A Surface Problem

2. Anna and the 'essence'.

I had a quick cereal-toast and tea breakfast and left early to deliver the sample to mother. It will be three days until I get results. The rest of the day was taken up with joe-jobs and thoughts of the previous evening. Did I have Peter in my spider's web? Apart from the potential high-titre sample, did I want to have him in my life?

Monday morning came too soon. I got to school early and had time to set up before Grade 12 Personal Health and Hygiene. What a curriculum! Don't mothers teach their daughters anything these days?

The first days of the week were uneventful. I did rounds at the University Hospital on two occasions and checked in on all of my patients. There was one new patient from a religious community near Sacramento in for a case history: an interesting but hardly novel case. I taught six classes of high school biology and three of chemistry

In another part of the basic medical sciences building Peter was attending a seminar, sitting next to Alastair.

"Well," said Alastair, "I've figured out who your date was on Friday, which, incidentally, I thought went well. More rave reviews for the Pharma Group I would guess."

"What do you mean?" Peter replied. "Do you know Anna from somewhere? She told me she is a High School science teacher."

"She may well teach, Peter my old friend, but she also sat in on my Molecular Genetics 513 seminar last year when she got her fellowship in Internal Medicine. The other students called her 'The Ice Queen' because she never went out with her male colleagues," Alastair grinned.

"Strange; a complicated lady," Peter mused. "Must say I enjoyed her company and I'm hoping to see her again, but I haven't been able to call her yet."

"Well, if all else fails you could probably page her internally here," Alastair shrugged, knowing Peter would never again mix personal and professional interests.

"Squash in an hour?" Peter countered, wanting to change the subject. He had enough on his mind. He had tried to call Anna three times since Friday but the number was out of service.

They played before lunch, a close game, as usual. Nothing more was said about Friday, though Peter was sure Alastair had seen something on the far side of the dance floor.

Back at Roswell there was lots of data from the lab people and more to plan, but Peter needed down time. He took the next morning off and took the Morgan for a spin out to Half Moon Bay. Why could he not contact Anna? What was wrong with her cell phone?

He drove back home, determined to look for Anna. He drove to near where he picked her up on Friday, parked the Morgan and walked to the large plaza in front of the three high-rise apartments. He didn't know her family name or which of the three buildings to check: what chance of finding her?

Serendipity strikes again.

Peter looked up at the high-rises with his back to the road when a taxi drew up behind him. There was a bit of a scuffle as a passenger was unloaded bags and boxes, and offered the driver money to help carry the bags. The response was negative, the taxi drove off.

A voice from behind him asked "are you Anna's Peter?"

"You must be: tall, young, good-looking. Are you looking for Anna?"

"Actually, yes I am .... looking for Anna, as it happens," Peter replied to this apparition. She was tall, about 5'10", slim, incredibly beautiful, and dressed in long leather boots, stretch pants and a blouse with a long cotton wrap and a wide pink hat. Taken separately the clothes were an eclectic mixture; on her they looked carefully chosen. She had long platinum blond hair, light makeup and pale pink lipstick.

Peter thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He stood looking at her, remembering to close his mouth.

"Hi, I'm Katya, Anna's cousin. We share an apartment. If you give me a hand carrying my clothes I will see if she is in," said the apparition. "Follow me."

"Thank you," Peter said picking up two of the four clothes bags and one hat (?) box, aware of the perfume surrounding the collection. He hurried to catch up to the striding woman and followed her into the vestibule of the building.

"Can you press 23" asked the model, as they approached the elevator.

"Yes, Anna said she had a good time on Friday with a really handsome young man. I took a guess on you. Was I right? If you're not Peter we shall soon find out," and Katya laughed a tinkling laugh as the exited the elevator.

The woman dropped one armful at the door and knocked. There was no response so she used the key.

"Anna!" she spoke loudly, "Peter's here." Then to Peter "can you bring the clothes with you," walking through the apartment to a bedroom. "Oh, she must be at work!"

"Let me get you a drink, or something, to say thank you for your help."

Katya closed the door, shrugged off her wrap, threw the hat on the floor and sat on a chair.

"Will you be a darling and help me take my boots off?" she asked.

Peter knelt before her and pulled each one, still not knowing what to say to this whirlwind.

