ID: 00010203_dolly

Source: Target's telephone line (transcript)

Project: Preventive Surveillance

Date: 2003/12/24

Status: Active

Target: Honey?

Undisclosed: Hello?

Target: (censored), honey, can you hear me?

Undisclosed: I can hear you, my love.

Target: I miss you so much. It's a pity that you have to move back to the States.

Undisclosed: I know, my dear… But my parents, you know them, they wouldn't want some stranger to take care of them.

Target: I know… It's just that I- I wish things were different. I really hope it's only temporary, until you find a way to get them taken care of.

Undisclosed: (Silence).

Target: My fault, I know. I don't want to pressu—

Undisclosed: Things are how they're supposed to be, Arthur. There's not much we can do.

Target: It's probably my fault, too. Lately, I've been caught up in this project… I'm constantly sleeping over paperwork, reports, testing info—

Undisclosed: You shouldn't apologize, Arthur. Really… I know this is your dream, we're talking about. It's not like I was trying to nag when—

Target: But I feel I should, (censored). This is just, it's just… The research here is the most stimulating project I've ever been involved in.

Undisclosed: And I want you to know that I'm following all the official news in the papers. I'm really happy for you.

Target: Thank you. I really appreciate that. You've always… I mean, you're obviously interested in science, with that background of yours, but…

Undisclosed: Honey, sweet-talking has never been one of your strengths (laughs). Please, I need an update; unofficial release, if possible.

Target: Well, there's no one around. In any case, you know I'm not allowed to talk about any of it.

Undisclosed: Come on, Arthur… Don't make me beg.

Target: (Hard breathing). There's this veteran in the team. He was one of the first coats I was introduced to. His name is Richards.

Undisclosed: Rings a bell.

Target: He's a real brain, honey. You can't even fathom the scope of what he's doing here. Well, what we are doing. In just a couple of months, there's been great progress in every area of the project.

Undisclosed: Have you replicated more animal cells?

Target: Not just cells. The testing phase has now moved into whole organisms.

Undisclosed: But, Arthur—

Target: No, hear me out, (censored). We have been using DNA from fetuses in order to avoid the telomere dilemma.

Undisclosed: That sounds awful, honey. I- Sorry, it's just that I can't—

Target: But the protocol follows strict safety procedures, we're taking the first steps in an uncharted territory. This is bound to be great.

Undisclosed: What are the implications, though?

Target: It's not perfectly effective yet, but in the cases where we've reached complete success, the subject displays less cellular aging than the expected. This means that, with the correct stimulus, we could work our way into replicating complex organisms. Perhaps, with just a couple of medicines and the correct supervision, we could be in the verge of—

Undisclosed: Of what, Arthur? Cloning humans?

(Static)

Undisclosed: This is… Fuck. This is not how it's supposed to be.

Target: Since when did you become such a moralist?

(Silence)

Undisclosed: Listen, Arthur… I'm not coming back.