Writer’s note: I am not sure where this story came from. If I say a need for hope spawned it in some part, it suggests I question the ability of the human race, as is, to act maturely and solve the problems that face us. Sad. About a year ago a BBC America show on relationships dove-tailed nicely with what I had written and gave me additional material to further flesh out that aspect of the story.

 

“The Apollo Genes”

by Barbara Goldstein Ph.D., c.2005

In the 1950‘s, Dr. Edmund Howard was a top researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who specialized in the differences between blood types.

His neat-as-pin lab is lined with cooling units with nascent tempered glass doors, and inside each row after  row of vials of blood can be seen. The work table has several microscopes, including one of the earliest electron versions. A desk in the corner is surrounded by commendations on both walls.

Dr. Howard who was in his mid-forties at the time and his lab assistant, George Pickering, in his late twenties excitedly examine the results of analysis of blood samples.

George has a motor mouth. “Now, you’ll have to check my math – it took me nearly eight hours to do the calculations, even with that fancy electronic calculator of yours. Can you imagine how long it would have taken with a slide rule? But look at these results! You’ve teased out the most minute differences between the blood types I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m glad you’re so excited by the results,” Ed Howard responds, “but it’s just a starting point  – a tool, a way to perhaps account for real differences between people.”

George blathers on, “But you all ready have that – if this data is correct. Because you have such a large sample size and such  a detailed analysis – no one has ever used over two thousand blood samples from all over the world before; I’m sure of it – we have some small groups with rare blood compositions.”

Ed Howard’s level of interest rises. “Where’s that data?”

George shuffles through the papers and hand a section to Dr. Howard who reads the figures with interest. “This is interesting! We need to see if there are any patterns to these subjects – similarity in sex, nationality, race, economic class, occupation – what ever data we have on those subjects.”

“Everyone filled out an extensive questionnaire, so we might find something,” George informs Dr. Howard, “but a trend would have to be very strong to show up statistically with so few cases per group. Did you see the numbers? The largest subset had seven, the smallest two.”

Ed Howard waves the papers at George. “Is this copy for me? I want to digest these figures further.”

George nods. “I have a carbon back-up. Do you want it filed -”

Ed cuts him off, “George, thanks for the excellent work.  I really want to study this.”

George takes the hint and departs.

As soon as Ed is sure George is gone, he goes to the file cabinet, unlocks it and pulls a sealed file labeled “Confidential Research Participant Assignments.” After double-checking for George’s absence, Ed carefully detaches the seal and pulls out the contents. He pages through the contents, finds a page and runs  finger down a list. He stops and jots a number on his desk pad. He continues to go down a list, and several more times he notes numbers before carefully ordering the papers, replacing them in the envelope and carefully resealing it as if it had never been touched.

He rips the numbers off the pad and adds it to the papers George gave him and leaves.

 

Ed sits with his wife, Molly, in the kitchen of their home. Ed is having a cup of coffee and a pastry, Molly is having soup and crackers.

Ed checks, “Is Harlan around?”

“No. He’s out with friends,” returns Molly. “Why?”

“He never likes it when I talk about the family secret, and I have news. Do you remember that I snuck five blood samples from this family into my latest study?”

“Yes. To placate the Aunts, and their theories.”

“Well, they’re not so crazy. I don’t know what it means, but we found four tiny groups of people with unusual blood compositions, and every sample from this family fell into one or more of those groups.”

“But your family has been experimenting, Ed. Maybe you created the difference.”

“The fourth group was just you and your sister.”

At first Molly doesn’t know what to say, then, “I didn’t really put stock in that tinny taste to fish meaning anything. So what does it mean?”

“I have no idea – at least so far.”

 

That didn’t last due to George, who zealously compared the tiny groups on every variable in their anonymous questionnaires and creating charts in a matter of days.

He hands a stack of bar graphs to Ed Howard. “We have unbelievable answers! I can’t believe with such small samples that we got such clear answers. This is going to blow your socks off! Look at the number of people in our four sub-groups who are in positions of leadership or authority. It’s statistically significant beyond point zero zero one.”

Ed Howard is shocked. “I shouldn’t be that surprised. The four subgroups are variants of something, but that they would all trend the same way in application – I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I’ve got something even greater that I found in the data. The blood samples group to fairly specific origins, each matching one of the sub-groups. Except for the Chinks, the other three locations are Caucasian. Maybe we could use the data to stop that Brown vs the Board of Education that’s getting all that press.”

Ed Howard is horrified, but stifles it quickly.

George misses the reaction and races on, “It also could help in some of those law suits those In’juns have going for land reclamation. Were we wrong in World War Two! We need to get this data to the Nazi Party!”

Dr. Howard responds carefully, “ I don’t know about all of that George. We would need replication before we could trumpet the results as loudly as you want. And even with the trend, not all leaders fell into one of those four groups. Clearly those blood anomalies are important, but they’re not the be-all or end-all.”

“You can be as cautious as you have to be professionally, Doc, but this is dynamite data.”

Dr. Howard asks almost off-handedly, “Speaking of the data, what did you do with the carbon copy?”

George points to the file cabinet. “Locked away safe and sound.”

“Good,” answers Ed Howard with just the right note of relief to reinforce George’s emphasis on safety.

But once Ed is sure that George has gone home, he opens the files, takes out the carbon of the data and the mathematical computations and leaves.

 

In the kitchen at home with Molly, he finishes telling her what happened. “So I took what I think is the only other copy and brought it home with me. George can be so impulsive, and on this…”

“He’s put you in a terrible position, dear. How can you publish results that would reopen the scars of World War II and inflame so much of the politics of today?”

“Especially when the results aren’t as clear cut as George wants to make out.”

“What do you want to do about it?” Molly asks.

George purses his lips and makes a funny face before answering, “I want to get out of the research game, and just practice medicine. Find a small community, get out of the rat race.”

“Run away?”

“More the straw that broke the camel’s back. But in terms of these findings? Yes. This needs to be buried. If there’s a small group of people with more leadership ability than the rest of us, let them earn it like anyone else.”

Ed, Molly and their son Harlan did abruptly move to Madison, Wisconsin. They bought a beautiful home next to one of the many lakes. Ed never regretted the move or the change to practicing medicine, and the home had an upbeat happy atmosphere until the death of Molly shortly after Harlan’s wedding in 1970.  Ed was so distraught, he moved out of the home to a neighboring apartment, leaving the home to Harlan and his very young wife…

Forty years later: It turns out that the person on whom they mapped the human genome was a  good representative of humanity. Over the years, as more people were mapped, some interesting genetic variations began to emerge.

Drs. Annette and Adam Howard, two top Geneticists from the University of Wisconsin, have been riding the crest of the genome discovery wave since their joint dissertation eight years earlier. Their discovery of an easier method for distinguishing epigenetic effects on genetic expression is now commonly used in genetic research world-wide.

Annette and Adam are always presumed to be a married couple by those who meet them – their squabbles and easy affection for each other. In truth, they are fraternal twins, now in their mid-thirties, still live together in the family home on one of Madison’s lakes.

Adam drives he and Annette back from a conference. Annette is lost in the past, the worst day in their childhood…

There was a warmth to the decorations in their family home still left from Grandma Molly, and seven year old Annette and Adam were each on one side of Grandpa Eddie. He finishes reading them a story.

“The scientist took the clues left over the hundreds of years and explained them in understandable scientific terms. He came to realize that the people he was studying were very rare and very special. And so, he figured out the three hundred year old mystery.”

“Yea!” chorus young Adam and Annette. “He’s a super hero!”

“What happened next, Grandpa?” asks young Adam.

“He lives happily ever after,” asserts Annette.

“Actually,” shares Grandpa Eddie with a sad look, “the scientist decides to quit science, because part of his discovery revealed a terrible secret that could hurt a lot of people.”

