Chapter 15

I thought it might be awkward going to my Thursday meeting with Dr. Faizal, but Daphne was grinning and wearing a very revealing blouse which was unbuttoned down below the see-through bra she was wearing. It exposed a lot of cleavage. So, rather than embarrassment, I saw nothing there except invitation.

As I walked into her office, Dr. Faizal looked a little sheepish as she stood submissively inside the doorway, but she was also smiling broadly. I quickly learned that it was because the preliminary lab results had come back.

“They’re very promising, Sir,” Dr. Faizal declared. “Although the amounts are small, there are clear similarities in the chemical elements to animal sex pheromones, primarily the pig. What’s really exciting is that, rather than just the expected odoriferous steroids androstenone and androstenol, something similar to 4-ethyloctanol as well as quinoline were present. And there are other possible pheromones that haven’t been identified yet.”

I sat down in her guest chair and rubbed my chin. I gave her a little smile in return. “So that’s good, right? What’s up with those new things?”

She nodded eagerly. “The luteinizing hormone, which is more normally found in male goats, is a sexual stimulant for males and females, especially in egg production in the latter. There is also a marked similarity with some pheromone found in male deer that can stimulate ovulatory cycles in seasonally anoestrus females and thereby prolong the breeding season. So this helps to explain why some females are extremely susceptible to you, Sir, in that they have a very strong urge to mate with the purpose of being bred by you.”

I scratched my forehead in confusion. “I have some hormones that exist in animals other than pigs, right? And those make some women want to breed? But these things aren’t found in humans?”

Dr. Faizal frowned. “Well, Sir, human males may also be capable of influencing the synchronization and length of female ovulatory cycles through axillary gland secreted pheromones, as I believe we’ve discussed. A possible candidate for this is androstadienone, although that remains to be fully established.”

“Okay, that sounds good. I know something about those first two, those, uh, andros, but how about the others?”

“May I sit, Sir?” Dr. Faizal asked politely.

I hadn’t even noticed that she was still standing. It still startled me that she was asking my permission more and more, but I tried to take it in stride. “Yes, sure.”

She was taking this submissive thing too seriously. Or maybe I wasn’t taking it seriously enough. Having women be submissive to me was a real turn on, but it seemed it made them really dependent on me, and I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of responsibility. Especially not at my age.

Dr. Faizal did not lose any enthusiasm as she took her own seat. “First, Sir, let me reiterate that your chemicals closely resemble the airborne chemical substances secreted from several mammals that elicit both behavioral and endocrine responses in females. From what you’ve told me about your recent history, and from what I have observed both personally and from other employees here, we have ample evidence to believe your presence has a direct, strong impact on them ... well, us.”

“Yeah, I know all that,” I said impatiently. “What do I actually have that does what, and how can you use it to make money?”

Dr. Faizal seemed a little anxious at my impatience, but her scientific training could not override her lack of ability to speed up the explanation.

“Of course, Sir. Different biological agents or hormones have been used for regulating animal reproduction for improvement of production, but due to non-availability or low cost effectiveness of such agents and to harness the reproductive potential of various livestock, pheromones have a great role on bio stimulation. As you know, pigs have many pheromones such as sexual pheromones, a stress-related pheromone, a maternal and neonatal pheromone, aggressive and submissive pheromones, and so on. Moreover, a class of aliphatic acids was found in female rhesus monkeys that produced six types in the vaginal fluids, which are called ‘copulins’.”

“As in ‘copulation’,” I interjected.

She gave a quick, terse smile. “Yes, Sir. One of the acids, acetic acid, was found in all of the sampled females’ vaginal fluid. The interesting thing is that, in humans, one-third of women have all six types of copulins, which increase in quantity before ovulation. Copulins are used to signal ovulation; however, as human ovulation is concealed it is thought that they may be used for reasons other than sexual communication.”

I nodded, as I had actually come to understand the basic elements of the process, but I still wanted a better grasp of it in order to know just how much my participation in the process would impact my potential earnings.

