Chapter 5 – Fumble
Fisher Corp. was established in the early nineties. The main purpose was to provide better medical procedures and cures to the people. The science was still developing and there was much to be achieved. It was led by Dr. Stanford McClaine and he was a visionary scientist in the field of medicine and its development. But he was getting old and weak. Weakness was not something he liked very much. He was a very strict person and played by the book, the book he created. Within five years he overtook the whole operation within his own control. What he wanted was to live longer and stronger. So, he started experimenting from the age of 65. There was no much breakthrough, until the year of 1995. To the North of their laboratory, there was a meteor crash. Upon examining those foreign-alien rocks, they found some micro-organisms that adapted to earth’s atmosphere. It could lead back to the evolution of human if they were kept under the scope for certain time. They believed that studying these organisms from the start would enable to unravel how humans came into existence from as small as a microorganism. This research was led by Dr. Zachery Joseph Christopher and Dr. Arthur Wilson under the supervision of Dr. McClaine. But Dr. Wilson onto something more than just a normal micro-organism. He found that these looked normal under the microscope and under tests but there was more to it. Dr. McClaine after going through his research was very impressed and decided that he could do something out of it. So he ordered that this to be handed over to the higher authorities stating that they could never know what they were dealing with and it could be dangerous if bluntly put. But nothing was turned to the anyone, not a rock was taken out of the laboratory but everyone on the crew saw a few cargo moved out of the facility which they assumed contained their findings. Nothing ever left the lab.
A year later Dr. Wilson researched on it even though they told it was classified and since they took every last specimen. He worked overtime staying late up at night and working trying to come up with something purposeful. After months of sleepless nights and rigorous research, he came up with a theory which was too good to be true. So, he started on developing it using everything from the laboratory. He even asked for some things claiming that they were needed for the work he initially signed up for. After another few sleepless nights and working two shifts he came up with a prototype which was the Stage I. If it worked then the Stage II will be groundbreaking. He couldn’t test it in live. But under certain unprecedented circumstances, he had to use that Stage I of what they called the Elixir. Dr. McClaine knew that Arthur was working on something in the overtime using the company’s resources but he was shocked when he found out that what his top scientists were working on was developed by one scientist in theory. This came to light when Dr. Cage snooped into Arthur’s research when he drugged Arthur to sleep and took copies of his work. What they didn’t know was that he already went a step ahead and created the Stage I prototype. But Arthur knew he was made when Dr. McClaine started taking interest in his work. He wanted to take the complete research and the prototype that he was developing. It would have been all open book if Dr. McClaine didn’t make it as a classified research. But Arthur came to know that he wanted the research for himself, but according to his research, it was much bigger than he had ever thought. And he to protect his work and everything he cared for. But he was met an accident a month later after stalling and trying to hide his work when he made the run for it.
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Will was 13 years old when he fell down unconsciously. He was admitted to the hospital but they were unable to find the cause. He was normal after a couple of days. Joseph didn’t think much. But it became consistent and a monthly habit. It was then he started getting worried. When he conveyed the same to Will’s dad, Arthur was worried. He asked for the blood samples and it was when he told him about the Elixir Stage I which was in his system which might be giving him these headaches and migraines and rendering him unconscious. And that was the reason that they had to complete the Elixir Stage II as soon as possible. If it gets late, they would lose Will forever. Will suffered from this lapses of unconsciousness and headaches for over a year and then he couldn’t anymore. He stopped going to school a long time back and was finally hospitalized. The results indicated that he was normal and the cause of his headaches or migraine lapses was still unknown. Of course, it was Joseph’s and Arthur’s initial discovery when they came across the alien rocks over a decade ago.
Joseph had to keep appearances at work to avoid any suspicion on him. They didn’t even know about Will. Will was staying at Joseph’s friend’s place owned by him which no one except him knew. Will was in the hospital for a very long time and the doctors were not able to do anything about it. Joseph and Arthur were doing whatever they could do to complete what Arthur had started a long time ago. Only if Arthur was present in the lab, it could have been faster and more efficient. Their mode of communication was very slow and above all everything was monitored which made it very difficult to do anything. Will was still battling but was stable when he was back in his uncle’s home and was resting. He was home for the past one month when one night the inevitable happened.
Dr. Cage came across a letter under Dr. Christopher’s names from a University where Joseph studied and later was a professor. He had always thought that it was something to do with his mentoring as a professor that some professors still needed his help in his field of expertise. But this time, he opened it out of curiosity as it was becoming more consistent the past couple of months and much more in the past week. It started just as is someone was inquiring about something. But he was not a fool, after all, he was a scientist and he could guess that it was coded. Upon studying for some more time, he came to know that it contained some formula’s he knew that was associated with his line of work. He fell into a conclusion that Dr. Christopher was up to something behind his back. He wanted to know what he was up to. So, he unfolded and placed the letter back in its place as it had arrived. But it kept inside the envelop the opposite direction. And this gave Joseph a cold chill in the spice when he came to know that there was someone else who came to know about the matter. And it is not far away when they will realize what he had been up to, and what he had been doing all this time.
{ To be continued … }
The post for the sixth day of the April month is titled Fumble under “The Secret Life of Wilson” for April A2Z Challenge.
P.S.: If this going anywhere or am I dragging too much? Penny for your thoughts. And I agree with you, the title totally sucks. I thought of something else but.. umm.. no comments.