“What secret?” demands Adam.

“That’s a story for another time. Now it’s off to bed with…”

The front door opens, and their very young mother and Harlan, their very middle aged father, enter.

“Please don’t fight,” begs Annette.

Their mother looks “see” at Harlan.

“No more fighting; I promise,” swears their father, takes a breath and continues, “Adam and I will move out in the morning.”

“No!” wails Annette and hugs Adam.

Adam agrees, “1 don’t want to leave, Dad.”

“It’s for the best, honey,” cajoles their mother. “The fighting has to stop…”

Annette is jarred out of her reverie as the car stops in front of Hardwick Hall where their offices are located at the University.

Adam comments, “I see you’re back.”

“Back?”

“You’ve been someplace else for the last twenty miles.”

“For some reason, I was remembering Grandpa Eddie.”

“The story of the superhero scientist who figured out a three hundred year old secret,” Adam remembers.

“Who quit being a scientist because of what he learned,” Annette finishes.

“He added that the very last time he told us the story. Now as an adult, I wonder if the story had something to do with his life.”

Annette nods in agreement.

Their office suite is organized overflow with stacks of folders and print outs in each of several rooms, but everything is labeled and sectioned. On the desk nearest the door is a large stack of unopened mail.

Adam and Annette enter the suite and immediately spy the pile on the desk.

“The price for going to a conference,” groans Annette.

Like two exuberant children, Annette and Adam each grab half the pile and start looking at return addresses. After only a couple letters Adam shouts, “Got one,” and waves an envelope in the air.

For a moment, Annette affects a pout, then winks and continues looking though her stack. Shortly, she also waves an envelope excitedly, followed by another a few envelopes later. She and Adam tear into the envelopes.

“N.I.H. wants to fund the epigenetic generational tracking idea,” Adam announces.

“Carnegie Institute’s offering a nice sum to refine our analyzer,” reads Annette.

“Everyone’s working on that!”

“Fine. This last one is government funding to look at the genes of leaders. Let’s do that one.”

Adam shakes his head.

“The generational tracking is a sure winner; epigenetics is a hot emerging field. The genes of leaders – there may be nothing to distinguish them from the population at large other than maybe some correlation with intelligence, extroversion – or worse – sociopathy.”

“But if there was something to find…”

“Yes, that would be something – but why go for the long shot?”

“There could be an epigenetic angle.”

Adam doesn’t buy that and haggles back, “What do I get if I go along with this?”

“Name it.”

“I’ll have to think about it. I’ll go get coffee. What do you want?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

“You – missing your black tar? Are you coming down with something?”

The large, old Howard home has a slightly neglected, overgrown look; the lake is seen in the background. Annette is in her bedroom which still has small homages to childhood and teenhood: a grouping of teddies, a rock poster nearly twenty years out-of-date. She is in a t-shirt and undies working on her computer.

She stops typing and is lost in reverie again…

Annette is thirteen, and the living room looks as warm and inviting as previously, but a crying Annette wears black. Candles and cards cover the mantle. Although the room is full of people, Annette sits alone.

The doorbell rings, someone answers it, and Annette’s father, now old, and thirteen year old Adam enter, carrying suitcases.

Annette sees Adam and runs to him, calling, “Adam.”

Adam drops his suitcases, and they hug fiercely. When they pull apart they are  blushing a little…

The computer “dings,” threatening to go to sleep, startling Annette out of her memories. She resumes typing.

Shortly, without knocking, Adam enters in p.j. bottoms, neither reacting to each other’s state of dress.

Adam opines, “The leadership project? I have a thought: in analyzing the samples, let’s try those ideas we had about using wavelengths other than white light. That could give us publishable material even if we don’t come up with results.”

“No reason not to try it out. I’m tidying up the letter that will go to the prospective gene donors – and thanks for going along on this.”

“All right. See you in the morning.”

Adam leans over and hugs Annette who stops typing and gives him a hug back, one hand casually but not accidentally on his butt.

Two graduate students in their mid-twenties, Koshi, a Japanese American, and Rose, a Caucasian American, take a sample from a famous pro-basketball player. Rose swabs the inside of his mouth and places it in a labeled test tube Koshi holds. He seals it with a rubber plug and puts it in an empty rack. A third graduate student, J’Wan, an African American, helps Annette and Adam set up the machine for analysis, but he does go over to the athlete as he readies to leave.

“Thanks for coming in, and good luck with the rest of the season,” J’Wan gushes.

They bump fists to J’Wan’s delight.

“Let’s get that sample in while it’s fresh,” Annette redirects.

J’Wan takes the test tube from the rack, swipes a plate with the swab and places the plate in the analyzer. With a nod from Adam, he turns it on.

“That makes nine so far,” Rose counts. “How many are we going for?”

Adam answers, “Fifty.”

“Fifty?!” echoes Koshi. “No one’s ever done a comparison with that many full genome samples.”

“By the time you’re a professor, this will be common,” assures Annette,

“When we reanalyze the genetic processes at different wave lengths, we may change the meaning of a full genome analysis,” adds Adam. “Certain chemical processes have already been shown to be more visible in infrared.”

Rose observes, “I don’t know how you got interested in this field, but you certainly see it’s ramifications more clearly than any one else.”

Adam and Annette are in their living room, which hasn’t changed much since when they were kids, except older and more faded. They are finishing dinner with the news on in the background.

Adam notes, “You haven’t been eating much. Not now or at lunch.”

“I haven’t had much appetite lately – but I’m often that way when our research gets intense.”  Annette changes the topic, “I almost died when Rose made that comment today.”

“The one about not knowing why we entered the profession?”

“Yes, not that I’d have answered honestly if she had asked seriously.”

“We’ve faked our way through that question before,” Adam reminds her.

Adam and Annette take their dishes to the kitchen.

Annette rolls her eyes as she says, “I always picture the shock and horror if I would say we became interested in genetics as teens because of our incestuous relationship.”

Adam makes lascivious grabbing motions at Annette’s breasts but adds with great sincerity, “You are and have been the only girl for me.”

“And vice versa,” Annette assures him. “But the comment set off the same jitters I had as a kid trying to never mention that Mom was Dad’s niece.”

“Screw societal norms; we did that secret analysis in graduate school that validated Grandpa Eddie’s belief that we were breeding strong. Neither of us shows any damaged genes.”

“I know; it’s just hard living with secrets.”

A month later, Koshi, Rose and J’Wan have long faces as Annette shows them the results of the regular analysis of the fifty genome samples. There was no correlation between the genes of the various leaders except for a mild correlation to known gene clusters related to extroversion and good adjustment to life. There were no sequences different from the population at large; there were no special epigenetic processes.

“You were right, and I was wrong,” admits Annette to Adam.

“We still get to test out the wavelength change analysis; if we find anything, this still could be big.”

Alan addresses the students, “Don’t give up yet.. We’ll tackle it again tomorrow with fresh minds.”

The three students gather their things and leave.

Annette asks, “So what’s the price?”

Adam feigns, “Price of what?”

“You know… You being right.”

Adam comes up quietly behind Annette and whispers, “A baby.”

Annette looks stunned.

“Haven’t you ever thought about us having one?”

“Be careful what you wish for. I’ve been trying to find the moment to tell you: I think I’m pregnant now.”

It’s Adam’s turn to be taken by surprise, but it quickly turns to joy that Annette doesn’t seem to share.

“You don’t want to be pregnant?”

“I passionately want your child, but I don’t want to consign him or her to living the lies we’ve had to.”

Adam purses his lips and doesn’t know what to say.

The set up for the spectrum analysis bears semblance to the bridge of the Enterprise with Koshi, Rose and J’Wan at separate stations, with Adam at yet another, and with Annette seemingly in the Captain’s chair viewing multiple mini-screens before her.

