Chapter 15

Doctor Fallow was waiting for me. “If you don’t mind, I’ll ride with you,” he said.

“Okay, but where are we going?” I asked.

“The far side of Bass, on the other side of Clark. Next door to Mudd. We could walk it, but I want the most observation time we can get.”

It only took us a few minutes to get there. Doctor Fallow had to use his security badge twice for us to gain access to the inner sections of the building, and we all had to sign in to get past an actual armed security guard. Once we were through that door, I turned to Doctor Fallow and asked, “This is rather extreme, isn’t it? I would expect something like this for a hot lab.”

He sighed. “Actually, it’s easier to get into those than it is down here. The actual storage we use for samples for the hot lab, no. But this has nothing to do with what we’re doing, and everything to do with what we’re using. At an actual government facility, your mother wouldn’t have had to deal with this. Unfortunately, after Silver Springs, we have to do this, because of PETA.”

At my look of confusion, Chuck said, “In Kansas, PETA stands for People Eating Tasty Animals. In California, it’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Basically, they’re a radical group that don’t just want to end lab experimentation on animals, they want to end what they consider all mistreatment of animals. Including eating them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when we’re grilling steaks this weekend. Only invite the right kind of PETA folks,” I said, shaking my head.

Doctor Fallow grinned. “I find it interesting just how far the depths of stupidity can go at times, and I’ve been doing this for many years. And here we are, primate studies.”

We entered the room through an air shower. “That’s not for cleaning, it’s mostly for the smell.” He nodded at the large group of people in the room. “Welcome, everyone. Glad you could all make it for this trial. Cal, you already know David, Jim, and John. That’s Doctor Virginia Walbot, Biological Sciences. Doctor Helen Blau, Pharmacology. And Doctors Margaret Billingham and Barbara Egbert from Pathology. Ladies, this is Cal Lewis, the inventor as far as we’re concerned of the medication we’re here to test today, and his two security personnel.”

Billingham asked, “As far as we’re concerned?”

“Yes. The medication was originally created by Cal’s mother. As she is no longer living, and as he has made modifications to her original formula, then we’re going with that. Now, I presume the four of you have had a chance to review the notes prior to now?” Fallow asked.

The four all nodded.

“Very good, then. Before we get started, are there any questions? Yes, Helen?”

“For today’s purposes, we’re considering this under experimental protocols, is my understanding. Are we doing the same for this weekend’s testing, as well?”

“Yes, that’s correct. No one will receive any medication without a full understanding of what we expect the effects to be, and this will count as clinical trials,” Korn said. “Presuming, of course, it acts like we expect. Any other questions? No? Then, Jim, I believe you maintained possession of the medication for chain of custody purposes. I made one slight change. We actually have thirty female chimpanzees today. Fifteen of them will receive the medication, the other fifteen will receive a simple sugar pill placebo. If you would place the medications so the animal handlers can get it, that would be great.”

He did that, then handed me a folder. “Copies of everything from the whiteboards, including original Polaroid pictures of them. We’ve also moved the originals into the ‘Do not erase’ room for reference, if needed.”

We all watched through the windows as they placed the pills into snacks for the chimps, doing the same with the placebos.

Jim said, “Ideally, the pill should be swallowed. But these ladies aren’t totally tame enough to allow someone to stick a finger in their mouth, and we don’t want to upset them by forcing tubes down their throats.”

The handlers went around and gave each of the chimps the snack. I was paying close attention, using my vision as well, to make sure they all took them. Also, based upon the argument between Doctors Korn and Fallow, I wasn’t sure something wouldn’t happen.

My paranoia appeared unfounded. The chimps all ate their snacks, with fifteen of them taking the placebo and fifteen the medication.

Doctor Egbert said, “Okay, based upon what I read, sometime in the next three hours or so, we should start seeing a reaction, is that right?”

Fallow nodded to me to answer.

I said, “No, Ma’am. Typical dosage for a human female in the vicinity of one hundred twenty-five pounds should cause reaction within three to four hours. Due to the reduction in dosage, while also dealing with the corresponding drop in body weight of the test subjects, reaction should begin to occur as early as forty-five minutes, and no longer than ninety minutes.”

