January 2017
It was always hard going back to school after the holidays. This winter had been unusually warm and so most days it was in the 40s with grey, dull skies. The first day back it poured rain, so Peter showed up with his new sneakers soaked through. He was lucky that he had forgotten some of his clothes in his gym locker because his sweatshirt was heavy and wet, and the shirt underneath was clinging to his narrow frame.
Peter rushed to the locker room so he could change before heading to homeroom. His t-shirt was already off when some kids from the basketball team walked in.
“Hey Parker, finally decide to hit the gym? Sure looks like you could use it.”
Peter was used to Flash’s taunts. They had started on the playground in second grade when Peter first got his glasses, and they hadn’t stopped since. He pulled the dry shirt over his head.
“No one’s left to cook for him since that hot aunt of his kicked the bucket.” Even Flash looked taken back from his friend’s comment. His bullies had the decency to avoid him after May’s death, but it looked like that grace period was over.
Peter slammed his locker shut. He mumbled, “fuck off.” Peter slung his backpack over one shoulder and moved to push by the boys. The tallest one, Carter, grabbed his shoulder and pushed him against the wall.
“What the hell did you just say to me?” Carter was inches from Peter’s face with his jaw clenched shut.
Peter should have just shut up, but it was only 7am and he was already so done with the day. “I said,” he pushed Carter’s hand off his shoulder, “fuck. off.”
Peter knew what was coming next. Carter had already been suspended twice for punching students; it was a miracle they still let him play on the basketball team. Carter pushed Peter back into the wall, slamming his head against it, and started to swing his fist when an arm grabbed it and yanked him back.
Peter was surprised to see Flash staring Carter down. “Hey man, that’s too far.” Peter had never seen Flash be nice to him nevertheless stand up for him. Peter took his chance to make a run out of the locker room. Just as he burst through the door the first bell rang.
First day back and Peter was already late for his first class.
---
Peter didn’t see Flash again until last period: Biology. It was the only class the two of them had together and they sat on opposite sides of the room. Flash avoided looking at Peter, but he could tell that Flash was sporting a new black eye. His left eye was red and puffy, and Peter could already see some purple just underneath.
Calming down Carter must have not gone as well as he had hoped.
They were starting their genetics chapter in Biology and so their teacher, Dr. Christianson, was flipping through slides on Punnett squares and nucleotides. Despite it being an advanced STEM school teachers still had to review the basics before going into the more advanced stuff. Peter had already read up on most of these concepts and so he distracted himself by playing around with a new algorithm he was working on. He tried to not think about Flash’s black eye.
“Alright class before you start working on your homework, I have one announcement. Next Friday we will be taking a field trip to Oscorp where they will show us some of their labs where they are working on projects like genome sequencing and cross species genetics. You’ll be able to see how the concepts we go over in the next two weeks are applied in research, medicine, and biotech.”
Dr. Christianson grabbed a stack of papers. “Please grab a permission slip and make sure you have it to me by the end of this week so I can give Oscorp the final count.”
Ned turned to Peter, his eyes blown wide. “Dude this is gonna be so cool. Do you think we’ll get to meet any of the scientists? I hope its not just a tour from some PR person, but I guess that’d be cool too. Oh man, maybe they have a TEAM 0.5 transmission electron microscope. I heard its resolution is narrower than a hydrogen atom. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
Everyday Peter was grateful that he found a best friend who was just as in to science as he was. Ned’s enthusiasm had really gotten Peter through the last few months. “So cool. I’d settle for a sub-par scanning electron microscope though. Anything is better than the junk we have here.”
The two boys went back and forth on what projects Oscorp may let them see. “Can you guys save it until after the bell rings? Some of us are trying to focus.”
MJ did not share their love of science. Biology was her weakest class that semester. It took her twice as long to finish the worksheets as it did for her to finish a five-paragraph essay for English. Peter and Ned apologized and started in on their own homework. The three of them worked in silence until the bell rang.
---
Ben offered to drive Peter to school on the day of the field trip, so he didn’t risk his train being delayed and missing the bus to Oscorp. Ben was still quiet and distant, but he hadn’t made any more comments to directly dismiss Peter. Peter made sure that there was dinner on the table each night and groceries stocked so that Ben didn’t have to worry. He had a pretty steady income of $100-150 a week from the Daily Bugle to spend on food, train fares, and utilities.
Two months after May died their electricity had been shut off because Ben hadn’t paid the bill. May was always the one to take care of the utilities. It cost Peter $100 to get it turned back on, but luckily he had some extra cash from the photos he took of the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving parade.
