said, glancing at his watch.
“Let me grab my MP3 player from my room,” Donna said, pushing her chair under the table. “I’ll go nuts without my music.”
Sam stood and grabbed his and Donna’s laptops. “We’ll wait for you in the car.”
------------
Sam crawled in the back seat and buckled up. He leaned forward. “You haven’t talked to her about the death gene project, have you?”
“No,” Gary groaned. “I’m dreading that part, too. Donna thinks it’s a waste of time.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because people have been researching it for years. Most scientists, like me, who still pursue it get laughed out of their careers. I’m hoping since you know about it now, that you’ll be able to help me convince her. Donna’s enhanced healing gene is the answer – of that – I’m sure. We just need to find a way of transcribing it.”
“Surely your ancient drosophila will do the trick, but then again, who needs an immortal bug.”
“If we’d been able to get our version to work on mammals, this would have been a lot easier. Unfortunately, if I’m right only a very small percentage of the population will be affected by this enhanced gene. Without the right genetic sequence and a stable vector to deliver it, we don’t have anything, but our immortal bug.”
Sam forced air through his parted lips. “And, who needs an immortal bug….”
“And that’s exactly what D is going to say.”