Beggars and Choosers (13 page)

“Pre-agreed upon by both sides,” read Moderator Yongers, “are the
following nine points:

“One—Case 1892-A describes a nanodevice designed to be injected into
the human bloodstream. The device is made of genetically modified
self-replicating proteins in very complex structures. The process which
creates these structures is proprietary, belonging to Huevos Verdes
Corporation. The device has been named by its creators the ‘Cell
Cleaner.” This name is a registered trademark, and must be indicated as
such whenever used.“

Always good to have your commercial bases covered. I scanned the
faces of the Nobel laureates. They showed nothing.

“Two—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has demonstrated
the capacity to leave the bloodstream and travel through human tissue,
as do white blood cells. Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner
also has demonstrated the capacity to penetrate a cell wall, as do
viruses, with no damage to the cell.”

No problem there—even I knew that the FDA had already licensed a
batch of drugs that could do those things. I switched my contact lenses
to zoom and saw Miranda Sharifi’s hand steal into Leisha Camden’s. Bad
move—every grid journalist and online watcher could see it, too. Didn’t
Miranda know any better than to show signs of weakness to the enemy?
How had she brought down the entire pseudo-government of Sanctuary,
anyway?

“Three—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner occupies less
than one percent of a typical cell’s volume. Under laboratory
conditions, the Cell Cleaner has demonstrated the capacity to be
powered by chemicals naturally present in cells.”

Yongers paused and looked challengingly around the room; I didn’t
know why. Did she expect any of us to challenge what eight scientists
had already stipulated? The Cell Cleaner could have been powered by
gerbils on treadmills for all any of us laymen could prove. But only
under laboratory conditions, of course.

It was already clear where the opposition would attack.

“Four—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has demonstrated
the capacity to replicate at slightly slower than the rate at which
bacteria replicate—about twenty minutes per complete division. Under
laboratory conditions, this replication has demonstrated the capacity
to occur for several hours using only those chemicals normally found in
human tissue plus those chemicals contained in the fluid of the
original injection. Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has
demonstrated the capacity to stop replicating after several hours, and
to then replicate only to replace damaged units.”

Go forth and multiply, but only to a predetermined point. Too bad
the whole human race hadn’t done that. The history of the previous
century—and the cataclysmically Malthusian one before that—might have
been entirely different. God forgot the “off” switch. Huevos Verdes
didn’t.

“Five—The Cell Cleaner contains a proprietary device referred to in
Case 1892-A as ‘biomechanical nanocomputing technology.” Under
laboratory conditions, this technology has demonstrated the capacity to
identify seven cells of the same functional type from a mass of cells
of varying functional types, and to compare the DNA from these seven
cells to determine what constitutes standard DNA coding for that type
of cell. Furthermore, the Cell Cleaner is said to be able to enter
subsequent cells and compare their DNA structure to its determined
standard.“

If that was true—and there was no way the opposition would have
agreed to it if there were the slightest doubt—it was astounding. No
other biotech firm on Earth could do that. But I noticed the careful
wording: “is said to be able.” Stipulations were supposed to be
demonstrated fact. Why were mere claims by Huevos Verdes allowed in at
this point? Unless they were necessary prerequisites to something that
had
been demonstrated.

“Six—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has demonstrated
the capacity to destroy any cells whose DNA does not match what it has
determined to be standard coding.”

Bingo.

Even the journalists looked excited. In
Washington
.

“Seven—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has
demonstrated the capacity to thus destroy each of the following types
of abberrant cells: cancerous growths, precancerous dysphasia, deposits
on arterial walls, viruses, infectious bacteria, toxic elements and
compounds, and cells whose DNA has been altered by viral activity
resulting in DNA splices. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that
under laboratory conditions, such dissembled cells can be handled by
normal bodily-waste-removal mechanisms.”

Cancer, arteriosclerosis, chicken pox, herpes, lead poisoning,
tourista, cystitis, and the common cold. All gone, dissembled and
washed away by your own team of customized internal cleaning ladies. I
felt a little dizzy.

