Chapter 28 - The protesting professor

Friday - October 2 | 40 days until the conference | 498 registrations

Catja entered Victor’s office, red-faced, followed closely by Casper.

           ‘You need to see this, Mister VanWely.’

           Victor was just closing his laptop; he was supposed to pick up Denise for a weekend break and he was already late. He pointed at the closed laptop.

           ‘Then look on my computer,’ she said.

           Casper nodded gravely. ‘You should.’

           Victor picked up his coat and bag and followed Catja.

           Her screen was showing a message from Professor Gentle on Rodentnet.org, titled:

Dancing guinea pig an insult to Rodentia 2015

           ‘Our Pooky,’ she said, indignantly.

           Professor B. Gentle was a reputable man. The retired scientist had been at the forefront of the unraveling of rat DNA. Typically old-school: straightforward, singularly focused and deadly serious. ‘Science need not be entertaining, for science is useful,’ was one of his favorite phrases. Within the program committee, he was the front man of tradition.. He had resisted the new meeting formats such as the confrontation panel. ‘Science only knows one truth,’ was his argument. Luckily, the progressive voices had the majority. Victor and Jacques had avoided contact with Professor Gentle as much as possible since then. The fewer details the man was aware of, the smaller the chance of him interfering with their plans.

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Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos

 Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

           The content of the message on Rodentnet was formulated in a way one might expect from the professor: serious and leaving no room for argument: