Covenant

36

What do you mean, bring something back to life?”

Lopez watched as Dr. Holloway removed his spectacles and cleaned them as he spoke.

“With the recent advance of genetic science, it’s been possible to cross-breed two distinct species in order to create a half-breed, a chimera. It happens in nature quite a lot, but the more separated the two species are from their common ancestor, the less likely they are to be able to produce offspring.”

“But it’s been done,” Tyrell guessed.

“Oh yes. Sheep and goats produced a chimera, the so-called ‘Geep.’ Such interspecies are made in the laboratory by transplanting embryonic cells from an animal with one trait into the embryo of an animal with a different trait. This practice is common in the field.”

“So why would somebody want to conduct that procedure on humans?” Tyrell pressed.

“I really don’t know,” Holloway said. “But whatever the aim, the procedure would be highly illegal. In 2003, researchers at the Shanghai Second Medical University in China successfully fused human skin cells and dead rabbit eggs to create the first human chimeric embryos. The embryos were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory setting, then destroyed to harvest the resulting stem cells. But from what you’re suggesting—”

“They’re using unwilling victims,” Tyrell said. “Which means that they’re probably taking things further than stem cells.”

“Could they produce another species if they had the required materials?” Lopez asked, clearly appalled by the thought of such genetic engineering.

“Absolutely.” Holloway nodded. “Though there would be a number of obstacles to overcome.”

“Such as?” Tyrell pressed.

“Well, the immune system would need to be repressed, which could explain the hypothermic cooling. Then there’s the fact that sperm and eggs of differing species won’t recognize each other, and the number of chromosomes won’t match, which will prevent effective fertilization. They would need to acquire stem cells from the species they’re trying to clone, or at least culture cells from existing material in order to produce viable embryos using host or donor cells, which could explain the surgery marks on some of your victims and …”

Dr. Holloway suddenly trailed off. Tyrell saw the doctor’s expression sag and his eyes fill with horror.

“What is it?” Tyrell asked.

Holloway shook his head, his voice throaty as he spoke.

“If they fertilized human eggs that had had their nucleus replaced with foreign stem cells, they could possibly create an embryo that could then be implanted into a host.”

Lopez winced.

“They can do that?”

“They could use bone-marrow stem cells,” Holloway said, “from the species they are trying to clone. From those cells all the various types of blood cells are descended, and using a laboratory can give rise to even non-marrow cells.”

“Like embryonic stem cells,” Tyrell suggested.

“It’s cloning, in effect.” Holloway nodded. “Whole cell or animal cloning occurs through the transfer of the nucleus of an adult cell into an enucleated egg. This can result in the reprogramming of the adult cell DNA to produce a cloned animal. They could create an extinct species, for instance, from the nucleus of a cultured mammary gland cell or similar that is then fused to a human egg cell that has had its own nucleus removed. The fused cell can then be implanted into a female human host. Nuclear transfer has been applied to produce cloned animals like cows, goats, pigs, mice, cats, and so on.”

“What, you mean impregnated in vitro?”

Holloway nodded, his features twisted with distaste.

“In the 1920s, Joseph Stalin sent an animal-breeding expert to Africa in hopes of creating an army of half-man, half-monkey soldiers. They tried to inseminate women with monkey sperm and impregnate female chimpanzees with human sperm. All of the attempts failed. But now we have genetic control over the donors and recipients, which is why they might be harvesting rare O-negative blood via transfusion, to reduce the chances of immuno-shock in the impregnated female if the source species carried the same blood.”

“Why is that type of blood so rare?” Tyrell asked.

“Evolution,” the doctor said. “Most blood groups can be traced back to our evolutionary cousins via proteins, and human blood reacts with the blood of rhesus monkeys as a result of our shared antibodies. Some ninety percent of people have the rhesus antibody in their blood, hence our shared common origin.”

“But some don’t,” Tyrell said.

“About ten percent of people have rhesus-negative blood, which means that the antibodies are not present. That’s good for other people as they can receive the blood from O-negative donors without fear of rejection. The problem is its heritage: O-negative blood constitutes less than seven percent of the world population. We just don’t know where the hell it comes from, as it’s the purest form of human blood and the only type that cannot be cloned. Most believe that it’s something like our original human blood before the mixing of populations, but nobody’s really sure.”

Tyrell tried to understand what the doctor was saying.

“So this blood type has no apparent origin in human evolution?”

“It evolved all right, it’s just that we can’t tell how or where it started. Our species evolved in Africa, yet only one percent of rhesus-negative people are of African descent. That means it must have appeared after our dispersal from Africa millions of years ago. The highest concentration of people with rhesus-negative blood live in the Basque region and Israel.”

“When did it appear?” Lopez asked curiously.

“Our best estimate is around five to six thousand years ago, roughly the time that human civilization began.”

“The dawn of recorded history,” Lopez said. “Didn’t Claretta mention something about that, something she’d heard from Daniel?”

Tyrell nodded.

“Men of renown,” he murmured. “Some kind of quote. And our pastor at the Evangelical Alliance has been running blood-donation charities across the District.”

Tyrell thanked Dr. Holloway before turning and walking away with Lopez, who produced her notebook.

“I want you to get me a list of every surgeon who has ever served in the District, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland. Start with people who have worked for the Evangelical Alliance’s hospitals.”

Lopez nodded, scribbling as she did so.

“Then get me everything you can on the American Evangelical Alliance’s activities over the last ten years, specifically those that involve drug rehabilitation and blood work. Make sure that you learn everything you can about Kelvin Patterson: how he works, where he works, who supports him, who hates him, and why.”

“Wait one,” Lopez looked at Tyrell. “You can’t just build a case here and then get in his face. It might send a warning to whoever is responsible.”

“I don’t give a damn if he turns out to be God’s right-hand man and can turn shit into gold just by looking at it. If he’s the owner of this hospital, then he’s got some responsibility for it, and if he’s innocent of any crime, then he should have no problems assisting us.”

Lopez sighed, brushing a thick lock of black hair from her eyes. “Run any of this by the district attorney and I’ll be impressed.”

“My guess is that there aren’t all that many neurosurgeons out there and even less who have had their medical licenses revoked. We have one survivor, and that means whoever did it was competent enough not to kill everybody they tried it on.”

Lopez nodded, but remained unconvinced. “It’ll take a lot of man-hours.”

“Not if we’re on the right track already. Dr. Holloway said that these people with rare blood originated somewhere in Israel, so make your search in particular for surgeons with any kind of connection to Israel.”

“What about Daniel Neville? He’s in a hospital owned by the people we’re investigating. Don’t you think we should get him some kind of protection?”

Tyrell nodded.

“Get on it, and don’t let Powell talk you down. I want an officer guarding that hospital ward until this case is solved.”