Chapter 5 chapter Five

same night Martha glanced at her husband and son at the table. VJ was concentrating on reading a book about crime, and didn't pay attention to the plate at all. She wanted to stop her mouth a few times, but seeing Victor's face had been sullen since returning home, she swallowed the words again. As if in response, VJ quickly put down the book and was about to put the dishes into the pea sink. When he got up, his sapphire-like cold eyes met Martha, and she immediately felt uncomfortable.Thank you for your dinner, VJ said mechanically. Martha listened to the sound of VJ's footsteps disappearing upstairs.Outside the glass window, chaotic clouds are flying, the wind is howling, snow and rain are falling.Martha shuddered, feeling worse than the weather.

Victor looked out the window, took a deep breath and said: I want to go out for a walk alone. at this time?Martha asked in surprise, don't you see the rain and snow outside, and the road is muddy?I guess you have something very distressing on your mind that you dare not speak of. Victor shrugged and sat back at the table, crossing his fingers and resting on his chin, and said: There is indeed some trouble. So glad my patient finally spoke up.Martha teased and put her hand tenderly on Victor's arm. He heard the movement upstairs, closed the door again, and then said softly to Martha: I want VJ to have another comprehensive examination of the nervous system, just like he did seven years ago when his IQ declined.

You know you're hiding something from me, Martha's voice is full of panic, what's wrong with VJ?Let him accept the X-ray exposure for no reason, and tell you, no way! Victor looked at Martha angrily, but her immutable expression made him feel guilty and looked away.Well, he threw in the towel, I'll tell you everything, the problem is I don't know where to start. Talk from the beginning.Martha couldn't wait.The matter about VJ has been kept secret for ten years since he implanted the NGF plasmid gene into the fertilized egg. He couldn't imagine whether she would forgive him after knowing the truth.

It's a long story, I'm afraid you won't believe it.To make it clear, it's best to go to my laboratory together. Martha hesitated, then agreed. Five minutes later, when Victor's car pulled out of the driveway, VJ looked out of the bedroom window, full of doubts. It is rare for parents to go out at the same time on a weeknight.He shrugged it off, there was nothing to worry about, he'd know soon enough. Hearing the phone rang for a while, VJ remembered that his parents had gone out, so he got up and walked across the hall to the study to pick up the phone. Ask Dr. Frank to answer the phone.The sound of the speech was very low, as if it was far away.

He is not at home, VJ replied politely, please leave a message? Are you his son? Um. It's better if you tell him personally that unless he reconsiders and is wiser, life will no longer be as it should be.Do you hear me? Who are you? VJ asked. That said, he knew it. Who are you? VJ felt a burst of fear, and the other party had hung up the phone. He slowly put down the microphone, and it was only then that he realized that he was the only one in the house.The air conditioner in the corner hissed, there was a dull metallic sound somewhere, and the wind and snow hit the windows.For the sake of safety, he went downstairs to check each door and window in turn, and he was relieved to be sure that they were all safe.He didn't go to the basement, he just locked the door.

He had been leading a double life for so long, with so much to keep from his mother, and it was a real test for him. VJ turned on the computer and inserted the Pacific Man game card. Martha followed Victor to his laboratory. The huge laboratory looks gloomy, with various workbenches along the walls, a complete set of high-precision testing instruments in the center, with different scales on them, and computers, test tubes and maze-like sockets beside them.There were several doors in the main laboratory, and Victor led Martha through one of them to the L-shaped room filled with anatomy.Martha was amazed to find herself standing at the edge of several huge feeding ponds, in which were kept dozens of strange-looking creatures that looked like snails but had no shells.

These are APLASIA [Note: English, hypoplasia. ], Victor tried his best to control his nervousness, and narrated in a rigorous tone, I have now removed their nerve centers. Martha saw that the little flat saucer he was carrying was full of clean fluid, with two pairs of tiny nets floating on it. Come over to the microscope. She bent down to focus on a set of eyepieces. The ganglion under the lens was in the shape of the letter H, and the expanded beams were like transparent pockets woven with marble patterns. Victor moves the camera and asks Martha to count the nerve cells.Martha complied.

