Quantonix Researchers Reg., however, were following an approach that was different, and as far as Kieran knew, unique. Using a package of results purchased from an earlier outfit that had gone defunct, their process took advantage of the information implicit in an organism’s DNA as a shortcut to directing most of its structural assembly. Hence, in a way that seemed paradoxical to some, they could reconstitute a biological object, but because there were no convenient instruction sets that implicitly defined how it should go together, they couldn’t apply the process (yet?) to an inanimate one. Over the preceding months, Quantonix had announced successful trials with a progression of unicells, mosses, plant parts, invertebrates, insects, duplicated rats that could still run mazes that the originals had learned, and a chimp that retained its repertoire of acquired skills. The obvious next step was to do it with a human, and the buzz going around the circles of those who kept close to the subject was not about “if” but “when” it would happen. From what June was saying the experiment had been conducted successfully using Dr. Leo Sarda, whom Kieran knew to be the principal scientist on the TX Project and effectively the developer of the technology.
As was often the case with sunsiders, Quantonix hadn’t attempted to keep its work a close secret. The idea, after all, was to attract potential buyers who possessed the resources to develop a marketable product, and having a number of competing prospects in the know as to what was going on both shortened the timescale and raised the likely price of an eventual deal. At the same time, the object was not to become a feature of the general mass-media circus, which reveled in sensationalizing the wild and preposterous and usually represented a fast way to getting a far-out but genuine claim discounted by association. The usual course, therefore, was to spread the word quietly, through channels known to be reliable to specialized interest markets, selected influential individuals, and relevant departments of the serious scientific journals.
That was where people like June came in. A huge amount of space existed out there—the toroidal volume of the Belt alone was a trillion times that of the sphere bounded by the Moon’s orbit around Earth, with ten billion asteroids over a hundred miles in diameter—and nobody could keep abreast of everything that was going on. But she had particular areas that she followed and a healthy list of clients who benefitted from the leads, referrals, and inside information that she was able to provide. As is so true with many facets of life, buying knowledge was a lot cheaper than paying—one way or another—for ignorance.
Seeing that Kieran was still absorbing the news, June commented, “He’d been working along similar lines on Earth, but it was all too tied up by restrictions and regulations. You know what it’s like there: everyone meddling and lobbying to prevent just about anyone else from doing anything.”
“Hm. I take it that when this gets out, our friend Leo can expect to be a wealthy man,” Kieran said finally. “Instant celebrity, in addition to whatever’s in it for him from his deal with Quantonix.” He sipped his wine. “I assume they’ve already got a principal lined up?” He meant a potential buyer who had been waiting for a conclusive demonstration.
June nodded. “They had technical and financial people all over the place yesterday. That’s why it was so hectic.”
“Who is it?” Kieran asked curiously.
“Three Cs. They should have the deal tied up in the next day or two.” It was one of the names that Kieran had expected. Three Cs was the popular term for Consolidated Communications Corporation, one of the major trans-system carriers. It wasn’t something that June would have disclosed to anyone, but she and Kieran had known each other too long for melodramatics.
“Well, I suppose they’d want to be sure of all those test results before they sign any big checks.” Kieran drank and thought some more. His face creased into a parody of a smile as a macabre thought struck him. “It would be a bit unfortunate if Leo gurgled and fell over now, though, wouldn’t it? So what happens when they’ve got their people-transmitters up and running, do you think? Will they want payment strictly in advance, just in case?”