Victor sighed. He had just been worked three days straight - without sleep - on his experiment. But the darn thing just wouldn't work! His experiment was a follow-up to the recent discovery clarifying - though not entirely - how genes affected personality. It had been an inevitable discovery since two years previously, when the gene - twelve different chains of DNA more than half a foot long together- had been isolated and proven to contain all the information about someone's intelligence. It had been an astonishing discovery, one sending reverberations throughout the scientific world.
Victor's own work on megalomania had been given a major push by the new discovery, but he still was a few feet from finishing the marathon. Personality disorders, he discovered, were hereditary, but he had failed, so far, to figure out how. He knew that they were usually passed through the male - almost always, with severe cases - but he wasn't sure where the gene was, as the location changed from generation to generation, though it cycled back every four generation. It was dormant after the first cycle, though it could be activated by a certain enzyme if its location were found. Then he had a flash of insight, and went to his bed a happy man.
Three days later, he was on an island in the South Atlantic. After some minor larceny, he deposited the loot - one bone - in his lab, and flew to an island in the Mediteranean, where he interviewed and performed brain scans on a friend of his, a distant cousin with a famous name. This confirmed his suspicion, and he flew back to St. Louis, where he performed the most illegal act in the history of mankind, excepting perhaps genocides of one type or another.
Cloning had been perfected with animals, but had been illegal since a cloned monkey had mutated (with the help of disaffected scientists) into having superhuman intelligence. It managed to escape, went to India (where monkeys are common) and stole high-tech military equipment. After its ultimatum to the UN of a Basque homeland was rejected, it went on a rampage in downtown Madrid, killing eighty-five, and reducing much of the downtown area to rubble in the resulting shootout.
Now, for the first time ever, cloning was a reality. He took a dead stem cell from the bone, coaxed it to life, and let it divide. He took two others, from some dust on signs reading Secretary of the Treasury and War Hawks, and did the same. Soon, he had plenty of DNA to work with. As the embyro developed, Victor eliminated all cells that didn't turn out to be neurons. He implanted these cells nine months later into his brain and removed the ones they replaced. In one hand he held a modern pistol. In a flash of light, he disappeared.
Settings: the American Dream, 1.07 latest beta, VH/Furious
Goals: My goals are the goals of two of the men whose cells our friend Victor now has. He is or will be the third. Can anyone guess all three?
Victor's own work on megalomania had been given a major push by the new discovery, but he still was a few feet from finishing the marathon. Personality disorders, he discovered, were hereditary, but he had failed, so far, to figure out how. He knew that they were usually passed through the male - almost always, with severe cases - but he wasn't sure where the gene was, as the location changed from generation to generation, though it cycled back every four generation. It was dormant after the first cycle, though it could be activated by a certain enzyme if its location were found. Then he had a flash of insight, and went to his bed a happy man.
Three days later, he was on an island in the South Atlantic. After some minor larceny, he deposited the loot - one bone - in his lab, and flew to an island in the Mediteranean, where he interviewed and performed brain scans on a friend of his, a distant cousin with a famous name. This confirmed his suspicion, and he flew back to St. Louis, where he performed the most illegal act in the history of mankind, excepting perhaps genocides of one type or another.
Cloning had been perfected with animals, but had been illegal since a cloned monkey had mutated (with the help of disaffected scientists) into having superhuman intelligence. It managed to escape, went to India (where monkeys are common) and stole high-tech military equipment. After its ultimatum to the UN of a Basque homeland was rejected, it went on a rampage in downtown Madrid, killing eighty-five, and reducing much of the downtown area to rubble in the resulting shootout.
Now, for the first time ever, cloning was a reality. He took a dead stem cell from the bone, coaxed it to life, and let it divide. He took two others, from some dust on signs reading Secretary of the Treasury and War Hawks, and did the same. Soon, he had plenty of DNA to work with. As the embyro developed, Victor eliminated all cells that didn't turn out to be neurons. He implanted these cells nine months later into his brain and removed the ones they replaced. In one hand he held a modern pistol. In a flash of light, he disappeared.
Settings: the American Dream, 1.07 latest beta, VH/Furious
Goals: My goals are the goals of two of the men whose cells our friend Victor now has. He is or will be the third. Can anyone guess all three?