But what the hell could those “laboratory conditions” have been like?

The spectators buzzed loudly. Moderator Yongers glared at us until
the room quieted.

“Eight—Under laboratory conditions, the Cell Cleaner has
demonstrated the capacity to avoid destroying certain bacterial cells
even though their ‘genetic fingerprint’ does not match the host
tissue’s DNA. These cells include, but are not limited to, bacteria
normally found in the human digestive tract, vagina, and upper
respiratory tract. It is noted for the record that Huevos

Verdes Corporation attributes this selectivity in dissembling
non-standard DNA to ‘preprogramming the protein nanocomputer to
recognize symbiotic bacterial DNA.“’

Kill off the harmful, spare the useful. Huevos Verdes was offering
the world’s first immune-system enhancer with computerized Darwinian
morality. Or maybe Arthurian morality: Replace ‘Might makes right’ with
‘Right makes life.“ I suddenly pictured legions of little Cell Cleaners
in shining white armor, and I had to grin. The journalist in the next
seat shot me an edgy look.

“Nine—No significant studies have been carried out concerning the
Cell Cleaner’s performance or effects inside whole, living, fully
functional human beings.”

There it was: the inevitable spoiler. Without long-term studies of
its effects on real people, Huevos Verdes had no more chance of
marketing Case 1892-A than of marketing powdered unicorn horn. Even if
the Science Court permitted further study, I was not going to have my
own private Cell Cleaner anytime soon.

I sat exploring how I felt about that.

Another buzz swept over the audience: disappointment? Satisfaction?
Anger? It seemed to be all three.

“The
following points
,” Moderator Yongers said, raising
her voice, “
are in dispute
,” The chamber quieted.

“One—The Cell Cleaner will cause ho harm to healthy human cells,
tissues, or organs.”

She stopped. That was it—one point in dispute. But that point, her
face clearly said, was everything. Who wanted a cleaned, repaired, dead
body?

“The first opening argument will be presented by the opposition. Dr.
Lee?”

There was another printout to summarize Dr. Lee’s points, which was
fortunate because he couldn’t. Every sentence came trailing clouds of
evidence, qualifiers, and equations, all of which he clearly considered
glory. The technical panel listened closely, taking notes. Everybody
else consulted the printout. It summarized his windy points:

In dispute: “The Cell Cleaner will cause no harm to
healthy human cells, tissues, or organs.”

In rebuttal: There is no way to assure that the Cell
Cleaner will not cause harm to healthy cells, organs, or tissues.

• Laboratory tests do not necessarily predict the
effects of biosubstances on live, functional human beings. See CDC
Hypertext File 68164.

• No partial-being studies have included the effect
of the Cell Cleaner on the brain. Brain chemistry can behave much
differently from grosser body tissue. See CDC Hypertext File 68732.

• The long-term effects submitted cover only two
years. Many biosubstances reveal erratic side effects only after longer
time periods. See CDC Hypertext File 88812.

• The list of so-called “pre-programmed symbiotic
bacterial DNA” that the Cell Cleaner will not destroy may or may not be
congruent with a complete list of useful foreign organisms in a living,
functional human being. The human body includes some ten thousand
billion billion protein parts interacting in intensely complex ways,
including hundreds of thousands of different kinds of molecules, some
only partially understood. The so-called “pre-programmed list” could
leave out vital organisms which the Cell Cleaner would then destroy,
possibly causing tremendous functional upset, including death.

• Over time, the Cell Cleaner itself might develop
replication problems. Since it introduces what is in essence competing
DNA into the body, it displays the potential to become an artificially
induced cancer. See CDC Hypertext File 4536.

I wondered at the quirk in the printing program that had made the
word “cancer” darker than the rest.

Dr. Lee took the entire rest of the morning for his opening
argument, which seemed shut pretty tight to me. At no point did I
question his sincerity. The argument seemed to go like this: The Cell
Cleaner couldn’t be proved safe without a decade—at least— of tests on
real, whole human beings. (I decided not to look up “partial-being
studies.” I didn’t really want to know.) It was, however, inhumane to
subject real human beings to such risks. There was therefore no way to
prove the Cell Cleaner safe. And if it was unsafe, the potential for
widespread disaster was spectacular.

