Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) (12 page)

“But there is another way,” interjected Jessica.  “You could probably grow testicular tissue in vitro that has been manipulated to produce these altered sperm, and then you would not need a male
donor that has had gene manipulation.  And you could sure grow it much faster than giving this donor a little cup twice a day,” she grinned.

Jessica looked rather thoughtful, “Mr. Greco, for not being a scientist, you have made an interesting suggestion.  A permanent birth control immunization could theoretically be developed for a woman that did not wish to have any more children.  It is no more un-ethical than having your tubes tied or a man having a vasectomy.  It would be many times safer and cheaper than surgical procedures.  I don’t believe either Brett or I had thought of this.”

“One more question please?” Benjamin asked.  “Using your procedure, could you recover the DNA of a non-living organism, analyze it and store it, and then recreate it?  Could that stored DNA then be switched out in a cell and that cell implanted in a surrogate female that would bring it to term as a normal fetus?”

“That is more like normal cloning Mr. Greco,” answered Brett.

“I am not talking about cloning a normal living person or animal.  I am talking about cloning something that is already dead.” Benjamin answered.

“I think they already made that movie Mr. Greco.  It was named Jurassic Park and things did not turn out very well.  Things that lived long ago, died out for a reason, and would not fit in very well with the world of today.”

“I am not talking of dinosaurs or an extinct bird,” replied Benjamin.  “What about cloning a dead person?”

Jessica looked shocked. “Mr. Greco, if, and only if you could obtain complete DNA, you might be able to clone that person’s body. However, even though it would develop to look like the original person, there are many environmental and behavioral things that make us what we are today.  The clone may look like that person, and some inheritable behavioral things may remain, but it would not be that person all over again,” she admonished. 

Benjamin’s face took on a faraway look.  “I have a proposal for you,” he said. “I lost my wife twenty seven years ago in child birth.  My infant son lived, but then died when he was five months old from Meningitis.  I know I could never replace my wife, but if you had the DNA of my son, who never had a chance to grow and develop a personality, could you clone him and give him back to me?  He would be almost exactly the son I lost as he had no real personality at the point when he died.  He would still be the child of my wife who I loved very much.  Could you do this, could you?” he pleaded.

“It would be theoretically possible,” stated Peter, “but we just do not have the resources to do that.  We spend all the money and time we have doing our basic research.”

Benjamin looked them both with a determined expression.  “I will agree to personally finance all your research.  I will build you the best lab you have ever dreamed of.  You will have the fastest computer you desire for your research and  I will hire you the staff you need.  You can develop your vaccines, you can develop your birth control serum, and you can become very profitable.  Think of the research you could do with the best lab that money can buy. Try and do this for me and you will have all the financial backing you need, even if it takes every penny I have.  Just give me back my son.”

Brett looked at his wife, she had tears in her eyes, and she nodded.  Brett turned back to Mr. Greco.  “Well Mr. Greco, as long as we are able to continue our original research also, with no interference, I guess we have an agreement.  Just understand that we cannot guarantee success, but we will make our best effort.”  Brett held out his hand to shake Benjamin’s.  Instead he found that he and Jessica were both being grabbed in a big embrace by Mr. Greco.  For a moment, he thought that he might cry also, but somewhere deep inside he feared that they may have sold their souls to the devil.  Time would tell he guessed.

Chapter 11

March 24
th
, 2016

Washington DC

Jessica and Brett had flown into Washington on Wednesday night on the flight that Dr. Basjani had arranged for them.  Thursday morning they had gotten up dressed and eaten breakfast. Jessica had fussed at Brett and finally talked him into wearing a tie, which was an annoyance that he avoided whenever he could. A government car arrived shortly thereafter to take them to their meeting.  Brett was very relieved that he had not had to rent a car and drive in the Washington rush hour traffic.  There was no road he hated worse than the beltway around Washington.  At Jessica’s insistence, Brett had made another copy of their research synopsis to date and had conveniently left out the part about his self-experimentation. He was reviewing this when he noticed that the driver had passed the exit for the National Institute of Health headquarters.

Brett turned and looked back. “Uh, driver, I think you just missed the exit for NIH.” 

The driver just looked at him curiously in the rearview mirror.

Before the driver could speak Jessica jumped into the conversation.  “Brett, I am sure he knows where to take us. He does this all the time, right Mr. Driver?” Jessica winked at the driver so he could see her in the mirror.

“Uh, yes that’s right, we have not missed the exit,” he replied with a question evident in his eyes.

Brett disagreed, “Well, there was a sign right back at the last exit that said NIH.  I think you did miss the exit.”

“Brett, calm down. I am sure that they may have scheduled the meeting somewhere else, isn’t that right Mr. Driver.”

  The driver had no idea what was being played out between his two passengers and just shook his head in affirmation.

“See Brett, now just calm down,” said Jessica.

  “Whatever,” said Brett “as long as we are not late getting there.”  Brett went back to reviewing his notes and Jessica smiled and winked at the driver again.

Ten minutes later they pulled up to the security gate at the visitor’s entrance to the White House.  Brett looked up and around in bewilderment.  “Hey, this isn’t NIH, this is the White House.”

“Surprise,” beamed Jessica.  “We are going to meet the President.”

Brett was beyond speech when the driver opened their door and they were ushered inside to pass through security.  He looked at Jessica in accusation. “You knew about this all along didn’t you?” 

She just gave him a quick kiss.  “Now you know why I insisted on you wearing the tie.”

