Payne & Jones 08 - The Einstein Pursuit, page 13
Dial guessed her to be in her early twenties, and she looked nothing like the biology teachers he’d had in school. Tall and slender, with short blond hair and piercing blue eyes, her snug-fitting shorts and T-shirt would certainly turn heads on the street, but here no one seemed to notice but Dial. Though her body was extremely fit, she somehow made her outfit look wholesome, not indecent – as if she was striving for comfort rather than compliments.
‘Dr Larsson is our resident zoologist,’ Olsen explained. ‘When your associates arrived with the specimens last evening, it became clear that my specific expertise in human anatomy would have to be supplemented by someone with a far broader understanding of mammalian anatomy. Dr Larsson was the logical choice.’
I’m sure she was, thought Dial.
‘Working together through the night, we were able to identify and categorize most of the remains.’
‘What did you find?’ Eklund asked.
‘A menagerie,’ Cassandra answered. ‘The live specimens included mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees.’
‘Wait. What do you mean by live specimens?’ Eklund was momentarily horrified by the suggestion that any of the scorched victims had still been alive when they had been found sealed in their cages.
‘These animals were alive when the fire broke out. Their deaths were caused by a combination of smoke inhalation and traumatic thermal decomposition of their organs.’
‘Put another way,’ Olsen clarified, ‘the fire caused their innards to burst.’
Cassandra nodded. ‘Unfortunately, yes.’
‘And that’s in contrast to what?’ Eklund asked.
‘The animals that were already deceased,’ Cassandra answered. ‘We have samples – bones and teeth mainly – from animals that were not alive at the time of the fire. This list includes pigs, turtles and juvenile gorillas, and all the other animals on the first list.’
Dial shook his head in confusion. ‘We’ll get back to the lists in a moment, but first I want to know how you’re sure these animals were not alive when the fire broke out. Is there a difference between how a live bone and a dead bone burn?’
‘If there is, I’m not the right person to ask about the distinction,’ Cassandra replied. ‘Our assumption that these animals were dead prior to the fire is based upon a number of factors: what little remained of the bodies, where these remains were located, their spatial arrangement, and an inspection of the equipment available.’
‘I’m not following,’ Dial said.
‘With the other animals – the mice and rabbits and so forth – we found complete, intact skeletons. We were told that these skeletons were found in cages, and that each species was housed separately.’
‘Go on,’ Dial said.
‘With regard to the second list of animals, there were only fragmented remains: the bits of bone and teeth I mentioned earlier. These remains were delivered to us exactly as they were found in the laboratory: layered inside a large metal box.’
‘Layered?’ Eklund asked.
‘Yes, layered. The bone at the top of the box was the brow ridge of a young gorilla. As we dug deeper, we discovered the foot of a pig. Next was a series of turtle bones, then some more pig, some rodents, some more gorilla, and a mix of the other animals.’
‘What separated the layers?’ Eklund asked.
‘Ash,’ Cassandra replied. ‘All that remained of their bodies.’
‘We compared this theory with the inventory of items found at the scene, and the photos,’ Olsen explained. ‘Your men determined that two large canisters of acetylene were destroyed in the fire. Acetylene is a flammable gas. It is certainly possible that this laboratory used it as fuel for their Bunsen burners and other equipment, but it’s highly improbable.’
‘Why not?’ Dial asked.
‘Acetylene burns at nearly twenty-four hundred degrees centigrade. It’s way too hot for use with standard experimentation. It’s also relatively unstable and expensive. Given the alternative of using the natural gas that is already piped into the building, acetylene is an illogical choice to use as everyday fuel. It is much better suited for short bursts of incredibly high heat.’
‘Like for incinerating a body,’ Dial concluded.
‘Precisely,’ Cassandra said. ‘Whoever was running this lab had built themselves a crematorium on site. Whenever they were done with a test subject, they simply incinerated the evidence.’
The words struck Eklund hard. Until that moment, he had been working under the assumption that the scientists who had died in the fire were innocent victims. But Cassandra’s comment made him wonder if he was seeing things from the wrong perspective.
What if the explosion was retaliation for their sins?
And if so, what sins had they committed?
26
Dial knew that mice and rats were used in laboratories throughout the world. He imagined a huge factory in the middle of nowhere filled with millions upon millions of fertile rodents, their offspring serving as an endless supply of test subjects. The mere thought of it gave him chills. He quickly blocked the image from his mind and focused his attention on the larger animals.
He said, ‘Tell me about the monkeys, pigs and turtles. Can those species be traced? And if they can, does the supplier require information about the testing itself?’
‘They can be traced,’ Olsen said, ‘but only if they were procured through legitimate means. In Sweden, the European Council determines the method of procurement. It governs the buying and selling of animals that are to be used in testing, and regulates the entities involved.’
‘However,’ Cassandra said, ‘there’s no reason to believe that a rogue laboratory such as this would adhere to EU standards. They could have easily imported these animals from countries outside of Europe, or obtained them through the black market.’
