Mutation

11 Saturday Afternoon

Victor regained consciousness gradually. Through a haze, he heard muffled noises he couldn’t make out. Then he realized the noises were voices. Finally he recognized VJ’s voice, and the boy was angry, yelling at someone, telling them that Victor was his father.

“I’m sorry.” The words carried a heavy Spanish accent. “How was I to know?”

Victor felt himself being shaken. The jostling made him aware that his head hurt. He felt dizzy. Reaching up, he felt a lump the size of a golf ball on the top of his forehead.

“Dad?” VJ called.

Victor opened his eyes groggily. For a moment the headache became intense, then waned. He was looking up into VJ’s icy blue eyes. His son was holding his shoulders. Beyond VJ were other faces with swarthy complexions. Next to VJ was a particularly dark man with an almost sinister expression on his face, heightened by the effect of an eyelid that drooped over his left eye.

Closing his eyes again and gritting his teeth, Victor sat up. Dizziness made him totter for a moment, but VJ helped steady him. When the dizziness passed, Victor opened his eyes again. He also felt the bump again, only vaguely remembering how he’d gotten it.

“Are you all right, Dad?” VJ persisted.

“I think so,” Victor said. He looked at the strangers. They were dressed in the typical Chimera security uniforms, but he didn’t recognize any of them. Behind them stood Philip, looking sheepish and afraid.

Glancing around the room to orient himself, Victor first thought he was back in his lab because he was surrounded by the usual bevy of sophisticated scientific instrumentation. Right next to him he noticed one of the newest instruments available on the market: a fast protein liquid chromatography unit.

But he wasn’t in his lab. The setting was an inappropriate combination of high-tech with a rustic background of exposed granite and hewn beams.

“Where am I?” Victor asked as he rubbed his eyes with the knuckles of his index fingers.

“You are where you aren’t supposed to be,” VJ said.

“What happened to me?” Victor asked as he tried to get his feet under him to stand.

“Why don’t you just relax a minute,” VJ said, restraining him. “You hit your head.”

“That’s an understatement,” Victor was tempted to say. He reached up and felt the impressive lump once more, then examined his fingers to see if there was any blood. He was still confused but his head was beginning to clear. “What do you mean, ‘I’m where I’m not supposed to be’?” he asked as if suddenly hearing VJ’s comment for the first time.

“You weren’t supposed to see this hidden lab of mine for another month or so,” VJ said. “At least not until we were in my new digs across the river.”

Victor blinked. Suddenly his mind was clear. He remembered the dark figure who’d clobbered him. He looked at his son’s smiling face, then let his eyes wander around the unlikely laboratory. It was as if he’d taken a step beyond reality where mass spectrometers competed with hand-chiseled granite. “Exactly where am I?” Victor asked.

“We are in the basement of the clock tower building,” VJ said as he let go of Victor and stood up. VJ made a sweeping gesture with his hand and said, “But we’ve changed the decor to suit our needs. What do you think?”

Victor swallowed and licked his dry lips. He glanced at his son only to see him beaming proudly. He watched as Philip nervously wrung his hands. Victor looked at the three men in Chimera security guard uniforms — swarthy Hispanics with tanned faces and shiny black hair. Then his eyes slowly swept around the high-ceilinged room. It was one of the most astounding sights he’d ever seen. Directly in front of him was the yawning maw of the opening into the sluice. A slime of green mold oozed out of the lower lip with a trickle of moisture. Most of the opening was covered with a makeshift hatch made of heavy old lumber. The huge wooden trough that used to carry the water through the room had been dismantled to serve as raw materials for the hatch, the lab benches, and bookshelves.

The room appeared to be about sixty feet across and about a hundred feet in length. The largest of the old paddle wheels still stood in its vertical position in the center of the room like a piece of modern sculpture. A number of the laboratory instruments were pushed up against its huge blades, forming a giant circle.

At both ends of the room were several heavy doors reinforced with metal rivets. The walls of the room on all four sides were constructed of the same gray granite. The ceiling consisted of open joists supporting heavy planking. In addition to the largest of the paddle wheels, most of the old mechanical apparatus of huge rods and gears that had transmitted the waterpower were still in their original places, supported from the ceiling joists by metal sheaths.

