by Francis Tint
“If we can’t pinpoint the source at the genetic level, then maybe we can look at any byproducts created from the process.”
“Exactly. There must be some proteinaceous material associated with HMID we can identify.”
“And if we can find a specific binding agent to the precursor, we can diagnose HMID from the amniotic fluid. The concentration would be extremely low, so we’d better make sure the binding agent is ultra-sensitive.”
Blake nodded in agreement. “I think we got ourselves a plan. Would you like to take a stab at doing the lab work?” She was ready to start the work herself, but reminded herself of Ashlea’s advice on putting down her lab coat.
“You got it.”
“One last thing, Rachael.” Blake opened her desk drawer and took out the bottle she had borrowed from Mrs. Welsh, using a very loose definition of the word “borrowed”. “Would you do me a favor and find out what this pill does?”
“What’s up, Ty?” Julia greeted him as she walked in Tylor’s lab. “Your text sounded urgent. I’m not sure if I can help you. After all, you’re the king of the forensic lab.”
“Very funny, just a plebeian here in the hierarchy,” replied Tylor. “This is why I texted you: I discovered something unusual about the ring.”
“The one Blake found from that bougie restaurant? We’re not even sure if it truly belonged to the victim. And I thought we’re over this.”
“Actually, what I found out was completely by chance. Earlier today, I was cleaning up my desk, and the ring fell on top of the blacklight counter.”
“And you found blood on it? Oh no, other bodily fluids?” Julia made a face. “I mean, they were married after all. Still, this is becoming too graphic.”
“The ring was clean. Seriously, stop jumping to conclusions. Right after it landed on the blacklight counter, the ring started to heat up.”
“You somehow decided to measure its temperature? What do you mean by that?”
“No, really heat up. Let me show you.” Tylor put on a pair of mittens and demonstrated what he meant. Under the blacklight, the ring started to glow. Smoke started to rise from the counter. It’s as if it was about to blow. Tylor quickly snatched it away from the energy source. “I burned myself the first time trying to avoid a fire.”
“That’s some hot rock.”
“So I decided to explore at a molecular level. Take a look.” Tylor grabbed some printouts and showed them to Julia. “The ring’s made up of unnatural isotopes. That’s why it’s so unstable. What I don’t understand is how it comes to be. It looks like someone synthesized the ring from the atomic level, deliberately making it unnatural and unstable.”
Julia picked up the ring which had already become cool to the touch. “Very strange indeed.”
“We got to tell Blake, right?” They shared an uneasy exchange. This would definitely reignite Blake’s obsession about the couple. They would very much like to avoid that, but friends should be honest with each other.
“Can’t hide it from her forever,” said Julia.
As usual, the trio met up for lunch in the company’s canteen. They had their typical meaningless conversation, avoiding the topic of the car explosion victims at all costs. Blake took a bite out of her avocado toast. She didn’t share with them the unorthodox prenatal genetic testing done on Ellen. She wasn’t ready for another lecture on staying in her lane and that “they’re just scientists.”
Tylor shared an uneasy look with Julia, as if they were psychically debating who should break the news to Blake. After he finished his coffee, Tylor decided to break the silence. “Actually, there’s something we want to tell you about the ring. It’s got some… strange properties.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Julia added. “It’s nothing really. Super minor. The make of the ring is just a tad-bit more unique. Mikey likely went to great lengths customizing a one-of-a-kind ring for Ellen. Probably imported it. No biggie.”
“Ok,” Blake asked confusedly, “so you guys identified a foreign manufacturer?”
“No,” answered Tylor. “This is what we found. Based on our test results, the ring looked to be completely made out of synthetic components.”
“Oh, a synthetic diamond ring. I’ve heard of those,” said Blake.
“Exactly. What did I just say? No biggie,” Julia spoke with a tone of finality.
“And also the fact that it may explode under even the smallest energy source,” Tylor muttered quickly.
