Syndrome - Thomas Hoover (best summer books .TXT) 📗

He pushed open the door and rolled her in. Then he reached down and lifted her to her feet. Standing wasn’t that hard, and somehow he had known that.

The room seemed to be captured in mist, though surely that was her imagination. Everything must be her imagination.

Kristen was in the corner of the room, in a wheelchair, but now her body was shriveled. No, shriveled was not the right word. In fact, there might not be a word to describe the change. Her skin was smooth and flawless. She didn’t look like this the last time Ally saw her and now she wondered how long ago that actually was. How many hours, or days?

The bones were the same as always; in her cheeks the underlying structure was sharp and severe and elegant. But there wasn’t enough flesh on them. They were reminiscent of what happens at puberty, when the body starts changing in ways that aren’t well coordinated.

That was it. Kristen had become a child-it was in her innocent eyes-except that her body was now the flesh of a child over the bone structure of an adult.

It scarcely seemed like the same person from the last time. She had crossed some mystical divide. She was holding a large rag doll-where did she get that? Ally wondered-and humming the tune of the ditty that ended with “Now I know my ABC’s. Tell me what you think of me.”

“She can’t talk,” Stone was saying. “I mean, actually communicate. Or at least she doesn’t seem to want to. I’ve already tried. But isn’t what’s happened incredible? There’s never been anything like this in history. The replacement cells are making her body newer and newer, so she’s getting younger and younger.”

Ally walked over, slowly, and tried to take her hand. She was grasping the doll and she violently pulled back.

“Hey,” she said, trying to muster a matter-of-fact air, “how’s it going? Do you remember me?”

“I don’t think she recognizes you,” Stone said in a stage whisper. “I wish I knew more about the biology of the brain, but I think there’s some kind of aggressive replacement of memory synapses under way. I think it’s one of those LIFO things. Last in/first out. She’s regressing chronologically, but in reverse. Maybe she’s lost use of language, the way Alzheimer’s patients do. I don’t know.”

Ally felt herself near to tears. “Van de Vliet was going to use antibodies from me to try to… something.”

“That was always a long shot,” he said. “But now the preliminary tests he’s just done on you indicate that the level of enzyme in you can be controlled very accurately. He’s very excited.”

She turned back to him. “How do you know all this?”

“I’ve become part of the story, Ally. That’s not supposed to happen, but this is the only way to get it all firsthand. I have to live it. And guess what, I now know enough to write the book I’ve been waiting all my life to write. I have the punch line.”

“Which is?”

“Stem cell technology goes to the very origin of life, and it may turn out that for once Mother Nature can be fooled. Dr. Vee’s venturing into areas now where even he doesn’t know what’s going on. Ally, what’s happening in this room is the biggest medical story since… Nothing begins to compare.”

Stone had lost it. There was true madness about him now.

She walked back over to Kristen and leaned over and kissed her. Kristen stared at her in unfocused confusion, but then she smiled.

“I’m alone in here. Will you take me outside? I want to find my mother.”

The voice was that of a five-year-old and it sent a chill through Alexa. The “grown-up” memory cells in her brain had been replaced by blanks. It was “last in/first out” and thirty-plus years of life experience were being replaced with brand-new nothingness.

The Syndrome. Time had to move in one direction or the other. The body either went forward or in reverse. There was no equilibrium.

Then she had a further thought. Winston Bartlett was not going to let this Beta disaster run to its natural conclusion-a horrifying exposure to the world. He was going to intervene. Kristen was not about to leave this room in her current condition. Either she left cured-which seemed wholly implausible at this point-or she departed in a manner that left no trace.

Then yet another thought crossed her befuddled mind. She and Stone knew about Kristen. What does that mean for us?

“Stone, we can’t leave her here.”

“What are you proposing we do?” he queried. “Take her to an ER somewhere? Frankly, I don’t know how you would describe her problem to an emergency room admissions staffer.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“By the way, Ally, so you should know, she’s wearing diapers. This is the real deal.”

“And how do you figure in all this?”

“I told you. I’m going to be the James Boswell of stem cell technology. I’m going to report on this miracle from the inside. But now, Ally, if the Beta procedure is going to succeed you have to be the one to make it happen.”

She looked at him, still stunned by the wildness in his eyes.

And she had a feeling like her heart was being wrenched out.

“You’re working with them, aren’t you?” She was fuming with anger. She no longer knew who could be trusted. He’d taken leave of his senses. Or had his senses been taken from him? Which was it?

“I’m thinking about you. And hopefully about us. You’re being offered something you’d be a fool to turn down. That’s all I have to say.” He took her hand and helped her back into the wheelchair. Then he whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”

He quickly opened the door and rolled her out into the empty hall. When he closed the door behind them, he whispered again. “Didn’t you see the surveillance camera and microphone in there? There’s one in the room where they had me locked up. They just put them in.”

