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CHAPTER 13

Proxima b

The biolab was buzzing with anticipation. It had been nearly a year since the success of using microbots to facilitate conception of a female zygote, and, in fact, several newborn Fintidierian girls had been delivered. All of them healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes—perfect little female humans. But the team faced another hurdle. While they had successfully managed to force the female sperm into the egg, they were no closer to understanding why the female sperm were non-motile than they had been when they arrived in the system years prior.

Dr. Polkingham brushed a red curl off his forehead using his fingers like a comb, his face etched with concentration. He intently observed the viewscreen in front of him showing the contents of a petri dish under a microscope. On the screen was a sample of the non-motile female sperm just sitting there. Oh, they could use the micromachines and push it along with magnetic fields to intercept an egg, and they had dedicated a completely new lab room for that ongoing and continuous process. The plan was to generate an assembly line of new female zygotes to be implanted into Fintidierian mothers-to-be.

The research lab had been repurposed. Now that they had discovered the main symptom, the driving goal was to uncover why that was happening.

A lot of time had passed since the groundbreaking fertilization experiment. An experiment that Dr. Sentell and Grag had conceived after a day of fishing. Polkingham was amused by that. He thought of so many great “eureka” moments throughout history where a discovery was made during the most amusing of activities. There had been the actual “eureka” moment with Archimedes. There was Newton and his apple. One of his favorites was Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. And, of course, the strange scenario around the discovery of the Samara Drive was more than amusing.

Polkingham hoped to have a moment like that someday. Maybe it would be today? He inwardly chuckled and reminded himself that those scientists made their discoveries after months, years, and decades of study and hard work. While he had worked his entire life in the field of bioengineering and genetics, he had only been on Fintidier a short while. It was beginning to seem like a lifetime.

The laboratory was alive with activity and anticipation. The viewscreens covered every wall with magnified images of sperm in various states. There were computer code and pull-down menus covering parts of several screens and atop that were the virtual screens the Terrans could access with their smart contact lenses and artificial intelligence assistants. Polkingham noticed that Grag and Professor Cromntinier, one of Fintidier’s eminent scholars, stood together, trying to keep up with the flurry of movement and terminology being thrown around by the scientists from the stars. He also noticed their intrigued, yet slightly overwhelmed, expressions as he was distracted from his screen. It was then that he spotted Sentell approaching them from behind.

“Glad you two could join us for this,” Sentell said as he slapped Grag on the back. “Who knows, maybe we’ll figure something out today.”

“Such as, Dr. Sentell?”

“Understanding the root of this fertility problem is our next challenge,” Polkingham interrupted, addressing Grag and Filip with a nod to Chris. “We believe that studying the DNA of these dormant female sperm might give us insights.”

“Not that we haven’t been looking into this for the past year, but we have mainly been focused on getting an assembly line process in place for impregnating as many women as possible with baby girls,” Sentell continued, pointing to a microscope. “Now that we’ve done that, and the baby girls are being delivered in a steady stream, it’s time to get back to solving the underlying problem.”

“What type of clues are we looking for, Doctor?” Grag asked. Polkingham could see the wonder in the young man’s eyes. He could only imagine how he would feel if he were in an Atlantean lab and they were uncovering some mystery of the universe for him that was a century or more away from Terran understanding.

“First, we need to figure out if there’s a genetic factor causing this dormancy,” Polkingham said. “In other words, is something wrong or broken inside the sperm?”

“You see, Grag, if we can pinpoint a mutation or anomaly in the sperm’s DNA, then it could give us a clearer understanding of what is going on.” Sentell added, “And it’s not only the DNA. Sperm motility, or how well they move, is influenced by certain proteins. We’re going to take a look at that process too.”

“These are the amino acids, you described?” Filip raised an eyebrow, “Proteins?”

