Chapter 1

Martin sat behind his desk. Sitting in a chair was a young man with longish hair and a goatee. Into his office stepped a woman, tall and slender wearing a thick knit turtleneck sweater and an ankle-length granny skirt. Her complexion was the olive hue typical of Mediterranean heritage. Her face was in the shape of a long oval with a strong nose and prominent chin. She had a high and broad forehead and dark brown eyes that featured a hint of epicanthic fold in the lids. Her raven hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she wore bronzed-colored wire-framed glasses. The sleeves of her turtleneck were pushed up to her elbows, and a prominent vein in the back of her hand continued up her forearm. “Doctor Lang,” she said to Martin, “Margot said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes, Doctor Wagner,” Martin replied. “I left a note in your pigeonhole.”

“You should’ve set up an appointment on my calendar,” she replied. “I don’t check my pigeon-hole too often.”

“Doctor Wagner, this is Geoff Valdez. He’s my graduate student.”

“Pleased to meet you, Doctor Wagner,” Geoff said.

“Nice meeting you, too. My office is across the hall and down a few doors -- right past the frontier between the Chem and Biology departments. I’ll show you how to negotiate the barbed wire without getting cut. You may safely ignore any rumors of machine-gun nests...”

“Geoff has been working on a project for me,” Martin interrupted.

“Yes,” Geoff replied. “We have isolated a compound from a fungus collected from the rain forest in South America. Based on its use by the native tribesmen we believe it has potential as a new antibiotic.”

“Is this one that you collected, Doctor Lang?” she asked.

“It’s one that Ned Sommerfield collected prior to his departure,” Martin replied. Dean Barnes told me that you have a new graduate student who’s looking for a project.”

“That’s right -- Shawna starts next term here.”

“We’re looking for someone who can perform sensitivity and spectrum tests against various pathogens. Geoff here has been isolating and characterizing the molecule.”

“So we can synthesize it?” she asked.

“Right now, all we can do is to extract and purify it,” Martin replied. “We have one of Doctor Zorman’s students working on how to culture the fungus so we can obtain sufficient quantities for testing. Given the current rise of MRSA infections and other resistant species, a new antibiotic could have important ramifications.”

“We’re characterizing the molecule,” Geoff added, “so that we’ll be able to patent it.”

“That’s right,” Martin said. “We can’t find this molecule described in the literature. So far as we can tell, it’s unknown to science. Everyone participating on this project would be named in the patent application and the publication.”

“I’ve never been involved in a patent,” Dr Wagner replied. “This is exciting!”

“It’s also important to disseminate information about this strictly on a need-to-know basis. At least until...”

“Until the patent application,” Dr Wagner interjected.

“ ... yes, or until we decide not to pursue it. We’ll be having regular status meetings once the testing is underway.” Martin shifted his gaze between the two visitors in his office. “If there’s nothing else ... welcome to the team, Doctor Wagner.”

Geoff packed a legal pad into a courier case and headed out of the office. Martin looked up at the woman. “Is there something else, Doctor Wagner?”

“Do you think,” she said, “that you and I can drop this Doctor Lang/Doctor Wagner formality? My name is Irene.”

“Fine, Irene.”

“Would ... would you prefer to be called Martin or Marty?”

“Martin if you please.”

“I’m delighted to participate, Martin.” She stood with her hands behind her back surveying the books and artifacts in his office.

“Is there anything else, Irene?”

“Oh ... Maybe I could obtain a sample of this...” She lowered her voice. “ ... compound X. I’d like to do some scratch testing myself. Of course, I’ll let Shawna design the actual sensitivity and spectrum protocols.”

“You can find Geoff in my lab -- room 123 downstairs. Ask him for a sample.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you Doctor ... thank you, Martin.”

“Good day, Irene.” Martin turned to a stack of blue books and began grading them.

A chime sounded. Martin glanced at his desktop computer. A meeting invitation from Irene Wagner appeared in his inbox. He deleted it and resumed proof-reading a stack of pages. Turning over the last page he placed them into a manuscript box, removed his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“Knock-knock,” came a woman’s voice. He looked up and saw Irene standing in the doorway. “Am I interrupting?”

“Come in. Have a seat.”

“Did you see my meeting invite?”

“I did.”

“You didn’t send a reply.”

“I deleted it.”

“Why?”

“I always delete meeting invites. If a meeting is important enough I’ll be there.”

“Do you have time to talk?”

“I have an hour before my next class. What’s on your mind, Irene?”

“I was reading over your list of publications on the school’s website. I’m very impressed, Martin. I knew you sit in a tenured chair.”

“Yes, I’m occupying the one Ned Sommerfield vacated three years ago.”

“I didn’t realize you had so many patents -- six I think it said.”

“Six and one in preparation ... besides our compound X. My patent portfolio is what gained me this professorship.”