“It can explode?” Blake articulated. That’s exactly what happened to Ellen! This explained why she had felt an inferno inside Ellen right before the couple’s demise. She needed to find out more about the ring and learn its secret.
“‘May’ being the operative word. We haven’t really tested the theory yet.”
“So what are we waiting for?” Blake wolfed down her toast. “Let’s go.” Blake’s interest in this case had been successfully and fully reignited.
The trio entered Julia’s materials lab. “You sure you want to do this, Blake?” Julia asked as she donned her protective equipment. “We might burn down the whole building, or worse, flatten the entire city.”
“It’s probably best if we cut out a small sample and test its volatility,” Tylor suggested.
“Already on it,” Julia whipped out a diamond blade cutter and chipped a fragment off the ring. She placed it in the explosion chamber. “Any last words? There’s no going back.”
“Wait,” Blake interrupted. “Could you measure the mass of the fragment?”
“Its mass is exactly fifty milligrams,” answered Julia, pointing at the display by the chamber.
Blake nodded, signaling Julia to start the test. The machine directed a UV ray at the fragment. As expected, the object started to glow. “Brace yourselves. It should be anytime now,” Julia announced.
The shard started to vibrate vigorously, and the glow was intensifying exponentially. That was not an overstatement. The glow was so blindingly bright that it forced the trio to shut their eyes tight. Tylor covered his ears in anticipation of an inevitable boom.
What followed instead was silence. A deafening silence. They opened their eyes, and saw an explosion pattern made of ash particles in place of the ring fragment. It was the definition of an anticlimactic outcome. They looked at each other in confusion.
“Does this typically happen?” asked Blake.
“No. Nothing we saw here was typical,” Julia answered. “Metal doesn’t typically explode even under an intense energy source. It may glow, but not at that intensity. I won’t even call what happened here an explosion. It’s very calm. Look, the chamber didn’t even detect any activity.”
Explosive force could be measured like any applied force, but the device had not registered any. And that was not the only strange thing. “We also lost five milligrams of materials,” Blake noted.
“Maybe it got lost in the process,” Tylor suggested.
“That’s impossible. The chamber is completely hermetically sealed. All the equipment in my lab here is in pristine condition. Nothing escapes in the process.”
Where did it go then? How did five milligrams just disappear into thin air? It violated the most fundamental natural law.
Blake knew there was something strange about the ring, but not to this extent. She wasn’t the only one who thought that. Corey also knew, somehow. He had told her to call him once she found out more. She supposed this would qualify.
“Last night,” Blake started to narrate her encounter with Corey, “outside the bar, someone approached me about this ring.” She described his appearance and intentions. “It sounds like he might have more information.”
“The anime cosplayer we bumped into at the restaurant?” Tylor questioned. “That’s the guy you think we should trust?”
“Based on Blake’s description of his appearance, it definitely sounds like someone I would love to meet,” Julia responded, winking at Blake.
“Seriously, this is beyond ridiculous,”
Tylor said assertively. “Meeting up with a random stranger? That’s crazy dangerous.”
“He didn’t sound threatening,” Blake said defensively. “I’ll arrange a meetup tonight, in public. First sign of any threat, we will just run away.”
“You look very dressed up,” Julia said, “for a casual night at a student bar. How much gel did you use?”
The comment made Tylor even more self-conscious. He was constantly adjusting his position, making sure his button-down was properly tucked in. He was visibly uncomfortable with his choice of outfit. “Working in a lab, we seriously don’t get to dress up. I actually bought all these fancy work clothes after I graduated, only to have them collect dust in the wardrobe. I just thought… you know… why the hell not?” Tylor tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“I see. There’s competition now. Someone’s trying to step up his game.”
“My game’s always top notch.”
“Speaking of which,” Julia directed his attention to the door, “here comes your competition.” She reached out to the newcomer passionately. “Hello there. You must be Corey. We’ve heard so much.” She leaned in for a flirtatious hug, making Corey slightly uncomfortable.
