I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "How were they acting weird?"
"It's hard to describe. It was like someone had injected locker room humor into them. They were laughing louder, speaking louder, doing everything louder. They were even hitting on the tour guides..." She paused, frowning more, as if having a sudden insight. "They were acting like guys. That's it!"
I stared at her, not sure what to make of that or even if there was anything worth making of it. "Maybe that had something to do with last night?"
"That was my first thought." Meredith cinched her cover up tighter around her waist. "But still. These women didn't get where they are by being indiscreet...or crass."
"But when was the last time they were in an orgy?"
Merry nodded. "Good point. I'm guessing never, but that might be one thing they've managed to keep out of the gossip column. Never with men that age, that's for certain."
I got up and headed for the fridge. I considered and rejected a beer – no point in poking the bear, as my mom would say – and grabbed a sandwich and some ice tea instead. Whoever did their food made killer sandwiches.
"Speaking of the men, have you heard or seen anything about them?" I asked.
"I spotted a few of them, including Max, sitting outside Max's cabin schmoozing with John Denver and Jim Morrison. They looked half-comatose, but at least they're alive."
"That's good, I guess."
"Coming to the concert?" she asked.
"I think I'll pass. I'm not really into the rock and roll geriatrics scene. And Jim Morrison as a health nut is pretty creepy."
"That's why he's still alive and ticking after all these years."
"I know." I chewed semi-automatically on my sandwich, savoring a moment of inner semi-peace. "Kind of boring, though."
Meredith gave me a tolerant smile. "There are worse alternatives. Speaking of which" – her smile turned downward – "Chrissie and the others were making noise about enlisting many of the younger male security guards and resort personnel to 'continue the experiment,' perhaps on the last night."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No." A kink had appeared in Meredith's brow. "Maybe you should call your mom and tell her about the samples? I can't see her signing off on this."
So much for inner peace. I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather call less right now than my mom.
"I doubt that she knew about the samples. At least she never said anything to me about it, and I think she would've."
But I wasn't sure. My mom had been one of the lead scientists in developing Reprise, and she had also developed, it seemed to me, an unhealthy tolerance of CE's shenanigans.
Merry was studying me with those damn sharp eyes of hers again. "Why don't you call her and find out? If she doesn't know, I think she should."
Oh, crap. I retrieved my cell with a sigh and tapped her number.
"Aiden," she greeted me. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you today. Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine, I guess. I just had a question. Did you know they'd be giving away samples of Reprise here?"
"Are you kidding me?" My mom sounded shocked. "No way is that ready for uncontrolled human use yet! We're months away from completing the animal tests. I can't believe Max would pull this after the Revive debacle."
"Yeah. I, well we – Meredith and I – were kind of wondering about that."
"Are you saying that some men there have actually taken the drug?" Her voice had gone ragged.
"Yeah. Pretty much all the men, I think."
"In what form?"
"A small red pill."
"I wasn't even aware they'd produced any pills."
Typical sneaky CE crap, I thought.
"How did it affect the men?" my mom asked.
"It made them really, uh, horny."
"Full sexual function?"
"Uh, yeah. Definitely."
"You were observing?" Her voice had assumed a worried edge. "You weren't participating, were you?"
"Uh, no." I glanced at Meredith. "But I saw enough."
"Quite an eyeful," said Merry with a thin laugh.
"Meredith?" my mom asked, raising her voice. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Dr. Stevens. Don't worry – I'm keeping your boy safe and out of trouble, per usual."
I imagined my mom frowning at the phone. She was only marginally less suspicious than during their initial meeting. Melanie was still convinced Meredith would "nail me" at the first opportunity, Ragnar notwithstanding.
"I'm coming up there," she announced. "I need to speak with Max and Dr. Eberhart in person."
"I'm not sure that – "
"I think you should, Dr. Stevens," Meredith cut me off, moving closer to the phone. "Maybe you can talk some sense into these crazy people. Your son didn't mention it but those pills basically reduced men to zombies afterward."
