Lethal Discoveries

by Erica Pensini

  “Can we try with blood cells? I imagine that we can get some easily just by poking our fingers”, I proposed.

  “This is a pretty naïve approach, but why not”, replied Alice.

  “Why is this naïve?”, I asked.

  “Because we are trying to approach the problem completely blindfolded. We don’t know what the polymer did to people. In actual fact we don’t even know if the polymer itself did something or if it’s those funky bacteria that I still cannot pin down that messed up people’s body”, replied Alice.

  She was about to add something when Brad’s cell phone rang. His face became concerned, then angry.

  “What do you mean everything is flooded?”, he exclaimed

  Someone spoke on the other end of the line, and Brad listened, shaking his head.

  “Ok, I’ll be there in about half an hour”, he said, “Wait there, can you? Ok, thank you, I appreciate that”.

  He gave me a discomforted look.

  “What?”, asked Alice.

  “Troubles never come alone”, he said, “guess what now? My house got flooded. Some bloody pipe must have broken, the cleaning lady I hired just found out”.

  “You hired a cleaning lady?”, I asked, amused in spite of the situation.

  “Ah well, she comes once per month. I am a single guy, you know…”

  “Ah”, I replied expressively, “Of course”.

  “Ok, I’d better hit the road now”, Brad said, and started towards the door.

  The door was already closing on him, when he walked back in.

  “Ah shit, but how are you going to get back?”, he asked me

  “I am a resourceful woman and I’ll find a way”, I smiled, “Now go! I’ll phone you later”.

  “Thanks Iris”, he said, and closed the door behind him.

  “You actually gave me an idea”, I told Alice once we were alone.

  “That is?”

  “You said that maybe the issue is not the polymer, but the bacteria it causes to grow, right?”

  “I was just saying, I really have no clue…”, she shrugged

  “We cannot draw any conclusions, but this is a possible scenario”, I insisted.

  “Yes, I would say so”, Alice conceded.

  “I found a paper the other day”, I began, and summarized the publication authored by Mori I had discovered the day before. Alice was shifting on the chair as I spoke, starting to say something several times and then cutting off.

  “This sounds very much related to our case”, she commented at last, her eyes vivid.

  I could sense thoughts were crowding in her mind, although she couldn’t formulate them as yet.

  “I could try to contact this guy”, I said, “ask him if he thinks new bacteria can harm people in some way”.

  “The question is too generic to be answered”, said Alice, “but how much information can we release? This is a huge dilemma…”

  “I know”, I said, “and this is why I wanted to keep generic. But…I mean, there might be a lot at stake here, I feel there is. So screw it, I will start off by being a bit vague and will leak out more information if he gets back to me and if it seems like he wants to help. What do you say?”.

  “I am not fully sure”, she said, “Should we talk to McMurrich? I suppose not…”.

  “That’s right, I also proposed to discuss with her but Brad and Mike are against it”.

  “They would also be against emailing this guy…Mori, you said?”.

  “Yes, Mori. And yes, I suppose Mike and Brad would be against emailing him, but I can’t help myself now. In all honesty, none of us knows what to do but if we do nothing things might get very nasty.

  “I am with you on this”, Alice said, “Go email Mori and I’ll run some tests using some of my blood cells. We’ll talk again before leaving. And oh, do you need a ride?”.

  “That would be sweet. I don’t want to make trouble for you though…”.

  “Don’t be silly, let’s get some work done and then drive home together”.

  “Awesome”, I smiled, happily relieved that I wouldn’t have to go back in a taxi cab gnawing on my worries in loneliness

  “See you in a while”

  Chapter 36

  I went to my desk, turned on my PC and pulled up the manuscript from Mori. It was two years old, and I hoped the contact information reported for Mori at the bottom of the front page was still valid. If it was it meant that the guy was working in Italy, I thought. My paternal grandparents were Italian, and I thought this was the n-th coincidence in the odd plot events seemed to follow in the last while.

  I opened my mailbox, my hands sweaty, and began writing.

  To: mori@centrosanit.it

  Subject: genetic modification of common bacteria

  Dear Dr. Mori,

  I found your interesting publication “The effect of chemicals on the genetic modification of common microorganisms: the case of E. Coli”, which seems quite relevant to a study I am conducting. I have synthesized a polymer that is meant to improve the texture of dairies, and I am finding a significant amount of unknown bacteria in my sample. I was wondering if you ever probed the potential effect of “genetically modified” bacteria on human health, and if you could refer me to any useful publication on the subject.

  Best regards,

  Iris Celati

  I re-read myself once, and pressed the “send” button before I could change my mind about contacting Mori.

  I went to buy myself a pop at the vending machines, and walked back to my desk, searching for publications, my mind elaborating thoughts at a frenzy pace for half of the time and too worried to focus or think straight for the other half. I closed my mailbox to try and reduce the number of inputs that rushed through my brain, but after half an hour I gave in and opened it again.

  “What?”, I said out loud, pushing my chair so close to the desk my belly was squished against it and gluing my face on the screen. Mori had replied already.

