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“Why would they want your blood?” Nox wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know the answer because it couldn’t be good.
Dr. Dante stared at nothing for way too long. Then he widened his eyes. “They were trying to figure out why the implant malfunctioned. The incision into the brain must have been to collect the implant. And lymph nodes from the axilla.” He shook a finger. “They might have suspected an immune response. Which suggests the use of foreign tissue.”
“Why not take the lymph nodes from the neck?” Phillips said.
“I might have damaged when I cut off its head.” Dr. Dante looked around.
“What are you looking for?” Nox said.
“Paper and a pen. I think better when I can write it out.”
“I’ll get it.” Seung left for a moment and returned with a notepad and ballpoint.
Dr. Dante took it. “Thanks.” He scribbled on the pad. “The VrK. We know they changed it and whatever they did might have initiated an immune response.”
“It does that when we inject candidates,” Dekker said. “For us, it’s a clear sign the serum is working.”
Dr. Dante scribbled on the pad. “How does your father decide who gets the serum?”
“Their genetic profile.”
“Are there ever failures?”
Dekker rubbed the back of his neck. “Yes. About one in fifty winds up a defect.”
“What happens to them?”
“My father destroys them. They’re insane. Sometimes even in pain. The deformities can be grotesque. A few weeks ago, we had one develop a second head.”
“Do you know what causes the failures?”
“I think it has to do with bad genes, broken genes.” Dekker flipped a hand. “I’ve heard the deltas from the lab talk about, but I’ve never really listened.”
“Probably genetic material from the human introduced into your genome.”
“Our genes are dominant.”
Dr. Dante rolled his eyes. “The key to genetic diversity is the fact genes don’t divide perfectly. You have breakage, linkage, bits of genetic code getting swapped during Meiosis. Your transposable DNA may turn genes on and off, even re-write them, but it doesn’t mean that tiny bits of human genetics don’t break free and bind to them.”
Dekker opened his mouth then closed it. “I don’t understand a damn thing you just said.”
Dr. Dante blew out a breath hard enough to pop his cheeks. “Genetic material isn’t stationary. Genes move. Sometimes just pieces of them. Enough and it could conflict with how the VrK binds with your genome, hence the defects.”
“Is that something you can use?” Nox said.
“It might be somethingtheyused.” Dr. Dante’s expression smoothed out to determination. “Samples. They’d need a source of Mah DNA. Preferably a diverse one.”
“There are thousands of us out there who haven’t been given the VrK,” Dekker said.
“No, they’d need donors who’d received the serum.” Dr. Dante tapped the pen against his chin.
“Why would that matter?” Nox said.
“If they could acquire genes with the right balance of alleles, there’s a good chance the modified ichor would bind to the Mah transposable DNA, and the mutated genes would have enough human genetics to insert itself into a human genome. It would essentially trick the ichor into causing them to Phase like the VrK tricks it into binding with a living person.”
“Did anyone else get that?” Dekker crossed his arms. “I sure as fuck didn’t.”
“Have you ever played with Lincoln Logs?” Dr. Dante said.
