Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 30: Meeting at Stanford
Professor Leonard Schultz led Ashley, Sarah, Mark, Sarah’s parents, and Bruce Canham into the conference room. All but one of the people seated at the table rose to greet them. The other just sat there and gave the girls a searching look, which seemed hostile.
Ashley didn’t wait for introductions but went straight to the woman and held out her hand. “Professor Baumgartner, I didn’t expect you to have an interest in helping to educate Sarah and me.”
“I don’t really. I’m here because of all the outrageous claims that others have made about you.” She glared at Professor Schultz.
“Oh, when I saw you, I thought that I would have a chance to talk with you about ‘Withering of Capitalism in the Modern State’. I found the chapter on the Harvard Study on MSI where you take exception to the reports on the relationship that my family has built with the workers at MSI as misinterpreting what existed between us. Calling it a noble-serf relationship could only be justified if you only looked at my family’s complete ownership of MSI and nothing else. I’m planning to convert MSI into a public company. There are many employees who are interested in acquiring stock. I would like to hear your views on the changes. I want to incorporate the best ideas into the revised company.” Ashley didn’t let Catherine Baumgartner’s refusal to take her hand show any effect on her. She just showed an enquiring expression to the woman.
“Nobody can build up a close personal relationship with workers like McGwinn stated. You just need the money from selling some of your stock to pay off the inheritance taxes. You’ll most likely issue A and B class shares with only your shares having voting rights.”
“Three of the four proposals for going public recommended that. The fourth group contacted Edwin McGwinn and had him help develop their proposal. I would also be interested in having your input as I review that proposal and the revised proposals from the other groups.” Ashley handed her return to her side.
Cathy Baumgartner really looked at the girl standing in front of her. She seemed sincere. Had she really read her book or did she somehow learn that they would meet today and got some information about it? “When did you read my book?”
“Mom and dad were discussing it last fall. I asked to read it. Dad warned me that it said some things about us that had a view different from others, but he said that we had to look at all the views or we may end up fooling ourselves into believing we are better than we are. I felt the chapter on the franchises that worry more about their percentage than ensuring that franchisees succeed and thus build the brand’s image was well thought out. The chapter where you discussed the failure of unions to maintain a beneficial relationship with their members was the one that I liked best.”
Cathy stared at Ashley. Either this young girl had actually read her book and understood it or whoever coached her had gone to a lot of work. Maybe she could teach Ashley something. She looked around at the others in the room and realized that they were all watching the two of them. “I would like to discuss possible changes at MSI with you. I’m also willing to offer you advice on the changes that you are contemplating.”
“Next week would be the earliest that I could make time available. We won’t take the finals for the courses that we are taking until Friday. Principal Schott will then be able to sign off on other education opportunities that we may have available.” Ashley looked a little put out at the procedure that they were having to follow, then she shrugged and looked at the others in the room. “Sorry about that, but I hadn’t expected to meet Professor Baumgartner.
Joseph McKellips, the president of Stanford, had watched Ashley win over Cathy Baumgartner. Cathy was an opinionated socialist that some of the faculty compared to Edward Ross. He was unsure why she had come to the meeting, but Ashley had handled her perfectly. What Andrew Fire had said about the meeting that he had attended, where President DeSantis and Ashley Sawyer had interacted, was very believable now. He knew Mark Sawyer. That he had just stood and watched Ashley preemptively deal with Professor Baumgartner showed the confidence he had in his granddaughter. He signaled to Leonard to do the introductions.
Leo smiled at the new story that he would have to share with Terri. She had mentioned that MSI was going public. They would definitely want to buy some of the shares. Terri was very busy hiring for all the new work they were doing. He saw Joe’s signal to continue.
“President Joseph McKellips, President of Stanford. Doctor Teresa Rice, Provost. Professor Jinghua Mingyu, Faculty Senate Chairman. Professor Andrew Fire, Faculty Senate Vice Chairman. The rest of us are members of the Faculty Senate. Professor Catherine Baumgartner, Political Economics. Professor Thad Stevens, Medicine. Professor Charles Norris, Bio-engineering.” Leo turned to present those that had entered with him. Mark Sawyer, Vice Chairman of Sawyer Holdings, Ashley Sawyer, Chairman of Sawyer Holdings and Mark’s granddaughter, Sarah Pierce, President of Young Again and member of the board of Sawyer Holdings, Sally Pierce, Sarah’s mother and Human Resources Director for Sawyer Holdings, Jim Pierce, Sarah’s father and Vice President for Quality of MSI, and Bruce Canham who is a member of Sawyer Security.”