The rent was still automatically taken out of Ben’s bank account, so Peter didn’t have to worry about that.
Peter was early for once, so he headed to the cafeteria to grab breakfast before the first bell. Ned and MJ met him there and soon all of his biology class was strewn about nearby tables waiting for the bus to pull up.
Oscorp wasn’t far from the school but with rush hour traffic it took them almost an hour to arrive. Oscorp took up an entire skyscraper with labs and offices spread out on eighty different floors. The lobby was all white and stainless steel giving it a modern, clean look.
A petite woman named Sandy met their class near the front desk and handed each of them a name tag and a packet that included a lengthy description of Oscorp’s history, founding members, and its published works. Peter tucked it in his bag planning to go through everything in depth later. For now, he wanted to soak in as much as he could.
They started on the lower labs that were full of college interns and grad students who were working on their thesis projects in tandem with Oscorp. Sandy pulled a few students away from their projects to introduce themselves and tell them about what they were working on. Their projects ranged from using microorganisms to clean up oil spills to new medical devices that would change how we diagnose and treat patients.
Peter and his classmates were all enamored by the technology being used and created. Even Flash seemed to be amazed.
Eventually Sandy led the class to the higher up labs where the full-time scientists were working on their projects. A woman named Dr. Messer told the class how she was using an algorithm from facial recognition software to identify bacteria and viruses on microscope slides which would make identifying these microbes a much faster and accurate process.
After lunch they went back upstairs to the last lab. Dr. Connors was an older man with thinning hair and bright eyes. The left sleeve of his lab coat was pinned up as that arm was missing.
He smiled at the students. “Welcome! Have you have been enjoying your tour so far?”
Everyone ensured him they were. “Well, here you will get to see three projects all centered on cross species genetics. What we mean by that is we are looking at mixing the genomes of two different organisms in what is also known as hybridization. This may sound like something a mad scientist would dream of, but it actually takes place in nature. Can anyone give me an example?”
A few kids raised their hands including Ned. Dr. Connors chose their classmate Abe. “A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey.”
“That’s right! A horse and a donkey have nearly identical genomes, so hybridization isn’t that difficult. What we are doing here is trying to cross two more diverse genomes so that we can select the favorable genes from one and insert it into the other.”
Dr. Connors led them towards the first set of work benches. “Here we have a team working on crossing a zebrafish with human DNA. They have more in common than you may think. They share the same major organs and tissues in humans, but zebrafish have the unique ability to repair heart muscle. Our goal is to take their DNA, specifically the genes that allow this type of repair, and insert it into the human genome so that we may work towards curing degenerative heart conditions.”
Spread across the work benches were notebooks full of equations and notes that were much more complex than anything Peter had ever seen. There were plenty of computers surrounded by used coffee cups and discarded pens. There weren’t any scientists currently working, they must still be at lunch.
Dr. Connors led them away from that workstation to another. This one was neater and smaller. There was an empty seat with a closed laptop and notebook laying to the right. At the other seat there was a blonde girl scribbling in her own notebook. She smiled at Peter when he approached the station with his classmates.
“Students this is Gwen Stacy, my intern on this project. She just finished her own thesis project and graciously agreed to stay on as my intern until the end of the project. Gwen, these are the students from Midtown I was telling you about. Why don’t you tell them what we are working on.”
Gwen stood up. Her lab coat was draped over the back of her chair, and she was dressed in black khakis and a bright green blouse that matched her eyes. “Welcome, it’s nice to meet you all. Dr. Connors and I are currently working on inserting lizard DNA into the human genome to stimulate the regrowth of limbs.”
Peter’s eyes flicked to the area where Dr. Connor’s left arm should be. He wasn’t the only one looking.
“Lizards are the closest relative to humans that can regenerate a lost appendage. Our hope is that we can identify the genes responsible and insert it into the human genome. With enough radiation applied to the lizard DNA we should be able to change it enough to keep the genes we want and get rid of the ones we don’t. Their new tails are all cartilage and do not contain the original nerves, but if we are able to transplant this property into humans the next step would be to do nerve regeneration and transplants to allow for the return of sensation and motor control of the limb itself.”
“Thank you, Gwen. This project is obviously very dear to me, but it also holds the possibility of changing so many lives for the better. We are still in the process of genome sequencing and so we have a long way to go but I am hopeful that we will get to where we want to be.”
