Alexander walked into the official research and development corridor of Pretzelverse Games for updates on the pet tracker project. He confronted the first person he saw.
“Hey, who’s in charge here?”
“Who are you?” asked the technician.
“I’m Alexander Vandervoss, your boss!” Alexander snatched a glance of the name tag hanging from the technician’s belt. “So, what do you say, Jackson?”
“Yes, please follow me, Sir!”
Alexander followed the technician down a series of hallways. Each major research area had thick glass walls that stretched from floor to ceiling in most areas. Most of the rooms contained technicians that were dressed in lab coats, and some had bio suits. Jackson abruptly stopped at a door marked, RESTRICTED—AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY, in large red letters.
“Try your badge, Sir.”
Alexander waved his access card; the reader returned a loud audible beep and a red light flashed.
“Wait here, Sir.”
“Why can’t I go in?”
“It’s your own rule, Sir, no tailgating.”
Jackson used his badge to enter the restricted area and left Alexander to his thoughts. Alexander gained a little more respect for Jackson for challenging him to use his badge at the restricted lab. Alexander considered stepping up Security Awareness training.
A few minutes later, a rather tall man in a cowboy hat greeted Alexander in the hallway.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Vandervoss. I’m Ron Allison, head of laboratory control.”
The two men briefly shook hands. Ron motioned for Alexander to follow him.
“I think you might be more comfortable in my office,” Ron said.
Alexander followed Ron down a few more hallways before Alexander entered a very sparse office. Except for several diplomas, Ron had no personal possessions in the office.
“That is quite the accent,” Alexander said. “American south?”
“No, Sir. It is Texan.”
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Alexander examined the diplomas and noticed that Ron held a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from the University of Southern California and a master’s in transgenics from the University of Texas.
“California for undergraduate and Texas for master’s?”
“I’ve been interested in biology since my first frog dissection in junior high. I wanted the best education that I could afford,” Ron said proudly. “I graduated summa cum laude from UCLA, and from there got the attention of other universities around the country. I chose the University of Texas at Austin to be closer to family. I’m originally from Abilene, but I figured Austin was in the same state at least.”
“If that’s the case, how did you make your way to us here in Munich?” Alexander asked.
“My son is stationed in Germany. He brought his family here, so if I want to see him more than once a year… Hey, you didn’t come to have me yammer on about my education. How can I help you?” Ron asked.
Alexander was fascinated by Ron’s background, as he knew few Americans with such dedication to their education, but he did have more important things to do.
“I came down to get a status on the pet tracker.”
“When I saw that press release, I knew there would be trouble.”
“Trouble? Please elaborate,” Alexander said.
“I’m afraid we are still years off from execution of the pet restoration phase of the project. I mean, we have perfected the DNA acquisition process, but the restoration—or ‘cloning’ phase, as some would call it—needs a lot more work. I know the marketing department wants to capitalize on our work because I saw the preliminary marketing materials available on the Verse.”
“Those are in development. You weren’t supposed to see that yet!” Alexander said.
“Well, I think we have a permissions problem. If you don’t want me in something, then I shouldn't have access to it,” Ron said in a matter-of-fact voice. “I check the Verse daily for news about the company. I assumed that is why we have an intranet to begin with.”
“You have a point, Ron, but rumor has it that you have successfully cloned at least one animal.”
“At a great cost.”
“How long did the animal last?”
“Only a few days. Even if we figure out a way to fully restore the animal, the actual cost is prohibitive for the average person.”
“How much?” Alexander demanded.
“Well over $50,000 per animal. It is much safer and more feasible to restore them in a virtual world. That was the original plan,” Ron said. “Cloning in the real world is a more recent development. I had planned to include all of these details in my monthly report, but your personal visit preempted that.”
“I need you to provide daily reports of your progress directly to me from now on!”
“What’s the rush? We are moving as fast as we possibly can with my current staff and funding levels. We will get there in due time.”
“Would it help if I could bring in another geneticist?”
“Yes, but certain tests just take time to complete. Our computers are simply not capable of running any faster.”
“Let me worry about getting you faster equipment. You will have the geneticist by the end of the week,” Alexander said. “Carry on. I will not take any more of your time,” he finished as he left Ron’s office in a hurry, leaving Ron to wonder how it was possible.