Just behind Victor was a flight of wooden stairs that rose up to the ceiling, dead-ending into wooden planks.

“Well, Dad?” VJ questioned with anticipation. “Come on! What do you think?”

Victor rose to his feet unsteadily. “This is your lab?” he asked.

“That’s right,” VJ said. “Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?”

Wobbling, Victor made his way over to a DNA synthesizer and ran his hand along its top edge. It was the newest model available, better than the unit Victor had in his own lab.

“Where did all this equipment come from?” Victor asked, spotting a magnetic electron microscope on the other side of the paddle wheel.

“You could say it’s on loan,” said VJ. He followed his father and gazed lovingly at the synthesizer.

Victor turned to VJ, studying the boy’s face. “Is this the equipment that was stolen from Chimera?”

“It was never stolen,” VJ said with an impish grin. “Let’s say it was merely rerouted. It belongs to Chimera, and it’s still on Chimera grounds. I don’t think you could consider it stolen unless it left the Chimera complex.”

Walking on to the next laboratory appliance, an elaborate gas chromatography unit, Victor tried to pull himself together. His headache still bothered him, especially when he moved, and he felt quite dizzy. But he was starting to think the dizziness could be attributed as much to the revelation of this lab than the blow to his head. This was something out of a dream — a nightmare. Gently touching one of the chromatography columns, he assured himself it was real. Then he turned to VJ, who was right behind him.

“I think you had better explain this place from the beginning.”

“Sure,” VJ said. “But why don’t we go into the living quarters where we’ll be more comfortable.”

VJ led the way around the large paddle wheel, passed the electron microscope, and headed for the end of the room. When he got there, he opened the door on the left. He pointed to the door on the right: “More lab spaces through there. We never seem to have enough.”

As Victor followed VJ, he noticed over his shoulder that Philip was coming but the security guards paid them no heed. Two of them had already sat down on a makeshift bench and started playing cards.

VJ led Victor to the room that indeed looked like living quarters. Rugs in various sizes and shapes had been hung over the granite walls to provide a warmer atmosphere. About ten rollaway cots with bed linens cluttered the floor. Near the entrance door was a round table with six captain’s chairs. VJ motioned for his father to have a seat.

Victor pulled out a chair and sat down. Philip silently sat down several chairs away.

“Want something to drink? Hot chocolate or tea?” VJ asked, playing host. “We have all the comforts of home here.”

“I think you’d better tell me what this is all about,” Victor said.

VJ nodded, then quietly began. “You know I’ve been interested in what was going on in your lab from the first days you brought me to Chimera. The problem was nobody let me touch anything.”

“Of course not,” Victor said. “You were an infant.”

“I didn’t feel like an infant,” VJ said. “Needless to say, I decided early on I needed a lab of my own if I were to do anything at all. It started out small, but it had to get bigger since I kept needing more equipment.”

“How old were you when you started?” Victor asked.

“It was about seven years ago,” VJ said. “I was three. It was surprisingly easy to set the lab up with Philip around to lend the needed muscles.” Philip smiled proudly. VJ went on: “At first, I was in the building next to the cafeteria. But then there was talk about its being renovated, so we moved everything here to the clock tower. It’s been my little secret ever since.”

“For seven years?” Victor questioned.

VJ nodded. “About that.”

“But why?” Victor asked.

“So I could do some serious work,” VJ said. “Watching you and being around the lab I became fascinated with the potential of biology. It is the science of the future. I had some ideas of my own about how the research should have been conducted.”

“But you could have worked in my lab,” Victor said.

“Impossible,” VJ said with a wave of his hand. “I’m too young. No one would have let me do what I’ve been doing. I needed freedom from restrictions, from rules, from helping hands. I needed my own space, and let me tell you, it has paid off beyond your wildest dreams. I’ve been dying to show you what I’ve been doing for at least a year. You’re going to flip.”

“You’ve had some successes?” Victor asked hesitantly, suddenly curious.

“Several astounding breakthroughs is a better description,” VJ said. “Maybe you should try to guess.”

“I couldn’t,” Victor said.

