Project Jonah- Chapter IV
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Everyone has regrets, mine could fill an entire library.
As the week passed aboard the Red Scare and I recovered from a near fatal encounter with three mako sharks, I had a lot of time to think about those regrets.
My fellow researchers were engrossed in studying the teen shark that had been given a genome to alter its DNA, to transform and mutate it into the ancestor of this predator, the Megalodon.
Everything seemed to be happening gradually, but the signs of this leading to a car crash were definitely there. According to Weston, within a few more weeks the molecular structure of the mako would be changed entirely and we would have the very first resurrected Megalodon.
Mickael decided to name it Hound, and for some reason the name stuck.
And as the next week came to an end, I felt certain that those regrets I had were beginning to fade. The work I was doing aboard that rig felt worth it.
Especially as I grew closer to Donovan. He thanked me repeatedly for saving his life, and told me that I had a gift. “I knew you could face down any challenge,” he said as he used crutches to move around the lab.
All good things must come to an end however and the honeymoon phase of our little experiment came midway through the third week. It was Brooke that first became the bearer of bad news, commenting that the cells within the daily samples we were taking of Hound were not producing the way we expected.
That concerned Mister Weston so naturally we collected more…
And then we confirmed his fear about three hours later.
“The mako is mutating at an accelerated rate, so much so that its body may not be able to handle it. This sort of molecular flux… it could cause it to die before we can even get close to successful morphology,” Brooke explained.
Weston slammed his fist down in frustration.
“Check the levels again, there must be a mistake. Everything was going so well,” he insisted.
“With all due respect, every time we poke or prod that thing it’s becoming more volatile and the tank isn’t exactly safe. Donovan proved that,” Shannon pointed out.
“And it’s not going to escape or anything so get back down there and take another sample!!” he snarled.
Shannon huffed at him and snapped back, “Simmer down old man, we get it that you’re frustrated. This type of setback is routine in this sort of work. We can simply find a different sample.”
“It’s not that simple,” he said, shaking his head angrily.
His eyes told me that this had something to do with all of the secrecy we had been sworn to, and I decided it was high time he come clean so I hazarded a guess as to what he had been hiding.
“You’ve been saying since the beginning that this research was privately funded… by you. Which is only half the truth right? You’re out of money… or you will be soon.”
The old man didn’t bother denying it but he did add another layer of the sordid ordeal that surprised me. “Truth be told, I stole it. I made an agreement with some corporate thugs in China, they’ll be the ones to slap their names over this discovery. Or at least they would have been if this didn’t go to shit!”
Weston pushed a bunch of papers on the desk, leaving Shannon, Brooke and I aghast at the implications.
“Are you telling me that we’ve been doing illegal research for communists? And you were planning on simply giving them the discoveries we made to save your own ass?” Brooke yelled at him.
“Doesn’t matter anyway. All of it was for nothing. We will lose the teen and the experiment was a bust… so all of you will get to walk away from this and I will be the one left behind… god damn what a fool I was,” Weston declared, shaking his fists at the sky.
“Do you really think your Chinese bosses are just going to let this slide? They’ll probably arrest all of us and we will never see our homes again!”
Clara entered the room, a look of shock filling her face.
“I heard everything…”
She went over to the computer and tapped on the screen, starting to think aloud.
“Maybe there is a way to fix this,” Clara suggested as she bit on a pencil and rechecked the data. “Maybe we can do something to make sure the Hound’s body can survive the transition.”
Weston looked at her with modest interest. He was desperate for a solution, to be honest after hearing what a charlatan he was and how much trouble we would be in if things went south we all were looking for answers.
“In some experiments that I ran we mixed dna of other species into the genomes of the subject. Of course the results were a mixed bag… but perhaps there is something amid our collective knowledge that we can think of which might make sure the Hound survives this…”
“That sort of mutation could have unanticipated side effects, aren’t we already messing with nature enough?” Brooke argued.
