Free Asterion by Kenneth Morvant Page A

today,”
    Christine smiles, “Well, I’m just thinking it through,”
    “Okay, okay. Trent, let’s look over the logs again and make sure that we account for anything that might explain the minor anomalies. We may need to tweak our processes in the future.”
    Trent nodded. “I’ll get on it right away. At least it is something to do rather than just watch the bread rise in the oven.” They laughed and returned to their routine.
    After Trent walks off, Taylor turns to Christine. “There has been too many weird things going on and it hard to know who to trust. You are the only one I trust implicitly and I need you to analyze the DNA of Asterion against the planned model.” Christine nods in agreement and leaves to start her work. Taylor, left alone, sitting at the lab table wonders if the project was compromised it in some way.
    Milar’s familiar voice interrupts his thoughts. “You look lost in a familiar place.”
    Taylor looks up. “Just thinking about what I need to do next.”
    “Well, don’t worry, things are going well and no security compromises have been found.”
    “Great,” Alone again, Taylor wonders why she would have just mentioned security issues unexpectedly. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid,” he tells himself, but he knows it’s easy for the bureaucracy to be deceptive.
    Taylor notices that security details are examining every nook and cranny of the facility and that tells him that there will be a visit by Burnsom in their near future. He knows now that the pressure will be on him to deliver on this project. Then he realizes that it will bring unwanted scrutiny on their personal lives. He keeps quiet for now.
    Trent interrupts Taylor’s train of thought. “I found some code that allows for substitution of material in the DNA matrix when other material was not available or in short supply or if the AutoDNA could not utilize a particular material.”
    How did that get in there? It is not in the design document.”
    “It’s common to code for substitutions in the error handling sections of a program. Maybe we missed something in those sections?”
    Taylor, with doubt in his voice, “I’m sure we both covered that and barcoding our materials would cover accidental substitutions. What are we dealing with in the incubation chamber?”
    “Good question. We will have to wait until Asterion is large enough to get a DNA sample without harming him.”
    “Yes, but I hate waiting.”
    With that, Trent moves back to his analysis of the system logs. Taylor goes to where Christine is working and informs her of Trent’s findings.
    Christine asked, “How could that have gotten by us? We double and triple checked everything, even analyzing the materials for confirmation before use.”
    “Well, that would probably account for the anomalies in Asterion. However, normal genetic mutations and defects could also account for some of them. We are just going to have to wait until we can analyze him further.”
    “I hate the waiting game.”
    Taylor laughs, “Don’t we all!”
    Taylor pours over their results trying to merge them and gain some insight into what happened. In the back of his mind, he is thinking about Burnsom’s probable visit to the facility. Will he present the future to him or a bowl of mush? He will have the weigh the prospects of whether Asterion lives or it dies. If the anomalies are not significant then there are no real issues, but he would have to be careful as to how he made his decision.
    His latest scan of Asterion shows greater brain development than expected, but no new anomalies. Those already there are still developing. No data from previous experiments is available to make any assessment about the size of his brain. Scans show normal fetal activity. They are no abnormal growths and bone scans showed that everything looked functional. He notes that the fingers near the tips looked similar to feline retractable claws without the fur. It dawned on him that he never thought