“I think you could,” VJ said. “One of the projects is something that you yourself have been working on.”

“I’ve been working on a lot of things,” Victor said evasively.

“Listen,” VJ said, “my idea is to let you have credit for the discoveries so that Chimera can patent them and prosper. We don’t want anybody to know that I’m involved at all.”

“Something like the swimming race?” Victor asked.

VJ laughed heartily. “Something like that, I suppose. I prefer not to draw attention to myself. I don’t want anyone to pry, and people seem to get so curious when there’s a prodigy in their midst. I’d prefer you to get the credit. Chimera will get the patent. We can say I’ll offer you my results to compensate for space and equipment.”

“Give me an idea of what you’ve turned up.”

“For starters, I’ve solved the mystery of the implantation of a fertilized egg in a uterus,” VJ said proudly. “As long as the zygote is normal, I can guarantee one hundred percent implantation.”

“You’re joking,” said Victor.

“I’m not joking,” VJ said somewhat crossly. “The answer turned out to be both simple and more complicated than expected. It involves the juxtaposition of the zygote and the surface cells of the uterus, initiating a kind of chemical communication which most people would probably call an antibody-antigen reaction. It is this reaction that releases a polypeptide vessel proliferation factor which results in the implantation. I’ve isolated this factor and have produced it in quantity with recombinant DNA techniques. A shot of it guarantees one hundred percent implantation of a healthy fertilized egg.”

To emphasize his point, VJ pulled a vial out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of his father. “It’s for you,” he said. “Who knows, maybe you’ll win a Nobel Prize.” VJ laughed and Philip joined in.

Victor picked up the vial and stared at the clear, viscous fluid within. “Something like this has to be tested,” he said.

“It’s been tested,” VJ said. “Animals, humans, it’s all the same. One hundred percent successful.”

Victor looked at his son, then at Philip. Philip smiled hesitantly, unsure of Victor’s reaction. Victor glanced at the vial again. He could immediately appreciate the academic and economic impact of such a discovery. It would be monumental, revolutionizing in-vitro fertilization techniques. With a product like this, Fertility, Inc., would dominate the field. It would have worldwide impact.

Victor took a deep breath. “Are you sure this works in humans?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” VJ said. “As I said, it’s been tested.”

“In whom?” Victor asked.

“Volunteers, of course,” VJ said. “But there will be plenty of time to give you the details later.”

Volunteers? Victor’s head reeled. Didn’t VJ realize he couldn’t blithely experiment with real people? There were laws to think of, ethics. But the possibilities were irresistible. And who was Victor to judge? Hadn’t he engineered the conception of the extraordinary boy he had before him now?

“Let me look at your lab again,” Victor said, pushing away from the table.

VJ ran ahead to open the door. Victor returned to the main room where the security men were still playing cards, talking loudly in Spanish.

Victor slowly walked around the circle, gazing at the instrumentation. Impressive was an understatement. He realized his headache seemed suddenly better. He felt a growing sense of elation. It was hard to believe that his ten-year-old son was responsible for all this.

“Who knows about this lab?” Victor asked, stopping to appreciate the electron microscope. He ran a hand over its curved surface.

“Philip and a handful of security people,” said VJ. “And now you.”

Victor shot VJ a quick glance. VJ smiled back.

All at once Victor laughed. “And to think this has been going on under our noses all this time!” Victor shook his head in disbelief, continuing around the circle of scientific appliances, tapping the tops of some of them with the tips of his fingers. “And are you sure about this implantation protein?” Victor asked, already considering likely trade names: Conceptol. Fertol.

“Completely,” VJ said. “And that’s just one of the discoveries that I’ve made. There are many more. I’ve made some advances in understanding the process of cellular differentiation and development I believe will herald a new era of biology.”

Victor stopped his wandering and turned back to VJ. “Does Marsha know anything about this?” he asked.

“Nothing!” VJ said with emphasis.

“She is going to be one happy lady,” Victor said with a smile. “She’s been worrying herself sick that something is wrong with you since you don’t have time for kids your own age.”

“I’ve been a little too busy for Cub Scouts,” said VJ.

Victor laughed. “God, I’ll say. She’s going to love this. We’ll have to tell her and bring her here.”

