NEXUS POINTS : Chapter 15-16

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Chapter 15

Derin Serpius looked through the observation window with a sense of pride. The new synthetic enzyme he had formulated had worked wonders in bringing down the mortality rate among his experimental subjects. 

“Subjects”, what a brilliant word, Derin thought. It allowed a scientist to detach himself from his creations, to focus on his objectives without clouding his conscience with unnecessary burdens. 

There can be no greatness without sacrifices. 

Derin turned around to face Nolan Zod and Andre Oslo. The two were busying themselves with the lab reports on the large holo display over the oval conference table. He was in such a good mood today he even found these two clowns tolerable. 

Zod raised his head to look at Derin with a half smile. “You’ve made great progress.”

“Yes, it’s been a productive week. Any news on Yong Liu?”

Andre Oslo turned his attention to Derin, the expression on his square face unreadable. His cold blue eyes had their usual glassy, distant look to them. “The State’s case is solid. I heard there’s enough evidence to convict him three times over.”

“Any chance there’s going to be blowback on us from the evidence you prepared?” Zod asked.

Always the naysayer. “No, there isn’t,” Derin said. 

“What about the girl Liu was working with?” Oslo chimed in.

“Kora Amelli? She’s a lab rat, completely harmless. Besides, no one will ever hire her again after what happened. She’s done.” Derin gave a wave of his hand. “Yong Liu on the other hand still concerns me. Are you sure you’ve gotten everything he’s found?”

“We were thorough,” Oslo said simply.

Derin started to say something but decided against it. Oslo gave him the creeps. It was best not to challenge him in front of Zod. An idea came to him. “Well, I’m happy to announce that the trial subject has been responding remarkably well to the trigger.”

“Trial subject?” Oslo raised one eyebrow at Derin.

“Yes. The subject has a very similar genetic makeup to our target. Almost an 85% match. It’s the best we can do since we can’t use an immediate family member for the trial run,” Derin explained.

Zod looked to Oslo, “It would draw unwanted attention.”

“In fact, you can see for yourself.” Derin pointed his thumb at the window behind him.

Zod and Oslo rose from their seats and walked towards the window. Derin followed suit, standing next to Oslo. He couldn’t help but admire Oslo’s physique. At about 1.80 meters in height, Oslo was only a smidgen taller than him. However, his body seemed twice the size of Derin’s and rivaled that of a professional athlete. His grey, long-sleeved knit shirt was barely able to contain the bulging muscles underneath. 

No wonder he’s Draco’s go-to hatchet man, Derin thought.

On the other side of the window, a woman with dark olive skin was strapped down to a portable gurney. Her head was shaved and electrodes were attached to various points on her skull. There was a menacing look in her eyes.  

Derin waved his hand in front of a scanner next to the window. A lab tech in white contamination suit turned towards them.

“Administer the trigger, please,” Derin commanded through the comm link.

The tech nodded, picked up a syringe, then injected it into the IV line attached to the woman’s wrist.

“How many dose has she received?” Zod asked.

Finally! An intelligent question. “Five so far. I’ve reduced the concentration and tweaked the formula. The level of the trigger builds in the blood stream over time. For that reason, the symptoms also manifest gradually. The target will never suspect she’s being drugged.”

Zod and Oslo nodded. 

The woman on the gurney was becoming agitated. She began pulling on the restraints on her wrists and ankles. Her eyes became bloodshot. Soon she was struggling against the white band that secured her head onto the gurney. Veins popped on her neck and forehead. Her face turned red as she tried to yank her head free from the head harness. She started screaming at the window, only they couldn’t hear what she was saying.

The tech reappeared and checked her vital signs on the display panel. He said something to the woman, causing a violent reaction from her. 

She spat at the tech, mustering all her strength. Blood appeared along the edges of the headband, but the woman only struggled harder.

“That’s enough.” Derin spoke to the tech through the comm link.

The tech injected another syringe into the woman’s IV line. She immediately calmed down.

Derin turned to Zod and Oslo. “Well?”

“I think we’re ready for a live field test!” Zod smiled, obviously pleased.

Predictable. Derin smiled to himself inwardly. “I think I know just the perfect target.”

Chapter 16

Kora arrived to find Cody’s room empty at the State Central Hospital. She set the small brown bag on the tray table. The cooling pack inside should keep the ice cream frozen for a few hours. She headed back to the elevators. 

“Oncology lab,” she instructed the AI. 

