The manual sat open to the troubleshooting page. “Common errors: Contamination, degraded primers, or unexpected mutations.”
To most students, it was a dry collection of protocols for PCR and gel electrophoresis. To Elias, it was a map. He had spent months following its instructions, not to pass a class, but to solve a mystery hidden in his own blood.
He realized then that he wasn't just a student following a lab guide. He was the subject of the next edition.
He flipped to Chapter 8: Identifying Polymorphisms . He’d spent the last six hours isolating his own DNA, a process the manual described as "routine." But as the centrifuge whirred to a stop, his hands shook. He loaded the tiny plastic wells of the sequencing plate, his eyes burning from lack of sleep.