GEMP Chapter One

GEMP
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content

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Chapter 1

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It is one of those things that armchair scientist and professionals have in common. They think about the possibility of genetically engineered life. Is it possible? Is it worth the risk? Should Humans actually engage in such an endeavor of producing life? Is it just a waste of time? And like the lot that these thinking professionals and the like have in common they understand one thing. Anyone can break a few eggs. It’s the omelet that’s important.

Chapter 1

Steve Launse began, “One of the things to remember is that Religion was the key to all creative endeavors. We are technologically advance not because of war, or intelligence, or creativeness, but because of religion . . .” He walked down one of the isles. Class was coming to an end and he had to finish the rest of his spiel. “ . . . All the things I've mentioned has helped, but it has been Religion that has given us a reason to achieve. Religion was a natural outcome to our survival . . .”
Steve looked at his watch. Ten minutes to go, then the bell will ring he told himself. Steve faced his class. All those eager faces out there except for Bill – the school sports hero, yawned and scratched his belly. Bill would be getting a D this semester if he didn’t start applying himself. He was good at football, but not at objective thinking. “. . . When we evolved our religion was right alongside us. We were motivated by a need to please God and without . . .”
Someone interrupted and raised a hand.
“Yes? A question is out there?”
Tim Hackerman raised his arm. He was the class nerd and boy genius. Some speculated his IQ was in the two hundred range. Steve knew better. He checked his personal files. Tim was smart, but not the super genius folks hoped, maybe even wished, he could be. “Professor, is it true that Religion was the first true science?”
Tim asked an easy question. Those who read last night’s assignment would know the answer. Tim either wanted to quickly establish his brilliant dominance in class or he was suckering him up for one of his famous ‘make the teacher look bad’ moments. Steve nodded. “I’m glad you asked that question, I was just getting to that point. Religion at its very core tried to explain all the unknowns in the world. Now let me ask you a question, Tim.”
Tim had started to sit down, but stopped.
“What was the first unknown religion tried to explain?”
Tim straightened up and had a reflective expression on his face. Within a few seconds he answered, “We wondered what made the Sun shine.” He smirked and sat down figuring the question had been settled.
Steve smiled. “Are you certain?”
Tim nodded, “It would be the first thing we would notice. This big bright shining orb floating in the sky.”
Steve considered that. “How about the Moon?”
“The Moon?” Tim said.
“Yeah, night time was probably the scariest thing we could have encountered. It’s very dark outside without light and we hear all these strange noises and sounds. We would see shadows moving about and sometimes the shadows would take solid form and grab one of us.”
Tim remained silent.
“The Sun probably was not equated to daylight. It was probably one of those items that came with the bright light and not the creation of the light. That type of thinking would come later. We probably hoped the light would return until we realized that as the Sun rose it got brighter. That would be an example of a causal effect model, but the Moon, that was different. The night would consume and eat the Moon only to regurgitate it later. A simple explanation for the phases of the Moon. Was the Moon a living thing? Was it part of the natural world? Think about it. The Moon was probably the first object we tried to explain because it . . .”
The bell rang.
“Read chapter 5 through 7 this weekend. A test will be given Monday morning.”
A collective groan made its way to the door.
Kelly Kirkwhen, a fellow teacher, had been standing in the doorway listening. She stepped aside and allowed the flow of students to pass. She walked over to Steve. “Nice stuff. As usual you speak a mean class.”
Steve smiled. He liked Kelly. She was about his height, had pretty hair she kept in a pony-tail, dressed teacher sexy, and laughed at his jokes. “Thanks . . . mind if I buy you a cup of coffee?”
Kelly grimaced. “The school mud?”
“How about I let Oscar make you a cup? He’s gotten better.”
Kelly smiled. She liked Oscar. He was fun. She also liked Steve. Her problem was she thought he was gay. In all the years they’ve known each other he never mentioned a wife or a girlfriend. He never seriously flirted with her, but he was not a cold fish either. Their conversations were always good and he had a great sense of humor. They seemed to be just friends. “You’re on.”