“I’m not convinced that’s such a good idea,” VJ said.

“It is, believe me,” Victor said. “It will relieve her enormously and I won’t have to listen to another lecture on your psychological development.”

“I don’t want people knowing about this lab,” VJ said.

“It was an unexpected accident that you discovered it. I wasn’t planning on telling you any of this until I’d moved the lab to the new location.”

“Where is that?” Victor asked.

“Nearby,” VJ said. “I’ll show it to you on another day.”

“But we have to tell Marsha,” Victor insisted. “You have no idea how worried she’s been about you. I’ll take care of her. She won’t tell anyone.”

“It’s a risk,” VJ said. “I don’t think she’ll be as impressed as you by my accomplishments. She’s not as enthusiastic about science as we are.”

“She’ll be ecstatic that you are such a genius. And that you’ve put all this together. It’s just extraordinary.”

“Well, maybe...” VJ said, trying to decide.

“Trust me,” Victor said enthusiastically.

“Perhaps on this one issue I’ll have to bow to your better judgment,” VJ said. “I guess you know her better than I do. All I can say is that I hope you’re right. She could cause a lot of trouble.”

“I’ll get her right now,” Victor said with obvious excitement.

“How will you get her over here to the building without people noticing?” VJ said.

“It’s Saturday,” Victor said. “Hardly anyone is around, especially so late in the day.”

“Okay,” VJ said with resignation.

Victor headed for the stairs, practically running. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes. Forty-five, tops,” he said. He charged up a half dozen steps, then came to a stop. As he noticed before, the stairs dead-ended into heavy planks.

“Is this the way out?” Victor asked.

“Just give it a shove,” VJ said. “It’s counterweighted.”

Victor went up the rest of the stairs more slowly until his hand rested on the overhead planks. Tentatively, he pushed upward. To his surprise, a large trapdoor opened with amazing ease. Casting a last glance down at VJ, Victor winked, then climbed up the rest of the stairs. When he let go of the trapdoor, it sank silently into place, cutting off the light from below.

Victor ran from the building, his pulse up from sheer exhilaration. He hadn’t felt so ecstatic in years.

Having returned from her two upsetting visits, Marsha made herself a real cup of tea. She’d taken it into her study to try to calm down when she heard Victor’s car start up the drive.

It wasn’t long before his head popped through the door. He still had his coat on. “Ah, there you are, sweet thing!”

Sweet thing? Marsha thought disdainfully. He hasn’t called me that for years. “Come in here!” she called to him.

But Victor was already on his way into the room. He grabbed her hand, trying to pull her from her couch. Marsha resisted and got her hand free. “What are you doing?” she questioned.

“I’ve got something to show you.” There was a distinct twinkle in his eye.

“What’s come over you?”

“Come on!” Victor urged, pulling her to her feet. “I’ve got a surprise for you that you are going to love.”

“I’ve got a surprise for you that you are not going to love,” Marsha said. “Sit down. I have something important to tell you.”

“Later,” Victor said. “What I’ve got is more important.”

“I doubt that,” Marsha said. “I’ve learned some more disturbing things about VJ.”

“Isn’t that appropriate?” Victor said with a smile. “Because what I’ve discovered is going to make you forget all VJ’s traits you’ve been agonizing over.”

Victor tried to drag Marsha from the room. “Victor!” she called out sharply. She pulled her arm free again. “You’re acting like a child!”

“I’m immune to your worst epithet,” Victor said gaily. “Marsha, I’m not kidding — I have some great news for you.”

Marsha put her hands on her hips and spread her legs for stability. “VJ has been lying to us about other things besides the school situation. I found out that he has never stayed at the Blakemore house. Never!”

“I’m not surprised,” Victor said, thinking how much time VJ would need to spend in his lab to accomplish what he apparently had.

“You’re not surprised?” Marsha said with exasperation, throwing her hands into the air. “Richie Blakemore and VJ are not even friends. In fact, they had a fight recently in which VJ broke the Blakemore boy’s nose.”

“Okay, okay!” Victor said, assuming a calm tone of voice. He gripped Marsha’s upper arms and looked directly into her warm eyes. “Calm down and listen to me. What I have to show you will explain where VJ has been spending most of his time. Now will you just trust me and come?”

