Devolution

‘Buy you a drink, inspector?’ said Daniel settling beside Jacobssen.

Without turning his head, Adrian accepted the offer and waited for the drink to be served and for the informant to speak first. All Natural Ingredients gave him another wink as she placed a beer before him, and he smiled back. She was older than the dancers but obviously still in good shape and there was something strangely attractive about her face. Not beautiful in a classic sense or even like a model but kind of cute and interesting. Pleasing to look at it.

‘Inspector,’ began Daniel interrupting Adrian’s little fantasy, ‘I need to tell you that there has already been an attempt on my life and I am anticipating another and another until I am dead. I don’t think I can escape my fate but I need to tell someone what I know and what I have done before I die, and my knowledge dies with me.’

Finally Jacobssen looked at him and saw a man wracked by fear, pale and drawn he shifted continually in his seat and his eyes never stopped to focus on one thing for more than a minute or two. The performance seemed somewhat melodramatic.

‘Are you comfortable here?’ asked Adrian. ‘I mean is this a good place to talk? I know you chose it but it’s a public place and despite the late hour people could be listening.’

‘If they are then it will be your turn to be the hunted.’

Adrian pulled a mini digital recorder from his pocket and said, ‘Can I record this conversation?’

‘If you want to.’

Switching it on, Jacobssen replaced it in his pocket, announced the date, the time and the place and introduced Dr. Daniel Smisco.

‘You look unsure,’ said Adrian. ‘We can talk off the record if you’d prefer.’

‘It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over and done with.’

Leaning a little closer to the doctor, Jacobssen drank some of his beer and waited for Smisco to speak. Someone bumped into him as he was putting the glass down causing some of the amber fluid to spill in his lap.

‘Watch it, mate,’ said Adrian as he turned to see who had collided with him. The guy didn’t stop or attempt to apologize, but simply staggered away to a dark corner of the room where he resumed his seat. ‘Bloody careless, some people are, aren’t they?’ he said to Daniel.

‘Can we please get on with this?’

‘Okay, shoot. Tell me what you know about the deaths of Senators Singh and 15.’

‘Almost one year ago, I was working on a research project at the University of Sydney when I was approached by a man who identified himself as being an officer of the Department of Internal Security.’

‘What was the nature of the project you were working on?’

‘Genetic engineering.’

Even Adrian knew what a wide field that was these days. ‘Can you be more specific?’

‘We were looking into the possibility of developing accelerated morphing agents.’

‘Which would do what? I mean for what purpose would these drugs be used, theoretically.’

Daniel shifted on the bar stool and took a quick sip of his drink. ‘The problem with deleting or adding genomes in order to remove the possibility of a person contracting some congenital disease or indeed for providing a person with the means, the biological means to fight an aggressive infection, was that it was too slow. It was really a generational type change in most cases but even at its best, it took many years; often beyond the lifetime of the person who needed the help.’

‘So what exactly were you hoping the morphing agents would achieve?’

‘Very fast changes in biological structures.’

‘How fast?’

‘Five to ten years.’

Adrian whistled noiselessly. ‘Impressive.’

All the time he was speaking, Jacobssen observed the doctor’s manner, wondering about the little nervous habits of his like wringing his hands, and scratching his nose, and whether they were new afflictions caused by the stress of the information he was carrying or if they had always been a part of his behavior. Occasionally, Adrian glanced over at the man who had bumped into him, and wondered how he was still upright as he continued to drink.

‘So, a man came to you, what at the university?’

‘Yes.’

‘He came to speak to you specifically or just anyone who might have been able to help?’

‘Me,’ said Daniel. ‘I was the project supervisor and the senior pharmacist.’

‘You’re a chemist?’

‘I have degrees in pharmacology and chemical engineering but I have not worked as a chemist for fifteen years.’

Adrian noted the way Daniel said chemist as if it were an ignoble profession and somewhat unworthy of him. He nodded for the doctor to continue.

‘After he had shown me his identification, he asked if he could talk to me privately. He told me the government was interested in the research we were doing and were looking at significantly increasing the operating budget for the project if certain conditions were acceptable to him. These conditions included me signing a secrecy statement, and agreeing to allow a government observer to be present during… well pretty much all the time. The final condition was that at the successful completion of the project, that is when an effective and proven morphing agent was developed, the government would own the rights to it.’