“Unless we hit pause, I have it set to show us a new image every eight seconds, going up at ten kilohertz intervals. We’re looking at the stretch related to positive life adjustment that correlated with leadership,” Annette instructs. “Start the low end of infrared.”

“Look for anything atypical,” adds Adam.

The sound of the change in image every eight seconds marks the passage of uneventful time… and after nearly an hour, Annette hits pause.

“That’s it for infrared.”

Annette and Adam change places.

Adam says, “Let’s go to ultraviolet.”

As the images pass again, hope begins to ebb until Annette shouts out, “Stop. Go back a couple images… There! Look at that cytosine.”

The molecule looks to be metallically shiny.

“Probably a lighting effect,” dismisses Adam.

“I’m not so sure: Rose, rotate the light ten degrees to either side.”

Rose complies and the molecule still looks shinier than the other molecules in the strand.

“Was I wrong,” Adam admits. “What is that?”

“Koshi, go up ten kilohertz,” requests Annette.

“Plus ten k.h.”

The molecule almost sparkles.

“Another ten.”

The molecule loses luster.

For a moment everyone looks dumbfounded. Koshi returns the settings to the brightest presentation.

Adam brightens and orders, “J’Wan, increase magnification one setting at a time.”

Several levels of magnification go by, when finally the structure of the molecule becomes evident.”

“Pause! Look at that,” exclaims Adam.

“That’s not like any cytosine molecule I’ve ever seen,” agrees Annette. “There’s a whole extra – something attached, almost like a shell.”

“Or something masquerading as cytosine. Go up another level of magnification, please.”

The image enlarges dimming some features but bringing one edge into clarity; Adam continues, “It connects to the thymine just like cytosine would.”

“At least it has something in common with real cytosine,” observes Annette.

“I don’t know if there’s any literature on abnormal cytosine, but let’s read up and see what we can learn,” suggests Adam.

Annette and the students nod in agreement.

A jazzed Annette and Adam are still talking about it as they walk up to the front door of the family home.

“The serendipity gods smiled on us today. Who knows where that mutant cytosine will take us!” crows Annette.

She gives Adam an exuberant hug.

“It also means we may be revolutionizing genetic analysis again! And people thought we peaked in our twenties!” he laughs.

They enter the house and find themselves confronted by a strong but elderly woman standing with the help of a cane. Adam’s and Annette’s moods change abruptly to stunned surprise.

“Great Aunt Hermione!” they chorus.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” asks Annette.

Adam gallantly offers Hermione an arm, and they go into the parlor. To the twins’ surprise, there are tea and scones waiting and a young woman in her twenties.

“Meet your cousin, Eloise,” introduces Hermione as Adam assists her into a comfortable chair.

Everyone acknowledges each other, and Eloise pours tea for Hermione. Annette and Adam help themselves.

“It’s been years. I didn’t think you could travel any more,” Annette admits.

“When it’s necessary I do, and Eloise is such a help.”

“What is so important that you had to come rather than phone?” Adam asks.

“Adam, it’s time for you to marry your cousin, Ava’s daughter, Rhea.”

“I beg your pardon! Where did you get the idea that you have any say in whom I marry, even if I marry.”

“The family covenant. Didn’t your father tell you before he died?”

“No!”

“You’ve never wondered why your mother was your father’s niece?”

“Of course, we’ve wondered,” confides Annette.

“The family book. Where’s your family book?”’ presses Great Aunt Hermione.

“We have no idea what you’re talking about, Auntie,” Annette responds.

“It’s large, ancient and leather bound.”

“That? It’s still in Dad’s closet. We never cleared out all of his stuff.”

“Get it. It’s past time you know.”

Adam goes to get the book.

“Know what?” asks Annette.

“Your father never talked about family destiny?”

Adam returns with a large ancient book, sits next to Hermione and puts it on his lap. Annette  sits on the couch and Eloise on the floor next to Hermione who pages through the book.

“I haven’t seen this eighteenth century version, since you were in grade school. What’s inside is nearly two centuries of family intermarriage history, and the formula for continuation.”

Annette asks, “Why has the family kept track of something as socially unacceptable as that?”

“It’s part of the plan.”

“The plan for what?” probes Adam.

“Family history says that if we follow the formula, now, in a couple of generations, we will create the progenitor.”

“What progenitor?”

“The God-touched one.”

Adam and Annette are utterly confused.

“What is the formula you spoke of?” Adam inquires.

Hermione pages to the middle of the book and points.

“Don’t both of you remember giving me a drop of blood on your sixteenth birthdays?”

“Yes, Dad didn’t explain anything, just said to go along with it,” Annette discloses.

“That was for family analysis. The book has five tests to put it through which creates a profile. By using another formula we know who else in the family you are to marry and procreate with.”

“That’s barbaric!” howls Annette.

“Do you think that the young woman who was your mother wanted to marry your already middle-aged father?”

Both Annette and Adam are speechless and unconsciously seek out each other’s hands. It’s not lost on Hermione.

Finally, Adam blurts out, “I’m not going to be mated like cattle! Send my apologies to Rhea.”

He takes a deep breath and plunges ahead, “If I’m married to anyone, it would be Annette – and we’re expecting our first child.”

It’s Hermione’s turn to be stunned, then stricken. Eloise quickly goes into her nearby bag, pulls out a medicine and hands it to Hermione who takes it with a sip of tea. The elderly woman reconstitutes gradually and tries to speak before she should.

“You’ve ruined the plan. You’ve ruined a plan that’s taken hundreds of years to accomplish!“

“Calm down, Auntie,” Eloise encourages her.

“The plan says you have to mate with Rhea – two or three children, and one of them will end up the parent or grandparent of the progenitor.”

“For the sake of argument, what happens when the progenitor is born?” asks Annette.

“He or she saves the world.”

“From what?”

“From self destruction.”

Adam joins the questioning and posits, “If I’m hearing you right, it sounds like you’re talking about a strange way of creating the second coming, if I remember Sunday School correctly. ”

“Don’t blaspheme, young man!” admonishes Hermione. “The progenitor surely is touched by God, but he’s not the second coming. He’s the bridge to a better mankind.”

“That sounds more like Apollo than Christ,” Annette concedes.

“How will you know when you have found the progenitor?” asks Adam.

“There is a test; all babies in the family are given it, just in case. You have to marry Rhea.”

“That’s not going to happen!”

Adam has not shaken off the encounter with his Great Aunt the next day at work and is distractible. J’Wan is finishing up his findings on cytosine, and Adam knows he’s not taking it in.

“I’m sorry, J’Wan, could you repeat that last bit; I’m not firing on all cylinders today.”

J’wan is surprised, but summarizes, “ The few references Koshi and I found on abnormal cytosine, although interesting, seem to have no bearing to what we’re seeing.”

“But I found one reference about a deformity in a thymine that sounds like ours, that the connections seemed normal but little else,” reports Rose.

“Will you contact them?” asks Annette.

“Message already left.”

Adam ponders, “Because we found this with ultra-violet light, we don’t know if this is common or rare.”

“So let’s look at our other forty-nine samples and see what we find,” Annette concludes.

“Already set up and waiting to go,” announces Koshi, and he and the other two graduate students grin at their astute anticipation.

The five move to their positions in the lab.

“Sample number two,” calls Adam.

Koshi places the sample into the analyzer, then adjusts the level of ultra-violet. Rose centers and focuses the image. When she finishes, J’Wan enlarges the image for closer scrutiny. Adam guides the machine along the same strand in the same chromosome as the previous sample, and the shining cytosine appears again.

Early the next morning, the team finishes the fifty samples – driven by their results to keep going. Despite the late, well, early hour, everyone is energized.