Steve and Kelly walked down the hallway to his office. Both caught the sound of loud music. As they turned a corner a wave of Metal hit them. Steve recognized the guitar rift and smiled. A favorite.
“Oscar!” He yelled out as he pounded on the door. “Open up.” He pounded several more times. “Oscar! Open . . .”
The music stopped and the door suddenly opened.
Steve and Kelly stepped into the modestly furnished office. A desk was cramped in a corner with a stack of books to one side.
A 24 inch monitor sat on the desk. Oscar, behind it, tapped several keys on the keyboard. He looked up and smiled. A full mouth of teeth showed.
Steve used sign language as he spoke, “Oscar, music loud. No!”
Oscar gave Steve a raspberry.
Steve mocked impatience. He said and signed, “Oscar. Come here please. We have guest.”
Oscar noticed Kelly and jumped out of the chair. He leaped into her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Kelly kissed him back and placed him gently on the ground.
Oscar signed, “K-pretty, happy I see you.”
Steve said, “Oscar is happy to see you.”
Kelly squatted down to meet Oscar at eye level. “Oscar, I’m always happy to see you.”
With his right hand he spread his fingers near his chin and made an “and’ sign over his face. He finished by signing female.
Steve smiled. “Oscar said pretty girl.”
Kelly blushed. “Thank you, Oscar. And I think you’re very handsome.”
Oscar smiled teeth, hooted, and ran to his cage.
Kelly looked up to Steve. “Amazing progress, Steve.”
Steve nodded, “To bad it took too long.”
“What do you mean?”
“The school is pulling the plug. They don’t think I’m making any real progress.”
“That’s absurd!”
“I had been thinking about taking my sabbatical.” He shrugged and gave Kelly a slight smile. “Looks like I’ll have no choice now.”
Oscar made a raspberry. He clicked on the TV set in his cage and signed, “Done good job.”
Steve replied and signed, “Oscar. Kiss hug.”
Oscar did another raspberry.
“Oscar . . .”
“Hoot,” Oscar answered and dragged himself away from the TV. He was half-way across the room when the door suddenly opened.
A rather short chubby man walked in. The suit he was wearing was ill-fitted. A step behind him was a man with a military hair-cut. His suit was expensive and well-tailored.
Oscar ran back into his cage.
Steve said, “Mr. Landers, what brings you here?”
Landers scowled at Oscar. “This is Mr. Grenier. He wants to talk to you.”
Steve looked Grenier up and down.
Grenier stuck out his right hand. “Mr. Launse, I am a fan of your work.”
Steve griped his hand. “Which work?”
Grenier sized up Steve before he entered the door. “Motivation, sir.”
Steve let go. He signed O and brushed the index and middle fingers stiffly off his nose. Then continued with, “Please get Mr. Grenier a chair.”
Oscar stepped out of his cage and walked up to Grenier.
Grenier stared Oscar in the eyes and smiled. “Hello.”
Oscar gestured with an open hand, palm down, to his forehead. He moved it out slightly. He finished with the sign “G” and placed a right hand “A” at his left shoulder. A left handed “A” was placed below the right hand.
Grenier looked at Steve.
Steve cocked his head, signed at Oscar and said, “Really?”
Oscar nodded yes.
“Well, Mr. Grenier. Oscar, for some reason thinks you’re military.”
“Interesting.”
Steve nodded. “Are you?”
Oscar hooted and held up two horizontal “L”s, one in front of the other. He pumped his thumbs several times.
Grenier said, “I assume that means shooting or soldier.”
Oscar back flipped and he smiled teeth.
Steve said and signed, “Can you make us some coffee, please?”
Oscar walked over to a special wash area in the corner. He washed his hands from a small basin, dried them and started assembling everything he needed. Coffee pot, coffee grounds, and Styrofoam cups.
Grenier watched as the little chimp made coffee. “Oscar is a reason, I suppose, I’m here.”
After several minutes everyone but Landers had a cup of coffee. Oscar held out a cup for him, but decided at the last minute the cup was his. He sat down and took a sip before turning his back on a saddened Landers.
Steve smiled, sat back, and sipped his coffee. Perfect. He placed his cup down and signed the word. A right hand “P” moving to a left hand “P” with the middle fingers touching. He resumed sipping.
Landers said, “It would be nice if I could find out for myself.”
Oscar gave him a raspberry.
Grenier cleared his throat. “I represent a branch of the government . . .”
That got him a raspberry.
Grenier continued, “. . . I agree, however, we are focused on Human behavior.”
Kelly said, “As in controlling?”
Grenier replied, “As in understanding it. Control is easy. We’ve done that for hundreds if not thousands of years . . .”
Steve nodded, “The Dark Ages comes to mind.”
“Exactly,” Grenier answered, “but this is not about out right controlling . . .” He held up a finger to stop an obvious interruption, “this is about natural development.” He paused.
Steve slowly said, “My theory states that mankind developed to present day behavior, not because of environmental implications, but more so, because of social interacting – good, bad, or indifferent.”
Grenier nodded. “Exactly!”
“But what exactly are we talking about?”
“We want to hire you as a Research Consultant.”
Steve replied, “A consultant to and for what?”
Grenier reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book titled, ‘Therefore We Are’.
“Yes?” Steve said.
“We want to put your theory to work . . .”
“Mr. Grenier! I wrote that book to show mankind was ultimately shaped by accidental and random opportunistic circumstances that dictated a need for approval. We are the way we are, not because of a God, but because of the ‘what’ we thought God wanted us to be.”
Grenier nodded, “And you’ll be given a chance to work that theory out.”
Steve, suddenly exasperated, “Play God? People should not be toyed with . . .”
Grenier smiled, “I wasn’t talking about people.”
“People are not . . . pardon me?” Steve said.
“I wasn’t talking about people.”
Steve looked at Kelly.
She shrugged.
Steve then looked at Oscar, then back to Grenier.
“Are you interested?”
Oscar jumped into Steve’s lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“The pay is substantial.”
Steve frowned.
“Very substantial.”
“Show me what you have in mind first.”
“You’ll have to pack for the weekend.”
Steve looked at Kelly. “I’ll need someone to watch Oscar?”
Kelly said, “I’d be happy to watch Oscar. Just give me a list of things to do and what most likely to say.”
“You can stay at my place. Oscar has a routine.” He shrugged, “He can practically take care of himself for a month. He’s that self-sufficient.”
Oscar kissed Steve on the cheek and jumped into Kelly’s lap. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Steve looked Oscar in the eyes and signed, “You understand I’ll be gone for the weekend?”
Oscar nodded.
Steve turned to Grenier. “May I have a few hours to get them set?”
Grenier stood up, “Of course, Mr. Launse. I’ll send a car to pick you up at 0400.”
Everyone else stood up.
Grenier shook Steve’s hand and bowed his head to Kelly. He walked out with Landers several steps behind.

