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"Conventional wisdom would put it so Yes But conventional wisdom is invariably out of date Because in the time it has taken to become conventional - to become what everyone believes - the world has moved on Conventional wisdom is a remnant of the past And so it is in this case"
On the screen, the reef scene was suddenly branded Coral branches had lettering that readBP CLEANA school of sVODAFONE, VODAFONEA slithering shark withCADBURY curving across the snout A puffer fish withLLOYDS TSB GROUP in black lettering swam over convoluted heads of brain coral, withSCOTTISH POWER printed along the ridges in orange And, finally, a reenish skin pattern saidMARKS & SPENCER
"Think of the possibilities," Koss said
The audience was stunned - as he had expected it would be He pressed on with the argument
The slide noed a desert scene, with spires of red rock rising against a blue sky laced with clouds After a er,above the landscape and said:
BP MEANSCLEANPOWER
"Those letters," Koss said, "are nine hundred feet high They stand a quarter of a mile above the landscape They are clear to the naked eye, and they photograph well At sunset, they becoed "Here, you see their appearance as the sun goes down - the lettering changes froo So it has the quality, the feeling, of being a natural eleinal cloud ie of nanoparticles and genetically e is, in effect, a nanoswarm, and it will remain visible in the air for a variable period of ti on conditions - just as any cloud would It may appear for only a few minutes At other times, it may appear for an hour It may appear in multiples"
On the screen, the fluffy clouds becaan, repeated infinitely in cloud after cloud, stretching away to the horizon "I think everyone will recognize the impact of this new medium Thenatural medium"
He had expected spontaneous applause for this dramatic visual, but there was still only silence in the darkness Yet surely they would be experiencing soing in the sky? Surely it must arouse them
"But these clouds are a special case," he said
He returned tothe underwater i over the coral reef "In this case," he said, "signage and adverts are borne by the living creatures theeneticTo capture this new medium, speed is of the utmost importance There are only a limited number of reef fishes common to tourist waters Some fish are more incandescent than others Many are a bit drab So ant to choose the best And the geneticthe marine animal in each case Thus ill patent the Cadbury clown fish, the British Petroleu coral, the Marks and Spencersilently overhead, the British Airways manta ray"
Koss cleared his throat "Speeda competitive situation We want our Cadbury clown fish out there, before the clown fish is patented by Hershey&039;s or McDonald&039;s And ant a strong creature, since in the natural environainst ordinary clown fish, and hopefully triumph over them The more successful our patented fish, the e shall be seen, and the eless fish will be driven to extinction We are entering the era of Darwinian advertising! May the best advert win!"
A coughfroive me," cahtans in clouds? And what else? Rhinos in Africa that carry the Land Rover logo? If you go about branding animal species, every environmentalist in the world will oppose you"
"Actually, they will not," Koss said, "because we&039;re not suggesting that corporationsbrand species We ask corporations tosponsor species As a public service" He paused "Think how many museum exhibitions, theater companies, and symphony orchestras are entirely dependent on corporate sponsorship Even sections of roadway are sponsored, today Why shouldn&039;t the same philanthropic spirit be directed toward the natural world - which surely would benefit far ered species could be attractively sponsored Corporations can stake their reputations on the survival of animal species, as they once staked their reputations on the quality of dull television programs And it is the saered For all the fish in the sea We are talking about an era of lobal scale"
"So, this is the black rhino, brought to you by Land Rover? The jaguar, brought to you by Jaguar?"
"I shouldn&039;t put it so crudely, but, yes, that&039;s e are proposing The point," he continued, "is that this is a in situation A win for the environ"
Gavin Kosshad done hundreds of presentations in his career, and his feeling for the audience had never failed hi it It was tihts up and take questions
He stared at the rows of frowning faces "I ad rapidly So to do this This colonization of naturewill happen - the only question is, by whoreatest care, and then decide if you want to be a part of it"
From the back, Garth Baker, the head of Midlands Media Associates Ltd, stood "It&039;s quite a novel idea, Gavin," he said "But I must tell you with some assurance that it will not work"
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because someone has already done it"
CHapter 047
There wasnoof the surf in the darkness and the whine of the da the rough Atlantic coast of Costa Rica, but tonight it was no ed with a black, starry sky Julio Manarez paused, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark A ht, if he takes the time
Soon he could make out the palm trunks and debris scattered over the dark sand, and the low, scrubby plants whipped by the wind off the ocean He could just see whitecaps in the churning seas The ocean, he kneas filled with sharks This stretch of the Atlantic coast was bleak and inhospitable
A quarter mile down the beach he saw Manuel, a dark shape hunched beneath theout of the wind There was no one else on the beach
Julio started toward hi by the turtles in previous days This beach was one of the breeding grounds for leatherback turtles, which cas The process took ht, and the turtles were vulnerable - in the old days, to poachers, and now ht itself As the newly appointed conservation chief of the region, Julio ell aware that turtles were killed every week along this coast
Tourists helped prevent this; if tourists alking the beach, the jaguars stayed away But often the cats caone hoine an evolutionary selection pressure producing soraduate school, in San Juan, he and the other students used to joke about it Were tourists agents of evolution? Tourists changed everything else about a country, why not its wildlife? Because if a turtle happened to possess sohts, or the ability tosound - if they had so around into the night, then those turtles would be smore likely to survive
Differential survival that resulted fro a tourist attraction That had been the joke, in school But, of course, it was theoretically possible And if what Manuel was telling him was true
Manuel saw him and waved He stood as Julio approached "This way," he said, and started down the beach
"You find ht, Julio?"
