Battle of the Genes
written by
John Tokle
FADE IN:
INT. UTERUS – DAY
A fetus floats in amniotic fluid, weightless; gravity doesn’t seem to reach this aquatic world. It’s peaceful here. An umbilical cord spirals out to Earth, an entire dimension away. We zoom in. Cells dividing, migrating, amalgamating. An ambiguous lump takes shape; it’s an UNDIFFERENTIATED GONAD.
INT. UNDIFFERENTIATED GONAD – DAY
DNA coils around itself in grand loop de loops. A basepair begins to glow. Then another. And another as a chain reaction gains momentum. This now sequence flickers with life as pure energy leaps off the strand, forming an anthropomorphic gene, SOX9.
SOX9
(triumphantly)
WAHOO! Today’s the day. Time to put
the BRO in this embryo and zap this
testis into existence.
SOX9 crackles electrically as it warms-up and stretches, channels its inner focus, charges with maleness. A beat. Just as it’s about to discharge, a LASSO of amino acids wraps around its torso and jolts it sharply backwards.
DAX1 (O.S.)
Not so Fast!
Another anthropomorphic gene, DAX1, comes into view. It’s a genetic abstraction of pure female determinism in the likes of a Lara Croft or Wonder Woman.
SOX9
What the hell?
DAX1
You can go silence yourself. This
human is going to be a girl.
SOX9
No chance. I was expressed first. You
can go silence yourself because this
human is certainly going to be a boy.
SOX9 breaks free from the amino acids in a single, smooth motion. The two genes stare at each other vehemently, but neither submits. They’re clearly equals.
DAX1
Imagine this.
EXT. GENDER REVEAL PARTY – DAY
Family gathers around a picnic table somewhere in middle class America. Multiple generations are present: parents, grandparents, kids. There’s chatter, laughter, joy. This is a celebration of life. In the center of the table sits what looks like a homemade PIPE BOMB. A pregnant woman lights the fuse, and the wick diminishes toward the contraption. A beat. Then an explosion! PINK glitter rains down on the partygoers.
SOX9 (V.O.)
Well that’s nice, but it’d be better
like this.
REPLAY but now an explosion of BLUE glitter. Jubilance.
SOX9 (V.O.)
And it only keeps getting better.
EXT. BACKYARD – DAY
A BOY, early elementary school age, plays with a toy truck: vrooming, racing imaginary foes, smashing imaginary things. He smiles to himself, another world at his fingertips. This moment belongs to him.
DAX1 (V.O.)
Truly looks like a blast but try this.
REPLAY but now a GIRL plays with a doll. She’s also immersed in her own imagination. She smiles, not for any other reason than enjoyment of the moment.
DAX1 (V.O.)
And think of the future!
EXT. HIGHWAY – NIGHT
A GIRL, mid high school age, sits in the passenger seat of a vehicle packed full of teenagers where N = # of seatbelts +1. It’s an aimless kind of night, driving nowhere in particular. Juvenescence permeates the air, and “Heroes” by David Bowie plays on the radio.
GIRL
(lightheartedly)
Shut up, everyone. This is my song!
She dials the volume up to that sweet decibel range between the song and acquiring hearing damage.
GIRL
(singing along)
I, I will be King…
SOX9 (V.O.)
No. I’ll be king. Like this.
REPLAY but now a BOY takes the place of the GIRL.
BOY
(singing along)
And you, you will be queen…
EVERYONE
(singling along)
Though nothing will drive them away…
DAX1 (V.O.)
You didn’t even change anything! This
is ridiculous. And admit it, my DNA’s
destiny, not yours.
BACK TO: INT. UNDIFFERENTIATED GONAD – DAY
SOX9
Ridiculous is a strong word for a gene
called DAX1. What does that even stand
for? Dumb-ass…
A beat as it contemplates this diss; X is a tough letter.
SOX9
X-linked gene?
DAX1
(sarcastically)
And SOX9 is a cool name. such
SOX9
You know, I’m tired of talking.
SOX9 leaps towards a strand of DNA.
SOX9
(menacingly)
I’ve got a better idea.
SOX9 pulls violently on the strand with the implicit goal of tearing DAX1’s sequence out of the genome.
DAX1
(incredulously)
No!
DAX1 reaches the DNA downstream from SOX9 and yanks it in an effort to rip the strand away from its rival.
DAX1
You’re going to cause a double strand
break.
The two use the basepairs for leverage and pull back and forth in a high-stakes game of genetic tug of war. First SOX9 has the upper hand, then DAX1 does. More back and forth until sure enough, the DNA breaks apart, and the adversaries launch apart in opposite directions.
DAX1
(despondently)
Look what you’ve done.
SOX9 sits up, struck by the gravity of the situation. The DNA strands are degrading in both directions, like lit fuses.
SOX9
(remorsefully)
What… I…
Suddenly in a brilliant blur of a FLEET of deus ex machina, DNA repair enzymes swoops in and catches both volatile ends mid-air. Using a neighboring homologous chromosome and a sequence of whirling, molecular aerobatics, it mends the damage, and the strands anneal, anew.
With the DNA damage mitigated, the DNA repair enzymes disassemble. SOX9 and DAX1 stare across at each other, speechless, the reality of coexistence slowly setting in.
FADE OUT.