“Thirty-eight with it on cytosine, four on thymine, one with it on both cytosine and thymine, one on an adenine and none on guanine,” summarizes Annette. “What does it all mean?”

“It may mean something – or nothing. This is a skewed sample,” reminds Adam.

“Next we have to analyze the samples available in the public domain.”

“But that has to wait; it’s two thirty in the morning,” counters Annette.

Adam asks the grad students, “Fair to ask you to set it up around three tomorrow afternoon – or do we need to skip tomorrow?”

“I’d keep going now, if you want,” offers Rose. “I think we’re on the edge of something big.”

Koshi and J’Wan nod in agreement.

“Then tomorrow at three,” Adam confirms.

The graduate students grab their things and trickle out; Adam and Annette shut things down.

“I’m with Rose,” comments Annette. “I think this means something big too.”

“If nothing else we have found consistent, functional variations in the building blocks of life,” specifies Adam. “That is huge.”

Annette gets her purse while Adam turns out the lights, and they lock the lab behind them.

“Wish I was as young as the students,” chuckles Annette, “I’ll be lucky if I’m really awake at three.”

“I’m grateful,” owns Adam. “Maybe we won’t have to deal with Great Aunt Hermione at this hour. I’m sure she’s not done trying to convince me to marry Rhea.”

“It bothers me to know that Mom was forced to marry Dad, but it explains why she hedged when I asked about how she and Dad met and fell in love.”

“When did you ask her that?”

“I guess all little girls ask that question sooner or later. I was twelve, because it was only a few months before she died.”

Adam laments, “I wish she or Dad had told us about this.”

“Yes, so we could ask why they went along with it.”

“I’m not sure Dad did; I suspect he didn’t tell us because he didn’t want us involved.”

“Yeah! Think of all the times he told us to live lives of our choosing.”

Adam concludes, “It’s time we go more thoroughly through Dad’s things.”

Harlan Howard’s room remains untouched since his death three years earlier, other than most of his clothes having been donated. It’s mid-day, and Annette and Adam are going through everything: some things put on the bed to save, others put in the donation bag and others tossed in the wastebasket. They are going though his bookshelf when a letter falls out of his only book of poetry. Annette opens the letter and reads.

“OMG! This is a love letter to Dad from another woman!” squeals Annette.

“After Mom died?”

“No, before! It says she doesn’t understand why Dad wouldn’t stand up to his family for their love! Her name was Penny.”

“I wonder if she’s still alive. Maybe she could shed some light on this,” muses Adam, but suddenly switches tracks.

“Look at this!”

Annette comes over; it’s a worn journal. Adam has it open to the first page.

He reads aloud, “I never thought I’d need a diary; but there is no one to talk to. What am I going to do with this child bride foisted on me? She is no more happy with this than I am. If I wasn’t so in love with Penny, Emily might be fun for a few nights of frolic. Nubile is an understatement. I don’t think it’s sunk in for either of us how trapped we are.”

Adam pages, skims and reads another entry,” The family should be happy. I knocked her up. Hopefully children will give her something to focus on, and I can go back to living my life.”

Adam pages again and gasps, “Dad went back to seeing Penny when we were two, every Thursday. That was Dad’s poker night!”

He pages further, finds the last regular entry and reads, “I’m free, but there is no joy in it. Em left me today – she’s as sick of the fighting as I am. I have Adam, but I will not see my sweet Annette grow up.”

Annette says quietly, “I think we now know why Dad never talked to us about the family mating scheme.”

“We’ve got to get to the lab, but we need to go through the rest of this. Maybe there’s something we can use against Hermione.”

The researchers are in their usual places in the lab analyzing samples.

“I don’t get it,” complains J’Wan. “Are these public samples defective?”

Adam answers, “I don’t think so, but it is strange that we’re finding so few people with the altered molecules.”

“It’s almost the opposite results from yesterday,” Koshi adds, “not even ten percent have one of the variations.”

“My god!” exclaims Annette. “We found what we were looking for at the beginning, something in the genome that correlates with leadership! And a hell of a lot of the variance.”

“You think the metallic-shelled bases create different enzymes and proteins that result in a ‘better’ person?” asks Rose making air quotes.

“Something that correlates with leadership. It could be something neurological like better myelinated sheaths on nerves or a slightly altered neurotransmitter.”

“We have to replicate this before we mention it to a soul,” cautions Adam. “We need a sample of at least five hundred, extreme design – leaders and losers, two hundred and fifty each. We’ll invite the high end and offer money for the low end.”

“Five hundred full genome analyses?” gasps Rose.

“Our grant doesn’t come close to covering that,” Annette reminds him.

“We can petition for more, but I’ll put up my own money in the meantime, to not stop our momentum.”

Annette takes a deep breath, then instructs, “Okay, you three, let’s start ordering what we need for the first hundred assays.”

Returning home, they find Great Aunt Hermione and Eloise waiting with tea;  Hermione spares no words, “I see you’re not avoiding me today.”

“We worked late yesterday; it had nothing to do with you,” Annette retorts.

“Adam, you need to pack,” Hermione continues. “I already delayed the flight we should have taken yesterday.”

“With all due respect, please leave. I won’t be going with you. We know how you ruined both our father’s and mother’s lives,” Adam responds barely holding his temper in check. “You’re not doing it to us.”

Hermione is stunned, and Eloise has to help her sit.

Adam continues, “I thought about offering sperm, but I’ve decided that I don’t want children by anyone other than Annette. I don’t know how close a match Annette and I are, but it’s the best you’re going to get.”

Hermione’s tone drips with disparagement, “We never match siblings.”

“I don’t care. And if you ever decide to return, call first, because the locks will be changed,” Adam finishes.

Annette adds, “You’re unbelievably presumptuous expecting a busy professor, like Adam, to drop his life for your whim.”

At the lab the next day, Annette is on the phone, listening, and the more she hears, the deeper her frown gets until it stops the whole lab. She hangs up, and finds everyone staring at her.

“Who was that?” asks Adam.

“That was our government grant people. They’re jazzed about the multi-spectral method of analysis – too jazzed. They’re no longer interested in what anything means, like the leadership part of the project. They want to know what other anomalies we can find with different wave lengths.”

“Additional funding?”

“Only twenty more assays. By their standards seventy analyses are extravagant.”

“I’d like to make good on my previous threat to pay for the rest ourselves, so we can continue.”

“We can’t afford nearly four hundred assays!”

Adam does math on the corner of a sheet of paper before answering, “We can eke twenty more out of the existing grant and pay for two hundred sixty on our own.”

Annette looks over his shoulder at the figures, then calculates her own.

“One fifty,” she counters.

“One sixty for an even total.”

Annette acquiesces with a nod, as she turns to the grad students.  “Where are we now with getting subjects?”

Annette studies at her figure in the mirror in their father’s room. With no clothes hiding her figure, she is beginning to show. Adam comes in and startles her as he embraces her from behind reverently touching her growing bulge.

“You look beautiful,” marvels Adam.

“But what am I going to tell people?”

“That you had a sperm donor. That you gave up on finding Mr. Right and wanted children.”

“I want to say we’re married and that it’s ours!”

Adam gives Annette an appreciative hug.

“It’s almost too bad we won the National Science Foundation competition at sixteen. If we had come on the scene a little later, we could have passed ourselves off as married from the beginning.”

“Do we want to look through the family plan book?”

“Hermione can take it for all I care. Let’s save it for last. – Oh! I almost forgot.”

Adam pulls a letter out of his pocket and hands it to Annette.

“Dad’s love, Penny. She’s dead, but we have a half-brother and a  half-sister.”

Annette is taken aback, recovers and asks, “Before or after Mom died?”

“After.”

Annette sighs in relief, but then she becomes perplexed. “Why did Dad stay with us once we were adults? Those kids had to still be young.”

“I e-mailed the girl, Lisa; maybe we can find out.”

