a narrative that makes the department heads wet themselves over all the Nature and Science papers you're gonna publish and all of the grant money you're gonna bring in. You can't just throw a bunch of data slides together." I let that sink in and take another sip of coffee. He's never been good at using his data to tell a story. From the way he shifts in his seat, I can see he's starting to feel anxious. Good. It's time. "If you give me the plasmids I need to make the enzymes myself, I'll fix your presentation." "I was hoping you'd help me anyway," Andrew says. Of course he was. That's the reason he wants to see me. I've helped him so much he never developed his own legs to stand on. "I'm not comfortable helping you with your folly, Joe," he adds. "I mean you're trying to make a triffid . I don't get what you're trying to accomplish." "How many times do you want me to explain? All things decay, Andrew, but there are things that transcend the trappings of matter and biochemical pathways and even life itself. People like you are going to destroy those things with hubris and shortsightedness. Someone needs to make a statement , Andrew. You call this a folly, but what you do is folly." Andrew laughs at me. He laughs . "I don't understand how that has anything to do with making a fictional people-eating plant monster from a story written