The Formula

by Don Viecelli

  “Not much. The security cameras lost him in the crowd as he left the shuttle-car gate. There’s no video of him leaving the space station. He could still be on Ares for all we know.”

  “Any idea who he is?”

  “No, not yet, but we have a profile of the suspect. Sam is going through all the visitor records trying to match physical traits. Sam should have a list of people who match his profile by morning.”

  “What do we do next?”

  “We need to confirm with forensics how the doctor died. While we’re waiting, I’ll search our database for everything I can find out about the doctor and his daughter: what they were working on and why anyone would want to kill him or destroy the lab? We need to know who his clients were and who he was working with.”

  “Do you think he was making illegal drugs?”

  “We won’t know until we get analysis back on the chemical samples, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe the daughter can tell us. I’m going to call her as soon as we land. We need to bring her in for questioning.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Tom asked.

  “I want you to get a search warrant for the doctor’s home. We need to see if he has any information on his computer. Maybe he kept backup copies of his work.”

  “Doesn’t look like we’re going to get much sleep tonight, does it?” Tom lamented.

  “I wouldn’t count on it. We’re dealing with a double homicide investigation. We need to move fast before someone else is hurt.”

  Jack looked out the window. The shuttle was descending quickly towards the landing zone. It almost made him feel dizzy. As it approached the brightly lit platform, the shuttle slowed down until it found its mark and made a smooth touchdown. Jack could see the cold, dark mountainous landscape off in the distance. The wind was picking up. There were dust and ice crystals blowing in gusts outside the buildings. He studied it for a moment trying to remember what the surface looked like on Earth, what the wind felt like on his face. Jack had been reminiscing about Earth a lot lately. It had been almost ten years since he had been home. It’s time to try something new, he thought. This job was getting old.

  It only took a few minutes to taxi inside the shuttle hangar. When the doors opened, Jack and Tom exited the space shuttle. Few people were strolling about the depot this early in the morning. They walked the short distance to the Mars Crime Division building and took the elevator to their offices.

  “I’m going to give the doctor’s daughter a call and see if she can meet us. You get the warrant for the doctor’s place. I’ll call you after I visit the forensic lab,” Jack said.

  “Okay. I’ll wake the judge up. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see me,” Tom quipped back.

  “Don’t worry. They’re used to this sort of thing. Just make sure you have all the facts. I’ll let you know how the doctor died after I get to the lab. The judge will want to know. Let’s meet in an hour. We need to get over to the doctor’s place.”

  They split up. Jack went to his office and pulled the doctor’s smartcom from the evidence bag in his pocket. He found the daughter’s number and dialed using his smartcom. The line buzzed four times before the message recorder clicked on. In a friendly voice, Ingrid told the caller to leave a message at the tone. Jack identified himself and left an urgent message to call him regarding her father. He promised to call again if he didn’t hear from her soon. After he hung up, he decided to send a police officer over to the daughter’s place to see if she was home. If not, they would have to track her down. Jack was concerned about her safety.

  Then Jack called the forensic lab. The Chief Medical Examiner, Doctor Xie Zheng, answered the call. She was a short, dark haired Asian woman in her early forties. Her family was originally from China. She was the first in her family to leave Earth and work in space. She was the most knowledgeable forensic scientist Jack had ever met.

  “Hello, Xie. This is Jack. Do you have anything for me on that body we sent you from Ares?”

  “Yes, Jack. I’m working on Doctor Johanson’s body now.” Xie rarely used an impersonal pronoun to refer to a body. She always used a real name if she knew it. It was her style. It showed her respect for the dead. Jack suspected it had to do with her culture.

  “You better get down here. I have something to show you.”

  She sounded serious. Jack said he was on his way and ended the call. The lab was on the first floor. He took the elevator down.

  Jack found the lab and pushed through the swinging doors. Xie was busy working on the body, Doctor Johanson, Jack reminded himself. The doctor was lying on a flat metal table with several bright lights shining overhead. The doctor’s midsection was covered with a white sheet. The head, arms and legs were badly burned. There were several open incisions and Xie was removing another organ to weigh and study. Dark red blood was running down the edges of the table to a catch pan. The smell of death was pungent and overwhelming. How can she stand it? Jack thought. He tried to breathe through his mouth. He knew from experience, the smell would become less noticeable after a few minutes.

  “How’s it going, Xie?”

  “I’m almost finished with the organs. I’m running some tests.”

  “Do you know how he—the doctor—died?”

  “The doctor died from strangulation. See here? These are choke marks around the neck. The larynx is crushed. There are clear signs of bruising. I also checked the lungs. There was no smoke inhalation or heat damage from the fire. The doctor wasn’t breathing when the explosion occurred. Doctor Johanson was already dead.”

  “Can you confirm the time of death?”

  “Around 10 p.m., give or take an hour.”

  “That matches the video evidence. Did you find anything else?”

  “Yes, I did. I ran some DNA tests. The results are very unusual.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, from what I can see, Doctor Johanson’s DNA has been altered.”

  “Do you mean this person is not Doctor Johanson?”