“To watch Kristen?”

“And me. I heard Bartlett and Van de Vliet talking. If any of this Beta screw-up with her gets out of this building, Bartlett’s conglomerate is toast.” He bent over near to her and continued whispering. “Listen, we don’t have much time. They’ve got your procedure scheduled for later on tonight. I’m still somewhat of a zombie from something they gave me, but maybe I can help get you out of here. Let me tell you what I’ve found out so far. Van de Vliet gave you a low-dosage version of the Beta procedure, in hopes he could harvest telomerase antibodies and use them on Bartlett. But there was only a trace. He did inject those into Bartlett, but he doesn’t think it’s enough to have any effect. So now Bartlett is demanding he give you a massive dose of telomerase. Van de Vliet is freaked about the risks, but Bartlett thinks it’s his only chance to head off having what happened to Kristen happen to him too. However, what Bartlett doesn’t know is that Van de Vliet has just finished a new computer simulation and he thinks he’s finally figured out how to do a successful Beta procedure. For him, that’s the Holy Grail.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I heard him talking to his assistant Debra. I was supposed to be sedated. The reason he wants to perform it on you is because he now has so much data on you, as a result of the first procedure. He thinks he’s got a real shot at redemption. Ally, if he’s calculated wrong, you could end up like Kristen.”

“What about you?” she asked. “You should get out too.”

“I should, but… Look, I’ve been trying to get in here for a long time. Now I’m finally in. You could say I’m under duress, but I’m here and this is where it’s happening. If I get out alive, I have a hell of a story.”

Is he thinking clearly? she wondered. He seems to be drifting in and out of a mental cloud. What is wrong with him?

“Stone, there’s an emergency door on the first level of the basement. If we can get up there, we might be able to escape. And while we’re doing it, you might want to seriously reconsider staying in this place. We’ve both seen Kristen. What makes you think they’re planning on either of us ever living to tell that tale?”

“I’m having some trouble thinking just now.” He was helping her out of the wheelchair. “But I do know you’ve got to disappear. Whatever plans they have for me remain to be seen, but I know exactly what’s in store for you. So come on and try to walk. We can’t use the elevator, but there’s a fire door at the other end of the hall, which leads up to the lab floor.”

It’s probably alarmed, she thought. Then what do we do?

Walking was easier than she’d expected. The strength was rapidly coming back in her legs. But more than that, there was no sense of tightness in her chest as she might have expected. She was always aware of traces of stenosis, but now she felt nothing. Maybe there were miracles.

The hallway was dimly lit, and she wondered, Is a surveillance camera tracking our every move?

“Shit,” Stone announced when they reached the fire door, “it’s alarmed.”

That’s exactly what I was afraid of, she thought.

“Any chance they’re bluffing?”

“Don’t think so.” He pointed. “That little red diode says it’s hot.”

God, she thought we’ve got to get out of here. “Maybe we could just make a dash for it?”

He looked at her and shook his head. “Like you’re in shape to dash? No, what’s called for is stealth.”

He was pulling out his wallet. “The thing about these card readers, some of them, like those that get you into bank ATMs, sometimes will open for other cards. I’ve got four kinds of plastic. Might as well give them a try.”

“Well, just hurry.” She leaned against the wall. “I’m starting to get weak.”

He slipped his Visa through and nothing happened. He immediately tried MasterCard. Again nothing.

“Maybe I should try my all-purpose bankcard.” He slipped a Chase plastic through, but once more nothing happened.

“This isn’t working, Stone.” She sighed, feeling her legs weaken as she clasped the wall. “I think we’re going to have to chance the elevator.”

“Don’t give up yet.” He took out his American Express, kissed it and swiped it through. “One last shot.”

The red diode blinked off.

“Never leave home without it,” she whispered.

“We will now proceed very, very quietly.” He carefully pushed open the door, inches at a time.

The stair had metal steps and was lit by a single fluorescent bulb. As he helped her up, Ally was wondering if there was any way to extract her mother too. She couldn’t imagine how she could do it and besides, Nina might well refuse to go.

No, just get out and make Stone understand that no way was Winston Bartlett going to let him go free to tell the story of Kristen. He clearly wasn’t thinking with all cylinders.

Stone Aimes was about to disappear, just like Kristen had.

The entry to the laboratory level was also alarmed, but American Express once again saved the day. When they pushed open the door, however, the lights were on in the office at the far end of the hallway.

Where’s that door that Grant was going to use to get me out? she wondered. Then she saw a door marked EXIT next to Van de Vliet’s office.

Shit, it’s all the way at the opposite end of the hall.

“Stone, we