"Thank you darling" she said, standing up and close to Peter.

Then she smiled, reached a hand behind Peter's neck and kissed him, first gently, then with more pressure, opening her mouth to search for Peter's tongue.

"Yes, you must be Peter. Anna said you were a great kisser. Don't worry, we are very close. In fact we share almost everything," Katya whispered in his ear as Peter stood, completely dumbfounded.

Katya stood very close to Peter, their bodies touching, hip to hip, one of her legs gently pressing against Peter. She could feel she was getting a reaction from the tall man in front of her. Good, she was not losing her touch. She looked up at him again, smiled, closed her eyes and reached up, pursing her lips. Peter reacted and closed the gap. As he did so he could feel Katya's hand as it reached down to his crotch and felt his cock, stroking his trouser leg.

"No," said Peter, "this isn't right. I came looking for Anna. I must go."

"Please Peter," Katya looked sad, as she dropped to her knees in front of him, "please let me thank you properly. Anna doesn't need to know," she pleaded as she undid his trouser front and reached for his member.

Peter was almost fully rigid by the time Katya extracted his cock. She gazed up at his face, smiling, as she took him in her mouth, her lips around him, her tongue circling his gland. She licked him like a lollipop and tongued him from his frenum to his ballsack, using her hand to fellate him. She was very good at this Peter could tell. He also knew he was close to coming.

"Be careful Katya," he uttered "I'm very close."

"Come in my mouth" she said "and on my face." She sucked on his cock and moved her hands frantically. "Come on you beautiful big cock, come all over me."

Peter could tell it would be a big load and she kept his cock in her mouth till it was full, then directed the hose over her face and neck. Finally she licked the last dribbles from the end of his cock.

"That was fantastic!" Katya blurted out, as she opened her eyes. "Your come tastes so good and there was so much. Had you been saving it for someone?"

Peter was embarrassed. He just wanted to get away from this strangely exciting woman. What ever could he say to Anna as she was sure to know about this encounter?

"Peter, please, before you go, I just want to say I'm sorry I came on to you like this and I'm sorry I embarrassed you so much as I obviously did. I WILL explain what happened to Anna when she comes home and I will make sure she understands."

"In my defence I can only say that Anna's description of you and her activity with you made me so hot and bothered I couldn't contain myself."

"You see I am never around here long enough to have a boyfriend like you. I spend many days away from here at a time and in the company of men who prefer to be with men, if you get my drift. Add to this, I have a high sex drive, as you have seen. Please forgive me?"

When Katya finished speaking Peter looked her in the eye and smiled: there was no point in leaving on bad terms, particularly if he was to see Anna again. Obviously they would come into contact.

"I have to admit you had me wondering what was happening, Katya," Peter grinned. "You are such a beautiful woman I just didn't believe what was happening. And you are so good at it, by the way."

Katya grinned and reached up to kiss him.

"OK, now off you go!" she said, and he left, skipping down the two flights of stairs.

Later that evening Anna returned, after a long day both teaching and seeing patients. She opened the door and shouted to Katya.

"You won't believe this! I got the results from Mummy. Peter has the highest titre ever! Something between thirty and forty times the baseline. They couldn't believe it!"

Anna flopped down on a chair.

Katya came out of the bedroom.

"I can believe it," Katya said, sheepishly. "You see, Peter came to see you this evening and I seduced him. In fact I just about raped him and he came all over me. He was fantastic, and you are so lucky to have found him!"

"What! You fucking tart! You seduced and almost raped that poor man?" Anna was furious: her face reddened, her fists tightened and she was about to launch herself at Katya, but she stopped and sat crying in the chair.

"You miserable woman, you ... you ... excuse for a cousin. How can I possible make Peter believe in me now?" She sobbed, her head in her hands.

Katya knelt in front of her and held Anna's head gently, rocking to and fro.

"I'm so sorry Anna my darling. I really am. I tried to explain my situation to Peter. He went from very scared -- of me- to making a joke about it. I'm sure it will work itself out in the end. And that high titre: worth working for, eh?"

They sat there, hugging each other, alternately crying and laughing about the situation.

