by A. D. Winch
Andrea stood in front of one of the nine screens and scanned the information on it. Occasionally, she pressed a key and read through another page that flashed up but she did not appear to be worried.
“We are all safe here. If this area had been breached the security system would have a reading of it, but there is none. Follow me, please.”
Andrea led them back into the large room. She pointed under the rock steps to a neat pile of sleeping bags, camping equipment and packaged food.
“I added this equipment and the supplies before we went to Pompeii. It was prudent at the time, and now we have need for it. I also installed running water and a temporary sink.”
She pointed to the right of the pile, at a metallic, portable sink. It was attached to a hose that ran up the steps to the top platform and through a gap in the bottom of the door.
“There is no connection to the sewer system down here. I purchased a portable toilet.”
In the far corner of the room, a sheet was hanging from two nails hammered into the brick wall. Andrea pointed towards it.
“You must be joking!” said Eric incredulously. “Some privacy would be nice.”
“You have privacy. I have created a basic but functional wall.”
“That’s not private. Everyone can hear what we are doing.”
“I suggest you sing then. I shall move on…”
“No!” interrupted Eric. “I thought we were coming home.”
“You are home.”
“No, I’m not!” he shouted.
“We disagree,” and ignoring Eric’s anger, Andrea continued, “The supplies are sufficient. There is enough food for approximately one month. As you can see we also have sleeping bags and tents. I suggest you use the tents as your own personal spaces, you may sleep in them if you would like to. However, before you sleep, I need another blood sample from the two of you. We need to continue our research immediately.”
Ursula held out her arm. Eric protested but grudgingly allowed blood to be taken. Meanwhile, Alexander cleared two spaces amongst the junk yard and set up two dome tents. Once the blood had been taken, the children collapsed into a tent each and were soon fast asleep. It was the first time they had slept in separate spaces for twelve weeks, and they welcomed it, especially Ursula.
Andrea and Alexander worked quickly in the computer room. Andrea flitted between the two large screens and the nine small ones, pressing buttons and changing what appeared on the screens. In her hand, she held tightly onto the two syringes of blood. From a cupboard underneath one of the screens, she removed glass slides and an electronic microscope.
“Use this microscope and this computer,” she said to Alexander.
Her hand still gripped the syringes and very carefully she placed drops of blood onto two slides. She poured the rest into two test tubes next to another screen.
“This is not a fully equipped laboratory,” she explained, “but we can analyse the make-up of the blood. We can then use these blood samples to run tests, using any software you need. All you have to do is let me know your requirements. I will then download the software required.”
Alexander thought about what he would need as he placed a slide of Ursula’s blood under the electronic microscope. On the screen in front of him, a solid red image appeared. He zoomed in, closer and closer until he could see shapes. As he zoomed in closer still, he could clearly make out red disks that were the red blood cells and purple disks which were the white blood cells.
“This microscope is good. As for the software,” he paused. “There are a number of titles on the market. I don’t mind which one you get, but we need to be able to test for a number of different elements.”
As he continued to speak, he nibbled his fingernails.
“Right, let me think. We’ll need to do white blood cell count, red blood cell count, haemoglobin levels, platelet count. We will also need to check for electrolytes by measuring the levels of sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate. Blood enzyme tests that measure creatine levels will also be important. Finally, I think we should do a cholesterol count, LDL, HDL and triglycerides. We’ll need some equipment to make this possible.”
“You will have it,” replied Andrea. “Is there anything else you require?”
Alexander tilted his head to one side and thought, “I’m just thinking aloud, but I have read that young blood introduced to old brains resulted in new brain cells growing so we’ll have to find some more information on that. Also, we need to be able to find something to detect delta-proteins, they help the body to heal and repair. Erm, what else? I can only think of one more item, but it is going to be difficult to get hold of.”
“I have discovered that money can often procure items that are otherwise difficult to acquire.”
“In that case I think it would be really useful if you get can get me an X-ray fluorescent spectroscope. Then I can determine the age of the blood more accurately. This could be really helpful if, as we believe, they are starting to age quicker than they should.”
“I will get these items for you. I have contacts who are most willing to help. Now I think it is time for you also to sleep. We all need to be alert and focused to tackle this tomorrow.”
As if on cue, Alexander yawned. He followed it by a nod of the head in agreement and went into the main cellar to find another sleeping bag.
Back to Contents
***
Chapter 13 – A Possible Cure
When the children awoke the next morning, it was very late. Alexander was already in the computer room, and Andrea had left to acquire the scientific equipment. Despite such a deep sleep, the children did not feel as rested as they had expected. Consequently, they had a ‘lazy day’ and spent their time reading or playing chess. Apart from helping Andrea, with the equipment that she dragged out of the tunnel entrance, they did no exercise.