“And so many publications. You’ve written a textbook on ethnobotany. I thought you were just a chemist and then I saw you have PhDs in both botany AND organic chemistry!”

“That’s right.”

“And all the field work you’ve done in the rain forest...”

“I don’t travel there anymore,” Martin replied. “I’m getting too old for that sort of thing. The school has a backlog of material to process.”

“Including this Compound X,” Irene added. “Well, I am honored to be invited into your project, Martin. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“If I had an inkling you were likely to, Irene, I wouldn’t have agreed to Dean Barnes’s suggestion to include you. I reviewed your accomplishments, also. You appear to be a very competent microbiologist.” He opened a folder on his desk. “Is this why you wanted to meet with me? To discuss our respective resumes?”

“No. I have news -- an important development. Geoff provided me with a sample of Compound X. I ran some preliminary tests. It DOES behave like an antibiotic, Martin.”

“You’ve merely confirmed what we’ve suspected all along. An important development would’ve been if it did NOT behave like one.” Martin took a sheet from the folder and began scanning it.

“What’s really important is its potency,” she continued. “It seems to be effective at concentrations in the parts-per-million range.”

He looked up at her. “Parts-per-million you say?”

“That’s right.”

“That IS an important development. You should’ve said that up front.”

“I have the petri dishes in my lab if you’d like to see them.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Of course,” Irene continued, “Shawna will do the quantitative work. I spoke to her on the phone yesterday and she is excited about this project.”

“She does know to keep it quiet.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Good. What organism were you testing against?”

“I was using a garden-variety staph bacterium,” Irene replied.

“Parts-per-million against staph.” He nodded. “You’re right. This is very encouraging.”

Irene broke into a grin. “Look at that. I was able to impress you after all.”

“This isn’t about one of us impressing the other,” Martin retorted. “Everyone is expected to deliver impressive work -- Geoff, Steve Zorman and his student ... and you and Shawna. We expect the very best of everyone.”

Some color formed in her cheeks. “Understood.”

“When one of us discovers something important, we need to share that information. Have you told Geoff?”

“Not yet. I will, though.”

“Is that all, Irene?”

“I’m curious how we discovered this fungus.”

“Well -- According to Ned’s notes, one of the tribe’s medicine man would seek out certain leaves to use as a poultice in the event of a cut or infection. Ned obtained samples and brought them back from one of his excursions there. They must’ve languished in the department’s collection for seven or eight years. Geoff was looking for a project and we discussed analyzing the leaves. It was Geoff who realized it wasn’t the plant but a fungal rust growing on it that contained the agent. Fortunately the spores were viable and we were able to culture it.”

“That is fascinating,” Irene replied. “I’m in awe.”

“We never know where we’ll find new therapeutic agents,” Martin added. “We just got lucky with this one.”

“Not just luck,” Irene replied.

Martin pulled his reading glasses down his nose and regarded her over them. “Anything else?”

“One more thing,” Irene said. “Margot mentioned a department Christmas party this afternoon.”

“Yes. The announcement flyers were in our pigeon holes. It’s held in the second-floor double recitation hall. You can’t miss it.”

“Why not send email announcements?” she asked. “Are you going?”

“We’re all expected to attend,” Martin answered, “if for no reason than to hear Dean Barnes’s annual pep talk. The party is for staff and graduate students -- undergraduates are not invited.”

“So, I’ll see you there.” She stood to leave.

“Irene -- a word of warning. The Chem department is responsible for the drinks. There’s always a bowl of eggnog...”

“Oh, I love eggnog!”

“It’s a tradition for them to spike it pretty heavily with lab alcohol.”

“Lab alcohol? Is that safe?”

“I said that was the tradition. These days I believe they use overproof rum.”

Martin stood nursing a cup of eggnog and watching as the crowd dwindled. Outside night had fallen but a heavy snow was reflecting the streetlamps in the parking lot, making it look brighter. A woman with her gray hair in a short bob approached him. “Doctor Lang...”

“What is it, Margot?”

She nodded toward Irene. “It looks like Doctor Wagner is...”

“A bit tipsy?”

“Yes and more than a bit.”

“I warned her about the eggnog.”

“Did you also warn her about the Jell-O shots?”

“She’s a big girl. She should watch out for herself.”

“With the weather and the roads and in her condition we don’t think she should be driving home. She lives in East Colton.”

“We? Who’s we?”

“Catherine and I.”

“What are you proposing? Do you want me to drive her to East Colton and back? My car’s not even here.”

“We were thinking something else.” Margot was joined by a rotund woman with a round face and dark hair who Martin recognized as Dean Barnes’s secretary.

“Your place is within walking distance,” Catherine said. “Maybe you could put her up for the night so she can sleep it off.”

“Why is it now my job to watch her?” Martin protested.