The Zombie Effect

by Sampson, Roger

  “Beth has been doing bacterial research in Africa for the CDC the past four months,” Cliff declares proudly to Jack. Not that Jack needs to be more impressed.

  “Awesome,” Jack says, smiling wide as if answering the cue to be impressed. Beth smiles awkwardly at her father’s attempt to feed the stalker. She shoots Cliff a “please stop” smirk.

  “Jack is doing cutting edge work over at the University, and I thought you two would work very well together,” Cliff suggests. Beth’s eyes widen at Cliff.

  “Did you?” Beth replies with an accusatory tone at her father’s cupid like gesture. Cliff smiles proudly and nods affirmative. He enjoys the game of torturing his baby girl, especially when romance is the topic. Rachel feels the temperature of the conversation rising, and takes action.

  “Jack, there is someone I’d like you to meet,” Rachel announces. She loops her hand under Jack’s arm stealthily and leads him away from the conversation. Beth stares awkwardly at Cliff, her eyes burning like a laser.

  “What are you doing?” Beth accuses.

  “Nothing,” Cliff defends. But of course he’s doing something. They all have a role to play in this game. Beth looks crossly at Cliff.

  “Why?” she pleads. Cliff’s demeanor changes to a more relaxed tone.

  “He’s the most advanced student I’ve ever seen. He’s being published next month on morphology. We need him Beth. You know that,” Cliff summarizes in a matter of fact tone. Cliff speaks in double entendres. Beth knows the institute needs a breakthrough. That much is obvious. But Cliff needs a little lightning to strike to appease Hicks. He keeps that from his family. No need to concern them about things out of their control. Beth sighs heavily and looks away. She understands the need is great, and knows she has a role to play in the family business. It doesn’t mean she has to like it.

  “High school?” Beth retorts. Cliff smiles.

  “Maybe he still has a crush on you,” Cliff jokes. Beth rolls her eyes and smiles. Cliff reciprocates.

  CHAPTER 2

  Waterston University has been a stalwart institution of higher learning since the early 20s.It’s never reached Ivy League status, but it’s graduated some of the finest minds in medicine, technology and science. The areas of study include micro organisms, both known and unknown. Applications include the areas of medicine, bio tech and practical application science. In 2005, at the height of the latest discovery from the Barrister Institute, Waterston University created an internship program to allow students to achieve graduate credits in exchange for hands on lab work in the research and development of some of the most fascinating discoveries of the 21st century. Dr. Cliff Barrister and his wife Rachel also began the Barrister scholarship program which funds five extraordinary students’ educations each year at Waterston. The science lab at Waterston was almost exclusively paid for from Governmental Grants along with The Barrister Fund for Higher Learning. Some of the school’s high profile alumni include high ranking scientists at the CDC, US Department of Energy, as well as a Secretary of State and several corporate officers at pharmaceutical companies.

  Not coincidentally, Jack has attended the school the past 2 years on the Barrister scholarship and in his senior year was surprised as a late addition to the internship program at Barrister. Jack’s morphology study was recognized by the CDC and the White House and has Jack on the fast track to any number of high profile science, pharmaceutical or even university teaching positions. He’s 21 years old and is on pace to be one of the youngest doctorate graduates in history. That is if he can mature outside the classroom a bit.

  The science lab at Waterston is a large wing of the Barrister Science building which includes 20 dual student workstations outfitted with tables, chemistry equipment and computers all connected to the high power microscope which the class uses, among other things, to study ice core samples donated by the National Ice Core Laboratory.

  Jack slumps at his station, joined by his lab partner Barry. They’re feeling the effects of their shenanigans at the lecture the evening before, as well as the libations. Between the jack hammer going off in his temples and weight of his eyelids, Jack is both sorry he got up this morning and elated at the adventure. Being one of the smartest people in the room can make life boring, like Gulliver in his travels. But as Murphy’s Law would suggest, just when you’re comfortable that the world won’t change, you wake up on Lilliput. Jack slips on his sunglasses in the hopes of drowning out the roar of life around him, if only briefly.

