by Owen Grant
“Well, we need to get this done as quickly as possible,” Dr. Watson said. “We are already at risk of being found out.”
“I will definitely work as hard as I possibly can,” Alan said.
“Well, the problem is that you need to get to their computers in order to access them from here, right?” Michelle asked.
“Well, that's a bit of an over-simplification, but it could be helpful.”
“I'll do it,” said Michelle. “Gather up what I need, give me detailed directions, and I will get it done.”
“Are you sure that you're going to be able to get to their computers? And wouldn't the computers be monitored by cameras? You could wind up in jail,” said Alan.
“Well, maybe I can get someone else in the company to help me.”
“What are you thinking, Michelle?” Dr. Watson asked.
“Well, what if I was able to convince the security team to lose sight of one camera for a couple of minutes? I would be fast, and I would time it as quickly as possible.”
“That still doesn't get us access to the network.”
“I can do that, too. I'm not afraid. We just need him to tell us how to get this done, right?”
“I just really don't think that it's a good idea. I can do it from here. It will just take some more time.” Alan said. He was impressed by Michelle's dedication to the company's goal. Despite how independent and brave she was, there was no way that Alan was going to allow her to put herself in that much danger.
The rest of the meeting went on to discuss recent findings of the mystery drug, which was a whole lot of nothing, and progress on other medicine. Paradox Pharmaceuticals continued to develop other medications so that they could fund the rest of the operation. They tried to focus on drugs that had actual health benefits instead of cosmetic benefits. There was a highly potent pain killer with very low addictive properties in the early stages of development and another mild over-the-counter pain killer that was in the last stages of production. Alan feigned interest, but he had to focus on his goal before Dr. Watson sent Michelle behind enemy lines and put her in danger.
When the meeting was over, Alan was determined to head home and work some more. Michelle seemed to have another idea in mind, though.
“Want to hang out?” she asked Alan after the meeting. He quickly decided that he didn't have to work all night. He would figure out a solution to the problem at work tomorrow.
“Absolutely,” Alan said. “You want to head back to my place?”
“For sure!”
Alan and Michelle walked to the train station together. Usually Michelle was filled with energy, but he noticed that she was a little slower today.
“Come on, slow poke!” Alan said. “We'll have to wait for the next train if you don't hurry up!”
“I'm hurrying! Michelle giggled.
“What? Are you tired today or something?”
“No. My knees are hurting. It's actually pretty frustrating.”
“How'd you hurt your knees?”
“That's the funny thing. I don't remember any injury or anything. It's probably just something small.”
“Well, that's ok. We can take it easy. I don't want you to hurt yourself.”
When Alan and Michelle got back to his place, they cuddled on the couch and started watching TV. While they were cuddled together, he couldn't help but notice that she had a small gray streak in her hair. He knew that girls were dying their hair gray now, but he didn't know that they were putting in gray highlights. To be honest, it wasn't his favorite look.
A Risky Move
The next day at work, Alan scoured through Baxter's network for a breach in security that he could utilize. While he searched, he found himself in the same situation as the day before: everything he could do would be extremely risky.
At the daily end of the day meeting, Alan started to feel the pressure. It was the same group of people as the day before, and he started to feel that he was letting them down.
“Are we ready in infiltrate, Alan?” Dr. Watson asked.
“Not quite. I'm looking for a breach in security, but everything is still a bit dangerous for us at this point.”
“We are running out of time,” Dr. Watson said. “It's becoming more dangerous for us the longer that we wait.”
“I understand, but it's only been a couple of days. These things do take time, and I'm giving it my full effort.”
“I think it's time to talk to Michelle about the possibility of going on site.”
“I'm definitely comfortable taking the risk.”
“I can do it!” Alan blurted. “I'm sure that I can do it tomorrow. Sending Michelle in would take longer than it would take me.”
“You were just saying that you need more time,” Michelle said.
“Let me work tonight, and I will get this done for you by tomorrow at the end of the day. I know what I'm doing. I just want to make it as safe for us as possible. I'll be ready tomorrow.”
“Is there still going to be a risk?”
“Well, there's always some level of risk associated with things like this. It's definitely significantly less risky than sending Michelle in. Also, we'll get a lot more information this way.”
“Alright then. Well, I know that we put a lot of pressure on you, but you came through. I'm glad to hear that we can move forward. I'll be expecting results by tomorrow,” Dr. Watson said.
Alan nodded. “Not a problem.”
“Well, then. That was the last thing on the docket for today's meeting. We're all free to go.”
Michelle went up to Alan as soon as the meeting was done. “Are you sure that you're going to be ready tomorrow?”
“Yeah. It's not a problem.”
“Well, want to hang out?”
“I think I'm going to stay back and continue working. The harder I work, the safer we will all be. It'll be a night of a lot coffee and staring at a computer screen. Really not that unusual for me.”
