‘Will you please make welcome Senator Allan Edwards,’ said an invisible announcer, ‘the federal Minister for Science and Technology.’
There was applause. As he stepped up to the microphone, the minister’s face was pale although composed.
‘Well, ladies and gentlemen, as the song goes, tonight is no ordinary night. Tonight we are launching a vision I believe in so strongly that nothing could prevent me from being here. I come in the hope that I may take something positive out of the darkness that has surrounded my life lately.’ A more intense silence greeted this statement. The awareness of recent, violent death seemed tangible in the atmosphere. ‘I urge you to have the same belief, to help us build life out of death, hope out of despair. Let me introduce Dr Elena Calvo, the CEO of Life Patent Strategies International and one of the most impressive people I have ever met. Please make her most welcome.’
He stepped back. The audience applauded. Resplendent in the light, Elena stood up and began to speak.
‘Thank you, Senator Edwards. Before anything else, I want to say that without Senator Edwards’ foresight and dedication, tonight would not have been possible. I will always be deeply grateful for his support. Please, if we could show our appreciation.’
The applause was generous. Edwards nodded his thanks but appeared ill at ease, his face tense with exhaustion.
‘Thank you too, ladies and gentlemen, for being here tonight. To sum up our business enterprise, we open the doors to vast possibility. Tonight we offer you the opportunity to be a part of that enterprise.’
The LPS logo on the screen had spun in on itself while she spoke. In its place, a double helix appeared in closeup, coiling across the screen: a thickish, ribbed, twisted rope made up of a darker red exterior enclosing a paler interior, its parts meshed together like teeth in a zipper.
‘This is a single strand of DNA,’ Elena continued. ‘What you see magnified on this screen behind me is in reality only fifty-trillionths of an inch wide. This very narrow thread supports the varieties of life. At Life Patent Strategies, we experiment with this thread, we mine its unlimited potential. Genes are our latest industrial raw material, the most inexhaustible, self-generating resource humans have ever tapped into. If you own the knowledge of what this tiny strand can do, then you own the commercial power to exploit its vast capacities. With the right expertise, you can trade in its infinite possibilities across the world’s marketplaces.
‘We own the knowledge. We have the expertise. We offer you the chance to be a part of this new world. To make your investment in a resource that has unending potential. Tonight, at this very moment, I am going to demonstrate exactly the kind of injury that our research will one day cure. I ask you to remain seated while I invite to the microphone someone who is a very dear friend of mine. Please do not be startled by his appearance. Let me introduce Dr Daniel Brinsmead, the head of our signature research project into the regeneration of the human body following major burns.’
Like the ghost at the feast, Daniel Brinsmead stepped forward. His ruined face stood out as a strange mask, both illuminated and shaded by the fall of the light, staring back at the crowd. There was a stir throughout the audience.
‘Good evening,’ he said, a disembodied voice through the microphone. ‘For those of you who haven’t seen me before, don’t be disturbed by how I look. Let me tell you where I fit in here. I’m a geneticist. You can find my resume on the website or in your prospectus. Tonight I’m representing myself not only as the researcher but as the subject. The work that LPS does is contentious. Most biotechnology is contentious. But as a scientist, I have no doubt whatsoever that in the field of biotechnology, there are enormously positive gains to be made. Cures for crippling and painful diseases. Food crops that rely on less environmentally destructive methods of farming, with yields that promise independence for their farmers. But will we do this? Will we enhance life or produce wastelands? Or will the sources of life become something owned only by a very few people for their commercial benefit alone? Out of the source of life, will we create death?’
The word carried through the high-ceilinged room with a curious resonance. The audience shivered despite the warm summer night. Brinsmead touched his face with both hands.
‘That’s the question I want to ask you tonight, all of you who want to invest in this corporation. Because I am the embodiment of all that LPS has to offer you. My face and this organisation are one and the same. I want you to look at my face, to remember it. To know that this is what burns do to people. Because this face is what you will be investing in. In the decisions that led to it happening and the pain that made it look the way it does now; and, paradoxically, the possibility that one day this injury may be repaired, this skin remade and the past expunged. Something that most of us would wish for at least once in our lives.’ He paused. ‘The questions for you as investors are: do you know what the cost of this face really is; and are you prepared to pay it? Make sure you find the right answer. That you do choose limitless possibility and not the end of life. I’ll now return you to Elena.’ He sat down.
‘What Daniel has said is correct,’ Elena Calvo said in a clear, ringing voice. ‘Our research program goes to the heart of life. We will be working towards renewing the human body, regenerating the mind, the nerves, the spinal cord. Now let me take you through the projects that are already in progress.’
The curling DNA on the screen spun in on itself. A video played in its place. The audience was given a virtual tour of the building at Campbelltown. In the laboratories, the scientific personnel in charge of the individual projects spoke to the cameras. From the podium, Elena introduced her chief business officer, then her chief financial officer-individuals known and respected, with impressive resumes, all printed in the prospectus. The listeners became absorbed, a number taking notes in the half-light. Elena began to talk money: projected returns for dollars invested. The figures were impressive. She then took questions from the floor. The questioning was enthusiastic; she answered with ease.
‘If there are no more questions,’ she eventually said, ‘I would like to invite you all to stay and enjoy the rest of the buffet. Please don’t hesitate to come and speak to me or any of my colleagues. Thank you for your attention.’
She and her colleagues left the podium to considerable applause. The lights came on. People got up from their seats talking with energy. A crowd gathered around the buffet; there was the sound of champagne corks popping. The string quartet began to play again. The staff moved forward quickly, folding up the vacated seats and moving them out of the way, then shifting the podium to the side. People spilled over into the open space, talking; the noise filled the room. Only the video screen remained, again displaying its strand of DNA coiling above their heads.
Grace accepted a soda water from a passing waiter and looked around. Daniel Brinsmead was walking towards her. His movements were awkward, slow.
‘Grace. I hope you don’t mind if I come and talk to you. We haven’t been introduced properly. This is my card.’
‘This is mine,’ Grace said with a smile, making the decision that this might be a useful connection.
‘I’m supposed to be earning my keep by talking to the investors. But there’s no reason why I can’t have some time out, as they say,’ Brinsmead said. ‘Your card doesn’t say what you do. Do you have the pleasure of not working?’
‘I’m a public servant. It’s very boring. Your work is much more interesting.’
‘I find it hard to believe that someone like you could be in a dull job. How did you like the presentation?’
‘That was quite a speech you gave. I wasn’t sure if you wanted people to invest or to go away. It was almost as if you were warning them off.’