A statue representing Janus Bifrons in the Vatican Museums
Janus was a project centered around cloning living beings.
It was set up shortly before skydark at the Crichton Institute. The specifics of the project were unclear, but it involved a pair of modified mat-trans chambers; the scientists placed a living being inside one, tweaked some settings using a computer, and then activated the system, which would create a copy in the second. The copy would have whatever changes the scientists programmed in - more or fewer limbs, a different personality and/or abilities, etc. Their goal was to eradicate (harmful) mutations by cloning perfect specimens, similar to the Nazis' eugenics program (Genesis Echo).
Trivia[]
- (Note: This project was never actually named in the books. All the details are accurate, but the name was made up so that it could be included here; it was also originally named as part of Overproject Whisper, but was moved here since it fit better.)
- In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus was the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby of gates, doors, doorways, passages and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. It is conventionally thought that the month of January is named for Janus (Ianuarius), but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.