"I hope that's metaphorical," said my mom. "It made the male rats and bonobos sleep a lot afterward. Do they seem okay?"
"They seem to be," said Meredith. "Just worn down – perhaps from all the unaccustomed exercise as the drug itself."
"All right. It's a little late now. I'll head up there first thing tomorrow morning."
"Good. We'll see you then, Dr. Stevens."
"Please look out for Aiden in the meantime."
"I will."
"Bye, Mom," I said.
"Bye, Aid. Stay safe up there. See you soon."
Chapter 30
THE NEXT MORNING, EVERYTHING and everyone appeared pretty much back in order. At the Lodge breakfast, Max Emanuel was holding court at his table to rueful laughs and shaking heads from the men while the women watched them with what I thought was a predatory air. I sat with Meredith and her friends – Joshua Brightman joining us as well. I didn't see Martha Eberhart among the guests.
"Wow," said Josh, "that was quite a night. I'm just starting to feel human again."
"Good," said Chrissie, "because we were hoping for a repeat at the virtual get-together this evening. And you're one of the few virile young men in attendance." She winked at me. "With one obvious exception."
"I can very definitely attest to his virility," said Allison in a voice so low and sultry that for me it qualified as menacing. Her hazel eyes sparkled.
"Ah...thanks." Josh averted his eyes to Chrissie. "By 'we' you mean you guys? Or?"
Chrissie smiled. "I believe I speak for every woman in this room."
"Wow, yeah, well...I'm not sure I'm up for that again so soon."
"That would be a shame," said Allison.
"Sure would," said the redhead, Roberta.
I didn't know if it was my imagination, but the women seemed off to me. Their expressions were too hard and too intense, with a weird hint of a leer in their smiles, as if they were young women pretending to be dirty old men. Hadn't Meredith said something last night about the women acting strangely? I glanced at her and she cocked an eyebrow as if to confirm that.
"I don't mean to rain on your sex parade, guys," said Meredith, "but that sounds like a really bad idea. Why don't we just have a fun virtual reality party, listen to some good music, dance a little or whatever and leave it at that?"
"I'm with her," said Josh, a gush of relief in his voice. "Not that it wasn't great, but it's like an acid trip – not something you should do every day."
"Speak for yourself," said Allison coldly. "That is absolutely something I could see myself doing every day. Sex is healthy unlike drug abuse. Women need it regularly, not that men give a flying fuck about that. All 'woe is me, I couldn't get it up' and expecting us to be sweet patient nursemaids."
"I agree," said Elise, her Teutonic accent thickening her words. "I am tired of their selfish whining and treating them with velvet gloves. It is time for the gloves to come off. With Reprise, there can be no more excuses."
"Yes, dear." Chrissie patted her hand. "The time for excuses will soon be in the past. But let's exercise a wee bit of patience – shall we? – with our weaker siblings."
"Uh..." Josh looked at me, at a loss.
The whole thing had a horror movie/Stephen King kind of vibe...if Stephen King had made a porn movie. Hot Mamas of the Corn. Or maybe an SNL parody of a Stephen King porn movie. I could see Elise presiding over some secret society council ranting in her German accent: "It ez time for zee gloves to come off! No more excuses from zee inferior men!" And the SNL crowd breaks into laughter. But I didn't feel like laughing.
I ate as quickly as I could and got out of there. Josh wasn't far behind.
"Man," he said on our way to the cabins. "What the hell is with those women?"
"I don't know, but I'd say that night did a number on them, too."
"A little sex made them into Nazis?"
"Ha. I had that thought, too, when Elise was speaking..."
I trailed off. My mom was walking up the path from the parking lot. She held up a tired hand in greeting.
"Whew, baby," Josh murmured. "Now we're talking. If that little lady's gonna be at the VR party I might change my mind about the Reprise."
"That's my mother."
