The Ancient DNA

By John Lamprakis

“And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom”
Plato

“Dorian Pericles, a very capable and inventive scientist in the field of Genetic Engineering, who held a dull and unsolicited position at the Biology and Genetics Research Foundation in Athens thought that he could lead a normal, boring life.

When he randomly discovered a very old handbook in the library of the Foundation, describing three experiments for the creation of new, fictitious organisms as a result of recombining DNA particles of two existing organisms, Pericles thought that maybe his colleagues wanted to have a lark with him.

When he finally managed to form Pegasus by recombining DNA parts of a horse and an eagle in utmost secrecy, and fly with him in the spring night sky above the Aegean, he thought he was having a dream.

And when he woke up –after Pegasus' wild and erratic flight– half-drown in deep seas, inside a huge dome full of light and air, looking at the gorgeous and vivacious Atlantis, he thought he was dead...”

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Lamprakis
• Release date: Jul 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311677594

John Lamprakis

John Labrakis was born in Volos, Magnesia, Greece in 1968. He graduated from the Department of Biology of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1993.Occasionally, he records his ideas and when he feels that they can form the basis for a structured novel with complex plot and constant twists, he proceeds to compose a complete writing.He lives and works in Athens and he is married with two sons.John's wife, Demeter, is an Archaeologist and inspired him to write the novel "The Ancient DNA"

Book preview

THE

ANCIENT

DNA

By John Lambrakis

Published by John Lambrakis at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 John Lambrakis

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of

the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial

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CHAPTER 1

Wonderful endless blue… Lying now, and as always, taking over three fifths of our Planet, is mistress sea. There were times when she was even bigger, but she chose to retreat to offer the variety of land to the imagery of a more exciting world. In other cases though, rebellious, fierce and levelling, she stifled coasts and lands and turned them into ghoulish sceneries.

Full of endless secrets. She hides them in her arms and awaits the most daring ones to discover them. But she often keeps them so well-guarded and covers them with folklores and legends and so, slowly with time they pass through the sphere of fantasy and fairytales.

And the sea awaits… For years, centuries, even millennia. You can tell when you see her lick the coast and move grains of sand which instantly give in to her foamy ends. The sea counts time on her own with her huge hourglass that is only owned by her. According to some very old fables, it is a very big shell that Sun, being in the middle of the sea, gave to her as a gift, at her inner depth, her greatest Ocean.

I have found myself very often in the middle of pelagus. There the sea looks the same wherever you stare. Flirting with the sky within the blurred line of the horizon… and you think that you exist within a giant blue dome.

At sometime, I find myself in her arms again. My face is warm from the sun, while continuous cool breezes bring me some relief. I was now ready to jump from the small boat when I suddenly heard a strange yell… I raised my head and looked around. Nothing. Although my heart beat was rising in reflex, I felt calm because I knew how common it is to have illusions in situations like that, situations where quietness and soft repetitive sounds prevail.

Having finished with the preparation of my equipment, I was ready to discover the beauty of the seabed. I put my mask on and dove, shaking the surface fiercely and crossing the light waves turning them into bubbles and foam.

I started moving towards the bottom slowly. My surroundings had changed completely and I had to adjust to it. The bright blue water near the surface is gradually replaced by other streams whose colour brings fear to those who are ignorant, while it fills experienced divers with greater peacefulness.

The sounds are nothing like the ones you hear in the open air. Muted and muffled, mixed with the breaths and breaking bubbles. Within all these erratic background sounds, a yell that I thought I heard before I dove passed through my mind again. It was like… Like a call… like a creature… that broke the silence loudly.

I banished these thoughts quickly because it was easy for them to grow gigantic in my head and draw dreadful images. All the shadows and the stirrings of nature in the liquid world could be perceived as threats and dangers. Besides, all the beauty that unfolded before my eyes should not be diluted by unpleasant influences of my fantasy.

I began to enjoy the liquid nature with all my senses, by playing, spinning around, swimming backwards and relaxing from time to time with my eyes closed letting this blue highlight penetrate my eyelids.

Corals of different colours grouped in teams form peculiar cultural miniatures. Red and yellow small fish, with distinctive colourful lines, come and go in and out of the holes where they leave their coral corpus. Other bigger fish compete in beauty and colour combinations within their coral environment, staying still for every kind of comparison.