She tilted her head a little. “So, a human female in the two hundred pound range might need a higher dosage?”

“No, as a method of hormonal balancing, it simply will take longer to be effective. A female at two hundred pounds would be four to five hours, depending upon circulation. A body weight of three hundred pounds would be six to seven hours. I really can’t be that specific if the body weight drastically exceeds three hundred pounds, as there are probably other hormonal issues in play. Someone at five hundred pounds may take twelve hours, while someone else at the same weight may take a full day.”

Doctor Billingham said, “That sounds like this was a completed project, then.”

“That’s correct, Ma’am. The original medication would, to use a computer term, do a hard reboot on the menstrual cycle. Today’s the 17^th. You take one today, not only do you shed your uterine lining, but your next period will be around the 17^th, even if your normal date was around the 1^st of the month. The modifications that I made to the formula make it gentler on the subject. You still shed the uterine lining, but you don’t force your body into a hard reset. That should reduce potential cramping, stomach upset, and basically all of the usual symptoms of the menstrual cycle. You’ll simply, literally, skip the next one, no matter when it should happen, and your period date will be normal.”

Doctor Blau pulled out the written papers. “According to this formulation, this should be rather easy to compound on an industrial scale. What are your plans for that?”

“Obviously, we need to confirm things through testing. I presume that you all signed NDAs regarding this, correct?” They all nodded, while Doctor Korn pulled four forms from his folder and handed them to me.

“Thank you. The patent is pending for the process already. Once we satisfactorily prove the medication works, then ... I don’t know. I’m open to suggestions. I already own enough factories and chemical plants that I really don’t want to get into manufacturing pharmaceuticals unless I absolutely have to.”

John said, “You know, I don’t think I ever heard. What do you want out of us?”

“That’s the question, John. When I met with the administrators of NASA at Cape Kennedy ... how’d they phrase that, Chuck?”

He shook his head when everyone turned to him. “You’re the one with the perfect memory and you’re asking me? Fine, I’ll humor you. Let’s see, that was before you gave them the rough design for an improved space station that’s better than anything they’ve come up with. Ah, yes. This isn’t an exact quote, but the one NASA leader said something like, ‘We heard you’re going to Stanford. Get some letters behind your name so that people will have to listen to you, then come back and either lead us or simply invent everything we’ll need.’ It was close to that, anyway.”

“So, John, basically I need the letters so that people won’t look at me and go, what the hell is this sixteen ... okay, eighteen or nineteen by the time I actually get done here ... kid doing telling me how things work. It’s not like I had any letters behind my name when I found an error on the MCAT.”

“Wait, I hadn’t heard that,” Doctor Billingham said. “You found an error on the MCAT?”

Korn nodded. “Yes, he did. Other than the error on the test, and he put down the actual correct answer, he got a perfect score on it. I put my foot down, though, and said he’d have to go through all the classes and residency. Now, I’m pissed because I think I’m looking pretty damned funny standing on one foot, and more so because in less than an hour, I’m going to owe Stephen more than one steak dinner.”

Billingham said, “That wouldn’t be the first time one of us has acted like a prima donna. At least none of us are thoracic surgeons or neurosurgeons. They tend to act like they give instructions to God himself. Let me guess. MSTP?”

Korn sighed. “MSTP.”

“You two have only been going back and forth about that for, what, ten years now?”

“Something like that.”

Billingham turned to me. “All eight of us have multiple degrees, including our MD. I’ll give David credit, he doesn’t give up easily. When you’re dealing with human lives, you shouldn’t. Now I know why he invited the four of us, not just because we’re women, but because we’ve all taken part in this discussion in the past.”

Before she could say anything, a speaker in the room clicked on. “Doctor Korn, I’m not sure what we were expecting to see from those pills, but we’re getting vaginal bleeding from several of the chimps.”

He moved over to a microphone. “It should simply be like they’re having their menstrual cycle.”

The animal handlers were moving around, helping the chimps now. The surprise in her voice was obvious. “That’s exactly what we’re seeing. It’s a heavy flow, like they’re having their whole period in just a few minutes, instead of over a couple of days.”

