Aldo

By Betty Jean Craige

Aldo is a mystery/thriller/love story in which a brilliant and dangerous ideologue attempts to eliminate a university’s genetics institute by holding the university’s president hostage. On the same day that Isabel Canto, associate director of Pembrook Atlantic University’s Institute for Genome Modification, discovers she is pregnant with IGM post-doc Frank Marks’s baby, Pembrook Atlantic University’s president Mary Ellen Mackin receives a letter from “Aldo” threatening harm if she does not dissolve the institute and fire its director. Isabel recommends that Mackin refuse and not allow a terrorist to dictate what her faculty and students can research and discover, but this advice unwittingly sets off a chain of events that will change many lives forever—including hers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Opal Books
• Release date: Mar 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781626947788

Book preview

Aldo is a mystery/thriller/love story in which a brilliant and dangerous ideologue attempts to eliminate a university’s genetics institute by holding the university’s president hostage.

On the same day that Isabel Canto, associate director of Pembrook Atlantic University’s Institute for Genome Modification, discovers she is pregnant with IGM post-doc Frank Marks’s baby, Pembrook Atlantic University’s president Mary Ellen Mackin receives a letter from Aldo threatening harm if she does not dissolve the institute and fire its director. Isabel recommends that Mackin refuse and not allow a terrorist to dictate what her faculty and students can research and discover, but this advice unwittingly sets off a chain of events that will change many lives forever--including hers.

KUDOS FOR ALDO

In Aldo by Betty Jean Craige, Isabel Canto, a genetic researcher at Pembrook Atlantic University discovers that she is pregnant. But marring her joy of the occasion is the threatening letter the president of the university gets that same day demanding that she shut down Isabel’s genetic research institute and fire its director, a Dr. Linus Winter. Isabel is horrified at this threat to freedom of discovery, research, and education and urges the president not to give into the terrorist. But she doesn’t realize that by giving this advice, she is starting a chain of events that will change a lot of lives, including hers. Craige tells a fascinating tale in Aldo--an intriguing and complex mystery, marvelous characters, some futuristic science, and a good deal of suspense make this a page turner you won’t want to put down. ~ Taylor Jones, The Review Team of Taylor Jones & Regan Murphy

Aldo by Betty Jean Craige is the story of a domestic terrorist who believes that violence and threats are the best way to settle ideological differences. The story begins in 2035, with a mother’s letter to her son, Lino. In the letter, she explains that she has written a novel that will tell her son the truth about his parentage and the events surrounding his birth. As we read the novel along with Lino, we are taken back to 2018 and the day that the mother Isabel discovers that she is pregnant with Lino, whose father is Isabel’s current boyfriend and lover, Frank, a post-doctorate researcher at the genome research institute where Isabel is an associate director. That same day, the president of the university where Isabel and Frank work receives a letter from a terrorist named Aldo. Aldo says the unless that president of the university shuts down the genome research institute and fires the director, Dr. Winter, Aldo will cause the president harm. She refuses to comply, mainly based on Isabel’s advice, and Aldo kidnaps her. But neither the faculty at the university or the terrorist are prepared for the reaction that this act of violence causes, and things quickly spiral out of control. Not only do copycats spring up, causing violence and destruction, but nothing goes according to plan for Aldo. Being a terrorist is a lot more complicated than Aldo realized. Aldo is both unique and refreshing, in both its voice and in the creative way Craige has structured the story in the form of a novel in a novel, so to speak. Blending mystery and intrigue with superb character development, action, suspense, and a hint of romance, Aldo will keep you on your toes all the way through. I couldn’t put it down. ~ Regan Murphy, The Review Team of Taylor Jones & Regan Murphy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am deeply indebted to Susan Tate and Margaret Anderson for reading the first draft of Aldo critically and thoughtfully. They listened to my ideas and gave me their ideas while I was writing Aldo, and they offered valuable suggestions when I thought I was finished. They understood what I was trying to do. How fortunate I am to have these dear friends try to make me a better novelist. Thank you, thank you, Susan and Margaret.

I also thank John Avise, once a professor of genetics at the University of Georgia and a friend of mine and now a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California at Irvine and still a friend, for inspiring me to think about genetic engineering years ago, for encouraging me to write this novel when I conceived it, and for reading the first draft.