“The time for second guessing is past us, Doctor. Gather the others in the conference room so we can fill them in, Clara. Surely one of us has a solution, that’s why we were all brought together,” I told them.
________
As it turned out, that answer came from me. Mickael was the best at memorizing documents and reviewed the work of every single one of us over the next hour. I was actually impressed with his ability to retain information.
“Frog man, this is your field of expertise; I’ve given it a lot of thought and those amphibians you love so much might actually be the key to this mess,” he told us.
When all of us waited for an explanation, the German gave us an incredulous look and sighed. “The frogs have the ability to be able to slow down their heart rate to the ability that they are considered clinically dead. If we could find a way to introduce that ability to your beloved sharks, then we could save this experiment.”
Everyone turned to me, waiting to see if I vouched for this plan.
“In theory what he is saying makes sense. But… but it’s dangerous and we are already in uncharted territory, look at what happened to Donovan,” I told them.
“What happened to him is precisely why we need to push forward! There’s too much on the line. Now spill, where can we find the frogs?” Shannon asked.
I shook my head.
“It’s not that simple. These are endangered species. We would be literally kidnapping them and causing problems in the local ecosystem… we are basically robbing Peter to pay Paul,” I told Mickael, hoping the biblical reference would have him reconsider. Instead he doubled down on this concept, retorting, “This isn’t up for debate. Unless you want to be the one that takes the fall… we do this together. We can take the frogs by force if necessary but truthfully we should only need their genetic material… and we can find plenty of that at the labs near Darwin.”
I slumped back in my chair, surprised he knew so much about the situation. It made me wonder what else he knew about my past and made sweat drip down the back of my neck.
The others were going to do this regardless and if they went to the lab, my secrets would be exposed. So naturally I spoke up and volunteered to go.
“Finally you’re on board. Well I will go too,” Shannon decided.
Clara shook her head and announced she would be the one to go alongside me. “I know the area, and besides Weston I’m the only one who can fly the damn helicopter. It will need to be just the two of us,” she decided.
It didn’t take long for the others to agree with that and before I really had time to grasp what was happening we were ready to leave the rig.
Mickael gave us the equipment we would need to extract the genetic material and Weston reminded us we would have to keep radios silent for the entire trip.
Once we were in the air, Clara finally opened up to me about why she chose to come along.
“Weston hired me first, you know. Saw my experience in mutations and knew I would be the one to create these alpha predators. This is now more my project than his,” she remarked.
“Sounds like you have a lot riding on this… and now you’ve roped all of us in on it too.”
She scoffed. “Don’t act so self righteous. I heard the way you and Shannon were talking earlier. You both have a lot to lose here too. More than just careers.”
I said nothing back, too worried I would give away more secrets and closed my eyes to take a nap as we flew to Darwin. Deep down I hoped that this was the right decision, but the knots in my stomach that filled me with dread told me that more bad things were going to happen.
Why didn’t I listen to my gut?
_________
We landed the helicopter on a cliff side that overlooked a beach and was about a mile from the lab I once worked at, then we waited til after sunset. I explained to Clara that security would change after seven and that would be the best time to get in and get out.
“The less attention we draw to ourselves, the better,” I told her.
Then she opened up a case she had brought with us, what I thought was just supplies for the extraction also included a firearm.
“Are we planning to shoot someone?”
“Only if things go south. Last thing we want are more witnesses,” she explained. Her ruthlessness reminded me of my own in some ways. The determination in her eyes was appealing and we had a brief momentary understanding.
Then we got to work.
As planned, everything was dark and we managed to get inside unseen. I always wondered why this lab didn’t have tighter security.
The room where they kept the genetic samples was cold and quiet, and I was starting to feel that everything was too easy as Clara searched for the correct materials we would need.
“We should take a variety, in case one of them doesn’t work,” she said placing them in the bag.
