Chapter 5

Filling the Empty Nest

The New Wilderness, Upper Michigan: 2015

The years passed quickly. Crisis after crisis came and went--taxing the people and the government--but things in New Wilderness remained the same. As civilization came apart, the harsh wilderness life seemed almost benign.

President Sheila James had carried Gore’s torch, even as his standing in the polls had reached all time lows. The Internet, ubiquitous among the masses, had shown the fickleness of public opinion. While the economy remained strong, sectors were challenged as the world struggled with overpopulation, pollution, and degraded lifestyles.

The Martian effort was a bright spot. Ahead of schedule, Destination Mars was scheduled to land a crew of five on the surface in May 2017. Unlike MIR, the International Space Station had grown and flourished--largely through renovations by replacing interchangeable sections. After the breakthrough by Dennis Tito in 2001, private money poured into space tourism. The Space Ferry, a system using high altitude air buses, ram jets, and an improved entry/reentry vehicle, replaced the Space Shuttle in 2005.

The air buses, codenamed Clydesdale, taking off with full crew and systems from any airfield with ordinary jet fuel, could reach Mach 1 at altitudes near 50,000 feet. The ramjet, codenamed, Rabbit, a pod comprising the entire upper half of the air bus, would jettison with small rocket boosters and quickly bring the Ferry to Mach 5 and 100,000 feet. Then the space vehicle, codenamed, Twilight, would jettison and reach escape velocity with enough fuel to reach its destination in orbit, deliver its payload, and return to the atmosphere. Clydesdales, with a crew of two, landed at their original take-off field or any conventional airfield to refuel. Rabbits, with a crew of two, returned to the nearest military airfield.

Twilight vehicles were special. Smaller than the Shuttle, but more versatile, they could land at twenty, and growing, airfields worldwide. Versions for tourism were quite comfortable and carried twenty passengers. In the years since the Space Ferry’s inception only two incidents marred its impeccable safety record. One Rabbit had crashed upon landing in France in 2011, but the crew ejected safely. The only tragedy was the loss of a Twilight vehicle when it depressurized upon reentry and all 22 aboard died in May 2013.

The first space hotel, constructed by Los Vegas interests in 2010, relieved the Space Station of its constant hosting task, and freed the staff to work on the Mars project. The rich easily became environmentalists after they spent a week or two viewing blight from above. The topic became a recurring theme from entertainers, also stricken by the sight on high of our dirty nest.

The human population problem, first brought to public attention in 1967 by Paul Erhlich, had become a world concern. How to save the burgeoning masses from the weight of their own numbers was the dilemma we faced. No one wanted to contemplate Draconian measures, like those imposed by the Chinese Communists, especially now that China was democratic. But, the natural consequences of overpopulation had led to the virtual abandonment of some areas by the United Nations. Old hatreds died hard. Scarcity inevitably led to their sharpening. When strong factions could not longer provide for or control the masses, anarchy ruled. Yes, we were going to Mars, but three billion people lived lives not seen since the Middle Ages. Average lifespan in the blighted areas had reached 29 and falling.

Cloning was a two edged sword. It provided a wonderful way to create genetic tissue to cure disease and to provide children for those without. It also provided a way for the unscrupulous to further their various purposes--from personal profit, to grand schemes to save the world. The first human clone, born under the auspices of the Cloneaid cult in 2002, opened a Pandora’s Box. By 2005, the Clone Control Act put strict controls on the known misuses of cloning. The United Nation, shortly thereafter, imposed a worldwide ban on cloning similar to the US law. Cloning went underground. In spite of its promise, cloning had not proved itself except in food production and therapeutic medicine. Human clones were plagued with genetic defects. The processes used by some of the commercial cloners that had jumped on the bandwagon led to an epidemic of children with severe genetic disorders. As their wealthy parents held onto bonds wrought from huge financial and emotional investment, the cost to society was immense.