Peter got back to his apartment, got a beer and sat down to ponder the evening's events. If Anna was as volatile as Katya, he wasn't sure he wanted to get mixed up with her. On the other hand, Alastair's comments about Anna as 'The Ice queen' implied she was quite unlike her cousin. Perhaps it was better just to wait a bit and see what happens.

Peter reached for his briefcase and brought out some data sheets and his cell phone. There were two messages, one from Alastair, the other from M. de Vere: Em!

He quickly replied to Alastair then opened the mail from Em. A brief note to inform him that Lord Humphrey had died ten days ago, after a long viral infection. Apparently it was not unexpected but no further details at this time.

What a day! There are weeks when nothing out of the ordinary happens, then days like today, with Katya, then Lord Humphrey. He would have been just about sixty: no great age.

Peter sat down and mentally composed two letters, first to Em, and then to Sophie. After sending the two letters, Peter sat and ruminated. A lot had happened in the past year. Certainly he was much more settled than he had been. Science was being good to him, he had a small but pleasant group of friends and colleagues, an excellent situation and future. But still no real romantic future. Maybe he wasn't looking hard enough; too quiet!

He had another beer as he watched the TV news, a movie and then to bed. No more science tonight.

The next morning Shannon poked her head around his door at about 10.30.

"Cup of coffee Peter?" she asked.

"Thanks, yes please Shannon" he replied.

"There's a Dr Petrak to see you. Shall I bring another cup?" She inquired.

Dr Petrak? Thought Peter: who on earth is that?

Anna poked her head around the door.

"Do you have a few minutes Peter?" she asked.

"Of course. I'm delighted to see you!" he replied.

"I have a lot of explaining to do" Anna said as she sat down opposite Peter's desk. "First of all I want to apologize for Katya's behaviour last night. She told me the whole story and I was furious with her, in fact I am still, but, well she is Katya. And she is my cousin and for all her strange behaviour I still love her."

"Second I want to apologize for being out of touch for the past 3 days. I hoped you would call but I didn't want to talk to you for 3 days and I threw the cheap phone away so I wouldn't be tempted. Now I want to explain myself to you but it's a long story so I would like to invite you to dinner, tonight or tomorrow, or any day you wish. Then I will explain everything."

"Very mysterious, but I accept. Dinner tonight would be great. Shall I book or you? What time? Where?"

"Just pick me up at 6.30, where we met last Friday," she said and got up to leave. "I have clinical rounds in twenty minutes and Chemistry 30 after lunch. Gotta rush! Bye."

Gone like a whirlwind.

Peter sat and grinned. Suddenly his life had new meaning, or at least he hoped so. A look at the data from yesterday, that he should have looked at last night, showed that this new batch of mutants were behaving somewhat as he had predicted: the next stage could be started. He had promised to visit Alastair's lab and talk to his new postdoc so he set off for the medical sciences building, following Anna's footsteps half an hour ago. The rest of the day flew by.

At 6.25 he pulled up in the Legend: Anna was waiting, looking good. Even without Katya's dress, Anna was very attractive and she had a presence, a confidence, that Peter could see and admire. Her almost pixie-like smile melted Peter and she reached up to give him a cheek-kiss when he opened the passenger door for her.

"I rather fancy Italian tonight. I hope that's OK with you Peter?" She asked.

"Great" he replied. "Just lead me to it. Where are we going?"

"Il Forno on University Avenue, not far," Anna replied.

So the evening began. Anna had made sure they could have the table all night if needed, and she explained much, though not all, of the situation. The need for what she called 'essence', the use of the Bismuth/ Manganese-doped glasses to find him, the reason for her 'escort' charade and, embarrassing herself, the extraction of the sample. The three days not returning his phone calls -- you did try to call, she asked -- were to analyze the sample.

"You are brilliant Peter" she told him. "We have never had such a high titre."

"Does this mean you will go out with me again?" he asked, laughing.

"Of course, you idiot!" she replied. "Didn't you hear? I need you!" They shared a desert after the 3 courses and relaxed with an espresso and a cappuccino.

Since Katya was at Anna's apartment they went back to Peter's place.

Little by little Peter teased out of Anna her life history and her situation, including the school-teaching and the medical genetics program she had set up with both the pupils and the Hutterite community. Peter understood almost all the rationale though he was a biochemist not a geneticist. They both were well versed in molecular methods.