“Right. So explain to me again how that affects women.”

Dr. Faizal bobbed her head in excitement. “Yes, Sir, I have subsequently done a lot more research in this exact regard. As we’ve discussed, mammals have two olfactory systems, the vomeronasal and main olfactory systems. These were originally considered to be independent of one another, with the vomeronasal system thought to be the one responsible for pheromonal effects having specialized receptors and a direct projection route to hypothalamic regions controlling reproduction. However, Sir, it has become increasingly recognized that the two systems have overlapping and possibly complementary functions in processing odorant molecules both in terms of some common receptors and interactions within shared processing regions in the brain, such as the amygdala. Indeed, evidence suggests that the majority of mammalian pheromones identified to date influence both systems to a varying degree, although often the main olfactory system plays the major role.”

I frowned. “I’m not really sure what you’re telling me.”

Dr. Faizal practically bounced in her chair. “I understand, Sir. We previously thought that, as with your own pheromone production abilities, the receptive systems in human females were separate, with the primitive system being essentially dormant while the modern receptors were dominant. However, it may actually be the case that both still function, and actually in tandem, but in a much less equal role than in ancient times.”

I rocked back and forth trying to understand this. “Okay, so that means...?”

Dr. Faizal continued enthusiastically: “It means that certain women respond to you in the much more modern, reserved way, while a certain percentage of women respond to you at a very primitive level.” She actually blushed as she paused. “Such as myself, Sir.”

I gave a little smile of acknowledgement in return. I did not want to add to her embarrassment, even though I enjoyed her reactions to my pheromones. “Right. So, anything else I need to know?”

“Actually, Sir, there are two more things right now.” Dr. Faizal worked hard to contain her excitement. “We believe we have also identified the presence of quinoline, which is a newly identified pheromone. It’s a heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule in boar saliva which, together with androstenone and androstanol, elicited extreme sexual behaviour in sows.”

“Like women wanting me to, uh, have sex with them practically on first sight?”

“Well, Sir, androstenone and androstadienone are generally thought to be a positive effector for the mood of virtually all women, while men react more negatively. It seems to affect women’s limbic system and greatly improves their mood. It certainly seems to have different effects on women, depending on where a female is in her menstrual cycle, with the highest sensitivity to it during their time of ovulation. If you indeed have a significant presence of quinoline, as well as the stag and goat pheromones, it explains why your scents have an increased impact on a fairly high percentage of the female population.”

I nodded. “Okay. And the second thing?”

“Well, as I mentioned, the effect of androstadienone depends on the individual and the environment they are in. In many cases, it negatively influences the perception of pain in women. That is consistent with me not feeling much pain during...” Dr. Faizal blushed furiously and took a couple of seconds to regain her composure. “During our, um, anal session,” she finished in a breathy voice.

“All of which means?”

“Which means, Sir, that there are probably many females who react to your presence at a moderate mood level even if that does not create strong sexual urges in them, and a smaller percentage who react in an extremely high level, far above that of the normal male pheromones found in the mammals we have discussed. Further, if your androstadienone suppresses a woman’s fear of psychic or physical pain, they are even more likely to desire sex with you. Lastly, while the vast majority of women still evidently utilize their main olfactory systems, there is a small percentage who react to their recessive vomeronasal system. That is what causes this --” Dr. Faizal blushed brightly “-- extreme submissiveness in an undetermined percentage of females.”

“Huh.” It really was sort of beginning to make sense to me. But now for the nitty-gritty. “Okay, all of that is really interesting,” I agreed. “But how does that help us make money?”

“The primary reason, Sir, is that all of these animal pheromones have been reproduced in the lab. They have also been successfully utilized in commercial products that have exhibited strong positive results in animal husbandry, which is to say --”

“Getting female animals excited about sex and having them reproduce,” I interrupted. “Am I right?”

Dr. Faizal smiled broadly. “Yes, Sir, exactly right. As well as other events, such as a faster maturation process for the offspring.”

“So are you ready to start producing some products now?”