“Bruce, how is your shoulder?” Teresa Rice asked.
“Still hurts sometimes, Doctor Rice.” Bruce smiled at the woman who was an avid sports fan, especially of the university’s teams.
“Bruce was the backup quarterback for the Cardinals his sophomore year until he hurt his shoulder.” She told President McKellips. She turned back to Bruce. “You know you need only apply to finish your schooling.”
“I don’t...” He was cut off by Ashley.
“You will be paid for when you are in class, and we will cover all your expenses.” Ashley turned to Joe McKellips. “We expect that a number of people working for us will qualify for acceptance to Stanford. Not that we will identify them until after they are accepted. We already have two that are undergraduates that we expect will continue here for their graduate studies.”
“Yes, Cindy Wong is my best undergraduate student. She’s why I’m here today.” Professor Norris turned to Sarah. “I would like to work with you on engineering, especially bio-engineering. Dr. Tuilier visited with me when she was here. She described the help that you gave her.” He realized that the other Stanford people didn’t know Dr. Tuilier. “Professor Marjolaine Tuilier of the Descartes Medical School in Paris. She is working on new material for artificial joints. Sarah had read one of her papers and realized that it was similar to work at MSI. She had MSI contact Dr. Tuilier to discuss joint development of the material.”
“Why was MSI developing material for artificial joints?” Cathy Baumgartner showed disbelief.
“They weren’t. They had two projects, which didn’t even know about each other. One was for high-temperature material for optical lenses, and the other was for body armor. My wife, Terri, was surprised when Sarah told them about the optic project. Her people were having problems with the body armor material. Sarah had seen that both projects and Dr. Tuilier’s work were using similar processes and suggested that they work together. I understand that all three have been successful. That was on Sarah’s first afternoon at MSI.”
Sarah was blushing.
“Jian said the sai that you used were made out of one of the materials Dr. Lee was working on.” Professor Mingyu’s voice was quiet but was easily heard.
“Yes, we chose one with the green color so that it would be more easily seen.” Ashley nodded to her.
“He also told me that both of you are learning to speak Mandarin but are already familiar with many classical texts. He mentioned that you were interested in learning more about ancient stories. I would be honored to work with you on your search.”
Both girls smiled and bowed. “We would be honored to study with you.” Their reply was in Mandarin.
Dr. Rice was the only other person in the room that understood Mandarin.
“Please take a seat.” President McKellips was intrigued that of these professors only Cathy had not known something about the girls. That explained how the idea of one-on-one work with them had advanced so quickly. They needed to discuss the proposal that they had to offer.
After everyone, including Bruce, was seated, the president continued. “Professors Mingyu and Fire brought to Dr. Rice a proposal to offer Ashley and Sarah special admission to the university. When the three of them brought it to me, I was a little skeptical of admitting two young women that were in their sophomore year of high school to Stanford without them finishing high school. I found the story that you had studied on your own and were just going through high school for the social contact with your age peers hard to believe. They had enough information to convince me to invite you and your families here to discuss the idea.”
“Thank you for inviting us here to discuss your offer. Sarah and I had planned to apply for admission next fall, but events have shown us that we need to accelerate our educations. We realize that our personal studies, though wide-ranging, still were far from comprehensive. We find these holes disruptive in accomplishing what we need to do. Unlike most of those that attend Stanford, we don’t need the education to get a job; we need the knowledge to do the jobs that we have. My main job will be running Sawyer Holdings. Sarah will be running Young Again, one of the companies under Sawyer Holdings.”
“Isn’t Young Again the company that is supposed to find out what makes Mark Sawyer look young?” Cathy asked.
“It isn’t just looking young. Mark is physically a very healthy twenty-year-old that is near the physical condition of a top athlete.” Thad Stevens told them.
“Young Again is coordinating the research into the changes that have occurred to Mark. Sarah needs the comprehensive education that Ashley spoke of so that she doesn’t have to ask questions or look up things when we discuss our research. Also, having her studying at Stanford would make her more available to us.” Professor Andrew Fire explained.
“Us?” Cathy was still trying to understand about Young Again.