Olsen spoke again. ‘And even if they used EU-approved sources, I doubt they would have shipped the subjects directly to the lab. Since no one knew of its existence, it appears likely that the animals were delivered to a separate location, then moved to the facility.’
Dial made a note to contact the companies that were certified by the EU to provide animals, but he knew Olsen was right: having test subjects delivered direct to a secret laboratory would be a massive oversight on the part of whoever was running this operation.
Eklund picked up from there. ‘Since we know which species they were using in their testing, does that help us determine what field they were studying?’
Cassandra shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I mean, it’s pretty obvious they weren’t studying astronomy, but we were able to figure that out from the equipment alone.’
‘What about disease?’ Dial asked as Cassandra returned to her seat. ‘Is there any chance they were using these animals to test infectious agents?’
The question hung in the air like a contagious pathogen.
No one was willing to handle it.
Dial had seen some horrible things in his life, but they were always isolated incidents. He knew they paled in comparison to a worldwide epidemic, which was one of his biggest fears. Given what he still didn’t know about the lab, he had to at least consider the possibility.
What if they were cultivating the newest super-disease?
What if they were designing the perfect biological weapon?
Finally, after several seconds, a balding scientist in his mid forties addressed Dial’s question. ‘The animals were clean. In fact, the evidence leads me to believe that every effort was taken to keep them that way. The chemical traces suggest a full series of vaccines and immunizations. They didn’t have so much as the common cold.’
Dial nodded his appreciation. ‘And you are?’
‘Dr Alton Miles, microbiologist.’
‘And what do the vaccines tell us about the lab?’
‘That’s for you to determine, not me. I deal in facts, not speculation.’
Dial glanced at Olsen to see if he knew why the microbiologist had just snapped at him like an insolent child.
Olsen apologized on behalf of his colleague. ‘Sorry. It’s been a long night.’
Dial forced a smile. ‘No apology necessary. You’re doing us the favor, not the other way around.’
Olsen spun toward the group. ‘Dr Norling, perhaps you could speak next.’
Dr Hanna Norling was the other female in the group. She was Cassandra’s opposite in nearly every way imaginable. At seventy-four years of age, she was the matriarch of the institute’s science departments. Despite her age, her hair was a darker shade of brown than her eyes. A shade under five feet tall, she was forced to use a step stool when speaking from behind a lectern or else her audience wouldn’t know she was there. Today, however, she simply tapped the ground twice with her cane. It was her way of letting them know that she would not be rising.
She launched into a long, rambling explanation in Swedish. Nearly a full minute passed before Dial found an opportunity to cut her off.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but I don’t speak Swedish.’
A scruffy man who had not yet spoken translated for him. ‘She says there’s a chance they created the animals themselves. They have large quantities of growth medium and Petri dishes, as well as microsurgical scalpels and the other implements needed for artificial embryonic division. Basically she’s saying they could split one embryo into two.’
Hanna nodded her agreement of the translation, yet she continued in Swedish.
This time it was Olsen who related her words to Dial. ‘She also says they had the right equipment – microscopic needles and what not – needed to pull the nucleus from its original cell and transplant it into another cell. A second cell without any genetic material of its own. They also had the equipment needed to incubate the newly created recombinant cell.’
Dial pondered the new information. ‘Is she talking about cloning?’
‘Yes,’ answered the scruffy scientist. ‘That is what she is saying. They had the means to clone their own animals.’
‘Just animals?’
‘No. Anything they liked. It’s all the same science. Dolly the sheep is no different from a human being. It’s the same procedure.’
‘But it’s an entirely different world of ethics,’ Dial challenged.
‘I suppose to some,’ the man argued.
‘But not to you?’ Eklund asked.
‘It is a luxury I can enjoy: not choosing sides. I am only an engineer. I simply build the machines. How they are used is not for me to decide.’
‘And your name?’ Eklund asked.
‘Magnus Hedman. Pleased to meet you both.’
Hedman was dressed like a lumberjack, as if he were about to go out and cut wood for the winter ahead. Even though it was summer, he wore long work pants and a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled above his elbows. His hair was grey and unkempt. His face was ruddy and weathered. Dial’s first thought was that he looked like someone’s drunken uncle – the one who was always playing practical jokes. He certainly wasn’t what Dial thought of when contemplating an engineer at one of the world’s finest institutions.
‘Nice to meet you too,’ Dial said. ‘What’s your take on things?’
‘Whatever they were doing, it was cutting-edge,’ Hedman answered. ‘Some of the recovered samples were not organic, they were bionic. Are you familiar with nanotechnology?’
‘Let’s assume we’re not,’ Eklund said truthfully.
‘Nanotechnology concerns the order of things on the microscopic scale. We’re talking about machines and devices that are fully functional, yet no bigger than a human cell. In fact, there are those who believe we will someday be able to create machines that can be used to replace the very components of a cell. It would be like a heart transplant, only instead of something as big as a baseball, we’d be replacing a faulty nucleus a thousand times smaller than the head of a pin.’
