, to combine with the egg., to combine with the egg. He had apparently exhaustively studied the maps of the millions of human gene bits compiled in the 1990's and had a thorough knowledge of what traits the most important ones were for. Some were for the color of eyes or hair, while other gene bits were responsible, if inherited, for disorders such as leukeimia or haemophilia. Still others apparently did nothing. What Russell had done was to make his own genetic-bit code maps of the animal species whose cells he was using, and using scanning microscopy and micro-lasers, had eliminated the animal traits that he found undesireable, such as those for undue aggressiveness, and spliced the remaining genetic material into the human DNA traits that he wanted, such as those coded bits representing the potential for high intelligence, upright stature, large brain size, and other items. It probably took him dozens of failed attempts for each egg cell that he finally succeeded in getting to grow and divide, but up until the day he died, he never gave up trying. And the surprises were still not over. It was never learned exactly how, for example, Russell had managed to obtain some live body cells from a Giant Panda, but it was speculated that a fellow scientist stationed in China or one of the world's major zoos had a hand in helping him obtain them. It was clear that of all the creations he had worked on so far, Russell was most proud of his Panda-people, not only because they were most beautiful of form and pleasing to the eye, but because they seemed to show the most potential for adaptability into the planet's family of man. Of all of the genetically-mutated life forms removed from the island, almost all showed at least human-level intelligence potential, although it must be remembered that this was human-type intelligence as interpreted by the thought-processes of another species! It could not be expected to be identical, but was instead a kind of intelligence all to its own, and no one could ever be sure what the end result would be. |