“Research into what happened to Mark Sawyer has resulted in government grants to the genetics research group and to Professor Schultz. Professor Stevens has just submitted paperwork for another grant.” Teresa Rice looked at Sarah. “Should we expect more?”
“Dr. Bernelli should have one next week when she gets back.” Sarah glanced at Mark and Ashley. “There will be more next year. We also expect to have a number of people visiting the area next year. We will want to work with you in setting up a number of talks and discussions in the future. Our intentions are to make what we are doing have the widest distribution of information possible. That is why Ashley and I need to improve our knowledge so we will be ready.”
Teresa Rice was having lunch with Joe McKellips.
“Teresa, I kept having the feeling that they were all keeping something secret. A number of times, someone started to say something and stopped. Once, I saw Ashley shake her head no, and Andrew switched topics.”
“Yes, I noticed also.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I had a call from Carl at UCLA asking if Professors Anthony Jacobson and Deborah Winston would be working here all year. They had put in for a sudden leave to do research here. I told him I hadn’t heard of them. It turns out that Tony Jacobson is Ashley’s cousin. They have a government grant from the National Science Foundation. It was granted before Fire and his people got theirs. Why do the Sawyers need two archeologists?”
“I have no idea. How did Jinghua know about them? I got the feeling that she was in their debt.”
“Her husband is Master Jian Chang. He is the most respected martial arts instructor on the West Coast. That video of the girls was from the top tournament for the West Coast. Master Chang was in charge. I checked on the tournament. Sarah and Ashley were shown as co-winners of the advanced women’s division in the lower weight class. Seems that they were about to compete for the championship when they were attacked. Something about that just doesn’t seem right. Why were they armed? It was as if they expected the attack.”
“See what you can find out. Whatever it is, the government is strongly behind it. Those grants are taking very little time for approval.”
“Joe, the proposals that have been submitted are vague outlines. I have never seen anything like them be accepted. I read them and wrote up memos to suggest that they be revised only to find out that they already have been accepted. I need to learn more about what is going on.”
“Do that. Stanford cannot afford to be associated with second-rate scholarship.”
“Joe, these are some of our best people, and they are all very excited about what they are working on. I don’t think that this is second-rate scholarship. Mark Sawyer has somehow grown young. If they can make whatever did that available even on a limited basis, they will make billions, but I never heard Ashley, Mark, or Sarah say anything about their marketing of what they find. They were just coordinating the research to make sure it happened as fast as possible. When Cathy realizes that she is going to go crazy trying to understand what these capitalists are doing.”
Dr. Thad Stevens had spent the afternoon conducting the same advanced tests on Sarah and Ashley that he had on Mark last week. Mark Sawyer and Sally Pierce had just returned from Sawyer Holdings to hear the preliminary results with the girls.
Dr. Stevens started by summarizing the test results. “Mark, both Ashley and Sarah matched or beat you in all the tests. On the endurance testing, I stopped it when they greatly exceeded the previously highest results ever recorded for that type of testing. I will have to consider how to make an endurance test, which is more relevant for them. I should consult other researchers on this, but that would mean identifying them as the test subjects.”
“How about just mentioning Mark’s results and telling them that when the changes have had longer to work on Mark, you expect that he would do much better.” Dr. Stevens gave a questioning look, indicating that he wanted to hear more. Sarah continued. “The changes have had years to work on our bodies, and we were much younger when the changes started. Mark was much older, and his body had many age-related changes to undo. He should continue to improve as the corrections are further refined. I would think that not until a complete replacement of all the cells in his body will we see the true extent of the changes on an older person.”
“Also, we will need to test Ali once his parents and sister learn about our secrets.” Ashley added.
“What do you think the percentage of people exposed to this will undergo the Young Again transformation?” Thad wondered if anyone in his family would.
“Close to one hundred percent.” Sarah answered. “The bigger question is will anyone be affected this late in the year? All the others were in summer. We also need to have a way to measure the change in intelligence also.”
Thad looked at the girls then at Mark.
“Yes, I have gotten smarter. Partly the eidetic memory or maybe the brain is just more efficient.”
“Ali didn’t appear super intelligent.”
“We’ve looked at his school records before and after he wandered off into the forest. He had been diagnosed as having severe learning disabilities. A year after he was found and recovered from being sick, that was changed to developmentally delayed. He has excellent grades, but much of that may be the eidetic memory.” Sarah looked thoughtful. “I hope everyone undergoes the transformation. I would hate for one of my friends to be left out.”
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