Including, in the curious phrasing of the printout, “tremendous
functional upset, including death.”

Therefore, the opposition would recommend that the Cell Cleaner not
be licensed, not be approved for further study within the United
States, and be placed on the Banned List of the International Genetic
Modification Advisory Council.

Apparently we had already left the fact-finding stage and were well
into the political-recommendation stage. Washington is Washington.
Facts are political; politics is a fact.

It was a quarter to twelve when Dr. Lee finished. Moderator Yongers
leaned over her bench. “Ms. Sharifi, it’s nearly time to break for
lunch. Would you prefer to postpone your opening statement until this
afternoon?”

“No, Madame Moderator. I’ll be brief.” Why hadn’t Leisha Camden told
Miranda to leave off the red hair ribbon? It gave her an
Alice-in-Wonderland youthfulness that was a liability. Her voice was
calm and dispassionate.

“The patent you are considering today is the greatest life-saving
medical development since the discovery of antibiotics. Dr. Lee speaks
of the dangers to the body if the Cell Cleaner nanomachinery fails, or
is inaccurately programmed, or produces unknown side effects. He does
not mention the people who will die premature or painful deaths
without
this innovation. You would rather keep one person from dying with the
Cell Cleaner than have hundreds of thousands die without it. That is
morally wrong.

“
You
are morally wrong, all of you. The whole purpose of
this so-called scientific Forum is to protect drug company profits at
the expense of the sick and dying. You are moral Fascists, using the
strength of government to harm those already weak and powerless, in
order to keep them powerless and so keep yourselves in power. And I
except none of you from these charges, not even the scientists, who
conspire with profit and power and so deliver science to them.

“With the Cell Cleaner, Huevos Verdes offers you life. Even though
you do not deserve to live. But Huevos Verdes does not distinguish
between the deserving and the undeserving when it offers a product.
You
do, every time your regulations stifle genetic or nanotech research,
every time that lost research deprives someone of life. You are
killers, all of you. Political and economic mercenaries, no better at
judging true science than the jungle animals whose morality you
emulate. Nonetheless, Huevos Verdes Corporation offers you the Cell
Cleaner, and I will prove to you here its essential safety, even though
I’m not sure any of you has the capacity to understand the science I
will explain.”

And Miranda Sharifi sat down.

The panel looked stunned, as well they might. More interestingly,
Leisha Camden also looked stunned. Evidently this was not what she’d
expected to hear her protegee say. She whispered frantically into
Miranda’s ear.

“I have never heard such unprofessional bullshit!” Martin Davis
Exford, Nobel laureate in molecular physics, on his feet behind the
panelists’ table. His powerful voice outshouted everyone else. Maroon
veins pulsed below the surface of his neck.

“I deeply resent, Ms. Sharifi, your perversion of this Forum. We’re
here to determine scientific fact, not indulge in ad hominem attacks!”

A journalist in fashionable yellow stripes yelled from the front row
of the press box, “Ms. Sharifi—are you
trying
to lose this
case?”

Slowly I turned my head in his direction.

“Hey, Miranda, look this way!” a Liver-channel reporter, his robocam
floating beside him. “Smile pretty!”

“Order, please! Order!” Moderator Yongers, her glasses gone, banging
her metal water pitcher since she had no gavel because of course this
wasn’t really a court.

“Smile, Miranda!”

“—an outrage to professional discourse and—”

“Please sit down,” said several seats, “others may have trouble
seeing over you. Please sit—”

“I will have order in this Forum!”

But the pandemonium grew. A man broke from the public section and
charged down the inclined aisle toward the Forum floor.

I had a clear view of his face. It twisted with the terrible
rigidity of hate, a rigidity that no amount of reason can relax and
that takes years to calcify. Miranda Sharifi’s insults today hadn’t
created that face. The man ran toward her, pulling something from his
jacket. Seventeen robocams and three security ‘bots zoomed toward him.