“Bad idea. Too much genetic modification would also have an adverse effect on the makos,” I explained as I found the one that I knew would really make a difference, a sample that included a modified version of the frog’s ability to survive in a variety of environments. This would help the most, I told her.
“Why is there only one?” she asked.
“I made this before Weston called me off. My partner and I. I was going to publish my findings… but things worked out differently,”
“Because your partner was the one that contacted Weston,” Clara commented. I froze where I stood and turned toward her, surprised she even knew that. Then I saw she had the firearm aimed straight at me.
“Did you really think we didn’t know about Lucas?” she asked.
“What happened was an accident. I don’t mean to hurt him,” I fumbled, trying to not panic as I asked, “Are you going to kill me or something?”
“Give me the genetic sample, Felix.”
“You brought me here to eliminate a threat. Was this Weston’s plan?” I asked.
“Weston has no knowledge of this situation. I’m making sure that someone like you, a loose cannon; doesn’t interfere with what we are trying to accomplish,” Clara cocked the gun and repeated her order for me to hand over the sample. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck.
I had two options. Either I submitted to her and risked losing everything, or I had to eliminate her too. I chose the latter and tossed the sample toward her. In that moment of weakness, her attention was diverted and I tackled her. The weapon went off and alarms sounded.
We struggled on the ground for a few moments as I wrestled the gun from her and then got the sample back.
Finally, biting right into her cheek she lost her grip and I aimed the gun at her face.
“Give me one reason not to blow your brains out,” I said, my heart pounding faster than ever before.
Clara smiled in a wicked way, “You can’t fly the helicopter… I’m your ticket out of here.”
I reluctantly knew she was right and told her to get on her feet as we hurried out of the lab before security came along.
“Seems like since we have to go back together it might be a good idea to lay some ground rules.”
I took in a breath and tossed the gun off the side of the helipad before remarking, “Since you know that I’m capable of murder and you know that my work matters more to me than anything else, I want at least fifty percent credit on this project. Can you do that Clara?”
“We’ll have to get Weston out of the picture I suppose,” she commented as she started up the helicopter. “We can figure out what to do with him another day. Getting the Meg to full maturity is all that matters. I think we can agree on that, hmm?”
She agreed to cooperate and we flew away from the lab before anyone was the wiser. I didn’t stop feeling uneasy until we were over open waters and Clara finally spoke again.
“Lucas was planning to steal your research so you disposed of him… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you would be willing to do the same to me,” she remarked dryly.
“We’re both vicious predators like those sharks,” I quipped.
“You heard what he said before we left. Weston has a target on his back. When this is all said and done he wants to sell this to the communists. We can’t let that happen,” Clara said through gritted teeth.
“I agree. But maybe we can use that to our advantage. If they think he’s failed, he’ll be the one to pay. We just need to get away from here before that,” I told her.
“Ruthless and efficient. I like it. This stays between us, understood?” she snapped.
The look in her eyes told me that she just as capable of trying to end me as I was to her and through this mutually assured destruction I had made a pact.
Back on the rig, Mickael began to administer the dosage and I checked on Donovan. Somehow he could tell the trip inland had shaken me.
“Difficult seeing old stomping grounds?” He asked. “I just want the risks we are taking to be worth it,” I explained. He reassured me they would be as he lay down to get another dose of pain medicine and we waited for the sample to begin its mutation of the mako.
I was halfway asleep myself when we found out just what our tampering had done to the shark.
Another alarm went off and the entire rig was bathed in crimson again. I awoke groggily, not even taking the warning serious until Clara showed up and told us there was a situation down in the containment chamber.
“Is the mako reacting adversely? Did we lose it?” I asked as the elevator took us there.
I learned that I was half right as the doors opened and I stared into the tank.
A gaping hull in the metal the size of a small boat told me all I needed to know. The shark had escaped containment and was out in the wild.
I could only think of one thing that encapsulated my feelings.
“We are so fucked.”