Korn nodded. “That’s what it’s supposed to do. The medication is designed to force the shedding of the uterine lining.”

“Well, I’m glad you told us to expect a reaction of some kind, so we’d have enough people in here to help. We’ve got thirty upset chimps.”

“Thirty?” Korn asked.

“Fifteen are having their period, and the other fifteen can smell the blood and are wondering what the heck is going on.”

“They all hit at the same time?”

“Within a couple of minutes of each other, yes, Doctor. Between fifty and fifty-two minutes after ingestion.”

“Thank you. Please continue to monitor them. The fifteen that menstruated are to be kept apart from any further experimentation for the next one hundred twenty days. We want to confirm that they have regular periods in the future.”

“Of course, Doctor Korn. Um, you’ve got us scheduled to do a repeat of this experiment with thirty more chimps tomorrow afternoon. Do you need thirty new animals, or can we utilize the fifteen controls, so we only need fifteen more?”

“That’ll be fine,” Korn said.

I stepped up to the microphone. “May I?” Korn handed it to me.

“Be sure to treat the fifteen that had their periods accordingly, because this was a sudden shedding of the lining that they weren’t expecting. If they need typical medications for any symptoms, please be sure to provide them. Make sure they have some treats in their diets, as a reward as well. If there’s any questions about cost, it’ll be covered under my research budget. I want those little ladies taken care of. Thank you.” I handed the microphone back to Korn.

“What he said,” Korn said with a grin.

“Yes, Sir.”

Korn then said, “Let’s go to the conference room.” He headed out, with everyone following him out and then down the hall, to a large room with a couple of tables and chairs, along with several blank whiteboards, set up. Korn motioned for everyone to take seats, while he stayed up front.

Once we were all seated, he said, “I’ll be making notes on the board, so we can all see them. First, a question for Cal. I quite distinctly remember stating to you, the afternoon we first met, that I would not cut your classroom or the other hours of work you’d need to do to facilitate an early graduation. With that in mind, how long are you planning on attending Stanford?”

“My original plan was for two years. My advisory committee has told me that three years would be better, for two reasons. The first is that they apparently think it would behoove me to gain some public notoriety by playing professional football. Since I can’t start that for three years, I may as well stay here the whole time and do as much research and learning as I can. That will also help them complete whatever educational requirements they need as well.”

He wrote on the board ‘Three years’, then asked, “Do you have plans to practice medicine upon graduation from here?”

“Certainly not in the conventional sense. In an emergency type situation, such as if I came upon an accident, I would, of course, render appropriate treatment. But there’s basically zero chance that I will be seeing patients on a regular basis. I mean, I might end up having to scrub up for surgery to help a cardiologist with a trans-arterial heart valve replacement, or help a neurosurgeon with a brain probe. I may even be too busy for that, depending upon what I come up with for the high energy lab. I’ve already helped design sodium and lead cooled nuclear reactors, plus, of course, created economically viable wind turbines. I’m working with Siemens AG, Thyssen engineers and the Saudi government to create a functioning maglev rail system. And, of course, I’m also the Prince of the Punjabi provinces of both India and Pakistan, and will be the ruler of that new nation when it finally breaks away from both of those nations.”

It was rather obvious that Doctor Walbot didn’t believe me, from her tone of voice. “Is that all you’re doing?”

“Well, we’ve already got the first Ice-X production facility up and running, and we’re building two more in Kansas. The turbine factory isn’t even complete yet, and we’re having to build three more due to the number of backorders. The Microsoft Research Park I built in Kansas is almost ready, and Bill Gates is excited to see what else I come up with for computer programs. They’re already marketing the office tools program that I gave them. Cisco ... you remember meeting Sandy and Len Bosack, from the computer science department at that first meeting, Doctor Korn? Their production line down the road here is running now, and the factories I’ve built for them in Kansas are nearly ready. Let’s see, I still have to spend some time with Gordon Moore and the guys at Intel, to help with chip design. I’ve got some ideas that should help them. Um, and like we said before, I’ll be helping NASA with designing, building, and installation of a space station. I think that’s it. Oh, and I’m the starting quarterback for the Cardinal this year, too.”

