Read Online Hulk by Peter David - Free Book Online Page A

“We’ve been thinking a lot lately, in the lab, about memory and forgetting, about the role they play in living and dying. Death, you might say, is a kind of forgetting.”
    Betty glanced around the room. They seemed to be hanging on his words. Meanwhile, Bruce, warming to his topic, continued. “Each time a human cell replicates, it loses a little more DNA from the end of its chromosomes, eventually forgetting so much it forgets its function, its ability to cope with trauma, to continue to reproduce. Whereas life, life is the ability to retrieve and act on memory.” He moved slightly away from the podium, leaning against it on one elbow, looking very casual.
He’s so much more comfortable with science than people
, Betty sighed mentally, as Bruce said, “Now if our work succeeds, and our nanomeds begin to take over more and more of this process, you’ll have to ask is it
you
that’s alive, or is it the billions of artificial creatures inside you?”
    He paused. The interest from the men at the board table was palpable, and Betty could almost sense their next question:
When would it be ready? When would it be available to distribute to hospitals and doctors and think tanks so we can make a ton of money off it?
Bruce apparently sensed that, as well, for he drew a cautionary line in the sand.
    “For now, our nanomedical cures have been more deadly than the diseases they treat,” he admitted. “Maybe that’s because they remember their instructions too well. Perhaps, to stay in balance and alive, we must forget as much as we remember.”
    There was a pause. Then, from the darkness, one of the men said, “All right, doctors, thank you for your thoroughly professional update. We’ll be evaluating the data and giving our recommendations.”
    Betty stifled a laugh. Oh yes, their recommendations would be ever so helpful. Why, it might open up entirely new directions that never would have occurred to them in a million years. Or, at the very least, more trees would die in vain so the board members could expend paper upon their recommendations. But Bruce, unflappable as always, just nodded and said, “Thank you. We’d appreciate that.”
    Moments later they were in the hallway, and Betty was looking incredulously at him. “‘We’d appreciate that’?” she asked.
    Bruce just shrugged. “Why wouldn’t we?”
    “Bruce! They’ll have nothing of use to contribute! You know that. They’ll suggest things we tried six months ago. Their idea of advice is laughable.”
    “Very true,” Bruce replied. “But laughter is beneficial in a variety of ways, and anyone who provides the opportunity for others is to be appreciated.”
    She tried to have a comeback to that, but instead all she could do was chuckle when she saw the mock seriousness on his face. She bowed slightly and said, “I am dazzled by your intellect and insight.”
    “As well you should be,” he said gravely.
    “You coming back to the lab?”
    “In a few minutes. I want to go to my office, make a few calls. You go ahead, if you’re so inclined. Or perhaps you want to take the rest of the day off to recover from our—what is it again—”
    “Dog and po—”
    “Right, right, dog and pony show.” He looked askance. “So would I be the dog or the pony?”
    “The latter.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’ve always wanted a pony.”
    He opened his mouth, then closed it. He smiled in spite of himself, and then gestured in the general direction of his office as he started to back away. “I’ll . . . be making some calls. . . .”
    “I’ll be in the lab, blowing up frogs.”
    “Betty,” he said reprovingly.
    “I’m hoping to work my way up to blowing up other things. Like alligators.”
    Bruce stared at her appraisingly. “Okay, now. That was a joke, wasn’t it?”
    With a flounce of her hair, Betty said, “Drop by the lab and find out. You may want to bring your galoshes.”
    And as she walked away, she heard Bruce mutter behind her,