“Doctor Sachs?”
“Yes, Professor?”
“Are you feeling all right? You’re looking awfully pale.”
“Never better. Why do you ask?”
“I’m just concerned, that’s all. Are you sure you’re okay? We have a lot to get through in the next ten hours.”
“Don’t worry. It’s just a touch of flu. I’ll live. Trust me. What do you want me to—“
“I want you to take a look through the scope and tell me what you see.”
“Nothing different than usual, Prof. These cells look healthy. Is there a problem?”
“These are Type E cells, not Type D.”
“There’s a Type E?”
“Correct. The solution works, don’t get me wrong. The technology works better than I could ever have dreamed possible. You are familiar with my paper last year, yes? On viral molecular compounds?”
“I am.”
“Good. So you’re aware of my many oversights too, yes? Why my theorem was in the main dismissed universally, taken as the ramblings of an incompetent eccentric?”
“It’s what makes you so brilliant, Prof.”
“In what way?”
“You’re so far ahead of everybody else in your field. Even ahead of yourself. So you left holes in your logic here and there. At least you have foresight.”
“Quite. Nevertheless, a lesson has been learned. It’s not the first time I’ve been scorned by the scientific community, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But this has to be a closed loop for the next paper, lest I find our funding irrevocably cut off. Just how familiar are you with my work, Sachs?”
“More than I can say, Professor.”
“And what of ANDYX?”
“The nano-serum, you mean?”
“Yes, yes! ANDYX – the nano-serum, as you put it, yes. You, Sachs, are as aware as I of the limitations in medicine, as far as we’ve come over the centuries. We can replace limbs, heal tissue, vaccinate against disease. But the body can only do so much. The ANDYX serum can change all that.”
“You don’t have to explain, Prof.”
“Oh, but I do. Type D is just the start. My paper last year only touches the surface. You read it – you know a cockroach’s genotype contains a mutation rate gene – a complex adaptive system. By splicing this gene with the cells of a living organism – any living organism – we can create a complex adaptive system. Think about it – the cells within your body, with their own self-adaptive mutation rates.”
“Self-configuring, self-healing cells.”
“Correct! With Type D, we had the cells self-repair, and the nano-technology in the ANDYX serum enabled them to self-replicate too. Imagine it – the adaptive qualities of the cockroach gene to protect against disease, coupled with the means to repair and regenerate your own flesh with the nano-bots in the ANDYX serum—“
“Immortality.”
“Precisely! We have the key to mankind’s salvation! But though this all sounds very nice in theory, we both know the impracticalities of it, don’t we? Can you imagine the ecological implications if nobody was to die? There has to be a balance between life and death.”
“The perfect cure, and we can’t use it.”
“Not quite perfect.”
“What … do you mean? Type D is perfect, Professor. You told me so yourself.”
“It was a great success, except on one count. The cells could self-adapt, and even self-replicate. But it wasn’t enough. You see, there was a limitation with the Type D prototype solution. Or rather, an un-limitation. I’ve kept my notes close to my chest up to now, and while I’m not prepared to share everything at this stage, I’ve kept you in the dark long enough, Sachs. But the cat will be out of the bag soon enough. You see, the problem lies with the nanobots. They do their job too well. To endlessly replicate healthy living cells without guidance, without limits … They lack control, Sachs. But not anymore. Look again through the scope.”
“Why, they haven’t multiplied at all…”
“Indeed. I’m sorry I neglected to share this with you earlier, Sachs, but I put my position at CERN at grave risk in order to get the data I needed. There’s complex programming behind it, but with the addition of an external command process – by programming the nanobots – we can shape and control the regeneration process to the desired level. But the directions must be precise. The nanobots have to be restricted; reined in, if you like. Otherwise the process spirals out of control.”
“So … Type D wasn’t the finished article?”
“No. As I said, the nanobots lacked direction. Without programming – without external control – why, they’d simply reproduce cells over and over and over. Well, you’ve witnessed the new results through the microscope. Here, let me bring up my notes, it’s easier to–“
“Maybe you should have this back, Prof.”
“What’s this? You have the Type D serum? But … why is it empty? And how did you get past the security code? My notes … you accessed my computer, didn’t you? But good lord, what have you done?”
“When a man is offered a chance to bathe in the Fountain of Youth, does he simply walk away?”
“You want to live forever? A god amongst men? You’re a fool, Sachs! And like a god, you hold us all in the palm of your hand. Don’t you see? You have the flu, man!”
“What are you saying, Prof?”
“I’m saying that the nanobots in Type D don’t distinguish! They must be programmed to regenerate only the correct cells. Only Type E can do that! If the bots begin duplicating infected cells – the hybrid, self-adaptive, unkillable cells – why, there will be no stopping it. Sachs, you’ll never beat the virus!”
”You can’t be serious.”
“There’ll be a pandemic, and with no hope of cure! You must be quarantined! You must never leave this room. Sound the alarm!”
“N-Never?”
“Sachs, do as I say! Wh—what are you doing? Put the scalpel down. Put it down, I say! Keep away from me!”