Marsha’s eyes narrowed. At least he sounded sincere. “Where are you taking me?” she demanded suspiciously.

“Out to the car,” Victor said enthusiastically. “Come on, get your coat.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Marsha said as she allowed herself to be led from her study. She got her coat and a few minutes later she was holding on to the dash to steady herself. “Do we have to drive this fast?” she asked.

“I can’t wait for you to see this,” Victor said. He banked sharply. “And to think I was proud of a secret tree house I built when I was twelve!”

Marsha wondered if he’d taken leave of his senses. He’d been behaving so oddly lately, but she’d never seen him like this.

Victor thundered over the Merrimack River and eventually pulled into Chimera. The security shift had changed in the guardhouse. Fred wasn’t the one manning the gate.

In deference to VJ’s concern for secrecy, Victor parked in his usual spot in front of the administration building. “We have a little walk,” he said to Marsha as they alighted from the car.

It was late afternoon as they approached the river. Long shadows had begun to creep across the alleyways. It was also quite cold. Marsha guessed it was in the thirties. Victor walked slightly ahead of her, glancing back over his shoulder as if he expected someone might be following them. Marsha glanced behind them out of curiosity, but no one was there. She pulled her coat around her more closely, and decided what was chilling her was more than the weather.

Victor took hold of her hand as her gait began to slow. She’d noticed they had moved from the occupied section of the complex to the part that was unrenovated. On either side of her were the dark hulks of abandoned buildings. They loomed ominously in the gathering dusk.

“Victor, where are you taking me?” she asked, threatening to stop.

“We’re almost there,” Victor said, urging her onward.

When they got to the gaping entranceway of the derelict clock tower building, Marsha stopped.

“You don’t expect me to go in there?” she asked, incredulous. She leaned back and looked up at the soaring tower. Rapidly moving clouds made her momentarily dizzy. She had to look away.

“Please,” Victor said. “VJ is here. You’ll be wonderfully surprised. Trust me.”

Marsha looked from Victor’s excited face to the interior gloom of the building and back. Victor’s eyes were bright with anticipation. “This is crazy,” she said. Grudgingly, she moved forward. The gloom enveloped them.

Marsha let Victor lead as they stumbled over the rubble-strewn floor. “Just a little further,” Victor said.

Marsha’s eyes adjusted enough to see vague outlines on the floor. To her left were large window openings through which came the roar of the falls as well as reflected light from the surface of the millpond. Victor stopped in front of an empty corner. He let go of Marsha’s hand and bent down. He knocked on the floor. To Marsha’s surprise, a section of the floor lifted and incandescent light flooded up.

“Mother,” VJ said. “Come in quickly.”

Marsha gingerly climbed down the stairs. Victor followed and VJ let the trapdoor glide back into place.

Marsha looked around the room. To her, it looked like a scene out of a science fiction movie. The combination of the rusted gears, the huge paddle wheel, and the granite, along with the profusion of high-tech instrumentation, was disorienting. She nodded to Philip, who nodded back at her. She nodded to the Chimera security guards but they didn’t return the gesture. She noticed the man with the droopy eyelid.

“Isn’t it the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen?” Victor said as he came up alongside Marsha. She looked at him. He was beside himself with excitement.

“What is it?” Marsha questioned.

“It’s VJ’s lab,” Victor said as he launched into a brief explanation of the setup, including how VJ had been able to build it without anyone having had the slightest suspicion. He even told Marsha about VJ’s discovery of the implantation protein, and what that would mean to the infertility field.

“So now you have some idea why VJ hasn’t been as social as you’d like,” concluded Victor. “He’s been here, working his butt off!” Victor chuckled as he let his own eyes roam around the room.

Marsha glanced at VJ, who was eyeing her cautiously, waiting for her reaction, no doubt. There was an enormous piece of equipment in front of her. She had no idea what it was. “Where did all this equipment come from?” she asked.

“That’s the best part,” Victor said. “It all belongs to Chimera.”

“How did it get here?” Marsha asked.

“I guess...” Victor began, but then stopped. He looked at VJ. “How did you get this stuff here?”

