The Carbon Trail Read Free Page A

things. One, why do we want to go further, apart from our giant egos? And two, what specifically are we aiming for?”
    Devon leaned forward, enjoying the debate. “You already know why we want to go further! There’s huge money to be made. If we could find something completely new that no-one else has thought of, we’d make fortunes for Scrabo, the U.S. and ourselves.”
    “So what’s stopping us?”
    Devon didn’t notice that his boss had only offered questions, not ideas. He answered cheerfully, pleased at the chance to show off.
    “It’s like you said last week. Instead of just working on existing carbon allotropes, what if we applied what we’d learned to carbon-based life? Carbon is a key component for all life on Earth, including making up nearly twenty percent of the human body. Just think about it, Jeff. If we could create a new form of carbon in living organisms, the sky would be the limit!”
    Mitchell struggled hard not to show his surprise. Messing about with living things! This was heavy stuff. And yet… it rang a bell somewhere in his head.
    Devon stared into space for a moment and then shook his head. “It’s a dream. Sci-fi. No-one will never crack it. But just imagine the medical applications if we did.”
    Mitchell startled at the word ‘medical’. Could it help explain his memory loss? He leaned forward eagerly. “Let’s focus on the medical side for a minute. Any further thoughts on that?”
    Before Devon could answer the desk-phone rang. Mitchell motioned him to answer it.
    “Yes?... What, now? …Oh, OK then.”
    Devon dropped the receiver and sprang to his feet. “That was the Boardroom, they want us upstairs. I’ll grab my laptop; it’s got all the latest stuff.”
    Mitchell’s cold sweat from earlier returned ten-fold. It wouldn’t take a company Board long to realise that he knew nothing. Bluff only worked so far. He scanned the office urgently for something that might help him, already knowing that he wouldn’t understand anything he found.
    Devon re-appeared and one minute later they were heading for the twentieth floor. What happened there would stun them both.

Chapter Three
     
    Karen read and re-read the hospital appointment letter, wondering how she would ever get Jeff to go, and whether she even wanted him to. If they didn’t attend then they would never know the truth, and maybe ignorance was bliss. If the truth was bad news then what good would it do to know about it?
    She’d been noticing changes in him for months. At first it was just the odd word that made no sense, then whole sentences that didn’t fit. Jeff wouldn’t discuss it and she couldn’t make him, but she knew that there was something very wrong. Karen had told him that she was making the appointment, but she knew the man she married well enough to know how stubborn he was. Jeff wouldn’t take anyone’s opinion on anything, and even if he did he would never agree to what might come next.
    Karen sighed heavily and placed the letter face-down on the desk, then lifted their ginger cat onto her knee, stroking its fur for comfort. She turned to look at her toddler daughter. She was playing happily on the floor, her blonde curls bobbing in the light. Emmie sensed her mother’s gaze and smiled up impishly, showing her small white teeth. Karen envied her childish innocence. It kept her safe from the hard choices in life.
    She knelt down beside her small daughter and lifted a wooden block, adding it to an already high tower. The little girl clapped her hands, easily pleased, and her eyes sparkled just like her father’s did when he laughed. Karen’s eyes filled with tears and she turned away quickly, before she spoiled her daughter’s happy game. After a moment she pushed her sad thoughts firmly to one side and turned back to enter her three-year-old’s world. She would be an adult later; when she had to.
    ***
    Mitchell led the way from the elevator and their feet sank into the thick carpet of the