Page 96 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

The Vorax

“here is an artificial blockage in the once smoothly-flowing pipeline
of recycling human effluvia back into nature: science has given us
unnatural commodities, they befoul our source of useful raw
materials and it is killing us. Yet, chemically speaking, energy is bound
in these products, locked into molecules by great expenditures of
heat and catalysis. Similarly, the atmosphere itself is bearing an
excessive load of carbon thanks, to our activities, and we can’t plant
trees fast enough to sequester it and replace it with oxygen. But we
are beginning to take apart biological functions at the genetic level.
Hundreds of laboratory-developed organisms are at work already,
joining the ancient corps of useful symbionts breaking down
recalcitrant molecules into otherwise unavailable food, soil and
pharmaceuticals. Now we can make them to order.”
I gave him a made-to-order expression of interest tempered by
mystification. It had the desired effect of speeding up his delivery.
“Listen, Mr. Legge, I know how my mind works: a key insight
linking hitherto unconnected situations comes to me late in the
evening when it is quiet in the lab. In this case it is a means of
employing chimeric organisms to balance shortage and excess, to
restore balance in our inputs and outputs of consumption. I realized
that I could stitch together an artificial animal incorporating dozens
of complementary capabilities; among them would be the means of
converting complex hydrocarbons into complex carbohydrates and
proteins, and not just for food!”
I gave him the flashbulb-pops-in-the-brain look, mouth open, eyes
daring the nascent smile of surprise to bubble into laughter and
amazement. I did regret his choice of verbs, reminiscent of the
Frankenstein films of my youth. Something had to go haywire, the
creature suddenly having a mind of its own or, worse luck, making do
with one stolen from the wrong morgue. Such thoughts did not play
a long engagement in the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of my mind; I had a
job to do.
“Well,” I said cautiously, “that sounds very interesting. But also
very expensive. I do recall the genetically-modified pest-resistant
seeds sold to our country by one of your corporations. They
contained so-called suicide genes, and we became embroiled in
endless financial disputes with their patent attorneys. Very litigious
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