Read Online Days' End by Scott L Collins - Free Book Online Page A

there were no delays in the process once it was started. She was probably being overcautious, but from what she knew of Mr. Scario, it was likely the best way to handle things.
    “Call and have someone bring these down,” Nysa said, handing her list to Laura upon her return to the main lab. “Or up, whatever,” she added as nobody seemed to know where the supplies were stored. Certainly there were other floors containing additional provisions, she just hadn’t seen them. Chalk it up to Mr. Scario’s secrecy.
    A technician entered the room carrying a tray. He was an unremarkable young man, in his early thirties was Nysa’s guess. It was almost astonishing how plain he was, with no distinguishing characteristics at all to speak of. He quietly approached Nysa and set the tray down gently on the desk in front of her.
    “Your samples, Dr. Knight,” he said and quickly left the room.
    Nysa looked down into the tray. It contained fifteen to twenty swatches of cloth, each in its own bag. The cloth was white, or had been white at one time, and was very thinly worn. An odd sample for her, certainly not what she would expect if she were cloning an ancient species. Strange, though, that her sample would be on such old fabric. Maybe she would get her chance to clone Abraham Lincoln after all. “Que sera sera,” she thought. She wasn’t quite sure what she would get out of these pieces, but she was confident she would be able to extract enough DNA to form the complete strand required for cloning. While she searched through the swatches for the most promising pieces, the others in the lab meandered over to where she was sitting.
    “Cloning a person for sure,” announced Dr. Leyden as he sat down next to her and looked at the baggies.
    “How do you know that?” asked Laura.
    “I don’t know of any animals that wore clothes, do you?”
    “Um, no.” Laura turned away, obviously somewhat embarrassed by the condescending tone in his remark.
    “We’ll test it to be sure, but I believe you’re right, Doctor,” Nysa said flatly. She glared at him to ensure no further snide remarks. “Looks like we’re all here to clone the first human. Does anyone have a problem with that?” Nysa asked looking from one to the other. They all shook their heads. “Good. I’m going to the other labs to check with everyone else. I’d rather replace someone now than in the middle of the project when they find out what exactly we’re doing here.” Nysa could see the excitement in their eyes before she turned and walked briskly to the elevator.
    After visiting each of the labs to explain what the project probably was, she was surprised that not a single person had quit due to ethical or religious concerns over the cloning of a human being. While she wasn’t specifically opposed to human cloning, she knew it was a highly argued topic in the scientific community. Maybe Mr. Scario really was as good at selecting his employees as Mr. Stevens had indicated.
    “Well,” she thought, “at least there won’t be any delays while we replace personnel.” She hit the elevator button to return to the main lab.
    The rest of the day was dedicated to her primary reason for being there, the delicate task of separating the DNA from the cloth, chemicals, proteins, and other miscellaneous contaminates in the samples she had been provided. It was extremely tedious and nerve-wracking work, knowing that if she failed, not only would she lose her position, but the DNA might be forever lost.
    Her two assistants provided what help they could, however Nysa kept them at arms length, giving them only enough to do to keep them busy and out of her way. This was her big shot and she wasn’t going to blow it because one of her assistants caused irreparable damage to her work. The samples were proving to be extraordinarily difficult to work with, and the meager amounts of DNA she was able to locate were nearly impossible to isolate and remove.
    At the end of the day,