Like the Internet at the end of the 20^th Century, the reality of cloning was far less than its promise. Finding it unprofitable, dangerous, and illegal, most major companies abandoned their human cloning programs as quickly as they had embraced them. All cloning came under strict controls to avoid environmental disaster by introduction of predatory strains and species into the ecosystem. The natural control of evolution had been bridged. The proper controls were unknown. For that, government turned to science. While illegal cloning continued under strong attack by law enforcement everywhere, a few select research groups were allowed to participate in human cloning research so that scientific progress could be made and the proper controls could be developed. Albert Repaul, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins group under the direction of Rao Khundi, was one of those chosen scientists.

“Albert!” The old man’s strongly accented voice had become a familiar refrain in recent years. It seemed he was always calling to seek advice or flesh out a new theory. “Albert, are you there?”

“Yes, I’m right here at my desk. ‘Camera, … on!’ There, you should be able to see me now. You are looking fit after your infusion. How do you feel? (Khundi had just undergone the process to rejuvenate his failing pancreas.)

“I feel great. The pain was gone overnight. There’s life in these old bones yet. But I didn’t call to talk about me, I called to talk about you. I’ve got a proposition for you and Anne—How would you two like to become parents?”

Albert was taken back. He knew Anne had been thinking about adopting children. Her post menopausal health was excellent, and new advances in medicine had pushed life to its natural span, about 120 years. In his eighties, Albert had taken care of himself, too. He expected another thirty years of healthy, active living. Still, parenting at his age seemed daunting. ‘What do you mean, Rao?”

“You know that Woolly Mammoth sample from Beresovka we were working on last year? Those teamed Athlons did the trick. With that kind of computing power, and a bit of sweat and tears, we were able to correct the damage freezing did to the creature’s DNA, plus or minus an error of .001%. We were able to clone a healthy embryo. Three weeks ago, Ginger, an Asian Elephant we borrowed from the Philadelphia Zoo, gave birth to a healthy male. He’s growing leaps and bounds and already terrorizing his mother for milk. We plan an announcement to the press next week. It’s a wonder that they haven’t found out already.

Anyway, we’re ready for a human. I’ve always wondered how a Neolithic man would do in modern society, and your ancestor, Ötzi, is the best candidate for one. What would you say to a baby son?”

Khundi sure knew how to get to him. His thoughts rushed back to that time he’d challenged his classes to participate in the Genome Genealogy Project, only to find that he was the one they were seeking, a direct descendent of the Iceman of the Alps. “Who will be the surrogate?”

“You know that smart young hotshot, Ping Ma? Her grandfather was a Johns Hopkins Med School graduate. At 26, she’s never had a child. As a member of our team, she can keep the lid on things. She excited about the whole thing. She’s single and knows she can’t afford a kid right now. We know you and Anne can be counted on for the same anonymity. What do you say? Want to come out and help us get started?”

Albert was amazed at Khundi’s gall. But then, he was right. He was always right. “Okay, let me talk to Anne. She’s due back from the ranch tomorrow. We’ll get back to you next week.”

“Don’t wait too long. We’ll have to go to the backup plan.”

Albert knew that there was no backup plan. He was dying to see that little Mammoth. “Okay, we won’t. Bye.”

“Bye.” Khundi’s face faded from the screen.

Albert went outside, got in the rowboat, and rowed out into the lake. He had a lot to think about. The water was glassy. A mother loon cavorted with two chicks, breaking the calm. Albert couldn’t wait to tell Anne. He’d do it in person.

Two days later

“Hi, I’m home!” Albert always welcomed Anne’s arrival from her many forays for her causes. It was with love and lust that he welcomed her back into his arms.

They were both talking at once when Albert realized it and let her have her say.