“Dude,” Tylor shook his head, “you seriously got to lay off that bleach. Surprised you weren’t kicked out of the restaurant right away.”
“Still managed to learn more than just the wine list,” Corey replied coldly.
“Play nice, boys,” Julia deescalated the tension. “Anyhow, Blake mentioned you might have more insight on the ring?”
“Here’s some background,” Corey jumped in right away. “Most elements have a number of isotopes. The carbon atom found in nature is mostly the carbon-12 isotope. There’s a small percentage of carbon-13 and carbon-14. Everything else is synthesized in the lab.”
“We all know that, professor,” Tylor interrupted. “Non-naturally occurring isotopes are not atomically stable, which is why the ring was so volatile. What we can’t figure out is why and how someone made a ring completely out of synthetic isotopes.”
“No, the ring wasn’t made that way. It was completely ordinary at one point.” Corey pulled out a file containing an assortment of articles on accidents and suicides. “This is what I’ve been investigating. On the surface, all these cases look like regular day-to-day tragedies. Completely unrelated. However, there’s one thing in common. All these victims were carrying a high level of unnatural isotopes.”
“I have so many questions,” Julia interjected. “First, diamond rings are never ordinary. When will boys ever learn? Second, do you just carry around a detector for synthetic isotopes?”
“They leave a visible signature. A unique pattern. You just need to know where to look,” Corey explained as he illustrated the pattern from his collection.
“Weird, this pattern looks oddly familiar.” Julia spoke as if she just had an epiphany, “I remember now. I saw this elongated rhombus by the passenger seat. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“But the ring fragment didn’t leave this mark,” Blake remarked.
“Actually, it did. When I was cleaning the explosion chamber, I saw it again.”
“Ok,” Blake said slightly skeptically, “let’s suppose we can connect the mark to unnatural isotopes. We still don’t know how. What did you mean when you said the ring was ordinary at one point?”
“For most cases, I only see the signature around the victims. In other cases, some of their belongings also carried it. This leads me to believe that the conversion starts with the person. And if the effect is too strong, it also affects the things they take with them all the time.”
“How is that even remotely possible,” Tylor inquired. “How is someone converting the isotopic makeup of a person?”
“I suppose theoretically, it’s possible with nanorobots,” answered Julia. “I read an article about it. It’s still completely hypothetical and they haven’t quite demonstrated any tangible results. They’ve only shown calculations on how nanorobots can change the nuclear makeup of atoms. I suppose if someone perfected the execution, it’s within the realms of possibility.”
“This does confirm my hypothesis that whoever’s behind this is still trying to refine their method,” Corey said.
“Look at all these dead people,” Tylor commented. “How’s their method not working?”
“If they only want them dead, there are many more direct methods, and they could still be disguised as accidents or suicides,” Corey elaborated. “Killing them is an unintended side effect. There’s a deeper agenda here.”
Blake flipped through Corey’s articles, and noted that all these events were relatively recent. “Hm… I notice you don’t have anything dated past two months ago.”
“That’s when it all started,” Corey responded. “All these victims must’ve been exposed to some influence two months ago. If we know what it is, we might be able to track down the other ones. Do you have any idea what it might be?”
“No,” Blake replied softly with a lie. She didn’t have any solid evidence suggesting the experimental drug C05I had the capacity to change a person’s isotopic makeup. She also didn’t think Ashlea Edwards would be involved in something so demoralizing.
“If they were exposed two months ago, why weren’t the victims all triggered right away?” Tylor questioned.
“It needs an activation,” explained Corey.
“Acting like the UV light that blew up the ring,” Julia extrapolated. “And that’s what you’re trying to learn from the restaurant. You want to figure out what the activation was.”
