Basilisk Read Free Page B

hell went wrong. It could have been a bacterial infection – it could have been something more fundamental.’
    ‘And in the long term?’
    ‘In the long term – I guess it all it depends on Henry Burnside. If he doesn’t cut off my research budget, I’ll try again. But he’s been making some pretty grumpy noises lately. As of yesterday we’ve spent over two-point-seven million, and I haven’t even given him a ratfish, leave alone a fully grown gryphon.’
    ‘Maybe you hyped it up too much,’ said Grace. ‘It’s an amazing idea, and I can see why Burnside bought it. But you never really told him how difficult it was going to be.’
    ‘Difficult? That’s the understatement of the twenty-first century. More like fricking impossible. For me, anyhow.’
    ‘Oh, come on, Nate. Give yourself some credit. If the embryo was fully grown, the basic genetics must have been sound, mustn’t they?’
    ‘Maybe. Maybe not. I won’t find out for certain until we’ve carried out a full necropsy. I would have started it tonight but I was too damn tired and too damn pissed.’
    ‘Have you told him yet?’
    ‘Burnside?’ Nathan shook his head. ‘No. It’s much too late to call him now. And I’m not about to tell him, either. Not until I know exactly what went wrong, and how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.’
    ‘Are you hungry?’ Grace asked him. ‘There’s some vegetable chowder in the pot, if you feel like some. Or some cold chicken.’
    ‘Chicken – no, thanks,’ said Nathan. He could still smell the gryphon’s egg breaking open. He could almost taste it. ‘I’m fine, really. I think I need some sleep, more than anything else.’
    Grace kissed him, very lightly, on the cheek. He turned to look at her. He suddenly realized that he hadn’t been seeing nearly enough of her lately. She had changed her hair and he hadn’t even noticed. It was very short now, and she had lighter brown streaks in it. He had almost forgotten how alluring she was, with that perfect oval face, like a medieval saint; and how greeny-gray her eyes were, like the ocean on a very dull day.
    ‘You do really believe that I can do this?’ he asked her. ‘I’m not really a New-Age lunatic, am I?’
    She took hold of his hand and squeezed it. ‘I’ve never doubted you, Nate, you know that. But maybe you should try something less ambitious. Maybe you should try a ratfish.’
    ‘Well, maybe. But the genetics are just as complicated. And what do you end up with? Either a fish that can run up a drainpipe or a rat that can play water polo.’
    Grace pressed her forehead against his, as if she wanted him to share her sympathy by osmosis. ‘You’re not going to give up, though, are you?’
    ‘No, I’m not going to give up. But I need to think this whole thing through, all over again, right from the basement upward. I keep feeling that I’m missing something.’
    ‘Such as what?’
    ‘Well – I’m sure that the biology is good. The genetic coding, the cell development, everything. But maybe it takes more than biology to create a mythical creature. Maybe – I don’t know – maybe it takes a certain amount of myth .’
    Grace blinked at him. ‘Now you’ve lost me.’
    ‘Think about it,’ said Nathan. ‘All those medieval sorcerers who first bred gryphons, and hippogryphs, and chimeras, how did they do it?’
    ‘Nobody knows, do they?’
    ‘Well, one thing’s for sure. They didn’t know squat about IVF or egg transplantation. They didn’t have CT scanners or ballistocardiograms. But they still managed to breed all those monstrosities. So before I try to fertilize another gryphon’s egg, maybe I should find out how they did it in the Middle Ages.’
    ‘I think you’re right,’ said Grace.
    ‘You do?’
    ‘Yes – I think you do need some sleep. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.’
    He came back into the bedroom after his shower, with a thick white towel wrapped around his waist. He had washed his hair, and