The next day they woke and once again did not feel as rested as they had hoped. Over the following days, they started to sleep more and more. When they were awake, they did little exercise other than what was necessary to move around the cellar. By the end of the second week, they spent more time asleep than awake and when they weren’t sleeping they felt lethargic and listless.
Alexander theorised that the change in their behaviour was nothing more than a malaise at being cooped up again.
By the end of the third week, the children refused to get up. They did not even have the energy to argue when Andrea took more blood samples. She took these to Alexander, who placed them on two slides. He ran the same tests as when they had first arrived in the cellar. When he ran the spectroscope test again, the results were astonishing. Alexander bit the skins around his nails and looked again. There, right in front of him, was written ‘Age of sample – 19 years old.’ The children’s blood had aged over seven years in just three weeks.
Dissatisfied with the results, Alexander took more samples. Eric and Ursula did not even bother to protest and fell back to sleep the moment he had finished. He ran the spectroscope test again, and the same result appeared on the screen.
“I don’t understand,” he said to himself and called Andrea over to his computer. “Look at this. In Paris, the children were healthy, and their blood retained its shelf-life but.”
Suddenly he stopped, a smile lit up his face and he jumped in the air.
“I’ve got it!” he said excitedly while Andrea looked on bemused.
“What have you got?”
“The answer! The reason they’re aging so fast. It’s the sun! It’s like, it’s like,” he searched for the words, his hands gesticulating wildly in front of his face, “it’s like they’re solar panels. It’s the sun that gives them energy.”
“You are not making yourself clear, Alexander.”
“In Paris, their blood samples did the impossible, they became younger while we kept them in storage. Here it has also done the impossible. The samples we took today are much older than those we took three weeks ago. What is the link? In Par
is, I left their blood in the sun, down here they are getting no sun at all.”
He danced up and down on the spot.
“I do not understand how this will keep them alive beyond their fourteenth birthdays.”
Alexander sat down again, momentarily at a loss and replied, “At the moment, nor I do.”
Suddenly he clicked his fingers.
“Come with me,” he said and beckoned Andrea into the main cellar.
Eric was slowly waking up. Ursula was in the tent beside him. She was fast asleep in her sleeping bag. Alexander walked past them both to the packaged food. He rummaged through the piles, sending packets and tins flying until he found what he was looking for. In his hands, he held several jars of sundried tomatoes.
“Eat these,” he told Eric, throwing them at him.
Eric missed the catch, and the food hit him the chest.
“But I’m not hungry,” Eric complained.
“Eat them!”
Eric opened the sundried tomatoes and ate two.
“How do you feel?” asked Alexander expectantly.
“Very tired.”
‘Then eat more!”
Alexander and Andrea stood above Eric and forced him to eat the whole jar of sundried tomatoes and then another. When he had finished, Alexander made him eat two more jars. After these, two more jars were thrust upon him. When Alexander approached with two more Eric pushed him away, Alexander smiled.
“I can’t eat anymore,” said Eric, getting to his feet. Something he had rarely done over the last two days.
“How do you feel?” asked Alexander expectantly.
“Sick.”
“Sick and tired?”
“Yes.”
“Very tired or just tired?”
“Just tired of you, and your pointless questions.”
Alexander jumped in front of him, “So less tired than before your feasting?”
A quizzical look appeared on Eric’s face, and he replied, “Yes, I guess so but not by much.”
“Eureka!” shouted Alexander and danced up and down.
“What do you think you have discovered?” asked Andrea, staring at him.
Alexander turned to her, “We could conduct more tests, but I would bet that the sun recharges the children. Humans acquire their energy from food first, then water and finally from the sun. But for Eric and Ursula, I strongly believe their order is sun first, then water and food, with the emphasis on sun.”
“This does not help us keep them alive.”
Alexander spoke quickly, “But it does Andrea, it does. If we can change their diet, expose them to more sun and, and…, well there’s bound to be something else we can do to help. For now, we need to get them out of this cellar during the day time. Like a battery that needs recharging we need to get them out into the sun until their energy levels have been replenished.”
“We have seventeen minutes until the next train uses the tunnel, so I suggest we move Eric and Ursula now.”
Through much cajoling, motivating, shouting and threatening, Alexander and Andrea managed to get the two children outside the tunnel entrance. The four of them lay down behind a clump of bushes and a large strip of corrugated iron. They were out of sight of any passing trains and hidden from prying eyes from the footpath above them.
There were a few wispy clouds in the sky, but otherwise it was bright blue. The temperature was hot and, most importantly, it was a sunny September day.
“What are we doing here?” asked Eric sulkily.
“Can’t we go back in the cellar?” asked Ursula. “It’s more comfortable than out here.”
Alexander pointed to the sun and said, “We are here because I believe that you are, for want of a better word, solar powered. Your current moods and lethargic state are most probably symptoms of this.”
Andrea continued, “We will remain here until the eighteen twenty-nine train passes. At this point, we will all follow it in. Until then, you will sunbathe. Alexander will watch over you, and I will go to the shops to purchase more supplies.”