They were led to a small ante room where they watched a few different people go in and out of a briefing room.  At one time, they even caught a glimpse of the President.  After about twenty minutes a man who appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani decent came in and introduced himself.  “Hello, I am Dr. Simi Basjani.  I believe I have had the pleasure of speaking on the phone with you, Mrs. Driskall.  Mr. Driskall, it is a pleasure to meet you also.  I believe we are next on the agenda.”  They sat in silence for about five minutes until another man appeared at the door and beckoned them in.

“Madam President, I would like to introduce Doctors Brett and Jessica Driskall.  I believe you already know Dr. Basjani,” said Donald Masterfield, the President’s science advisor.  The President looked up from her papers and smiled.  She offered her hand and shook hands with both of them, pausing with each for a photographer to step forward and take a photograph.  “The photos are for you to show your grandchildren someday,” she laughed.  “I guess it is a miracle I do not get flash burns from all the photographs they take around this place. It is a pleasure to meet both of you.  From what I have been told you have made a very important medical breakthrough.  Please, please be seated.  I like to run these briefings in a very informal manner, so please make yourselves comfortable.”

“Dr. Basjani and Dr. Masterfield have already briefed me on your research.  It is a definite pleasure for a change, for one of the government’s research grants to pay off with such potential rewards.  We have taken so much criticism from the press in the past when so many technology companies that have been awarded grants went bankrupt before yielding any positive returns on their research and the taxpayer’s investment.  My job gets so mundane from time to time that I really enjoy meeting people and connecting faces with accomplishments.  That is why you were invited here today.”

“We are deeply honored Madam President,” said Jessica.  “If it was not for the grant from NIH and Merck, then we would not have been able to do our research and perfect our techniques.”

“I would like to ask you both a few questions if you do not mind,” said the President.

Brett nodded. “Why of course, fire away.”

“First, I understand that human clinical trials are to be set up within the next couple of weeks at Bethesda.  Specifically, this will be for a trial of your newly developed vaccine for the HIV virus.”

“Yes,” agreed Brett “We will be giving the vaccine to a group of about three hundred volunteers who are considered at very high risk for contracting HIV.”

“How are these volunteers chosen?” asked the President.

Jessica answered. “Well, the people at the highest risk of contracting HIV are people who self-inject drugs, homosexual men, prostitutes, and spouses or partners of people who already have HIV or AIDS.”

The President wrinkled up her nose.  “While everyone deserves to be protected from this dreadful disease, isn’t this a less than ideal group for your trials?”

Brett spoke up. “Well, the purpose of the vaccine is to prevent additional people from contracting HIV.  We are also hoping to eventually develop a drug from the serum of immune people and use it to actually treat and cure HIV in healthy individuals.  There is hope that we can also try and set up a clinical trial through the World Health Organization to take place in several areas of Africa where HIV is epidemic and all of the population is at high risk of contracting the disease.”

President Montgomery nodded thoughtfully. “How long will these trials last, and if successful, how long would it be for a vaccine to be available for widespread use?”

“Well, due to the long latency time for HIV, it will probably be at least three to four years to prove that it will actually protect against contracting HIV,” said Jessica.

President Montgomery looked surprised. “You mean you have a way to make a vaccine that you are pretty sure works and you have to wait that long?  How many people will die of the disease in that time period?”

  Doctor Basjani spoke up. “Madam President, there is a reason for carefully studying new drugs and vaccines like these.  This is a radically new concept for a vaccine that is actually using a genetically modified live HIV Virus.  We will be injecting the volunteers with this. It would be very un-wise to make such a vaccine available until it is proven to work safely.  So, we have to wait and watch these test subjects to see if it will really protect them and not make them sick in the process.  Until we know it works we just have to be patient.”

Brett interrupted at this point.  “Actually the vaccine does work.  We have had a one hundred percent success rate with our primate trials and there should be no difference in the way the vaccine works in humans.”

“Humans are not monkeys, Dr. Driskall.  Until we know that it actually works in humans then we will have to wait and see,” warned Dr. Basjani.

Brett became more adamant. “But we do know that it works in humans, at least in one human.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and kicked Brett under the table. She thought she would pass out from embarrassment.

“Dr. Driskall,” admonished Dr. Basjani, “I was not going to bring up your very unorthodox testing of the live vaccine on yourself.”

President Montgomery looked up at Brett in surprise. “You mean you have tested this vaccine on yourself?”

  “Madam President, I felt I could not ask others to test what I would not myself.  I injected myself with all three vaccines that we have developed to date.  Those are for Ebola, Varicella, and of course HIV.  I then inoculated myself with live virus of each disease after I had given myself time to develop immunity.  The fact that I am sitting here talking to you shows they work, otherwise I would have died within about ninety six hours of inoculating myself with the Ebola virus.”

The President looked at Jessica. “Either your husband is very noble and very sure of the work that you two have done, or he is very reckless and trying to make you a widow.  Trust me, being a widow is not fun.  I speak from experience.”

Jessica shook her head. “Sometimes I think he is a little of both.”

“Let me ask you another question then Dr. Driskall.”  The President looked back at Brett.  “You say you inoculated yourself with the live virus.  Would this not be a faster way of doing a clinical trial than waiting and seeing if someone actually catches the disease naturally over a period of years?”

Brett laughed and said, “Yes, it would be much faster, but it is hard to ask someone to volunteer to be injected with a virus that may kill you in a most unpleasant manner just to test a vaccine that has not been proven to work. Both Jessica and I were confident enough of it
that I tried them on myself.  Doctor Basjani is correct though when he says that my methods are considered somewhat unethical.”