Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [108]
She leaned aside for Teg to look.
‘Once I broke the encryptions with the key code…’
‘From our wall projection?’
Grayson nodded. ‘I had my foot in the door, and it was all there. These molecules are made to amplify for transcription. It’s what they do.’
‘So once you zero in on them…’
‘They amplify about one hundred million times.’ He finished her sentence.
‘DNA is like the planet Mercury,’ Rosette said.
‘How so?’ Teg asked.
She smiled. ‘Messenger of the gods.’
Teg wrote in his notebook.
‘Once I was able to view the text Janis had embedded, I uploaded the code into the computer, linked to this light-scope, and there you have it.’
‘So it’s a simulation of her notes?’ Rosette asked.
‘Simulation or real thing. It’s one and the same. Here, I’ll switch to monitor.’
The wide screen plasma monitor winked on and Rosette leaned back, clearly seeing the tablets with their notations. Rosette drew in her breath. ‘She’s designed them like tarot cards! I thought so before but this is quite vivid.’
‘I actually think that was Paree’s touch.’
‘Why do you say that?’ Teg asked.
‘Look at the bottom corner of each card,’ Grayson said, pointing to the screen. ‘Hang on. I’ll magnify it further.’
Rosette leaned forward, squinting. ‘Initials?’
‘L.P.—and look closer.’
‘A wolf emblem!’
‘So he was artist as well as architect.’ She turned to Grayson. ‘Like you, and your DNA tattooing.’ She drummed the table with her fingertip when he didn’t comment. ‘How big is the palette?’
‘Good question.’ He clicked the screen, zooming out until the double helix structure of the DNA molecule was visible, showing thirteen rungs on the ladder.
‘To understand size, first realise that the width is only about six micrometres in diameter.’
‘Micrometres?’ Teg asked.
‘Like this.’ He held his arms out, the length of Drayco’s tail. ‘You could put a million micrometers in this space.’
‘A million?’
‘Yes, and we are only looking at six.’
‘So, it’s very small,’ Teg said.
He nodded. ‘But the length of the human genome is twice this distance.’ He stepped forward taking a large stride. ‘So what we see here,’ he said, tapping the plasma screen, ‘to scale, would stretch from the city of Corsanon to the harbour in Morzone.’
‘How can it fit in the cell then, if it’s as long as half the world?’ Teg asked.
‘Coiling and supercoiling,’ Grayson said. ‘That reduces the length about ten thousandfold.’
Teg whistled. ‘Ten thousandfold…’
‘Zoom in again, please?’ Rosette asked.
The cards became visible, fanned like a poker hand.
‘Have you been able to read them?’
‘I was just about to when you…’
‘Hovered?’ She smiled. ‘Kreshkali will want to get a look at this immediately.’ Teg? Can you sense her?
Teg closed his eyes for a moment. ‘She’s in the orchard, with Hotha.’
‘Are you calling her in?’ Grayson asked.
‘Inviting.’ Teg closed his notebook then turned his gaze to Rosette’s belly. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Why does everyone keep asking me that? I’m fine.’
He motioned towards her abdomen, waiting for permission. She nodded and he felt her belly with both hands.
‘Did Kreshkali ask you to do that?’ Rosette pushed his hands away. She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘We need to get those notes deciphered. There’s no time for this.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why are you both frowning at me?’
‘Has Kali checked recently?’ Teg asked.
‘Is an hour ago recent enough?’ Rosette snapped.
‘What’s wrong?’ Grayson asked. He stepped up, his hand feeling her abdomen. ‘Is the baby all right?’
‘I’m fine!’ Rosette pushed them both away. ‘Everything is fine here. The only thing we need to focus on is Jarrod and how we’re going to use the spell to get him back. We need to read these messages, not poke and prod me and baby.’
Walk, Maudi? We could go get Kali? Meet her along the way.
‘I’m getting Kreshkali,’ she said, heading for the door. ‘I’ll be back.’
She left the library, trying not to waddle. It was getting harder every day to carry this baby, hard to make a dignified, poignant exit. Her pelvis felt like it was held together with elastic bands.
Rosette?