“Okay, hang on a minute.” Polkingham rubbed his chin and considered the best way to explain a twenty-first-century understanding to an early to mid-twentieth-century scientist. “So—and of course do not take this as insulting in any way or form—your civilization is a hundred and fifty to two hundred years behind ours in understanding this. I will give you a quick summary of what you need for today’s conversations. It won’t be enough to fully understand, but you’ll get the idea and have some buzzwords to read up on. That okay?”

“Please, by all means,” Filip Cromntinier responded, not insulted in the least. The wise, older Fintidierian scientist understood the knowledge gap and it was clear to Polkingham that he wanted to close that gap as best he could. Again, Polkingham thought of the Atlanteans and how much more advanced than Earth they must be.

“Okay. First, amino acids aren’t proteins. They are the building blocks of proteins. Our scientists back on Earth during a similar era, say 1940, uh, a hundred and sixty-odd years ago, had identified and characterized some of the essential amino acids by then. What they knew was roughly where you guys are here on Fintidier. They are the building blocks of proteins. They understood that proteins were composed of long chains of amino acids linked together. Filip, from papers I’ve seen in your archives, your scholars are only now understanding this, but you don’t have the equipment yet to verify this with experimentation. Ha, well, you do now.”

“Yes, of course, thanks to our friends from the stars,” Grag interrupted with a smile. Polkingham could see the grimace on the older Fintidierian’s face, wanting the young man to be silent. But Polkingham was certain that the elder gentleman also understood that Grag and Dr. Sentell had a close friendship. Filip was wise enough to know you build bridges, not burn them.

“Proteins! Now that’s what we’re looking for.” Sentell stepped in to cover his friend’s awkward interruption. “While the concept of proteins as crucial biological molecules was known back then on Earth, the structure and function of the protein was still being explored. One of the most famous discoveries of the era was that of the protein structure, we call it the alpha helix. It was proposed by one of humanity’s greatest scientists of the time, Linus Pauling, in the early 1950s, which significantly advanced our understanding of all this. Who knows, Grag, you might one day be considered one of Fintidier’s greats!”

Sentell laughed and squeezed his friend’s shoulder to make the point he was joking. Polkingham watched Filip carefully to see how the elder scholar reacted. The man would do well at poker. As far as Polkingham could discern, Filip made zero expression, he didn’t flinch or grimace, and just kept silent. Polkingham decided he’d better step in.

“Gene expression is the key here,” he started. “The understanding of gene expression and the role of DNA in this process was in its infancy during the 1940s. As far as I can tell, you guys really haven’t birthed it yet. Well, Filip, I guess after today, maybe you’ll have enough to write some papers on it. Anyway, our history teaches of the famous experiments by Earth scientists Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty in 1944 where they provided evidence that deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, was indeed the genetic material responsible for transmitting inherited traits in living organisms. It took decades following their work before there was a good understanding of the mechanisms, though.”

“I’m assuming you will allow us to, em…” Filip paused and muttered something to Grag in Fintidierian.

“‘Download’ is the word,” Grag said.

“Ah, yes, download this information onto these information pads you have given us?” Filip asked.

“I’m assuming so.” Polkingham shrugged. “I’m not sure what the protocol is on giving you reference material of a similar-era technology. We need to discuss this with Ambassador Jesus and your leadership. But, I’ll say, probably.”

“Yes, I understand. This is like being in”—he muttered to Grag again and then nodded—“graduate school again. Please, please continue.”

“Uh, sure. Where was I?” Polkingham combed his fingers through his red curls again. “Okay, based on what we are doing today. DNA. Yeah, let’s talk a bit about that. Allison, put an exploded three-D view of the double helix on screen three.”

“Certainly, Neil.” Polkingham’s artificial intelligence assistant said through speakers on the screens. Filip and Grag were slightly startled, but they were getting used to the Terrans talking to computers and the computers talking back to them as if they were alive.