“Oh Albert, it’s fantastic. That pack up in the hills has grown. There are now nine of them--the three pups are growing up fast. We had a big herd of Buffalo come through. Must’ve been a thousand of them. What a sight! The plan is to thin that herd this fall by allowing hunters from the ranches to take the old and weak animals—maybe 300. We should all realize a profit from the meat and hides and the rest should winter well. Charlie, that black stallion, is still leading my wild horses. We plan to coral them and harvest the weak so that they’ll make it too. I never saw so much wild game. Montana Fish and Game is increasing bag limits, as long as hunters strictly follow the trophy restrictions. The guys are fine. I had fun flirting with them.”

Albert had decided it wasn’t time to break the big news. Instead, he filled her in on the experiments by taking her around to see them. They returned to the cabin about 6pm. He broiled some smallmouth fillets he’d caught that morning while Anne unpacked. Only after they’d eaten and watched a Bond movie with 3-D effects did he began to tell her.

“Anne, are you still interested in raising kids?”

Anne was a bit surprised by Albert’s question. She’d often thought out loud that the ranch or this place would be ideal—that maybe they ought to consider adopting—they were still strong and healthy. “Of course I am, Honey. What makes you want to bring it up, now?”

“Well, …ah … Rao called and said that they’d finally cloned a Mammoth, and … well ah … they’re ready to try a frozen human.”

“What’s that got to do with us?”

“Well, …ah … he thinks we’d make good parents!” He’d finally blurted it out. He was a bit relieved.

“He wants us to raise a cloned baby.”

“Yes, you know I’m a descendant of that frozen man they found in the Alps back in 1991. Khundi is eager to try out the process he’s learned with the Mammoth on a frozen human. A Copper Age man awaits him. All he had to do was find a suitable set of adoptive parents who would protect him from the inevitable as he grows. I’ve thought it through these last two days, and I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t do it. What do you think?”

“I think that it’s about time. I’ve been thinking about adopting lately, especially since so many are in need. But a clone? Isn’t it a bit risky?”

“There’s always a risk. But Rao’s team is the best. They’ve been improving the process longer than anyone. Those ghastly mistakes are behind us. Besides, they’ve had nothing but success from those frozen frogs on. We could carefully monitor the youngster’s progress in an ideal setting. His genes are in me. He should develop very much like I did.”

“Oh, no, not another total nerd!” Anne was joking—but struck a cord.

“From what we know of him, Ötzi was a scientist of his time. He carried virtually all of the known technology on him. He appeared to be alone. For someone to survive to his age alone, he must have been extraordinarily resourceful. If our son is that resourceful, he will be a great scientist in the 22^nd Century.

“Another great nerd, … like wow!” She was reverting to her hippie roots.

Albert grabbed her by the hair—figuratively—and dragged her into the bedroom.

Three days later, Albert, aboard a Johns Hopkins van with five others, rode into the secret research site near Camp David. Aside from the obvious fuel conservation that made it a mandatory way to travel, the van was “plain brown wrapper’ to discourage attention. The Anticloners, Right-to-Lifers, Ameroshiites, Anarchists, and who knew who else who were bent on disrupting, sabotaging, and sometimes, destroying, research like this could not be taken lightly. Research, once safe within the ivory towers of campus, had to be moved to places like this to continue. A lot of spontaneity had been lost. But the solitude and focus could be welcome.

When surveillance showed that there was no activity on the road for two miles in either direction, the van turned right into what appeared to be a high bank. A well-disguised door opened and the van entered a tunnel through the mountain. Within two minutes, the door had closed behind them. Another door lay ahead, about 300 yards from them in the well-lit tunnel. Once their surveillance showed that it was clear too, it opened to a logging road that showed little use. Three miles of winding mountain road beyond, was Johns Hopkins’ Biotech Center.

Albert looked for evidence of the wilderness returning. It would take over a hundred years for the trees to reach the stature that the first Europeans saw scaling these mountains, four hundred years before. Still, moss and ferns, abundant under the heavy canopy, and the many springs that wept pure water in rivulets everywhere on the mountainsides was evidence that the wilderness was returning. They saw grouse, turkeys, and deer, and had to wait while a porcupine made its way across the road. There would be wolves soon.

