Good News

by Javier D. Esteban

  But the difficulties did not end there. The woven bone has a very particular structure, difficult to print with the 3D print technology of the moment, but in relation to the spinal cord, it was only contemplated to print it and make it functional if it would be possible to use a CRISPR edition technology through printing. For that the first option would be discarded, so there was no other possibility than to get the development of a 3D nanoprinter that could print directly protein sequences at the most basic level. The available technology was very far from reaching that level of refinement, though, if Aeternum Laboratories, or others specialized ones, were willing to share miniaturization advances for this project, maybe it was possible to get results in a short period of time. The positive part of all this subject was that the people of Nutritio Laboratories were totally open to get involved in the project in all that was at within reach.

  There was no time to lose, he would initiate the preparations to contact Aeternum Laboratories to comment them the case and seek their involvement in the project at that same time. It was directly he who contacted.

  In the first moment he contacted with an operator device that asked him for basic information about the subject for which he intended to contact and the origin of the contact. As soon as he supplied all the data, after a brief instant he found himself conversing directly with doctor Weyael, owner and director of the laboratories.

  He explained him the details of the technique he intended to develop and the serious problem that the responsible of Nutritio Laboratories and himself had detected in their first meeting.

  Doctor Weyael seemed to be very interested in the words of Tihr, and when he finished speaking he asked with curiosity:

  “What is the reason why HealTech Laboratories suddenly undertake a massive initiative for an open development, when all of its product lines had been produced only in conditions of exclusivity so far?”

  “Let us say that I have been suddenly aware of this need, and I consider that the world cannot wait any more to solve this problem.”

  “The world has waited all its history until today to overcome this problem, I imagine it can wait a little longer. Has anything happened that affects you personally?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Has anyone of your immediate environment been affected?”

  “In my opinion this question is too personal and I prefer not to answer,” answered Tihr decisively, but cautiously. He had no intention of providing doctor Weyael with excuses not to support the investigation.

  “Do you need desperately a solution as soon as possible?”

  “I consider that this is a very serious issue that has not received enough attention until today and one have to throw oneself to its resolution as soon as possible.”

  “Come on, mister Phlib. Let us say that I know what happens to you, I am just waiting for you to recognize it.”

  “And what do you intend to achieve with this?”

  “I want to know if you are a sincere person, in which I can trust enough to share a development of our own closely, for the deployment of something that will be worthwhile if it can be produced in the end. Do you understand me?”

  “I think so,” answered Tihr without adding anything else.

  “So?, what is the real reason of such a hurry?”

  “It is my sister. She has been paraplegic,” Tihr ended up recognizing.

  “Now we begin to understand each other, mister Phlib. Is she admitted to a health center alien to your organization?”

  “Yes, she is. My laboratories do not have an own medical center. Even less one of that characteristics, for that need.”

  “And I suppose that she has a deadline for the surgical intervention. As it cannot be otherwise, the center will be subject to pressures to monetize her entry.”

  “It is true, I think I have attained to calm the temper of the doctor in charge, but I do not have a waiting period assured. I could lose her patience in a few days.”

  “Do not doubt that she will. The truth is that this is going to be a job under pressure,” said finally Dr. Weyael, who seemed to be weighing the possibilities while he was talking.

  “I am going to send to your facilities the most select team I have, so that together we can manage to save the mobility of your sister in time. In exchange I require loyalty, and respect for the property of the improvements I am going to share with you for this project. You must not use them in subsequent projects of your own without my permission. Do you give me your word?”

  “I give you my word.”

  “As long as you keep it, you will continue to be part of the Extenders. That is what we will do then. I will send you my team as soon as it is available to move, what will happen today in any case.”

  “I am sincerely very grateful, doctor Weyael.”

  “I hope that your degree of commitment with the project lives up to the need you have of its successful resolution.”

  “My commitment with this enterprise cannot be greater, do not worry.”

  “All right then. I will send you my team. Have you got any additional issue you should comment on?”

  “No, that is all. Thank you very much doctor Weyael. I eagerly await its arrival.”

  Doctor Weyael finished the communication.

  Chapter 6. Blocked

  That same afternoon a team led by someone who identified himself as Emnel, from Aeternum Laboratories, announced its arrival. Tihr was expectant and somewhat nervous before the expectations that were opened with its arrival. He tried to control his emotions and not to have too many illusions or the disillusion would be too painful in case of failing in his attempt to find the cure in time. He should expect the best and stay prepared for the worst. But that was not an easy business, not in such extreme circumstances as those. Anyway he could not give too much dedication to regulate his mental processes, he had a lot of work to do. He focused his attention on the newcomer team. He went in person to receive them and located it when it barely began to be guided by an assistant, who continued with them along the whole way until arriving at the study room.