The look of disbelief on her face was almost priceless. Before she could say anything, Doctor Korn said, “I knew about most of that. You’re also getting your JD at the same time, correct? I know Norm Wessells was saying something to me yesterday, but how many degrees have you already earned here without actually taking any of the classes?”

“Technically, eight. I still have to get the twenty page paper for Spanish and two papers for French, so I can get those. German and Russian Studies, Mathematics, Psychology, Economics, and both Bachelor’s and Master’s in Political Science. Four dissertations in the Spring Quarter, and that’ll get me three Master’s and one PhD. Doctor Wessells said my lab work will be all that’s needed for my Bachelor’s in Chemistry and Biological Sciences, and we’ll figure out the second half of this quarter what I’ll need to do with the School of Engineering to get the Physics Bachelor’s degree out of the way, too. So, by the end of the Spring Quarter, I’ll be up to at least fourteen or fifteen, if I’m counting right.”

Doctor Walbot fell back into her chair, her mouth wide open in shock.

Korn looked at Fallow, then laughed. “Don’t you go raising that eyebrow at me! I know when I’ve put my foot totally into it. I want you to spend one quarter doing residency, though, so you’ll know the human side of things. That doesn’t have to happen for a couple of years, though. In the meantime ... hang on. I remember all three of your girls also took the MCAT, in incredibly stupid times, with near perfect scores. Are all three of them pursuing medical degrees as well?”

I shook my head. “No, Dora’s the only one that’s going to do that. She’ll be my science advisor. Beth is getting the law degree, she’ll be my legal advisor. Eve is going for the humanities, so she’ll be my advisor in those fields. Margie will do business, Hannah will do foreign affairs, Marcia handles communications and media, Jennifer will do education, and Helen is the Priestess of the First People, so she’s my conscience.”

I looked at Chuck. “You know, that’s the first time I’ve ever actually talked about what they’re truly doing for me. Otherwise, I’ve just been calling them my advisory team.”

Doctor Egbert said, “Okay, now that you’ve mentioned those names, things just clicked for me. I didn’t specifically see them, but I was helping when thirteen women came in to the clinic, and I got asked for advice regarding several of them, especially after their blood work came back.”

Doctor Billingham said, “I was paying attention and not wandering off into disbelief like Virginia. What exactly are you calling a trans-arterial heart valve replacement?”

“Simple, really. Cardiac cathetertization has been around for a long time. Similar procedure. Insert the replacement valve in through an artery, then put it in place using cathetertization. You’ve all seen those little mesh things you stick your fingers in? Really narrow, but you push on both ends and it expands. Replacement valve is in the middle, so it expands as well. Push hard enough on both ends, it crushes the bad valve out of the way, and just starts working under normal cardiac rhythm. The only downside is that I still have to come up with a totally artificial valve, because using a tissue replacement inside the mesh will only last a couple decades.”

“You’re talking about doing away with open heart surgery for valve replacement.”

“Not entirely. But what’s the downtime for someone who has open heart? Since you’re doing thoracic surgery, you’re looking at six months to a year for full recovery. With this, you’re looking at a couple of weeks.”

Korn frowned. “What happens after twenty years?”

“Shove another one inside the first one. I mean, you’re not doing this procedure on someone who’s ten years old and still growing, or even someone who’s probably middle aged. But someone who may be higher risk, older, or where conventional methods are contraindicated? If they already have issues such that open heart may kill them, do this and you’ve at least fixed that particular problem with their heart.”

Fallow said, “And he hasn’t even talked about the viral research he wants to do, David.”

“I give. I want to see the tests tomorrow with the chimps. But ... and I can’t believe I’m saying this ... consider yourself and your girls in the medical program exempt from the standard requirements. I won’t take less than one quarter of residency, instead of three years, though! Cal, you’ll meet Stephen at his lab tomorrow, and come here again. At least next Monday and Tuesday, you’ll work with Helen. She’ll have a full access badge for you then, if not sooner.”

He sighed. “I’ll get ... let me rephrase that. Do you have any idea of the equipment and materials you’ll need for your viral experiments?”

