The Soul of the Matter Read Free Page B

work, yet you don’t want to do anything disloyal. I can help you with that.”
    Without waiting for his response, she clasped his hands warmly in hers, looked deep into his eyes, and said, “Won’t the peace of mind be worth it?”
    With his guard momentarily down, Alex told her Stephen was about to move his work from HBC’s computers to a more secure environment, leaving out his own role in the move.
    The warmth in her eyes had been replaced at disconcerting speed by a steely glint. Her previously velvety voice took on an icy hardness. “The world is on the precipice of a tremendous transformation. An enormous amount rests on your willingness to do the right thing.”
    Then her voice turned soft again, and she said, ”Don’t we have the same interests?” She paused, her eyes lingering on his. “I have to go now. Find out what you can.” As a warm smile crossed her face, she kissed his check, then turned and was gone.
    Throughout the rest of the day, Alex struggled with his doubts. Thoughts of Elena elicited a mixture of caution, desire, fear, and excitement. She called several times in the afternoon, but he ignored the calls and the messages she left.
    Reaching the service door now, Alex turned up his collar and put on his gloves. It would be a cold walk to his car, parked in a remote section of the lot, hidden from view. He had once thought Stephen’s precautions excessive. Now he hoped they’d be enough.
    Stepping outside, he was struck hard by the bitter wind.

Chapter 5
    A series of sharp tones jolted Stephen. The processing of the first set of information was complete. A more detailed image of a human body was displayed on the monitor.
    Collecting himself, Stephen sat back down, entered a series of commands, and kicked off the processing of a second set of data. While the computers were busy completing their work, he clicked an option on the upper right of the image labeled Time Series.
    Immediately, the monitor went blank, and then a small image of a newborn appeared in the center. Gradually, the image developed and agedas it progressed from newborn to toddler, child, teenager, young adult, through middle age and then old age: a lifetime of human development compressed into a few minutes. The mesmerizing visual results weren’t remarkable in and of themselves. What was incredible was the source of the information used to generate the images. They were based solely on DNA, not computer simulation. He had unlocked and translated all the information that directed human development!
    Beaming, Stephen turned his attention to the horizontal slide bars on the bottom of the screen and the numbers associated with them. After changing a number connected to the figure’s torso, he watched the body elongate. When he increased a different number, the head grew larger and became misshapen. Clearly, important balances needed to be maintained.
    After selecting Reset, the image reverted to its original version. Stephen gradually changed a slide bar and watched the image redisplay in different proportions. The bars were master controls for theentire image. Rotating a dial backward, a result resembling a Neanderthal was displayed. Rotating the same dial further backward, after several moments, what had once appeared human now looked like an unknown type of primate.
    Astounded, he wondered if he was looking at actual evolutionary history. Was it possible that every prior version of humans was still in DNA? Or was a there a master set of genes that, when combined in different ways, could generate every creature in the human evolutionary branch? Could this information be used to re-create long-lost species?
    More important, what would it mean for humanity’s future?

Chapter 6
    S teeling himself, Alex walked out into the cold night and toward his car.
    As he approached it, a familiar voice said, “I’ve got the solution to our problems.”
    Alarmed, he turned to