  “No, it’s not that. This is definitely Doctor Johanson. It’s just that the medical database records say the doctor is 85 years old. According to the DNA results, all the bone and tissue samples confirm the doctor is around 45 years old. Either the data is wrong or the doctor found a way to reverse the aging process.”

  Jack was stunned. He looked at Xie. He wasn’t sure what to say. It must be a mistake. “I don’t understand. Is that possible?”

  “Not that I am aware of,” Xie replied cautiously. “Medical science has made great strides in making one look young again, but it has never stopped the aging process. We have slowed it down, but not reversed it. At some point, human cells stop dividing and the organs gradually grow old and die, unless replaced.”

  “Do you think it’s possible then, to reverse the aging process?” Jack was jumping to the next conclusion that maybe the doctor was working on a new anti-aging drug, and this was what got him killed.

  “I don’t know. I have to do more testing. I removed several bone and tissue samples for further DNA analysis. I will also run tests on the organs I removed, but they look very healthy to me. We need more information on how the doctor got this way.”

  “I’m working on it, Xie. Thanks for the information. Finish your tests and let me know what you find out. Please keep the information about the doctor’s age confidential until I talk to you again. I don’t want to start any false rumors until I know what we’re dealing with here. Just give me confirmation on the death so I can prove to the judge that this was a homicide.”

  “All right, Jack, but Captain Black will have to be notified soon. I can delay the full report until this afternoon and that’s all.”

  “I understand. I’ll tell the captain myself by then. I need to check some things out first. We’ll talk later. Thanks, Xie.”

  “No problem. I’ll call you after all the test results are in. You be careful, Jack. I’m looking forward to your retirement party, you know.”

  “Don’t worry
, Xie. I plan to be there. Maybe growing old will be the least of my worries. Talk to you later.”

  Jack was mystified. Doctor Johanson was murdered. That much was clear. But the aging issue was more worrisome. If the doctor found a solution to reverse the aging process—not just slow it down—that would be a miracle, something the whole human race was waiting for. It would be revolutionary, by far the greatest discovery of the second millennium. Jack couldn’t even comprehend the consequences. One thing was sure, though. Somebody didn’t want the doctor to tell his secret.

  Jack needed more proof. The doctor’s lab was destroyed. No records were found and no drugs. The murderer made sure of that. Maybe this was a simple case of greed. The discovery would be worth a fortune. This could be the motive he was looking for. Somebody wanted the drug or maybe the formula. Whoever murdered the doctor and destroyed the lab must have known about the discovery. Deep in his gut, Jack knew there had to be more people involved. The prize was too big.

  Time was critical. Jack had to act fast. He left the lab and returned to his office. He called Tom and asked him where he was. Tom said he was at the judge’s house getting a search warrant for the doctor’s home. Jack told him how the doctor died. Then he told Tom he better get a search warrant for the daughter’s home as well. He needed to find out what the doctors were making in that lab.

  Jack hung up with Tom and went on-line to search the universal database. He asked the computer to find any data on the doctor’s name. The information that came up was mostly biographical. Jack began to read. The doctor had been educated in Stockholm, Sweden and attended the renowned Sweden Medical Institute. He did post-graduate work and received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Molecular Genetics. He taught medicine for a few years and then moved to London to do medical research for a large pharmaceutical company. He had published several research papers on the molecular structure and growth process of human cells. The papers were listed by date of publication. They looked highly technical and Jack skimmed over them.

  Jack continued reading. Doctor Johanson became a leading researcher on regenerative medicine, which uses chemical signals to trigger cell repair and replacement. The hope was to prolong life by regenerating aging bodies with younger cells. Regenerative medicine uses genes, proteins and antibodies as medicines to rebuild organs, grow new tissue, fight diseases, heal wounds and a host of other things. Apparently, it all started with the Human Genome Project, which was completed almost a hundred years ago and took over ten years to characterize the complete set of genetic instructions encoded in the three billion base pairs of human DNA.

  Jack tried to visualize the concept, gave up and continued reading. At some point, the doctor had left the company to do independent research. He began to work on space medicine and moved to bases on the moon and on Mars. There were a few published research papers and several drug patents granted over the last few years. Then the information became sketchy. There was no mention of an anti-aging drug or of recent work on Ares.

  Jack made copies of what he found. There were even some old photos of the doctor, but nothing recent. The doctor was a handsome man in his younger years. He looked very intelligent and confident as he smiled in the best photographs. The only recent photos Jack had of the doctor were from his ID card and the security cameras on Ares. Even then it was hard to tell the doctor’s age. People could appear much younger than they were with today’s medicine and technology. All it took was a little money and a good plastic surgeon.

  Jack then searched for data on the daughter, Doctor Ingrid Johanson. He found similar information on her. She was well educated and seemed to follow in her father’s footsteps. She had a Ph.D. in Microbiology and had published several research papers on regenerative medicine. She and her father shared several drug patents and worked together at the same pharmaceutical company. There was no mention of family history or children.