‘They wanted ownership of the recipe?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you agreed to these conditions?’

‘Yes. The money they were offering me was nearly four times what I was working with and I knew with that sort of additional funding, I would be able to double my staff and buy some very sophisticated and expensive equipment which would definitely accelerate the process.’

‘You had no qualms about giving up the rights to the recipe?’

‘No. It wasn’t about the money although when I balked at the last condition the officer assured me I would be well looked after. That was good enough for me. I really believed in the project and its potential benefit to mankind. I was just thinking about disease resistant people, I was thinking about disease free people. Can you imagine Inspector, disease free?’

His face was glowing now as though talking about the original dream had taken his mind off the fact that he was now being hunted down like a criminal and would doubtless be caught and killed before too long. Adrian noted the shine and heard the animation in his voice.

‘What happened next? You got the extra money, the extra manpower and the equipment and you began the reinvigorated search for this wonder drug?’ Adrian was deliberately flippant, attempting to bait the doctor.

‘Accelerated morphing agent,’ he replied flatly.

Jacobssen nodded his apology, drank some more beer and stole a glance at his friend over in the corner. Catching his eye, Adrian raised his glass toward the man who returned the gesture, thus making Jacobssen suspicious. He had a too steady hand and too clear eye sight for someone who should have been plastered. This was a distraction he did not need. Excusing himself, he walked down the bar to where All Natural Ingredients was serving another customer and when she had finished, he asked her what the man in the corner was drinking.

‘Ginger beer mostly.’

‘Mostly?’

‘He had a couple of beers when he first arrived.’

‘When was that?’

‘He walked in almost straight after your friend there. About half an hour, three quarters, something like that.’

‘Thanks,’ he said with a smile which she returned.

‘No worries honey.’

Returning to his seat beside Smisco, Jacobssen apologized again for the interruption and asked the doctor to continue.

‘Nothing wrong I hope?’

‘Nothing wrong,’ lied Adrian. ‘It’s fine. Go on please.’

‘At first, I was allowed to work at my own pace and according to my own plan. Although the government officer was always present he didn’t say much or do much. He merely observed.’

‘That didn’t bother you?’

‘I got used to it. I don’t really like to be watched like that, that closely but like I said after a while it was as though he wasn’t there.’

‘But then he started to interfere. To ask some questions and make some tentative suggestions.’

‘Very polite,’ said Jacobssen, ‘but delivered in such a way as to make you wonder if he was attempting to take over the supervisory role. Am I right?’

Smisco nodded thoughtfully. ‘It seemed like random questioning initially but soon I began to see a pattern and noticed the project was now being steered in a certain direction.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘A more specific direction.’

Adrian shook his head, asking for more information.

‘The officer wanted us to concentrate on theoretical Newtonian subjects and how the morphing agents could help them to make the physiological and biological adjustments necessary to an amphibious lifestyle.’

‘Was this officer Newtonian?’

Smisco nodded and waited to allow the latest morsel to sink in. He had to be sure that Jacobssen knew what he was talking about, that he knew the implications of what he was saying.

‘That fits in with Newtonian philosophy and their official response to the Kinshasha Report, doctor so it makes sense they should go that way and even attempt to accelerate the process.’

Smisco shook his head vigorously. ‘It’s not slow evolutionary generational changes we are talking about here. These morphing agents were designed to bring about rapid changes as I said. Not in line with official Newtonian Council policy. Initially the drugs worked too well and we had subjects failing to deal psychologically with the changes in their bodies. We also had subjects become deformed and others losing the use of the limbs altogether when the morphing agent suddenly reversed their effect.’

Again Daniel paused but from the look on Jacobssen’s face he deduced that he was not getting through. It was frustrating him that the inspector could not see where all this was heading, it should have been obvious. Maybe it was obvious and he had already figured it out but he needed to hear the words, to hear confirmation from Daniel.

‘After we achieved success with those who were already taking less advanced and effective morphing drugs we were told to use raw subjects, children in particular.’

‘Children used in experiments?’

‘I protested about the legality of using them but was assured they were all willing participants who had their parent’s permission to be involved in the trials.’

‘How old were these children?’

‘They ranged from six to twelve.’