"Oh shit, man." He lowered his voice to an incredulous whisper. "You never told me she was Grade Triple A MILF."
"Maybe because I've never heard of 'milf,' not to mention a 'triple A' one."
"Stands for 'mothers I'd like to –"
"I get the idea. And again, that is my mom, so..."
"Message received. Sorry, man."
But Josh stood with his mouth open and his tongue poised to fall out as we stopped before my mom.
"Hi," I said. "You made good time."
"I would've made better if the guards had let me in right away. It took them fifteen minutes to get through to Max Emanuel."
"Oh. I didn't even think about security."
My mom turned to Joshua, who'd managed to close his mouth and discover some poise.
"Mom, this is Josh Brightman, founder/CEO Sparrow.com," I said. "Josh, my mom – Alyssa Stevens. Dr. Alyssa Stevens."
"You're Josh Brightman." My mom gave him a wondering look. "I didn't realize you were so young. Very impressive achievement with Sparrow."
"It's a privilege to meet you, Doctor." Josh stuck out his hand, now on his best behavior, I thought. "Being the inventor of Melatin is quite an impressive achievement."
"Co-inventor." But she smiled and shook his hand.
We stood awkwardly for a moment before Josh gestured back at the Lodge. "They're still serving breakfast at the Lodge, if you're hungry."
"I skipped breakfast, so yes, that sounds good."
"Then allow me." He stuck out an elbow, which drew a soft chuckle from my mom and rolling eyes from me.
"You're quite the gentleman," she said. "Is Max Emanuel still in there, by any chance?"
"Yes. I'll happily lead you to him."
She grasped his outthrust elbow lightly and we started back toward the Lodge. I followed with a frown. Inside, we made our way over to Max Emanuel's central and largest table, where he noted my mom's approach with an uncertain smile.
"Alyssa," he said, standing and offering his hand. "What a pleasant surprise. You decided to pay a visit to our little shindig?"
"Hello, Max." She grasped his hand briefly. "I hope you don't mind my intrusion."
"Not at all. Let me introduce you." He turned to the people at his table. "On my right is Marion Ellsworth, proprietor of this fine establishment." He paused as the elderly man with the huge white mane and sparkly grey eyes inclined his head. "Everyone else, this is Dr. Alyssa Stevens. One of the inventors of Melatin and now Reprise. Of course you all know her brilliant son, Aiden, and the famous young creator of Sparrow.com, Joshua Brightman. Please join us." He gestured to one of the servers. "We'll get you some chairs – "
"Actually, Max, I was hoping we could have a word in private."
The long-haired founded of CE froze in mid-motion. A frown flashed on and off his face. He assembled a smile.
"Of course." He rose. "If you'll excuse me, my friends. I'll see you all shortly. We have an exciting day planned, I promise you."
Josh and I fell in behind my mom and Max Emanuel crossing the room to a vacant table by a far wall.
"Sorry to drag you away," said my mom.
"Well, I'm sure you have good reason." The slight grumble in Max Emanuel's voice cast some doubt on that. He pulled out a chair for my mom. "Josh, if you wouldn't mind, Dr. Stevens and I could use a moment."
Josh covered his surprise with an understanding nod and smile. "Sure. No problem."
"I want to stay," I said.
"Okay," said my mom. "You are part of this, after all."
"Uh, well, catch you guys later." Josh backed off, shooting me a quick question before turning away.
Max Emanuel folded his hands on the table and relaxed the corners of his half-frown as if composing a façade of patience.
"I take it Aiden called you about our little field experiment with Reprise," he said. "And you have concerns."
"That's putting it mildly. We are months away from completing animal testing. You know as well as I do that our rush to get Revive to market penalized us when the negative side-effects on people surfaced."
"Yes, Alyssa, I do have a slight familiarity with that event. But even Revive didn't cause any enduring harm among the test subjects, and as you know better than anyone, Reprise is Revive quite literally on steroids. But aside from the C. scindens inclusion, they're basically identical."