I thank Branch Craige IV and Siobhan Moriarty Craige for answering questions I had regarding gene therapy.

Over nearly four decades as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Georgia, I was fortunate to have another great friend in genetics who left his mark on all my writing. I owe my present fascination with evolution to Wyatt Anderson, an evolutionary biologist and a wide-ranging thinker.

I thank Terry Kay, a novelist I have admired for many years, for urging me to write fiction after my retirement from the University of Georgia and for giving me confidence in my projects.

I continue to enjoy my relationship with Black Opal Books. I thank acquisitions editor Lauri Wellington for publishing the cozy mysteries in my Witherston Murder Mystery series--Downstream, Fairfield's Auction, and Dam Witherston--and for immediately giving me a contract for Aldo. And I thank Lauri's colleagues at Black Opal Books--especially copy editor Faith C. and artist Jack Jackson--for their excellent work on each book.

I thank Cosmo, my African Grey Parrot, for talking to me the whole time I wrote this book, the whole time.

aLDO

BETTY JEAN CRAIGE

A Black Opal Books Publication

Copyright © 2018 by Betty Jean Craige

Cover Design by Jackson Cover Designs

All cover art copyright © 2018

All Rights Reserved

EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-626947-78-8

EXCERPT

She was a scientist and a teacher. Why were people trying to kill her?

At eleven p.m., she awoke and checked her email. She found Linus’s acceptance of Frank’s resignation but nothing from Frank. She went to bed.

Shortly after two, the doorbell rang. Isabel threw on her bathrobe and switched on the outdoor lights before going downstairs. She looked through the peep hole and saw Officer Decker and his partner on her front steps. She opened the door.

I am sorry to awaken you, Dr. Canto, Robert Decker said. But you should know that police just caught a young man at your front door holding a pocket pistol. He was about to ring the bell. The officers arrested him for carrying a gun without a license and for trespassing.

His name is Rick Gorson, Decker’s partner said. Are you acquainted with him?

What? No! I don’t know anybody by that name. What happened? I didn’t hear anything. I was asleep.

Do you recognize this picture?

Decker showed her a photo he had taken on his phone.

No, I don’t. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him.

Decker pocketed his phone You can go back to bed now, Dr. Canto. The police are watching your house and Dr. Winter’s house.

Isabel went back to bed, but not to sleep.

ALDO

"...nature in the twenty-first century

will be a nature that we make."

~ Daniel Bodkin, Discordant Harmonies, 1990

May 30, 2035

To my dear son Lino:

You are sixteen years old now, querido Lino. I am so sorry we could not celebrate your birthday. You will forever remember May 30, 2035, as the day you delivered Papa’s eulogy. You were eloquent. You conveyed your deep love for him, your admiration for him, and your desire to continue his work. You must know that he was as proud of you as you were of him.

Hijo mío, I too loved Papa very much, but I cannot continue to keep the secret he and I kept for sixteen years. You are a man now, and you deserve to know who you are. During the last months of Papa’s illness, unbeknownst to him, I reconstructed the story as best I could from what I remembered, what I found in our files, and what I imagine to be the truth. I wrote the story as a novel, but you may read it as history.

Here is my manuscript. Please understand that I have no regrets. I am fortunate to have you and your darling sister Emilia.

With all my love,

Mamacita Isabel

PROLOGUE

August-September, 2018:

08-15-2018, 8:02 a.m.:

Good morning. I have been invited to join this Night Watch Facebook page. As instructed, I am accessing Night Watch on a used iPad mini 4 I found on craigslist for which I paid cash. I realize the importance of security and secrecy.

I too am concerned with what you call runaway technology. I am concerned about human germline genetic modification, that is, the editing of genes passed on to descendants. To modify the germline is to affect the nature of human beings for all the generations to come. It is to create a new species that will control the human species we know now.

It is to open Pandora’s box with no idea of what may fly out. No act in human history is more reckless.

I ask: How can we halt research and clinical trials in human germline genetic engineering before humans seize from nature the character of Homo sapiens?

I am looking for people who share my views.

