Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 13: Genetic Research
Mark entered the room where the five Stanford genetic researchers waited with Sally Pierce. With him were Fred Kolneski, Kaylani Mitchell, Steve Jacobson, Drs. May Flowers, and Barnaby Stanley. Two of the researchers reacted with surprise to someone in Mark’s group. Both Kay and May were the two getting the attention. Mark sat down at the head of the table with the researchers on his left and Sally sitting next to him on the right. The others sat down at the table from Sally.
Mark watched the researchers. When the two that had been eyeing Kay and May turned their attention to him, he began. “I thank you for joining us here today. Let me make introductions.”
“Your invitation was intriguing enough to get me here. What with the before and after pictures of yourself, but the email from the White House suggesting that I should come and listen to what you had to present, compelled me to be here today.”
“That’s interesting, Dr. Fire. I wasn’t sure that interest in this portion of our investigations had gotten that high.” Mark saw the reaction of the researchers to his indication that there was more than his sudden youth that had the White House’s attention on what they were doing.
I am Mark Sawyer; I am Vice Chairman and CEO of Sawyer Holdings. This will be the company that is being set up to handle a number of companies that we are setting up as well as control our shares in MSI. The other companies will be involved in new interests that we have. Sally Pierce is Director of Human Resources for Sawyer Holdings. Dr. May Flowers and Dr. Barnaby Stanley will be working with us on the issue of why I have become young again as well as other things. Dr. Stanley is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. He will be keeping the Department of Defense up to date on what we are doing. Fred Kolneski will be our liaison with the US government and others that may become interested in our research. He has recently retired from the Coast Guard. Next, we have Kaylani Mitchell. Kay is on sabbatical from Fox News to write a couple of books. One of these will be about what we asked you here to discuss today. Last, we have Steve Jacobson. Steve will be Sawyer-Holdings legal counsel when he graduates from Stanford Law School next year. He will also be a member of Lessner-Jacobson, which will be setting up a local office. Steve is my granddaughter Ashley’s cousin. He nodded to Steve. “He is handing out some simple non-disclosure forms that we would like you to sign before you proceed. Essentially, what we are asking is that you don’t disclose the information that we will be conveying to you today for a period of two years.” He paused. “Yes, Dr. Gitler.”
“What does this paragraph about government secrecy requirements supersede those of Sawyer-Holding? Why aren’t we being required to sign a government confidentiality agreement?”
“They haven’t told us what their interests are yet. Barnaby, have they told you anything?”
Barnaby shook his head, “No.” “When I asked, they said that they would get back to me.”
“We have an idea about some of what they are keeping secret but suspect that’s not the whole of it. I’m sure that it’s not something that’s a national defense issue but something larger.”
Dr. Kim glanced over at Dr. May Flowers. “Is that part of the reason that Dr. Flowers is here?”
“No, that’s the reason that I’m interested in more than why Mark is now so young. Barnaby and I go back a long way. He suggested to Mark that I be consulted on the medical matter.” May’s smile was very broad.
Dr. Kim laughed as he signed the agreement. The rest of them quickly followed. Steve collected the agreements and witnessed them.
Mark continued. “There is a bit more that I want to tell you before I get into the medical portion. We expect the work of the companies that we are setting up to last for decades. I am seventy, and though I may have a youthful-looking body and feel better than I have in years, I don’t know if this really means I’ll be able to oversee the work over that long of a time. You may have seen in the news that most of my family died in a plane crash. Only my granddaughter, Ashley Sawyer, survived. She is fifteen. She is also the chairman of Sawyer-Holding. The CEOs of the companies under Sawyer-Holding will also be members of the board of directors. Currently, there are two: Len Smith of MSI and Sarah Pierce of Young Again. Young Again is the company that we are setting up to coordinate research into why I have grown young and to see that others can enjoy the same benefits that I’m enjoying. Our goals are for all people to have the benefits of youth, but we realize that that will not happen overnight. As I said, we expect the work to go on for decades. That is part of the reason that Sarah Pierce is CEO of Young Again. She’s the same age as my granddaughter. I have known her since she and Ashley met in kindergarten. Now you may be wondering if only my physical body has benefitted from what has happened to me. That both Ashley and Sarah will have prominent roles in what we will be doing is known by the government. They have been doing consulting work for a number of government agencies and recently turned down a request from Secretary of Defense Al Simpson when he came here to meet with them. They will be helping to set up an alternate arrangement for the government. The girls expect to be attending Stanford next year. Sarah plans to be a doctor.”