“No, Sir. Doctor Fallow and I were going to discuss that with you earlier.”

“I know. Sometimes I’m an ass. Don’t say it, Stephen. Get a list to him by next Wednesday. We’ll get facilities assigned to you.” He looked at Doctor Spudich. “Yes, Jim, you have a question?”

“John and I are both willing to continue as Cal’s lab assistants. There’s going to be a lot of hot lab work, because of dealing with live viral structures. I have two graduate assistants that I’m volunteering now to also help.”

Doctor Ross nodded his head. “I’ve also got two grad asses that will help. Cal, you mentioned inside that the funds for dealing with the chimpanzees was coming from your research budget. Can you afford to pay for four full-time assistants, plus all of the lab fees?”

I snorted. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. I think twenty-five should be enough of a budget to get us going.”

“Twenty-five thousand? Well, if we...”

I was laughing and shaking my head. “Twenty-five million. I need the tax write-offs. I’ll get with Margie and see. We may just have to put up a new building or something.” I frowned for a second. “Let’s see ... that, plus that, plus that, with those expenses ... yeah, we may end up with four or five times that in the budget, so I have the write-off.”

Korn just shook his head. “I remember that first meeting. I thought Henry Wilcox and you were joking, about you purchasing the University, from the way you were talking. You seriously could purchase all of this, couldn’t you?” He made a sweeping motion with his hands.

“Not out of my current liquid funds, no. At least not this year. I could probably ask Hannah’s grandfather for a loan, though, if I needed an extra hundred billion or so.” I looked around at all the professors. “Yes, I said billion. There’s a serious reason why you all signed those NDAs. There’s a serious reason why Chuck, sitting there looking quite goofy and simple, has a federal firearms license, as well as a new US Marshals badge. There’s a serious reason why Sayel, who is doing his best to blend in and not draw attention to himself, is both my personal bodyguard and my personal assassin. I’m not saying that last to either frighten anyone or to give you a false sense of my importance.”

I looked at Doctor Walbot. “Everything I said before is the exact truth. To be perfectly blunt, the government of the United States considers me to be more influential right now both domestically and internationally than Howard Hughes ever was. If you watched any of the news coverage regarding solving the Kennedy assassination, by a woman shooting Nathan Rothschild in the head ... that was Jennifer. I was right there, because I’m the one that figured it out. And yes, I still want to go to school here at Stanford, because regardless of any accomplishments I’ve already made ... I’m still only sixteen.”

I shook my head. “Sorry about that. I get intense sometimes,” I said with a chuckle.

Fallow said, “Well, I think we’re done here today. Cal, would you mind giving me a ride back?”

“Sure.”

He waited until we were out of the building before saying, “I don’t know how polite that was, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel like I’m barely a kindergarten student when I’m in your presence. Especially after that. Good lord, what is your eventual plan, to be ruler of the world?”

“That’s how things are probably going to end up, yeah. Maybe the head of the planetary government that’s being worked on.” I grinned, then said, “I’m sixteen, so that’s several years down the line, anyway. You’ve seen where we live, right?”

He shook his head.

“Got a few minutes? We’ll show you the outside, anyway.”

“Yes. I admit I’m curious.”

We headed across campus. As we got closer, he said, “Oh, I saw them putting this up. The rumor was that this was a ... um ... private research facility that required high security due to the classified nature of what they were working on. The only reason it was here was due to our Linear Accelerator.”

We stopped the cart before going in. “Sort of. That’s our house. And yes, I’m going to do classified work, helping the Linear Accelerator lab create a tokamak reactor and maybe if we get lucky, sustainable fusion power. Plus if we’re damned lucky, we’ll cure cancer and AIDS. And we’re right out in front of everyone.”

Chuck said, “Someone tries to break in, well, there’s more than twenty armed guards on duty at all times with the same orders that they have guarding the nuclear weapons the Air Force has. Shoot first, and don’t even bother with asking questions. We’re the same company that does that. Cal really wasn’t kidding, either, about either Sayel or me. Someone tries to attack Cal, Sayel will kill them, and I’ll wave my badge and tell the local police to piss off.”