 

It’s a couple months later, and the crew is nearing the end or analyzing hundreds of samples.

A mousy thirty year old man exits the lab suite, while J’Wan places his blood sample into the analyzer; Koshi tidies up. Rose is at a computer.

J’Wan checks to be sure the man is long gone, then comments, “How many guys have we met who are still living with their mothers and working at either a grocery store or a fast food place?”

Rose argues, “We don’t look down on women who are still with their mothers in their thirties. Give the guy a break.”

Adam and Annette enter – Annette wearing a loose blouse and looking fuller of face.   The topic immediately changes.

Koshi interjects, “We had a cancellation. Professor Carlson has been hospitalized. He collapsed at his home.”

“Damn!” Adam curses. “He and his wife were our last two subjects on that side of the ledger. I really wanted to get going on this.”

“We have a suggestion for a replacement,” offers Rose.

“Who?”

“You two. You’re at least as distinguished as Carlson and way more so than his wife.”

Annette responds, “It’s not ethical.”

“Why not?” queries Koshi. “It’s not like you can alter your genes and screw the data. Your genes are your genes.”

Annette and Adam look at each other and reluctantly shrug. Adam rolls up a sleeve and offers his arm.

That evening Adam is checking e-mail as Annette brings in a tray of snacks.

“We finally got a response from Lisa!” exclaims Adam.

Annette puts down the tray and goes to the computer. He opens the e-mail, and she reads over his shoulder.

Adam reads aloud, “Dear Adam: My brother Todd and I believe you have contacted the wrong family. Our father died when we were barely born. However, we did have an Uncle Harlan with the same last name as yours. If you are the children of Harlan Howard, we would very much like to meet you as your father was in so many ways a father to us.”

“Oh boy,” mutters Annette. “Talk about not seeing what’s in front of your face. But let’s meet them.”

Adam nods.

There is an exited air in the lab as the team gets down to business; all their samples are in and have been analyzed in the normal way, done after each person left. Now the spectrum analysis begins.

“Let’s do leaders first,” cajoles Rose, “see if the original lopsided occurrence shows up again.”

Adam and Annette nod, and nineteen hours later…

“The count’s at seventy-two on cytosine, fifty-six on thymine, eleven with both, forty-four on adenine, nine with cytosine and adenine, seven with thymine and adenine and only seven with guanine with no combinations,” Koshi rattles off.

“And only your two samples to go,” adds J’Wan.

“We figure you’d want to be here for the results,” explains Rose.

“And the results are?” asks Annette.

“Percolating right now,” assures J’Wan.

As if on cue, his computer screen begins spewing data. Everyone gathers around and watches as the screen fills. As it goes on, the three graduate students begin to look strangely at their mentors.

“You’re some strange folk, Docs,” J’Wan accuses Annette and Adam.

“You’re each a triple!” Koshi specifies. “You,” he points to Annette and continues, “are cytosine, adenine and guanine. You’re thymine, adenine and guanine. If you had a baby; it’s possible you could produce a person with all four.”

Annette looks both uncomfortable and stunned, Adam shocked.

 

When they arrive home, Adam and Annette race to their father’s bedroom, find the family book and finally look at it. They start from the beginning…

Back in the early 1700’s, English immigrant Emmanuel Howard, a tanner, noticed over the years one of his softening agents turned green on his hands but almost no one else’s – to the point he went out of his way to get everyone he came in contact to take his test.

His son, Edmond, continued the family hobby, asking to test everyone he met, keeping records. Because he was honest about his curiosity, he was rewarded by a traveling salesman telling him that a combination of citrus and a solution ostensibly to increase chicken egg output turned the area under his nails dark red. It didn’t seem to affect anyone else that way, except a few members of his own family. Edmond was also the first to make an intuitive correlation that community and other leaders were more likely to have their hands turn green from the tanning solution. Further, he perpetuated the idea of paying attention to what type of people had a reaction to the second solution.

For twenty years around 1805 to 1825, Emmanuel II showed no interest in the family project but…

An insistent doorbell pulls Adam and Annette out of the book. They look at each other questioningly but go to the door. The peephole reveals two young strangers.

“Who is it?” queries Annette.

From behind the door, “We’re Todd and Lisa MacKenzie.”

“Penelope’s kids!” whispers Annette.

“Bet the truth has sunk in,” Adam prophesizes as he undoes the lock and opens the door. He beckons Lisa and Todd to come in and gestures them to sit on a couch in the parlor. They all sit and for a moment size each other up. To everyone’s surprise, Todd bears a resemblance to Adam.

Todd opens with, “Our apologies for coming unannounced. We were at a function only a few blocks from here and realized how close we were.”

“You caught us on a good night,” Annette gives a socially acceptable response.

“Ever since you called, we’ve been very excited about meeting Uncle Harlan’s family. He was the only father figure we had,” gushes Lisa. “You were so lucky to have him for a father.”

Todd keeps taking surreptitious looks at Adam. Then he is distracted by family pictures on the fireplace mantel.

Annette answers Lisa, “He was a great father; I’m glad you agree.”

“Did you ever find who you were looking for when you found us?” Lisa continues.

“We think so,” Adam replies.

Todd looks at one picture on the mantel and is surprised.

Without thinking, he announces, “I didn’t know Uncle Harlan had one of my preschool pictures here. I don’t remember this one.”

Adam imperceptibly shakes his head and answers evenly, “That’s me.”

Lisa joins Todd at the picture, and they stare at length.

Finally Lisa whispers, stunned, “We are the right people.”

“Harlan was our father? Why didn’t he tell us?” Todd demands.

“We’ll never know for sure,” Annette opines.

There is an awkward moment, and Annette covers it, “I’m a terrible hostess. Let me get us something to eat and drink.”  She goes to the kitchen.

“Maybe, he didn’t want to shake up your lives by suddenly being someone other than who you thought,” speculates Adam, “as long as he was filling the function.”

“Can you tell us what you know?” requests Todd.

Adam is about to start when the doorbell rings again. Annette swoops in with a tray of drinks and snacks, puts it down and continues to the door. She looks out the peephole.

“It’s Great Aunt Hermione and several other people,” she hisses.

“Don’t answer,” advises Adam.

Annette gives him an exasperated look and opens the door. Great Aunt Hermione, two other older women, Eloise and another younger woman enter.

It takes some time for Adam and Annette to get everyone seated. During that time, the new young woman gravitates to Todd.

“Please tell me you’re Adam,” she begs of him.

“‘Fraid not,” Todd replies and points to Adam.

The girl grimaces.

Hermione calls out, “Rhea, where have you gone to?” then spies her with Todd. She does a double take seeing Todd, then immediately looks at Adam.

“Since when do you have a little brother?” Hermione demands of Adam.

“Since today,” Adam replies, keeping his cool. “I turns out Dad had another family besides us.”

Hermione stares at Todd at length, then Lisa.

“You are so clearly Harlan’s son. I need a drop of blood from each of you,” she pronounces without preamble.

Of course, Lisa and Todd are taken aback.

Arriving at the lab the next morning, Annette and Adam rehash the previous evening.

“We lucked out,” marvels Adam. “Hermione and her cronies were so distracted with Todd and Lisa, she never got around to harassing me.”

“At one point I caught her staring at my middle,” shares Annette.

Rose and J’Wan enter, shortly followed by Koshi.

“Please finish the rest of the ultra-violet scans; she and I have something to deal with,” Adam directs.

He and Annette go into their office. He opens his briefcase and pulls out the family book.

“I never thought I’d play hooky from work to learn family history,” marvels Annette.

