©GeraldineBanksJanuary2025
That evening, at home over dinner, Martin and Sandy discussed the the trip to Barcelona and the fact that Gerry wanted to accompany Sandy. Their priority as parents was to ensure they had child care to look after the twins. The more emotive issue that they both faced was trusting each other, they agreed they did but they also agreed they didn’t trust Gerry. That was all Sandy wanted to hear. Martin told her that he didn’t feel she had told Gerry too much, it was a worry that he had kept the letter but if Martin had been in Gerry’s position he would have done the same thing.
The following week, Gerry and Sandy were in Barcelona, they arrived on separate flights , but Gerry managed to catch Sandy at El Prat Airport and they took a taxi to the hotel together.
When Gerry and Sandy arrived at the hotel, it was about 8.00 pm local time, they were just able to book a table for dinner. Sandy had tried making excuses, saying she wasn’t hungry, but Gerry had insisted . They would go up to their respective rooms after dinner. He had arranged for their luggage to be brought up to their rooms. When they were seated at dinner he asked Sandy what she wanted to drink. They both had a small glass of rose wine.
Gerry took Alex’s letter out of his pocket. ” Here , I’m really sorry I meant to give this back to you, I just haven’t had a chance.”
Sandy took the letter. ” Thanks, I’m glad to have it back, it’s all I’ve got from my little boy, I suppose you kept it for the same reason.” She put the letter in her bag and took a sip of wine.
The two of them really had very little to talk about , Gerry had made all his own arrangements and he did not want to talk “shop” or talk about what ” Mills ” was doing, Sandy did not want to talk at all. So they ordered a main course and decided to call it a day. Sandy said she was going for a run in the morning and would meet Gerry at the administration desk for the Conference which luck would have it was being held in the hotel they were staying at.
“Goodnight” she coldly said as she got up from the table and left the restaurant. Gerry, sat for a few moments and once he had signed the bill the waiter presented to him, he got up and walked into the bar for a nightcap and some company if anyone was around.
The next morning, as Sandy stood in the queue for those who had pre-registered, she was just about to collect her badge and the Conference Information Pack when Gerry approached her, badge-less and annoyed.
” I hate all this nonsense!” He turned to Sandy having already remonstrated with the man on the check- in desk.
” Sandy , tell him who I am!”
Sandy walked over to the man at the desk and told him that she could vouch for Gerry and that he’d sent his registration details yesterday. The man on the desk said that there was no record of Gerry’s name and that he would have to register again and it would take a few hours to resolve.
Sandy went over to Gerry and said.” Gerry there’s no record of you registering , it’s going to take the morning to sort it out. Why don’t you go and enjoy Barcelona for now. You can join me for the afternoon sessions. I’ll update you if there’s anything interesting this morning.
Gerry looked very sheepish and smiled; there was no way around security and he knew he had forgotten to confirm the link that the Conference Organisers had sent him. He really wanted to accompany Sandy as he felt she was onto something. Sandy, however, was relieved that she would be free of Gerry at least for the morning. They said their goodbyes and agreed to meet up later.
When Sandy entered the large conference hall, she listened to the buzz of excited conversations from colleagues who hadn’t seen each other for some time. They were all catching up on the latest academic rumours and gossip. Sandy thought that her Press Badge might be a bit off putting to some so she decided to take a seat and have a look at her information pack. Let people come to her she thought, see what develops. She scanned through the information , the subject matter on the whole was extremely dry but one item on the agenda for this morning caught her eye.
Rogues and Genes
Professor Ian Allenby
” Rogues and Genes ” , was a talk by Professor Ian Allenby of the Washington Albany University and Research Facility. The talk was going to cover the black net and the presence of irregular activity and research in Modern Genetics. Sandy knew what this was about and what this really meant and she was going to find out what this Professor Allenby knew.
The seats around her were rapidly filling and a few people brushed by Sandy, saying the usual “excuse me”, Sandy looked up smiled and let them pass and continued reading about Professor Allenby. She scanned his biographical details quickly, he was English and quite young at thirty five to be heading such an important facility such as the Washington Albany. He had completed his PhD at Oxford University and had for a number of years worked for the Government . He had held a number of key Teaching posts and was very much the darling of the Private Sector and lobbied strongly on their behalf, in return for their patronage and funding.