“Exactly,” Corey confirmed. “I’ve been tracking down this guy who goes by many names,” he answered. “I haven’t had a good look at this guy. When I was at the restaurant, I asked if there’s any recent change of staff. I found out a Ken Afema resigned suddenly, the day after the couple visited the restaurant.”
“And you think this Ken guy somehow activated Ellen,” Tylor said. Corey nodded.
“Afema,” said Julia, “that’s a weird last name.”
After scribbling on a piece of napkin, Blake suggested, “That’s because Ken Afema is an anagram of Fake Name.”
Next morning, Blake got to her lab for work. She saw a freshly printed report on her desk, held in place by the bottle of C05I pills on top. Rachael must have finished the analysis of the mysterious medicine early in the morning. Blake flipped through the report. There was no chemically active ingredient detected. The pill consisted mostly of starch. Ellen must have gotten a placebo.
She breathed a sigh of relief. The timing of the clinical trial had clearly been a coincidence.
Why was she still spending so much time thinking about this? Looking at the big picture, it all sounded like some crazy conspiracy theory. C’mon, the elongated rhombus pattern? Mystery man with multiple aliases? Nanorobots that altered the isotopic makeup? There must be a much more straightforward answer to explain what had happened to the ring. Maybe it’s truly the job of the officials to figure out the truth.
She needed to clear her head from all of these distractions. From the ring. From Corey.
She put the bottle in her drawer and swore not to further investigate. She got a big job from Ashlea she should focus on. There’s no time to waste.
Blake joined Tylor and Julia for lunch in the canteen. “Woah, someone got a new hairdo,” exclaimed Julia. “I thought you had issues with anime-style fashion statement.”
“You only live once. I don’t want to wake up one day when I’m sixty and realize I haven’t done anything fun,” Tylor explained contrivedly.
“Nice try.”
“I like it,” Blake complimented. “It’s refreshing. It looks good on you. I like it better a little disheveled.”
Tylor blushed at the comment. Julia shook her head.
“Hey Rachael,” Blake hailed her over as she walked by their table, “would you like to join us for lunch?”
“Of course!” She put down her tr
ay of tomato soup and chicken wrap.
“Yo, I heard it’s your birthday!” greeted Julia. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” said Rachael. She put down her glasses to clear the fog from the steamy soup. “I’m having a little gathering tonight with the other interns. You guys should come too. It’ll be super fun.”
“We’ll be there,” Tylor replied.
“So… Blake,” Julia said mockingly, “that Corey guy, you think he’s the real deal?” Tylor shot her a death glare. Oh, Julia the troublemaker, how she loved the drama.
“Ooh… who’s this Corey guy?” asked Rachael. “Blake’s boyfriend?”
“They met on the street,” Julia elaborated. “Quite cute. Lean. A little bit alternative. Tote bad-boy feels.”
“Stop it, guys,” Blake said affirmatively. “He’s not my boyfriend. And, I’m not sure if I really buy into his theories. It’s quite preposterous.”
“I totally agree,” Tylor jumped in.
“Looks like someone didn’t need to bleach his hair after all,” Julia slid in a snide remark.
Corey’s theories were very far-fetched, not supported by any conventional scientific thinking. In addition, there wasn’t much the group could go on anyway. How would they be able to hunt down a mystery person that went by multiple aliases? The only evidence they had, a highly unstable ring, wasn’t real proof of anything.
“Oh my god, how fast the time goes,” Rachael noted. “I’d better head back to work.”
“Wow, Blake really keeps you on a tight leash,” Julia said.
“No, not at all. Blake’s super nice. I’m just slow and I keep making mistakes. See you guys tonight. Ciao!” Rachael quickly grabbed her tray and stood up.
“Don’t forget your glasses!” Blake reached out to grab them. Abruptly, she froze and dropped the eyeglasses on the table, knocking down the salt shaker. It happened again. Just as she thought she could redirect her focus back to living normally, the vision returned to haunt her. The same tremor. The evocative shimmering glow.