  Once there, they were introduced to the interdisciplinary team formed by HealTech and Nutritio personnel, and they put them abreast of the situation in which the project was at that time in detail. Then they focused the areas where the need of help from Aeternum Laboratories was more evident.

  As soon as the explanation ended, the team led by Emnel began to deploy their portable equipment. They established an own communications center, a miniature laboratory; also a micro industrial area formed by several factories, appropriately interconnected, and a handling center of productive processes, integrated in turn with the information output system of the mini laboratory, greater than the industrial area to make it directly manageable by the employees of standard height, both human and synthetic. There they were all concentrated without interruption until the end of the day.

  The next morning they presented preliminary results to the personnel of Nutritio Laboratories and collated those with them to study the feasibility of performing several adjustments aimed to the printing of woven bone. With the information provided by Emnel’s team, soon they achieved to present a model able to perform the task. The Aeternum team used the model data, and in the early afternoon the already had a micro production plant of bone tissue working, so that they could begin to make tests of resistance, flexibility and wear onwards.

  The three teams concluded the day with optimism. Everything was going according to plan.

  The next day was… was…

  When everything seemed to be already prepared, the spinal cord nanoprinter generating protein sequences with total accuracy and everything was ready, they went to do the tests with the organic simulator of instruction shipment – response though nerve conduits.

  They sectioned the spinal cord previously cultivated, to reconnect it later with a union that directly printed the spinal cord nanoprinters. The reconnection of the cord was perfect, with no fissures or problems of any
kind. Then they sent a signal from the nervous signal transceiver that played the role of the brain. The signal did not reach the extreme of the spinal cord!

  They reviewed the protein sequences that had printed looking for any anomaly. There was none. That is to say, no one had been detected, it was clear that some error had to have happened. But there was no clue as to why this might be due.

  The teams of Nutritio an Aeternum Laboratories, which had already considered their participation in the project as concluded, overturned on the indicators and joined HealTech team to analyze the information together and trace all the steps performed looking for the origin of this hidden problem.

  The owner of HealTech Laboratories, Mr. Phlib, asked about the seriousness of the problem, though he had a clear idea in his head. They told him that an error like this was an unknown, they did not know how long could it take to be located, but the most sensible thing was to put all the means in conducting a systematic search, a deep track, instead of trying to look for shortcuts based on intuition. The most usual range in similar cases that occurred before varied among three and twelve working days.

  Tihr’s expression reflected the concern he felt.

  He was about to answer to transmit his instructions when an assistant interrupted them:

  “Mister Phlib?”

  Tihr made a slight nod.

  “You have a level 0 communication.”

  Again, Tihr thought, in the end this type of communications are going to end up becoming normal. “Give me a second, right now I accompany you.”

  “I am afraid the person who wants to communicate with you cannot wait.”

  This is unheard of, Tihr thought upon hearing. He apologized to the members of the team and he left, accompanied by his assistant, fearing what could be so urgent that it had ripped him from the study room in the middle of a crisis.

  It was doctor Pleber. When he heard her, he had the feeling that his heart was stopping. He paled suddenly.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, mister Phlib, but it will be impossible for me to wait any longer to request the implant.”

  “You cannot do that. I remember you that we have signed a contract,” answered Tihr, while remembering the words that doctor Weyael told him about her.

  “The fact is, the decision does not depend on me. There are causes of force majeure. The center’s management, mentioning the investor group that leads it, doesn’t find a logical reason why miss Phlib should stay a moment longer in the center if she is not going to apply for an intervention, and I don’t have solid arguments that could justify a delay, no matter how large the benefit I could achieve with this may be.”

  Tihr remained silent.

  “I’m going to request a shift to perform the implant just now,” said the doctor then. “Given the circumstances I will inform you of the exact moment in which it will be carried out so that you can plan your operations. I wish you the best of luck.”

  And she closed the communication.

  So. Without further. His legal teams would take care of analyzing the available options, but now he could not devote a minute of his time to that. Now more than ever, time played against. He should return as soon as possible. He gave his assistant instructions to open any possible communication coming from doctor Pleber or from Restorer Health Center in the study room itself while he was heading there. Then he gave order to all the staff available that was not involved in the project to abandon their current occupations and go to the vicinity of the study room, and then wait for instructions.

