Chapter 12

We entered Dr. Sorenson’s office and the secretary, who was busy typing into her computer, took a small sniff and then looked up. She inhaled deeply and then looked right at me. She had a very plump face, which was mildly cute, and flaming red hair and green eyes. Her body also looked plump, with humungous breasts that threatened to burst through her white blouse. When she got herself together she looked briefly at Dr. Faizal and buzzed her intercom.

“They’re here,” she said, with an obvious effort to be calm.

Without any more ceremony Dr. Faizal led me through the inner door into Dr. Sorenson’s office. A woman stood up from her desk. She was at least four inches taller than me, with a sturdy body of a former athlete. I later learned she had indeed been a star basketball player in college. Her plain face was engulfed in the largest pair of ugly glasses I had ever seen, and her pale pink blouse was tucked tightly into her long skirt to emphasize her almost flat chest. She looked like the acme of an intellectual nerd female. Although she was not wearing a mask, she seemed to take no notice of my odors.

“Hi, Dr. Faizal. And you must be Mark,” she said. She scrutinized me carefully. “I’m pleased to meet you.” Her tone of voice denied the words, which was curious.

What was most interesting to me was that she seemed to behave perfectly normal in spite of the fact that she didn’t wear a mask. Given what I had learned about all the women in this company, that was very strange.

“Sure,” I said noncommittally. As a little test I stuck my hand out to shake.

Dr. Sorenson took it with a slight smile, as though she knew exactly my intent. Then she gave me one of those macho vise grips as if to prove her point: I had exactly zero impact on her. I did not try to win the contest, but simply returned enough force to let her squeeze until she figured out she was having the same impact on my hand. When she relented I returned her little smile. I think her eyes showed a tiny bit more respect for me, but I’m not really good at telling what a person’s thinking just by looking into their eyes.

I looked at Dr. Faizal, who had her head cocked a tiny bit and a quizzical quirk to her mouth. Then she shrugged as if to say, “Whatever just happened there, I guess it was harmless.”

Dr. Sorenson waved us to a couple of very plush chairs in front of her desk while she moved to sit in her own chair. “So,” she said in a more friendly voice, “I’m sure Dr. Faizal informed you that I perform any biopsies the company needs. Why don’t we start by just letting you ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.”

“Okay, thanks.” I sat where indicated. “I am slightly curious about why the company has a doctor on board. Is that normal in companies?”

Dr. Sorenson steepled her hands. “First, I’m a Physician’s Assistant, not an M.D. Many larger companies have an R.N. on staff in case of an accident or illness that causes an immediate concern.” She gave an enigmatic smile. “For example, heart attacks are not uncommon in huge corporations. However, private companies cannot employ an M.D. directly. That’s mostly thanks to Henry Kaiser, who had his doctors certify employees were fine to get back on the job regardless of whether or not they were. So, for the special needs here at Hebe, a P.A. was the next best solution.”

I made a mental note to look into that a little more closely. I would have felt a lot safer with a doctor as I had never even heard of a Physician’s Assistant. But there were more important questions than that to be taken care of right now.

“Okay. So Dr. Faizal told me you’re kind of in between an M.D. and an R.N. Why does the company need you?” Oops, that sounded rude. “I mean, someone with your qualifications.”

Dr. Sorenson quirked another little smile at my courtesy. “They need a medical professional because this is a research facility, and even more accidents occur than in most companies. However, because Hebe creates products that require human experiments, and particularly those connected with Dr. Faizal’s line of research, a medical professional was needed for both various types of human extractions and to be present in case of negative reactions to certain experiments.”

I jolted back a tiny bit. “‘Negative reactions?’”

She waved her hand. “Don’t worry, not to you. I mean to the people undergoing the experiments. We try to project all possible responses and prepare for them, but we are by definition dealing with the unknown. As with many beauty product companies, we use a lot of chemicals that affect some people negatively. As for Dr. Faizal’s particular interest, who really knows who has active pheromones or other natural chemical stimuli, who will be impacted by them, how, and to what extent? So we just try to prepare as well as we can and roll with what happens.”