  The classroom door opens and Professor Jones saunters through it. A celebrated scientist in his own right, Jones is a 57 year old published author and Fulbright Scholar. A scientific grant allowed the African born professor to study in his homeland as a young man, and his work while there paved the way for the current water well program which brings fresh water to outlying areas less likely to find life sustaining resources. His influence was one of the reasons Jack chose Waterston to conduct his graduate studies. That and Jack appreciates Jones’ no nonsense approach to learning.

  “Good morning people. The life of a scientist is filled with boredom with the exception of those few moments you manage to make a discovery, get published or change humanity forever. With any luck some of you will,” Jones preaches. Jack lets out a gastrointestinal groan, unable to control himself. “You have something to add today Mr. Hart?” Jones inquires sarcastically. Jack waves him away. Jones smiles and shakes his head. “If you applied your energy to your studies with the same vigor as your extracurricular activities, you could change the world,” Jones summates. Jack peeks his bloodshot eyes out from behind his glasses and smiles faintly at the gesture, like someone who lost this battle but has every intention of winning the war. Jones continues, “We have a unique opportunity this morning. We were granted access to a new ice core sample courtesy of the National Ice Core Laboratory, which came from the latest sample taken from the Antarctic Ice Shelf. If you’ve kept up with your current events, worldwide ice shelf erosion is a problem. This sample is from among the deepest samples ever extracted. Meaning you will be seeing material no one else has ever seen. So pay attention.”

  This grabs Jack’s attention. He removes his glasses, ignoring the alcohol induced gorilla pounding on his head and sits up. Jones powers up the microscope from his computer. Bill and Maggie, a pair of upper classmen, enter the clean room and grab a pair of suits. They look like astronauts or deep sea explorers as they seal each other’s suits. The need for a clean environment is taken as seriously here at Waterston as it is at the CDC. In fact, they report new findings to the CDC on a regular basis, making it one of the leading colleges in the nation for both doctors and deadly disease scientists. Jack gazes intently at the process, like an armchair quarterback making sure the play is executed correctly. Perhaps that’s one of Jack’s OCD qualities.

  Bill and Maggie enter the freezer and open a storage unit at the center of the room. The freezer houses a series of storage units that contain everything from ice core samples to tissue samples for study. Bill slowly retrieves a Styrofoam container from the storage unit and carefully carries it to a workstation near the microscope loading platform. He inches it along ever so slowly, as if it were nitroglycerin. “Bill, be careful with that. Maggie, help him load it in the microscope,” Jones instructs. Maggie gives him the thumbs up. She has an intercom but she is not a fan of using it on account of not liking how she sounds when she hears herself. That always makes Jack chuckle a bit. Maggie joins Bill at the work station. Bill removes the lid very carefully and inches out a tube containing the ice core sample. He softly lays it on the table and rotates the lid on one end. Classmates watch from the observation window with the intensity of watching a horror movie. Maggie holds the tube in place as Bill gently removes the long cylinder of ice. The structural integrity of the sample is not in question, but given its rarity, if it’s dropped and broken, anything of scientific value they find would be called into question. So they treat the sample with more care than the Crown J
ewels. Bill and Maggie, each holding an end of the sample, slowly place it on the cradle attached to the microscope.

  Jones types feverishly on the computer. As he does, small clamps at three intervals of the ice core tray close and softly clamp down on the sample and the tray slowly glides on the track toward the microscope’s mouth as if swallowing a popsicle.

  Jack watches intently as the ice core sample disappears from view. Monitors in the classroom spring to life with images from within the microscope. Bill and Maggie high five one another to celebrate another completed mission and exit back to the clean room to remove their suits. The classroom monitors illuminate with a rotating image of the ice core sample as chemical and biological data begins scrolling down the left side of the screen. Jones watches the data and smiles. “OK people, let’s get to work,” Jones instructs. Students scatter to their workstations. Jones types feverishly on his computer. Different sections of the sample show up on monitors all over the classroom. Students open notebooks and write feverishly. Others open laptops and open virtual text books, charts and table of elements.

