Book 6 Chapter 20.11 - Foresight
As a natural scientific madman and workaholic, the doctor knew from the moment he saw the biological solvent that this was a target he would struggle with for his entire life.
The biological solvent had an extremely high energy storage ability, a unit of volume equivalent to close to a thousand times that of an organism's fat. In addition, it possessed extremely powerful adaptive strength to its environment, its characteristics almost unchanged from close to absolute zero to a thousand degrees. At the same time, it had a defensive strength immune to nearly all rays, to the extent where even if it was directly exposed to nuclear fuel, it still wouldn't make the slightest difference. The more he researched it, the more the doctor felt that this biological solvent was mysterious and powerful. However, the difficult problem these strong characteristics brought was that it was almost impossible to break down. In addition, a biological solvent this powerful unexpectedly didn't have any activity, to the extent where not even bacteria or viruses could survive inside, it really was outrageous. According to Rochester's knowledge, it should have had the ability to form a biological body, so why was there not the slightest trace of activity?
The difficult work over the years made Rochester lose track of time. In the never-ending experiments and defeats, this work drove him to near despair. However, in the darkest moment, a certain part of the biological solvent that was separated suddenly produced life, and that was 'one'.
'One' was some type of special macromolecule protein, the present level of scientific knowledge completely incapable of explaining its physical properties. Its movement ability, vitality, and even adaptive strength to its environments exceeded the limits of what metal could attain. There were genes in its body as well, but when the genome mapping underwent a preliminary analysis and appeared on the screen before Dr. Rochester's eyes, based on the doctor's intuition, he immediately knew that the genes before his eyes had gone through some type of encryption method. The densely packed, incomparably complex internal composition was something that might take over ten thousand years of time to crack even with the human race's most advanced ultra computers after they were improved several hundred times over.
During the work that followed, the doctor even more so discovered that his initial assessment was far too optimistic.
The emergence of 'one' shook up the entire federation. Even though those who had the authority to know about this numbered less than a hundred, they were the true great figures who had power over institutions and organizations. Dr. Rochester not only had talent in the field of biology and genetics, he could also be said to be a master of public speaking. The doctor went on several dozen trips through the federations various prefectures, each time, if it wasn't one on one, then the listeners would not exceed three. The doctor talked about the course of research of the biological solvent, described one's characteristics, and also attached great importance to the most enticing breakthrough of this project's research: using 'one' to genetically modify the human body might grant the human race various inconceivable abilities, and the modification process came with an additional effect, which was that it prolonged the modified individual's life.
Just like the olden era's most celebrated drug Viagra, for the investors, the side effect of the doctor's project was far more attractive than its original purpose.
That was why in the following year, Dr. Rochester obtained over a hundred billion in temporary funds from the federation, of course, this was a temporary budget hidden under all different types of names. Meanwhile, for the sake of hiding the overseas budget that suddenly increased, the federal government even wanted to find ways to start a small scale overseas war. The amount of funds funneled to the doctor was roughly double that of what the government allocated him. By relying on the newly obtained funds, the doctor's research thus quickly sped up as well. Based on the federation's conventional practice, Rochester who received this tremendous amount of investment naturally became the highest leader of the entire project.
Ever since 'one' was born, it constantly absorbed energy and nutrients, but its body itself didn't undergo much changes. After forming a biological body made of a few different cells, it no longer grew, but the amount of energy and nutrients it absorbed only increased in geometric series. No matter what kind of methods the doctor used, he just couldn't find how 'one' was any different from its past self. After 'one' was born, life was produced in the other portions of biological solvent, and after endless nurturing, absorbing a sea of energy and nutrients, the doctor finally collected five complete 'organs'.
The five organs, from their production to stabilization, the entire process was completely hidden, impossible to detect. Their functions were unclear, but when they were placed together, there was a certain degree of resonance between them, and there was a sign of them developing collaboratively as well. Right at the crucial moment, the doctor felt a fear that came from the innermost depths of his heart, immediately deciding to sever the connection between the five super organs, moreover completely freezing them and separating them.
Rochester didn't know why he did this either, but he had a feeling that if he really allowed the five organs to merge into one body, then the ultra life form that was produced might not be something humans could control with their present level of science and technology. This would be a disaster for the entire human race!
However, just freezing and separating them wasn't enough to put the doctor at ease. As a result, he used the resources he had to construct five relatively distant new bases just to hold these five ultra organs, as well as increased the research that was done on them. When the bases' construction projects were finished and the ultra organs were in place, only then did Rochester feel slightly more relieved.
However, right at this time, 'one' suddenly became active, growing at crazy speeds, and it also became aggressive. The vessel used to hold 'one' was made from spacecraft materials, the twenty centimeter thick multi-layered fiberglass even exceeding the armor of tanks, but 'one' made of just a few dozen cells only used a few hours to drill open a hole, and then released an extremely powerful neurotoxin from within. When the alarm in the base sounded, the dozen or so researchers in the inner laboratory already became corpses.
That month, Dr. Rochester could only sleep less than two hours every day, the indescribable anxiety and restlessness making it difficult for him to sleep through the night. That was why when the alarm sounded, he immediately thought that 'one' broke through its restrictions. He instinctively made an extremely important decision, pressing a rather unremarkable red button on the control desk.
The inner laboratory was completely sealed within a few seconds, and then blazing white streams of heat fired from several dozen hidden nozzles, the raging flames exceeding ten thousand degrees melting everything inside the laboratory, including 'one'.
One could be destroyed. As long as the environmental temperature exceeded a thousand degrees, one would be completely burnt. This was one of the most important discoveries Rochester made in his research. The doctor was also somewhat confused why 'one' exhibited all types of inconceivable biological properties, yet on the aspect of heat resistance, it was inferior to even the biological solvent. Regardless, safety measures he previously arranged for finally displayed their use. Even though the destruction of 'one' was quite pitiful, and there were four experimental bodies destroyed together with one, they were only the first batch from the doctor's 'Garden of Eden' Project, the forerunners of the future perfect human. Even though the losses were great, it was still much better than losing control over 'one'.