They return to the book… Emmanuel II’s son, Jonathan., became obsessed with the study, so after little attention to the project for several decades, he not only revitalized their study but began to integrate ideas of Darwin and Mendelssohn. He already had enough data to show that the fingernail test was also loading toward leaders. After searching though many other idiosyncratic reactions people had, Jonathan eventually found a third chemical reaction that turned some people’s palms sort of purplish when exposed to mild acids. He was also the first ancestor to start selective breeding, purposely marrying the first woman ever who tested positive on two of the tests.

Jonathan had two sons, Jonathan Junior and Thomas, who followed in their father’s footsteps. Jonathan Junior became a famous horse breeder, and Thomas was among the earliest genetic researchers in Botany at Princeton. They were more than willing to continue the research up front and personal,  by also marrying women they met doing the research who had one of the three elements. By then they knew the third oddity also correlated with leadership. The brothers were also the first to arrange the first marriage of cousins…

A knock on the door precedes Rose popping her head in.

“We’re down to the finish. Thought you’d like to be there for the culmination, given you paid for it yourselves.”

Adam and Annette put the book down and follow Rose to the main lab.

J’Wan hits the button and the machine wends its way across the the final strands of DNA with ultra-violet light.

“Bet this has nothing,” predicts J’Wan.

“Either way we have almost the same pattern as the first samples!” cheers Koshi.

“This is huge!” Rose agrees.

“But we have one step to go,” Adam announces and surprises everyone.

“What do you want to do now?” Annette queries, sounding a little leery.

“I want to look at the mitochondrial DNA of cases where the anomaly exists to see if we can trace where this started. We also need more data on the anomalous structures and their functions.”

“Why do we need that before publishing what we have?” returns Annette.

“Because no one is prepared for these variations, and I want to make as irrefutable a case as possible.”

“I’ll take on the mitochondrial analysis,” offers Rose.

“I was hoping for the chance to look further at the structures,” J’Wan admits.

“I want to examine the impact of these base variations on the genetic and epigenetic processes,” Koshi volunteers. “Who knows what new enzymes or proteins we might find.”

“Great!” praises Adam.

“We’re tied up with a family matter for awhile,” Annette offers. “We’ll check back in a few hours.”

Annette and Adam hurry back to the office and the book…

Jonathan Junior’s first wife died. Then, he married Marigold, a woman who scored positive on one of their tests and late in life turned out to also have a fourth element associated with leadership. The truth was eventually discovered by their grandson, Edmond, in the late 1950’s. The three lines – three children by Jonathan Junior’s first wife, four more by the second and six from Thomas’ line, have been inter-breeding ever since. The three ancient women who descended on their home are the current heads of each of those family lines.

“Can this be coincidence?” asks Adam. “Could these unique reactions – the red under the finger nails et al – be correlates for -”

“- the metalized molecules?” finishes Annette. “It’s a little humbling to think we’re not the first to find this.”

“And the family’s been trying to answer the question that already crossed my mind:

what would happen if someone had all four.”

“That’s why we each have three traits apiece,” Annette starts, then realizes. “Ohmigod! The baby could end up with four.”

Adam reminds her, “ We can find out when you have your amnio next week.”

They continue reading the book.

J’Wan is taking digital pictures of various magnified versions of the four strange molecules; Koshi is trying to decipher what amino acids and proteins are being produced by the altered bases.

“Despite the different molecular structures, the functions have tremendous overlap with the familiar forms,” reports Koshi.

J’Wan concurs, “It’s almost like we’re looking at four different base pairs that could give rise to life. Where did they come from? Are they or aren’t they mutations of the familiar versions?”

“I’m on it,” assures Koshi.

Rose comes up with a batch of samples and points out, “You’re all but saying bio-engineering – that someone bio-engineered a segment of the human race to provide better leaders than we were providing for ourselves.”

J’Wan counters, “But it could also be random – like Dr. Annette’s comparison to Apollo – some advance being screwed an Earth woman, and produced a child. Anyone who is his or her descendent may have these special genes. No intent to change things involved.”

Koshi chimes in, “Come back down to earth. We don’t know yet that they aren’t naturally occurring, functional human mutations.”

“That’s where this comes in,” Rose says pointing to her samples. “We’ll learn part of the tale from the mitochondrial DNA.”

Annette and Adam are staring into space; the book is open before them. Annette unconsciously has her hand over her mouth.

“Grandpa Eddie,” marvels Adam, “he not only found the fourth molecule; he found a way to test all the anomalies from blood.”

“The way he was able to figure out the reactions the family had been relying on in the early years and translate it into something more scientifically understandable was pure genius,” waxes Annette.

“And he never published any of it,” laments Adam.

“The family probably stopped him.”

“And we were told he was a country doctor!”

Annette gasps, “He was talking about himself when he told us the story of the scientist who found out the three hundred year old secret!”

“But then why the part about being sorry he unearthed the secret?” questions Adam.       “What’s on the rest of those pages?”

Adam and Annette carefully skim a few pages.

“These are the original instructions for the making the chemicals to test people for the first three indicators,” paging further, “no, all four.”

“What about the blood tests?”

After skimming more pages, Adam answers, “It’s in here.”

They almost say it together, “Let’s run Grandpa Eddie’s tests on our samples. We have blood work on the first fifty.”

They put down the family book and start making notes.

Adam isn’t as lucky with the three Aunts that evening after dinner.

“No one has ever denied the family call,” Great Aunt Charlotte argues.

“No one ever had the backbone to ignore it before; that’s all,” Adam shoots back.

“This is important; we’re so close,” begs great Great Aunt Hermione.

“Rhea doesn’t want any part of me either; I’m old enough to be her father.”

“Is that true?” asks distant Aunt Marie of Rhea, who is off in a far corner reading and ignoring them. “Rhea!”

“What?”

“Adam says you don’t want to marry him. Is that true?‘

Rhea looks at everyone eyeing at her expectantly and thinks a moment before answering, “I have no intention of marrying Adam. I came along to make my mother happy. I said I’d see what he’s like. Actually, I have a date with Todd in about an hour. I’d better get ready.”

She gets up looking relieved and leaves before the Aunts have a chance to react. Adam grins. The Aunts go into an uproar.

“Both of you are out of line!” storms distant Aunt Marie.

“It’s outrageous that you dismiss this so cavalierly,” fumes Great Aunt Charlotte.

Great Aunt Hermione is so overcome that Eloise emerges from the shadows and gives her some medicine.

“She has to lie down,” announces Eloise,

“We will revisit this tomorrow,” pronounces distant Aunt Marie.

Annette and Adam grab a few things and leave.

The lab is a dull roar of confusion as Adam and Annette enter the next day carrying in take-out breakfast. Everyone vies for their attention.

“You’ve got to look at these structures!” J’Wan insists.

“History first!” counters Rose.

“I’ve found enzymes we’ve never seen before,” Koshi enthuses.

“We’re eager to hear what you have to say,” Annette assures them, “but we found literature that suggests all this was found before through blood.”

“Blood?” repeats Koshi, trying to wrap his mind around it.

“Why haven’t I found that study?” questions J”Wan. “I’m as thorough as any reviewer out there.”

Adam answers, “It’s unpublished, something our grandfather did in the 1950’s.”

Rose reminds them, “If you want to replicate the study, we have blood samples from the original study of fifty where we found the molecules.”

Annette informs her, “I know. We’ve been here all night testing them, and the family tests match our sophisticated genetic analysis ninety-eight percent.”

Koshi lets out a long whistle and asks, “Why didn’t your grandfather publish this? This is huge even now.”

“We don’t know,” admits Adam.

Rose has a funny look on her face, and she interjects, “1 have some idea why; it’s in the results from the mitochondrial study.”

“And?” urges Annette.

“In the cases where a person has only one of the molecules, there is strong similarity in mDNA – but none of the four are related to each other. Within group consistency and strong out-group dissimilarity.”

“What about people with more than one?” Koshi inquires.

