Dark Ararat - Brian Stableford [101]
“Quite possibly,” Tang agreed. “It remains to be seen, of course, how flexible the system might be. So far, I’ve only had the opportunity to observe relatively minor variations of size and form. Until I find a much bigger giant, or manage to identify two radically different forms of the same chimerical cell-mix, it’s all conjecture.”
“Have you searched the flying-eye data for giant slugs that might be blown-up versions of this one?” Matthew asked.
“Not yet,” was the suitably guarded reply.
“But even if we keep the frog example in mind—especially if we keep the frog example in mind—it’s plausible that the extra genes in the DNA-analogue part of the genome include metamorphic options. Options that remain permanently in place, rather than simply guiding a growing individual through a fixed series of stages.”
“It’s all speculative, at present” Tang said. “But yes, those are the lines along which we’ve all been thinking. The parallel systems in frogs are all to do with reproduction—the options can determine the sex of hatchlings as well as facilitating development at a range of different temperatures—so it’s possible there’s a reproductive function here, if only we could figure out exactly how these creatures do reproduce. I’m no anatomist, but I can’t find anything resembling sex organs in this specimen or any of its kin. Andrei Lityansky undoubtedly told you about Bernal Delgado’s speculations about chimerical renewal and exchange, but I’m afraid that I haven’t been able to find any supportive evidence for the kinds of process he imagined. If the organisms are very long-lived, they might not bother to maintain their sex organs permanently—they might develop them temporarily just for the mating season. There are Earthly examples … but the simple fact is that we don’t know.”
“That thing is a chimera, I suppose,” Matthew said, pointing yet again at the creature in the biocontainment cell. “Is it a more complicated chimera than its smaller kin?”
“Oddly enough, no. When I began investigating the specimen I half-expected to find far more extensive chimerization than the smaller specimens exhibit, but it’s a mosaic of eight genetically distinct but phenotypically similar cell-types, which is exactly the same level of complexity as specimens with a tenth of its body mass, and less than some thumb-sized individuals of other kinds. Eight is by far the most frequent figure that turns up—four is only half as common, sixteen less than a quarter. Two crops up fairly regularly, but I haven’t yet found a thirty-two—or, for that matter, a singleton.”
“What about the mammal-analogues?” Matthew asked.
“The work that’s been done at Base One hasn’t turned up anything but fours and eights. That’s disappointing, in a way. There doesn’t seem to be any correlation between phenotypic complexity and chimerical complexity—but everything we’ve examined thus far has been a simple chimera in the sense that all the cells are closely related—often sibs or half-sibs. Again, it all comes back to reproduction. If they don’t grow temporary sex organs for the mating season they may well indulge in periodic radical experiments in chimerization, but …
“Until we catch them at it,” Matthew finished for him, “we have no way of knowing what they get up to.”
It wasn’t quite the way Tang would have put it, but he nodded agreement regardless.
“How much hidden potential are we talking about?” Matthew wanted to know. “Setting aside worries about the frog example, how versatile might these beasts be when they’re not cruising in neutral?”
That was a step too far for Tang. “I really can’t say,” the biochemist told him, sadly. “Before I could make any sort of guess I’d have to know what kind of potential