"One thing I find surprising with respect to your personal 'essence' problem. Why didn't you try to change the base sequence with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing," Peter asked.

"I tried" Anna replied "I even had a colleague repeat my method, though I am quite familiar with the technique. It turns out there are too many alleles of the enzyme, each involved in a different reaction."

"So you are dependent on human sampling? Hmmm ... I may be able to help you there," Peter said, grinning.

"That's what I am hoping for, and I will be EVER SO grateful" Anna said, smiling as she moved closer to Peter on the sofa. "I can't believe that my cousin, that bitch, got to you before I had a chance!"

But Anna made up for a slow start that evening, spending the night with Peter. During the night she collected four condoms with significant material which she stored in the fridge till morning. She could hardly believe how prolific a producer Peter was. And knowing how potent the product was, at this rate she would not need so much material.

Wait! That doesn't make sense.

I am enjoying this man so much. I will take everything he can produce. After all, he may 'go off' me; I can store the product, I can freeze the concentrate, Mummy can dilute it ready for use and give lots of Christmas presents this year.

Now I'm being silly, she thought as she lay beside this man who had suddenly appeared in her life.

Life can be so good.

Wednesday morning Anna and Peter both got up early. Peter made a continental breakfast while Anna disappeared into the bathroom. They sat down together for the light meal then Peter drove to the centre, close enough for Anna to walk to work. They discussed another date and Anna mentioned that her cousin would be off to Europe again at the weekend, on Sunday. They agreed to email each other.

Peter decided to phone Lady Margaret. He felt he should be more empathetic. Em was in Cheltenham, staying with Sophie. They exchanged pleasantries and Peter expressed his personal condolencies again.

"Well, Peter, it was not all together unexpected. Humphrey had been going downhill for the past two years but he would never talk about it," Em explained. "But I should bring you up to speed on the other news. Sophie is soon to be seconded from GCHQ to Langley, Virginia for an indefinite period. Apparently her de-ciphering skills are in much demand. And she has broken up with Jeremy. Whether that was due to her transfer to the US or something else I am not sure. She tells me some things but not everything."

"One more thing! It turns out that Humphrey was not living at his club, as I was given to understand, but he had bought a flat in Grosvenor, which now belongs to me. But I have to get rid of his friend from there first. Then I think I will live in London, and give up on The Manor. The new Lord Marcus de Vere can deal with that. He will need to marry a rich girlfriend!"

When Peter finished the call he sat down and thought about all the new happenings for Lady Margaret. He was happy for her and for Sophie, though he had not contacted Sophie since Fiona' sister's wedding, only a year or so ago. Such a lot had happened since then.

Back to work. One of the current projects was not going anywhere and Peter was about to put it to one side, awaiting inspiration.

He needed something new, and there was a vague notion related to the Anna's 'essence' idea. Since he could remember, girls had commented on his personal smell, taste and semen. What if he could isolate and characterize this compound or mixture? If it really did enliven the skin, prevent skin aging and generally improve the lives of women then there would be a huge market. He must get his thoughts together after some initial experiments and spend some time on the web.

He messaged Alastair, then they talked on the phone that evening. Peter asked Alastair for some body fluid samples for comparison, and could he ask his postdoc for samples too. Alastair thought it a worthwhile idea and promised all the samples. Peter researched the normal composition of sweat, seminal fluid and semen. He also looked at the composition of several women's skin creams. There was a huge amount of data in this area but the major beauty outlets were very protective of their products and specific information. Nevertheless Peter knew he could buy samples and analyze them himself.

The data came slowly and Peter had time to analyze the differences that appeared between his fluids and those of Alastair and Jeff, Alastair's postdoc. The published data on semen was scant and included only the major components, Peter was looking for something else. The beauty creams all contained varying amounts of creams, vitamins, and 'proprietory compounds' of dubious biological activity (and worth).

The major differences between Peter's semen and the others were in the types and quantities of rare sugars, unsaturated lipids and, particularly, enzyme content. There were also traces of steroids including prednisone. He began to produce quantities of the lipids and sugars, beginning with material from established sources and started to clone his own enzymes.