She laughed. “Woah, wait a minute ... uh, Sir. We are still in very early stages. We are now ready to begin the second phase of testing, but only with the women in the company. If we get the results we expect, we will then go to outside experiments.”

“Oh.” I knew it was silly of me, but I was kind of let down that the wonderful news Dr. Faizal had described to me was only the very first stage in what seemed like a very long process. I sighed.

It wasn’t a big deal, I suppose, but thinking about that hot vacation I had missed with Ingrid and Jacqueline had made me a lot more interested in having my own money. Although the estate funds would be coming shortly now, I would not be able to use mine for whatever I wanted for several more years. Although I was getting paid a salary by Hebe for the work I was doing with Dr. Faizal, it was only a few hundred a month, and I had blown most of what I’d earned on that one ‘date’ with Alice. Now it seemed like forever before I would be seeing any big money due to my pheromones -- if ever, of course. What if it all came to nothing like it had with those other two guys?

I sighed again. “So, what exactly is the process?”

Dr. Faizal nodded sympathetically, clearly reading my mind about wanting some serious money. “I suppose you want all of the details, Sir?”

“Well, sort of. I mean, the big picture, with as much detail as you need for me to understand it.”

She nodded, then thought for a minute before continuing. “Certainly, Sir. First, we must insure we completely isolate each of the potential scents. That could take two or three months.” She looked apologetic. “During that time, I’m afraid we will also be experimenting on the best methods of extracting the samples we need from you without harming you in any way.”

I cringed, thinking about Dr. Sorenson wanting to stick a needle into my balls. “Yeah, okay.”

Dr. Faizal gave a sympathetic smile, once again no doubt reading my thoughts. “If we can successfully achieve that, which I am confident we can, then we run isolated tests on our staff.”

“Right,” I said. “So, how does that work?”

“First, we do what we call neutral tests. That is, Sir, we place a tiny amount of each scent on a sterile cloth and expose the employees to the scent. This is strictly an anecdotal experiment, where we ask the employee for their initial reaction. Obviously, if the vast majority of reactions are either neutral or negative, we may discontinue the project entirely.”

“Woah!” I reared back in surprise. “Why would you do that?”

Dr. Faizal raised her hand to signal that I wait for it. “Please remember, Sir, that I’m describing our normal process. That is exactly what happened with our first two subjects, although we actually did proceed with phase two because we were hoping it was a false negative. Obviously, that was also a failure. In your case, I can’t imagine such a conclusion. I fully expect positive responses to your isolated scent, although perhaps not as strong as if you were personally presented.”

“Oh.” I was greatly relieved. “So, what’s phase two?”

“Assuming the first test yields positive results, we then put the scent on another male to see if we can elicit those positive responses when the scent has been mixed with the beta male’s own body chemistry. That is actually the critical experiment that will drive how we continue the process.”

I leaned forward and put my elbow on my knee and my cheek in my palm. “And next?”

She nodded. “Assuming everything goes according to our hopes and expectations, we would then begin blending some of the various chemicals together to try to manipulate specific reactions. In this case, Sir, that might be anything from simply a more positive response by the female toward the male, a clearly sexual response, an immediate urge to ‘present’ in the animalistic sense, to a strong sense of physical and emotional submission. That would help determine how many different products we might attempt to produce and how we would market them.”

“Oh, man. And how long does all of this take?”

“If all goes well, between three to six months.”

I shot up from my chair. “WHAT!”

She looked apologetic again. “Oh, yes, Sir. We must be very clear about what we are doing and what the actual results are as opposed to presuming false positives based on what we hope will happen.”

I slumped back into my seat. “I know, ‘wait for it’. You’ve only been talking about what you’ll do in-house. So then you go outside, right?”

She folded her hands together like a little girl who is being scolded. “Yes, Sir, I’m afraid so.”

“And what does that involve?” I asked fatalistically.

