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- Mar 16, 2008
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Hi folks.
Below is the opening chapter to my new book as mentioned in my blog. Cast your comments, eggs and tomatoes as you will. Hope you like it.
"Got you,” Jane said, activating the micro suction. The sperm, struggling and twisting was drawn into the needle and held fast. She rotated the turntable holding the petri-dish and focused until an egg filled the screen. Gently, ever so gently she pushed the needle through the outer membrane until it punctured. Releasing the suction ejected the sperm and the egg was fertilised.
Doctor Jane Fields relaxed. It was another potential embryo. The DNA of the sperm had been altered. The mosquito would produce only male offspring. Eventually, female mosquitos would be the rarest thing in the world. She rotated the turntable again and captured another sperm. There were only another 4021 left. She looked at the clock, only eleven; she was feeling peckish and definitely regretting volunteering to help in the process.
By lunchtime she had reduced the task to 3953 which was, she thought, pretty impressive, but the refectory beckoned. Looking at the menu she felt someone was taking the piss with the 'The Specials'. Devilled Eggs was top of the bill. Grinning, she selected the cheese salad sandwich and looked around the tables. By the window sat Peter, ah Peter. The seat opposite him was empty. As she made her way through the tables she reached up and loosened another button on her blouse. He probably wouldn't notice it, but it was worth a try.
"Peter, mind if I sit here?"
He looked up, offering recognition, but as she bent down to place her tray he was already studying his newspaper so missed the offered view of her cleavage.
'And some fell on stony ground', she thought as she settled to the task of freeing the sandwich from its Kevlar like wrapping.
Looking up the sight that met was not what she had hoped, but rather the headlines of the newspaper he was reading.
She grabbed the paper from Peter's hand and read the lead story.
‘NASA was at a loss to explain the apparent disappearance of the Martian orbiter satellites.
"Contact with the satellites and the Martian colony, was lost yesterday, but the problem is temporary and communication to the colony is expected to be restored later today," a NASA spokesman said.'
"Peter!" she said, "Have you read this?"
"Oh that, yes, it's probably atmospherics," he said, "They claim it's happened before."
"Well, they must have kept it qui...”.
Peter was looking at her strangely. Had he finally noticed? Wait, he was looking past her, his mouth open with a growing sense of apprehension, no more: fear.
She looked over her shoulder. In in the sky there were hundreds of spheres. At first she thought they were hovering just above the buildings, but then some of them passed behind a cloud and she realised they must be high, very high. ‘My God’, she thought, ‘they must be massive’. Now she understood the reason for Peter's fearful look.
Something caught Jane's attention, the outside of the building was in chaos. People were staring into the sky in disbelief or praying for deliverance. In contrast others, like wolves, were forming packs to prey on the weak and helpless. Already the boundaries of civilisation were breaking down.
"Peter, what are they? What should we do? Peter! Peter!" She hit him across the face. It did the trick: he broke from the trance-like stupor and grabbed her hand.
"Quick, we have to move,” he said. "Follow me. No! Forget the bag, we haven't time."
"Where?" she said, pushing the table away as he nearly dragged her across it.
"Your labs,” he replied, "It's the most secure building on campus. If we get there we can lock it down and be safe until we find out what the f*ck is going on."
Jane followed, now she knew the plan; quite a reasonable plan: she was determined to follow it. Her lab was secure and only a few people had access rights. As a biological research centre it had everything needed to resist even determined attempts to enter. Since the protests against genetic manipulation, all such faculties had had to introduce quite draconian measures to prevent Joe public gaining access. Yes, her building would be like a safe room which had all the bells and whistles needed to resist even a heavily armed assault.
Outside several bodies lay bloodied robbed of anything valuable. In the thirty minutes since the spheres arrived they had reduced mankind to its most basic level.
Jane's building was across an open plaza from the refectory. They were lucky, having nothing valuable; they managed to cross the square with only a minimum of violence. Peter floored one of two guys who showed more interest than he should in Jane. The other, Jane left doubled up in agony after she kicked him in the bollocks.
"Enter the code!" Peter said, fending off another attacker.
She placed her tag near the sensor and entered the digits. The door opened and they rushed through, it closed behind them. The second door held firmly shut. Normally it would have opened automatically, but the system had detected two people.
"Dr. Jane Fields with Peter Evans I.D. six, four, four, one."
"Scanning! Peter Evans, Department of Biological Engineering." The system had read Peter's tag. "Confirm status!”
"Peter Evans, guest,” Jane said.
"Status accepted and logged."
The second door slid open, closing immediately after they went through. The front door was opening again. Jane looked to see who came through. It was Desmond Felton, her deputy, he was alone and bleeding from a nasty gash above the eye.
The system allowed him straight through, seeing Peter he was puzzled.
"He's with me," Jane said, "We were eating together. It was his idea we come here."
Felton accepted it without comment.
"Anyone else makes it in?” he said.
