Chapter 6: Genes

The next day Vivian drove Horti to see Helax. Horti asked her mother to join her.

“Good morning Horti. I am delighted to see you. Hello Vivian, this is a pleasant surprise. You are welcome to join us. May I introduce you to two genetics experts who have asked to meet you and investigate your foreign genes? Professor Piaa Atu is a famous Dinnion Medical Genetics specialist. Professor Marthad Apmatenu specializes in the same area but is from the Collective and is doing a sabbatical on Dinnio Prime. They prefer you to call them by their first names, Piaa and Marthad.

Both professors grinned and nodded to Horti and Vivian. The professors led Horti and her mother to a small meeting room with a small conference table and several unusual chairs that floated but had no visible legs.

Horti was pleased the chairs had arms.

Helax helped Horti adjust her chair while Vivian watched closely and then duplicated the process on her chair.

“I am pleased you came along, Vivian. “ Everything I say to Horti also applies to you,” said Piaa.

“Thank you, professor. I will address you as a professor as I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling you by your first name,” said Vivian.

Piaa nodded. “Most in the Collective are the same.”

“Horti, this is your appointment. I will address you. Vivian, consider yourself included in the conversation. You may interrupt at will.” Piaa smiled and declined her head toward her colleague. “Marthad was the one who found the Uzliumbax DNA in the Emperor and identified it as such.”

“I am honored to meet someone so famous,” said Horti.

Vivian nodded.

“We closely inspected your ancient genetic material. We have never seen anything like it in all the Universes we have explored. It contains more information than any species we have yet encountered. It is not helical but a multidimensional net,” said Piaa.

“What does that mean?” Horti asked.

“Our DNA is more complex than the DNA of the people on Earth. We have a double-paired helix. It adds extra information to the single paired Helix. We double the information in our genes. Your DNA contains vastly more information, but like our Ais, it extends into other dimensions. When I talk about multidimensional, it is more than three dimensions. Your old DNA also uses several unfamiliar amino acids. It produces the usual proteins that other DNA does but also products of unknown function in other dimensions.”

“What about my parents and friends?” Horti asked.

“Your parents, grandparents, and friends all have the same ancient DNA that is taking over your human DNA. It is moving cell by cell. It behaves differently from the Uzliumbax and Dinnion DNA, which propagates virus-like.”

“How does my old stuff propagate?” Horti asked.

“It induces the cell to make a tubule that punctures an adjacent cell wall. It then sends through amino acids. Then it forms a second net, splits in the original cell, and migrates to the adjacent one. It then digests your double helix. Our DNA is arranged into chromosomes. We have twice the chromosomes you do. The ancient foreign DNA is packaged into a box-like structure. It folds itself like we fold a sheet.”

“Heavens above!” Vivian exclaimed.

“Any questions so far?”

“Professor, this week, Horti developed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It is a nasty one, according to the hematologist. Is there a relationship between the old DNA, contact with the Dinnion, and this illness? Also, we would like to get treatment if possible urgently?” Vivian asked.

The two professors looked at each other.

“Helax, do you mind if we take them to the ship? We want them both to be relaxed when we talk about genetics. While treating your cancer, we will fit your new leg and sort out the burn scars. They must be most off-putting for a young lady,” said Piaa.

“Vivian, we will enhance your genes, and the pod can examine you. It is a much higher-level pod than the assessment ones. You can do it concurrently. We have ten thousand pods. I’ll book the pods before they fill with other Earth patients.”

Piaa and Marthad stood. Piaa beckoned. “Come this way” – he led them through the large room with simulators and pods to a room at the back of the offices – “follow me through the portal.”

Horti was surprised to emerge into an office cluttered with equipment and miscellaneous objects on a massive desk with several holograms displaying genetic structures.

“Horti, this is your DNA”—Piaa pointed to a structure made up of fishing nets, one almost on top of another, each linked below and above” he touched the hologram, and odd-looking abstract nets formed—”that is in another dimension. Those fascinating things go into five other dimensions.”

Piaa walked to the door. “Come this way”—he walked out, followed by Marthad, and they strode down a long passageway—”We are heading for the hospital”—he pointed to the end of the corridor five hundred meters away.

“Professor, wait for me, I can’t walk properly, and it is a long way.”

Both professors turned and marched back.

“Horti, I am sorry for not taking your problem into account. Come back to my office.”

It was a long thirty meters away.

Piaa fiddled with the portal.

“Follow me this way through.” Piaa disappeared, as did Marthad.

Horti and her mother bumped into Marthad, who stood before the portal but behind Piaa. Piaa was manipulating a hologram on an enormous pod. It was ten times the size of the cylinder Helax had.

Marthad pointed Horti to a green circle with a central black cross.

Horti returned what was for her an instant later.

She looked at her watch and saw she had been in the pod for four hours. Her mother was standing in front of her, grinning.

“Come here, Horti; let me hug you.”

Horti walked over to her mother.

“Hey, I am walking on both legs. I can feel my right leg!”

Horti was stark naked but was too excited to notice.

She prodded her right ankle, rotated her foot, and squeezed her thigh.

“Look at your burns, Horti.”

“They are gone; it’s a bit red and slightly blotchy.” Horti danced around in a circle.

Horti suddenly became aware she was naked. “Where are my clothes?”

Vivian gently led her to the nearest dresser and showed Horti how to use the menu and choose suitable options.

Horti dressed in a navy blue pantsuit that fitted her like a glove. She had a smile on her face that wouldn’t go away.

The two professors stood grinning at her.

“See if you can walk with us halfway back to my office. We are heading for a small meeting room where we can talk,” said Piaa. “My office is a mess, and I have stuff on my chairs.”

Horti managed the walk far better than she expected. The grin never left her face.

Horti smiled and nodded to the professors opposite her in the meeting room. It was sumptuously furnished in materials Horti could not recognize. The table was a solid chunk of metal, and the top had intricate carvings. Like the chairs, there were no visible supports.

Marthad pulled a flat device larger than Horti’s mobile phone from a small pouch and put it on the table. He touched it, and a hologram formed. He then fiddled with it to find what he wanted.

“We dealt with your cancer first. It is not a complex task. I am surprised your people found it. It was very early in its evolution. Most societies only a few thousand years ahead of yours can achieve the same result and prevent relapse. We gave you an adjunctive bio-mechanical immune system that most advanced species create. It works with your immune system and helps to keep it operating appropriately. Our immune systems are huge and complex machines and utilize considerable energy. You will eat more than previously.”

“Thank you, professor; I am amazed you could cure cancer and give me a new leg so fast. You also fixed my nasty scars!”

“We grew the leg for you in Vendaska, our capital on Dinnio Prime. We have a specialized facility there. We also grew skin to replace your scars. We replaced the skin while attaching your leg to your stump.”

“How did you know how long to make the leg and how much skin to make?” Asked Vivian.

“When you went into the medical assessment AI pod, it prepared all the specifications for what needed to be done by us. It did not know how to deal with the DNA, an unprecedented problem. We knew how you wished to change your appearance and what you wanted to look like but did not proceed as there was a conflict between your old and new DNA. We could see a conflict but not how the old DNA would modify your appearance over time. It will change you,” said Marthad. “We don’t know how. Until we understand how the system works, we won’t intervene. We are yet to discover if it is benign or malign.”