CHAPTER 17
Immari Corp. Research Complex
Outside Burang, China
Tibet Autonomous Region
Dr. Shen Chang tried to suppress his nervousness as the video conference connected.
When the man appeared, Chang swallowed hard and said, “The project director ordered me to contact you, Dr. Grey. We followed the protocol and research provided — to the letter — I simply don’t know what—”
“I’m sure you did, Dr. Chang. But the result was very surprising. Why did the children survive and not the adults?”
“We’ve entertained a few possibilities. And we’ve run tests on the children. We believe they do show sustained Atlantis Gene activation and clearly they survived the machine, which is proof in and of itself that they’re immune.”
“Is it possible the therapy won’t work on adults?”
“Yes, perhaps. The therapy is a retrovirus that inserts a gene into the subject’s genetic code. It’s not a significant genetic change, but it does have a cascade effect at the epigenetic level, turning on-and-off a series of other, preexisting genes in the host. There are no physiological effects — that we’ve been able to observe — but there is a massive change in the brain. The gene essentially re-wires the subject’s brain. Neuroplasticity, the ability for the brain to re-wire or adapt, decreases with age — that’s why it’s harder to learn new things as we grow older. We’ve explored the idea that adults won’t respond to the therapy because the gene activation can’t trigger the changes in the brain — essentially the genetic therapy virus tries to re-wire the brain, but the circuit boards are already hardwired, have been since shortly after childhood.”
“Is it possible that the adult subjects didn’t have the precursor genes to affect the brain changes?”
“No, all the adult subjects had the cascade genes — as you know, we have known about these genes for some time, and we test every subject — on-site at our hiring facility here in China to verify. The adults should have survived the test.”
“Is it possible the therapy only works on autistic brains?”
Chang hadn’t considered this possibility. Dr. Grey was an evolutionary biologist with an interest in paleobiology, and he was Chang’s boss’s boss all the way at the top of the Immari food chain. Chang had assumed this call wouldn’t focus on the science. He had expected a tongue-lashing from this über-boss for his failed efforts. He focused on Grey’s hypothesis. “Yes, it certainly could be. Autism is fundamentally a disorder of brain wiring, especially in the areas that control communication and social understanding. And other areas are affected; some affected individuals are highly intelligent with special abilities. Others are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum: they can’t even live independently. Autism is really a catch-all category for a variety of differences in brain wiring. We would have to look into this, and it could take some time. We would likely need more test subjects.”
“Time we don’t have, but we might be able to get more children. Although, these are the only subjects we know of with Atlantis Gene activation. Let me look into that. What else? Is there anything you haven’t told me? Any other theories? There are no bad ideas at this point, Dr. Chang.”
Chang did have another idea. Something he hadn’t voiced to the rest of the team. “I’ve personally wondered whether the adults and the children were treated with the same therapy.”
“A problem with replicating Dr. Warner’s research? With formulation?”
“No, as I say, we followed her protocol to the letter — I stand by that. I’m wondering if Dr. Warner treated these children with something different, something not in her official notes or the trial protocol.”
Grey seemed to consider Chang’s idea. “That’s very interesting.”
“I wonder if I could speak with Dr. Warner? A meeting would be very helpful at this point.”
“I’m not sure… let me get back to you on that. Have any of the other team members voiced this concern?”
“No, not that I know of.”
“I’d like for you to keep your suspicions about Dr. Warner to yourself. From now on, contact me directly. I’ll inform the Project Director that you and I are working together now and that he will support your efforts — without asking questions. See that the rest of the team keeps the findings within the group. It’s very important that we keep a tight lid on this for the time being.”
“I understand,” Dr. Chang said, but he really didn’t. The call had raised more questions, and he was now convinced: they had used the wrong therapy.