Free The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby Page A

see the formerly extinct creatures. In theory, it was pretty cool. Who wouldn’t want to see real-live dinosaurs up close? But in the movie, the dinosaurs escaped from their enclosures and ran wild, attacking the scientists and totally destroying the park. The lesson was that dinosaurs were extinct for a reason. Except, of course, not everyone got the message.
    Dad had told me that some Russian scientists had dreamed of creating a park with live mammoths to help the local economy in Siberia. It was a way the scientists could bring tourists to the area, even though I couldn’t imagine the icy tundra being a popular vacation spot.
    That must have been why Katsu was after the mammoth’s genetic code.
    “He wants to make mammoths,” I said.
    “You mean bring back mammoths, for real? That’s crazy.” Kyle leaned forward and fingered a miniature beast.
    “Is it really that crazy?” I asked.
    With genetic material, Katsu could clone a mammoth. From the look of this model park, Randal wanted to bringback the mammoth. This miniature scene wasn’t the past. It was the future.
    “That’s impossible.” Kyle’s brow creased. “It would mean some
serious
science.”
    “Katsu was talking about DNA on the phone with someone. It sounded like he had already gotten a lab ready. People are waiting for him to return from this trip. My dad once told me that scientists have been trying for years to gather enough viable DNA to clone a mammoth.”
    “So it
could
happen? He could really do it?”
    “I guess he could,” I said. “I can’t really imagine a park full of mammoths. But look at this model. Randal has a lot of money. And with his money—and his ambition—it sure looks like he plans on trying.”
    Kyle picked up one of the miniature mammoths. Whoever built the model had created whole herds, including adults and their young. The snowy wonderland was also covered in caribou and polar bears. It was beautiful, but it looked eerie, hemmed in by fences and viewing platforms. Keeping all the mammoths contained would be a huge feat. They were migratory animals, and they wouldn’t want to stay in one place.
    “It’s like a zoo,” Kyle said.
    “I can’t see keeping giant mammoths in a zoo. Even one like this,” I said. The model was beautiful but sad. I didn’t want there to be living mammoths. They would be theonly ones of their kind, kept in a pen, alone, out of their own time.
    “Randal’s crazy if he thinks he can really pull this off.”
    I remembered how Katsu had talked about Randal on the phone. He didn’t think too highly of Randal, either. “Maybe this is a big scam, and Katsu is trying to steal the genetic material out from under Randal, preying on his dreams,” I said.
    “I could believe that. Legacy is really important to Randal. This park would be a whopping legacy.”
    “He has to know how crazy it is. Scientists have trouble cloning common animals that are alive today. It would be almost impossible to clone a whole extinct herd. He has to realize that this park could never happen.”
    “Guys like Randal don’t know the meaning of the word
impossible.
Look how he built this station. And now that he’s found a mammoth, who knows what he’ll do?” Kyle said.
    “I still don’t believe it,” I said. “If Katsu said he could do it, he must be lying. It’s got to be a scam.”
    I almost felt sorry for Randal. Then I saw the claw of the polar bear skin rug and the room filled with trophy fossils, and I didn’t feel so bad for him. Scam or no scam, he was used to getting his prizes, whether fossil, skin, or fur coat. Now he wanted the real thing.
    I imagined that Randal, with his drive, would do whateverit took to build a park. But something still didn’t make sense. Randal had just found the mammoth. How could he have planned all of this so fast—built a model and everything? Something didn’t add up.
    A banging sound filtered into the room.
    “Did you hear something?” I asked.
    Kyle peeked