Peter looked over to see Ned’s face full of awe. Peter was sure that his own face looked similar. The idea of limb regeneration was something you saw in a sci-fi movie not on a field trip. This was some prize-earning top level science they were seeing.
It was the first time that Peter forgot about May and Ben and bills and was able to just be consumed by something he loved. He forgot how light he could feel.
“Finally, our last project is studying how spiders may be able to aid in helping deaf people hear again without the need for cochlear implants. Does anybody know what is unique about spiders that may help us do this?”
Peter was the only one to raise his hand. Dr. Christianson was surprised to see Peter participate as he hadn’t done so since his aunt had passed.
“Spiders can detect vibrations using the tiny, sensitive hairs on their legs. They don’t hear in the same way we do because they don’t have eardrums, but they are able to feel and respond to the movement of air particles around them.”
“Yes!" He beamed at Peter before turning to Dr. Christianson. "You must be quite the teacher doctor, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so young who knew the answer to that.”
Dr. Christianson smiled politely and said that she couldn’t take credit, Peter did his own reading. She was so proud of him.
“Alright kids, let me show you one last thing. I usually don’t take the students here but because you answered all my questions correctly and even asked some inquisitive ones of your own, I want to show you our lovely subjects.” Dr. Connors led them across the hall into another lab that had its lights dimmed and was absent of any workstations.
One side of the lab had several tanks with at least fifteen zebrafish. The other side had a few cages containing lizards basking under their heat lamps. The class split into two groups to go look at the test subjects. Peter was the only one to take interest in the glass cages at the far end of the lab. Peter leaned down to peer in. Inside there were probably a hundred spiders crawling over each other or clinging to the glass.
Dr. Connors came up next to him. “These are Hyllus giganteus or jumping spiders. They are the largest family of spiders making up 13% of all species. They have already started to undergo the radiation process as that project is the furthest along in their sequencing. We are still waiting for approval to go forward with the trials, but hopefully it will be any day now.”
Peter wasn’t sure why the doctor was being so forthcoming with details of the study. Oscorp was known for its secrecy and big reveals.
“Would you like to see one under the microscope? You can see the hairs you were talking about.”
“Um- yeah. Yeah, that would be awesome." Peter timidly asked, "you don’t mind?”
Connors laughed. “Any kid who spends his free time reading about spiders deserves to see one up close.”
Dr. Connors carefully pulled the lid back to grab one spider with tongs and put it in an open petri dish. He then slid it under the microscope and adjusted the focus. “Here, take a look.”
The resolution was incredible. Peter couldn’t believe how clear the tiny hairs covering the spider’s legs were. The spider was still moving around so it came in and out of the frame, but Peter was in awe. He hoped Ned would come over so he could also take a look.
“Hey don’t touch that!” Sandy’s voice rang out across the room. Peter turned around to see that Flash was trying to move the top off one of the lizard cages. Dr. Connor hurried over to secure the cage, leaving Peter alone.
Peter was distracted and so he didn’t even notice that the spider had crawled out of the petri dish and onto his hand. He didn’t even feel the bite.
“Alright everybody that concludes our tour.” Sandy sounded a little frazzled. A bunch of teenagers around expensive equipment and live animals was setting her on edge. “Let’s thank Dr. Connors and head downstairs where your teacher will do a count before you get on the bus.”
They thanked the doctor and headed out.
---
Peter had trouble sleeping that night with his body going from too hot to too cold. He alternated between bundling himself in his comforter and kicking it back off. At about 11pm he stood up to go grab some water but as soon as he was on his feet black spots danced in the corners of his vision and his stomach lurched.
Peter made it to the bathroom with not much time to spare. He threw up until nothing was coming up he was just dry heaving. He didn’t hear Ben’s bedroom door open.
There was a soft knock. “Peter? Is that you?” Of course it was, no one else lived here.
“Yeah.” His voice was hoarse and quiet.
There was a pause. “You okay?”
No he wasn’t. “Yeah.” He sounded even worse. He wanted May here so she could rub his back. She would know exactly what medicine to give him and then she would tuck him in and bring him a glass of water and some saltines.
“Ok, I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” Peter heard his uncle’s footsteps fade away and the bedroom door close behind him. Peter slumped forward and rested his forehead on the edge of the toilet. It was gross, but Peter was thankful for the cool surface.
Peter closed his eyes for a few seconds before his stomach lurched again and he dry heaved.
It must have been the cafeteria breakfast or the Oscorp lunch that was wreaking havoc on his stomach. Hopefully it would be out of his system soon.