But life was never restricted to certain forms, regardless of their beauty. So, ignoring the ability to swim and the advanced freedom, the vermillion starfish kept directing the moves of its arms haughtily, to finally stand on a top of an underwater summit. As a primordial and ancient symbol, it will stand there until late at night in order to attend the meeting of the stars.

Next to the barnacles, in front of the black rock edge, a crab raises its claws and moves laterally towards the larger intruder. The octopus behaves in the same manner. Having noticed the incomparable beauty of its society with its vision -which is developed at a level same as the human vision-, will not be willing to release its ink.

I keep moving, hypnotized by the imagery. It is now the turn of seaweeds to pick their colours from the palette of the rainbow that crosses the overlay water mass everyday to reach and lightly paint the bottom of the sea. Green or maroon in the case of the most conservative ones, they take pride in the crimson or purple shades of other seaweeds that lie among them. They move their branches perpetually following the currents and they either approach the orange sea anemones fibres or flee away, leaving the small seahorse watching dazed.

Behind me, although in distance now, is the coral society which resembles an ancient palace. With a little bit of good will and a blink one could definitely see rituals and festive parades taking place in the presence of large crowds of people.

I turned to the front again and although I had not managed to draw the new picture that unfolded before me, something extraordinary happened. A silver background of thousands of fish shone in front of me and blinded me. Thousands of sparkling silver glimmers violently irritate my pupils and make me either look sideways or raise my hand to protect myself.

In this huge shoal and with a terrified look, I suddenly saw something that surprised me even more. A snow-white ancient column standing stately with its majestic capital. Sparkling and shimmering with infinite architectural beauty.

I found myself revolving in a daze. Everything around me was silver, full of light and the snow-white colour of the column blinded me even more. I moved towards the column with my hands extended to the front. Luckily I moved this way, otherwise I would have been blinded by this new spectacle. What I faced was exquisite.

My surprise had reached a pick and the feelings that inundated me were hard to put into words. Behind the massive rock that was standing erected before me and next to the column laid a magnificent golden statue of an ancient Greek God.

The golden rays dissipated the platinum twinkles of the column and came fiercely into my eyes reflecting the outline of the fine statue. Languid, full of appreciation and awe, I watched my hands extend forwards almost inadvertently, trying to touch the perfection of the statue. My eyes had started to hurt and I was within reach of the statue.

That was the big moment. I closed my eyes hard and felt relief. However, the golden image kept dominating my mind as I felt that my memory was empty and the only thing I could remember was that image. I even imagined that my hands were on the column and the sense of that precious metal filled me with waves of shivering. Vision should not be absent. I opened my eyes impatiently and full of willingness to visually realize this embrace with the perfect proportions of the statue.

-Damn it… Damn…

Silence spread for a while. Pericles, lying on his back and bewildered by this devastating return to reality, rubbed his eyes angrily. But he didn't manage to do anything more than see the ceiling of his room more clearly.

-Damn… he said again and shook the quilts violently leaving them aside. He looked at the first traitor of the dream. The clock said 6:00 am. Then it was his coffee machine, his bathroom, the bag where he kept his work documents… So sad. Back to his routine. He got ready at his own pace. Besides, he had woken up a lot earlier than he used to.

He ensconced back in his bed, all dressed up by then, with a cup of coffee in his hands. Thoughtfully and with his eyes -unintentionally- staring at his bookcase and his degrees, he tried to contemplate the magic dream he had seen only a while ago.

Pericles had graduated from the Department of Physics and Biology of the University of Athens. He had attended a Masters course in Genetics in England for two years and all of his professors had realized that he was a bright and promising scientist. His imagination, his ability to capture unprecedented ideas and unexpected solutions characterized him. He was the most suitable person to bring about big steps in the Science of Genetics and give it the necessary charm it deserves.

But sometimes life cuts your wings and brings you down abruptly. Pericles' bright development had led him to a position at the Biology Research Foundation. A brilliant foundation with unlimited possibilities and vast equipment, yet an unsolicited position, almost stupefying since the monotonous routine it induced was present and levelling on every aspect.

Now Pericles, bringing back to his memory scenes from the dream, starting mumbling, speaking his thoughts out.