“Pot luck,” replies Rose, “but a very high correlation with it being one of the four mDNA types under study. But there’s more.”

“I checked with the Harvard mDNA catalog, and using it’s on-line statistical package, I have likely origins for our four types, and they are from the four corners of, well… Eurasia.”

“That sucks!” J’Wan reacts.

“Isn’t this sampling error, the under representation of certain groups?” Annette tries to reinterpret.

“No,” Rose persists, “four places in Eurasia are clearly the origins of the molecules. Further, all four lines go back about the same amount of time to around twelve to thirteen thousand years ago.”

“Like all four molecules came into existence at the same time,” muses Adam.

“That conjures up an uncomfortable image,” J’Wan muses. “I can see some super-beings seeding the four places and taking bets on how soon someone with all four alleles turns up.”

“Stop with the outer space theories,” begs Koshi. “We have many Earth-based options to rule out first.”

“So far having more of the genes isn’t resulting in greater leadership; neither Annette nor I are running for President,” suggests Adam.

“I disagree,” counters J’Wan. “You and Annette are so far ahead of the field – light-years.”

“Well, thank you.”

Rose pushes, “I have one more finding.”

Everyone settles down.

“The four places seem to be the southern Norwegian tip, Greece, India and China.”

“Odin, Zeus, Buddha…” J’Wan starts to name. “Your Apollo gene comment may have been closer to the truth than you knew.”

“What is the science saying?” Adam asks J’Wan and Koshi.

J’Wan starts, “The four structures create some identical and some different chemical reactions to reach many of the same outcomes as the original molecule – identical in all four cases. That’s weird given the diverse origins. That’s why I posit this was planned somehow.”

“The other thing they have in common is the metalized compound that creates the shininess. They do create amino acids and enzymes that build proteins not found in people without the gene variations – not that I know what they do yet,” Koshi finishes.

Everyone is astounded and takes a moment to process. Adam reacts first.

“I can see why J’Wan speculates about purposeful engineering, but we have yet to rule out simple mutation.”

J’Wan muses, “Now I have the horrible image of four alien scientists each having created a molecule to try, seeding all four and watching the progression of genes and leadership.”

Koshi shakes his head in exasperation.

Annette starts and exclaims, “That’s it. We need to go back and do more social correlates, especially in what type of leadership each of our subjects – both studies – excelled in. Maybe each base type pushes for a different type of leadership.”

“I’ll get on that.” offers Rose.

“Wait!” Koshi and J’Wan almost chorus.

“We’re not done,” adds Koshi and continues. “Clearly the next step is to examine the unique enzymes and proteins those base pairs create.”

“To that end, we’ve set up cloned tissue cultures to see what we get in every possible combination,” adds J’Wan. “Too bad there isn’t someone with all four.”

That evening at home, Annette is scarfing down barbecue ribs in her bedroom, and Adam laughs at her gently.

“You’re practically a vegetarian!”

“I wanted this so badly, I almost chewed the carpet waiting for the delivery.”

Annette stops eating and stands up, pointing to her growing figure in a full-length mirror.”

“I’ve been wearing loose blouses, but I’m really beginning to show, I’m not sure how much longer I can hide it. And what do I say?”

“We need to decide on something. Again – a sperm bank?”

“That’s not bad. And because we’re raising him or her together, it’s okay for you to be called Dad and do all the father roles.”

Adam looks at Annette and sees she’s not done worrying.

“What else?”

“What we’re learning at the lab. What if having all four molecules sets off some reaction that only happens with all four. We face this with not only this child, but any others we have.”

Adam pauses to look pleased at the idea of more children, then soothes, “Can you hold on thirty-six hours until we get your sonogram and amnio? I’m sure the baby is fine.”

In another part of the house, the three matriarchs meet in private. They look at their test results for Todd and Lisa.

“We are down, but not out,” Marie sighs. “Todd has two of the elements we want – including the rare one we wanted to cross with Rhea.”

“They do seem taken with each other,” agrees Charlotte.

“But with three elements, Adam would have likely moved the project along farther faster, especially if they had a lot of children,” reminds Marie.

“It may not matter,” Hermione shocks them. “Have you noticed Annette?”

“What about her?” asks Charlotte.

“She’s pregnant.”

“By whom?” demands Marie.

Hermione purses her lips before answering, “Adam.”

“What?!“ explodes Charlotte.

“From what I gather, they’ve been together since puberty.”

“What’s their match? We never crossed them,” Marie practically screams.

“They both have three elements and between the two of them, they have all four.”

“My God,” breathes Marie. “She could be carrying the progenitor!”

“Yes.”

“We have to stay here until the baby is born,” pronounces Charlotte.

Hermione points out, “That won’t go over well. It’s better we go and come back nearer her due date.”

“And if it is the progenitor, then what?” wonders Marie.

“Let’s get one first. Annette and Adam may not produce one on the first try.”

“Bigger question is how we talk them into giving us the child if they produce one with all four elements,” points out Charlotte.

“They’ll never give it willingly,” Hermione asserts. “We’ll likely have to kidnap it.”

“Why shouldn’t they raise the child themselves? We’re rather old to do it,” counters Marie, “and I don’t much feel like chancing prison.”

“Because we don’t need them sticking their noses in the decisions we make for the child,” Hermione retorts. “They’d never suspect family.”

Charlotte vigorously nods in agreement.

Quietly in a corner Eloise frowns.

Annette is very nervous as her OB-GYN, Dr. Mary Hunter, prepares her for the amniocentesis, swabbing her swollen abdomen. Alan is holding her hand. A nurse sets up for the sonogram behind them. Doctor Hunter checks the long needle and carefully inserts it. Even though she doesn’t feel it much, Annette turns her head away to not watch.

Then it’s over. The MD removes the vial from the syringe and hands it to the nurse who leaves the room. The MD goes into a side bathroom and washes his hands, briefly leaving Annette and Adam with another nurse setting up the sonogram.

Deftly, Adam grabs the syringe and places it in a plastic baggie. He tucks it in Annette’s purse.

Annette is still nervous.

“Oh my god! What do you think the results will be?”

Alan tries to calm her with a gentle hug. She initially looks like she’s going to push him away, then reins it in and appreciates the solace.

Dr. Hunter returns, and she and the nurse wheel Annette into place. The machine is turned on and the image is brought into focus. At first, it looks like a monster with a huge head and extra arms and legs.

Annette almost breaks Adam’s hand and gasps.

The Doctor rotates the scanner around Annette’s belly, and twins emerge into view.

Now everyone gasps, and Dr. Hunter looks concerned. She gets her stethoscope and listens to Annette’s abdomen, then to the side and finally a third place on Annette’s back.

“I only hear one heart beat,” Dr. Harper reports, “but neither fetus looks dead.”

The statement is immediately supported by both babies kicking – in unison. Dr. Harper looks at a loss, then goes back into professional mode.

“That’s the strangest – Congratulations it appears you have healthy twins. We will need to run a few extra tests because of it.”

“Does everything look okay?” queries Annette.

“From what we’re seeing, yes.”

But as Dr. Harper starts her exit, she mutters under her breath, “God, I hope they’re not conjoined.”

The nurse follows her out of the room.

Adam hears the comment, hesitates a beat and then turns the sonogram machine back on.

“What are you doing?” squeals Annette.

“I want to see again.”

The “ready” light comes on the machine, and Adam does his own scan of Annette’s abdomen going from angles the Doctor had not done. After a few tries, Adam captures a shot that shows the babies are not attached. Again, for a moment, they move – this time in synchronized mirror movements.

A sound in the hallway spooks Adam, and he turns off the machine.

“You saw that, didn’t you?”

He helps Annette up to get dressed.

“Both times. Shall we guess we have a couple of ‘fours’ coming?”

“Let’s go to the lab and be sure.”

