Chapter 32

"Professor Arbatov … ?"

"Schneyder!"

"Professor, I present to you the records … on our second subject."

"Ah! At last. If you bungle again …", the towering, stark man in the impeccable white lab coat didn't have to raise his voice to make it menacing, accepting the stack of printouts with his trademark lack of mimic and gesture, making the man in front of him shift uncomfortably in his fashionable antique leather jacket. His indistinct middle European features were tense, and his pale eyes flickered nervously, while his left hand inadvertently strayed to his thigh, as if feeling a wasp sting there.

"He's perfect! Sir, you won't believe it … ", Schneyder hurried to supply, stuttering almost … striving to keep his superior's thoughts from straying to dangerous paths ... he was not his type … but with Yuri Arbatov you learnt the hard way it was better never to be too sure of yourself …

"1,73m … hmmm … would have preferred a little taller", Arbatov was leafing through assemblage of photographs, newspaper scans, lab sheets and something that looked like digital code, except that instead of 0 and 1 it showed four letters, A,C, G and T, in ever changing permutations. "You know what will be his role … and Liu is tall and strong … but it is of no matter … the freak will be in no position to defend himself … hmmm … I have seen that boy before …"

"Professor Arbatov?"

"What is it, Dr. Jang?"

"I was under the impression … um … that you intended to … yourself …"

The chilling doctor drew himself up to his full height. "Dr. Jang!" now the colleague who had studied the medical textbook with him earlier cringed. The man called Schneyder shot him a snide glance, straightening up smugly. "No reason to get too full of yourself … degenerate capitalist scum … ", Arbatov muttered in his direction (in Russian). Schneyder obviously understood enough of this to instantly tense and pale again. Arbatov was continuing in an icy voice,

"Dr Jang! Where is your professional ethos! We are not staging this exhibition for our entertainment … we are sacrificing our life time for the greater good … the scientific knowledge of mankind …"

If Dr. Jang remembered Arbatov's earlier display of passion, he was prudent enough to give no indication of it. And certainly not that it might have to do with the rumours of Arbatov's not being able to …

Arbatov resumed studying the data.

"Is this correct, is this his date of birth … ?!"

Schneyder leaned over, careful not to come into direct body contact with his superior.

"These data are from the Obstetrical Department of the Seibo Hospital, Tokyo … a scan of all births in May1946 … "

"Then he is … over 60 … ?!"

Schneyder surely deemed it wise to hold back a tempting remark on basic calculating abilities …

"Yes, sir … if you would care to direct your attention to this gene locus … 11 q 21.3 - 22.4 …"

"The daf-2 gene … interesting … ", Arbatov screwed up his eyes, stilling. "Hmmm …", he rapidly began checking against a file on his computer screen, "yes …"

Letter sequences flitted past, Arbatov and also Dr. Jang following with rapt attention, two pairs of eyes switching back and forth, from printout to screen, as if following a tennis match.

"Negrajotny!" - "Qi you ci li de!" (Russian / Mandarin for "incredible")

Jang remained silent after this, while Arbatov's gasps grew louder with each passing sequence of base-pairs, until he was almost shouting. His colleague drew back uncomfortably, taking utmost care though to do so discreetly.

"Yes! … it is so. Ah. Gentlemen. The longevity mutation …"

"The subject's mother is reported to have been worried about high radiation levels … but the baby was born healthy to all appearance. Some pictures of assorted stations of his life … first row, second from left, 1963 Musashino Jushi Gakuin graduation class, note the "V" formed by the subject's index and middle finger, the so called "Peace" sign … May '64, New York's Times Square, protesting against the Vietnam war … 1967, Berlin, "Kommune 1" … Nicaragua, eighties, anti Sandinistas … early nineties, reconstruction there … rural Japan in the late nineties, growing organic rice … and here - the boy with the tank top all but baring his chest, holding a banner - leading a demo against teenage prostitution on Hong Kong Island last summer." Schneyder shot a wary glance at the Russian, who's expression was impenetrable. "Finally, here … the most recent image … "

"I knew it …", Arbatov narrowed his eyes to icy slits, "I have seen this … man? before … St. Petersburg, the photographer … Schneyder!"

Even though having premeditated this, Schneyder couldn't help jerking.

"Why haven't I been informed of this before?"

"You were informed, sir …"

Schneyder stared at his superior levelly, continuing silently,

'you were informed …yesterday … but you did not listen … Bok (Russian for "god") almighty … you were thinking only of the other one … the beautiful one … the one you crave … the Hong Kong Triad whore … the freak …", Schneyder narrowed his eyes, too, "the one I got a good look at yesterday evening … before his Japanese … boyfriend? handcuffed me … I'll kill him for that … after his other boyfriend, the pissed Goldilocks … your nephew, almost spewed on my arm … ", he was breathing heavily in silent, rising fury, 'maybe tonight will turn out different than you imagine? Maybe your nephew will watch while I nail his damaged sweetheart … and you can watch me, too … doing what you would kill to be able to … old man … pathetic can't-get-it-up dictator of science.'

Dr. Jang was looking over at him suspiciously now, but Prof. Arbatov remained oblivious and uninterested. Schneyder shut his eyes briefly. When he went on he seemed to have a complete grip on himself again.

"There is another interesting genetic aberration described for the second subject … a mutation in the 14 p 2.1 - 2.7 locus, first isolated from relics of Christian martyrs … associated to extremely altruistic, but also highly fanatic behaviour, regardless of self preservation … fit's the bio, don't you think?… Takaba Akihito, does the name sound a bell? …the activist photographer …"

" … the A/A variation of the SAINT gene?! But that is extremely rare! And such a combination …", Arbatov's eyes glowed like blue phosphorus, "I know another person who is a homozygote carrier of this anomaly … took a sample from him on the gentlemen's, he did not notice, and I have analyzed him", he chuckled softly, a sound that sent chills down the spines of both Jang and Schneyder, "… at that oh so very useful group, eight years ago now, it is … ah … "

He gripped the sides of his office chair, sitting up very straight, staring unseeingly in front of him.

"Dr. Jang … Schneyder …", now Arbatov brought to mind a catholic priest doing the incantation to summon up transsubstantiation, "Taramasov will not fail us … he is more intelligent than Schneyder here, and Kirishima I will deal with yet … also, ah … Asami …", he took no notice of Schneyder's clenched fists, "ah, Alexej … my worthy master of matter and bits … and tight embraces … you will deliver Liu to me … and you, Schneyder, will provide … this Takaba. It is your last chance. Dr. Jang."

He sighed, like a kindly, only slightly disappointed old father, but otherwise did not move a muscle.

"I am proud to announce the most memorable … service … for you and our other distinguished … guests. Lecture room four, 8 pm, sharp, tonight."

- to be continued -

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