  It was Ingrid’s photos that captured Jack’s attention. In the latest picture, the daughter looked to be in her early sixties. It was the earlier pictures that gave him a start. She was in her late twenties or early thirties with striking blond hair, intelligent blue eyes, beautiful smile, and a slim, well-proportioned figure with great legs. This woman was a looker, every man’s dream. She was smart, and beautiful. When someone saw this woman, you remembered every detail. That was what shocked him. He recognized the face. It was the same face he remembered seeing on the doctor’s smartcom just a few hours ago: the same woman who left the doctor a video message just before he died. There was no mistake. This woman had somehow managed to look much younger than she was. It might be due to plastic surgery or something else. It was the something else that made him wonder. He made more copies.

  Jack knew he had to find this woman and quickly. He was worried that whoever killed the doctor might now be looking for her. She could shed some much-needed light on the case. Jack called Tom. The line buzzed once and Tom answered.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m on my way back to the office. Why, what’s up?”

  “We need to get moving. Do you have the warrants?”

  “Yeah, they’re in my hands. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  “Good. I’ll meet you in the lobby. I have something to show you.”

  Jack left his office and headed downstairs. He took the elevator and waited in the lobby of the headquarter building. Tom showed up a few minutes later.

  “What’s so important?”

  Jack handed him the photos of the doctor and the woman. He explained his dilemma. Tom whistled.

  “Do you think it’s possible?” Tom asked as they walked out the building.

  “It fits with the autopsy findings on the doctor. His DNA is definitely changed. And his daughter sure looks a lot younger than she should.”

  “So the doctor found a way to look younger?”

  “Not look younger. Become younger. I think he found a way to reverse the aging process.”

  “That would be a miracle. I don’t think it’s possible,” Tom said, shaking his head.

  “I know. It’s hard to believe, but the evidence is leading us in that direction. We need to find more proof.”

  “Where are we going?” Tom asked as continued walking.

  “I tried to reach the daughter, but there’s no answer. I sent a police officer over to her place. If he finds her, he’ll call me. I think we better search the doctor’s place first to see what’s there. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ve got the papers. The judge wasn’t too happy to see me this early in the morning, but he understood. The address is on the other side of town. We could take the underground train. It’s the fastest way.”

  “I agree. Let’s go,” Jack said.

  “Do we need to call the captain?”

  “No, it’s late. Let’s check the residences first. We can update him in the morning when he comes in. I don’t think he’ll believe any of this either unless we have more evidence,” Jack said as they left the building. They hurried down the escalator to catch the next train that pulled into the station.

  Chapter 5

  Ivan Hellstrom was sitting behind a desk in his luxury apartment in Marineris City. It was late. He had a drink in his hand filled with 100 year-old scotch and water. He was staring vacantly into the glass, deep in thought. He was waiting for Wolfgang to return. His mind was analyzing the events that occurred on Ares this evening. Things had gone as planned. Too bad the doctor had to be killed, Ivan thought, but he had no choice. The doctor had threatened to take his discovery to another company. No one threatened Ivan, especially on something as important as this. Those that did never lived long enough to make it a reality.

  Ivan was not a big man, but his presence could be intimidating to those around him. He was a man used to getting his own way in life. His hair was silver and he let it grow long in the back. He had dark eyes with a penetrating stare, pointed nose and small mouth with narrow lips. He used to be a handsome man when he wa
s in his prime. Now he was almost ninety years old and the signs of aging had become noticeable. Until recently, there was little more that science could do to make him look and feel younger. But now, thanks to the doctor’s new wonder drug, Ivan knew he could change all of that. He had waited long enough. It was time to act.

  Ivan was the President of SpaceMed, the largest pharmaceutical company on Mars. He used the latest space technologies to produce all types of medicines and synthetic drugs. It made him powerful, wealthy and respectable. Ivan was always looking for the next breakthrough drug. He wanted to be the first one to bring it to market. If his research team didn’t develop it, he bought out or stole the rights from whoever did. By chance, he met the Johanson’s and learned about their spectacular discovery. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, one that Ivan would not let slip through his grasp.

  Ivan knew that Doctor Johanson and his daughter, Ingrid, were ready to announce their discovery to the world. He had to prevent that from happening. He instructed Wolfgang to steal the drugs that the doctor and his daughter had painstakingly produced over the past six months and destroy any evidence of the discovery. He also needed the memcards from the computers. He hoped they would tell him what he wanted to know. He ordered Wolfgang to kill the doctor. It would make it easier to gain control over the discovery.

  It wasn’t easy to steal another man’s discovery. There were always complications. But Ivan had done this many times before. He had cultivated a number of powerful and influential people who could help him achieve his goal. They were rewarded substantially for their efforts, and he would need their help now to finish the job.

  There was one more person he had to talk to, to reason with. That person was the doctor’s daughter, Ingrid. He had other plans for her. It would be difficult to convince her to work with him, but he could be very persuasive when the situation called for it.

  Ivan got up from his chair and walked over to the window. It was very dark outside, but he could see the lights of Marineris City spread out below him. His apartment was on the top two floors of the SpaceMed building. He owned the building and the company. He could see the Mars Space Depot almost two miles away. Space shuttles were landing and taking off in the extremely frigid night air.