‘And you found these devices in the lab?’ Dial asked.
Hedman laughed. ‘No, we’re not there yet. Perfecting machines that can operate on that small a scale is some time away. But what I found was still ahead of the curve.’
‘How so?’
‘Most nanotech in the market today relates to “passive” technology. For instance, microscopic particles that are added to sunscreens to make them more effective. The particles don’t change; they simply are what they are. That being said, the goal of nanotechnology is “active” technology, where a device could function as a sort of mini-mini-mini-mini-submarine that could be programmed to carry out a specific task, such as seeking out and destroying cancer cells before they propagate.’
‘And …’
‘I didn’t find that. What I found was somewhere in between. If I’m correct, it appears to be “reactionary” nanotech. It’s too soon to understand the trigger mechanism, but it seems they had created an inorganic microscopic delivery method.’
‘You’re saying it can’t seek out cancer, but it could react if it ever encountered it? Not so much a guided missile as a landmine.’
‘Theoretically, yes. That’s a very good analogy. But of course, there’s nothing that limits its target.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Programmed differently, it could just as easily be used to destroy healthy cells.’
Dial furrowed his brow. ‘It would attack healthy cells? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t people mostly made up of healthy cells?’
‘Yes,’ Hedman said. ‘Theoretically, if you were to introduce a device like that into a human body, the result would be less like a landmine and more like a nuclear bomb.’
27
Dial took a moment to digest the new information. A pile of cremated animals that were in perfect health before their deaths. A bunch of dead scientists who had the ability to clone. Microscopic machines that could hurt or heal at the whim of their designer.
What the hell was going on at this lab?
With several crazy theories running through his mind, he decided to shift the focus to something different. If the property owner was as famous as Toulon had claimed, then someone in the room would have heard of him. ‘Tell me about Tomas Berglund.’
In a flash, the room grew still.
No movement. No sound. No breathing.
As if the air had been sucked from the lecture hall.
Dial and Eklund exchanged glances. With decades of experience between them, they instantly knew when a question resonated with an expert or witness.
This was one of those times.
Dial repeated the name. ‘Dr Tomas Berglund … Does the name ring a bell?’
Miles, the balding microbiologist, was the first to speak. ‘What would you like to know?’
‘Let’s start with the basics. Have you heard of him?’
‘Of course we’ve heard of him.’
‘And?’
‘Berglund is brilliant. A man ahead of his time.’
‘In what way?’
Miles sat up in his chair, as if slouching while talking about Berglund would be a mortal sin. ‘There are scientists in several fields who stumbled into greatness, men and women who made incredible breakthroughs without any forethought. Fortuitous accidents, if you will.’
‘You mean like penicillin,’ Eklund said.
He was referring to the unplanned discovery of Penicillium notatum, which was made when Dr Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory after an extended absence and noticed that a culture of staphylococcus bacteria had been overrun by a strange mold. Upon closer examination, he noticed circular areas around the mold where the bacteria would not grow. He concluded that something in the mold was inhibiting, or possibly even destroying, the staphylococcus. Further studies showed that the mold was effective against bacteria while at the same time non-toxic to the host organism.
Eventually, the Penicillium notatum mold was purified and approved for medical use. The resulting drug – penicillin – had been used to treat bacterial infections since the mid 1940s.
It was the most popular antibiotic in the history of the world.
It was impossible to determine how many lives it had saved.
And it was discovered because someone forgot to put the lid on a Petri dish.
Miles approved of the reference. ‘That is the perfect example. Penicillin wasn’t a mistake, but it certainly wasn’t planned. Accidents like that happen all the time. You set out to prove one thing, and you end up making a discovery that is totally unrelated.’
‘And that’s what happened with Berglund?’
‘Not at all. In fact, that is the exact opposite of Berglund. He looks for the solutions before anyone has even identified the problems.’
‘I don’t follow,’ Eklund said.
Miles paused in thought. ‘Let’s pretend that we, as a collective group, manage to invent a revolutionary form of glass. Something that never smudges, just for the sake of argument. Well, Berglund is the type of guy who would go to his desk and pull out a notebook from a decade ago that would be filled with applicable uses for our new glass and theories about its limitations.’
Hedman chimed in with further explanation. ‘For instance, someone asks if the glass can be used in space. Well, we don’t know. We’ve never even thought about space. We were just trying to make a piece of glass that wouldn’t smudge. But Berglund – not only has he thought about space, he’s determined the issues with our new glass in sub-zero, non-atmospheric conditions, and he’s already established a treatment to correct these flaws.’
‘And he did that ten years before we even met,’ Miles stressed.
Dial nodded in understanding. ‘He’s a visionary.’
‘Yes,’ Hedman said, ‘and Picasso was just a painter.’
Dial smiled. It was a funny line. ‘What field does he work in?’
‘All of them. He’s dabbled in a variety of sciences,’ Hedman replied. ‘He has made unparalleled contributions in biology, chemistry, physics, you name it.’
Olsen rejoined the conversation. ‘Why do you want to know about Tomas?’
