Chapter 1
It was past midnight and Alex, the guard, was doing his habitual round. He had been working for this Institute of Medical Research for almost a year but he still felt strange whenever he had to walk along the corridors and past the laboratories. But he needed the job, as it paid his university tuition fees and his rent and bills…
Alex was doing his BA in English Literature and that was his final year. After that, he hadn’t decided what to do. Every night during his rounds in the peace and quiet of the building he would carefully examine his options in his mind but he couldn’t decide. Or maybe he had made up his mind but wouldn’t admit so. Deep in his heart he wanted to go for a PhD and become a lecturer at the local university. Was that an option or just a dream? It would depend on how affordable this would be. Yes, Alex needed that job badly.
On his way, he glanced at the laboratory where Laura, one of the research biologists, was still working, and continued walking with an indifferent gait, barely surprised. He knew Laura quite well. She had a reputation that she was the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave the lab, working till the small hours. Sometimes he wondered what on earth she was doing in there, so focused either on her laptop or on her microscope or on some other piece of equipment. But he knew it was pointless to ask. Either she wouldn’t care to give him an answer or he wouldn’t understand a damn thing.
He hadn’t gone far when he heard a knock knock on the glass panel that separated Laura’s lab from the rest. He turned and saw her looking at him with her safety glasses and face mask, motioning to him with her hands to go closer. Alex was taken aback. It was the first time she had done something like that, or shown another sign that she had noticed him. Half-curious, half-scared, he decided to go there and see what she wanted.
Laura opened the door and popped her head out of the lab. She lowered her mask and the pretty face of a young woman in her late twenties was revealed. Alex couldn’t believe his eyes, because he expected her to be much older. Laura spoke first:
“Good morning! I’m Laura Leigh from the Laboratory Staff.”
“Good morning Laura. I’m Alex McAvon, the night guard. What can I do for you?”
“Listen, Alex. I want you to wear these safety glasses and face mask on and come into the lab. Be careful not to touch anything, ok? I will explain.”
Alex put on the safety glasses and mask and got into the lab. It was full of equipment he hardly knew what it was for, except for a microscope and a laptop. Laura, hesitantly at first, but more confidently later, started to explain.
“I’ll be as simple as possible. You know Alex, one of our world’s major problems is disease, especially cancer. You know cancer, right?”
Alex nodded his head and whispered a “Yes”.
“So far so good… The problem is that cancer cells are unstoppable and uncontrolled. That’s why they form tumors, they spread and so on. Well, Alex, my research is on cancer and how to cure it.”
Alex had heard the word “cancer” before and knew it very well. He knew there was no cure for it. He definitely didn’t expect this young girl to have found the cure for it. He looked at Laura sideways, ready to burst into laughter. “This crazy girl is chasing windmills in here,” he thought to himself. Laura, as though she had read his mind, continued undaunted.
“And not only that. Believe me there’s much more to it. Apart from stopping these abnormal cells from dividing and multiplying, I have also found a way to regenerate lost tissue pretty fast. For example, to create the lost part of an organ. To put it simply, I have complete control over the cells and their behavior. It’s a breakthrough, Alex. You have to believe me. Because I can prove everything I say.”
Alex remained silent for a while, in order to take in what the girl was saying. He wasn’t an expert in the field, but Laura’s explanation was so straightforward that he grasped it quite quickly.
“Are you sure your tests are reliable and valid?”
“Absolutely, Alex. I’ve been doing the tests for the past week and getting the same results. I can’t be wrong.”
“Then all you have to do is talk to Dr Swan, the owner of this Institute. He’ll know what to do.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I’ll talk to him early in the morning. Thank you for your time, Alex.”
“No problem, Laura. Now all you have to do is go home and get some rest, ok? And come back in the morning, to talk to Dr Swan.”
“That’s what I’ll do.”
Alex took off the glasses and threw the face mask in the bin on his way out of the lab, leaving Laura to do some last minute jobs before going home. “This girl is out of her mind,” he thought. “What nonsense! Nobody’s able to do such a thing, let alone some young inexperienced postgraduate! Dr Swan will sort the matter out, no doubt about it. I give her 24 hours to be unemployed if she continues like that,” laughed Alex and continued his round without giving the matter a second thought.
