Chapter 10
As they had left the city, they hadn't encountered anything of real difficulty. Apparently, the mention of the word quarantine had been ignored, altho they had been stopped when attempting to breach the cordon. The soldiers seemed to be looking for something in particular. When faced with a motorhome, they simply asked the occupants to exit the vehicle and stand in a line, and then they took a sniffer dog inside, returning a few moments later. As the dog handler exited the vehicle, he looked over at the commanding officer, and shook his head. His superior immediately addressed the vehicle's occupants, "Sorry for the delay, you may leave. Please leave the immediate area and do not return until the public media states it is safe. Thankyou." Without waiting for a response, he turned and went back to a small tent he had come from when they had arrived.
The behaviour of the soldiers had sparked much debate, but very little in the way of understanding, and so was quickly forgotten. As they drove, Robert and Dean took turns, and whilst Robert was driving, Dean began to ask Marcus and Theodore about the data, and they began to bring him up to speed, his biology background offering him understanding in places that Theodore and Marcus had as yet been lost. Robert overheard things they discussed, but it was clear that whilst he trusted them to do their thing, he wanted no part of it, and it wasn't long before Robert was doing all the driving so that Dean could lend a hand in interpretation.
It wasn't long before they had made some ample progress, partly because of the simple fact that they now had Marcus's tablet computer as well as the one he had given Theodore, and also, Dean possessed his own Laptop which proved useful in allowing them more flexibility in accessing the files and collating data among multiple files at once. The major help that Dean was able to offer was an understanding of the general processes and methods involved in average experiments, particularly those of a biological nature. On top of this was the obvious fact that he was able to take the confusing reports that were full of complicated scientific words and translate them roughly so that Marcus and Theodore could understand. Of course Dean's area of expertise was rather limited to biology, but he had much knowledge in this area. He failed to translate the experiments that contained heavy chemistry elements as well as the electronics ones that were beyond Marcus and Theodore, but the projects he did understand he proved invaluable in deciphering.
As they worked, they found mention of much genetic tampering. The experiment involving the rat had been examined again, and Dean explained that they were intentionally swapping genetic code, and using the effects to accelerate the understanding of DNA as a blueprint. He explained that they hoped to use the individual pieces of proven code to create a set of building blocks for future use. He also told them the rat was a very early project, and that it was highly likely that the project had been continued and evolved far past the point they could see, and with his understanding of scientific spreadsheets, he explained that one of the spreadsheets contained a list of approximately four hundred rats that had been experimented with, each given a percentage for how well the changes had been achieved. At the top, the percentages were near zero, and in the last few there was a consistency of ninety eight percent. He also read Theodore's summary for the mutated wheat, and told Theodore he had pretty much summed things up correctly. He went on to find other projects that involved biology, many many different projects involving the modification of DNA in micro-organisms. There were many different Drugs that were being developed as well, some for sedation, for reducing anxiety, for reductions of symptoms of disease and other medical issues, but he also stated that alongside these drugs they seemed to be researching how to achieve the opposite effect. As an example he chose to show them an anti-paracetamol as he called it. It was a tablet that could be taken but instead of reducing the feeling of pain, it created phantom pains all over the body, with excruciating intensity.
After he had gotten over his initial information overload, he got into a discussion with Theodore about the codes on the files, and between them they came to the conclusion that the fifth code was not in fact a notification of the level of clearance, it was actually a designation for the location of the experiment, which led them to conclude that there were in fact five buildings that they had been using, and with a new intent, Theodore set himself to finding where the buildings existed. These things all happened rather quickly, on the first night's drive. By the time the group had parked up and curled up into the myriad collection of sleeping arrangements the Van offered, the first glimmers of light were creeping over the horizon, and their journey was near completion.
The behaviour of the soldiers had sparked much debate, but very little in the way of understanding, and so was quickly forgotten. As they drove, Robert and Dean took turns, and whilst Robert was driving, Dean began to ask Marcus and Theodore about the data, and they began to bring him up to speed, his biology background offering him understanding in places that Theodore and Marcus had as yet been lost. Robert overheard things they discussed, but it was clear that whilst he trusted them to do their thing, he wanted no part of it, and it wasn't long before Robert was doing all the driving so that Dean could lend a hand in interpretation.
It wasn't long before they had made some ample progress, partly because of the simple fact that they now had Marcus's tablet computer as well as the one he had given Theodore, and also, Dean possessed his own Laptop which proved useful in allowing them more flexibility in accessing the files and collating data among multiple files at once. The major help that Dean was able to offer was an understanding of the general processes and methods involved in average experiments, particularly those of a biological nature. On top of this was the obvious fact that he was able to take the confusing reports that were full of complicated scientific words and translate them roughly so that Marcus and Theodore could understand. Of course Dean's area of expertise was rather limited to biology, but he had much knowledge in this area. He failed to translate the experiments that contained heavy chemistry elements as well as the electronics ones that were beyond Marcus and Theodore, but the projects he did understand he proved invaluable in deciphering.
As they worked, they found mention of much genetic tampering. The experiment involving the rat had been examined again, and Dean explained that they were intentionally swapping genetic code, and using the effects to accelerate the understanding of DNA as a blueprint. He explained that they hoped to use the individual pieces of proven code to create a set of building blocks for future use. He also told them the rat was a very early project, and that it was highly likely that the project had been continued and evolved far past the point they could see, and with his understanding of scientific spreadsheets, he explained that one of the spreadsheets contained a list of approximately four hundred rats that had been experimented with, each given a percentage for how well the changes had been achieved. At the top, the percentages were near zero, and in the last few there was a consistency of ninety eight percent. He also read Theodore's summary for the mutated wheat, and told Theodore he had pretty much summed things up correctly. He went on to find other projects that involved biology, many many different projects involving the modification of DNA in micro-organisms. There were many different Drugs that were being developed as well, some for sedation, for reducing anxiety, for reductions of symptoms of disease and other medical issues, but he also stated that alongside these drugs they seemed to be researching how to achieve the opposite effect. As an example he chose to show them an anti-paracetamol as he called it. It was a tablet that could be taken but instead of reducing the feeling of pain, it created phantom pains all over the body, with excruciating intensity.
After he had gotten over his initial information overload, he got into a discussion with Theodore about the codes on the files, and between them they came to the conclusion that the fifth code was not in fact a notification of the level of clearance, it was actually a designation for the location of the experiment, which led them to conclude that there were in fact five buildings that they had been using, and with a new intent, Theodore set himself to finding where the buildings existed. These things all happened rather quickly, on the first night's drive. By the time the group had parked up and curled up into the myriad collection of sleeping arrangements the Van offered, the first glimmers of light were creeping over the horizon, and their journey was near completion.