Before Alexander could add anything, Andrea walked away from the bush, sprang up the bank like a mountain goat and was soon gone from view. Eric and Ursula couldn’t be bothered to comment.
By evening, they had picked up a little. Andrea returned with more food and after the evening train passed they all returned to the cellar.
Over the following days, they continued to repeat this routine and each day the children’s health improved. The lethargy gradually disappeared; their energy returned and before long they were challenging each other to contests in order to keep themselves entertained. September stayed hot, and fortunately, the Indian summer continued into the start of October. The temperature dropped slightly, but the weather stayed dry; the sun continued to shine, and it was unseasonably warm. Alexander and Andrea welcomed the children's return to normality. They spent the time hunting for other possible ‘sun’ cures while Eric and Ursula were outside.
During the long periods that they spent hunched over computers, they pursued both scientific and historic avenues in the hope that something would appear to help the children. After three weeks, they decided to move away from the computers and discuss what they knew. There were a number of theories spinning around their heads.
Alexander sat down on the floor and slouched against a brick wall. Andrea sat cross-legged in front of him. Alexander admired her posture. Her back was totally straight, and she sat perfectly upright.
“Summarise what you have discovered,” instructed Andrea.
“Right then,” began Alexander, “From Greek history we know that Helios, or the sun god, rode across the skies in his chariot. The Inca civilisations worshipped the sun, as did the native American Indians. There is a Jewish ceremony that blesses the sun every twenty-eight years and,” he paused. “I could continue but these are pretty stories, and none of what I have read about ancient or modern civilisations has been helpful in any way. We could get the children fasting and dancing for four days like the native American Indians or chanting like the Incas but I very much doubt that will help them. Nor do I think the sun eating Indian man I read about is going to help us. He gazes directly at the sun, and he believes this gives him nourishment and, apart from water, he does not consume any other food or drink. This was also practised by the Egyptians, Mayans and Aztecs, but I am not going to make the children look directly at the sun. They will go blind.
The scientific perspective hasn’t been much more helpful. We know that vitamin D is the sun vitamin. It helps cell growth, makes bones develop and harden, regulates blood sugar, ensures the functioning of healthy nerves and muscles, and may lead to a cure for cancer. But can it cure the children? We don’t actually know, but we have put Eric and Ursula on a course of vitamin D supplements anyway. It is too early to say yet if they’re helping, but they are definitely not having a negative effect so they will continue to take them. We have changed their diet to make it healthier, but I still don’t think this is enough. I can’t give them Delta proteins because I have no idea if it will help them or make them worse. As for giving them young blood?” He paused, “Well I don’t how we could do that just yet, unless we raided a blood bank. What is certain is that we need to find another food source that lives uniquely off the sun too.”
In the blink of an eye Andrea said, “I have an answer, marine phytoplankton.”
“Plankton?”
“Without plankton there would be no humans. Plankton feed the oceans from whales to fish. They capture the sun and unlike plants some plankton consume other organisms in order to have additional energy.”
Alexander thought for a long time before replying, “so you’re saying that whereas plants need water, nutrients and sun, plankton needs sun first and foremost.”
“Yes, that is my theory. I agree that it is tenuous, but plankton also has numerous health benefits.”
“Why not?” exclaimed Alexander clapping his hands. “We must try everything and this could
be the answer. But where would we find plankton in Czech Republic? It’s a land-locked country.”
“I do not think we would. I also think fresh plankton would be more beneficial. Any other could be diluted by the packaging process,” Andrea said, returning to her computer.
After looking at more information on plankton, Andrea and Alexander decided that it was worth investigating further. It was a chance they had of helping, even if neither of them was sure of the results. Arrangements were made to leave, and they discussed how to tell the children.
That evening they had a special dinner of Indian curry, at Eric’s request. There was no dining room, so Andrea placed the hot cartons onto various bits of equipment lying on the floor and handed out camping crockery and cutlery. As she did so, Eric and Alexander quickly opened the cartons and greedily served themselves.
“Would you like me to serve you?” asked Ursula.
Alexander looked up from his chicken korma and for a brief moment thought whether he should have served. He quickly dismissed the idea and returned hungrily to his food.
“No, thank you,” replied Andrea. “Curry food is not for me and I have work to do. Tomorrow night we leave, and I need to make preparations.
“Where are we going?” asked Eric, spraying a mouthful of rice over his plastic plate.
“I shall tell you when you have finished eating,” Andrea replied and walked off.
“I hate it when she does that,” grinned Alexander.
When they were all finished, the rubbish thrown away, and the dishes cleared, Andrea re-joined them. She sat down beside Alexander and removed her leather jacket to reveal a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt.
“Alexander, please explain your theory to Eric and Ursula,” said Andrea.
“Our theory,” corrected Alexander.