"You added steroids to it?" I asked.
"Not directly," said my mom. "We used genes from Clostridium scindens. C. scindens is a bacterium present in human intestines capable of making androgens from glucocorticoids."
"Androgens including testosterone?"
"Yes. We amplified the genes responsible for producing testosterone."
"Right," said Max. "Turns out that was the missing ingredient. Testosterone fuels sexual desire and capability as well as a number of other potential benefits such as greater strength and faster healing – characteristics of hypers, as I'm sure you can personally attest."
"So you don't just want to solve MES," I said. "You want to duplicate being hyper?"
"That's the general idea." His glance at my mom held a hint of apology. "Not that we're quite there yet. The human genome is a bitch to untangle. But I believe Reprise is a step in the right direction."
"You couldn't wait for controlled human trials?" my mom asked. "You order a pre-production run and hand out samples in a completely uncontrolled environment?"
"I'm not quite that crazy. Several of our staff, including myself, tried it under close observation last week. No problems except fatigue due to overindulgence. Also, we had everyone who got a pill sign non-disclosure and non-suit agreements. Plus, I have a medical staff and medical facilities onsite, in case there's an issue. But so far it's been clear and I must say highly pleasurable sailing."
"I'm glad to hear you did some experimentation before throwing a party with it, Max, and that you've taken some legal precautions, but I don't see any urgency that justifies this."
Max Emanuel nodded agreeably. "I understand and appreciate your point of view. We're both scientists, and I obviously stepped beyond the bounds of scientific protocol. But unlike you, Alyssa, I'm also a businessman. Did you know that GlaxoSmithKline is also holding a symposium for investors in their new drug Extend in a few weeks?"
"No."
"Have you even heard of Extend?"
"Vaguely. Isn't it supposed to extend and intensify male estrus?"
"Yes. It's my job to know about products like that and to take countermeasures." He raised his thick black eyebrows like caterpillars crawling up his forehead. "Take a look around this room, Alyssa. What do you see?"
"A lot of high-powered business people?"
"What I see is billions of dollars of capital. Many of those billions will also be headed to London for the GSK conference. I want that money to stay here."
"I understand that, Max. And given what'
s at stake, I can appreciate your sense of urgency. But I can only look at this as a scientist."
"Exactly. And that's why you're a researcher and I own majority shares in one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world."
I expected my mom to bat an offended eye, but her calm expression didn't change.
"That came out a bit harsher than I intended," said Max. "Of course I consider you to be a brilliant scientist – one of the foremost researchers in your field in the world – and an invaluable resource for CellEvolve."
"I'm not offended being called a researcher, Max. And I certainly don't claim any special business acumen. All I can say is that this is no way to conduct science, and I would speculate that practicing bad science could also prove bad for business."
Max made a steeple of his hands and stared at her over them. "Do you have any reservations about Respite?"
"Of course I do. Until rigorous testing has been completed I wouldn't trust the drug."
"I mean any non-theoretical reservations based on actual observations?"
"Yes. I'd like a clear answer to why the female research animals, especially the female bonobos, are so sexually aggressive after encountering the treated MES males."
"Wouldn't the obvious first hypothesis – the most logical explanation – be that the female bonobos are stimulated by the males' new potency after months of frustration?"
"That's an obvious hypothesis, yes," said my mom. "Much more so for the bonobos than the female rats, which are showing increased periods of estrus. But only more tests will show us what's truly happening."
"I remember you telling me about the bonobos being more aggressive," I said. "So what does that mean, exactly?"
"I'd say greatly increased sexual initiation, almost to the point of harassment."
"It's funny," I said, "but when I was eating breakfast with a group of women I was thinking how weirdly aggressive they were acting. They almost sounded like they wanted to force guys to have sex with them."
"I noticed that this morning, too," said the CellEvolve CEO. "They were getting rather demanding about a repeat of the first night. I think it's just a case of having their libidos stirred up a little, Aiden. Can't blame them for that."
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