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“The research project was struggling for funding,” I say truthfully, and eager to change the topic add, “My father gave me the broad strokes that were apparently broader than I thought, so yes. I agree. Clearly, I’m way behind on my homework, but I have thousands of pages of reading to do. I know nothing about camouflage and changing eye colors. And what do you mean by bonded females?”
“To date, three random women have experienced pain on the back of their necks shortly after their first sexual encounter with a GTECH. Immediately afterward, a mark appears on their neck resembling a tattoo—a double circle with intricate design work around the outer line. For now, and for lack of a better term, we’re referring to those couples as ‘bonded’ since the mark is clearly some sort of link between the two, though frankly, our understanding of what that means is weak at best. But the very fact that the GTECHs can’t camouflage their eyes from the female they gave this marking to supports some sort of unique bond.”
I’m confused and concerned. “You’re sure these marks aren’t tattoos, and the three women—maybe even the GTECHs—are in on this together—trying to get attention?”
“That was my first thought, too, but there’s no ink, and we’ve attempted surgical removal with no success. I mean, yes, we’ve removed the mark, but here’s the freaky part. The mark regenerates immediately.”
I blanch, blown away. “Unbelievable.”
“You can say that again,” Katie agrees. “One thing about this job—it’s never boring. Also, note to self and you. Don’t sleep with a GTECH, no matter how hot he is. You never know if you’ll get that mark.”
“So everyone doesn’t?”
“No. Everyone doesn’t.”
“What about a condom for protection?”
“Not enough data to be sure, but we’ve drilled that premise into the men’s heads. Wear a condom. We literally don’t know what the mark means for the women, but the couples in question are very connected. It’s like love, but it can’t be love. Right?”
“I mean, maybe. There’s a chemistry effect to love. We know that, even if science can’t fully explain it. Maybe love has a physical manifestation with the GTECHs. I have a lot of questions on this topic. Aside from the immunity to the camouflage, what kinds of effects are these marks having on these women?”
“Some specific bloodwork changes that appear to be non-malignant. None in the GTECHs involved. Did I mention the GTECHs are sterile and immune to human illness? Needless to say, the ability to skip the condom is one of the perks of their injections they’ve now lost.”
“You can’t be sure they’ll take precautions though,” I point out. “What about the dangers to the general population? What if this tattoo marking comes with dangers we don’t know about yet?”
“Two hundred GTECH soldiers and who knows how many sexual partners, yet only three women have been marked in two years. Laboratory studies are inconclusive, but we’ve run test after test, and we’ve found nothing environmental, and no set of stimuli that re-creates that mark. And believe me, we’ve tried thousands of combinations. The odds of this mark spreading across the general population, even with unprotected sex, are next to zero. Even lower, if at least a portion of the men actually use the condoms.”
“I can’t believe this program is two years underway and none of these answers have been found.”
“Obviously, we needed you. You are a protégé scientist who graduated from Yale at seventeen. And with your background in biomedical and research science, I hope we can make real progress now.” She eyes her watch. “The weekly department heads meeting starts in an hour. It’s always…interesting.”
“A lot of egos in one room always are.”
She laughs. “Truth. Oh, I did manage to convert some male geese to GTECH. I put them in with female geese and said let’s go. Let’s see what happens. And,” she holds up a finger, “and this is incredible—a male and female produced the mark on the female. I tried this with thousands of mice and rats, with no action.”
“Interesting. Geese mate for life. Rats and mice do not.”
“Exactly how I got the geese involved. I thought who mates for life, because that’s what the mark, this tattoo of sorts, seems to be, though I can’t prove that yet. We’re observing the pair of geese, but it’s so far it’s uneventful.”
“I’m starting to wish I came sooner. This is an incredible research opportunity.” I hesitate. “Who made the decision to move forward with the serum, Katie?"
“Was it your father?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “That’s what you want to know, of course, and my answer is I don’t know. Dr. Wiley, who was lead researcher before Dr. Chin took over, was fired and blamed.”
I nod, feeling sick to my stomach as I worry, Dr. Wiley was a fall guy, though he might have been paid off well. Or maybe he really did make the call, no matter how much my gut tells me otherwise.