-Ok, I've learned my lesson. But I've seen so many similar dreams with statues. It doesn't make sense… I will stop… I'll pick Aquatic Biology and Oceanography. I'll stop diving at summer. After all, I'm no Cousteau. The world won't miss a brilliant underwater explorer. Let alone the fact that the other day I didn't follow the diving protocol and drank so much water…

He stopped talking again. Mirrored in his eyes now were doubt and the sense of an alternative solution. He clenched his lips and brought one hand to his face hiding his mouth.

-What if… Do these dreams mean that we are about to discover something next year? I'm just saying maybe… We're going to hit the newspaper headlines with my colleagues… and then I will immediately climb my way to success and the ladder of hierarchy in the Foundation.

On than morning of September, the sky flashed and thundered and the first raindrops began their crazy dance. Pericles 'woke up' from his deep thoughts and reflections due to the sudden change of weather, but also from the last thought of the Foundation.

He looked at his clock and felt the first damper as he was already half an hour late. He grabbed his things in a hurry and rushed out to the streets. Gray Athens was dripping water everywhere and the wet figures of people where running to the beat of the rain.

Pericles managed to hop on a jammed bus. He was pleased though that he managed to get on that at least and he wouldn't be more late to work. He propped his eyes open at the raindrops and avoided to admire the Acropolis and the Ancient Monuments, as he usually did every morning. As raindrops stopped falling, the bus stopped too and Pericles had reached his destination.

CHAPTER 2

Pericles strode quickly on the paved road in front of the gate of the Biology Research Foundation. He climbed the five semicircular steps before the entrance like a juggler, straightened his clothes, fixed his hair quickly and entered the building.

In the main salon of the Foundation, there was excessive traffic. Untidy desks with packs of leaflets, doors opening and closing and half-crazy scientists with messed hair coming and going, elegant secretaries walking fast… The big autumn conference of the Foundation was about to take place in a few days. It would always attract prominent scientists from the field of Biology, both Greek and foreign, who made their announcements.

This conference was one that people were especially waiting for with great interest because the topics discussed in the scientific announcements would literally shock the world. They dealt -as is always the case- with two big science dilemmas: at what level should science intervene to human nature and in what way its accomplishments should be used by humans.

Pericles had reached the Genetics division when he was ready to open the door to his small office, next to the lab. The pleasant perfume he smelled immediately made him rise his head and look behind him. The beautiful exuberant secretary of the Head of the Department smiled at him and said:

-Mr Dorian, I'm afraid that the Head wants to see you in person.

-Why are you afraid my lady? The old geezer must be angry again… What a nutcase…

-Mr Dorian, don't say anything… I didn't hear a thing… only, please go immediately otherwise I will find myself in a more difficult position than yours. Have a nice day.

-Have a nice day…, said Pericles and watched the secretary walk away stumbling every now and then because of the high heels she was wearing. Who knows where my mind was not having heard those heels earlier, thought Pericles and moved to his Head's office. After a while, he would knock on the big oak door of his office.

-Come in!!! A strict loud voice was heard from inside.

Pericles opened the door carefully, while the Head's angry eyes were watching him behind a pair of small round glasses.

-Mister Dorian… Mister Dorian, he shouted.

-Yes… Mr… Tribas…

-Silence!!! What time is it? You picked the right day to oversleep! Eventually, it looks like I'm dealing with a completely irresponsible and incapable person!!! Who will prepare the announcements? Me? You have nothing to say, eh?

-You are right, said Pericles in a condescending way.

-I know I'm right, shouted Tribas slamming his hand on the desk.

And then, there was silence for a few seconds. Mr Tribas clenched his lips asked Pericles in disbelief, hoping for a negative answer.

-Did you read the journals of the Pasteur Institute, the British Association for Biology and the German Academy?

-Of course, Mr Tribas. I have also looked into other resources like…

-So, I'm telling you young man that the American journal arrived today. When are you planning to read that? Maybe after the conference?

-But you said that…

-You won't remind me what I said. Now go read the journal and prepare the announcement.

-Yes, Mr Tribas, said Pericles and turned around to go.

-Oh, and… Mr Dorian, I will have to assign you with another task. You are aware of the old lab. It has been locked for many years but keeping it clean is your responsibility. Please act accordingly and with great care because there are important and very old writings in that lab. I mean that at least you will overlook the cleaners.

Pericles nodded and shut the door on his way out.

-There are some very important and very old writings there, Pericles repeated the Head's sayings in a sarcastic way.

-Yes, I think I've seen some of the Homo Sapiens' complete writings. This is what I should have told him, thought Pericles and left laughing.

