Sequence Read Online Free PDF Page B

arranged in a Fibonacci pattern.
    CYNTHIA draws a spiral on the board.
    And if you draw arcs from Fibonacci numbers, you end up with a spiral, like in seashells, galaxies, and even in our very own molecules. It’s in the architecture of the Acropolis. It’s there behind Jesus in Dalí’s
Sacrament of the Last S
upper
.
    THEO
    What are you saying, that this Fibonacci has something to do with Jesus?
    CYNTHIA
    Who the hell knows? But it’s everywhere. And Fibonacci gave us
the golden ratio
, which we see in the dimensions of a credit card or a belt buckle or a widescreen TV. The Fibonacci sequence is integral to the structure of the universe and everything in it. It’s in our very own DNA.
    THEO
    But I don’t get it. Why am I choosing my coin flips based on these Fibonacci numbers?
    CYNTHIA
    I was hoping
you
would tell me.
    THEO
    Is that why you’re here?
    CYNTHIA
    I’m here because there’s a genetic disease in my family.
    Laboratory
    DR. GUZMAN
    Of course… I didn’t set out on a mission to find the PLO gene. I was going to discover the gene for RP. Retinitis pigmentosa. Cure blindness. Cure myself. That was going to be my life’s work.
    DR. GUZMAN tries using her white cane to pry open the briefcase.
    MR. ADAMSON
    That would have been quite a story.
    DR. GUZMAN
    Damn right. Instant immortality.
    She whacks the briefcase with her cane.
    What is this thing made of, osmium diboride?
    She hurls the white cane across the room.
    Even the quest was a compelling story. Afflicted researcher strives to identify her own gene before she goes blind. The grant money came pouring in. I even used my own tissue as a genetic sample. Like the guy who discovered the suicide gene. Then killed himself.
    MR. ADAMSON
    Wow.
    DR. GUZMAN
    I know. Seems paradoxical, doesn’t it? The suicide gene is a dead end, so to speak. It should have been a lethal mutation. Like, say, a gene that caused a target-shaped rash to appear on your forehead right before hunting season.
    MR. ADAMSON picks up the white cane.
    MR. ADAMSON
    So how can there be a gene for suicide?
    DR. GUZMAN
    Ah, but what if the suicide gene gives you some sort of competitive advantage? Maybe people who have this gene are more fearless. They take bigger risks. Have more sex, more progeny. Before they pull the trigger.
    MR. ADAMSON
    My dad committed suicide.
    DR. GUZMAN
    If you give me some blood, I can test you for the gene.
    MR. ADAMSON
    Then what?
    DR. GUZMAN
    Then you know. That’s all. Diagnose,
adios
.
    MR. ADAMSON
    But if you know the gene, why can’t you just cure the disease?
    DR. GUZMAN
    It’s not that easy. For starters, you need a billion dollars to go from gene to drug.
And
you need a lot of luck.
    Delicately, MR. ADAMSON attempts to bring down the phone using the white cane.
    And somebody got lucky. Somebody else.
    MR. ADAMSON
    Somebody else discovered your gene?
    DR. GUZMAN
    Using a culture of my own cells. This young kid doing his post-doc throws up a prayer and discovers the very gene I’d spent my whole life chasing.
    MR. ADAMSON
    That doesn’t seem fair.
    DR. GUZMAN
    Fair? Is it fair that you can’t walk? Is it fair that some prick stole my gene from right under my nose? Fairness is not in the equation. Science doesn’t belong to anybody. It’s not a creation. It’s a discovery. If somebody didn’t accidentally stumble upon penicillin, the double helix, or the goddamn Slinky, somebody else would have. Can you imagine the world today without a Slinky? Impossible!
    MR. ADAMSON
    So why did you fail? You were smart enough, hard-working enough. Motivated enough. You know why you failed?
    DR. GUZMAN
    The same reason I got defective eyeballs. Short straw.
    MR. ADAMSON
    But why? Why weren’t you the lucky one?
    The phone crashes to the ground. DR. GUZMAN grabs it, puts it away.
    DR. GUZMAN
    I might ask you the same thing.
    MR. ADAMSON
    I’m not unlucky.
    DR. GUZMAN
    Prove it. Heads or