Steve sat thinking, ‘now what?’ He turned to Kelly, “Wanna go out for dinner?”
“I’d love too, but what about Oscar?”
“He’ll be fine . . .”
Oscar started making kissing sounds. He signed out, “S-knowledge and K-pretty sitting in bed when K-pretty reached down and grabbed . . .”
Steve said, “Oscar! Bad, Oscar.”
Kelly said, “What?”
“Nothing. Oscar has a dirty . . . never mind. He can take care of himself for a few hours.” He turned to Oscar. “Food in fridge. 3 minutes, no more. You can have snack of chips.”
Oscar hooted and did a right hand “A” underneath his chin and moved it forward. He followed it with a right hand “H” and moved that up and down as it moved forward. He went back into his cage and turned the volume up slightly. I Love Lucy was playing, his favorite. He was good for the next half dozen hours.
Steve smiled as he and Kelly walked out. He locked the door and gave Kelly a quick side glance.
She blushed and gave him a quick smile. Tonight she’ll find out if he was metro, gay, or bi.

• • • 
      

Steve looked over and saw Kelly drooling lightly on the pillow. They had a wonderful dinner with drinks afterwards. It was after ten when they picked up Oscar and brought him home to Steve’s modest apartment. Oscar had his own room with lots of toys, stuffed animals, CDs, and games. He had a shelf with picture and first reader books. Most had the edges chewed a bit. Kelly picked up The Little Caterpillar and leafed through it as Steve placed Oscar in bed. It had the most damage.
Kelly woke up and smiled at Steve. “What time is it?”
Steve said, “3:07 am.”
“Is that enough time?”
He nodded, “I’m already packed and the checklist is on the refrigerator door. I left two books on the kitchen table for you.”
Kelly had worried how effective she would be with Oscar while Steve was away.
“The Joy of Signing and Signing for Kids. They’re for you. Oscar understands English, but you know that. Let him go through the pages of the books to point out his words. He also has flash cards he’ll use when he wants something.”
“You’ve thought of everything!”
“Hoping so. Oscar really is a good chimp, but he’ll take advantage. Indulge him and we’ll clean up the damages later.”
“Indulge? You really want me to let him get away with being naughty?”
Steve gave her a slight smile with nearly closed eyes. “He’s an adult chimp with the strength of three grown men. I’d rather you placate him with treats and attention than me visiting you in the hospital and having to euthanize him for hurting you.”
Kelly suddenly became afraid.
Steve noticed it and reached over. He kissed her softly on the lips. “Seriously, Oscar’s had babysitters before with no incidence. Oscar is looking forward to this. Really. He’ll dote over you because you are the gatekeeper to yummy treats.”
She took a deep breath and sighed. “Does he like me?”
“Like you? He talks about you all the time. That’s why your name is K-pretty.”
She blushed again.
“I got 30 minutes to wash up. Money, spare keys, and emergency contacts are on the table by the door.”
Kelly reached over and kissed him. Definitely not gay, but he was metro, which could make for interesting dating experiences.

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