  Computer monitors dance with information. Students watch in fascination, writing in their notebooks feverishly. They type on their computers to get different views of their samples and study chemical compositions. Jones speaks to students and points to different elements to pay attention to. Jones really loves teaching these kids. In some ways it’s more satisfying than working in science. Molding minds into tomorrow’s leaders. Very few get that chance.

  Jack studies the sample in front of him and Barry. The image rotates and the data scrolls the screen. Suddenly a large spot appears with a red blinking message that catches Jack’s attention. He types on his computer to isolate that spot. The image enlarges in 3D and rotates. Jack types information to ask the computer to identify the material. An error message interrupts him. Jack turns his head slightly and looks at Barry. He types new commands. Same error. Jack opens a new screen and types the chemical composition into a search engine. “No matches found,” replies the computer.

  “Professor?” Jack inquires. Jones looks up as Jack waves him over. He strolls over to Jack and Barry’s table. Jack looks at Jones and points to the spot. Jones puts on his reading glasses and spies the screen carefully. He touches Jack on the shoulder and Jack shoots out of his seat. Jones plops down and types feverishly at the computer. The same error message greets the professor. Jones types several more options, each meeting with the same harsh electronic response. This material is not ready to give up its secrets quite yet. Jones types in a command to diagnostically analyze the spot. The computer ponders the request for several nail-biting seconds. The air becomes a little thick as Jack eagerly awaits the revelation of just what they’ve found. Finally, the computer dashes their hopes with a chemical readout followed by “NOT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED”.

  “It looks like a single cell microbe,” Jack hypothesizes.

  “It’s definitely a microbe of some kind. Apparently a rarely seen one,” Jones concedes. Jones commands the computer to print a list of known microbes from ice core samples. The printer hums and spits out the list. Jones yanks the answer off the printer and studies the results. Jack studies the computer image like a peeping tom. Jones sighs. “I have no idea what this is,” Jones confesses. Jack looks back at Jones surprised with a half smile like he just found a silver dollar. But Jack has bigger aspirations than a payday. He sees a quick trip to fame if he’s discovered something brand new. This gives Jack an idea.

  “I have access to everything we need at Barrister. I can study it and find out what it is,” Jack offers. Jones looks at Jack. Even though he can see right through his bright student’s intentions, Jack has a point. And hell, if he’s discovered the find of the century, why not give the kid a chance to prove it. Not to mention, as his teacher and a long time scientist, it would prove an amazing thing to be associated with Jack for his career as well. Not that he cares that much about fame for himself. But it gives him pride to see his student take some ambitious chances. Jones looks at the image and back at Jack.

  “Maybe you’ll change the world after all Mr. Hart,” Jones encourages. Jack smiles like a kid in a candy store. He looks back at the computer screen as the message “NOT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED” continues to rotate. Jack is going to find out what this material is. But he’s not going to like it.

  CHAPTER 3

  The campus where the Barrister Institute is housed was built by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention back in the early 70s and was a state of the art research facility. It was supposed to be a supplementary research facility to the Atlanta hub. During the mid 80s, budget cuts to the CDC forced some closures, including the Texas campus. As a way of resurrecting the facility, the CDC donated it to the Barristers in 1987 as more of a public relations move as well as unloading some of the headaches that came along with the upkeep and security of the grounds. But the move would be well served as the Barristers would breathe new life into the facility, using grants from several branches of the government as well as private donations to upgrade the site to modern times.