“Well, I know that you'll get the job done. I believe in you,” Michelle leaned over and gave Alan a kiss before leaving.
Alan tried to not make a habit of lying, but he felt like he had no alternative. Plus, he didn't really lie. He said that it would be riskier to send in Michelle. That was technically true. Granted, Michelle would be the only one implicated if she got caught in that scenario, not the entire company, but it was much riskier for her to send her in.
When Alan got back to his desk after the meeting, he noticed that Ryan was still in the office, too.
“Working late, too?” Alan asked.
“Yeah. Just some simple office cleaning. Plus, the internet here is a lot better than the internet at my place.”
“I can see that. I kind of want to bring in my video games to play on this bad boy,” he laughed.
“Well, let me know if you need anything,” Ryan offered.
Alan spent the night in front of the computer screen drinking cup of coffee after cup of coffee. He combed through the Baxter network hair by hair and could not seem to find a single opening in security. He needed this. He knew what would happen if he broke into the network, and it was discovered.
Alan didn't even realize that he had fallen asleep when Dr. Watson woke him up the next morning with a cup of coffee.
“That's the dedication that I like to see,” Dr. Watson said.
“Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that we were ready to go today.”
“And are we?”
“Yep. I'm just taking as many precautions as I can.”
“Good. The last thing we need is to be discovered.”
Alan smiled and responded by getting back to work. A couple of hours later, he knew that he had a deadline to meet. He was still not entirely secure in his ability to continue undetected, but the time had come for him to do it anyway.
He took a deep breath and went for it. He matched his SSID to Baxter's SSID and continued to break into the network until, after one last click of the mouse, he was officially
in. He moved quickly. At this point, he was already in, so he didn't have to hold back now. It was actually quite exhilarating, and Alan was surprised how little resistance he was coming across. Alan remembered his focus, and he started searching e-mails for mention of the new drug or any of the mysterious lawsuits. It didn't take him much time at all before he came across a number of e-mails and documents with the name “Wynelta”.
Revelations
The information seemed innocuous enough at first. E-mails between company heads indicated that the drug Wynelta would be starting initial testing. Other e-mails discussed the details: gathering test subjects, the testing process, who would be conducting the research, and other information. As Michelle had told him, the drug was being tested as a weight loss drug.
The e-mails became more and more sparse. Alan noticed that there was hardly any information about how the research was going. He started looking for information on the lawsuit that they went through about a year before hand. It was difficult for him to look up because there wasn't a lot of information about the lawsuit, but he started finding some e-mails about a lawsuit from a test subject. The e-mails gave him a name: Ryan Larson. When Alan went ahead and looked deeper, he saw that Ryan Larson was given 2.3 million dollars as a settlement. An e-mail also specifically stated that the litigant had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Part of the nondisclosure agreement would include legal implications for breaking it. Alan had to look a lot further to discover exactly what the person sued over, though.
Emailed included phrases like “retroactive cellular activity”, “stunted development”, and “excessive metabolic activity”. Several e-mails later indicated that the drug that the litigant had been testing was a drug with the main ingredient of trayleme.
Alan was amazed at what he was finding. If this person had sued them over the effects of trayleme a year ago, why were they still making drugs with this ingredient? All e-mails indicated that they thought that trayleme was the culprit. Were there other people in this study? Did they experience the same effects? What exactly happened to Ryan Larson? Was he still alive? The effects of the study had to be quite devastating for him to receiver such a serious settlement. Scientific studies on medication are very careful to inform participants of the possibility of side effects. With this understanding, very few medication studies can be found responsible for any side effects.
Alan was experiencing an overload of information. He needed to process it. He also needed to inform Dr. Watson of what he had found.
“Dr. Watson!” Alan said, interrupting his conversation with a researcher on site.
“It looks like you have something,” Dr. Watson said. “I take it that you've gotten into their network?”
“Yes. I was hoping that I could give you an update and see what you have to say about it.”
“Of course. Let's go to the office to talk.”
When they got to the office, Alan could hardly contain himself. “Do you know anything about a Ryan Larson?”
“What about him?”
“He's the one who filed the lawsuit against Baxter. He ended up with 2.3 million.”
“What does that have to do with Wynelta?”
“Well, the drug that they were testing at the time was trayleme. It's the same active ingredient.”
“And what was he suing for?”
“It was vague. I was hoping that you might know anything else about that. Have you ever heard of Ryan Larson before?”
“Yes. I have.”
“And did you know that they were testing the ingredient on people a year ago?”
“I had an idea. Yes.”
“What the hell were they thinking? This ingredient is clearly devastating. Why would they use it again?”
“I agree. It seems irresponsible to me, too.” Dr. Watson was rather calm about everything. It was as if he was already aware of everything that Alan had discovered. “Did you find anything regarding the recent studies?”