Driving up to their home late that night, Annette and Adam are tired and a little bewildered.

“How can they be identical and one be a boy?” Annette asks exasperatedly.

“We checked it twice – same genetic profile except that. I guess it’s part of the power of four.”

Adam pulls into the garage. He comes around to help Annette out of the car.

She starts to respond, “Makes me wonder what other surpri-”

They both stop as a shadow moves in the garage. Then Eloise comes out of the shadows at the side.

“You scared the heck out of me,” Annette chides gently.

“I had to talk to you alone,” Eloise says. “If your baby turns out to have all four elements, the Aunts want to take it from you and raise it themselves. If you won’t give it up willingly, they plan to stage a kidnapping.”

Adam and Annette stop in their tracks.

“Thank you,” Adam responds with gratitude. “At least we have half a year before facing that.”

Eloise nods.

Annette adds, “Yes, time to prepare.”

She gives Eloise a hug.

“You go back first, so as not to raise suspicions if someone’s still awake,” suggests Adam.

Eloise departs. Adam puts his finger to his lips as he and Annette watch her depart. Adam pulls Annette further away from the entrance to the house.

“What’s with the 007?” Annette inquires.

“Didn’t you hear her?”

“Yes, and you furthered the idea that we won’t find out until ‘the baby’ is born whether it could be a four, buying us months.”

“Still, I feel like a noose is tightening around our necks. Dad kept us away from the family for the most part. Now, I’m beginning to understand why.”

“We do have to come up with a plan.”

The lab is a hubbub of anger and dissension, and it’s only Adam, Annette, Koshi and J’Wan.

J’Wan is angry and making his concerns known emphatically.

“I checked a special African genetic data base – about eighteen samples last night, and the rate of having one of the special bases is less than half the rate of Eurasia. Further, a number of the positive cases are North Africans with a history of European ancestors.”

“I found almost no correlation with samples from the pre-Columbian Americans – but the database is only eleven,” Koshi says more matter-of-factly.

J’Wan continues with pressure, “This could be used to resurrect old racist theories – the idea that whites and Asians are inherently smarter and should lead the rest of us.”

Rose comes through the door looking haggard and hears the end of what J’Wan says. She looks a little less burdened.

“So you already have some idea of what I found,” she sighs.

“J’Wan and Koshi took the initiative to test some rarer databases and found a disturbing lack of the molecules in Africans and Native Americans. Of course, it could be sampling error; the data bases are tiny,” summarizes Annette,

“It’s worse than that,” Rose warns them. “There are four distinct groups of people who we can still identify today where our special people cluster – one special base apiece per location – four small groups who can really say they were the chosen people. The first I identified is the Brahman class of In -”

“I’m not sure I want to know who,” Adam interrupts. “I don’t like the idea that some people are inherently better than others.”

Rose adds, “With such easily identified structures, it could be used to group people a priori. That could rob people of chances at leadership if they’re lacking one of the elements. That’s crazy; we have successful leaders without any special elements.”

Koshi counters, “I’d be more afraid of the witch hunts against the ‘chosen’ this would spark. The masses could decide it was evil because it was beyond their comprehension.”

The truth of his statement stops everyone for a moment.

“It would add more fuel to class warfare,” J’Wan observes trying to keep his temper in check.

Rose contributes, “And it would create more enmity for us as a country with the world; North America now is the only place we’re finding relatively significant numbers of people with more than one molecule. Think of what people could make of that!”

“A simple by-product of the American melting pot,” downplays Adam.

“Great! Then, Koshi’s witch hunts would be against us!” J’Wan exclaims.

Koshi tries again to calm the rising emotions by saying, “If it’s any consolation, I have proof that the molecules are mutations of the common versions. I think they incorporated a retro-virus, more or less the same virus in each case. That would explain why they all go back to the same time of origin, a time when that virus was prevalent before mutating into something else.”

J’Wan’s not placated and retorts, “And the virus didn’t affect tropical climates?”

“It may well have to do with climate or geography,” Koshi agrees.

“And only an outlier human population was able to incorporate the virus,” infers Rose,

‘literally a handful of people – barring war or some disaster altering the original ratios.”

J’wan shakes his head as he argues, “None of this changes how the information could be used to reinforce and justify old prejudices!”

Annette finally weighs in, “We can’t publish this – any of this. It would put people at each other’s throats, one way or another.”

Adam finally loses his cool a little as he double checks, “Even chuck the spectral analysis advancement?”

“I know that was your baby, but, if we announce it, someone else will find the anomalies again,” Annette posits.

“What do we tell the government grant people?”

“That the procedure was a bust and revealed nothing new. That we couldn’t replicate the shiny molecules. That will deter others from going in that direction.”

Adam takes an unhappy pause, thinking, brightens and offers, “You owe me one, and I have a good idea what it is.”

Annette looks mildly distrustful of Adam’s sudden change in spirits, but she nods in agreement.

Adam looks at the three graduate students.  “Are we all in agreement on this?”

Annette pledges, “Some things are better left unsaid!”

Rose sticks out her hand,  followed by J’Wan and Koshi. Adam and Annette add theirs. They shake on it.

Adam and Annette return to an empty home – and a note from the Aunts saying they would return to help with the newborn. They smile and sigh in relief that they have their home to themselves.

They go to Annette’s bedroom, and Adam helps Annette lie down on her bed. Despite being tired, she musters up a little playful spirit.

“What’s the payoff? I know you already know what you want.”

“What do you think about life taking a left turn? We could wash our hands of the genetic business, sell or rent the house and get lost as a married couple who have time to raise their children.”

“Why not? We can follow up on the research away from the world. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the Aunts come back and find we’re not here.”

“We can spread the rumor that we’re traveling all over, but I’d like to find a small city, work part-time and make sure we raise our special kids right.”

Several weeks later, as they continue going through their father’s things, Annette and Adam stumble across a letter with their names on it. On a corner of the envelope in their father’s writing, it says, “Forgive me, kids.” Annette looks at the return address.

“It’s from Grandpa Eddie!” she exclaims.

She opens the letter and unfolds the contents.

“It’s dated just about the time we went into Residency!” Annette shares excitedly.

She reads, “Dear Adam and Annette, I understand you’re both taking your residencies with an eye to genetics. I also know that Harlan has held back the Family Book from you and that your only memories of me were as the small town doctor. But I was also into genetic research as a younger man, because it’s been a longstanding, family interest. As part of my work, I learned a terrible secret and suggest you steer your work away from the family’s interest in the topic. My mistake in doing the family’s bidding left me haunted with knowledge 1 wish I’d never gained. Do not make my mistakes… love, Grandpa Eddie.”

They scramble to find the Family Book and look through the last pages. They come across Grandpa Eddie’s figures. They read, and their jaws slowly drop.

“In his blood correlates for the four bases, he figured out the clustered distribution fifty years ago! It’s when he became a general practitioner!” gasps Annette.

“We’re reliving his life!” Adam points out.

“I remember him being pretty happy and adjusted, so I don’t mind at all.”

They rented out the house through a management firm keeping their whereabouts anonymous. They disappeared to a small western city. They raised the twins and a second mixed, identical set four years later. They were also “fours.” All the children were bright and very well adjusted.

Annette and Adam continued their research secretly part-time and taught high school science as a cover. Over the years, they learned that the four bases were always dominant. As a result, Todd and Rhea’s four children all were “fours.” Todd and Rhea continued the work of the Great Aunts, since deceased. Changing the family tradition, they socialized the children to be promiscuous; the new goal was to spread the “stability complex” as quickly as possible, with an eye to including people south of the equator in greater numbers. With Adam and Annette, they set up a foundation for the children created to be sure they were given every opportunity.

It was the next stage in evolution, quietly and gradually creating an improved more stable, adjusted human race.

THE END