"Just one Of that kind I was speaking of"
"Muy bien"
They walked down the beach in silence But they had not gone far - perhaps a hundred yards or so - when Julio saw the faint purple glo to the sand, and pulsing slightly
"That&039;s it?"
"That&039;s it," Manuel said
She was a fe She had characteristic shell plates, about the size of his palm Brownish, streaked with black She was half buried in the sand, digging a pit at the rear with her flippers
Julio stood over her and watched
"It starts and stops," Manuel said
And then it began again A purple glow that seemed to emanate from within the individual plates of the shell Solowed only occasionally Others glowed each ti quickly, fading slowly
"So how many turtles like this have you seen?" Julio said
"This is the third"
"And this light keeps the jaguars away?" He continued to watch the soft pulsing He felt that the quality of the gloas oddly fa bacteriuuars keep their distance"
"Wait a minute," Julio said "What is this?" He pointed to the shell, where a pattern of light and dark plates eed
"It only happens sometimes"
"But you see it?"
"Yes, I see it"
"It looks like a hexagon"
"I don&039;t know"
"But it is like a symbol, wouldn&039;t you say? Of a corporation?"
"Perhaps, yes It is possible"
"What about the other turtles? They show this pattern?"
"No, each one is different"
"So this ht be a randoon?"
"Yes Julio, I believe it is Because you see the iood, it is not sye faded The turtle was dark again
"Can you photograph this pattern?"
"I already have It is a ti But, yes, I have it"
"Good," Julio said "Because this is a genetic change Let&039;s review the visitor log, and see who ht have done this"
CHapter 048
Josh"It was his ht you should know You remember Lois Graham&039;s son, Eric, as on heroin? There&039;s been a terrible tragedy He died"
Josh gave a long sigh He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes "How?"
"In a car crash But then they did the autopsy or whatever Eric had a fatal heart attack He enty-one, Josh"
"Was it in the fa?"
"No Eric&039;s father lives in Switzerland; he&039;s sixty-four He climbs mountains And Lois is fine Of course she&039;s crushed We&039;re all crushed"
Josh said nothing
"Things were going so well for Eric He was off drugs, he had a new job, he&039;d applied to go back to school in the fallhe was getting bald, was the only thing People thought he&039;d had chemo He&039;d lost so much hair And he walked stooped over Josh? Are you there?"
"I&039;m here"
"I saw hi
"The fao"
"I&039;ll try"
"Josh Your brother looks old, too"
"I know"
"I tried to tell him it was like his father To cheer him up But Ada on?" she said "What have you done to hiave these people so old"
"Mom Adam did it to hiht it&039;d get hih I wasn&039;t even with hiive the spray to Lois Graham&039;s son"
"I don&039;t kno you could think such a thing"
"You calledridiculous Why would I call? I don&039;t know anything about your workYou calledme , and asked where Eric lived And you asked me not to tell hisHe pressed the tips of his fingers against his closed eyes until he saw bright patterns He wanted to escape He wanted to leave this office, this company He wanted none of this to be true
"Mom," he said finally "This could be very serious" He was thinking that he could go to jail
"Of course it&039;s serious I&039; to happen? A to lose my son?"
"I don&039;t know, Mom I hope not"
"I think there&039;s a chance," she said "Because I called up the Levines in Scarsdale They&039;re already old, the two of them Past sixty And they sounded just fine Helen said she was never better George is playing a lot of golf"
"That&039;s good," he said
"So maybe they&039;re okay"
"I think so"
"Then maybe Adam will be okay, too"
"I really hope so, Moot off the phone Of course the Levines were fine He had sent sterile saline in the spray tubes They hadn&039;t gotten the gene He wasn&039;t about to send his experienes to soave his ht now, Josh didn&039;t hold out much hope Not for his brother And ulti to have to tell Rick Diehl But not now Not right now