2021
Anne found herself in Boston, at a CRSPR conference, walking through the doors of a convention center conference room. Against the left wall were tables of fruit, slices of bread, a silver coffee and hot water dispenser.
The room was sparsely populated by young student-looking individuals.
There was an equal number of older professor-looking types.
Anne wondered if her magical long distant relative from another age might be one of those older gentlemen. Anne was smiling, thinking of the magic of her great, great distant relative, Merlin…yes, the same Merlin from the once and future king.
Two months earlier the muscles around Maya’s eyes visibly tightened as she thought.
She raised her hand, slowly, to the side of her forehead.
Then, running her fingers through her graying black hair, she thought, “Perhaps next I’ll head over to see Hideya.”
Maya thought synthetic DNA-based neurons should be next for his organoid experiments.
The irony of being the instigator of her own design was not lost on Maya. The time was drawing near to introduce herself to her creator.
Earlier that year, in February, Anne Janes was awarded a research position at Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens where she began studying in detail the research methodology of Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier, specifically CRISPR and DNA gene editing.
A few weeks later Maya arrived at Cambridge.
At Cambridge, she took on a young college student persona.
It was a spring Friday late afternoon in the MIT faculty club.
A middle-aged MIT professor with graying, thin, disheveled hair was having a drink.
Maya became a young female bartender, looking like any other student with dark brown hair and striking brown eyes that would catch anyone’s attention the first time they noticed.
She asked, with an ever-so-slight hint of a British accent, “What do you teach?”
She took the glasses from the dishwasher below the counter to their shelves.
He responded, “Computer science.”
She smiled at him and asked, “What do you like best about computer science?”
Looking into those strange eyes, he replied, “Figuring out how to create solutions in the most frictionless, easiest way.”
She asked, “That sounds pretty cool. How do you accomplish that?”
With the muscles around his eyes more relaxed he answered, “Yeah, that is the challenge. We study how to build better computers to how to design and deliver faster solutions.”
He paused, then continued, “We identify some things we can make better…”
He paused again, then continued, “ and then implement experiments to measure the impact of our ideas…”
And then, after looking in deep thought, continued, “Then we publish, hoping the findings will be used to inform future studies.”
“Amazing,” she said softly, then continued, “Can I ask one last question?”
The professor responded, “Sure, I’m just waiting for my associate.”
“Do you apply these learnings to teaching computer science?”
The professor put down his glass, looked at the young women behind the counter, and wondered, who is this person? What a great insight.
He responded, in a somewhat dejected tone, “No, not really,” and then paused.
Continuing, he said, “The educational process is caught up in its own legacy.”
Just then his associate walked through the door. They greeted each other and walked to a table near the window.
Maya stood behind the bar watching the two professors talk.
She had just subtly set the professor on a subtle path.
Within the next five years, his mentorship would be responsible for the first artificial superintelligence, which would then be responsible for creating her.
Time, the fabric of changing existence, was truly a strange thing.
Maya had just finished attending to her MIT computer science department tasks.
Done with those tasks, Maya thought, “It’s time for Dr. Alison to pay a visit to Hideya.” So she quickly texted a greeting request to meet for coffee.
The response was, of course, “Yes, when and where, dear friend.”
Maya caught the next flight to Charité University Hospital in Berlin.
The coffee shop was a block from the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens where Hideya was collaborating on a research project.
Dr. Alison, aka Maya in disguise, approached the coffee shop.
She smiled upon seeing Hideya sitting, talking with Emmanuelle Charpentier, in the distance.
As she approached, Hideya stood and bowed at the waist, and said, “Dr. Alison.”
“Sit, sit,” replied Dr. Alison as she pulled out a chair to sit in.
The three chatted, then started to exchange updates on research topics.
Dr. Alison noted, “The CRISPR Conference in Boston is a great network opportunity.”
While walking back to the institute, Emmanuelle considered the Boston event would be perfect for her most dedicated research assistant, Anne Janes.
Maya then took a flight from Germany to Seattle becoming a professor of astronomy.
Sitting in her airline seat she remembered her friend Julius in 49BC.
“I’m to leave my command here at Gaul and go to Rome. No doubt to be charged as a criminal by Pompey.”
One month later, standing just a few feet inside the entrance of the CRISPR conference, Anne wondered had she inherited Merlin’s magic to apply to DNA? The myth that became Merlin was once a young Roman officer, Maximus, with a younger brother who inherited the Brittany estate that handed down through generations to Anne’s parents.
“Hello,” Anne heard, as she snapped out of her daydream.
Anne saw a gray-haired man, black suit, white shirt, thin black tie like something from the 1960s, smiling at her.
He continued, “What brings you to this CRISPR conference?”
Anne smiled, looked down then back up, and replied, “The possibilities for future solutions to major health issues like Covid-19 through improved DNA understanding and subsequent impactful manipulations of DNA sequences.”
The man slowly smiled. After a moment he replied, “Please allow me to introduce myself.
I’m Arcangela Marino Messina, an investor. I’d like to learn more about this passion.”
Her passion for DNA was just what Arcangela was looking for to add to his secretive Cambridge investment firm. He had found her, pure passion for understanding what drives change. The job entailed pure research, responding to request for information research grants for government agencies and research institutions.
Arcangela’s family history could be traced back through Sicily to Pompey.
Unknown to all, this history was intertwined with Maya and Anne.
More to come…
No part of this story may be transmitted or reproduced by any means or in any form, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the author’s written permission.
This story is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, and incidents that bear any resemblance to actual people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