~ AZA USA

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08-15-2018, 5:08 p.m.:

Welcome to Night Watch, AZA USA. Night Watch is an underground organization of forty-to-fifty individuals in nineteen countries (so far) opposed to de-personalizing scientific advances. We do not know each other, we would not recognize each other on the street, and we do not meet.

Yet we consider ourselves the engine of a movement to preserve the God-given character of humankind.

As individuals, we disrupt runaway technology quietly and secretly. We work locally. We risk arrest to do what we consider right and just. Several of our members have been imprisoned for doing what is right and just.

I too am troubled by the recent advances in germline genetic modification. It is not possible to restrict gene editing to responsible scientists. CRISPR-Cas9 technology makes gene editing so cheap and easy that smart college kids can do it.

Please remember to preserve your anonymity. The personal initials you use need not be your own. However, the three-letter country code you use does need to be your own.

Finally, do not reveal to anybody the existence of this Facebook page. Do not post pictures on this Facebook page. Do not establish any other Facebook account, and do not use this Facebook account for any purpose other than Night Watch. Do not reveal to anybody that you have joined this movement.

I hope you comprehend the importance of your anonymity to all of us.

~ DRC DEU

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08-16-2018, 6:40 p.m.:

I comprehend, DRC DEU.

~AZA USA

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08-16-2018, 9:51 a.m.:

Hello, AZA USA! I’d say the members of Night Watch all have different concerns. I joined because the government has invaded my privacy. People I don’t know are scrutinizing my blood, my DNA, my medical history, my web browsing, and my shopping habits. They are occupying my brain!

God save us from gene editing. Before long the government will dictate what my descendants look like and act like!

--LWG NLD

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08-15-2018, 11:37 p.m.:

Three years ago Chinese scientists used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to modify the genome of human embryos. And now in the United States RIM Reproductive Technologies is doing it. It’s twenty-first century eugenics.

~ PTN USA

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08-16-2018, 1:19 a.m.:

CRISPR-Cas9 technology enables scientists to modify the DNA in every living thing. Permanently. Imagine genetically modified wheat--well, that’s not hard to do since we already have GMO wheat--but also GMO grass, GMO bees, GMO fish, GMO cattle. The consequences? New GMO food chains.

Problem is: The substitution of one gene in a genome can trigger the expression of other genes in the genome. We humans don’t know all that we are doing when we modify food chains that have evolved over millennia. With genetic engineering we are destabilizing the planetary ecosystem.

~ TRT CAN

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08-16-2018, 7:58 a.m.:

I imagine a time when the United States gives foreign aid only to countries that accept their GMO crops.

~ IBE MEX

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08-16-2018, 10:03 p.m.:

What happens if an enemy modifies the DNA of a major food source for a large population and disrupts the food chain irreversibly?

~ RXP ESP

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08-16-2018, 11:51 p.m.:

Three years ago in the USA, genome editing was listed in the annual worldwide threat assessment report as a potential weapon of mass destruction.

~ FMD USA

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08-17-2018, 11:43 a.m.:

We are at a turning point in humanity’s history as consequential as the development of the atomic bomb. Was the development of the atomic bomb an act of scientific immorality? Yes, it was. The use of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 120,000 people instantly. Is the creation of Genetically Modified Humans an act of scientific immorality? Yes, it is. So we must act to stop it.

~ GLB ITA

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08-17-2018, 7:48 p.m.:

Here is a scenario from the near future: Gene editing for diseases is commonplace. A United Nations Committee on Human Population Health decides to eliminate certain hereditary disorders by germline genetic therapy. The committee requires every government in the world to genetically test all its citizens and identify the carriers of those hereditary disorders. The carriers must undergo gene editing or be prohibited from procreation. Unmodified carriers must be policed.

You can guess the consequences. The committee decides what constitutes a hereditary disorder. First, it targets Cystic Fibrosis, Hemophilia, and Huntington’s Disease. Then, in an effort to perfect the human species, it targets Sickle Cell Anemia and the genetic predisposition to different cancers. Then it targets what the committee considers imperfections, such as color-blindness, dwarfism, and gigantism.

Before long the committee is declaring what constitutes a perfect human being and outlawing the genetic transmission of imperfections.

Do you think I’m paranoid?

