“I have to say,” Eliza said, “I am impressed.” She paused, helping Amber shift into another sense of calm, and then continued, “When it comes to reading this book, far too many people hear the news about how it is the top choice and most popular to read, they follow the trend, go out to the bookstore and buy their books right here and right now and then come to me asking if I can sign it, even though it is very likely they’ve never actually read it. If they have, people tend to have glossed over the summarized text on the back of the book, making assumptions about the rest, and then boast on social media about common points after briefly skimming without actually considering the context of what I wrote nor its purpose. However, I can tell from looking that you have read this book quite a few times and you want to know something? That makes you a kindred spirit in my book.” Eliza paused, and then asked, “Am I alright in making an assumption of my own? Looking at the cover here, it looks like your name is Amber Blythe? Don’t worry about paperback versus hardcover, by the way. I did not sell these books for any other reason than to give people a chance to invest a little time into something that will help humanity and life itself. I have wished and continue to wish that people worldwide can have some hope and that they will receive a spark of ingenuity.
“Wow, what a beautiful name...Blythe, Amber Blythe.” She smiled at Amber.
The front cover of her paperback book had Amber’s name printed on it in ink, with a caption that read, “If found, please return to Amber Blythe. You can text me at 617-A-Blythe. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry, Amber, I won’t call you unless you forget your book. Please feel at ease.”
Amber smiled, felt more relaxed, and almost blushed, although she wasn’t sure how to begin, she had found herself looking back up, she smiled again and asked, “Is it okay if I speak to you freely, Ma’am?” Eliza exuded an unspoken sense of authority, dignity, and respect, so Amber had naturally tried to treat her in kind. Although she had a sense that she wasn’t pompous or merely in the room for the sake of status, Amber chose politeness as a default.
“Of course, Amber… and, you can call me Eliza. Please know, I saw you when you walked into the bookstore and the instant you walked in you caught my eye. When I saw your book in your hand I knew we would be kindred spirits, so that is why I offered you a chair. – I don’t do that with everyone, you realize. Oh, I appreciate them, I view them as special, but there is something intriguing and unique about you-you have the unstoppable heart of a lion. You don’t run from fear, you face it head-on. Yet you seem kind and compassionate. We’re all human, I suppose, but I know you have something you want to share with me, I can see it in your eyes.” and then Eliza paused, looked Amber in the eyes and smiled, alleviating Amber’s concerns. “So, what was it about Pathway to the Stars that intrigued you the most? What has it inspired within you? I would love to hear how it has intrigued you and opened up your well of creativity.”
Even though Amber still felt a little overwhelmed—the puppy-dog idol-worship-haze began to wear off, Dr. Williams was clearly making a genuine effort to simply be real and engage with genuine sincerity. So, Amber answered, “I purchased your book three months ago and every time I have a few moments I read a few passages and then I read the entire book again. For some reason, I just can’t seem to put it down. I was immediately impressed with what you had written from the first pass. What you wrote had meaning, it had substance, and it was deep. It took life’s experiences, memories from the past, engagement in the now, and promises of the future and made them seem truly visceral, with a sense of hope that does not need to go unrequited, it makes a legacy we’d enjoy preserving actually possible.”
Amber looked down, thinking about her sister, and then looked up with confidence and shared another pleasant and bonding visual exchange with Eliza, as her heart kind of skipped a few beats. “Dr. Williams—I mean, Eliza? I just want you to know that I appreciate how you address what you do,” and then Amber shifted in her chair and unleashed.
“You were straight up yet respectful to the flash-in-the-pan; snake-oil-frenzied crowds of bureaucracy-influenced, paparazzi-like media moguls who were ready to pounce on well-being-related technology with dystopian myopia, crazed popularity-seekers who endeavor to shackle the effort to educate the masses and you gracefully let them have it. You confounded the minds of the close-minded and the greedy haberdashers who take opportunism to the scariest of lows.
“What people have seemed all-too-often to forget is that while scientists make leaps and bounds out of micro-progression when they do it right, they many times find within themselves a visionary—a macro-vision-imbued rebirth with a larger concept of what they are doing. Unfortunately, in more cases than we would prefer, I’d imagine, the general public finds itself buried from the debris of misinformation within the whirlwind that leads to more problems in so many ways that allow us to gaze anew at greater challenges, because the existing ones could have actually been solved had the information available been a result of genuinely healthy intent.
“With lawsuits, patenting costs, and nightmares of reality attacking progress, people are beginning to lose their hope and the seeds of obstructionism are sewn, as in the days of Copernicus. Too many disparage those with great minds, great ideas, and huge hearts.
“While growing up and throughout her unfortunately short life, my sister blessed me with a wonderful vision of love and compassion. Despite my sister’s unfairly tortured and all-too-short journey of life, due to her bout with early onset Type I Diabetes and a host of other genetic misfires that caused her tremendous suffering, she always smiled and was sweet with anyone who took the time to spend what few precious moments she had with her—just on the other side of the plastic barrier. She never desired to cause another individual harm and she always beamed with hope inside, no matter what we would do or how her body treated her.
