Lars put down his mobile phone and smiled over to his wife, Frederikke. He was a third generation mink farmer in the Northern part of Jutland in Denmark and his dad, Lars, lived with them on their farm outside of Bindslev. Having his dad around was a wonderful resource but also a constant source of irritation because he was so recalcitrant to change. And the older Lars was not shy about telling the younger Lars where the new technologies were a waste of money and not worth their investment.
The younger Lars took a break from Bindslev and the family business after high school and earned a degree in biochemistry. After college he brought back his interest in science to the farm and had slowly started incorporating newer technologies. After a while he got hooked on genetics and started his own special breeding colony secret from his dad that he used for experimentation and he had made great strides in some areas of fur quality. That breeding colony was now paying off in a way they hadn’t envisioned a year ago.
“That was Benny and he wanted another batch of our virus cocktail,” said Lars.
His wife smiled back and said, “You mean the Cluster 6 one?”
“Yes. I don’t know why he and his brother Lenny are interested in that one. It’s not infectious in humans as far as I can tell, so I don’t see the harm. With those two I just naturally assume they are up to no good. But whatever they are doing we could sure use the money.”
“Now that Mette F has killed our whole farm,” said Frederikke.
“Nearly the whole farm,” said Lars and smiled.
“Good thing we had that breeding colony placed where the authorities and your dad didn’t know about it,”
“Yeah, but let’s be careful.”
The Danish government had ordered the slaughter of all minks on farms in Denmark when mutations started popping up and a troubling one appeared in humans. The so-called Cluster 5 strain was believed by the authorities to not be recognized by the vaccines that were on their way. It’s release into the human population could theoretically grow into a whole, new COVID pandemic. The downside was the loss of 15 million farm animals and livelihood for a large number of Danes.
That Lars and Frederikke still had some animals and were basically culturing new strains of the virus would have brought them into some serious hot water. And that they were selling some of the strains to shady business men could have even more dire consequences depending on where the virus eventually ended up. Lars didn’t trust Benny farther than he could throw him, but they were broke and needed the money.
“But why Cluster 6? Scientifically it’s just a mundane change. What’s their interest?” asked Frederikke.
“Again- I am not sure. I just know their interest puts food- and wine- on the table,” said Lars.