  Mr. Phlib arrived to the hall on the verge of hysteria. He had to recognize publicly the reason why he had turned that project into something so urgent. And thereafter he told them what the doctor in charge of his sister had just told him. All of them reacted the same, by holding their breath. Initially nerves seized them, but Mr. Phlib calmed them soon and urged each one of them to simply concentrate on the task assigned to them.

  He gathered the coordinators of the three laboratories and explained them he had summoned all the personnel of the facilities around the room. It was staff not specialized in these matters. They, as coordinators, should find what could be done by this personnel that was useful to speed up the search and assign each one their tasks.

  The work was frantic. He barely had finished transmitting his instructions to the coordinators when doctor Pleber established connection. Mr. Phlib allowed it to be public, so that everyone could directly know the work conditions that awaited them. Doctor told him that the implant had been requested and she had concerted the intervention to within four days, at two tenths and five hundredths in the morning.

  Well, it was public. Everyone knew the deadline. They continued working just as before, though with some more information.

  Chapter 7. The intervention

  Days passed, and results did not come. A part of the teams started to doubt that this issue had a solution. Everybody kept the pace, but determination started to waver.

  They day came and they continued without result. Then they came up with the idea of conducting connection tests using only printed spinal cord substitute tissue, to check that the signal did not propagate and so better isolate the problem. They sent a signal with the nervous signal transceiver that exercised the functions of a brain. The signal reached the other extreme.

  There was a commotion in the room. The problem was not in the printed tissue, but somehow in the interconnection of this with the original spinal cord. This greatly limited the data to be analyzed, and an important acceleration of the results was anticipated. Unfortunately, in spite of all the efforts, they were not going to be able to present the alternative therapy on time to avoid the operation of Esihr. In that moment Emnel contacted Aeternum Laboratories.

  Tihr showed signs of despair when he could not do anything else. Then came the calm, and a deep sadness invaded him. The teams continued to work normally: they were predictably going to achieve a great improvement for the world.

  The time came: doctor Pleber in person went to look for the patient in her room, but there was not a smile in her face. For the first time in her entire career, she was unable to conceal her disappointment. When Esihr saw her like that, she began to cry disconsolately. An assistant activated the locomotion of the bed and started moving.

  A medical team entered the room then, asking for Ms. Esihr Phlib. They had orders to move her from the center.

  Doctor Pleber indicated them that, indeed, miss Phlib was the one in that room, but they couldn’t take her because she had an intervention scheduled immediately. They replied that the instructions were precise, and they should proceed with the transfer at that moment. They had been specifically indicated besides that they should abort any kind of surgical operation, using for it the means that were necessary.

  The doctor asked who had given an order like that, hoping that they were really authorized for it. She could not control her emotions. She did not understand what was happening to her. This case was improper in every way.

  The doctor who made use of the word extended the authorization to her. It came from the Health Minister of the Global Single District in person.

  Doctor Pleber did not know how an authorization like that had got there, but in spite of being not positive for her personally, she rejoiced in the depths of her being that it was like that. Somehow a great weight had been lifted off. So she did not object.

  “Anyway, before you take the patient, just to fill in the necessary records,” she was interested, “To what medical center will the patient be transferred?”

  “We have orders of deriving miss Phlib to Gaudium Medical Center, of Aeternum Laboratories.

  A broad smile slowly drew on Dr. Pleber’s face as she watched how the medical team was taking the patient, one of the most special she had ever knew until the date.

  Two days later the media echoed the news:

  First tissue nanoprinter manufactured successfully

  The new equipment opens the possibility of manufactur
ing organ sections without transplantation.

  After the success obtained with the organ printers, that are currently already the preferred transplant option in every hospital around the world, it has been successfully tested the elaboration of the first tissue nanoprinter.

  The first tests have been made with a partially crushed vertebra. After sectioning the crushed part the nanoprinter was located in the sectioned edge of the vertebra and the work started. Fifty minutes later the vertebra was completed and the spinal cord restored, presenting the same composition, appearance, size and resistance as the corresponding to the original healthy vertebra.

  According to what we have been indicated, the next step planned will consist in transplanting the nanofactory to the sick area and, after the elimination of the diseased tissue through nanobots, replicating it basing in the adjoining healthy tissue, so that the damaged part of the organ can be rebuilt without the need of performing a transplant, and always using the original organ with rebuilt areas.

  History of Today