Reincarnation
Copyright© 2026 by A Well Traveled Man
Chapter 1
I’m Lance Shaffer, born in July 1999. My parents were Michael and Marcy Shaffer. Dad was a chemical engineer, and Mom was a neurological surgeon. Dad passed on his intelligence and physical build. He was six feet four and 220 pounds, and kept in shape through martial arts he learned in the service and by working out in our home gym. As soon as I could walk, Dad taught me martial arts. It started with tumbling and recovery, then progressed to kicks and punches.
I got my looks, hair, skin color, and, of course, intelligence from Mom. She was of Spanish descent and looked like a model or actress. So, I had dark skin and hair, and Mom always kidded Dad that thank god Lance got my looks. Dad replied that he was thankful Lance got his build and height, and they laughed. Lance was advanced for his age and was at the sixth-grade level when I entered grammar school.
The school administration told Mom and Dad that Lance needed to be homeschooled because the school couldn’t accommodate him. They also warned them that placing Lance in high school was a bad idea. He would be bullied and harassed by the boys and girls, creating a nightmare for the school’s faculty and administration. They gave his parents pamphlets on homeschooling and on where to get his study materials.
So, Lance went to Mom’s office on the days she saw patients and studied there or in the lunchroom. Lance loved Mom’s office because of all the medical books and magazines there were to read. The female staff loved having him around and made sure he was well cared for. If he needed anything, they were happy to assist him. Mom would tell them not to spoil Lance, and he would ask her to leave his girlfriend’s alone, causing everyone to laugh.
On the days Mom had hospital rounds or surgery, Lance went with Dad to work. That was a different environment with most of his fellow workers being male. Oh, there were females, but they were in the minority. Lance loved to mingle with the females, hearing everything about the males in the office and their dates. Dad’s office had several vacant offices and labs so he could study uninterrupted. The book selection was interesting, and he learned about chemical engineering.
Lance befriended the office computer technician, and Matt Corbin taught him about computers, programming, and eventually hacking. In his free time, Lance assisted Matt with computer repairs and fixing lab equipment. Everyone in the company thought Matt was a lowly computer geek, but he knew what everyone was working on. Matt told Lance who to avoid and who was ok to talk to, ask questions, or be around. He explained that these brainiacs didn’t like to be interrupted. Matt said to steer clear of Dr. Zachary Blackburn.
If he talks to you, be polite and then get away as soon as possible. The guy has a reputation among his colleagues as a mad scientist. So, whatever you do, please don’t leave any drinks unattended or accept anything from him. Lance promised to heed Matt’s warning and stay clear of the mad scientist. Lance would do his homework when he arrived, and it took less than an hour. Then he would help Matt, practice programming, or practice his hacking.
There were no restaurants near his Father’s lab, so Lance brought snacks, lunch, and drinks and put them in the lunch room refrigerator. Dad said it was safe as he did the same thing, and they put their names on their food. Unknown to anyone, Dr. Zachary Blackburn was working on a highly classified CIA project and had exhausted the animal research he could do. He needed human testing, but that was impossible in their lab setting.
Dr. Blackburn was sure he had a successful formula and took it himself. He noticed mild improvements in his mental abilities, strength, and senses, but he is 60 years old. He played with the dosage and frequency of taking the drug. He found that taking it more than once a week didn’t improve the benefits. Another problem was that he hit a plateau with the treatment’s benefits. Then, when he stopped the treatments, the benefits stopped as well.
The next step Dr. Blackburn took was to recruit vagrants and set up an outside clinic. He did pre-screen and monitored their progress. They reported the same experiences he had, which reaffirmed his belief that the formula wasn’t effective in adults. That didn’t happen during lab animal testing, so he attributed it to age and needed younger test subjects.
He saw Lance and knew he was the perfect subject for testing. So, he began doctoring Lance’s food and drinks on the days he was at the lab. Dr. Blackburn estimated Lance’s weight and height, then reduced the dosage he was taking. He didn’t know how long the treatment should last, but he hoped it would be absorbed into Lance’s tissues, muscles, and brain and alter his DNA.
That’s what he found happened in the lab animals during their dissection and testing. Dr. Blackburn realized he couldn’t dissect himself or Lance, but he could test hair and blood to find how far the drug had reached. He tested himself and the test subjects at the clinic, and it hadn’t altered their DNA, nor did their blood match the effects observed in the animals. The treatment period for the animals was 6 weeks. Given the size and weight differences, Dr. Blackburn estimated the treatment for Lance should be 4 to 6 months.
Dr. Zachary Blackburn got creative and placed a small canister of sleeping gas near Lance’s work area, which was operated remotely. When Lance fell asleep, Dr. Blackburn gave him a shot of the serum and drew blood. He timed it after lunch so Lance wouldn’t be suspicious of the event. The blood tests excited Dr. Blackburn, as the results not only matched the lab animal testing but also exceeded it in some areas. The formula had changed Lance’s DNA, and it enhanced it in an area that confused him.
Unknown to Dr. Blackburn, Lance was noticing the formula’s effects, which were confusing to him. He didn’t bring it to his Mom’s or Dad’s attention because they would give him a battery of tests that he didn’t want to be subjected to, so he kept it to himself. His mental abilities, strength, and senses improved, but the biggest change was his memory. He had instant recall of what he read and could organize it in his mind like a library, which helped his studying.
