Entangled Genes

Dr. Allen Smith opened the door with a force that made it crash to the wall
beside it. Judy Mac, chief manager of the faculty for biology in the
Georgian University of Washington, raised her head from the sheet of papers
she was working on. Her thin, long nose scrunched as she gathered herself to
give the intruder a tongue-lash to make his feet fall under him. A second
look at the victim's happy face convinced her that perhaps this wasn't the
best course.

She recognized the man, and was surprised. He was a quiet man, always
keeping to himself even when working in a group. Never, in the ten years
that she knew him to work in the faculty, had he lost control of his
feelings.

Yet now he was unmistakably excited. Moreover, Judy was quite sure she could
see a definite downward curve in the middle of his mouth. Could that be a
smile on the man who's never revealed him emotions?

She turned her eyes to the wall behind the doctor. His eyes followed hers,
turning his head to find what she was looking at. As he saw the bump the
door handle had left in the wall, the smile momentarily left his face. He
hastily closed the door and then marched, wrapped in self-importance, toward
her table and leaned over it. She had to force herself not to lean back. For
a long time now she has known that men controlled women only through
intimidation, and she conducted herself never to surrender control. And yet,
at his maniacal grin, she felt a tinge of fear. Something was not right in
this situation.

"What is your wish, Doctor?" She asked in a cool professional voice, that
dropped the room's temperature by a few degrees.

"I've got to tell you something." He replied, his voice as hot as hers was
cold.

She didn't like the look in his eyes. It was too frenzied, too full of glee.

"I'm busy right now. If you want to talk to me, you'll have to make an
appoin..."

He didn't let her finish the sentence. "Now! Now! You don't understand! I've
found the discovery of the century! I..."

Judy raised her hand firmly in the air, but he never stopped blabbering. In
the end, when she was out of patience, she snapped. "Alright already. Sit
down!" She had to resist the urge to wipe the tiny drops of spittle she
could feel on her face. If he truly found something out, something to break
his allude and secluded shell with such force, it might be better not to
offend him – as much as he did her.

Doctor Smith halted in the middle of a sentence. Judy noted disgustedly that
he was panting and sweating as though he had just run a race. He seated
himself slowly on the hard wooden chair. His long, thin body sprawled on the
chair, and he put his feet arrogantly on Judy's shiny wooden table. She
ignored that, too. You don't find geniuses any day of the month, and if he's
really found something extraordinary... Well, geniuses have the right to be
rude. But if this has all been a false alarm, she'll personally skin him
alive!

"Tell me what you've found out, Doctor." It didn't sound much like a
request, but Judy didn't mean it to. Genius or no, she'll decide whether his
big discovery was worth anything.

Smith talked slowly, as though trying to explain some difficult concept to a
3 years old girl. Underneath each word was his impatience, seething for
release. "Are you aware that lately I've been conducting experiments in
Molecular Biology?"

Judy shook her head. She wasn't familiar with each and every doctor's
research field, especially when they were as anonymous as he was.
He sighed dramatically, cringing at the ignorant world that surrounded him,
and she barely succeeded to rein her temper. If he hasn't discovered
something truly important, the insolent doctor would find himself
permanently exiled from the university. She would see to it personally.

"Anyway, in the recent past I've been conducting some experiments in
Molecular Biology." He repeated himself. "One of the fields we deal with in
this science, is assessing the similarity between the gene code of different
animals."

He halted, and searched her face for signs of misunderstanding. She nodded
impatiently, and he went on.

"To find the percentage of difference, we use the D.N.A. molecule itself. We
mix together the different D.N.A. of any two species, and heat the solution
to the melting point. Then we check by how many Celsius degrees has the
melting point of the solution differed from the melting point of the D.N.A.
of only one of the species. A difference of one degree symbolizes a
difference of one percent between the two gene sets."

Judy said hotly, "Is that all you have to say to me? This method is known
for years!" The thought of her having him thrown out of the university
filled her with glee, but to her surprise, Smith just nodded
acknowledgement.

"Yes," He calmly agreed. "But – " And here he lifted a forefinger in the
air, "Nobody has ever tried it before on the subjects I did! I – " And that
pointing finger turned slowly till it pointed squarely at his chest – `have
tested a human male gene set and a female's!'

He stopped talking for a moment and then went on triumphantly, without
noticing her striken face. "And do you know what was the difference between
the gene sets? Eleven percents! Eleven percents! Why, even the chimpanzees
only differ from us in one and a half lousy percent! This discovery is
enough to categorize the entire Woman race as a completely different
specie! And I have discov..."

He crashed abruptly to a stop. The gun nozzle was pointing straight at his
nose. Judy's hands never shook. Not for a second. Smith forced out a nervous
chuckle. "What – "

The gun thundered. Once, twice, three times.

A young assistant hurried into the room. Judy didn't recognize her, but it
didn't matter – she was a Woman.

"Hide the body in a safe place, until I find a safe way to dispose of it.
And clean all the mess up." She ordered briskly. She noticed the youth's
confused look, and added, "He has found about Us."

There was no need to say anything beyond.

She'll fix up the corpse later. The government, the courts of law, the
police – women held some major offices in nearly every institute. Soon, it
will be as though Doctor Smith has never ever existed. But first...
Judy picked up the phone and dialed thirteen digits. A special number, a
number available only to women of importance, like her. Someone picked up
the phone after two rings.

"Hello, Hillary? I think we need to stop the funding for the Molecular
Biology labs..."

The End