At the same time, he was using some proteomic tools to identify the amino acids in the serum sample he took from the re-animated sheep's leg. Genes were sort of like factories that could build themselves. DNA coded for protein. Some of the protein was used to make things like cells and antibodies, but some of it was used to make enzymes and hormones. These were chemicals that caused biochemical reactions within the body.
For instance, insulin was a hormone that lowered blood sugar, and a lack of it resulted in diabetes. HGH was responsible for human growth, and lack of it caused dwarfism, or too much of it caused NBA players. Enzymes speeded biochemical reactions—saliva contained enzymes that helped break down starches, aiding in digestion, and the restriction enzymes used so often in molecular science were chemicals that functioned like tiny pairs of scissors, cutting DNA molecules at specific sequences. These were essential to genetic research, because a single strand of DNA could have billions of base pairs, making it unwieldy indeed.
Belgium was convinced that Bub's power of resurrection was either hormonal or enzymic, and in order to prove it he had to identify the proteins. Since proteins were made of amino acids, that was what he searched for. Some of the tools he used were AACompIdent, PeptIdent, SWISS-PROT, and TrEMBLE; all extremely sophisticated amino acid identifiers.
“Let meeee oooooout,” Bub said, startling Belgium to the point that he almost fell out of his chair.
“What?”
“I want the inteeeernet.”
Belgium had already made the decision that he wouldn't let Bub out again. He knew Bub had lied during the interrogation. Bub had claimed to have never read the bible, but Frank had checked the cookies in the Temp file, and several of the websites Bub had been extensively surfing were biblical. That made everything the demon had said suspect.
Belgium wasn't sure why Bub would lie—he'd cured Race's wife and been friendly to everyone—but he decided he wasn't going to give Bub access to any more information.
The last 24 hours had been gut-wrenching for Belgium. He destroyed the video recordings of Bub leaving his habitat, but he was still worried the infraction would be discovered. He was even more worried once he realized Bub was lying. If Bub had done anything harmful, Belgium would consider himself to blame. After his screw-up at BioloGen, Frank didn't want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt ever again. He would sequence Bub's genome without the demon's help, no matter how long it took.
“I'm sorry, Bub. The server is down. It happens all the time.”
Bub didn't answer right away.
“Are you lyyyyyyyying?” he finally asked. The tone in his voice seemed to bore into Frank’s bones.
“Hmm? No no no, of course not, Bub. Our server is under construction. Maybe they're doing an upgrade.”
“Use another server.”
“We don't have a contract with another server. Besides, we couldn't access another server without using our current server.”
“I wish to see.”
“There's nothing to see, simple as that.”
Belgium buried his face in his notes, pretending to be in deep concentration.
“I'll telllllllll them,” Bub said,
“Tell them what, Bub?”
“Telllllllllll them that you let me oooooooout.”
Belgium turned away from the monitor and faced Bub. He couldn’t believe how scared he felt.
Don’t show fear, he said to himself.
“I made a mistake letting you out. Twice. I won't do it again. If you want Internet time, you'll have to talk with Race. I'm sure he'll give you the world, after what you did with Helen.”
Bub laughed. This confused Belgium, who wasn't aware he'd said anything funny.
He decided to finish up in Green 4. There was a computer there, and he could access the Cray without having to deal with Bub.
“Enjoy the time you haaaaaaaaaave,” Bub said as Frank left.
Belgium didn't know what that meant, but he didn't like the sound of it. Not one bit.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“That was the last one,” Sun said. “For a scientist, his organizational skills suck.”
She and Andy had been in Red 4, fast forwarding through the surveillance DVDs of Bub since he'd been put into the habitat.
They’d just zipped through Bub’s first feeding, which was gory even at 32X speed. After the horrifying meal, Bub appeared to say something. Andy shuttled back and let it play at normal.
“Messy eater,” Race said on the monitor.
“Ba'ax u k'aat u ya'al le t'aano?” Bub replied.
Andy translated the Mayan dialect in his head. “Bub was asking Race What does that expression mean?”
“So he didn’t know English yet?”
“Apparently not.”
They fast-forwarded through the two times Race went into the dwelling, changed discs, and sped through more eating and sleeping.
The discs were not labeled and they weren't in sequential order. This was annoying, because Sun and Andy had to go through each disc to find the current one, and it turned out that one was missing.
An hour wasted. Andy picked up the phone and dialed Red 14.
“No answer,” he said.
He tried Dr. Belgium's room, Blue 10. The doctor wasn’t there, either.
“Maybe he's the one that took the disc,” Sun said. “He's in charge of them.”
“Could be. But it could have been anyone. At least now we can be fairly certain that the disc is intentionally missing. Someone is trying to cover something up.”
“So what does it prove?”
“More proof that Bub was lying, I guess. I don't know, I'm an interpreter, not a detective.”
“Why would someone be helping Bub lie?”
Andy leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “Isn’t it obvious? People make deals with the devil all the time.”
Sun could see his point. She’d only been here a week, but she’d seen enough to accurately describe the Samhain staff as dysfunctional. She stood up and stretched.
“I'm going to Red 3, put some time in. I recall reading something in there that didn't make sense. I can't remember what the hell it was.”
Andy said, “I'll be in Red 6 with the capsule. I want to check the Maya glyphs against the Egyptian ones, see if they say the same thing.”
“I've got to feed Bub soon. Wanna meet me in Orange 12 in say, forty minutes?”
“Sure. I'm hungry myself. We can grab a bite.”
Andy held open the door for Sun, something that Steven used to do for her all the time. She smiled. The memory no longer hurt.
“Hi, Dr. Harker,” Andy said. The physician was standing in the hall, outside the door.
Eavesdropping? Sun wondered.
“Did you examine Helen yet?” Andy asked.
Dr. Harker looked briefly at Andy, surprise on her face. Then she looked at the floor.
“Not yet,” Harker said.
“What's with the video camera?” Sun pointed at Harker’s hand.
Harker was holding a palm-sized camcorder, one of the ultra-small models with the flip out screen. She was trying unsuccessfully to put it into her lab coat pocket.
“I borrowed it from the AV room. I was going to take some footage of Bub and analyze it.”
“Analyze it,” Sun intoned. She made no attempt to keep the incredulity out of her voice.