“When will we get a chance to meet them? How have they been involved?” Dr. Brunet was intrigued by what Mark had mentioned of the girls.
“They are extremely involved in high school. Cheerleaders, fall play, and robotics competition on top of the advanced placement courses. They also have an interest in martial arts. They will be competing in a tournament in a couple of weeks. We are planning to have a Sunday meeting the weekend after that to go over what we have learned and what future plans you may have and what we can do to assist you. The alternate would be an evening, but we expect that we need more time than that. We are paying you a flat one hundred per hour for any meetings that we hold just like today.”
They agreed to the Sunday meeting.
“I had a comment on one of my papers from a Sarah Pierce over a year ago. It helped me set up the next phase of my research. I tried to contact her by backtracking her email, but it led nowhere.” Dr. Bustamante asked.
“That sounds like their work. The two of them have been helping the Department of Defense improve security on their computers.” Mark wondered if the emails that the researchers had gotten really came from the White House and not from one of the girls. They had mentioned that they could source an email from the White House when they were in Hawaii. “One of the benefits that Sarah is getting is money to read papers behind pay walls. I’m not sure why she didn’t just bypass the pay wall since she is capable of it.”
“That was my doing. She asked me about why research papers were behind pay walls. She thought research was supposed to benefit everyone. She asked if it would be all right if she read them anyway. I told her that was stealing, and she wasn’t to do it. She said that she would make her research available for all.” Sally wasn’t surprised that Sarah hadn’t read the papers anyway, even if neither she nor her father would have ever known.
“I guess that means that our papers shouldn’t be behind pay walls?” Dr. Fire asked.
“We would be happier if they weren’t, but I think that we could only request it if we were financially supporting your research. I think that we need to have Sarah and those helping her coordinate research have free access.”
Mark watched the researchers as Barnaby went over the medical data that he had collected on Mark. Data that not only came from the tests in Hawaii but data from blood and tissue samples that he had sent off to be tested as well as data on Mark’s health before the change. However, Mark wasn’t paying attention to the data; he was watching how they reacted to it. He was in agreement with Sarah that Dr. Kim, Brunet, and Bustamante were people that they wanted to ensure that they decided to work with. Dr. Fire was good and would contribute to the effort if he decided to join them, but it would be his research so he would decide what he wanted to do. The others were people that would work well in cooperation with them. There would be an interchange of ideas and suggestions among them. With Dr. Gitler, there was something else in play that he hadn’t been able to identify.
Suddenly Dr. Gitler looked at Mark. “Why you? What was it that saved you and not someone else?”
Dr. Kim reached over and put his hand on Gitler’s arm. “David, it was just chance that he was saved and not your mother.”
“No, I think that it was more than fate.” Dr. Brunet watched Mark. “What’s it that you think happened to you that caused your recovery from Alzheimer’s?”
“Remember that the disclosure that you signed said that some of the information that you will learn today may be covered by a government nondisclosure requirement. I also almost died from the North Korean attack. Only Sarah and her father driving to my mountain cabin saved me. The North Korean missile aimed at the west coast didn’t have conventional warheads or nuclear warheads. It was biological. The nuclear explosion of the counter missile warhead destroyed all but one of the warheads. That one was irradiated, and we know much of its payload was sterilized. We’re not sure about all of it. One theory is that it mutated, and what resulted may have affected me. That isn’t our primary theory. Dr. Flowers agrees with Sarah that such a beneficial mutation is unimaginable and unlikely. We will present our other theory later after we have lunch, and we will present the second part of our presentation.” Mark saw that none of the researchers was that interested in eating. “Let us take a break from considering what we have been discussing. I’d like to learn more about you and your research. Medical research isn’t something that I had a big interest in until recently. I have a lot on which I have to catch up.”
As they were cleaning up after their lunch, Dr. Bustamante had a question. “Dr. Flowers, do you still believe that we were visited by advanced aliens that left behind traces of their medical technology?”
“NIH has contacted me for suggestions on who to approach to look into the plants that I have mentioned in my writings. We will get into that in the second part of our afternoon presentation.” May didn’t smile, but her eyes showed the amusement at the expressions that her words invoked.
The researchers were eager for the presentation to resume, but with their billionaire host helping to clean up, they tensely waited.
“Thank you for your patience.” Mark wasn’t unaware that the researchers would have preferred to skip lunch or at least to work through it. “Kay, you shouldn’t have forgone asking questions. Much of this is new to you since you just got here last night. Shy is not something that I expect of you.”
Fred laughed. “She had a lot of questions last night at least until we reached the hotel.”
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