Sergei Lukyanenko - The Genome

He was under no obligation to report his crewmembers’ personal belongings. Besides, the crystal was not the object of an official search. And maybe it wasn’t even a real gel-crystal. With a price ten times higher than a ship like the Mirror . Maybe it was just a masterful fake.

An appeal based on your own stupidity was always the best defense.

“All right, that’s it. Get dressed,” said Janet brusquely. “No, wait a minute.”

She got a syringe out of a small cabinet, tore open the packaging.

“You afraid of blood?”

“Not blood, but I’m afraid of shots,” said Kim gloomily.

“Sorry to hear that,” rejoined Janet, unsympathetically. She took hold of the girl’s arm and brought the syringe over to the inner elbow. There was a smell of disinfectant, and the transparent little barrel filled up with blood.

“You could do a skin test instead!” protested Kim belatedly. Backed up toward Alex, put an urgent hand behind her back, taking advantage of the fact that Janet had turned around again for a moment. Alex silently returned the crystal.

“No, I couldn’t. This isn’t a fully equipped clinic, it’s just an express-analysis lab. That’s it, we’re done, get dressed and go to your quarters.”

Kim seemed to realize that there was no point in arguing, and especially in trying Janet’s patience. She quickly dressed, darted an indignant glance at Alex, and left.

“Why did you send her away?” inquired Alex.

Janet pensively studied the syringe barrel. Sighed.

“Just in case. Captain, are you aware that the Zzygou race has been attempting to send spies into human society?”

Alex took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten.

“That’s paranoia, Janet. Any Zzygou could be detected from ten yards away. Even if you’re blindfolded. By odor alone.”

“They’ve found a way to neutralize the odor, and the guise of a young girl is their best-developed transformation,” said Janet dismissively. “This could be the reason for having no documents, and the unwillingness to undergo genetic analysis…. One minute, Captain.”

Alex waited while she divided the blood between a dozen test tubes and took reagents out of cabinets. It was useless to argue with her. As useless as derision, or appealing to reason. He had to keep in mind that Janet was, after all, from Eben. What might seem like crazy paranoia to Alex was for her a routine precaution, as normal as washing fruit before she ate it.

“This is our express field methodology,” she commented while dripping the reagents into one of the test tubes. “It could give a false positive, but it’s generally reliable. Let’s not wait for the results of the serum reactions, especially since they can be falsified by injecting the necessary anti-glutinogens into the bloodstream. Okay, here we go…”

The doctor silently examined the test tube.

“What’s supposed to happen?” Alex asked. He tensed. Paranoia was contagious.

“Already happened. The blood coagulated.” Janet shook a small lump of red jelly onto her hand. “See?”

“And what does this mean?”

“That Kim is human, of course.” Janet went over to the sink and thoroughly washed her hands.

“I could have told you that from the get-go, Janet, without any crazy tests!”

“But this way, I know for sure.”

She was from Eben… Alex half-closed his eyes. If he could see his Demon now, what would it look like? Weary, annoyed, or beside himself with rage?

“Janet, let’s do a specialization analysis.”

“Okay, just a minute.”

Janet went back to manipulating her test tubes. She opened a flat plastic case, which turned out to contain at least a hundred tiny vials. She took a speck of something out of each one, then began adding that to the blood in the test tubes.

“I thought you were going to do the genetic analysis,” remarked Alex.

“This is the genetic analysis. These vials contain the indicators for a number of specific genes. If a reaction occurs, then Kim has that particular gene.”

Leaving the test tubes on the table, Janet walked over, sat down next to him.

“Do you have a cigarette, Captain?”

“Here, please take one.”

Janet lit up. Some ashes fell to the floor, and she nodded approvingly when a small cleaner bug crawled out of a corner with a rustling sound.

“I have my quirks, Captain… you’ll have to be tolerant of them.”

“I understand…” And then he blurted out, before he realized it, “My whole crew has quirks, damn it!”

“Is this your first flight as a captain?”

Alex bit his lip. This is what happens when you spill your guts.

“Yes.”

“It’s all right. It’s easy to get used to. I’ve been a captain on a torpedo boat… in my past life. Two hundred subordinates. Do you think any of them were without quirks?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah, a few. Five or six people at the most. The ones who could hide their quirks. Ah! The first test tube’s lost its color!”

Alex looked at the tabletop.

“And what does that mean?”

“It’s called the cheetah-gene. Responsible for the transformation of the musculature, makes you capable of short-term super-overloads. Well, we saw this one in action recently. So, as I was about to say, Alex… if you ever need help… or advice from a former captain… you can always count on me.”

Alex searched her face for any sign of irony or ridicule. No, Janet was serious.

“Thank you. I’ll remember that.”

“The second and third test tubes,” Janet noted. “The remodeling of neurons, the increased pain threshold, and accelerated synoptic reactions.”

“Then Kim is a fighter?”

“Yes, of course, Captain. I had no doubts about the results of these tests. And here is the fourth test tube… transformation of the retina and the eyeball… by the way, you should also have a positive on this test. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“The possibility of inheritance?”

“Exactly. If you ever decide to have progeny with Kim… What is it, Captain?”

Before he answered, Alex also lit a cigarette. The doctor waited patiently. Two more test tubes changed color—but Janet had no comment on what was happening.

“Are you well acquainted with fighter specializations, Janet?”

“Reasonably well. I’m not a geneticist, of course, but…”

“Does etiquette constitute any part of a fighter-spesh’s preparation?”

Janet frowned. “Pardon?”

“Yesterday, Kim and I were at a restaurant. A very decent restaurant, by the way… Well… the girl acted like a young lady from the highest circles of society. I’ve had etiquette lessons at the academy, but next to her, I felt like an uncultured natural.”

“And how do you know how many restaurants she’s been to? Captain, if the girl is from an influential Edemian family, she must have had very expensive and well-qualified teachers.”

“Possibly,” murmured Alex. Why hadn’t he thought of this obvious possibility? Maybe because he was used to measuring everyone according to his own standards—those of a provincial bumpkin, who received his first lessons in proper conduct at the flight academy?

“Okay… There was no modification of the skin,” reported Janet after a brief look at the test tubes. “Well, you don’t need a test to see that.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. Skin modification—the grayish tint and increased resilience—is not a necessary characteristic of a fighter. And all the main things have already been established, so I can issue a certificate.”

“One more thing, Janet. During her metamorphosis, Kim enumerated all these poets, artists, political figures…”