Koban (98 page)

“How about our opposition group?” Noreen asked. “Cahill is picking
up anti-gene mod activists from the last arrivals. The potential number of people
they can recruit to vote to stop us is considerably more than the number that experienced
the Krall threat first hand. They don’t feel the same level of motivation as we
or the early captives do. This is despite the stories they hear and the recordings
we play. That bad time is now in the past; it left with the Krall to their way of
thinking.”

“They all eat, don’t they?” asked Thad. “I mean they share the
meat we risk our lives to kill and bring them. Every hunter sees how over matched
we are. Even the small animals out there are faster than we are, and often dangerous
to mess with. We notice and report new animal types almost weekly, now that we explore
a bit farther. I suggest we make everyone participate in the hunting. Finding out
what it really takes to survive here would be an eye opener.”

Mirikami added, “They’ll be seeing some of those new animals
in the dome. A rat shaped critter the size of a fruit rat has made it under the
fence and into the dome. It’s so fast, strong, and smart, that no one has even been
able to trap one yet. They’re able to break open most traps we’ve tried, but now
they’ve learned to ignore the bait, and why not? They can simply run up with impunity
to take food from a plate right in front of you. A person can’t move fast enough
to knock one away in time. If several people corner one, it attacks them like a
little blue whirlwind with teeth.”

Maggi returned to Thad’s suggestion. “Thad’s idea to send everyone
out to hunt is too strict, because not everyone that likes to eat has the fortitude
to hunt. However, I think everyone should be sent out to ride in the shuttles to
watch how it’s done, to see what it takes.

“We can tell them the requirement is a necessary familiarization
with Koban, which is true enough. I think it would be seen as a chance at sightseeing.
Who wants to spend the rest of their life confined within a circle two miles across?
I don’t hunt, but I enjoyed the flights I’ve taken.”

She paused a moment. “There’s a beautiful world out there that
we can’t experience because of how weak nature made us, at least by the standards
of this world. Regardless of how we came to be here, Koban is by any measure a new
colony for humanity, even if we are the only humans that know this and have no outside
support. We and our children will live and die here; if we can have children that
is.” She looked to her friend.

“Aldry has more to say on the latter subject.” Maggi sat down
as Aldry rose to her feet.

Aldry looked solemn. “I don’t know how many of you knew that
nearly two hundred women arrived here pregnant. Most of you were aware that there
were twenty-three women between six and seven months along because they were showing.
All of those ladies obeyed the travel cut off dates imposed for expectant mothers
for Jump travel. Those travel restrictions did not factor in a destination where
the gravity was half again Earth standard.”

She told them the sad statistics. “Each of those women has now
miscarried because we can’t move them to a gravity controlled environment. Except
it’s worse than that. Over a hundred forty other women have miscarried as well.
After the first two months on Koban, we had eighty-five percent of the pregnancies
end in spontaneous abortions, and we lost three mothers. There is good reason to
expect all of the current pregnancies to abort before full term, no matter what
we do for these women.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that Aldry,” Mirikami replied sadly. “Of
course I knew of the problems the women that were farther along were experiencing,
but I didn’t know that of all of them would likely lose their babies. You advised
me that most women receiving one or both sets of gene mods before conception should
generally reach full term. Can’t you offer those mods to the pregnant women now,
to increase their chances?”

“No,” Aldry shook her head. “and there are multiple reasons.
The viruses would also infect the fetus with untested effects on their development.
The mother’s body is likely to abort the fetus anyway as her changes occur. The
supplements we feed you at the start were never tested on pregnant women of course,
and there is a risk for the fetus from them.”

“Damn!” Thad swore. “If we can’t have children this colony will
be as good as dead in fifty years. What are we building for, what will we be able
to preserve?”

Aldry held her hand up to forestall the pessimism.

“Thad, it’s true the pregnancies already underway will likely
all abort. However, women with the gene mods already implemented when they conceive
will have a stronger constitution, and should have a good chance of going full term,
or close enough for a safe delivery. Gravity will still increase the risks and strain,
but we think most women will be able to have healthy babies. If the fathers also
have gene mods it will increase the chances of a successful delivery.”

“Huh?” Thad looked confused. “How can good old dad’s strength
and well-being help mom give birth?”

“Thad,” Aldry answered patiently, “these are
gene
modifications.
After they have established themselves throughout every cell, over some months of
course, the traits are inheritable. They appear in DNA contained in the eggs and
sperm. The babies will be born with a combination of both parent’s contributions.
If only mom has modifications, the fetus will inherit some of the genes, and may
or may not experience distress from the Koban environment. If both parents were
boosted the baby will have them all.”

“Funny, I hadn’t thought about my mods being passed along to
children. I thought of them as similar to body building.”

Maggi laughed. “Those genes will be passed along, plus your inherited
longevity and immune system genes, your height, your looks, and a thick head will
all be passed along to your unfortunate offspring. I hope you contract with a smart,
beautiful woman for that poor child’s sake.” The barb proving she liked Thad.

“Ha! I guess your children would be short, irritating, and smart
asses?” he retorted, in mutual admiration.

“Maggi,” interrupted Aldry, before the inevitable second strike
would take them farther off track. “The inheritable nature of gene modifications
has been established, so this is a good time for Rafe to tell us about the results
of his lab’s research.”

Turning to the man sitting next to her, she said, “Rafe, would
you please explain what your lab has been doing?”

Rafe was a short man, and previously pudgy, before his wife Isadora
was killed by a Krall exercising in the Fancy’s stair wells. He had lost his appetite
and weight after that, and had asked for and received the first gene mods two and
a half months ago. He had grown fit while setting up the second genetic research
lab.