He was pretty quiet as we drove back to his lab so we could drop him off. Once he was out of the golf cart, he said, “Cal ... just because I’m a microbiologist doesn’t mean I am always looking at small things. I’m looking at the big picture now, the one that’s going to happen because of you. I suspect that you’re going to succeed brilliantly. I’m very glad to know you, and I hope that you can consider me to be a friend.”

“Not a problem, Doctor Fallow. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

While we were driving back to the house again, Chuck laughed a little. “Nothing like a good, old-fashioned ass chewing to make people humble. You were brilliant. God, you shut Walbot down so hard ... that was a thing of beauty. Fucking obnoxious little prick. You shoved their faces down into pig shit, rubbed them in it, made them eat it, and then made them like it. Damn, you’d have made one hell of a drill sergeant.”

I turned my head and frowned. “Chuck, are you feeling okay?”

“Wonderful! Keep in mind we’re your guards. Seen but not heard. We get casually dismissed and seen as no more than furniture by everyone. Not the family, no, not by them. But now ... after today? The word is going to get around on campus really quickly that the ladies that are escorting your girls, both of us, plus everyone else associated with you, are on the official ‘DO NOT FUCK WITH’ list.”

When I got into the house, the first thing I did was ask if we had a fax machine. Helen showed me where it was. I made sure everything on the papers was correct, then dialed Frank’s office fax line. Once it connected, I sent him everything. I hadn’t even finished when our secured line rang. I answered it.

“Hi, Frank.”

“Gee, I wonder how you knew I was calling? Maybe because you’re doing things backwards again?”

“I didn’t actually have the whole procedure written out like you’ll see on the pictures from the white boards until we were actually making some in the chemistry lab, is about the only excuse I have for that, Frank.”

“That’s fine, Cal. I know that everyone out there you’re working with is covered by an NDA that would see them effectively broken, bankrupt, and living in poverty if anyone violated its terms. Elroy showed me a copy of the one you’re covered by now.”

I chuckled a little. “And I’m not even the one that wrote it. The head of the Stanford Law School did. I’m not sure how much, if anything, this is actually going to be worth. I saw that Jim ... Doctor Spudich ... wrote a nice commentary on the usages of this, but do you think there’ll actually be much of a market for it?”

“Let’s see. A single dose pill that can be taken up to three weeks after a woman has had sex, that will terminate any potential pregnancy at that point. The closest thing right now has to be taken within seventy-two hours, and costs twenty dollars. According to the materials cost sheet I see, unit cost in a college chemistry lab is seven dollars and twenty cents per dose for materials. That means on an industrial scale, you’re probably looking at maybe three dollars worth of materials, and twice that for labor per dose. Assume a pill run of one million per year, that’s nine million invested, for a forty plus million dollar return. Or more. That’s just here in the US. Globally, you’re probably looking at twenty million doses per year, maybe more.”

“Oh. Okay. Then I guess go ahead and get the paperwork through for this, and ... I have no desire to get into the drug manufacturing business. I’d suggest seeing which of the major manufacturers would be interested in licensing it, with a stipulation in the contract that they actually produce it for sale. I don’t want to see someone license it, then not make it, because they’re trying to take competition off the market.”

“Definitely. I’ve got a couple of reliable contacts for this that can handle it. I presume you’re figuring out testing protocols and such.”

“Oh, we tested it on chimps today, since they have menstrual cycles similar to human females, just a little longer. We’ll do another test tomorrow, but the one today was a hundred percent effective. Apparently the local hospitals have an arrangement that certain experimental medications or procedures that come out of the Stanford Medical School can be used with appropriate waivers.”

“That’s not uncommon, especially with teaching and research hospitals. Someone’s got to be the guinea pig, as it were. Keep me informed about that.” He deeply sighed. “Now, while I have you on the phone ... what else are you working on, that I need to start doing research on, so I can have the patents ready?”

I laughed a little. “That’s a little up in the air. They just decided today to give me my own research lab, with two professors and four graduate students as lab assistants. I’m probably going to spend quite a bit of time getting the main thrust of our research right, if it’s even possible. I doubt I’ll have anything for close to two years, if then.”