  To: icelati@foodtechlabs.com

  Subject: RE: genetic modification of common bacteria

  Dear Iris,

  Thank you for your interest in my publication. I have indeed evaluated the impact of genetically modified bacteria on human cells. I have used harmless bacteria commonly found in the intestine and treated them using the same chemicals I had employed with E. Coli. Similar to E. Coli, these bacteria responded by changing their genetic patrimony. The paper is not in press, and will be released soon. The bacteria do not affect human cells of different organs individually, but it appears that they can affect the functionality of processes occurring in the human body in ways that I do not yet fully understand. Is the polymer you have produced in any way similar to the chemicals described in my manuscript?

  Best regards,

  Mauro Mori

  I would have never expected the man to be so fast. I was happy, and yet I wished he gave me a bit more time to take in the idea that I was making contact with him, and that I was doing so in spite of my boss and my mate not wanting me to. What he wrote wasn’t comforting either. Had the polymer really been misused at the cross cancer institute?, I wondered. I felt a chill run through my spine. I had to go talk with Alice and had to force myself to walk, rather than run, to her room.

  “Alice! You know what?”, I exclaimed.

  But Alice wasn’t there alone. McMurrich looked at me coolly.

  “You seem quite excited Iris”, she said, offering me a tight lipped smile.

  “I wanted to let Alice know that they are going to give us the results of the analyses by the end of the week from the DNA center…”, I fumbled.

  “Great. So is this what was making you so excited?”, she asked, brows arched

  I was never good at lying. McMurrich knew I was just making up an unconvincing story, but instead of insisting further she ignored me and addressed Alice.

  “So Alice, please let me know what results you get with those tests regarding the shelf life of the products after pol
ymer addition”

  “Will do”, said Alice with a nod.

  “I shall let you have some privacy now, so Iris can finally talk to you freely”, McMurrich said, leaving the room after icing me with her mirthless smile.

  We heard the tic-tac of her stiletto heels move away, and waited a few moments longer till it faded.

  “So?”, whispered Alice.

  “So Mori replied!”

  “Already?”. Alice was just as surprised as I was.

  “I would have never expected it, right? He told me that chemicals can alter the genetic patrimony of harmless bacteria commonly found in the human body”

  “Ah…”

  “And when this happens they can become harmful”, I continued

  Alice looked at me, paling.

  “This is not what we wanted to hear”, she said after a moment.

  “Mori wants to know what my polymer is like, to understand if his findings can relate to our case in any way”

  “The information is confidential, so in principle we shouldn’t tell him…but death is not a principle. I wish we never found this polymer”

  I lowered my head. “Don’t tell me…”

  “You should tell Mori all you know. We need to understand what is happening, and stop it if we can”, said Alice

  “That’s what I thought. Let me go reply to the email…”

  “Please do. We need to move fast before it’s too late. As a side comment, so far my blood cells seem unaffected by the polymer, but this means nothing. Our compound can act in thousands of ways, and the fact that it does nothing to the blood cells is not very insightful. Go now, we’ll talk later”.

  I had never heard Alice so laced-up before, and her curtness told me how worried she was.

  “Thanks Alice, see you in a while”, I said, and walked back to my desk.

  When I got there I suddenly had the feeling something was wrong, although I couldn’t quite say what. I looked at my desk a bit longer, trying to understand what was out of place. It was the chair. I was sure I had pushed myself back and rushed to see Alice, but now the chair was quite close to the edge of the desk. My computer was locked now, but was it when I left to see Alice? I couldn’t remember if I logged off. I generally did, and the PC went to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity, and yet…I wondered if McMurrich had attempted to enter my computer. My stomach tightened. What if she had succeeded? But did it matter after all when people might be dying because of the polymer I had produced? The hell with her, I thought. I tried to push the thought of McMurrich away and focus on the email to Dr. Mori.

  To: mori@centrosanit.it

  Subject: RE: genetic modification of common bacteria

  Dear Dr. Mori,

  Thank you very much for your prompt reply, I am impressed by how quickly you answered my message. The information you have provided is extremely useful to me, and although the structure of my polymer is in part different from the one of the compound described in your paper, there are quite few similarities. The structure of the polymer I am using is shown in the file attached to this email. My colleagues and I found that, when added to dairies, the polymer enhances the growth of bacteria that do not appear in any of our databases. I am worried that such bacteria might have adverse health effects on humans, and I was wondering if, based on your experience, you believe this can be the case.

  Thank you in advance for your help.

  Best regards,

  Iris Celati

  I sent the email without re-reading it. My conscience told me I had to, but I knew that I had given out so much information that I could be fired from FoodTech labs. I had signed a confidentiality agreement when I was hired, according to which I could not release specific information regarding the technology developed at FoodTech labs. I pushed back my chair and breathed deeply. All I wanted was get out of this place, and get back home. I’ll have to phone Christine again tonight, I thought. I didn’t feel like it in any way, all I longed for was to spend some peaceful time with Jack, put the telescope he had purchased for me to some good use. I recalled the nights when I just sat on the porch watching the stars and listening to the sounds of the night with glass full of lemonade in my hand. Was I asking too much from life? I went to look for Alice, hoping she was ready to go. If she wasn’t I could perhaps call a cab. I really needed some outdoor air, I was suffocating. I locked the PC and walked to the cell culture lab. Alice was there, analyzing some samples.