Now look at another ganglion.The camera moved quickly and quickly stopped on the same H-shaped ganglion as before, Victor said, count again. The number of cells is twice as many as before.Completely correct!Victor stood upright proudly and walked up and down with excitement on his face, and Martha tensed up. Twelve years ago, I became very interested in the normal APLASIA neuron count.At that time, like others, I only knew that cells would undergo intense differentiation and increase in the early stages of embryonic development. Since the nervous system of APLASIA is relatively simpler than that of higher animals, I was able to isolate the protein that maintains normal development. I called it the driving force of neural development or nerve growth. factor, referred to as NGF.Can you understand?

able.Martha looked directly at her husband, and he looked completely different from just now. The attitude of a savior made people uncomfortable. Victor didn't notice her disgust at all, and continued: I use new genetic engineering technology to regenerate proteins and isolate effective genes, and the next step is the key step.I selected an APLASIA fertilized egg, carried out mutations in DNA, and then implanted growth hormone in the mutated nerve growth factor. Guess what the result is? Neurons that produce more ganglia. That's right, Viktor said passionately, but it's also important to be able to pass this trait on to future generations.I have done experiments and research on nerve cell proliferation on hundreds of mice.I also tried it on fifty dogs, six cows and one sheep, but I was afraid to experiment on monkeys. The plot of the old movie "Planet of the Apes" always flashes in my mind.He laughed.

Martha wasn't smiling, she couldn't laugh.She asked: What the hell are you going to tell me? Victor couldn't meet her eyes: Remember when we went to Genetic Engineering Ltd.?You provided very successful eggs, we got eight in total.I artificially fertilized your egg with my own sperm, you know that, but I brought the fertilized egg here without telling you. Martha staggered to the stool and sat down heavily. She couldn't bear to listen, but her reason told her that since he had spoken, no matter how terrible it was, she had to listen to it. Victor went on to say: I used DNA and the sixth pair of chromosomes to mutate, and then used microinjection to inject nerve growth factor, antiviral vector and appropriate amount of catalysts, including antibiotics commonly known as cephalosporins proposed from bacterial plasmid gene tissue. , and injected into the mutated chromosome.I let Mary.This is why Millman took Pioneer toxin during the second to eighth week of pregnancy, which stimulates the mutant gene to produce neurogrowth hormone.He paused to collect himself, and then said, It seemed like a good idea at the time, but then I knew it was wrong.So I lived in panic until VJ was born.

Martha finally heard the result, she was filled with grief and indignation, and her fists rained down on Victor.He tried to hug her, but Martha pushed him away and rushed out of the lab, followed by Victor. I'm sorry, Victor explained with a guilty conscience, believe me, you will never act rashly when you are not 100% sure, those animals have never had accidents.The allure of having a child of superior beauty was irresistible. His voice trailed off. I can't believe you did such a horrible thing!She berated loudly. In the past, researchers have often done human experiments.he argued. That's on them!Martha yelled, not the unborn child.Now you are thinking of asking VJ to do a comprehensive neurological examination again! Victor runs his hand hard through his thick hair: it's something to do with the Hopps and Murray kids. Don't tell me that their baby is also the product of your artificial insemination. Worse than that, Victor admitted, they were indeed IVF, and since I still had seven frozen fertilized eggs from both of us, and they were ideal for implantation, I provided two fertilized eggs. Are you saying those two children are mine?Martha was at a loss. our.Victor corrected her words.God!The sudden news made her stunned and unable to stand still, unable to recover for a long time. I didn't want to say that this is the end of the matter, and I want VJ to have a complete neurological examination to determine whether treatment is necessary. Martha asked sharply: What happened to the two children? They died of sudden hydrocephalus of unknown cause.They were injected with NGF like VJ. Martha was dizzy again, and the truth revealed by Victor deepened step by step, which made her feel more and more frightened. I need to get out of here!cried Martha, full of fear and sadness, all she wanted was to get home to VJ.In the elevator, she dodged around the corner, disgusted to touch his body for the first time. Along the way, Victor kept silent with great interest. When they got home, Martha was the first to insert the key into the back hall door, but it didn't open after pushing. They went around to the gate again, but they still couldn't open it after inserting the key, and there was no answer when they rang the doorbell. He started to worry like Martha when he heard VJ's clear voice asking who was outside. As soon as the door opened, Martha tried to hug VJ, but he dodged cleverly and asked, "Where did you go?" Your dad's lab.She replied, I can't see any changes in VJ, he is still so confident. VJ turns to his father: I answered a phone call and the person asked me to send you a message saying that things are going to get unpleasant unless you reconsider or be more sensible. Who is calling?man or woman? Not sure, sounds like a fake voice. Martha asked suspiciously: Victor, what is going on? For official business, he is evasive, so don't worry. She turned again to her son: You must have been intimidated, because we came back to find all the doors locked. Well, VJ admits, but then realizes that if they really want to come in, it's impossible to make this kind of call.After speaking, he turned his head and walked upstairs. son.Victor called out, and VJ hesitated before the first step.I want to tell you to go to Boston Children's Hospital for a physical examination tomorrow morning. I don't need a medical exam, VJ complained, I hate going to the hospital. That's it, Victor announced in an unquestionable tone, the discussion is over. VJ grinned with an angelic mouth, stared at his father, turned around and disappeared at the stairs without saying a word.Martha went to the kitchen and sat on the kettle.It would take her days to sort things out and make sense of what she had heard tonight.