The truth is that he had only visited that old lab twice. Science developments brought about the need to relocate the lab to a more contemporary room, where the equipment used in all modern techniques would fit. And so, the old lab was gradually abandoned and it now looked more like a warehouse. There was dust everywhere and spider webs at the corners of the furniture and the walls. On the walls hanging where several atlases showing cell forms, human organs and embryos, chemical compounds that participate in biological phenomena…

On the shelves, there were many objects that might seemed horrifying to those who have no involvement in Medicine and Biology. Small jars with webs and embryos from different animals and at various stages, dipped in alcohol or formalin in order to be preserved. Chemical bottles of various shapes, with blue, green and red liquid at the bottom and large thin tubes connecting them. There were also some woodcut models depicting cells, skeletons, as well as the DNA particle.

The DNA is present in every live organism on the Planet, in animals and plants. Indeed, it exists in every individual cell. If we take a cell, from human skin for example, and isolate its DNA, then this DNA alone exists in all human cells whether they belong to their heart, their eyes or any other part of their body.

As is also known, in the DNA there is information as to the way an organism is formed. This means that in the human skin DNA of the previous example, there is information about the whole human body as well as all the cells rather than only about that specific skin cell. So, theoretically, using a small part of someone's skin, we could create a new person that will look exactly like them. This amazing particle could be seen as the informer and commander, the chief engineer of life.

Pericles reached the door of the old lab. He unlocked the old lock with difficulty. He was welcomed by a cloud of dust and a strong musty smell of stale air.

-Oh my…! It is worse than I remembered, he said and closed the door without second thought. He would send the cleaners first to vent the room for a while and then he would come to help as well. Besides, reading the American journal was more urgent. So, after he dropped by the cleaners and informed them, he went back to his office.

He opened the door, took the journal in his hands -it had been thrown on the floor- and was almost immediately captured by its topic. He read carefully:

"Dear colleagues, as we all know, human willingness to enhance species and organisms that are related either to feeding or other actions performed by humans has very old roots. So, long ago, humans made joints between two individuals with different but desirable properties, resulting in individuals, descendants, with these desirable properties of both parents.

Throughout centuries, but especially during the last years, this field has offered beautiful and strong horses, animal husbandry providing more milk in production and much better quality meat, as well as an infinite number of examples of improved vegetables, cereal and fruit.

In all these cases, what happened is relatively simple, based on our current knowledge. A cow's DNA, for example, whose meat is tasty and soft, but which does not provide a lot of milk, would be combined with the DNA of a different individual that outbalanced what the first lacked, for example milk.

That was also what nature indicated. Meaning, the natural blending of DNA between two individuals through reproduction. The only human intervention would be the choice of suitable individuals for this crossing.

But we are all aware of the development that followed later and which has now become a routine in most Genetic laboratories. Of course, it concerns microsurgery in DNA. This means that we cut a piece of the cow DNA that is responsible for the particular property of producing a lot of milk.

Then, we take the cow DNA with the tasty and soft meat, we cut it at the exact spot where is says that this cow will not produce a lot of milk and we add the DNA part we took from the previous cow. Through this procedure, we come up with a DNA that carried the instructions for good meat and a lot of milk and which can provide an individual with these two properties.

The reason that led us to that is that during natural crossing of the two individuals it was up to luck whether the new individual would have this 'perfect' DNA.

But, what we will be focusing on in this article is not cutting and pasting DNA, as Dr Herbs from Yell University says, but the creation of new similar beings. That is right, dear colleagues. What we knew until today as only having been applied to animals, now seems to have found mature conditions for human application. Imagine a world with ten Einsteins! Wouldn't that be a miracle?"

-Yes, but what about a world with ten Tribas. Wouldn't that be horrible?, said Pericles to himself and put his pen between the pages to keep track of the page and threw in on his desk.

That is when the telephone rang.

-Hello…

-I would like to speak to Mr Dorian, please, said a woman voice.

-Hi Eliza, it's me.

-Oh, I didn't recognize you Pericles. How is it going there?

-Fine, I would say… He shouted at me today again, but… the usual stuff. You tell me. How is it going there?

-It's ok. Today we had an introduction by the professor of Studies in Archaeology. He talked about the chryselephantine statue of Athena and…

-Please… please don't tell me… With all the descriptions you make when we are together, all these Ancient sculptures have become an obsession…

-Do you mean I'm tiring?

