Argent Glass

Chapter 36 - Dispatch - Andrew

"Tell me about this place," Andrew said to Jinho.

Evan leaned in and asked with a conspiratorial tone, "Do they experiment on you?"'

"No," Jinho snorted. "There are–"

"Wait!" Andrew felt a lecture coming on and lay back against his pillows. He patted his blankets. "Okay. Now."

"–multiple types of research going on in here but none is conducted on any of the inhabitants of the helidrome. Some of the research centers around the structure of the dome itself and some of it focuses on the plants growing inside. My father is a structural engineer so his research pertains to making the dome self-contained and sealed off from outside contaminants. He works with a handful of scientists who look at everything from construction of the glass to the recycling facilities that control water and air quality. If we humans continue to pollute our planet, we may all need to live in these domes one day."

Jinho paced between Andrew's bed and the window looking out into the dome. He fiddled with the chain fastened to his shirt. Aurum was pulling a bit of his hair with his beak.

"Dr. Lapointe, er, Jordan's mom, on the other hand, is a geneticist, so her research is of a wholly different nature. She conducts genetic modifications on corn and soybeans by taking the genetic material of the plants and manipulating it based on instructions and materials given to her by the Central division of research."

"Cross-breeding?" Evan snapped his fingers. "Like Gregor Mendel."

"No, not like Gregor Mendel," Jinho derided. "Cross-breeding takes pollen from one plant and sprinkles it on the pistil of another plant to try and achieve the desired progeny."

"Plant sex," Evan whispered to Andrew with a wink.

Jinho ignored him and continued condescendingly, "Genetically modifying plants involves mapping and replacing the DNA related to the desired traits. They are nothing alike."

Andrew threw up his hand and pointed at Jinho. "Expelliarmus."

"What did you say?"

Evan snickered.

"Forget it. You were saying?"

"You know what DNA is, right?" Jinho looked from Andrew to Evan.

"Duh," said Evan.

"Sure, since third grade or something...basic building blocks of all living things," said Andrew.

"Right. In the most simple terms. All over the world, scientists have been in this race to map all the genes in plants and animals. Once genes started getting mapped, Dr. Moreau's island suddenly became a real possibility."

"Dr. Moreau?"

"H. G. Wells?" Jinho waited. Andrew stared at him blankly. "Have you ever read a book?"

"I've read plenty of books," Andrew snapped.

"Well, in this book, the scientist was splicing animals together so they were half man and half animal. GMOs are the same thing but on a whole different level. The gene level." Jinho pinched the air with his fingers. "We take out this gene here...and put this one in its place."

"Super corn," remarked Andrew.

Jinho nodded. "Super corn. Bigger, faster growing, pest-resistant super corn."

"And they're doing that here? Making super corn?" Evan asked. "This might be better than aliens."

"Yes. Our facility is given the bits and pieces to put together. We splice the parts together, grow the plants, and send crop back to Central Labs for testing."