“A number of people helped,” VJ said vaguely. “Philip did most of the actual moving. Some of the things had to be disassembled, then put together again. We used the old tunnel system.”

“Was Gephardt one of the people that helped?” Victor asked, suddenly suspicious.

“He helped,” VJ admitted.

“Why was someone like Gephardt willing to help you get equipment?” Marsha asked.

“He decided it was the prudent thing to do,” VJ said cryptically. “I’d spent some time with the Chimera computer, and I’d discovered a number of people who’d been embezzling the company. Once I had that information, I merely asked these people for help from their respective departments. Of course, no one knew that the others were involved, or what they were doing. So it all stayed nice and quiet. But the point is, all this equipment belongs to Chimera. Nothing has been stolen. It’s all right here.”

“I’d call it blackmail,” Marsha said.

“I never once threatened anybody,” VJ said. “I merely let them know what I knew, then asked for a favor.”

“I’d say VJ was quite resourceful,” Victor said. “But I’d like to have this list of embezzlers.”

“Sorry,” VJ said. “But I have an understanding with these people. Besides, the worst offender, Dr. Gephardt, was already exposed by the IRS. The ironic thing was that he thought that I’d been behind his exposure.” VJ laughed.

Victor’s face lit up with sudden comprehension. “I get it,” he said. “Gephardt was directing the messages at you when he tossed the brick and killed poor Kissa.”

VJ nodded. “The fool,” he said.

“I want to get out of here!” Marsha said suddenly, surprising both Victor and VJ.

“But there’s more to see,” Victor said.

“I’m sure there is,” Marsha said. “But for the moment I’ve seen enough. I want to leave.” She looked from father to son, then glanced around the room. She felt distinctly uncomfortable. The place scared her.

“There are living quarters...” Victor said, pointing toward the west end of the room.

Marsha ignored his gesture. She walked back to the stairs and started up.

“I told you we shouldn’t have told her,” VJ whispered.

Victor put a hand on his shoulder and whispered back, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.” Then to Marsha he called, “Just a second, I’ll come along.”

Marsha went directly up to the trapdoor and pushed. Once out of the basement, she stumbled blindly across the wide expanse of rubble-filled floor space. When she reached the door and the fresh air, she felt a flood of relief.

“Marsha, for goodness sake,” said Victor, catching up with her and turning her around. “Where are you going?”

“Home!” She walked on with determination. But Victor caught up to her again.

“Why are you acting this way?” Victor asked.

Marsha didn’t answer. Instead she increased her pace. They were practically running. When they got to Victor’s car, she opened her door and got in.

Victor got in on his side. “You won’t talk to me?” he questioned with some irritation.

Setting her jaw, Marsha stared ahead. They drove home in strained silence.

Once they were home, Marsha poured herself a glass of white wine.

“Marsha,” Victor began, breaking the veil of silence, “why are you acting like this? I thought you’d be as thrilled as I am, especially after all your worry about whether VJ’s intelligence would drop again. Obviously the boy’s just fine. He’s as bright as ever.”

“That’s just the point,” Marsha said sharply. “VJ’s intelligence is fine, and it terrifies me. By the looks of that lab, he must still be in the genius range, wouldn’t you say?”

“Clearly,” said Victor. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“No,” Marsha snapped. She put her wineglass on the table. “If he is still a genius, then the whole episode of his intelligence drop had to be a charade. He’s been pretending all this time. He’s been smart enough to outwit my psychological tests, except for that validity scale. Victor, his whole life with us is a sham. Just one big lie.”

“Maybe there’s another explanation,” Victor said. “Maybe his intelligence dropped, then rebounded.”

“I just did an IQ test this week,” Marsha said. “He’s tested around 130 since he was three and a half.”

“Okay,” Victor said with some irritation of his own. “The point is that VJ is okay and we don’t have to worry about him. In fact, he is more than okay. He’s put that lab together all by himself. His IQ has to be much higher than 130. And that means my NGF project is an unqualified success.”

Marsha shook her head. She couldn’t believe he could be so myopic. “What exactly do you think you have created with VJ and your mutations and gene manipulations?” she asked.

