But a chromosome like no other on earth. One that he and he alone had created. True, it was still a small scale operation. But the major line had been crossed. Ahead lay difficulties in logistics, but the fundamental problem had been solved. The answer came finally to focus before his eager eyes.

A living chromosome, forced to accept and duplicate genes of a wholly different species. A mutant. A life form never before conceived.

Sure, there was work going on all over the world; using bacterium, splicing in this genes to fool the organism into duplicating insulin here, interferon there, maybe a few illegal drugs now and again… the possibilities were endless.

But the fools. They'd strapped themselves into a straight jacket. Would you ask a neurosurgeon to work wearing boxing gloves? Never!

Yet, the entire industry had done exactly that, by declaring human manipulation off limits.

He shivered every time he thought of those vast international cartels with their virtually unlimited resources playing around with microbes while the true work of their calling gathered dust on the pages of obscure publications and texts.

But for himself.

Man was the laboratory.

Man was the experiment.

Man, was the product.

Like Nietzche, he believed that man was something to be transcended. He, Lucus Simpson, would be the bridge. The human race would forever and for all time sing praise to his foresight, his knowledge, his daring, his genius…

There was so much left to be done. Still such a long road ahead, he felt constantly weighed down by the task. Yet his heart was light. And his mind clear. Quite clear.

This simple chromosome was but a start. There would come an embryo. Then more, each with a greater and greater blend of genes, a fuller and more equal mix until he could predict with accuracy which traits from which species would appear in the mutant. His pulse quickened at the thought of it. No longer would we need to rely on unstable population pools for the human resources so necessary to the growth of the system as a whole.