Kora noticed how much slower the elevator was compared to the ones at NID. She thought about her lab. What would she be doing if she hadn’t been fired? Just then the elevator came to a stop. 

The brightly lit hallways were surprisingly quiet for a Tuesday morning. The faint smell of sterilizing wash hung in the air. Kora could hear her boots on the light grey tile floor, a light tapping. She thought about the shock-absorbent floor in the circular hallway outside her lab at NID. 

Stop it! she scolded herself inwardly.

Kora rounded a corner to her left and found Sandberg walking towards her.

“There you are! They told me you were coming up. Let’s go to my office.” Sandberg pointed to a door at the end of the hallway.

Kora’s pulse quickened. It was time to find out the results of her brain biopsies and genetic tests.

For a hospital office, Sandberg’s was well-appointed. A glass desk faced the door, sitting in front of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked over one of the few parks in the 1st Ring. A brown overstuffed sofa leaned against the wall to the left of the desk. Judging from its rumpled look, Sandberg had spent many a night on it. Potted succulents were spread across the room, on the desk, the bookshelf and the small glass coffee table in front of the sofa. An exercise bicycle stood parallel to the wall opposite the sofa. The wall itself was covered with colorful finger paintings from young patients.

Kora sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs facing the desk.

“How are you feeling?” Sandberg asked.

Kora hesitated for a moment. “I’m...okay.”

“We were worried when you disappeared yesterday. Then I saw the news.”

“I had to go get fired.”

“What’s going on, Kora?” Sandberg looked concerned. “Is it true? What they’re saying about Dr. Liu?”

“I think his arrest has something to do with our research.” Kora gave a brief summary of what had happened, about the messages Liu had left her last week. “The Yong Liu I know is incapable of doing what they’re accusing him of. I’m trying to find out what really did happen.”

Sandberg looked puzzled. “Keep me posted,” she finally said, pulling up Kora’s file on the holographic display. 

“First, I want to show you the UfScan results of your brain.” Sandberg enlarged the 3-D Ultra-Frequency-Scan image of Kora’s brain in front of them. She pointed at two small areas, turning them solid and red.

“We found hyper-growth in your pineal and pituitary glands. They’re about thirty percent larger than those in the average adult.” She pulled up another UfScan image and dragged it beside Kora’s. “Here’s the comparison.”

Kora looked at the two images. The difference was quite obvious. She frowned. “Thirty percent? How? What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure. Our neurologists have never seen anything like it. It doesn’t seem to impede any of your brain function, and the cells in the tissues are healthy.” 

She moved to another screen. “These are the results of your genetic panels. We compared them to your genomic records at birth, when you turned ten, and when you turned twenty. More of your codons were activated as you aged, which is normal. Then I checked the genes being expressed...” Sandberg paused.

Kora’s eyes widened. “And?”

“I don’t know how to explain this... Some of these codons were supposed to be junk DNA.”

Kora was confused. “I don’t understand.”

“As you know, only about nine percent of the DNA in our genome is absolutely essential. About eighty percent or so serves some kind of function. The codons being expressed in your brain, however, belong to the other twenty percent.”

“That’s impossible!” Kora exclaimed.

“That’s what I thought. So I ran the panels again. Same results. Frankly, we don’t have any record on file that shows this type of gene expression. There’s nothing for me to even compare the results with.”

Kora searched her brain. All her training as a geneticist, yet she couldn’t even formulate a question. Frustrated, she asked, “What about the tissue in my limbic system?”

Sandberg leaned back in her chair, her blues eyes looking straight at Kora. “Your hunch was right. Your brain biopsy showed degeneration similar to what we found in Anita’s brain. I’m sorry!”

Kora closed her eyes, allowing the news to sink in. “When did it start?”

“Around the time you turned ten.”

“How long do I have?”

“Hard to say, but the rate of degeneration is very slow. My guess is that rate is determined by many factors, stress being one.”

Kora fell silent. She stared out the windows behind Sandberg. “What do you recommend?”

“Until we know what caused the atrophy in the first place, there’s not much I can recommend. We need to keep our research going.”

Kora let out a deep sigh. “Sage, in case you haven’t noticed, my career as a therapeutics geneticist is over. I’m being investigated by the SSA. And I don’t have a lab anymore.”

Sandberg looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be insensitive...” She thought for a minute. “How about coming to work with me, here, at SCH? I can certainly use your expertise.”

Kora was taken by surprise. “But... what about the SSA’s investigation?”

Sandberg smiled. “I believe our laws say one is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

- End of Chapter 16 -