Calan - The Immortality Paradox

Chapter Fourteen: The Draconian Scientist, Part Two

'THE GODS WALK AMONG US'

Professor Johnson-Mallik almost tripped over the hem of his cloak as he was greeted by his over-exuberant scarlet macaw, Randhanu. Lungs expanding and contracting like two halves of a combustion engine, he quickly tapped the sensor pad to slide the entrance to his laboratory closed again. The Impiad pressed against his body, a reminder of the secret he had smuggled into the Academy. He took a quick sweep of his laboratory.

It was a circular chamber, approximately sixty metres in diameter. The outer ring sloped upwards and was decorated in a menagerie of objects. Mouths of metal machinery emerged from every corner, most accompanied by blaring screens of numerical and graphical data. Exabytes of compact files were stacked and stored meticulously into preservative units. Minor ecosystems, housed in their own compartments around the laboratory, were filled with vegetation, fungi and microscopic wildlife. In one of these spectacular ecosystems was a healthy, solitary ficus ginseng, and one of its silvery branches supported a colourful bird. The scarlet macaw observed the Professor inquisitively, aware of a change in his demeanour. Randhanu was a loyal companion, but had very strong opinions about everything; more than most humans. It was a possible consequence of the augmentation inflicted on the creature by the neuro-engineering department.

'What were they like?!' From behind one of the prototype plasma windows Johnson-Mallik had designed, Professor Emma Hayabusa emerged. Her sudden appearance made him start, and he had the nauseating feeling all his organs had dropped over the floor. Short of stature, but bursting with unbridled energy, she came rushing to the centre of the laboratory, arms crossed and goggling at him through giant, red-rimmed spectacles. When encouraged to use contacts, she argued that she liked having something to hold onto. 'The Calan! What were they like?' Her repeated question was more a demand.

'Give me a moment...' Vanhi wheezed, clutching at his side where he was happy to discover an organ or two still present. 'What are you doing here, Em? The Empress insisted we avoid mingling.'

'SECRETS OF THE COEDWIG!' Randhanu screeched.

Unconcerned with the macaw's chattering, if it was possible, Hayabusa's crossed arms became further interweaved. 'I know what the Empress said. But I wasn't going to miss this.' Professor Johnson-Mallik removed his gas filter and immediately started coughing in the recycled air. Depositing the apparatus on a nearby shelf, he reached blindly for a table he knew was near the entrance and sighed for a moment. 'I knew I should have gone myself. I keep telling you, Vanhi, it's about time you stopped gallavanting around the Academy bowels. You're not a spry student anymore! I was expecting to have to venture down myself and find you sprawled in some tunnel.'

'Charming! If you had gone yourself, Em, you wouldn't have found the...perfect spot!' His argument was breathless. He frowned at his colleague. 'Also, I checked the criterion link...you're supposed to be teaching. Third year Molecular Immunology...or something?'

She removed her spectacles and rubbed them with a parcel of her jacket. A sign of evasion. 'I put Marcel on it.'

'Marcel? They'll be wondering why you're absent...'

'Marcel will put half the students to sleep,' Hayabusa replied haughtily. 'The students will be wondering what they ate for breakfast.'

'Be that as it may, we need to be careful. If any of the faculty find out about the Calan...I dread to think of the consequences. Our lack of professorships will be the least of our worries.'

'So...', spectacles replaced, Professor Hayabusa stared intently. 'What were they like?'

As Johnson-Mallik conjured the image of the Calan's arrival in his mind, the feeling of reverence returned. 'Unparalleled. Beautiful...beyond our understanding.'