With his added energy and new focus, he devoted almost every
waking hour to new research. Before joining the Midwife Project, he had worked on
studying the occasional genetic mutations in children on the New Colony world of
Brussels. That planet experienced a high incidence of Cosmic Rays because of a weaker
magnetic field than Earth’s or most colonies.

He’d had an outgoing personality when Isadora was alive, but
he had become withdrawn and intense after she was killed. Hatred for the Krall was
at the focal point of that intensity.

He was still intense in his hatred of the Krall, but his research
had given him a diversion and a new goal. When he realized that his new research
had implications for the subjects of his hatred, he regained his former ebullience.

When Aldry asked him to stand and tell them what his research
showed, Rafe bounced to his feet, his excitement obvious.

“You’ve heard how our colonists will be able to have children.
Our children will be born with the strengths we give ourselves to better survive
here. But those children will grow up to have children, and generations after that.”
He looked around the table.

“You must answer this question. Do you want them to become true
Kobani?”

The others recognized the rhetorical nature of the question and
waited.

“Your grandchildren can do better than simply to be able to tolerate
this planet, always living sequestered inside protective walls, as the Krall largely
did. They can become fully adapted to this planet. They can inherit the same reaction
speed as the native life, able to survive here as well as our ancestors did on the
African plains, where modern humans first evolved. They can be much stronger, although
never as powerful as a rhinolo or a ripper, but then our own ancestors were no physical
match for rhinos and lions. Yet humans spread to be the dominate species on Earth.
Our grandchildren can complete human domination on Koban.” He looked at them with
satisfaction, waiting for a response.

Mirikami exercised his prerogative to go first. “Rafe, we have
been told repeatedly that we can’t enhance our own DNA to achieve this. Clearly,
you have something else in mind. How do you propose to reach this goal in two generations?”

Rafe looked directly at Mirikami, a slight smile showing. “When
I asked if you wanted humans to become true Kobani I was being quite literal.”

He stared his explanation. “As we’ve discovered in life forms
we’ve found on any planet, DNA holds the blueprints. It builds things like simple
sponges and complex people on Earth, and some of the same genes in a sponge appear
in higher animals, like us. Our lab has found genes in DNA on Koban that we share,
despite having evolved hundreds of light years and billions of years apart. There
are DNA building blocks that are common to many life forms that use the same basic
chemical elements. And the blocks can be interchanged if intelligently selected.”

He took a deep breath. “We can incorporate segments of selected
genetic components of native Koban life into our own DNA. The crucial first steps
are a bit risky, but we can incorporate the genes that build the same Kobani organic
superconducting nerves into our own nervous system. Not to replace our native nervous
system but to build the framework of a new one, in parallel.

“We can do this within our own generation, incompletely for sure,
and we will not be able to use it to full advantage. However, we would pass this
trait on to the next generation, our children. They would be born with an unused
parallel organic superconducting nervous system. That generation will be able to
accept additional genetic enhancements to add in the connective nerve tissue that
can connect our human muscles to the second nervous system.

“This will furnish them with the same fast reaction times we
see in Koban animals. Our children would not only sense the need to move sooner
than we can, but their brain would transmit the command for the muscles to do so
sooner.” He had their attention, but also saw doubt.

“Note that for our children the reaction times would be much
faster, but the physical response would be no stronger than our human muscles can
exert now. However, the generation after that is when the end product of this effort
becomes possible.

“Our children would pass their new DNA to their own children
from birth, to our grandchildren. At that stage, we can incorporate additional Koban
DNA for musculature construction like the one all of the animals here employ,
and for stronger bones. We can do this at the fetal stage, or even prior to conception
so our old weaker muscle structure isn’t built at all. If we deactivate development
of the normal human nervous system, we will build only the superconducting nerves
that connect to tougher, stronger muscle, cartilage, bones, and tendons, to give
us the strength to move as powerfully and as quickly as any native animal of comparable
size.” He looked around the room.

“This can be achieved in only two generations. If we start on
ourselves soon, and our first children marry younger than has been customary, say
in late teens, and they produce babies by age twenty, the first humans fully adapted
to live on Koban could be born well within our long lifetimes. All subsequent generations
will inherit their abilities.” He spread his hands, in obvious invitation for comments.

Noreen asked, “Would our grandchildren and their offspring still
be human? Aren’t you proposing a man-made new species as a successor to Homo sapiens?”

Rafe seemed startled. “That’s not what I’m proposing at all!
Our children will be as human as we are, and …” he paused in thought, before continuing
cautiously.

“It is possible that in doing as I just proposed, employing the
fastest
possible pace of changes, that our grandchildren might be unable
to reproduce with unmodified humans. I thank you Noreen for an excellent observation.
It isn’t a trivial matter, but the solution is nearly so.” He told them how.

“It means we have to be careful and selective of the alien genes
we introduce and what original human genes we suppress. We must, and can, maintain
the ability to interbreed with a control population of unmodified humans. Two generations
is probably rushing things to reach full Koban capability. I was expressing my eagerness
to finish sooner.” He admitted.

“Rather than replace one nervous system with another, we should
be able to retain both in parallel as we would do with ourselves and our children.
That would permanently give our descendants the ability to control our enhanced
muscles with either nervous system.” He nodded.

“By encouraging parings with an unmodified control group, we
would ensure our future offspring can reproduce with unmodified humans, but then
there would be a range of offspring with various levels of Koban traits. Some few
would inherit normal human capability, some others full Koban speed and strength,
with most placed somewhere in between. That would be enough to make us competitive
on this planet. Not everyone is cut out to be a hunter, explorer, or pioneer.”