Scary smart genes

DR. MAYERLAND’S LAB by Lina Soroga Genre: Literary Sci fi, crime 3 page synopsis Famous for his trailblazing genetic research and gene therapies, Swiss-German bio-geneticist HANS MAYERLAND is enchanted by the voice of the young chorister JOSEFINO CAMBERAS while strolling outside a church in Barcelona. He begins spying on the boy to acquire his musical genes, either with his family consent or through violent means. Elsewhere, one evening in the vicinity of a jazz bar in Soho, some masked motorcyclists attack the virtuoso Armenian pianist GARY NAROUKIAN, who is still a student at the Royal College of Music. MAYERLAND’S acquaintance with him had previously taken place during NAROUKIAN’S piano recital on the island of Santorini. Meanwhile, JOSE CAMBERAS, who has now become a star at Milan’s Scala Opera House, had been turned into a “guinea pig” by MAYERLAND, under the genetic code of JOSE ES.M.450.TENOR, during one of his “therapy sessions” for a chronic infection in his vocal cords. The student prodigy APOLLO DIMITREAS is receiving an award for his essay from the Academy of Zurich, an event that makes his mother IRENE proud. IRENE had emigrated there from Greece to satisfy her desire for a genius child through artificial insemination by talented donors. MAYERLAND, when APOLLO grew up, he had been supporting his studies financially by these means as he has done with his other “children” members of his institute. He would “brand” them accordingly with APOLLO, given him the code name APOLLO GR.M, 810, THINKER. He later saves the latter’s life from a life-threatening virus by replacing healthy genes through CRISPR, and redesigning his genetic identity. The biogeneticist, overwhelmed by feelings of ambivalence, self-doubt, and a sense of overweening pride. These lead him to vacillate between seeing himself as a benefactor of humanity, inspired by the ideals of beauty and a firm adherent of Platonic eugenics, or only a ruthlessly arrogant self-seeker who “fabricates” engineered humans in violation of nature’s laws. Haunted by childhood traumas and feelings of guilt, he is tormented by nightmares of headless babies. His only comfort in life is his devoted colleague and Indian mistress, Dr. KAMAMBI. He is distraught when confronted with the paralysis of the young Romanian dancer of BΕJART BALLET, STOILESKOU, whose valuable genes were tightly sealed in a glass receptacle labeled MICHAELA RO.F.821 CLASSICAL BALLET DANCER and placed in the biobank of the Institute. Suffering from amnesia after receiving a blow on his head by unknown persons, the Corsican sculptor CAMELANO is approached by the journalist DANIELA GIAPARDI in the Rome hospital, where he is being treated. She warns him that he has been targeted by an organized criminal group following the successful exhibition of his work in Rome. She says that she is willing to offer him shelter in her house. The Public Security Forces of Rome and Berne now take over this complicated, baffling case. After the burglary and vandalism of MAYERLAND’S laboratory in the basement of the Institute, Dr. KAMAMBI, embittered by catching MAYERLAND having sex with his secretary, makes copies of the institute’s archives concerning the names of members, the therapies, and the experiments, and discloses them all to GIAPARDI. The Italian press published GIAPARDI's articles, revealing in detail all of MAYERLAND's activities on an international scale. Earlier, when the Armenian pianist NAROUKIAN was still studying in London, MAYERLAND had entrapped him through the internet, luring him with a beautiful young woman, a violinist, DAPHNE. There was one problem, however. DAPHNE was not a real person but a digital persona consisting of pixels, constructed by a virtual beings company, at the doctor's order. Meanwhile, the greatly sought-after anti-aging formula of the MAYERLAND’S Institute is stolen by his antagonist LAURIS HARRIS of the BAVARDI company through bribery of MAYERLAND’S employees for three million euros, after a phony burglary of his laboratory, set up to mislead the authorities. The laboratory’s secure entrance had been breached by a code embedded in microchip form in Dr. PIERSON’S palm, a loyal colleague of the Institute. PIERSON’S hand had been cut off by HARRIS’S underlings, who attacked him outside the airport, where he had gone to receive a valuable package. After serious charges are filed, most of the implicated parties confess their crimes. At the same time, a sad event obliges IRENE DIMITREA to return to her village in the Peloponnese, Greece. Meanwhile, the case is before the court of justice. Table of contents - Ten random stories in the age of artificial intelligence 1. Jose Gamberas, Spanish tenor and Gary Naroukian, Armenian pianist 2. Apollo Gr. Male 815—made-to-order baby 3. Michaela Stoilescu, the paralyzed dancer 4. Attack in the side streets of Via Veneto 5. Digital utopians vs. technoskeptics— Genetics Conference in Milan 6. Robbery of the code for a longevity pharmaceutical product APOC 3-Code B 7. Witness accounts and revelations 8. The seal of the devil 9. The doctor and the doll maker 10. Phoebus Morali, golden blood for a naked eye ***