Editorial note:
This issue will begin a continuous storyline based on the finite parts
of scientific facts and the infinite limits of the human mind. No
bias or political stand is intended, and the comments contained
therein do not represent the opinions of this e-zine.
Subject: The Passage
April19, 2016
The morning's eastern horizon was like no other that I had ever seen.
Several shades of blue and rich green had joined the already present
gold, pink, red and lavender. The sun rose slowly into the color-laden
sky. I wondered how such a beautiful picture could be the introduction
to such a painful chapter of man's existence. My mind was glued to its
gentle ferocity. The ease with which I viewed its approach was soon
dwarfed by the irreversible alterations upon which its arrival would
insist. Only a handful of the 7 billion inhabitants of Planet Earth
knew the meaning of this approaching phenomenon. After the passage,
life would be forever changed, but the subtlety of the change would
avoid detection until the development was complete. My eyes closed to
avoid weeping. My heart
closed to avoid feeling.
Part 1
Saturday, June 7, 2008
I use to hear my uncle Raymond say, "If I had known that I was going
to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." I would
always laugh at his remarks concerning life, but now their recall
brings only remorseful memories of his cruel demise. That was many
years before lung replacement was available. I sang at his funeral.
"Hey, Jerry. Hellllloooooo, anybody home?" Lane's
hand was dancing in front of my face as his distant voice brought me
back into reality. "hey, bud, wha's up with all the heavy thinkin'?
It's time to chase a laid-back summer. School's out now, so lighten
up." His words made sense......or did they.
We had just finished our last final exam of the
semester, and we were looking forward to a long, laid-back summer
filled with friends and lots of parties. I must have been thinking
about that last exam on the history of xenotransplantation. The
discussion question concerning the steps that were necessary to
"transcend morality" in order to make this procedure a reality was
weighing heavily on my mind. I just couldn't shake the feeling that we
were missing something significant when we allowed the passage of that
bill that gave certain teams the go ahead for a ten year research
program to explore the possibilities of its usage now that the
procedure was nearing perfection.
"Earth to Jerry, Earth to Jerry, come in Jerry."
Lane's high-pitched, vibrato voice was an example of what had been
accomplished in the last few years. Although his voice sounded
strange, it was a definite improvement from that little box he spoke
through as a kid. At an early age he drank some household ammonia, and
it destroyed his esophagus and vocal cords. I often wondered how
anyone could actually do that, but do that he did. It was just this
year that he had received his brand new, almost human esophagus and
vocal cords made from genetically altered pig tissue. Genetic material
from a human cell was combined with mesodermic differentiated pig stem
cells and allowed to develop as a part of a pig embryo. The moral
issue was skirted, because technically, the resulting hybrid was
neither pig nor human but interchangeable with both. I am still amazed
by this.
"Oh, hey, Lane. I was actually thinking about you and my Uncle
Raymond. You sure aren't wasting any time getting into the party mood,
dude." Little did we know that this would be the last summer we would
enjoy together. August would bring with it the beginning of "The
Passage."
Part 2
The campus felt empty amidst the bustle of hurried
feet. Tere-lyn and I stood outside the recently completed biotech
building. I passed the small urn to my companion in grief. Tere-lyn
and Lane had become very close in only four weeks. They met at a party
and quickly hit it off. I had envied Lane, for Tere-lyn was absoutely
beautiful. Her sweet, genuine attitude was the piece de resistance
that stopped my heart each time I stole a glimpse of her, and it made
her irrefutably, the most gorgeous creature on earth. I dared not
allow my captured heart to be revealed. She and my best friend were to
be married soon.
The encystment of the virus had allowed it to avoid
detection. It had awakened and remained unnoticed for too long to stop
its death march. It happened in only one day. Even the look on Lane's
face was one of surprise. He tried to smile as he whispered to me his
final prank.
So, there we were, standing before some of Dean
Howard's prize, hybrid Trumpet Roses with the urn containing Lane's
cremated remains. It was his last request. As his two best friends, we
really didn't have a choice. We had to do it. I could tell it was
going to be a long semester without him. As we poured him over the
hybrids our hands touched, and our eyes fastened upon that touch. I
think Lane would have wanted it that way. We moved closer to each
other. Our embrace was one of impassioned sorrow. Lane would be
missed, but we both knew that he would approve of our unrestrained
love. After all, the three of us had been secretly chosen to be a part
of The Passage. It would all begin in a few, short hours.
Part 3
Christmas break (2008)
Where had the semester gone? It seemed like yesterday that
Tere-lyn and I stood together granting Lane's final request, but
yesterday seemed like a lifetime ago. My life was changing rapidly,
and I found myself groping for just a small piece of reality to hold
onto in order to sustain my sanity in an insane world. Tere-lyn had
become that reality. The first time I finally allowed myself to look
fully into her eyes, I became completely and helplessly displaced by
the magnitude of their passion. I belonged to
them, and I had no desire to escape their mesmerizing ,
trance-inducing beauty. I was hopelessly in love , and I found myself
trying to wish away that for which we had been chosen.
Christmas was approaching. I wondered at the fact that we still
celebrated this holiday. All my life I had been told of its meaning
and how a child, born of a virgin, who came from Heaven and was the
Son of God, did no evil thing, but was crucified, bled and died for
our sins and was raised again on the third day, was seen by many and
was lifted up to Heaven again to sit at the right Hand of God forever
in eternity. It all seemed to run together now, and the meaning of
those jumbled words seemed to add
antithesis to our existence. I suppose the real reason for keeping the
celebration of the holiday around was to provide a season of escape
from the madness of the times in which we lived. The ease with which
they were beginning to restore missing or damaged body parts was quite
amazing. It also brought with it a throw-caution-to-the-wind attitude.
The double-dog-dare that had been prevalent in the 1960's was back,
and it had taken the earth by storm.
michael boyle