The Center occupied a small valley and resembled a rustic resort. Rao and several staff members met the van. As soon as their bags were stowed in the bungalows that served as housing, everyone went to see Woolly.

Woolly was the affectionate name the staff members had given their creation, now a month old. The area where he and his mother were kept was screened and camouflaged from the sky to prevent aerial pictures. This area was prohibited to general aviation, but the etabloids would break the law to get pictures for a story like this. Every aspect of Woolly’s development was being digitally imaged and encrypted to prevent the need for unwanted cameramen. The Center would strictly control access to the images.

The little tusker, already weighing nearly three hundred pounds, lived up to Albert’s expectation. Whereas his mother was the typical elephant gray, Woolly’s skin was a dark brown and already covered with long, fine dark brown hair. His little tusks, just emerging, were pure white and sharply pointed. He seemed to enjoy the attention the staff paid him. Ginger, a bit protective and jealous, had to be watched, but she allowed them to play with her baby.

What he would grow into had not walked the earth in 10,000 years. Although unknown, it was theorized that it was rapid climate change, forcing the huge mammal to adapt to a limited food supply and man, who hunted the congregated Mammoths, that led to their extinction. If returned, the species would follow a small, but growing group of animals getting a second chance at survival. Once they established a foothold, it was unlikely that science would let them go extinct again.

A plan was underway to use Dima, the baby Mammoth found in Siberia in 1977, to clone a female for Woolly to mate with. April, another Asian Elephant on loan, scheduled as the surrogate, was soon to be implanted with one of her own eggs cloned into an embryo of Dima. Woolly and Dima, with parent DNA about 40,000 frozen years old, would grow up together, mature, and, hopefully mate. Fortunately, there were numerous samples from three known distinct species to insure a diverse gene pool to clone a hardy new herd of wild, North American, elephants.

Food appeared to remain the biggest obstacle to Mammoth reintroduction. Global warming, with its increased carbon dioxide levels and increased plant growth, may have already provided the solution. Already, plant growth in the wilderness areas was phenomenal. Wildfires, severely limited in the 20^th century, but now allowed to burn free, were showing regrowth rates that could feed a population of Mammoths. Maybe the Mammoth population would eat different plants than buffalo or cattle. Their numbers may have to be strictly controlled.

That evening, after dinner, Khundi laid out the plan. “We’ve contacted the museum in Tyrol. They’ve agreed to give us samples. Albert, you and Ping will go to insure that we get the real thing. You’ve been there, right?”

“Yes, I have. And I’m glad Ping will be going, too. There is nothing like looking into that face to know that we are dealing with a real man, full of doubt and anguish at the time of his death.”

Ping reacted to their words. “I’m not sure--except that I’m so excited to be a part of this. To see him will make it more real. To think that a 5,000-year-old donor will be growing inside me boggles my mind. Every time I see Woolly, I know it can be done—but it is all still so incredible!”

“Not so fast!” Khundi moved to regain control of the meeting and emotions. “We don’t know if we can even clone him yet! I’ve chosen you because the reactionaries would see nothing unusual about two scientists traveling to see this scientific tourist attraction. We have gone to great lengths to create a liquid nitrogen carrying case that will pass all security inspections without detection. It contains an ordinary electronic book reader, but there’s nothing ordinary about it. Two compartments, and liquid nitrogen provided by the museum should allow you to get two samples safely to us.”

Three days later, Albert and Ping, posing as researcher and post doctoral student, left Dulles International aboard the Dirigible Cincinnati for Rome. Traveling at a leisurely 80 to 120 knots, the new dirigibles were fast becoming the preferred mode of travel for tourists worldwide. Carrying up to 1000 passengers and filled with amenities, the airships resembled ocean liners except they ported on land and were lighter than air. Helium made them safe and high tech weather prediction made them comfortable to ride from sunup to sundown.

