La scintilla Page #4

---

with the craters

of meteorite strikes.

Some are famous,

like the 1908 Tunguska event.

Some hit this planet

millions of years ago.

Throughout the Cold War,

Soviet scientists

explored each site,

looking for anything

that might help them

against their Western enemies,

anything that might lead

to something handy,

like the atom bomb, for example.

No, it's not that.

This is the Scintilla Project.

It's why they approached me.

This is a 2.4-billion-year-old

meteorite

buried in permafrost

for at least 70 million years.

When this hit the Earth,

dinosaurs were still

romping around.

What the Soviet scientists

discovered

was organic material

inside this rock:

Cells, DNA, genetics.

They needed

a world expert in genetics

to be able to extract the DNA

and to be able to use it.

I was approached for the job.

And they promised you

vast riches.

Lord, no. Anyway,

it wouldn't have interested me.

They offered me

something better.

Complete freedom to work on this

without being constrained

by any rules.

Laws.

Yes, if you like, laws.

- What Mathesis discovered...

- Shhh now.

Why don't I show you?

Why all the kids' toys

and the blackboard?

The specimens

need to be educated

so I can assess their growth,

compare them to normal children.

Children?

That girl's 16 or 17, isn't she?

She's five.

Goethe.

He can't speak,

but can just about understand

basic commands

like a chimpanzee.

He looks normal,

other than the eyes

and the breathing spiracle

in his neck.

He can breathe in our atmosphere

for brief periods of time,

but in here I can adapt the mix

to make it more comfortable

for him.

I'm still checking

his respiratory system, nerves.

He has grown so quickly.

How old?

Goethe is also five.

What the f***?

Let's talk outside.

You okay?

What's wrong with her breathing?

Your f***ing gas.

Thanks.

What the f*** is he?

Half human,

and half is that DNA

from the meteorite.

Half?

I needed the human base

to fill in the gaps in the DNA.

The offspring of the girl will

be a second-generation subject,

more alien than Goethe or Ali.

Purer, brighter, hopefully.

Goethe.

You had to call him Goethe,

didn't you?

Not Joe or Tom.

You really

don't understand this.

I'm not paid to understand this.

I'm paid to do a job,

to honour my clients' needs.

Do you think her plan involves

you and your band of merry men

swanning out of here

with your pockets full of cash?

The progress

of the subjects is remarkable.

In four short years,

they have almost reached

full height

and we have not yet experienced

the usual discrepancies.

The boy shows no signs

of intelligence yet,

but Mathesis is most excited

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes