Savage

CODA

With more than a million inhabitants, Goma, on the northern tip of Lake Kivu, had seen more than its share of ethnically fueled violence. The recent political unrest that had gripped the nation had very nearly fanned the smoldering embers of old tribal feuds to life again. For several tense days, only the heavy presence of foreign peacekeepers had kept the situation from devolving once more into chaos. Gradually though, as news of the fantastic discoveries nearby had reached the ears of the populace, the lingering animosity had given way to a unifying sense of hope. Instead of fear, a spirit of anticipation gripped the city.

Felice Carter was only peripherally aware of what was happening in the world outside her laboratory. She found solace in her work, the only thing that kept her from reliving the tragic ordeal of those days spent hiding in the forest and what had happened after. But that was not the only reason she had sequestered herself in the laboratory on the campus of the University of Goma. If her research bore fruit, and she fervently believed it would, it would usher in a new era of energy production. It would mean an end to reliance on fossil fuels and the inherent exploitation of the natural resources of developing nations to fuel the ravenous appetites of the global energy market.

After sequencing the DNA of the E. coli variant she had discovered in Lake Kivu and in the soil of the cavern near the Ancients’ city, she had gone to work identifying its weaknesses. The bacteria was well-suited to large scale biofuel production, but if it was unintentionally introduced to the surface world, either through a natural disaster, such as the long-dreaded lake eruption, or through human error, such as a mishandling of the bacteria at one of the biofuel production facilities that were now in the planning stages, the result would be a runaway ecological catastrophe. Her goal was to identify the best ways to shut down the extremophile quickly, and thereby ensure that, even in a worst case scenario, the organism could be tamed.

Thus far, the gram-negative bacteria had shown a vulnerability to the antibiotic ampicillin, but medical history had taught scientists the danger of relying on a single cure. So before she was willing to release her research, Felice wanted to make sure that there were many different ways to kill the organism.

She bent over a line of petri dishes that hosted colonies of the bacteria grown in agar and began adding carefully measured doses of streptomycin to each. The DNA map indicated that the extremophile had the same vulnerability to the broad spectrum antibiotic as more common variants of the bacteria, but this test would reveal whether the organism had other defenses hidden in its genetic code.

“Dr. Carter?”

She frowned but did not look up until her task was finished. Kabika, a nursing student who had volunteered to work as her lab assistant, was standing in the doorway.

“There is a man here to see you.”

Felice frowned. In the last two weeks, she had been inundated with phone calls and e-mails from scientists and biotech upstarts in every corner of the globe, all eager to reap the benefits of her work. This was the first time someone had actually bothered to come see her in person, but she knew it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“Tell him to make an appointment,” Felice said, turning back to her experiment. “Sometime next year, maybe.”

Kabika approached the table, her forehead creased with uncertainty. “This man is very insistent. He says that he is a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Yes. He said that you promised to help him.”

Felice stared back at the young woman, trying to make sense of the request. Promised to help? Could it be David?

No. David had been whisked off to Kinshasa to give a full account of his discovery of the cavern. And besides, she certainly hadn’t made any promises to him. In fact, she could think of only one man that…

All thoughts of experiments and antibiotic therapies momentarily forgotten, Felice ran for the door.