“I’ve created an essentially normal child with superior intelligence,” Victor said without hesitation.

“What else?”

“What do you mean, what else?”

“What about this person’s personality?” Marsha asked.

“This person?” Victor questioned. “You are talking about VJ, our son.”

“What about his personality?” Marsha repeated.

“Oh, damn the personality,” Victor snapped. “The kid is a prodigy. He’s already accomplished research breakthroughs. So what if he has a few hangups? We all do.”

“You’ve created a monster,” Marsha said softly, her voice breaking. She bit her lip. Why couldn’t she control her tears? “You’ve created a monster and I’ll never forgive you for it.”

“Give me a break,” Victor said, exasperated.

“VJ is an oddity,” Marsha snapped. “His intelligence has set him apart, made him lonely. He apparently realized it when he was three. His intelligence is so far above everyone else’s, he doesn’t respond to the same social restraints. His intelligence has put him beyond everyone, everything.”

“Are you finished?” Victor demanded.

“No, I’m not!” Marsha shouted, suddenly angry though tears streamed down her face. “What about the deaths of those children that had the same gene as VJ? Why did they die?”

“Why are you bringing that up again?”

“What about the deaths of David and Janice?” Marsha asked, lowering her voice, ignoring Victor’s question. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you before, but I visited the Fays today. They told me that Janice had been convinced that VJ had something to do with David’s death. She told them he was evil.”

“We heard that nonsense before her death,” Victor said. “She became a religious psychotic. You said so yourself.”

“Visiting her parents made me rethink what happened back then,” Marsha said. “Janice had been convinced she’d been drugged and poisoned.”

“Marsha,” Victor said sharply. He grabbed her by her shoulders. “Get ahold of yourself. You’re talking nonsense. David died of liver cancer, remember? Janice went a little crazy before she died. Remember that? She had some paranoia in addition to her other troubles. She probably had a brain metastasis, the poor woman. Besides, people don’t get liver cancer because they’re poisoned.” But even as he said the words, doubts of his own sprang up. He recalled the troublesome bit of DNA that he’d found in both David’s and Janice’s tumor cells. “And about those children’s deaths,” Victor said as he sat down across from her. “I’m sure they had something to do with the internal politics of Chimera. Somebody has found out about the NGF experiment and wants to discredit me. That’s why I want someone with VJ.”

“When did you decide this?” Marsha asked, lowering her glass.

Victor shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly,” he said. “Sometime this week.”

“That means even you think the deaths were really murders; that somebody deliberately killed those children,” Marsha said with renewed alarm.

Victor had forgotten that he’d purposefully kept the information about the cephaloclor from her. He swallowed uncomfortably.

“Victor!” Marsha said with resentment. “What haven’t you told me?”

Stalling, Victor took a sip from his drink. He tried to think of some smoke screen to cover the truth, but couldn’t think of a thing. The day’s revelations had made him careless. With a sigh he explained about the cephaloclor in the children’s blood.

“My God!” Marsha whispered. “Are you sure it was someone at Chimera who gave the children the cephaloclor?”

“Absolutely,” Victor said. “The only place the children’s lives intersected was at the Chimera day-care center. That had to be where they were given the cephaloclor.”

“But who would do such a terrible thing?” Marsha asked. She wanted to be reassured that VJ could not be involved.

“It had to be either Hurst or Ronald. If I had to pick one, I’d pick Hurst. But until I get harder evidence, all I can do is keep the security man with VJ to be sure no one tries to give him any cephaloclor.”

Just then the back door burst open and VJ, Philip, and Pedro Gonzales came into the family room. Marsha stayed in her seat, but Victor jumped up. “Hello, everybody,” Victor said, trying to sound cheerful. He started to introduce Pedro to Marsha but she interrupted him and said that they’d already met that morning.

“That’s good,” Victor said, rubbing his hands together. He obviously didn’t know what to do.

Marsha looked at VJ. VJ stared back at her with his penetrating blue eyes. She had to avert her gaze. It was a terrifying feeling for her to harbor the thoughts she had about him, especially since she’d come to realize that she was afraid of him.

“Why don’t you guys hit the pool?” Victor said to VJ and Philip.

