shoulder. “I’m afraid I’m off—much as I’d prefer to stay here and work on G-17 with you. Tell me. What’s the worst thing we can do?”
“Waste time!” everyone said.
“Exactly.”
As soon as Mr. Masterly left, Darryl dashed back into Bio to continue his scrutiny of G-17. He’d learned in orientation that the mysteries of life are locked up in DNA, the genetic building block, and that DNA is made up of various combinations of twenty-one different amino acids. For a year or two the work at Paradise Lab had been devoted to attempts to modify these amino acids, but their molecules had proven too complex to work with. G-17 wasn’t quite so complex, but it was complex enough.
At twelve-thirty Ruthie led them back up to S for lunch—all but Paul Pettinio, who remained behind on game duty. After lunch the team returned to L andworked four more hours; then they trooped up to E. Till today Darryl had usually gone there when the others were on L, and he’d always done calisthenics with Abs. It hadn’t occurred to him to do anything else. It hadn’t occurred to him that he had a choice. But along with the gym suit and cross-training shoes in his personalized locker in the boys’ locker room there was a swim suit, and seeing Mario change into one, he decided to do the same.
When he dove into the pool, a memory of the last time he’d swum—with BJ at Madison Beach—shot through his mind, but it was gone by the time he popped up for air. He and Mario swam laps for about twenty minutes; then they rested in the whirlpool bath. From there he could see Ruthie Katz wiping out Billy O’Connor in a game of one-on-one on the basketball court. Abs was showing Greg Birtwissel how to do curls in the free-weight area, Abs using eighty-pound barbells while Greg tried to imitate him with five-pounders. Paul Pettinio was on one of the Exercycles, but it must have been on the easiest setting, for his cottage-cheesy legs were moving in slow motion. Once Greg got the hang of curls, Abs went over to the track to help Suki with her javelin throwing. But it was Nina Rizniak, swinging on the rings in the gymnastics area, who snagged Darryl’s attention. It really was a prettyimpressive display—at least until her glasses fell off. After dropping down to find them, she headed for the girls’ locker room. Soon Billy O’Connor kicked the basketball into the pool, and Ruthie shrugged and went off to the locker room as well. Before heading for the locker room himself, Darryl dried off and hopped over to the gymnastics area. He needed a stepladder to reach the rings, but after swinging for a minute he decided that tomorrow he would devote the gym period to them.
Once everyone was showered and dressed, they headed up to the dining hall, where Hedderly served them a delicious meal of salmon steaks and curlicue pasta mixed with broccoli spears. After that, most of them went up to E, to the AquaFilm. But much as Darryl liked the idea of floating around the prehistoric world in one of the movie pods, he was so exhausted that he could barely drag himself back to room eight.
18
N ot once during the blurry month of orientation had Darryl been tempted to fool around with his remote control, but that night the sight of it gave him a second wind. He changed into pajamas, brushed his teeth, snuggled into the wonderful bed, and after scrolling through the movie choices picked one he’d never heard of called
Meteor Fiends
. He got about halfway through it before conking out.
“Rise and shine, friend and colleague. …”
Darryl’s very first waking thought was of G-17. Maybe this would be the day he would stabilize it and become more famous than Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and Christopher Columbus rolled into one! He jumped out of bed and washed his face and picked out a red jumpsuit, the color Mario had worn yesterday when everyone applauded him. On his way to breakfast he paused to check out the trophy case.
“Morning,
“Waste time!” everyone said.
“Exactly.”
As soon as Mr. Masterly left, Darryl dashed back into Bio to continue his scrutiny of G-17. He’d learned in orientation that the mysteries of life are locked up in DNA, the genetic building block, and that DNA is made up of various combinations of twenty-one different amino acids. For a year or two the work at Paradise Lab had been devoted to attempts to modify these amino acids, but their molecules had proven too complex to work with. G-17 wasn’t quite so complex, but it was complex enough.
At twelve-thirty Ruthie led them back up to S for lunch—all but Paul Pettinio, who remained behind on game duty. After lunch the team returned to L andworked four more hours; then they trooped up to E. Till today Darryl had usually gone there when the others were on L, and he’d always done calisthenics with Abs. It hadn’t occurred to him to do anything else. It hadn’t occurred to him that he had a choice. But along with the gym suit and cross-training shoes in his personalized locker in the boys’ locker room there was a swim suit, and seeing Mario change into one, he decided to do the same.
When he dove into the pool, a memory of the last time he’d swum—with BJ at Madison Beach—shot through his mind, but it was gone by the time he popped up for air. He and Mario swam laps for about twenty minutes; then they rested in the whirlpool bath. From there he could see Ruthie Katz wiping out Billy O’Connor in a game of one-on-one on the basketball court. Abs was showing Greg Birtwissel how to do curls in the free-weight area, Abs using eighty-pound barbells while Greg tried to imitate him with five-pounders. Paul Pettinio was on one of the Exercycles, but it must have been on the easiest setting, for his cottage-cheesy legs were moving in slow motion. Once Greg got the hang of curls, Abs went over to the track to help Suki with her javelin throwing. But it was Nina Rizniak, swinging on the rings in the gymnastics area, who snagged Darryl’s attention. It really was a prettyimpressive display—at least until her glasses fell off. After dropping down to find them, she headed for the girls’ locker room. Soon Billy O’Connor kicked the basketball into the pool, and Ruthie shrugged and went off to the locker room as well. Before heading for the locker room himself, Darryl dried off and hopped over to the gymnastics area. He needed a stepladder to reach the rings, but after swinging for a minute he decided that tomorrow he would devote the gym period to them.
Once everyone was showered and dressed, they headed up to the dining hall, where Hedderly served them a delicious meal of salmon steaks and curlicue pasta mixed with broccoli spears. After that, most of them went up to E, to the AquaFilm. But much as Darryl liked the idea of floating around the prehistoric world in one of the movie pods, he was so exhausted that he could barely drag himself back to room eight.
18
N ot once during the blurry month of orientation had Darryl been tempted to fool around with his remote control, but that night the sight of it gave him a second wind. He changed into pajamas, brushed his teeth, snuggled into the wonderful bed, and after scrolling through the movie choices picked one he’d never heard of called
Meteor Fiends
. He got about halfway through it before conking out.
“Rise and shine, friend and colleague. …”
Darryl’s very first waking thought was of G-17. Maybe this would be the day he would stabilize it and become more famous than Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and Christopher Columbus rolled into one! He jumped out of bed and washed his face and picked out a red jumpsuit, the color Mario had worn yesterday when everyone applauded him. On his way to breakfast he paused to check out the trophy case.
“Morning,
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