The Cats Tail: A feline geneological thriller
Chapter 1: A sniff of intrigue
Jimmy yawned and rolled out of bed. 10:30AM. Like most computer
programmers, Jimmy liked to
work late, and then get to work late. He peeked out the window.
Looked like an excellent day, a great day not to go to work!
He turned onto his computer and logged in. Checking his mail,
he saw nothing terribly important. "Wish my boss let me telecommute,"
he mumbled.
He showered and shaved. Looking in the mirror, he saw a man of 32,
with light blond hair. "Got to work out more," he thought. Then he got
in his car, and headed down the 405 Freeway. It was really only
a 10 mile commute to work, but it would take him 45 minutes to get
there, with all the traffic.
As he was sitting in traffic, he plotted out how to hack into
his boss' computer and change all of his settings. Probably he would
never actually do this, but he enjoyed thinking about it.
Jimmy worked intently through the day and into the night.
When he looked up from his work, it was 1AM and there were a stack
of coffee cups on his desk. Time for a break. He stretched,
and looked around the empty building. This late at night, most of the workers
at Blonz Genomics had gone home. Jimmy walked over to the Visitor's Center.
He sat down on a couch, and pressed a button to start the welcome program.
He had seen it many times, but still liked to listen to the
the jazzy little music at the end.
"Welcome to Blonz Genomics." The television turned on, and Dr. Blonz appeared.
Dr. Blonz. a serious looking woman of about fifty, gave an introduction
to the Institute. "Blonz Genomics was founded 10 years ago. We determined
that with modern computer technology, as well as our advances
in genomics, we would be able to completely map complex genomes.
We started with the rat, the dog, and the cat. And soon we will
have finished mapping the human genome. This tremendous advance will
have implications in medicine, research-"
Jimmy was startled by a tap on his shoulder.
"Hi," smiled Stephanie. "How many times can you watch this video?
It always turns out the same, you know." Stephanie was a co-worker,
who was working on designing the next generation of gene sequences.
Although they did not work in the same group, Stephanie and Jimmy
had become good friends.
"Just taking a break," Jimmy replied.
"Hey want to see something cool?" asked Stephanie.
"Sure," said Jimmy.
"Come over to my office," Stacey said. They walked together
down the corridor. "I just downloaded this program from SETI- that stands
for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence."
"I may have heard of them," said Jimmy.
"They are analyzing radio signals from outer space, in an effort
to detect signs of intelligent life," said Stacey.
"Seems a little improbable," Jimmy said.
"Sure," said Stacey. "But it's important to look for it, no matter
how improbable it is. Don't you think so?" She looked at him with
her dark eyes.
Jimmy nodded agreement. When she looked at him like that, he
found it difficult to do anything else but agree.
"This screensaver is designed by SETI," Stacey explained.
It's actually using my computer to do calculations, combing
through large amounts of data, looking for any sign
of intelligence. And there are millions of computers
all over the world, also looking through the data."
"Wow," Jimmy grinned. "That's a great idea!"
"Yep," said Stacey. "The new paradigm for computing, I think. Distributed
computers, used to form one super computer."
"Hmm," said Jimmy.
Stacey looked at him curiously. "What are you thinking? You've got that look on your face."
"I'll tell you. Let's walk around some more."
"Sure," said Stacey. She walked back down the hall with Jimmy.
"Look," said Jimmy. "We've got a lot of data right here, at Blonz Genomics. We have the full
genomic sequences from 300 humans, 10,000 cats, and over a million rats."
"Sure," said Stacey. "We've got a ton of data. We've got the biggest computers in the world.
And your point was what?"
"Instead of analyzing signals from outer space for signs of life...maybe we should be
analyzing our gene sequences."
Stacey choked on her soda, and started coughing.
"You okay?" asked Jimmy.
"You want to analyze the genomic sequences of humans for evidence of extraterrestrial life?" asked
Stacey.
"Exactly," replied Jimmy. "Imagine if, for some unknown reason, there were messages
embedded in our DNA. Maybe it says like, 'Hi, how are you?'. Why not?"
Stacey shook her head. "You're crazy!" she said.
"Hey", said Jimmy. "You're the one running the program from NASA to look at
signals from space. Why is that any less crazy then looking at genomes for signals."
Stacey shrugged. "Well that's a good point."
"Now you're talking," Jimmy enthused. "Maybe I'll talk to the boss. Maybe he
will give us some resources to work on it!"