  “Hey Alice, anything new?”, I asked

  “Not really…I suppose I can take another look at the samples tomorrow, but so far the blood cells are still happy and healthy”

  “Good. I emailed Mori again…do you think we can go home early today? I can tell you about my email on the go”

  “Well, it’s 5 pm already…pretty much time to head home I would say. Did you hear anything from Brad?”

  “Shoot, I forgot! Ok, I’ll phone him on our way home”

  “Let me clean up a few things here and then we can head out. Can you give me 5 minutes? I’ll come find you once I’m done here”

  “Sure thing”, smiled Alice, reassuring as she always was no matter what was happening

  I went back to my desk and phoned Jack. I generally didn’t when I was at work, talking to him in the ambience of FoodTech labs made me feel uncomfortable. I wanted to keep private things private, and I would have hated McMurrich to pop up while I was in the middle of a conversation with him. But tonight it was different, I was frail and lost and I needed to hear his voice.

  “Jack”, I said when he picked up, and paused.

  “Are you doing fine?”, he asked

  “This sounds like a deja-vu. I think we had a conversation starting this same way not too long ago”

  “We did”, he laughed.

  “Lots of unexpected things happened today, but I don’t want to tell you over the phone”

  “What if I come over and you tell me under a starry sky?”

  “WOW! I can’t believe you just said this…I was thinking about watching stars with the telescope and having a bit of quiet time with you”

  “Why are you surprised? I thought someone like you would believe in telepathy”

  The accuracy of the comment made me laugh in turn, and it was liberating to chuckle off the weight of the day

  “When are you going to get home?”, Jack asked

  “In about half an hour, or say 40 minutes to be on the safe side”

  “I’ll meet you at home then”

  “This is exactly what I wanted to hear”, I said, meaning every word I said.

  Alice came to my desk a moment after I had hang up.

  “Ready to go?”, she asked

  “You bet”, I said grabbing my back-pack.

  I was about to leave when I turned around and took a look at my desk.

  “Are you forgetting anything?”, asked Alice

  “No…let’s go talk in the car”, I said, walking towards the door.

  Chapter 37

  “So what is happening?”, asked Alice starting the engine.

  “I have the feeling that today someone tried to access my computer”

  “What?”, exclaimed Alice incredulous, taking the eyes off the road a second too long

  “Well, I don’t know what happened exactly, but when I went back to my desk after talking with you in the cell culture lab my chair was certainly not in the position I had left it”

  “I didn’t know you were a control freak when it came to the position of objects”, she laughed, not taking me seriously.

  “I am not, and yet something felt wrong…”

  “Probably someone passed by and moved the chair accidentally. Why do you assume that someone tried to break in your PC?”

  “Because the chair was so neatly positioned close to my desk. I am sure I pushed it away rushing to see you…and when I got to the lab I found McMurrich there. She left the cell culture lab before I did…”

  “Ok, hold on. Are you trying to tell me that
you suspect McMurrich?”, asked Alice, arching her eyebrows.

  “To be honest yes, I thought about it. Perhaps she felt something was cooking and she wanted to know what it was about”

  “But do you think she actually read your emails?”, Alice said, suddenly worried

  “I don’t know…I was quite excited, so maybe I forgot to log off the PC. What I hope is that it logged me off automatically before she got there. Maybe she didn’t even try to access it, maybe she just had a look at was on my desk. Maybe it wasn’t even her, but who else would want to go through my stuff?”

  “Things are becoming really creepy lately, I just wish we could live like we used to…”, Alice sighted

  I was looking out of the window at the landscape streaming by when I saw him. A car passed us on the right. It was only a moment, but I was sure it was him, John Wheeler. A woman was beside him in the car, she was leaning very close, it looked like she was crying.

  “Don’t tell me”, I said.

  What was happening all of a sudden? Was John Wheeler cheating on his wife? It dawned on me that maybe she knew and forced him to move away because of that. That’s why he had been so embarrassed and silent when I had been there for dinner.

  “Don’t tell me what?”

  “I think I just saw my neighbour passing by with a woman. I think he is cheating on his wife”, I said, almost mumbling to myself

  “Pardon me?”

  “Never mind”, I said. “By the way, I explained to Mori what we are up to and what our polymer is like. I sent him the actual structure”

  “You did”, replied Alice, more as a statement than as a question, and then she was silent for a moment.

  “You’ve done the right thing”, she said at last

  “You think so?”

  “Yes”, Alice confirmed.

  We didn’t speak for a long while, each lost in our separate thoughts orbiting around the same source of anxiousness. When I focused on the road again I saw the sign for my exit, hanging up high on the highway. I looked at Alice, and she didn’t seem to notice.

  “Hey”, I said

  “Hey”, she echoed back at me.

  “We should take the next exit”, I said

  Alice signaled and moved to the right lane, smoothing into the exit.

  “Thanks, I was about to drive on. Maybe that’s what we should do, drive away and leave this ugly business behind”