Hector Cage actively scratched his nose, while Frost added:
– I’ll leave you my business card. Do not hurry. Think it over carefully.
– Sorry, – Hector interrupted, – Mr…
– Stephen.
– If such an offer had come a couple of years ago, I would have thought a thousand times. But under the current circumstances, such a vacancy creates too strong a contrast with my current job to think about anything. I agree.
– Glad to hear that. Oh, and I forgot to mention one more thing. If individuals of rare biological species are caught, you will be offered a job on a long-term basis. You will study or manage the progress of scientific work on the study of those individuals that will be at our disposal. And one last thing. How do you feel about greater depths?
– Excuse me? – Hector Cage said perplexedly, frowning his eyebrows.
– The expedition, that our company is planning, will take place near the ocean floor at a depth of about seven and a half to eight thousand meters.
– And do you have suitable equipment for this?
– Actually, we produced this device. There are no analogues. At least for now.
Cage thought even harder, and Frost had already finished his coffee by this time.
Gradually, a kind of thirst began to appear on Hector’s face. After some time he said:
– Where to sign?
Hearing these words, Frost burst into a wide smile. But as soon as that smile faded, he immediately spoke in a serious voice:
– Mr. Cage, I have one request for you.
– I’m listening.
– No one should know about my visit to you, as well as about this conversation. Is this possible?
– I don’t see a problem.
– I like it. And finally, so that you don’t get bored, I will leave one gift. Maybe you can come up with a few new theories.
Frost placed a piece of paper with the image on the coffee table and added:
– Take a look sometime. Thanks for the coffee. It was delicious. And I didn’t say this out of politeness.
They shook hands, after which Hector escorted his guest to the door.
Almost reaching the threshold, Frost turned around and asked:
– Mr. Cage, may I ask you one question?
Hector spread his arms.
– Why were you fired from your previous university with such success in science?
Hector felt a surge of energy. Now no bad memories could spoil his sharply increased enthusiasm. He straightened his back, put his hands in his pockets and answered in a confident tone:
– I knocked out eight teeth of a graduate student who was diving into my wife.
– I respect you – Frost said before leaving.
3. KAYLA FOX
In a lecture hall filled with students, with the lights off, the voice of thirty-five-year-old Kayla Fox, Doctor of Biological Sciences, sounded. She commented on the next image that came from the projector:
– Here is a sample of a human zygote – the result of the fusion of two different-sex gametes. In other words, this is what happens when you forget about contraception.
There was synchronized laughter in the lecture hall.
– In this image we can see how the tail of the sperm has already dissolved in the cytoplasm of the egg. The nuclei of both gametes of opposite-sex individuals begin the process of fusion, after which the diploid set of chromosomes is restored. Thus, in the cell of the future organism, the formation of genetic material occurs, half of which comes from the egg, and the other from the sperm. And so, from two haploid cells a diploid cell is formed with a full set of chromosomes, which are carriers of hereditary information. What questions will you have regarding this part?
– Miss Fox? – the voice of one of the students was heard.
– Yes?
– What happens if several sperm get into one egg? How will the nuclei behave then?
– Good question. The fact is that to penetrate the egg, it is not enough for the sperm to reach it. The egg is surrounded by a membrane that must dissolve so that sperm can penetrate. And here is the most interesting thing. For this shell to dissolve, the egg must be surrounded by at least three hundred million sperm, because only in this quantity can they secrete a sufficient amount of the enzyme hyaluronidase and protease, which will be able to dissolve the shell of the egg. And when the sperm penetrates inside, the membrane begins to thicken, which does not allow other sperm to penetrate inside.
The voice of a girl from the back row was heard in the hall:
– This is love. One and only for life.
There was laughter in the room, and the teacher involuntarily joined in.
– What kind of love is there? – objected the guy from the previous row. – She let him into her bungalow, and then locked the door. Darling, it’s called dictatorial matriarchy.
The laughter became stronger and died down only at the moment the bell rang.
Dr. Kayla Fox outlined an assignment that would need to be completed for the next class, after which the students began to disperse, emptying the lecture hall.
This was the last lesson. Kayla gathered all her study materials into her bag and hurried to the parking lot. As she walked down the stairs, she thought about the garish message she’d read on one of her students’ T-shirts. The caption read: «CHOCOLATE AND MILK MIX». Below the inscription was the face of a dark-skinned boy. Then Kayla remembered a joke. It was told in the morning by the presenter of one of the radio stations when he announced the rating of the most unfunny and ridiculous jokes. He literally said the following: «Why should scientists all over the world rack their brains trying to revive animals that have long been extinct? Isn’t it better to take a roundabout route? Take a motherfucker, cross it with an orthodontist, and you get a mastodon».
On the way back, Kayla stopped at a supermarket. Approaching the checkout, she stood in line behind a young married couple with a boy of about three years old. The child did not attract any attention to himself until he dropped the toy car from his hands. Kayla removed her hands from the cart to pick up the toy. While handing it over to the boy, she accidentally glanced at the cover of a popular science magazine that comes out every week. This issue was dedicated to modern genetic diseases, as well as pathologies that were previously unknown to medicine. Kayla began scrolling, her eyes scanning the article headlines. When it was her turn, Kayla placed all the goods on the checkout counter and continued to scan the pages while the cashier punched the barcodes. The magazine talked about the identification of new genetic diseases. In Melbourne doctors were faced with an unprecedented case. The fetus had to be cut out of the woman’s belly in the sixth month. The reason for this decision was the fact that the fetus had a visible tail. Something similar occurs in the early stages of pregnancy. But in this case, the tail not only did not disappear, but grew at a faster rate than the fetus itself. The doctors were especially shocked by the fact that, having terminated the pregnancy, they did not kill the fetus, and after removing it, certain sounds began to come from the mouth. And there were a lot of such articles.
– Will you take it?
Kayla asked without taking her eyes off page fourteen:
– What?
– Will