That afternoon, I was sitting in the laboratory with Dad. I'd been watching him for hours. As usual dad spent most of his time in the laboratory.
There were computers everywhere, genetic samples, research papers, human and animal DNA sitting in vials.
And in the center of it all was a single machine connected to a containment chamber holding a small lizard.
Dad had been working on the project for years.
He was excited with a focus I have never seen from him before.
He was checking data on one screen, adjusting settings on another, and occasionally writing something down.
Finally, he stepped away from the computer.
He stared at the results, his eyes widened then he smiled.
"At last." he said
I looked up. "What?"
Dad turned towards me, his face filled with excitement.
"I did it." He grabbed me and lifted me into his arms. "I actually did it."
I laughed.
"What did you do?" I wondered
He carried me toward the main workstation then he pointed toward the screen.
"I pulled off something close to a miracle."
"For years, your mom and I've been trying to find a way to reverse the evolutionary process of living organisms."
I stared at the screen.
I didn't understand everything he was saying but I understood enough.
He had done something significant.
"This," Dad said, "is a serum capable of accessing dormant genetic information."
He picked up a syringe containing a strange greenish-purple liquid.
"Theoretically, it can cause an organism to express genetic traits from its evolutionary ancestors."
I stared at the syringe. "So..."
Dad smiled.
"In simple terms?" I asked
He held it up.
"I found a way to turn this lizard back to one of its predated ancestors."
My eyes widened.
"Like dinosaurs?"
Dad's smile grew.
"Exactly."
For years, he'd been trying to complete this work. Trying to rewind time to study things that don't exist anymore.
Now he finally had something that might provide the possibility for it to happen.
The serum wasn't perfect, it was still a prototype.There were countless things that could go wrong, but dad believed he was close.
Very close.
I stared at the syringe.
Something about it made my headache like trying to wrap your mind on a memory you can never grasp.
I couldn't explain why.
A few hours later mom walked through the door. She wore firm boots, cargo shorts, and a safari jacket over a white shirt.
Mom was a medical doctor who worked at the local Mayo Clinic, helping patients and studying diseases that were common in the region.
Her and dads work went far beyond their official professions.
Thanks to the funding given by the Mndawe Foundation, allowing my parents to continue their research without having to worry about the costs.
Life had changed quite a bit since the creation of the serum. Mom and my father's work. Finally flourished and it allowed them time to focus more on us.
We were older now, old enough to walk, talk, and get ourselves into trouble.
Not that Garfield needed much help with that.
Our family was settled in the upper region of the country, far away from the home we once had in New York. Africa had become our new home, and for me and Gar, it was a place filled with wildlife we never seen before.
Garfield wasn't nearly as interested in science. Since being banned from the lab it led him to explore other opportunities. Finding all types of creatures and fauna all around.
Everything seemed perfect, life was finally becoming more vibrant than it ever was before.
Dad was making bigger strides in his research progress.
Garfield and I were steadily growing we have a home. We have animals surrounding us and we have each other.
Then all of the sudden tragedy befell on the Logan family. The process was slow but nonetheless possibly fatal.
It started slowly, James and Garfield showing signs of weakness at first, nobody thought much of it. They complained that they didn't feel well.
Marie checked their temperature Mark assumed it was probably some ordinary illness. That they would get better with a little rest.
Then again there was the problem James and Garfield kept getting worse. Their fever wouldn't go away. They slowly became weaker.
So weak in fact Garfield stopped playing outside. James stopped sitting in with Mark, Their health was deteriorating they stopped eating. The boys who once couldn't sit still suddenly spent most of their time lying in bed.
Marie and Mark became worried, terrified in fact.
They ran tests after tests trying to uncover the cause of their children's illness. After countless failed tests they eventually discovered what was wrong.
Sakutia.
A rare virus So rare in fact there have only been seven reported cases in the world. Every single one had been fatal. Imagine the odds of a virus so rare befalling on two brothers at once.
"Marie, Mark said how is this even possible seven cases seven deaths"
I remember hearing my dad's words as I was slipping out of consciousness. I didn't quite understand what that meant at first. Then I looked towards Gar and I understood we were sick. Really sick and then everything faded out as my eye's closed.
Marie tried everything she could. She searched through medical records and contacted specialists. She worked around the clock at the clinic frantically and restless.
Mark searched through his research. Taking blood samples from both kids trying to find anything that may help them recover. No longer caring about his appearance.
"We're running out of time," Marie said Mark didn't answer as he was staring at his research. Then he said something that made Marie realize he had already made a decision.
"I've seen Sakutia before," Marie looked at him where she asked "In my research." Mark responded as he picked up one of his old files.
"I've encountered genetic markers associated with it." Mark had met Sakutia during his research, and he knew that a peculiar monkey species from Lamumba, the green capped monkey, was immune.
"Mark..."
"I know," he said as he looked toward his son's room. "I know what this disease does."
" The virus attaches itself to a victim's DNA, aggressively overtaking a host body, with a rapid onset of symptoms, and is lethal within forty-eight hours." he said solemnly
Marie's eyes began to water. "We can't lose them."
Mark closed his eyes. "No." His voice became quiet. "We won't."
He looked toward the serum the same serum he'd spent years developing. The same serum he'd created to turn back the clock of evolution.
The same serum that was never supposed to be used on a human being.
Mark picked up the syringe. "We're going to try it."
Marie stared at him. "Mark, you don't know what it will do. There are so many things that can go wrong, this may end up causing their death ."
"I know." He said looking worn out and out of options. " This is better than doing nothing," he said, clutching his fists.
"It could change them."
Mark looked at his only sons. Possibly for the last time and said with a solemn heart "I know at least they might have a chance to live."
For a moment, neither of them said anything. They stared at the serum in silence. Mark resolutely grabbed the serum and walked towards his lab for one final test Marie followed behind.
While working on the serum to save his son's life. A quote popped in Mark's head "Aristotle said the difference between men and animals were moral and ontological" he said aloud to himself "but that's not entirely true".
"Our D.N.A differs by only one point six percent from the common chimp, my work here has isolated the common genetic code between humans and animals" he said as he completed the serum that may heal his sons.
Mark slowly walked towards the twins room with purpose, the syringe filled with the new serum still in his grip.
The fate of the Logan family was sitting inside that tiny glass tube. None the wiser for what was coming. Because whatever happened next would become the defining moment of their lives.