Page 32 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Archaeontogeny

know by reputation if not personally, both here and abroad—is more
interested in your completely untested theory concerning early man
and DNA.”
“‘Completely untested.’ That sounds rather pejorative, Andy.”
Time to kowtow. “Oh, no, not at all, Professor Gene—I mean,
Cutter. When I said that, I meant it in a purely technical, objective
sense. It’s not like we thought you would be releasing an unproven
product on the public like a pesticide.”
“We do have standards here at Runyoke, young man, as well as a
professional commitment to the scientific method.” That was it; now
he could relate to me. I tried to look properly chastened. In fact I had
read nothing in the man’s record to commend his ethics, academic or
otherwise.
“I would not be sitting here if I thought otherwise,” I meekly
prevaricated.
“Good.” Cutter donned a pair of thick glasses, picked up a binder
on the corner of his desk and waved it at me. “This is the research
design document for the Homo primitivus project. It has made the
rounds of the grant-dispensing gods and been found wanting. Why is
your outfit interested in it?”
I hated these hurdles. But he had no reason not to be suspicious.
It was my task to lead a very thirsty horse to water and make him
drink.
“Plainly put, Gene, your ideas are unique, possibly far enough
ahead of the curve to scare off Charybdis’s competitors. The sources
of their money tend to be corporate, and that makes them excessively
cautious. We are chartered by private donors bold enough to see the
value in supporting ideas that may have no immediate return in
commercial terms—indeed may have no financially exploitable
expectations whatsoever.”
He was mollified. “I didn’t know such an organization existed. I’ll
give you a few minutes, Andy. Let’s see if you understand what I
intend to prove.”
“Please, Gene: I’ve no background in evolutionary biology, not to
mention genetics. I read a summary of your theory prepared by our
analysts. You intend to take up a neglected idea of the nineteenth-
century naturalist, Ernst Haeckel, the law of biogenetics. You believe
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