“No. They've been rather quiet about that so far. I'm still looking.”
“I know that it's overwhelming. Keep going through their information to see what you can find about the drug. The more information that we have, the better.”
“Alright. I'll get back on it.”
“And when you get a chance, you might want to talk to Ryan at some point. He might have some details to offer you.”
Of course! Ryan was Ryan Larson. Alan was both happy that he could talk to the person who had received the settlement and disappointed that everything he had “discovered” was already known by the head people at the office. Instead of going back to the computer, he decided to go straight to Ryan.
Ryan almost looked like he was anticipating Alan's approach. Alan walked up to him and immediately said, “Let's go get lunch.” Ryan simply put his stuff away and got ready to leave.
The two went to a local restaurant and sat down at a booth. Ryan picked up the menu and looked at it. “I'm thinking of getting the calamari and garlic bread and leaving it at that. I haven't had calamari in forever, and I'm not that hungry.”
“Are you serious right now?” Alan asked.
“I thought that we were going to lunch,” Ryan said.
“Oh my God. Fine. That sounds great. I'll get some pasta primavera. You can have some if you give me some of your calamari.”
“Great.”
The two sat through the entire lunch without saying anything of substance. It was like Ryan was purposely trying to torture Alan. When the plates were taken away, Alan finally said, “Can we talk now, Mr. Larson?”
“We were wondering how long it would take you. What was it? Four days?”
“Yeah. Four days. Now, please, tell me. What the fuck happened to you?”
“Well, for starters, I can eat anything I want these days and not experience a problem.”
“Congratulations. So, the drug worked. Why would you sue Baxter?”
“Sometimes there are horrible side effects to these things.”
“Just tell me what it was!”
“Well, for starters, my heart rate is dangerously high. I'm at risk for heart conditions.”
“I can see that being problematic. Is it really that debilitating, though? Can't you help that with other drugs and a better diet? What about not taking the drug anymore?”
“Oh, that's not an option.”
“What's not an option? Not taking the drug?”
“Yeah. I don't take the drug every day. Once the effects took place, they have been irreversible.”
“But what effects are these?”
“You think I'm a college student, Alan?”
“Yeah. You look about twenty-one.”
“I'm thirty-two.”
Age Is Relative
“What do you mean you're thirty-two? There's no freaking way.”
“I assure you. I'm 32. This all happened in just a year and a half.”
“What happened?”
“The slowing down of the aging process. In my case, I seem to be looking younger and rejuvenated.”
“Not possible,” Alan said. “You're fucking with me. It's not funny, dude. I have a job to do.”
“I can understand why you'd be skeptical. I was pretty skeptical, too. But when my hair stopped growing as much and my body seemed to be reverting back to a younger form, I had to accept what was going on. The doctors all said that they have never seen anything like it.”
“Is it like a Benjamin Button disease?”
“Something similar. I don't know. I've never seen it. What I do know is that the pill has rejuvenated my skin. My hair and nails grow faster, which can actually be a bit of a pain, and I seem to be as resilient as I was in my younger days. It happened in a manner of a year. I think this is about as rejuvenated as I become. I think that I will be aging much more slowly than before, though.”
“So what exactly do the doctors say?”
“Absolutely nothing. No doctor has come across this before, so they don't know what's g
oing to happen. They also don't know if I'll survive.”
“Maybe it'll be a good thing? Maybe it'll keep you at your peak, young body for a long time.”
“I'm sure as hell hoping so. There is not much information on what's going to happen to me. In fact, there's no information about what's going to happen to me.”
“And you're sure this is from the study?”
“Well, the fact that this started during the study is no coincidence.”
“What about the other people in the study?”
“I don't think that anyone else was given the drug. I think that they knew that it was potentially dangerous so they only gave it to me and kept everyone else as a control.”
“Did they know what the drug did you to?”
“Hell yeah they did. They definitely found out when I sued the bastards.”
“Why were you in a weight loss study anyway?”
“I wasn't really fat by any means. I was about five pounds overweight. Most of these studies require people of all types to get the full picture of how a drug will affect people.”
“So we don't know if anyone else experienced anything similar?”
“Not that I know of. But if they were running the study again, they must have people with more side effects.”
“Thank you so much. I can't believe this happened to you.”
“Me either.”
“Well, eat lots of hard candies, watch Wheel of Fortune, and find some early-bird specials. Maybe it will counter the effects.”
“You're not that funny.”
“I thought that it was.”
The two went back to the office. Alan was learning more and more about the drug, but he wasn't finding anything useful. He needed to know exactly what he needed. This seemed to be enough for one day, though. Alan and Michelle decided to go out for a drink after work. Alan was really glad to have Michelle to talk to about these new revelations.