Chapter 269: Grand Slam (7)

Bleep.

[Synchronization Mode Off.]

Young-Joon had almost finished reading Doctor Ref’s DNA letter when he lost sight of the microworld.

“What happened?” Young-Joon asked Rosaline.

—There’s a problem.

“A problem?”

—This is a strange situation. Fitness is flowing from Lagba’s body into mine.

“Lagba?”

Young-Joon scratched his head, puzzled.

—The adopted son of Israeli Prime Minister Felus. The one we brought back from brain death.

“I know that. But fitness is coming from his body?”

—Yes. This is surprising. Now I know what Doctor Ref did with the polyomavirus.

Rosaline burst into laughter.

Young-Joon had been traveling the world like it was his backyard for the past year. Thanks to that, he left traces of himself in luxury hotels in the United States, Sweden, China, the Congo, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries.

Philistines secretly hired hotel cleaners to collect Young-Joon’s hair. There were plenty of creepy fans who were obsessed with celebrities’ body hair and nails. While some of the more responsible hotel cleaners refused, others thought it wasn’t a bad thing to collect a few hairs in exchange for some cash.

Some of the collected hairs had a few hair root cells attached to them, which could be analyzed by single-cell RNA sequencing to determine which genes were highly expressed. Doctor Ref was trying to unlock the secret of Young-Joon’s success in creating life, starting with his DNA.[1]

—They would have identified a number of gene loci that differed in expression from the general population, and one of them would have been your morality gene group, your trademark.

Rosaline went on.

—It probably looked like a huge puzzle. They probably tried to create life by putting different combinations of it into an artificial cell and manipulating it, but it wouldn’t have worked.

“Now that I think of it, when Agent Whittaker searched Doctor Ref’s hideout, there was evidence of Doctor Ref conducting life-creation experiments. I just thought she hadn’t given up hope, but maybe she had something to try out?”

—Yes. But it wouldn’t have worked because life creation is a one-time event. So, Doctor Ref changed her tactics: she thought of me as a virus, and she wanted me to infect all humans.

Rosaline explained.

—The polyomavirus contained a library of different genes. Even Doctor Ref couldn’t analyze a billion pairs of DNA perfectly, so there were a lot of errors and inconsistencies. I didn’t understand what it meant, but now that I think about it, it was just a bunch of your unique genes in different combinations.

—And a few of those sequences overlap with your morality genes. The virus didn’t infect most people very severely, but in Lagba’s case, it got into his central nervous system, remember? And the morality DNA from the virus settled in his medulla oblongata when we revived his dead brain.

During the power outage in Afula, the stem cell therapy became contaminated with some bacteria. The medical staff removed it, and Young-Joon observed Lagba in Synchronization Mode during the brainstem repair procedure. That’s when some of Rosaline’s cells that went into Lagba’s subventricular zone were left there.

—I thought the couple cells left there would die without you, but they survived by holding onto your morality gene. They’re absorbing fitness and sending it to me.

“Wait, so you’re saying Lagba can also see in Synchronization Mode or the message window that I see?” RYK asked.

—I don’t think so.

Rosaline shook his head.

—In my kingdom, you are the king, and your body is the palace. Lagba, to say, is...

Rosaline searched for a suitable analogy.

—Something like an embassy in a foreign country?

“...”

—Or a spy planted in a small city-state? That’s what it feels like because he’s not the one who accomplished the achievement of creating life. It’s just that fitness is trickling in from him.

“And there’s nothing wrong with Lagba’s body?”

—Those cells are all under my control, so as long as I don’t try to harm them, there won’t be a problem.

“... I’ll have to call Prime Minister Felus.”

Young-Joon picked up the phone.

—What are you going to say?

“I’m going to ask how much Lagba has recovered, and...” Young-Joon said. “I just remembered that Prime Minister Felus is originally from the American financial sector. I need to reexamine Doctor Ref’s story from a different perspective.”

Young-Joon called Felus.

—Doctor Ryu?

“Hello? How is your son?”

—He recovered enough to talk a little while ago! I’m watching him right now and just stepped out into the hallway to take your call.

“That’s a relief. Is he mentally unstable or anything?” Young-Joon asked.

—Everything is well. He’s very stable, and it’s all thanks to you.

“Mr. Prime Minister, you worked in finance in the United States, and then you went back to Israel and started politics, right?”

—Yes, that’s right.

“Then do you know anything about the Lofair family? I heard they’re an old, rich American financier family.”

—They are a very famous family that most people know about, even if they are not in finances. And they’re originally a Jewish family.

“Really?”

—Yes. I’ve met them quite often, so fortunately, I know a bit about them. I’ll tell you what I can. Do you have any questions?

“I want to know about a man named Alphonse Lofair.”

*

Song Ji-Hyun met Alphonse Lofair in a conference room at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington, D.C. James Holdren had arranged the meeting.

Alphonse was a tall, clean-shaven man with a white beard and a neatly buttoned suit.

“Nice to meet you, Doctor Song.”

He shook Song Ji-Hyun’s hand.

“I prefer to move around more than sit in a conference room after a meal. Would you like to go on a short walk?” Alphonse asked.

“Sure, sounds great.”

Song Ji-Hyun followed him out of the conference room. Alphonse took her around the Goddard Space Flight Center.

