7:05 p.m. Studio, Port Angeles

Though exhausted, Virginia Darrow continued her interview. “...what did Dr. Somerville do?”

The man sitting across from her smiled. “Supposing the Shroud fragment had been preserved in wax, the white blood cells—”

“Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Hertzhelm,” Virginia broke in, “but white blood cells?”

“Shut up,” Perry whispered in her earpiece. “Let him talk.”

Hertzhelm’s face tightened at the interruption. “Yes. You see, red blood cells don’t contain any DNA. However, there’d be chromosomal fragments—”

Perry was hissing, “This’s gobbledygook! Dumb it down!”

Virginia raised a hand. “Getting over my head, Doctor.”

“Oh, all right. May I have a piece of paper?”

Virginia shoved him a page of her notes.

“Thank you. Now, think of the fragmented DNA like a torn map.” Hertzhelm ripped the paper. Held up half. “Some pieces’re missing, right? But you can navigate around them and, if the missing parts’re not in the direction you’re headed, you can ignore them.”

Perry murmured, “This’s more like it.”

“The map’s in pieces, but we can read it. So, we can tape it together, right?” He pretended to tape together the torn halves. “The DNA’s not much different, except instead of tape, you use enzymes to stick it together.”

“Then what?”

“Ah...” He crumpled the papers. “This’s the interesting part. I’m not sure what technique Dr. Somerville used, but he’d have found a way to insert the DNA into a live human cell, grow it in a culture until ready to be inserted into a human egg, denucleated of course, then fus—”

“Wait!” Virginia’s palms were up as Perry’s voice crackled. “You’ve lost me.”

At this interruption, the scientist smiled. “Simple. Just like a plant, the cell needs something nutritious to grow in. Of course, it’s not like growing a carrot. The process is ripe for disaster: CO2 tank runs out of gas, your pH goes off and the culture dies.” He paused. “Anyway, let’s assume all’s well. Then, you insert it into a human egg cell, denucleated, of course.”

“Of course,” Virginia replied faintly.

“Hang in there,” said Perry. “You’re the man.”