‘And you considered them old enough to understand what they were doing and to freely choose to participate in these experiments?’

Feeling uncomfortable now, Daniel turned away from Jacobssen and searched for the barmaid. When he caught her attention, he pointed to his empty glass and All Natural Ingredients nodded and smiled as she held up her index finger.

‘Doctor?’

‘That was where it started to go wrong for me.’

‘Wrong for you?’ said Adrian, surprised that the doctor seemed to think this was all about him. ‘What about those children?’

‘I didn’t really know what to do other than follow the instructions given to me and continue with the experiments. One day I was informed by my observer that I was to be visited by two committee members. When I asked what committee he was talking about, he didn’t answer. He just said that these men had a vested interest in a successful outcome to this project.’

‘Who were the two men? Did you recognize them? Know their names?’

‘I’m not prepared to tell you right now, but I have all the information on the program, including names on a disc which I will supply to you later.’

‘When later and why can’t you just tell me now?’

‘I came to you remember. I have to do this my way. Please let me continue.’

Jacobssen nodded his reluctant assent.

‘I felt like I was in over my head but unable to pull myself out of the water. If I quit the program there would surely have been repercussions for me and for my family.’

‘Did anyone say anything to you to suggest that might be the case or was that merely what you thought? Part of your rationalization of what you were doing?’

Daniel hesitated.

‘Were you ever actually threatened?’ persisted Jacobssen.

‘Yes. When I started to question what was going on and began balking at some of the directions given to the team through me, it was made very clear to me that my continued cooperation was in the best interests of me and my family.’

‘So after a period of time you completed the research and had successfully designed an effective morphing agent?’

‘Yes.’

‘How long a period are we talking about?’

‘It took nearly two years.’

Adrian drank some of his beer and looked over at the guy in the dark corner who had bumped into him before. Still there. Still drinking ginger beer. Turning his attention back to Smisco who was staring into his nearly empty glass, he said, ‘That’s all very interesting but I’m not sure of the relevance to the case I’m investigating.’

Daniel became frustrated again with the inspector who had failed to convince him during their conversation that he was worthy of trust or respect. He considered leaving and telling the policeman he had said all he could and leave the rest to him to figure out for himself, but something told him to continue. He had got to this point with the threat to his life hanging over his head, and he would no doubt be killed sooner rather than later and he just wanted to get it all off his chest. Dying without the burden of guilt for what he had done was preferable by far to living a long life with it.

He took a deep breath and continued, ‘The Newtonian High Council financed this research as the ultimate solution to the cataclysm, a means of ensuring the survival of their tribe. If that was all they had in mind then that was acceptable, even commendable but some members of the council, no doubt reflecting the views of some in their community, felt that guaranteeing the survival of the Newtonian tribe was not going to be good enough to guarantee the survival of the human species. The suggestion seemed to be that a planet full of Newtonians was not desirable.’

‘Not desirable?’ Adrian was puzzled.

‘I believe it was a population issue. Newtonians are the least populous of the three main tribes so I suppose they felt to rebuild the world after the cataclysm or to build the new world, they would need more people. Others I think, felt that the Newtonian solution was the best one and the other tribes should be forced to accept it for their own good even if they couldn’t see it for themselves.’

‘Forced?’

‘Giving the morphing drugs to the wider population without their knowledge and cultivating a biological weapon of sufficient strength to hold sway over the majority of the population.’

‘Biological weapons and forced ingestion of drugs? This is like an invasion of sorts or some kind of coup. Is that what you are saying?’

Daniel sighed with relief as he finally hooked the inspector by being plain in revealing the plans of the Newtonians. ‘That is exactly what I am saying.’

‘And this is the connection to the death of the two senators, I presume, that they did not want to go along with this plan.’

‘I have to go now. I’ve been here too long already.’

‘Can you give me a name? It’s a nice theory but it doesn’t really give me a lot to follow up on.’

‘It’s not a theory, Inspector,’ said Daniel firmly as he stood up from his stool. ‘Have a think about what I’ve told you because I have said all that I am going to say.’

Fixing his eyes on Jacobssen’s, he said, ‘Not another word from me, do you understand?’

Adrian watched Smisco leave without saying another word, and less than a minute after he walked out through the doors, Ginger Beer rose from his table and quickly left the club. Adrian knew he had to follow him.