“Sounds good to me,” VJ said. He and Philip went up the back stairs.

“You’ll be back in the morning?” Victor asked Pedro.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Six A.M., I’ll be out in the courtyard in my car.”

Victor saw the man off, then came back into the kitchen.

“I’ll go have a talk with VJ,” Victor announced. “I’ll ask him directly about this intelligence question. Maybe whatever he says will make you feel better.”

“I think I already know what he’ll say,” said Marsha, “but suit yourself.”

Victor went up the stairs quickly and turned into VJ’s room. VJ looked expectantly at his father as he entered. Victor realized how awed he felt by his own creation. The boy was beautiful and had a mind that must be boundless. Victor didn’t know whether to be jealous or proud.

“Mother isn’t as excited about the lab as you are,” VJ said. “I can tell.”

“It was a little overwhelming for her,” Victor explained.

“I wish I hadn’t agreed to let her see it,” VJ said.

“Don’t worry,” Victor assured him. “I’ll take care of her. But there is something that has been bothering her for years. Did you fake your loss of intelligence back when you were three and a half?”

“Of course,” VJ said, slipping on his robe over his hairless body. “I had to. If I hadn’t, I’d never have been able to work as I have. I needed anonymity which I couldn’t have had as some superintelligent freak. I wanted to be treated normally, and for that to happen, I had to appear normal. Or close to it.”

“You didn’t think you could have talked to me about it?” Victor asked.

“Are you kidding?” VJ said. “You and Mom constantly had me on show. There was no way you would have been willing to let me quit.”

“You’re probably right,” Victor admitted. “For a while there your abilities were the focus of our lives.”

“Are you going to swim with us?” VJ asked with a smile. “I’ll let you win.”

Victor laughed in spite of himself. “Thanks, but I’d better go back and talk with Marsha. Get her to calm down. You have fun.” Victor went to the door, but turned back toward the room. “Tomorrow I’d like to hear the details about the implantation project.”

“I’ll be excited to show you,” VJ said.

Victor nodded, smiled, then went back downstairs. As he neared the kitchen he could smell garlic, onions, and peppers sauteeing for spaghetti sauce. A good sign, Marsha working on dinner.

Marsha had thrown herself into preparing the meal as a form of instant therapy. Her mind was such a jumble from the day’s numerous revelations. Busywork was a way of avoiding thinking about the implications. When Victor returned from talking to VJ, she studiously ignored him, instead focusing her attention on the tomato paste she was in the process of opening.

Victor didn’t say anything for a time. Instead, he laid the table and opened a bottle of Chianti. When he ran out of things to do, he sat on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter and said, “You were right about VJ feigning his loss of intelligence.”

“I’m not surprised,” Marsha said. She got out the lettuce, onions, and cucumbers for the salad.

“But he had a damn good reason.” He gave her VJ’s to-the-point explanation.

“I guess that’s supposed to make me feel more comfortable,” Marsha said when Victor was done.

Victor said nothing.

Marsha persisted. “Tell me, when you were upstairs talking with VJ, did you ask him about the deaths of those children, and about David’s and Janice’s?”

“Of course not!” Victor said, horrified at the suggestion. “Why should I do that?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

“Because it’s preposterous.”

“I think you haven’t asked VJ anything about them because you’re afraid to,” Marsha said.

“Oh, come on,” Victor snapped. “You’re talking nonsense again.”

“I’m afraid to ask him,” Marsha said flatly. But she could feel the tug in her throat.

“You’re letting your imagination run wild. Now I know it’s been an upsetting day for you. I’m sorry. I really thought you’d be thrilled. But someday I think you’re going to look back on this day and laugh at yourself. If this implantation work is anything like he says it is, the sky’s the limit for VJ’s career.”

“I hope so,” Marsha said without conviction.

“But you have to promise that you won’t tell anyone about VJ’s lab,” Victor said.

“Who would I tell?”

“Let me handle VJ for the time being,” Victor said. “I’m sure we are going to be very proud of him.”

Marsha shuddered involuntarily as a chill passed down her spine. “Is it cold in here?” she asked.

Victor checked the thermostat. “Nope. If anything, it’s too warm.”