-Don't be mad. I just keep having this kind of dreams all the time… and to tell you the truth, you are tiring…

-I see. You're teasing me again…

-You want it, don't you? You are beautiful like a Goddess…

-Come on… stop it…

-These proportions, red hair, sexy…

-I'll hang up… Anyway, we'll talk tonight at your place, when I return.

-Eliza, do you know that there could be another ten women like you? I mean with modern Genetics… You know… Was that a blunder?

-I'll see you tonight, honey…

Pericles felt nice and stretched for a little while over his chair, putting both his hands behind his head. However sweet his thoughts though, he got cracking, took the magazine in his hands and continued to read:

Wouldn't that be a miracle?! Of course, the ethics of such an attempt can be questioned. The truth is though that using one DNA particle, we can create as many similar individuals as we want, since we know already that this DNA is capable to provide a similar DNA particle on its own. That could create another one… and so on. Many experiments have been conducted and the success of modern techniques is undeniable. Since the first experiment that resulted in the creation of five indistinguishable sheep until today, we have made big steps…

Knock. Knock. A hesitant knock on the door.

-Mr Pericles…

-Yes, Maria come in…

-We cleaned the old lab as you said. Only, we didn't touch the bookcase…

-That's fine, Maria. I will handle it. Is the smell any better in there?

-It's fine now, Mr Pericles.

-Thank you, Maria. Thank you.

With a few quick glances, Pericles realized that the American journal included the same information as other journals, so he didn't read it all. Besides, the announcement Tribas would make only concerned the first part of the article, the one with the deduction and addition of pieces of DNA to a bigger DNA particle. He put it aside, took the key Maria had left on his desk and having put his lab coat on, he left to go to the old lab and finish with this pending task.

CHAPTER 3

The old heavy chandelier in the lab lit and filled the space with a light yellow colour. Although the cleaners had vented the space, the atmosphere was still suffocating but he could certainly tolerate it. Pericles walked for a few metres and stood in front of the old bookcase which was placed against the wall, opposite the entrance door.

It was 4 to 5 metres long and almost 4 metres high, as high as the high-ceilinged room. Right in the middle and across the whole piece of furniture, there was a narrow wooden balcony that provided access to the upper top shelves. A particularly quaint wooden staircase led to that balcony. The whole construction was made of black ebony wood and only some category labels that had remained gave a weak and sluggish metallic tinge to the whole image.

-I will only polish these a little bit and let Tribas say, said Pericles and added: in order for this bookcase to be dusted, I need a month at least… old coot…

He grabbed a duster and started rubbing the labels softly. What he did was more pottering, rather than working. It was natural since all those old books engendered his interest more and more. They were not colourful like his books, but that is exactly what made them more timelessly charming.

At the bottom part of the bookcase there were 3-4 encyclopaedias of multiple volumes and a number of volumes and writings on plants and animals. Under every category label Pericles cleaned, he tried to discover the relevant books. His interest had become much more intense and he had now started making thoughts as to when he would have the time to take a look at all this legacy of knowledge. He wanted to understand the way scientists thought in the past, as well as their techniques.

He wondered how come he didn't think about it earlier. He started climbing the small staircase to take a look at the top shelves. The staircase began to creak with the less than 90 kilos weight of Pericles, but he continued regardless of that. What troubled him a little was his 190 centimetres height because his hair was almost touching the dusty roof.

At the upper part of the bookcase, those books were more related to biology. While dusting the labels, Pericles discovered volumes on Cytology, Biochemistry, Genetics… He stopped polishing for a while. He was puzzled. He spend a few seconds still and then started rubbing the last label that caught his curiosity harder. That label, which corresponded to the last top left shelf, did not state a general category. It stated a name. Pericles struggled to read the indistinct writing. Doctor Ery

-This doctor sounds like a shampoo, he said smiling.

The next moment, a plank creaked and Pericles lost his balance. He tried to hold on with both hands from a horizontal shelf above the Doctor's label. Luckily, the shelves had a wooden cut at the bottom towards the edge and Pericles managed to cling to that. But the agitation of the shelf caused a handbook to snap off the bottom part. Its size was not bigger than a notebook.

Pericles pulled it out carefully and over the volumes that hid it. It was faded and full of dust. He blew hard on the surface and then tried to read the title:

Doctor Ery's last experiments

He opened the cover carefully and turned over some of the