"We've only just arrived,” Jane said, "Most of the staff and students were in the kitchen when I went out to lunch. They may not know what's happened."
"Are we sure it's an invasion?” Felton said matter of factually. He had stated what the three of them were thinking, but hearing it out loud just made it sound more unbelievable.
"What else could it be?” Peter said. "Those spheres are well beyond anything I've heard about. In any case, given what's happening outside, we need to protect ourselves. Jane! Lock it down."
Felton gave Peter a look as though to say who put you in charge, but he could see it made sense and nodded to Jane.
"He's right Jane, better play it safe."
"System. Bio Lab lockdown,” she said.
"Protocol?” the system responded, following the pre-programed dialog that would end in the building turning into a small fortress.
"Management Only." Management only allowed only Bio Lab management personnel to enter the building and since that was herself and Felton, no one else would be coming through the door without their knowledge. Anyone with a correct access code would cause the system to ask for confirmation.
"Accepted!”
Three things happened. The outer glass door acquired an armour plated shield as did all the windows and fire exits. The positive air pressure system was extended to the whole building not just the areas near the labs. The emergency mains backup system became fully active.
They headed for the building's kitchen and dining area. There were about twenty people sat in a circle; they were all glued to the screen. It was showing the BBC main news. So far the reporters were saying the spheres had done nothing so all that was available was speculation and theorising about what it all meant.
When the three of them entered, the assembly broke into a chaotic rabble of questions.
Peter shouted for calm and reason.
"Look! We know as much as you do, maybe even less. Switch on the security screens,” he said.
Someone got the idea and the screens changed to a sixteen panel view of the cameras covering the building. Peter touched the section showing the front door and square and it expanded to fill the whole screen.
Large numbers were clamouring to get in. One guy was smashing the keypad with his phone as though it held some magic property that would open the door.
"That's Simon Ward," she said. Can't we let him in?"
"No!" Peter and Des shouted in unison.
"There are too many," Des said, "If you open the door he will be trampled anyway and then the others will have to be dealt with".
Jane seemed unconvinced looking to Peter for support. There was none.
"Look at this!” one of the students said, holding up his phone. The small screen was virtually impossible to see. "Switch to Al Jazeera News".
The screen filled with pictures of a great city. Most of it had been destroyed.
"Where the f*ck is that?” said one of the students.
There was no commentary, but the news banner at the bottom of the screen filled in the detail.
'Pictures from India News Corporation. Deli has been destroyed.'
Below is the opening chapter to my new book as mentioned in my blog. Cast your comments, eggs and tomatoes as you will. Hope you like it.
The Zoanz
"Got you,” Jane said, activating the micro suction. The sperm, struggling and twisting was drawn into the needle and held fast. She rotated the turntable holding the petri-dish and focused until an egg filled the screen. Gently, ever so gently she pushed the needle through the outer membrane until it punctured. Releasing the suction ejected the sperm and the egg was fertilised.
Doctor Jane Fields relaxed. It was another potential embryo. The DNA of the sperm had been altered. The mosquito would produce only male offspring. Eventually, female mosquitos would be the rarest thing in the world. She rotated the turntable again and captured another sperm. There were only another 4021 left. She looked at the clock, only eleven; she was feeling peckish and definitely regretting volunteering to help in the process.
By lunchtime she had reduced the task to 3953 which was, she thought, pretty impressive, but the refectory beckoned. Looking at the menu she felt someone was taking the piss with the 'The Specials'. Devilled Eggs was top of the bill. Grinning, she selected the cheese salad sandwich and looked around the tables. By the window sat Peter, ah Peter. The seat opposite him was empty. As she made her way through the tables she reached up and loosened another button on her blouse. He probably wouldn't notice it, but it was worth a try.
"Peter, mind if I sit here?"
He looked up, offering recognition, but as she bent down to place her tray he was already studying his newspaper so missed the offered view of her cleavage.
'And some fell on stony ground', she thought as she settled to the task of freeing the sandwich from its Kevlar like wrapping.
Looking up the sight that met was not what she had hoped, but rather the headlines of the newspaper he was reading.
"MYSTERY OF MISSING SATELLITES".
She grabbed the paper from Peter's hand and read the lead story.
‘NASA was at a loss to explain the apparent disappearance of the Martian orbiter satellites.
"Contact with the satellites and the Martian colony, was lost yesterday, but the problem is temporary and communication to the colony is expected to be restored later today," a NASA spokesman said.'
"Peter!" she said, "Have you read this?"
"Oh that, yes, it's probably atmospherics," he said, "They claim it's happened before."
"Well, they must have kept it qui...”.
Peter was looking at her strangely. Had he finally noticed? Wait, he was looking past her, his mouth open with a growing sense of apprehension, no more: fear.
She looked over her shoulder. In in the sky there were hundreds of spheres. At first she thought they were hovering just above the buildings, but then some of them passed behind a cloud and she realised they must be high, very high. ‘My God’, she thought, ‘they must be massive’. Now she understood the reason for Peter's fearful look.