“Ah, yes, look at this twisted-ladder-looking structure here. It’s called a double helix and was proposed by James Watson and Francis Crick. It was not discovered until 1953, Earth time. This discovery marked a pivotal moment in molecular biology and genetics and every kid in ninth grade biology back on Earth studies this. This structure consists of two long chains made up of nucleotides running in opposite directions. Each nucleotide comprises three components: a sugar molecule—deoxyribose—a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. There are four types of nitrogenous bases in DNA: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). And it is these long, combined sequences of these nitrogenous bases that are the instructions, the code that determines the order of amino acids in a protein and in turn expresses the organisms’ traits and functions.”

“And, Grag ol’ boy, it is the expression of function that we are looking for here,” Sentell added, pointing to the screen showing the magnified sperm.

“I think I see,” Grag said unsurely.

“Yes, I actually do, my boy,” Filip stated. “There are these twisted, em…double helix, structures that are inside the sperm. They are the instructions for what the sperm is and does. Correct?”

“Yes.” Polkingham nodded in the affirmative.

“These sequences of amino acids are instructed to build certain proteins that in turn trigger further actions to occur.” Filip looked back at Polkingham with a raised eyebrow for reassurance.

“Yes, that’s it in a nutshell.” Polkingham smiled and waved his hand in the air, bringing the previous view of the microtweezers back on the screen. “Back on Earth, we have identified an ion channel protein complex found in the tails or flagella of sperm. This cation channel of sperm as it is known is called CATSPER for short. See, cation, CAT, sperm, SPER, CATSPER. Well, this protein is essential for the hyperactive movement of sperm. If there’s any issue with its expression, it could lead to reduced motility.”

“So, we’re looking at it today,” Sentell said.

“I see.” Filip, trying to follow, asked, “So, how do we look at the DNA?”

“Great question. And it isn’t an easy answer.” Sentell smiled, holding up a vial of clear liquid. “We use this. It’s a hypotonic solution. When we introduce the sperm to this solution, it causes them to swell. Eventually, they rupture, explode, releasing their DNA strands for us to collect and study.”

“Amazing!” Grag looked fascinated. “So, it’s like…a farvgatiera?”

“Yes, I see my boy!” Filip agreed. “Indeed, a farvgatiera!”

“Uh, I’m sorry, you’ve got me on that one.” Sentell shrugged at Polkingham.

“Me too?” Polkingham thought through the Fintidierian he knew, and he could honestly say he’d never heard that word. “Fahhv gacheria?”

“Farvgatiera,” both Filip and Grag repeated in unison.

“Allison, can you help me out with that?”

“Yes, Neil. The farvgatiera is a ceremonial object made in the shape of the pyramidal ruins in the far eastern continent of Fintidier. It is used in the marriage ceremony. The bride and groom fill the structure with items of various nature to be gifts for someone, usually the children, involved in the wedding ceremony. The object is placed atop the sratgav and the wedding party children take turns striking it with the staff of gachron. Once it has been hit ample times, the structural integrity of the farvgatiera fails, disseminating the gifts.”

“A piñata!” Sentell laughed. “Hell yes, that’s a perfect analogy. There are goodies inside the farvgetiera and we need to poke it until they are released so we can collect them.”

“Hahaha,” Polkingham chuckled. “In a manner of speaking, yes. Once we have cracked the, farvfarhveg…the piñata, the DNA is expelled and we can analyze it, comparing the dormant sperm to the active ones.”

“Very good.” Filip thought for a moment and then asked, “And the proteins?”

“We’ll analyze them too,” Sentell said. “There’s a method we use called proteomics. It allows us to see all the proteins present in the sperm. If something’s amiss, then this should highlight it.”

“Pin-yah-ta.” Grag looked between the two scientists, admiration in his eyes. “Every day, I learn so much from you both. It’s incredible.”

“And we learn from you, Grag. Farvgetiera? That right?”

“Your Fintidierian is very good,” Grag replied with a grin.



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