“I heard you were at the Kennedy Space Center, so I was a little surprised that you asked me to come here,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“The Kennedy Space Center is in Florida. I know you’re busy, so I couldn’t make you travel all the way there, and I happened to have some business to do at Goddard. Director Holdren was arranging the meeting, so I took on this task myself,” Alphonse said. “I thought I would be meeting with Doctor Ryu, but I see that he’s not here?”

“Cellijenner is doing this project. Doctor Ryu has a lot of connections, like Director Holdren and the National Cancer Institute, so he just facilitated the meeting with you, the person in charge.”

“I see.”

Alphonse seemed a little disappointed. In reality, he had volunteered to travel all the way to Washington to meet Young-Joon to see how much he knew about Isaiah Franklin.

To be honest, it was hard to imagine that Young-Joon would know that Isaiah Franklin was born through genetic modification at Groom Lake Air Force Base. However, Young-Joon had too much contact with Isaiah Franklin to ignore it, and if he did know something, Alphonse had to be prepared. There was no telling what might happen, given Young-Joon’s fierce temperament that doesn’t back down even against the Chinese president.

“How does it feel to come into NASA?” Alphonse asked Song Ji-Hyun.

“It certainly lives up to its reputation.”

“NASA is not just a space development lab; it’s also an intelligence agency and an iconic representation of America’s scientific power,” Alphonse said. “It was only thirty years ago that the Soviet Union was still standing, and the U.S. was fighting a proxy war with them by displaying the superiority of our science through space development.”

Alphonse clenched his fists.

“And we ended up winning the fight. The Soviets even launched a huge space station called the Mir, but they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with that one. They couldn’t maintain it after the Soviet Union dissolved, so they are sharing it with us until it is dismantled.”

“I see.”

“NASA is now an institution of glory and peace—a supreme scientific institution that no longer has any rivals, and a symbol of scientific unity after the Cold War,” Alphonse said. “And thanks to you, a Nobel Prize candidate, we’ll be able to clean up the remains of Soviet Union as well.”

“Are you talking about Chernobyl?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

“Yes. That was a huge mess left by the staggering Soviet Union. Simultaneously, it was also the worst disaster that cut off their dwindling breath,” Alphonse said, “Doctor Song, you might be too young to remember, but the Soviet Union was a powerful country plagued by chronic food shortages. That kind of efficiency is typical for communist countries, really. On top of that, farming was pretty much a joke in that cold, frozen Russian land.”

“I heard that’s why they sold a lot of weapons and bought food from the Middle East and Africa.”

“That’s also true, but it wasn’t a huge amount. A big part of the Soviet Union’s food production was in what is now Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. A lot of that vast land was fertile land that was perfect for farming,” Alphonse said. “And that’s where Chernobyl was.”

“...”

“Can you imagine? Three hundred thousand kilometers were contaminated, all the food in the area was discarded, and one hundred thousand cattle were disposed of. Gorbachev’s head probably spun at the level of damage,” Alphonse said.

“But even after that, the Soviets couldn’t just abandon the land because if they couldn’t farm on it, they were screwed. So, they mobilized four hundred thousand people and spent tens of billions of rubles to decontaminate it. That’s where they spent all their budget.”

Many experts disagreed about whether the great Soviet Union would fall, but there was one kid who predicted at just five years old.

Alphonse thought of Isaiah Franklin and took a deep breath.

Song Ji-Hyun, on the other hand, was becoming a bit bored. She found it a little frustrating that this old man was talking about the Cold War and the Soviet Union in their first meeting. Song Ji-Hyun, who was a true scientist, just wanted to talk about research.

“Sometimes when you’re doing research and reading history, you feel that destiny exists. I think that’s what today is,” Alphonse said. “Doctor Song, let’s work together to get rid of the radiation in Pripyat, where Chernobyl was, and Fukushima to make it habitable again.”

Song Ji-Hyun nodded.

“Then let’s get started. How soon will you be able to provide us with microbial samples from the space station?” she asked.

“It won’t take long. There are some astronauts working there who are coming in next week. We should be able to get some easily if we ask them,” Alphonse replied.

“Really?”

“Yes. We’ll figure out how to share the equity in this study with NASA when I meet with Cellijenner’s CEO. Will A-GenBio be participating in this study as well?”

“I don’t think so.”

“That’s too bad. Are you getting a call?” Alphonse said, pointing to Song Ji-Hyun’s bag, which was vibrating.

“You’re right. It’s Doctor Ryu.”

Song Ji-Hyun accepted the call.

“Hello?”

Then, she blinked, slightly puzzled, and looked at Alphonse.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, nothing.”

Song Ji-Hyun turned away from Alphonse and continued the call. Alphonse couldn’t understand Korean, but he instinctively knew something was wrong.

—Director Holdren told me that Alphonse Lofair was in charge of this project.

“That’s right.”

—Then that project will be canceled, so don’t waste your energy and come back. Give him some kind of excuse so he doesn’t get suspicious. I have another way to get rid of the radioactivity.

“Uh...”

—I’m saying this because I’m worried about you, and I feel responsible since I’m the one who arranged it.

“But what do you mean it will be canceled?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

—Lofair has some issues.

“...”

—Not many people know yet, but I think it’s accurate information, and I’m not going to let it slide.

1. Fun fact: you don’t actually need the hair root tissue to analyze DNA anymore! Keratin, the protein in the hair itself, can be used as a source of DNA as well! ☜