I nodded, somewhat relieved. A quick glance at Dr. Faizal told me she was also very relieved at how this conversation was going so far. I wish I felt the same way. But Dr. Sorenson’s answer made me curious about her non-reaction to me.

“Speaking of reactions, you don’t seem to be bothered by me at all. Is that because you don’t believe I have some kind of affect on people?”

“Not necessarily,” Dr. Sorenson smirked. “It’s because I don’t have the same sense of smell as the other employees. Ms. Stevens was wise enough to search for someone who would not be distracted by the various chemical agents produced here, especially as I need steady hands to perform certain medical procedures. Nevertheless, I wear a sterile surgical mask and gloves when meeting with all subjects in a lab situation. That will include you, Mark.”

I thought about that for a second, then took a deep breath. “Okay. So tell me about these possible extractions.”

Dr. Sorenson leaned forward and looked at me intensely. “Good. Let’s get down to it.”

I leaned forward as well, my chin in my hand, waiting for the lecture. She didn’t disappoint me.

“In humans and boars, both androstenol and androstenoneis are biosynthesized in the testes,” Dr. Sorenson began. “Androstenone is metabolized in the liver and also accumulates in the adipose tissue -- that is, subcutaneous fat. Considerable amounts of androstenol are present in human urine, and it is also present in the blood plasma and saliva of humans and pigs as well as in the adipose tissue, which excretes as axillary sweat in humans. Are you with me so far?”

I shrugged. So far she hadn’t said anything that I needed to worry about.

“Fine. So, most of the pheromone byproducts can be collected by very simple methods, which I understand Dr. Faizal has already performed on you.”

“That’s correct,” Dr. Faizal interjected.

We both ignored her.

“Now, androstenol may also be synthesized in the adrenal glands and the ovaries in humans, and possibly as nasal mucosa from androstenone, and likely also from androstadienol and androstadienone in the same area. So, if it’s plentiful in your sweat or in mucous, maybe simple swabs or similar non-invasive techniques can be used. As much as possible, we try not to utilize urine in our products.”

She gave a wry smirk at her little joke. I didn’t react.

“Well. However, if the pheromones located there -- assuming they are, of course -- are not accessible in adequate quantities, or, what’s more likely, are not of sufficient potency, then we would have to investigate the more direct sources.”

It took me a few seconds to catch up. “What does that last thing mean, exactly?”

Dr. Sorenson displayed that tight smile of hers. “Excellent question. In humans, adipose tissue is subcutaneous, meaning it’s located beneath the skin, or visceral fat around internal organs such as the kidneys, in yellow bone marrow, intermuscular, and in the breast tissue. So, if your skin tissues, or your sweat, or mucous, or other surface secretions are potent enough, what Dr. Faizal did would be perfectly acceptable depending on the quantities we could accumulate. However, if it was determined that we needed more parietal or subcutaneous fat, which is embedded in the connective tissue under the skin, it would have to be harvested by more invasive techniques. Never mind the minute amount of visceral fat that surrounds the internal organs, such as your eyeballs or kidneys. That’s just too little to be of commercial use.”

I exhaled heavily. “Well, thank goodness for that.”

Yeah, ‘more invasive techniques’. That’s what I had been afraid of. “So, if not that, then what?”

Dr. Sorenson just gave me a direct look “The removal of tissue or cells for analysis is called a biopsy. The actual removal of tissue or fluids is the extraction I already mentioned.”

Okay, so there it was in plain English: They would probably want to cut into me, or maybe stick a needle in me and take a big sample of something. That was about as heavy as I could absorb at the moment, so I sat silently and practiced a little of my deep breathing techniques. They both waited patiently.

Finally I said, “That sounds pretty extreme. And pretty dangerous.”