“After she passed away, throughout the rest of high school, my undergraduate, and now graduate studies I have learned again and again that there is a resolution if we can sift through the hopelessness of those around us. We most certainly have a heavy burden to bear when it comes to each scientific breakthrough in the various fields of knowledge and their convergence.
“As a complexed composition of cures can be created, localized specifically, based on the various biological regions of the body—the organs, the tissues, the tendons, the organisms, and even individual health needs at a cellular, genetic, and DNA level, perhaps it will be possible soon to develop a mechanism that is non-invasive, that will allow each microbial colony to be encoded to communicate directions and purpose with treatments that are gene-specific and intended to mend and heal, without the side effects of cancer.
“With the benefits of the tools that can be made available for lab work, study, and proliferated trials, tools like CRISPR-Cas—presumably Cas9, and many others, the simplicity of telomerase therapy, and control mechanisms for myostatin inhibitors, a lot can be done to help people. If we can start off by taking the capabilities from cancer cells to express their own telomerase while causing cancer cells to sleep, and apply those capabilities to our own healthy regular, somatic, and stem cells, and even rejuvenate our senescent cells, our bodies’ cells will be able to express telomerase and thus lengthen our telomeres providing us more time in life. If we can effectively program our cells to destroy cancer or repurpose it, clear the debris or repurpose it, then we could buy each person in this world more time to overcome misfiring genes.
“The size of cancer cells is much larger than the size of blood cells, so we can find something that is too big to enter the blood cells but small enough to enter cancer cells, and then reprogram the cancer cells to work with our other cells in clearing out or repurposing unnecessary debris. We can encode our good cells with the ability to express and create telomerase, as well as carry out the debris more efficiently as we establish biomarkers and follow treatments, journalize our studies, recommend specific therapies, develop augmentations to our bod
y’s other aspects, to include radiation resistance, push for media attention, approval for distribution, and then proliferate them throughout the country and throughout the world.
“The effects of gene therapies at the dawn of the 21st Century and the CRISPR revolution had led to mixed results and while some people did well, far too many suffered from additionally stray radicals and through that fallout acquired leukemia and passed away. I truly believe that the primary focus must be on cancer, while at the same time studying each poly and mono genomic sequence, identifying other ATCG code mutations. However, cancer is the result of rogue cells, misfired cells, debris, and accumulation of various free radicals through chronic inflammation which instead of exiting the body’s system, serve as material that coalesces since birth into cancer cells, capable of living and proliferating forever or at least as long as the host that it lives in isn’t destroyed. Couldn’t we turn that around?
“I’m sure you know this already, but cancer has a copy of the host DNA in every cell, but destroys our cells creating more cancerous expressions. With more than 73,000 variants of cancer, what we need to do is switch the roles taking place within the good cells and re-encode good cells to develop telomerase, and then penetrate the cancer cells with communication that repurposes that material to complement our physiology, exit the body, or assist healthy cells with proliferation. Once cancer is no longer an issue we can move on to cures for other diseases without fear as we are armed to remove any dangerous consequences, and perhaps augment our capacities to live in some of the worst environments and adapt with speed.”
Eliza was impressed that Amber due to her own studies had potentially cracked the code in much the same way as she had. Only, the details of them or the fact that she had done so via her pursuits in Pathway LLC had not been mentioned to that degree within her book. The book merely suggested certain ideas encouraging scientists and enthusiasts to be more involved with the purposes as outlined in her UP charter’s Universal Ethics.
Amber had shared the same theories that Eliza had only within her mind and those linked with her because although there was a slight hint of these ideas in her book, she had not written them in as detailed of format for security reasons.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t Eliza’s intention to obstruct the free-thinking mind of someone who was not read-in, rather instead Amber had in fact demonstrated the expression of purpose that was intended by her book, which was to get the rest of humankind thinking and bringing about these cures despite their environments and in public. This young scholar was brilliant! Eliza had merely asked the world to come up with solutions, and that is what Amber did. She even had a theory of her own that would no doubt be iron-clad and even possible, something that, with the exception for her and the citizens of Pathway LLC, no one else on Earth had done.
Amber continued, “Sorry, I know you have a large line waiting. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate what you do, Eliza. Thank you. I will be starting my studies at Harvard after the New Year. Your vision has given me the motivation and clarity I needed to move forward with purpose so that ‘We the People’ can work to contribute to this legacy you speak of within your book and in your interviews. I agree humanity and life are worth preserving.”
Eliza smiled, she was intrigued by what Amber had said and very impressed with this young lady. Yet again, her intuition did not fail her. “Amber, you should know that I am proud of you. You have moved forward in profound ways despite the struggle. You know—I may be lucky enough to have you in one of my classes, as a professor at Harvard. It would be an honor to teach you some of the other things that I have learned as well; you might even teach me a few things. Nevertheless, I would very much like to see you again, to chat with you for a while concerning very intriguing matters that I am sure you might be interested in. Would you mind meeting up with me at the local coffee shop by T.O.’s once my book signing is over?”