“More or less the same process,” she admitted. “Only, naturally, Sir, we will have to first hire outside females to run the same battery of tests. That takes a lot longer because we must thoroughly evaluate their sense of smell as well as sexual preferences, and run both actual tests and placebo tests to verify validity of their responses.”

I waved my hand in front of me. “I haven’t had a lot of science yet, so what does all that mean?”

“Actual tests use the scents as I described before, because we trust our employees to tell us the truth. A placebo test would use either a sterile cloth or another male without any of your scent on them in order to see if the women claim to have the same reaction when we know there is no pheromonal stimulation present. Are they either lying or perhaps projecting the reaction we want because of the similar test conditions?”

“Ah, I think I see! Very clever,” I complimented her.

“Thank you, Sir, but it’s actually a very old standard procedure in scientific experimentation.”

“Well, whatever. It sounds like a smart idea.” I saw the look on her face. “But there’s more?”

She shrugged her shoulders apologetically once more. “I’m afraid so, Sir.

I just looked at her with my mouth turned down, so Dr. Faizal continued her explanation.

“The last thing we need to do, Sir, is field testing to see if the product works in a normal, uncontrolled environment. We would probably send out a few men with that same variety of scents on them into crowded areas such as shopping malls. We would record their movements so we could later analyze the various reactions of different people, both male and female, who get near enough to smell the scent. That is the acid test of true effectiveness.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Then I turned glum again. “But that probably means months more, right?”

“At least,” she admitted. “You see, Sir, unlike the many false products on the market, Hebe is very particular about having our products match up with our claims about their effectiveness. If we state that our product will attract women we want it to be true, even if that only means their attention. Most of the existing products do nothing at all physically, although the cologne may smell enticing to certain women. But then it’s just like any other cologne, not an aphrodisiac.”

I frowned. “Doesn’t some government agency have controls on those kind of claims?”

“Not really, which is a good and bad news situation for us. The FDA -- the Food and Drug Administration -- does not consider cosmetics to be a drug even though they contain chemicals as long as those chemicals are not used in relation to health in any way. So, fortunately, we won’t need to get FDA approval since we will not be using any color additives. FDA approval can take many years.”

I shook my head. “So maybe a year before I can start making any money?”

Dr. Faizal made a sad face and shook her own head. “I’m afraid not, Sir. Assuming all goes well with the testing, and we can isolate and identify the various active pheromones, we would then go into the production process. That involves more testing to see what needs to be mixed together as additives, in what quantities, and so on. Of course, in the meanwhile your mother and her department would simultaneously get the packaging and marketing process in gear.”

“Good grief. How long will all that take?”

“Maybe another year?”

I slumped in my seat. The prospect of waiting two years to make any money -- during which time Dr. Sorenson would gleefully keep sucking the sap out of my balls and other places for Dr. Faizal to use in her tests -- was too depressing to think about any more.

“Yeah, well, I think I’ve heard enough for now, Doc.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I’m very sorry, Sir.”

“Yeah. I know.” I stood up. “Anyhow, I think I’ll go home now.”

“Oh.”

It was the way she said that one word: surprise, dismay, resignation, all were combined. I frowned at her.

“What?”

“Um, well, Sir, Daphne and I had planned ... uh, well, we had hoped...”

“Oh. Right. I forgot all about what she asked the last time I was here.” Remembering how she had looked when I came in today, only my incredible disappointment could have made me forget our intended frolic, especially one I had previously been looking forward to. Now all I could envision was my body being cut and poked to pieces with only distant visions of any reward.

“All right,” I said like I was being forced to do a chore, “call her in.”

Dr. Faizal lit up like a Christmas tree with a big present sitting right next to it. “Thank you, Sir!”

She leaped to her feet and rushed to tell Daphne to lock the outer door and come in to her office. They were both back in front of me in less than a minute.

Without a word Dr. Faizal knelt down and put her hands behind her back. Daphne looked at her, looked at me with doubt about what she should do, and sort of waved her hands in front of herself in indecision. I didn’t say a word. Finally, she decided she should follow her boss’s example and awkwardly knelt down in the same way.