Sandy failed to notice the tall , blonde gangly young man who brushed her leg and took the seat next to her just as she finished reading about Professor Allenby’s achievements. The young man, unfortunately spilled his coffee just as he was trying to sit down .He had been awkwardly trying to balance his ray-pad and his coffee cup tilted towards Sandy. Fortunately, the hot coffee missed Sandy and spilt onto the floor next to her, but instinctively she moved her feet away.
” I’m so sorry! I hope I didn’t splash you.” The young man said in a Scandinavian lilt. Sandy looked up and smiled.
” No damage done.” she moved her feet as the man reached down with a clean hanky from his pocket and wiped the droplets of coffee from the carpet tiles.
” What a clumsy fellow I am , I should not carry so much stuff””
” Yes , stuff is always the problem , there is simply not enough research into stuff!” Sandy smiled and began to laugh.
” So much stuff in the World! I cannot shake your hand. Hello, my name is Gregor , Gregor Lavelet.”
“I am from Iceland, Reykjavik, The Nordic Gene Institute.”
” Sandy Smith, Sunshine Media, pleased to meet you. I’m here to some preliminary research on a documentary I’m planning to make. It’s early days.”
Gregor settled into his chair, and tried his best to fit his long legs into the seating, it was a struggle.
” This is going to be very dry for the next few hours, going over the same old subject matter. We have been so successful in so many fields, really it’s just reporting progress and good news. I am most interested in what Professor Allenby has got to say, I suppose that’s the juicy bit for the Press too.”
Sandy laughed. ” Well I’m here to listen to everything, but you’re right, Professor Allenby seems to be the one with the intriguing story, we need bad news, threats to global security, no point us writing about what’s good in the World is there?”
” Yes you are right there, my cynical journalist friend.” Gregor smiled.
“Ah and I shall stereotype all Scientists as anal and boring …. I knew this gig would be a bundle of laughs.” Sandy said tongue in cheek.
” Please, please, don’t pigeon hole us scientists, where would you be without us?” Gregor defended his corner perhaps unnecessarily.
” No of course not , I was only being flippant, I’m sorry. I’m here to get the lay of the land, I need to be able to explain to the non-scientists what is going on. The more people who know about the Work, the more support it will have. I have read a little about Iceland, no record of any hereditary conditions being passed on for the last twenty years, now that is quite an achievement”. Sandy turned to Gregor.
” Yes, truly an amazing achievement, we have been very disciplined in our approach. We no longer have Parents put in the difficult position of choosing whether to continue with a pregnancy or not. It simply does not happen. Officially.”
” Really , tell me more, do bad “”genes” still pop up, how about “Unofficially”?”
” Officially there are none. Unofficially , I’m not so sure. I don’t work in that field. My work concerns genetic profiling, identifying key traits and looking at the ethical arguments for and against of allowing progeny to continue. We need to be very aware we are not trying to create a Master Race.”.
” That would be very dangerous and an abuse of all that has been achieved. Is it possible?” Sandy looked very seriously at Gregor.
” Yes, you should listen carefully to the Ethics discussion, you will begin to see how the land lies. I think we may have gone to far, I am hoping we are not at the point of no return. ” Gregor crossed his legs, he was beginning to get uncomfortable.
” Are you saying that basic human values are under attack.”
” Most definitely yes, you really have to read between the lines. Professor Allenby is a protagonist for the perfect human. I’m afraid I disagree with him. The psychological impact that this “perfection” is having on our small Island is interesting to say the least.” Gregor faced forward as he heard the introductory music and the Conference Introduction.
” Maybe we’ll catch up later.” Sandy whispered and settled down to listen.
Gregor did not hear her, he was concentrating on the podium. The first Speaker was introduced and began to talk. Sandy sat still ; her hands folded on the notes on her lap. She pressed the button on her phone to record; it would help her interpret the technical jargon later. She hoped Gregor didn’t think that suggesting they meet up later was a come on, but the serious young man was totally engrossed in his work, she could see that now. Sandy might as well have not be there.
It would have been unfair to say that the other presentations were very dry, but Sandy noticed that the room seemed to sit up on mass when Professor Allenby arrived on the Podium. He looked more like the CEO of a large Corporate Organisation than a career Scientist.
Sandy was fascinated as he watched his lithe capable assistant discretely solve a problem with the microphone sound that clearly the inhouse sound engineer was having difficulty with. The sound engineer cowed a little at the look of pure disdain he got as she waved him away and nodded with confidence to the Professor. The Professor in turn smiled at her with his fixed white smile and continued talking, the sound had been perfectly adjusted and he continued without interruption. It had been seamless. Sandy got the impression that the Professor was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
thenotsomightyom 