...And We Will Have Snow

Part One: The Institute

The Gates Foundation, well known for its humanitarian efforts, secretly funded a not-so-well-known research facility devoted to developing a managed response to climate change. Not its prevention, but what must be done if prevention efforts fail, a scenario that has begun to seem inevitable since the true nature and extent of the changes remain so poorly understood. A team is being assembled at the facility, located on one of the smaller of the San Juan Islands north of Seattle, and provided with the most advanced technology available. Their task is to anticipate and assess the most devastating scenarios possible, and plan survival options...

-1-

The Culver family was back in Chicago, following Cern Stewart's adventure in the Navajo Nation, where with their aid he had helped a Navajo shaman end the threat of a skinwalker. Things had settled quickly into what in the Culver household passed for a more or less normal routine. Kore assumed her grandmother Sedna's housekeeping role, but also brought Sedna's lore to the clinic, where she took on more of the day-to-day management. Kore's mother Naga spent more time with her patients. The Yaqui Indian shaman Juan Matuse was assisting in her diagnoses with his special insight, seemingly every bit as much at home in Chicago as in his native Nogales.

Evenings the family began finding Kore in Sedna's sitting room, doing Sedna's needlework. She told them Sedna was happy because Kore's eyes were sharper and her fingers more nimble than Sedna's had become. Sedna admitted that this possibility had been in her mind all along.

But this arrangement lasted little more than a month. Naga gathered the family in the sitting room and told them that she and Juan had come up with a new plan. They were going to join Dema's friends Ryan Shaunessy and Rosita Sanchez in Veracruz so Naga could learn more about herbal medicine and the research being done on it there. They would leave Kore/Sedna in charge of the clinic. Naga ruled that Cern would have to come and live in their home with her daughter Dema, to help keep Kore and Sedna company.

Cern was more than happy to comply. He had begun to stay over with Dema more and more often, after enjoying long evenings in the sitting room while Juan and Naga traded bits of medicinal lore and other experiences. Kore would sit in Sedna's chair, quietly doing her needlework. Or sometimes when the needlework was done and the lights were dim she stood behind it, while Sedna sat there in the shadows.

With Juan and Naga gone Kore had her hands full at the clinic, but she took it on with her usual verve, deflecting challenges to her leadership with the promise that Naga would soon return and take over again. Meanwhile her role was purely administrative, relying on the veteran staff for the medical aspects of the clinic's operation. With the aid of Sedna's wisdom she proved skillful at arbitrating disagreements, and the transition went smoothly.

Dema and Cern too had a new routine to settle into, she being free of her duties as an agent for the DEA, and he of the law firm he'd been a member of. As he'd predicted, enough clients followed him to keep him busy, and new ones began to appear. Soon they had gained a reputation for being a smart team, wise in the ways of men and of the world, and clever at untangling the complexities of law and life in general. They prospered, as did the clients who followed their advice about respecting land, nature, and their fellow man, acting in harmony, recognizing the resonance of life with life, the subtle patterns that, when seen and followed, smoothed the way for all.

Then Naga and Juan returned, brimming with fresh ideas and traditional remedies to try at the clinic. They brought with them news that Ryan and Rosita were planning a trip, and possibly a move, to Seattle. Not to Ryan's old ferry captain job there but to a new opportunity that had them both very excited. It seemed that they had been invited to visit a private and somewhat mysterious new research institute tasked with investigating biodiversity.

As was the family custom, they were all gathered in the sitting room at the Culver home when Naga began filling them in.

"It started with a paper Rosita and I wrote while we were together there at her medical research facility in Veracruz. The researchers at this new institute came across the paper and were impressed enough to invite Rosita for a visit and a possible job interview. When she told them Ryan used to be a ferry captain there they said to bring him along, they might have a job for him too, since the facility is on an island. The institute is paying all their expenses for the whole trip!"

Dema of course was very excited to hear all about what Ryan and Rosita were up to. She leaned forward in her chair, giving her mother her full attention and looking expectant.

"I'm sorry, Dema," Naga said. "We were all asked not to divulge any details of what we'd been told. I can only say that the offer was very enticing. But I can tell you that Ryan and Rosita are planning to stop in Chicago on their way back from Seattle, to meet Cern and explain more about the opportunity to both of you."

Dema squealed in delight and grabbed Cern's hand. He could not help but grin at her excitement, and Naga did too.

"But Mom, you can at least give us a clue, right? What about the paper you wrote? What was that about?"

Naga leaned back in her chair and gathered her thoughts. "Well, Rosita and her colleagues had done a lot of field research, collecting data on plants with curative properties as part of an ethnobotanical study. Such plants are very important to dozens of isolated tropical populations, due to their use in handling a number of illnesses, and she had visited many of them. As we reviewed the data together we began talking about the genesis of herbal medicines, and some of those ideas found their way into the paper. Apparently that's what attracted the attention of this new research institute."

Dema was fascinated. "What were those ideas?"

Naga cocked an eyebrow. "Do you want the summary or the whole thesis?"

Dema grinned. "The summary will do."

"Okay. Pardon me if I get too technical. Mainly we suggested some ideas about how parasites, symbiotes and hosts evolve, how new intersections of cellular entities alter probabilities, strengthening positive responses. We mentioned how at the quantum level all possibilities exist in parallel, so every interaction has a broad variety of potential outcomes. We cited some evidence that evolution does not test all these possibilities randomly. There is quantum feedback that detects and reinforces the resonances that imply successful outcomes. As a result, positive resonances tend to succeed, and negative feedback marginalizes those with less potential."

"And apparently these new researchers in Seattle liked that idea?"

"Apparently. It's becoming well known that all human bodies host a multitude of beneficial bacteria. It turns out that many traditional herbal medicines actually introduce new bacteria to the host body, bacteria that are adapted to counter specific parasites and other ills. Many of these bacteria even detect and adapt to differences in the parasites they encounter, and aren't limited to fighting only specific ones. The Seattle people seemed to like the idea that this epigenetic adaptation could be a quantum level response."

It was Dema's turn to cock a brow, this time at Cern. Their mutual experience of the evolutionary pressure that they thought of as Gaia fit right in with this view. Cern nodded his acknowledgement of this understanding.

Naga looked at Juan and smiled. He smiled back.