Eliza, wearing a black coat over a white blouse and black skirt, with hair lightly parted to the left side and hanging down to her shoulders, with soft and pink-skin-toned variant color lips, reached into her pocket while looking at Amber with her soft crystal blue eyes and handed her a business card with her contact details on it.
“When you get a chance, Amber, please enter my contact information into your phone and text me with your name, so I can save your information. I would very much like to see you again; this way I will also be able to make sure we know who we are contacting. Has anyone told you that you are beautiful both inside and out? I am impressed with your demeanor and your knowledge.”
Amber almost blushed with Eliza’s compliment and felt happy she had come to the bookstore today. Thinking of the conversation they shared, she felt a rush of intensity and peace of heart and mind as she took Eliza’s business card and looked into Eliza’s eyes one more time—how beautiful she was, how intelligent and wise her mind, how gentle of a demeanor she too had despite the magnitude and power of what she spoke and had shared with the world. Amber could not have wished for a better moment in life. She had a sense that this was the beginning of an intense and amazing friendship that just might last for a long, long time.
Amber smiled, trying not to blush any more than usual, and said, “thank you, Eliza. Of course, I would love to meet with you, to chat and go over what we’ve talked about some more. I am humbled. Thank you so much.” Once Amber had tucked her card into her purse, she got up, straightened her gown, and walked away. Both Amber and Eliza smiled and waved, something about those two radiated throughout the room, and every person that could see it felt it.
Eliza got up and continued ushering each person in the line up to her. As she was signing the very next individual’s brand new hard-copy book, she appreciated their investment and noticed the tattered and raggedy paperback still sitting in front of her. She took it, tucked it into her purse for safe keeping, and asked the individual standing in front of her, “How are you doing today? Oh, might I ask you your name?” The young man introduced himself, they spoke for a few minutes, she signed his book hoping he would read it, and once the line was finished, she checked her phone.
“Hi, Eliza, this is Amber Blythe. I can’t believe it, I left my book there. Have you seen it, by chance? I had to rush off to my job and realized I didn’t have it, finding out all too late. It looks like I might need to meet with you tonight after all. Would you like to meet me at T.O.’s? I’ll be there at 6 pm.”
Eliza texted back, “It sounds like a plan, thank you for getting back to me. I’ll see you at six in the evening at T.O.’s. Oh, and don’t worry, I have your book and will bring it with me.”
“Oh my, I truly appreciate that. I’m so sorry. Thank you,” texted Amber.
“No worries,” Eliza texted back, followed by texting a smiley face emoticon.
Chapter 17: Amber Blythe, Section 2
Amber had finished her modeling and decided to take a break from the rest of the routine until it was time to go to T.O.’s. She had a couple of hours to spare and was looking forward to meeting with Eliza at the restaurant without the need to rush. At the library, she recalled a sense that the people in the line behind her toward the end of her conversation with Eliza were almost standing impatiently and frustrated with her. She could practically feel their eyes fixated on her as if to ask her if she could hurry it up, at least that seemed the case at the bookstore.
At the T.O., Amber was always impressed with the clientele that she served, on the days that she worked there—their fine dresses, suits and ties, and even their metro-casual flair. But, now she would be one of those dressed in other than her waiter’s attire—in something similar to her modeling apparel, nice and ready to enjoy a healthy meal with an exquisite friend. Unlike at the bookstore, now, she and Eliza could just relax, maybe eat a scone following the meal, and drink a cup of coffee. “I’m definitely going to need to hit the gym extra hard after this, but hey, we should all take a break and reward ourselves every now and then,” she thought to herself.
Just as she thought that Eliza appeared entering the front door. Amber gleamed, smiled, and waved—motioning her over. Eliza’s eyes lit up as if a-glow, she smiled back, and hurried over to sit with her new friend, Amber, over a cup of nice hot coffee. She wanted to spend every moment with Amber that she could, but she also had somewhere to be in a couple of hours.
“I wish we could stay all night. I love talking with people who care about the things that are important, the way you do, Eliza,” said Amber.
“Your sentiment is shared, Amber,” said Eliza.
They ordered their coffee, dispensed with the dinner, purchased a couple of scones, and laughed over the fact that they would both be hitting the gym hard later on. Eliza talked to her about Pathway LLC and then asked her how much she knew about her company.
“I don’t know a whole lot about Pathway LLC, other than it specializes in biotechnology and gerontology. Please explain?”
“This is kind of a private conversation between you and me—not that I’m too concerned people will know what we’re talking about, since it is typical for the mind to forget, our ears to mute out, and our eyes to overlook that which the mind deems odd,” Eliza said with a calm chuckle. “However, Pathway LLC has a lot more going on behind the scenes, and what you see is designed to find stellar, compassionate, and innovative minds like yours, who can bridge the gap between what we already know and what the public knows, with an environment that uses science to increase the quality of life, its longevity, the clarity of mind, and take us beyond our solar system with promise.
Further than Before- Pathway to the Stars Page 38