Rome in three days meant swimming, sunning, leisurely meals, some casino gambling, and time to reflect. Albert and Ping spent hours discussing the research and how they would deal with the outcome. Albert and Anne would become the legal, adoptive parents, providing a trust fund to insure that, regardless of circumstances, the clone would not have to worry about income. Ping would be a nurturer, mother in residence, and as such become part of the extended family. Crowded as the Eastern Seaboard had become, with the threat of anarchy ever present, Ping felt it was no place to raise children. The New Wilderness appeared to be an ideal setting for child development.

Before they new it, the docking facility, located in the countryside near Rome, appeared, and they gently came to dock inside. Spawned from the technologies that created the great sports facilities with moveable doors, docking facilities had sprung up near tourist attractions the world over. In some cases, sports arenas doubled as docking facilities during off hours or weather emergencies. These hangers insured a safe haven in high winds or storms. They also provided comfortable boarding during inclement weather. While the ships were strong and capable of maneuvering around or weathering most conditions, the superdocks, as they came to be called were a welcome sight when bad weather threatened. Used as an economical way to haul commodities too, airships had begun to fill the skies in commerce centers. Superdocks too, had begun to dot the landscape.

Docking was in a cradle with laser guidance and magnetic locking, making mooring lines unnecessary. Once docked, moveable elevators came into place, transporting the occupants to the ground. Except for the spectacular tour of the city as they came in, the interior of the superdock gave few clues where they were. Once outside, they boarded an electric Eurail train for their trip to Tyrol. The charm and nostalgia of old Europe greeted them around every turn as the followed the Apennines north. By nightfall, they were in Tyrol.

They spent the next day in the museum absorbing as much of the volumes of research on Ötzi there that they could. When night came and the museum closed its doors, they entered the cyrogenic chamber with museum curators and Italian paleontologists to remove the two samples from Ötzi’s frozen body. The work was done quickly. By midnight, they were on the train back to Rome. By morning, they were aboard the Airship Dayton on their way back to Dulles. A mechanic aboard with access to liquid nitrogen, checked the pressure in the carrying case daily. It only required charging once.

Khundi’s team, now free from working on the Dima clone, was concentrating its efforts on the sample they had from Ötzi from the 1990s. When Albert and Ping arrived with the additional tissue, work began in earnest. Not only did they have to exactly recreate Ötzi’s DNA from fragments caused by the freezing and thawing, but they had to insure that the fetus would be free of genetic mistakes that would have to be addressed after birth. Albert was proof of the vitality of the genome. It was the team’s responsibility to remake it, precisely. Another real concern was the possibility of an ancient virus being released in the baby or the researchers. Painstaking checking and rechecking of the entire genome was the only way to splice it correctly and correct every mistake. Even with the new computers, the process took two months.

Converting a fertilized embryo didn’t take long. The process was timed with Ping’s menstruation cycle so that the embryo was inserted in her cervix just as she had reached peak blood levels, insuring that the fetus would be well nourished from the start. Ping was in top shape—forcing herself to leave the tedium of the lab to exercise, run the trails, play with Woolly, eat right and regularly, and get enough sleep.

Albert flew back to the UP as Ping underwent weekly MRIs and tissue test to insure that the fetus was developing properly. She continued her healthy regime and lab work until her third trimester, when she flew to the UP to join Albert and Anne at New Wilderness. Three weeks before she was due, a team from Johns Hopkins arrived. The remote location kept things at a low profile. When Ping was ready, Albert and Anne drove her to Marquette General Hospital. At 4:33pm on September 13, 2016, a healthy six-pound baby boy was born to Ping Ma, an unwed employee of The New Wilderness. He was christened Dominic Albert Repaul. The owners of New Wilderness immediately filed papers for the adoption of the boy. The team from JHU waited in the background. No members of the press were present.

… to be continued.

Go to Chapter 6

Return to Contents

Return to Ron’s Place

Email me