The test period had passed, and Dr. Blackburn was preparing his final report for the CIA in his home office. As he did every evening upon arriving home, Dr. Blackburn filled the tea kettle with water and put it on the stove to heat. Unknown to him, the burner didn’t ignite, and he went to his home office. Lost in his excitement over his success, he never realized the absence of the teapot’s whistling. The house filled with gas, and when he noticed, it exploded.
The explosion killed Dr. Zachary Blackburn and all of his research notes, files, and formulas. He carried all his research and formula in his briefcase for security reasons. The risk was too high for someone to discover what he was doing at work. Luckily for Lance Shaffer, Dr. Blackburn never reported him as a trial participant. There were many reasons for this, but the main one was that he would be arrested, jailed, and put away for life.
Lance found out about Dr. Blackburn’s death the next time he went to work with Dad. There was a makeshift memorial in the lobby, and his office was cleaned out. Matt, his buddy at work, said the idiot blew himself up at home. He said the mad professor was probably doing off-book experiments in the kitchen, and they laughed. Matt reported that men were searching the doctor’s office, so he suspected Dr. Blackburn was doing something illegal.
Life continued for Lance, and he soon graduated from high school and began taking college courses online. Mom and Dad signed him up with three universities so he would have enough work to keep him busy. They restricted how many classes he could take each semester, so with the three he could take ten to twelve courses per semester. He was also growing like a weed, as Mom said, and they had to shop for new clothes every six months.
Lance got his bachelor’s degree in science and minored in computer programming. He chose genetics for his master’s studies, and that made Mom and Dad happy because it combined their professions. He still kept a minor in computer programming as it would benefit his career. After earning his master’s degree, he chose Harvard University for his doctoral studies. He was accepted, and Dad and Mom were ecstatic that he was going for his PHD.
He went to Harvard and settled into the graduate students’ apartments because of his age. He was sixteen, and his parents didn’t want him exposed to student life in the dorms. Lance took heavy loads of lab-required courses in his first semester. He did that because he planned to take online classes from home. Then COVID hit after his first semester, and he was glad his studies would be online the next semester. Due to the spread of the virus, the campus was closed.
He returned home and couldn’t visit his Mom’s office due to the risk of the virus, as her office was on the hospital grounds. So, he spent more time at home and with his Dad at his work. He had to wear a mask when interacting with people, but he removed it when alone in an office or lab. Mom was often recruited to help at the hospital because the hospital was overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. While she was volunteering, they provided apartments for the staff, and they were tested before being allowed to go home.
They were unaffected by the virus because they received the vaccine as soon as it was released. Hospital workers were a high priority for the first batches of vaccine, and Mom arranged for Lance and Dad to get vaccinated, too. Eventually, the virus ran its course, and with the help of vaccines, it was almost eliminated. Businesses and schools reopened, but millions of people died worldwide. The virus was still around, but infections weren’t as severe.
Lance graduated from Harvard with his PhD at 18 and went to work at the CDC in Atlanta. He was conducting research and planned to gain experience by working with the world’s best researchers. Lance learned a lot during the first four years and was promoted to a senior researcher. He had his own lab and team, then the elections happened, and a new president was elected.
The CDC was turned into a political organization, and it started with restrictions on what could be researched. No one was allowed to speak to the media, speak at seminars, or use social media to discuss projects or scientific issues without prior authorization. Then the layoff began, and senior researchers were offered severance or were asked to retire. He survived, but the effect was dramatic and shocking. If a major incident occurred, they would be ill-prepared to handle it.
Then an idiot was appointed to the head of Health and Human Services. He was an anti-vaccine advocate who had wild theories and bizarre beliefs. Lance saw the handwriting on the wall and wanted no part of the shit show. On his fifth anniversary, he resigned and joined Pfizer Pharmaceuticals as a senior researcher. The CDC was a shell of what was once a world-class organization.
Over the next ten years, Lance had brought several drugs to market, and life was great. Then the Redux virus hit, and no one was prepared. Unlike COVID-19, which primarily affected the elderly and sick, Redux hit adults under 40 and children hard. Over a million adults and children in the US died before a vaccine could be developed and tested. By the time vaccines were available to the public, millions more had died. The effects of the Redux virus worldwide were just as devastating and sometimes worse.
The anti-vaccine advocates didn’t help stop the virus. As a matter of fact, they suffered significant deaths because of their beliefs. They were also responsible for prolonging the virus that could have been contained several months earlier. They were also responsible for the measles outbreaks that were affecting several parts of the country. But the one bright result of the virus was that Lance’s company developed one of the vaccines and made Billions.
But the economic effects that followed were also severe. Businesses and schools closed, and that affected the economy. The housing market was hit hard by foreclosures and unsold homes. Businesses struggled to find workers, and for once, the elderly were welcomed back into the workforce. Birth rates were at historically low levels, and there was general concern for the future.
Then the idiot in North Korea tested a nuclear bomb. It was supposed to detonate in the ocean, but a malfunction caused it to explode in the atmosphere after launch. A radiation cloud circled the globe, affecting hundreds of millions of people. It also affected animals and crops, and the world had had enough of the dictator. Surprisingly, it was China that terminated him, and they assumed control of North Korea.
The radiation cloud further affected the birth rate and sickened millions of people. Drug companies like his were focusing on life-extending drugs and treatments. Lance was part of a group that discovered a regeneration drug that affected the whole body but only lasted for a year. The corporation wanted a five-year treatment. Lance figured out how to extend indefinitely but didn’t tell anyone. It involved changes to the genetic structure and DNA.