  During the early days of the institute, several high profile finds, both biological and technical, brought international attention to the Barristers. Barristers has also been known for the development of an early warning system for illnesses and outbreaks. They’ve even been credited with saving thousands of lives from their forecasts and warnings that have stemmed outbreaks in a dozen countries. This talent earned the Barristers respect in the field and brought more high profile investors including Hicks Corporation, a pharmaceutical giant with rumored links to the Department of Energy and Department of Defense in Washington. There has never been a solid link between them, but some of the contracts Hicks has received from those agencies forced questions of the true relationship between them. Hicks’ interest in Barrister and the institute have always been widely rumored for everything from money laundering to biological weapons development. No concrete evidence has ever been found however, and it all remains rumor and conjecture.

  In recent years the new finds have slowed or stopped. Fame is like a firecracker. It burns hot but only lasts a short time and then you need another one to continue the burn or you risk nobody watching anymore.

  This revelation is not lost on Cliff. He never wanted this. He wanted to make a difference in the world. He and Rachel started out as idealists in a realist world. The lessons of how life really is are hard for most. The simple fact is the world revolves around money and power in one way or another. There is no escaping it. The only way around it is through it. Cliff has understood that for some time now. As the years have worn on, and the discoveries have slowed down or stopped altogether, relationships the Barristers have enjoyed over this many years are going the way of the firecracker, and they know it.

  Cliff and Rachel have made a difference in the world. Policies are in place in countries around the world thanks to their discoveries in the areas of disease prevention, catastrophe protocol and other areas. They’ve left a lasting legacy in that regard. But Cliff isn’t an old man yet. He has years more to give. He has no intention of letting everything they’ve built together just fall by the wayside. But adjusting to this new reality of the love for money has also taken its toll on Cliff. He is no longer an idealist. Some days he wrestles with pessimism in his quest to only remain a realist. But he also knows something has to change. Or he will go down in history as “that guy that did that thing that one time”. Cliff can think of nothing more tragic.

  This was one of the driving factors of Cliff offering an advanced internship to Jackson Hart. Cliff has been a scientist for a long time, and he has never met a sharper intellect and problem solver than Jack. He hates to admit it, but Jack reminds him of himself as a young man, but a smarter version, if that’s possible. He knows the spark they need at Barrister is someone who can come in and either create a brand new discovery or stumble upon it. They need someone with the vision to realize they have something and to brin
g it to Barrister. The fact that Jack and his daughter Beth had a nerdish type romance in high school can only help that along. If nature takes its course, both figuratively and literally, Jack can bring so much to the family. Perhaps even take the reigns as the scientist heir apparent. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Cliff fantasizes. It’s not Cliff’s intention to use him, or to take advantage of a situation for his own personal advancement. That’s what it really is, but Cliff thinks of it in bigger picture terms. The ends justify the means. But first things first. It’s all a moot point if Jack finds nothing. The ship is slowly sinking and Cliff knows it. Even Rachel, in her own way, knows it. They don’t talk about it. But it’s there like a dark cloud hovering over them. And Logan is the proverbial vulture waiting for them to produce or die.

  The microbiology lab at Barrister was one area where no expense was spared. If you want to make the big discoveries, you can’t be cheap in your equipment. One of Cliff’s sayings. The 2000 square foot lab features a walk-in freezer, clean room, computer control room and break room along with the powerful microscope and incinerator. Jack, Cliff and Beth review a monitor displaying the findings Jack recorded to a CD at Waterston. Cliff stares blankly at the screen. On a separate computer he types a new search of his own but his results are just as empty as Jack’s. Beth runs her own search with the same results. They look at Jack with wide eyes. “Any ideas?” Jack inquires. Cliff looks over at Jack, sighs and raises his eyebrows.

  “No,” Cliff replies stoically, trying to hide his hope that this could be something, anything. But again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Beth looks at them both. Jack smiles like a kid who just found a silver dollar.

  “Let’s find out what it is,” Jack begs. Cliff sighs like he’s not thoroughly enjoying this moment. And Jack is doing all the work. Of course he wants to find out what this is but looking desperate is not an option. It may turn out to be nothing, but it’s the best lead he’s had in months.