~ MON USA

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08-18-2018, 5:59 a.m.:

I don’t think you’re paranoid, MON USA.

~ LWG NLD

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08-18-2018, 11:59 a.m.:

I was arrested in the 2015 March against Monsanto in Sydney for supposedly being aggressive with my sign GMOs are killing our children.

~ PLC AUS

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08-18-2018, 3:39 p.m.:

I’ve been arrested twice. The first time for throwing a rock through a window of a Planned Parenthood office during a demonstration. I got ten days in jail. The second time for leaving a goat fetus on the steps of an abortion clinic. I was fined. After that I got an anonymous invitation to join Night Watch.

~ PAC USA

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08-19-2018, 9:55 p.m.:

The LeClair Foundation has just issued a Request for Proposals to study the genetic causes of dwarfism. Research into the dwarf gene will lead straight to elimination of the gene, and then its replacement with a gene for tallness. Just watch.

The LeClair Foundation sponsors science that affects humankind’s entire future. If genetic engineers change one gene in an individual’s reproductive cells, then they change the genome of all the individual’s descendants. Do genetic engineers envision no side effects of their therapy? If they make a mistake, do they simply apologize to the unborn before they die?

I thought of Nietzsche’s Parable of the Madman today: God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. The LeClair Foundation has killed God. It has assumed responsibility for the future.

~ DRC DEU

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08-23-2018, 7:59 p.m.:

Bon soir, DRC--et mes amis du Night Watch.

You think of Nietzsche. I think of Hitler. What would Hitler and his Nazi scientists have done with germline gene engineering? They would have engineered a superior race of humans with boldness, drive, high intelligence, and lack of empathy. They would have used gene engineering to control the rest of the world’s populations.

To give any one scientist the power to control the traits of yet-to-be-born humans is to give all scientists that power.

I tell you, Night Watchmen, the genie is about to escape from the bottle. We must act.

~ JFC FRA

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08-30-2018, 7:10 a.m.:

We must act, but thoughtfully and non-violently.

~ LJT CAN

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09-04-2018, 9:00 p.m.:

Fellow Night Watchmen: Medical scientists are deactivating the genes in pigs that make their organs unsuitable for transplantation into humans. Now we almighty humans can harvest the organs of pigs and other non-human animals to keep our precious selves alive. I find this immoral. Will scientists feel free to edit the genomes of any living thing for humans’ immediate benefit?

We humans are converting the whole biosphere into stuff that benefits us.

~ ALM IND

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09-05-2018, 7:31 a.m.:

We as individuals should obtain power within the system. We can then advance our cause with the power we’ve acquired. Without power we are just annoyances to those with power.

~ PTN USA

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09-07-2018, 1:48 p.m.:

See James 4:17: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Consider sabotage, fellow Night Watchers, sabotage of the laboratories that engineer fetuses.

~ PAC USA

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09-08-2018, 12:01 p.m.:

Yes to sabotage.

~ SMH EGY

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09-09-2018, 4:14 p.m.:

To PTN USA: You are right. We must act locally, but in ways we can be heard globally. Let us call the world’s attention to germline gene engineering, wherever we are, wherever we find it. That is how we build a movement, a movement that cannot be stopped.

I am eighty-two years old. My father, who was Jewish (married to my mother who was Christian), was transported to Treblinka in Poland in 1943 when I was seven years old. He was one of 72,500 Jews killed in the death camps.

Hitler advocated: Keep your blood pure and your honor holy. Gene engineering is a form of keeping a race’s blood pure.

That’s why I think of Hitler. That’s why I advocate action.

My mother took me to France, where she raised me with a hatred of the Nazis.

~ JFC FRA

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09-10-2018, 2:15 p.m.:

Are we simply leaves that float down the river of history? That’s what we are if we recognize a hazard and do not act.

~ PKO SWE

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09-18-2018, 8:09 p.m.:

Hello, Night Watchmen. I am with you. I agree that we must act, but non-violently.

In the internet age we can distribute information instantaneously. We need not destroy laboratories or kill researchers. We need only frighten the public. Let’s draw attention to the activities of genetic engineers and use public outrage to stop this hazardous science. The public will then force our legislators to pass laws prohibiting germline gene therapy.

Our weapon will be publicity.

~