Channeling Cleopatra by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Read Free Book Online Page A

breath, and let it out again. "We hope you will believe us,
Leda, when we tell you we came upon our process in a good way, and
we intend it for good purposes."
    "Well, sure, but then, you can't always
control how other people are going to interpret it, what uses
they'll want to make of your work."
    "True. We are beginning sometimes to feel
like Victor Frankenstein. You know, from that movie?"
    "Everyone knows that movie," she reassured
Chimera. "Why now in particular?"
    "Today we had a very important client—other
than the countess, who was most delightful, especially by
comparison. This was another Nucore board member, however, which
was why Wilhelm felt it necessary that we be present."
    "Who did this guy want to be? Caesar?
Napoleon? Not Hitler!"
    "No, none of those. He probably doesn't
consider them worthy to share his mental space. He wanted to use
the process in a less usual way. He wished to donate some of his
DNA so that his heir could undergo the process."
    "Oh, the old 'make me eternally young and
beautiful' deal, huh?"
    "Pardon?"
    "Immortality. You mean this is the first
time someone has asked you to do this kind of thing?"
    "It doesn't surprise you?"
    "Oh, no, I thought all of the egomaniac
billionaires would be busting down your doors to do the same thing.
They must have been too busy counting their petty cash to have
thought of it until just now."
    "He brought along several young associates,"
Chimera said glumly. "In order that they could attend his interview
to hear what he proposed, he paid for all of them to have the
process done themselves. Each may choose a donor personality later.
It was the arrogance of it all that was so staggering," Chimera
said, eyes wide and offended.
    "You—both of you—are pretty innocent, in
spite of all of the things you've seen through a microscope," Leda
told her friend. "What did you tell the guy?"
    "No. Of course, no. Wolfe tried to be
diplomatic—the man is one of the major shareholders in Nucore—but
the process requires a willingness to learn, to grow, to . . .
expand. This man clearly wished only to dominate another so that he
could prolong his own life and the pursuit of his own desires."
    "I guess it works for him," Leda said. "I'm
glad you turned him down, though. Sounds like a jerk."
    "We worry what will happen when the process
becomes better known, when it begins to slip from our immediate
control. For what other sorts of perverted purposes will it be
used? We are not happy with this, Leda."
    "Well, you can comfort yourself that at
least so far, governments aren't bidding for it to use for military
purposes. Or are they?"
    Chimera just groaned and returned to the
solace of the microscope.
     
     

CHAPTER 4
     
    Alexandria in the afternoon had all of the
dubious charm of a Turkish bath, or more accurately, an Egyptian
bath. A welcoming committee of heat waves danced up from the
runway, enveloping Leda in a sticky embrace as soon as she stepped
from the plane. After which she and the pilot spent a strenuous
sweaty time unloading large boxes of equipment she would need to
set up her lab, the sensitive instruments, the special computer,
and her own bags. Then her plane took off again, and she stood
sopping in the middle of the runway. The heat was the only thing
waving at her. There was no welcoming committee. The airfield was
occupied by a solitary helicopter, a mountain of boxes that made
the pile she had just unloaded resemble a mere foothill by
comparison, and a hangar with a Quonset hut beside it. If there was
any ground transportation, she didn't see it.
    The people from the site knew she was
coming. They knew she'd be bringing lots of stuff. Wolfe had
instructed his people to call their people. And yet, nobody. Not a
damn soul. She carried her duffel bag to the Quonset hut.
    "Hello?" she called, but nobody answered.
The computer on the battered metal desk was turned off. She was
turning to go, to see if she couldn't find someone to help drag her
stuff off the