Something caught Jane's attention, the outside of the building was in chaos. People were staring into the sky in disbelief or praying for deliverance. In contrast others, like wolves, were forming packs to prey on the weak and helpless. Already the boundaries of civilisation were breaking down.
"Peter, what are they? What should we do? Peter! Peter!" She hit him across the face. It did the trick: he broke from the trance-like stupor and grabbed her hand.
"Quick, we have to move,” he said. "Follow me. No! Forget the bag, we haven't time."
"Where?" she said, pushing the table away as he nearly dragged her across it.
"Your labs,” he replied, "It's the most secure building on campus. If we get there we can lock it down and be safe until we find out what the f*ck is going on."
Jane followed, now she knew the plan; quite a reasonable plan: she was determined to follow it. Her lab was secure and only a few people had access rights. As a biological research centre it had everything needed to resist even determined attempts to enter. Since the protests against genetic manipulation, all such faculties had had to introduce quite draconian measures to prevent Joe public gaining access. Yes, her building would be like a safe room which had all the bells and whistles needed to resist even a heavily armed assault.
Outside several bodies lay bloodied robbed of anything valuable. In the thirty minutes since the spheres arrived they had reduced mankind to its most basic level.
Jane's building was across an open plaza from the refectory. They were lucky, having nothing valuable; they managed to cross the square with only a minimum of violence. Peter floored one of two guys who showed more interest than he should in Jane. The other, Jane left doubled up in agony after she kicked him in the bollocks.
"Enter the code!" Peter said, fending off another attacker.
She placed her tag near the sensor and entered the digits. The door opened and they rushed through, it closed behind them. The second door held firmly shut. Normally it would have opened automatically, but the system had detected two people.
"Dr. Jane Fields with Peter Evans I.D. six, four, four, one."
"Scanning! Peter Evans, Department of Biological Engineering." The system had read Peter's tag. "Confirm status!”
"Peter Evans, guest,” Jane said.
"Status accepted and logged."
The second door slid open, closing immediately after they went through. The front door was opening again. Jane looked to see who came through. It was Desmond Felton, her deputy, he was alone and bleeding from a nasty gash above the eye.
The system allowed him straight through, seeing Peter he was puzzled.
"He's with me," Jane said, "We were eating together. It was his idea we come here."
Felton accepted it without comment.
"Anyone else makes it in?” he said.
"We've only just arrived,” Jane said, "Most of the staff and students were in the kitchen when I went out to lunch. They may not know what's happened."
"Are we sure it's an invasion?” Felton said matter of factually. He had stated what the three of them were thinking, but hearing it out loud just made it sound more unbelievable.
"What else could it be?” Peter said. "Those spheres are well beyond anything I've heard about. In any case, given what's happening outside, we need to protect ourselves. Jane! Lock it down."
Felton gave Peter a look as though to say who put you in charge, but he could see it made sense and nodded to Jane.
"He's right Jane, better play it safe."
"System. Bio Lab lockdown,” she said.
"Protocol?” the system responded, following the pre-programed dialog that would end in the building turning into a small fortress.
"Management Only." Management only allowed only Bio Lab management personnel to enter the building and since that was herself and Felton, no one else would be coming through the door without their knowledge. Anyone with a correct access code would cause the system to ask for confirmation.
"Accepted!”
Three things happened. The outer glass door acquired an armour plated shield as did all the windows and fire exits. The positive air pressure system was extended to the whole building not just the areas near the labs. The emergency mains backup system became fully active.
They headed for the building's kitchen and dining area. There were about twenty people sat in a circle; they were all glued to the screen. It was showing the BBC main news. So far the reporters were saying the spheres had done nothing so all that was available was speculation and theorising about what it all meant.
When the three of them entered, the assembly broke into a chaotic rabble of questions.
Peter shouted for calm and reason.
"Look! We know as much as you do, maybe even less. Switch on the security screens,” he said.
Someone got the idea and the screens changed to a sixteen panel view of the cameras covering the building. Peter touched the section showing the front door and square and it expanded to fill the whole screen.
Large numbers were clamouring to get in. One guy was smashing the keypad with his phone as though it held some magic property that would open the door.
"That's Simon Ward," she said. Can't we let him in?"
"No!" Peter and Des shouted in unison.
"There are too many," Des said, "If you open the door he will be trampled anyway and then the others will have to be dealt with".
Jane seemed unconvinced looking to Peter for support. There was none.
"Look at this!” one of the students said, holding up his phone. The small screen was virtually impossible to see. "Switch to Al Jazeera News".
The screen filled with pictures of a great city. Most of it had been destroyed.
"Where the f*ck is that?” said one of the students.
There was no commentary, but the news banner at the bottom of the screen filled in the detail.
'Pictures from India News Corporation. Deli has been destroyed.'
